It's kinda sorta not a game in many ways but dispatch did a decent job I thought.

One of my favorite video game romances takes place in the Legend of Heroes: Trails series. When first described on paper in a quick summary, it's something some people might roll their eyes at, but it's built very well.

Something that had to be nailed down early about it was, it really couldn't be optional, based on "relationship score", or even happen on its own time. One of the best scenes in this duology centers around a huge character reveal, which puts forward the confession of love all at the same time; while that relationship had been a slow tease through individual scenes, it suddenly became a huge, very important part of this large conflict.

I definitely think for better relationships in games, we need a lot more focus on characters, and we need to stop viewing the relationships as rewards; sadly I don't have many further ideas than railroaded stories, but I think there's probably more options out there.

They make good points until this bullshit:

But if video games are ever going to be taken seriously as an artistic medium, they have to grow up, and that means learning how to love authentically.

No. That take is horseshit. They don't have to do anything to be taken seriously as art. They already are. If you can't see it because it doesn't tick some of your boxes that's a you issue.

I just ignore all romance in games because even at its best; it’s cringy and makes me feel weird and uncomfortable.

We need videogame romances where you are both so enamored with each other; every answer is stupid and cringe but to them it's the most romantic thing ever. Also the sex is silly and awkward and kinda gross, but they both have fun, a good laugh and enjoy it.

This is a really weird way to argue a weird point. I think, the main issue is, most games are closer to boardgames than movies and the author places them too close to movies.

And you can build boardgames for romance, sure. But, unless the romance is part of the core game loop, it's something that breaks the flow of the game. So it gets abstracted away, or the romance is expressed in terms of the core game mechanics. Which, in video games often are reaching the next scene, dialog trees or gaining stat points.

And, even if you think they're closer to movies, then most video games are closest to action movies. And here the word romance isn't used. It's just renamed love interest and is often just the price for saving the world, but the core 'mechanics' are the same.

And most romances will start as fun flings full of hope, not with the nitty-gritty logistics. The logistics will come later, sure. But most Video-Games are set romantically in a few weeks of summer camp, so there is no need to figure out logistics, yet.

Open-World games, that have a character that travels around and meets people as part of their daily lives, sure.

But this argument would apply to games like the Elder Scrolls series. Not Cyberpunk 2077 in which the main character is dying and has only weeks left to live.

But, I do concede that most romances do fall flat once you've reached the top. You had your sex-scene and you may have your kisses, your hugs, the new greetings in dialogue, and the characters return to being cardboard in the background.

BG3 romances seem shallow and kind of transactional because it is a mix of characters who don't know each other having a whirlwind romance in a relatively short period of time. They are easily comparable to the majority of romances in movies and books with similar circumstances.

The other thing that is always going to make romances in games difficult to do in more detail is a lack of real world senses that play a huge part in attraction. Smells, tone of voice, flirting based on what is cutrently happening are either impossible or extremely time consuming to implement in a computer game. Like you could luck into picking the right cologne for a character or something, but that is along the same lines as picking the right voice lines.

Not saying it is literally impossible to do, but it really is a monumental task to implement relationships that don't seem forced or obviously mechanical in a video game. If they did implement one perfectly, the randomness of real life would make it nearly impossible to have a romance as there are so many things that can easily derail a relationship forming including just not being in the mood to reciprocate affection because of some completely unrelated event!

You know how people build relationships in meatspace? Lore dumps.

You listen to Shadowheart's story in Baldur's Gate 3 and, since you pass no judgment, fall in love.

Not that different than a lot of the relationships I had when I was young to be honest.

Romances are stupid shallow fluff that serve no purpose except to draw in lonely people. They’re idiotic and predatory.