"alternate realities" for romances?

[jack1974]

I have a question for you all
What do you think about having some "alternate realities" for romances? I'm going to explain it better since obviously is not clear enough. Let's say that I wanted to make a game about the event of year 653 in my Aravorn Timeline (http://aravorn.com/index.php?title=Timeline)

653 – Vampires found on N'Mar. Amazon expedition to clean it led by Karen who finds a young Breza in castle dungeons, who becomes an Amazon

and you would play either as Karen or as an amazon general for example. Would make sense to have a romance with Karen ? Maybe even show

Spoiler:

Ryzom, the slave with who she escapes in Loren 1?

I mean, then in Loren we all know that ONE of the possible romances is Elenor/Karen (same in Loren 2-3). So in a way, you'd know that if you played as miss Amazon general XYZ your romance ending wouldn't last/be eternal because of what happens in Loren.
Would you still be interested in playing it? or you would prefer completely brand new characters?
I have many ideas and stories that I want to tell, so it's not a problem, but I was wondering what people think about this "problem". Since I remember the big fuss that happened when some Roommates endings weren't "true happy endings" or "they'll lived together for the rest of their lives"

Thanks

[Miakoda]

I actually have no problem with this. Of course, I view each game, especially when multiple endings involved, as alternate worlds by that point. If I didn't, then things like Dragon Age/Fallout/etc. would have driven me nuts

[Exizel]

I always like alternate realities (one of the reason I'm a fan of the Fate series), the only problem is that each game have must be pretty clear about where it stand in the timelimes and especially which one.

And in a way you have already made several alternate realities(game with differente protagonist ,several ending and let's not forget the sequels that will reflect those choices)

Now that I think about it Nicole yuri is a alternate reality(Nicole is a lesbian,a different cultprit,...)

[jack1974]

Well a solution would always be to not have romance
Might be one of those smaller games I want to make, in which I'll just focus on gameplay only. Anyway, is not like I must decide now since I have enough games to finish in the next 3-4 years!!

[iWeasle]

Go for it! alternate realities are sometimes the only way things make sense .
Romancesless games could also work, but personally, I usually feel that they're missing something , at least if you have any control over your character.

[jack1974]

Yes, I would like to have a romance in it, even if is just ONE. I am too used to it now
And yes I guess some alternate reality is inevitable. I still want to talk more about Loren's characters, but if events happens before Loren1 obviously Elenor/Saren are out of the equation

[Franka]

I think that if you have only one romance in a game, then you're perfectly justified in having it end not so perfectly, because that's the one story you're telling. When you have 8 romances in a game, people will no doubt point out that it's wrong for their favorite romance pairing to end badly when the rest have happy endings.

Always keeping in mind, of course, that an ending with a romance that won't last forever doesn't feel like some kind of moralizing punishment - the lesbian relationship was bound to end badly, because lesbians, for example.

As for alternate realities, well, I don't mind them as such, but if you're making a game with familiar characters in the same world, I'd prefer it be done in a way so it doesn't outright contradict existing material. Unless the story itself is about alternate realities, time travel shenanigans or whatever. But there is plenty of room for, "well, you thought that's what happened, but what actually happened, which I never told anybody else, was this:"

[jack1974]

Yes, actually the idea was related to that amazon expedition on N'Mar fighting the vampires. I wanted to experiment with different combat mechanics. An early disclaimer: everything will be just "for fun" done in my free time, as prototypes. I have already a lot of "official titles" to finish before and this would be one of those "shorter games".

Spoiler:

That said I was thinking that if you play as Karen, you could have the "forbidden" romance of Ryzom (the slave with who Karen escapes in Loren 1) or another amazon yet to be named. The "canon ending" would then be Ryzom of course since that's what happens in Loren 1. The other could have been just a romance that after some years ended.

An alternative is to introduce other amazon characters, that don't take part in Loren's story, and have only lesbian romances

[iWeasle]

Yes, actually the idea was related to that amazon expedition on N'Mar fighting the vampires. I wanted to experiment with different combat mechanics. An early disclaimer: everything will be just "for fun" done in my free time, as prototypes. I have already a lot of "official titles" to finish before and this would be one of those "shorter games".

Spoiler:

That said I was thinking that if you play as Karen, you could have the "forbidden" romance of Ryzom (the slave with who Karen escapes in Loren 1) or another amazon yet to be named. The "canon ending" would then be Ryzom of course since that's what happens in Loren 1. The other could have been just a romance that after some years ended.

An alternative is to introduce other amazon characters, that don't take part in Loren's story, and have only lesbian romances

I don't think anyone but maybe the guy who said

Always keeping in mind, of course, that an ending with a romance that won't last forever doesn't feel like some kind of moralizing punishment - the lesbian relationship was bound to end badly, because lesbians, for example.

this would have a problem with your final idea .

[jack1974]

There's also another consideration to do, that I've done privately with writers before: the different longevity of the various races.
For example, Saren being human won't be able to live long enough as Myrth, or Elenor will see Amukiki die before she turns middle age
I've never touched such topics because they're quite dramatic... but as a matter of facts, humans live much less than most other races, so in theory they should only romance each other, otherwise they just know that they'll die sooner than their partner