LibriumArcana.Games

Just wonder..... have you ever really felt you've seen a good romance, or or a truly touching moment in a game? Do you think games are capable to reach that deep into your heart?


Believe it or not, I have actually experienced such thing. My most heart-touching moment in game is when I played Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Fire.

See, it was when my character was supposed to get the Fruit of Compassion from the Enchanted Woman in the Tree --a female healer named 'Julanar' who was turned into a tree by a genie many years ago.

First, it was the sorceress Aziza who told the story about the healer; a kind-hearted girl who always wanted to help people by being a healer, despite it was against her parent's wishes. Don't ask me why, but even Aziza's story already gave me a heart-touching moment during the course of my gameplay.

And then my character went ahead to get the acorn from the woman-shaped tree. It involved three steps actually: first, you should give water to the tree. Then you should tell her (the tree) your story. Finally you should hug her while calling her name (Julanar).

I was fifteen when playing the game, and I don't know why, but during that part, I just (desperately) hoped that the tree would come to life and become a woman again. I know it sounds weird, but if I ever fall in love to a game character, that was definitely the moment.

Alright, feel free to call me weird.

Weird.

Seriously though, I can't really think of any honest-to-god romantic moments off the top of my head. Most games have a fairly formulaic 'hero gets the girl with optional tragic death of girl' theme to them in keeping with the attention span and tastes of the target audience. KotoR had some moments where I related to the various NPCs, especially with the more diverse characters of KotoR II, but those romance stories were likewise fairly formulaic. (Especially the Bastila/Revan arc.)

Romantic I can't say I've ever seen that really. Heart-touching? Vivi from FFIX. I loved Vivi!

Also from FFIX, Beatrix and Steiner. I'm sorry, that romance beats out the main ones from all other FF's.

SPOILERS FOR ZE TWILIGHT PRINCESS!!!!

ZELDAAAAAAAA! NOOOOOOOOOO!

Heart-touching moments... wow. I'd have to go mostly with FinalFantasy, sorry.

Well, there's Aeron's death, of course. I was bawling my little eyes out there.

Not much to say about FF8. I never even finished the damn thing

Then, in FF9, I loved the little romance between Steiner and Beatrice, but the heart-touching one was the final act. Not only do we get to see Multiple Vivis, but we get to see the end of "Be My Canary".

In FF10, after you beat the Final Boss, where Yuna tries to hug Titus.

FF10-2 didn't have anything that really made me go awww. Even the big concert was just kinda 'huhwtf?'

FF12. Wow... there were so many places that I was awestuck, but the touching moment for me was the last events on the BattleStation. "I'm the leading man!" sez Balter. "I think... you are more.. a supporting character.." answers Fran.

And now, Zelda:Twilight Princess. Nitram and I are taking a break from it, after what we just saw. What a high price to learn the location of the MasterSword!

Petrosjko wrote:Weird.

It was. And it was even weirder that I started to fall for Julanar from the moment when Aziza told the story --a kind-hearted young woman who always wanted to be a healer against her parent's wishes, and eventually met a tragic end. So it actually happened [ibefore[/i] I actually encountered the woman-tree herself.

Damn... It was 16-color EGA and Soundblaster FM music, but never have I ever had such heart-touching in-game moment.

Petrosjko wrote:Most games have a fairly formulaic 'hero gets the girl with optional tragic death of girl' theme to them in keeping with the attention span and tastes of the target audience.

It is. But what outright disappoints me is the Ultima series --it does not have romantic moments at all, despite it's a fantasy CRPG.

Petrosjko wrote:KotoR had some moments where I related to the various NPCs, especially with the more diverse characters of KotoR II, but those romance stories were likewise fairly formulaic. (Especially the Bastila/Revan arc.)

Yup, the Bastila romance. Many say it's quite a good romance in game.

Sir Nitram wrote:Also from FFIX, Beatrix and Steiner.

Well I don't play FF series, but my friends who do also vote for Rinoa and Squall.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Sir Nitram wrote:Also from FFIX, Beatrix and Steiner.

Well I don't play FF series, but my friends who do also vote for Rinoa and Squall.

Ugh. I never cared about Squall at all and I couldn't figure out what Rinoa saw in him, so suffice to say I didn't care for that entire romance at all.

Beatrix and Steiner were so much better. It went along with Steiner's development from doofus to noble knight and Beatrix's development from unquestioning minion to, well, also noble knight. And then they're Lord and Lady, no doubt destined to produce many badass children.

The one thing that KotOR I did better than II was the romance subplot between you and Bastila (or Carth if you played Revan as a female... god help you if you did. Honestly, I would have liked a lesbian relationship between Bastila and a female Revan, but you're saddled with Whiny Carth).

That's it. In almost every way, KotOR II beats it's predecessor up in a dark alley and swipes its wallet. KotOR II needed another... three months, maybe more, in development before release. Now the good news is, that restoration mod is making some good progress towards finally having a public release. I had hoped they'd be finished by now, but it can't be helped I'm afraid. Although the Revan/Bastila romance is well done, I did like the fact in II that your influence determines which one of the characters you fall for. (or rather, falls for you)

The problem with this though is it is laughably easy to max your influence with Visas or Disciple in virtually one conversation.

The end of FFX always tugs at my heart-strings.

I seem to remember my first play-through of FFVI, I let Shadow die, not knowing any better. That was pretty upsetting, too.