History Main / LevelUpAtIntimacy5

** ''Persona 3 Portable'' adds in a female protagonist, who can choose out of 5 options ([[{{Adorkable}} Akihiko]], [[FanPreferedCouple Shinjiro]], [[MayDecemberRomance Ken]], [[StarCrossedLovers Ryoji]] and Theo) along with crushes from Bebe and Hidotoshi. She can choose at specific points if she wants to date someone, ala Persona 4. And for the guy, there's no consequence for dating multiple girls, ala Persona 4.

** Mostly averted now, since skills only raise related attributes, but you still such gems as fishing, studying, medic skills, and book keeping improving a dwarf's accuracy with a crossbow and Intimidation and Comedy ''letting a dwarf run faster..

** The fourth game uses this with a twist: it's limited to romantic relationships, and in the second half you play as the characters' children. Their abilities depend on who supported with whom in the first half.

* If you marry someone in ''DynastyWarriors 6: Empires'', you can "rest" with your spouse, which levels you up.

*** ...and kills other dwarves, which, of course will cause OTHER loved ones that go berserk over their deaths, which causes MORE death, which in turn causes MORE madness, and so on in a descending spiral of blood, vomit, and carp.

* The tabletop RPG ''BlissStage'' is the TropeNamer: In that game, your primary weapon against [[NightmareFuel nightmarish aliens]] is the Alien Numina Inversion Machine, or [[AppliedPhlebotinum ANIMa]] - it uses PsychicPowers to create a HumongousMecha for the player characters out of their relationships. 5, the highest possible score in a relationship, requires you to have sex. There is a drawback: Unless you also improve the relationship's Trust stat, [[YouLoseAtZeroTrust the relationship could easily be broken off.]] And breaking a high Intimacy relationship is a '''[[HeroicBSOD Very]] [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Bad]] [[MindRape Idea]].'''
** BlissStageFirstAndFinalAct takes this to its logical conclusion: having sex with a partner gets you an InfinityPlusOneSword, with special abilities that break the rules of the (tabletop) game.
* Any Tabletop RPG in which the DM is in the habit of giving players extra XP for roleplaying can have examples of this.
* ''HarvestMoon: A Wonderful Life'' requires you to betroth a girl and have a baby in order to advance the story.
** AWL (and AWL: Special Edition) arbitrarily has the bachelorette with the highest affection towards you propose to you, if you aren't already engaged at the cutoff point (in this scenario; usually Celia or Muffy if you haven't gone after one specifically). You get a NonStandardGameOver if you say "no". In the other games, wives raise your overall rating and unlock various items and events. (In the older games, you would get a failing evaluation without a wife)
** If you don't marry in Rune Factory 2, then you can't play as your child and finish the game. Luckily, three of the prospective bachelorettes will never marry anyone but you and you have a few years to choose from all of them. However, the game does have a preferred marriage and none-too-subtly assaults you with images of FirstGirlWins from the ''opening sequence'' onwards.
* ''ShinMegamiTensei: {{Persona 3}}'' is a definite example - the various Persona you can use grow stronger as you strengthen your relationship with the character who is associated with the same TarotMotifs. In the case of female characters, that relationship tends to be romantic in nature. In order to create the Ultimate Incarnation of each Tarot, you need to max out your relationship with that person - of course, that also means that if you want a good lineup, your character is going to turn into a [[MamboIntimacy5 real Casanova]], since he'll have to win the hearts of five different girls in the same school...
** AND you win the affections of 2 girls who you can't actually have a relationship with (a [[spoiler:preteen girl who promises to marry you when she's older]] and [[spoiler:your female homeroom teacher who you meet anonymously through an online game]]). And in ''Persona 3 FES'' you can [[spoiler:sleep with Elizabeth]], although she's not a social link. Talk about the living incarnation of studliness...
** ''{{Persona 4}}'' continues the trend but applies it to your allies. Odd-numbered Social Link ranks add additional in-battle effects ranging from using follow-up attacks to taking lethal attacks for the MC, while the Personas of your allies will only mutate to their final forms once you have fully maximised that person's Social Link. In that game you don't have to raise the females' Social links romantically (thus you can remain faithful to one girl); though choosing the romantic route will show different scenes. Philia instead of eros.
*** The only problem with that is that it's not always clear whether the choice you're picking is the romantic one or not. It does tell you when the choice comes up, but not which one is correct. For example, one character asks you if you want to begin a romantic relationship. Answering, "Yes," is the Incorrect answer for starting a romantic relationship.
*** That's because you have to figure out the correct answer, based on their personalities.

* ''ThousandArms'' and ''{{Ar tonelico}}'' both combines RPG gameplay with Dating Sim aspects. The more the girls like you, the stronger you get!
* ''NeverwinterNights2 Mask of The Betrayer'' goes and makes the only romance in a BioWare/Obsidian title that would be unforced give you a feat for finishing it (The male PC romance plot also gives a feat, but it still has the other issues).
** The non-romantic (I hope) relationships also give bonuses. For example, maxing out the bear Okku's respect for you causes the [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Hunger Gauge]] to deplete much more slowly.
* In ''SakuraTaisen'', the more one of the girls likes Ogami, the higher her stat bonuses. In addition, a high enough trust rating will unlock special attacks.
** These include giant mecha that transforms from a theater.
** And a hot springs bath that makes mecha explode.
* In ''BaldursGate II: Shadows of Amn'', romancing Jaheira the "right" way gets ''her'' a Harper Pin, which grants several useful bonuses. While better replacements show up near the end of the game it's a good item for most of the mid-game. More importantly, however, successful navigation of this quest (which is not actually part of the romance, but gets powered up if you're in a romance with her and weaves in and out of it), nets you a few large buckets of experience points. The trope is inverted (though it's perhaps more of an oversight) in the expansion pack ''Throne of Bhaal'', where if you're romancing Viconia you can [[spoiler: convince her to perform a {{Heel Face Turn}}]]; doing so ''prevents'' her from using a very good item that she's already wearing--and she doesn't get a replacement to reflect the change.
** She still gets better of then she would normally in the Forgotten Realm setting: Usually, a cleric of Shar turning neutral would loose ALL divine abilities and spells, not just one item.
* ''PlanescapeTorment'' is a strange case. You can get useful items or stat increases from, or confer stat increases to, almost all your party members by talking to them. The only real exception is Fall-From-Grace, who in a more conventional game would have been a potential romantic interest, but she can help you understand your party members better, cluing you in on which dialogue options to take--and also doing so earlier than the game would normally allow. Annah, meanwhile, is deeply attracted to you; you have the option to kiss her at one point, and it boosts her morale--until she gains her next level, where it returns to normal, possibly due to a bug. (For context reasons, let's now reveal that Grace is a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent chaste succubus]] and Annah is [[HalfHumanHybrid descended from fiends]].)
** Not a romance, but Dakkon's ''karach'' ("chaos-matter") blade becomes more powerful as he levels up. However, how it becomes more powerful depends on how he feels about you. If he finds you honorable and worthy of his service, his blade becomes an excellent defensive weapon; if he hates you, this is reflected in his blade becoming vicious and serrated; if he has no real opinion one way or the other, it's a balance of the two. This means he's probably better as a pure melee fighter when he's angry at you...but if he gets angry enough, he will attempt to kill your ass.
* Not a romantic example ([[RuleThirtyFour in most cases]]), but there are a fair number of Pokémon who will only evolve if the trainer keeps them happy and builds a strong relationship with them.
** Also, the move Return gets stronger the more the Pokémon likes the trainer. The reverse is true with the move Frustration.
** A handful of [=NPCs=] will teach moves to a Pokémon only if it loves its trainer enough, or give the Pokémon a ribbon, or will give you an item if the first Pokémon in your party loves you enough.

* The later FireEmblem games reward the player for unlocking "support" conversations between characters by giving those characters stat boosts whenever they're near each other. This applies to both romantic and non-romantically themed supports.
** The fourth game uses this with a twist: it's limited to romantic relationships, and in the second half you play as the characters' children. Their abilities depend on who supported with whom in the first half.
* In ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'', you can train certain characters as Jedi if you get your Influence score with them high enough. Even characters who can't become Jedi still offer other bonuses, such as experience points and stat boosts.
* ''ArTonelico'' is a series of pseudo-dating-sim-esque {{RPG}}s practically built around this trope, as you gain most of the game's [[MagicMusic musical spells]] by "diving" into the female characters' inner mental worlds and helping them fix their issues, an act which the game specifically links to romance. Furthermore, the characters' power in battle is increased by "Harmonics", a set of two gauges which represent the feelings of the fighting party and the magical songstresses respectively, which add status boosts to the party when the bars meet in the middle; the bars increase when the fighting party defends your singer-mage, attacks on her behalf, or does something otherwise suitably impressive for her.
** Incidentally, "diving" at level 5 and beyond is when things get ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation supposedly]]) dangerous. And any and all innuendo before this is blown out of the water [[spoiler: as their "inner" selves quite literally jump the [[CelibateHero protagonist]]. In a bath towel, a Y-shirt or as a succubus.]]
* ''[[RuneQuest HeroQuest]]'' (the fantasy tabletop rpg set in Glorantha, not the MB boardgame) stats everything up, [[RelationshipValues including relationships.]] Also, any stat can be used to augment any roll provided you can make a case for it to the GM, so your "love for kidnapped princess" score gives you a bonus to fight the dragon, and your "hatred of nuns" score makes it easier for you to kick one in the face.
* Subverted in ''{{Wizardry}} 8'', where it's Level ''Down'' At Intimacy 5.
** To elaborate, you gain the trust of the Rapax Templar by making one of your party members an initiate. As the final task of this ceremony, the character must make a "sacrifice" to their demon queen, which basically means that the initiate (male, although she will take a female if the party is entirely composed of women) has to sleep with her. The bad part is that the lucky guy ends up permanently hexed and suffers massive stat loss if he ever leaves the Rapax Ravine until the demon queen is killed. As if ''that'' weren't enough, if you actually go through with this, it makes the already tough fight with the Rapax prince harder as--in addition to his entourage--he'll also be accompanied by the daughter of the demon queen and the character that slept with her. While this all sounds like a raw deal, being a Rapax Templar does have its advantages, and can lead to a really awesome quest down the line.
* In {{Star Ocean}} (really, any of them), various bonuses you can pick up from having good relationships include (in the second one alone): special techniques, random items, improved item creation, and if in battle, doubled attack power.
* {{Nethack}} players can receive substantial good or bad effects from sleeping with succubi or incubi, but with proper preparation they'll almost always be positive. This includes permanent stat gains and instant level ups, and if you have a method of generating many such demons can be used to vastly inflate your max hit points even after you reach level 30.
* Non-videogame example: ''ScottPilgrim'' - It's worth 9999 EXP and a free perk, anyways.

* The warrior Iris from PrincessWaltz is formed from the combination of the Prince and a Princess, with her powers determined by the level of intimacy between the pair. Being one of "those" sort of games, the Mentor notes that sex can be very helpful in making the pair comfortable with each other's bodies.

* The webcomic ''{{PvP}}'' plays on this trope in [[http://www.pvponline.com/2008/05/28/ding/ this]] comic, where [[spoiler:Francis and Marcy level up upon losing their virginity to one another. Their physical appearances noticeably change, making it harder to hide the fact that something happened.]]
* Valkyria Chronicles, while not elaborating much on romance between the various secondary members of Squad 7, has the abilties 'Fancies Men' and 'Fancies Women', which increase a character's effectiveness when around males or females, respectively, because they want to 'show off'. [[HoYay Yes, there are female characters with 'Fancies Women' and males with 'Fancies Men'.]] Also, one (female) character gets an extra boost around the female lead.
* Latale has a marriage system, where a fully intimate couple gets a 10% boost to their main stats, and with some special items give access to unique skills like summoning your partner, a full heal, and an experience boost.
* If you marry someone in ''DynastyWarriors 6: Empires'', you can "rest" with your spouse, which levels you up.

* In RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon, your {{Mons}} will gain a new skill when their loyalty is maxed out. This is the primary method of gaining passive abilities, which are sorted differently from attacks.

* [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/519030 Level Up!]] is a Platform RPG that starts with a boy falling from the sky in front of your house. He doesn't remember anything other than that he needs gems. If you give him gems, you gain a Relationship level and one more heart in your health capacity, up to level 5.
* In ''LuckyStar'', Konata says that in her building up "trust points" in the days before Valentine's Day is more important than the day proper.
* Weapons of the Gods RPG has you improve your kung fu by consummating your love. However, it only works in heterosexual interactions - for homosexual interactions, you need a special kind of kung fu to improve your kung fu. It doesn't sound this offensive once you read the book.
* AnitaBlake books are a literature example. In Anitaverse, a triumvirate of a vampire, a lycanthrope, and a necromancer gathers a ''big'' power boost over the sum of their individual powers. The catch it, to gain the boost, all three have to be very fond of each other. A triumvirate doesn't have to be ''menage a trois'' (although, it implied, it often is), theoretically the triumvirs could just be very close friends.
* Literary example in TanithLee's novel ''Lycanthia''. Feudal lord of a certain lineage, when having two werewolf companions, gains the magic powers of ancient wolf goddess - but only if all three are in a state of true love (not necessarily sexual). The powers are implied to be immense. The protagonist doesn't feel true love to his werewolves, just a kind of needy affection - but even that is enough to summon a hailstorm at a critical moment.
* In RealLife, marriage (but not anything else) unlocks lots of special rights and financial bonuses that make it easier to win the game.
** Wow, it has a ending? All I have found out yet is that you [[spoiler: die no matter what.]]
*** It's all in the FakeDifficulty. That, and EverythingIsTryingToKillYou.
*** It makes pregnancy and being over [[ChristmasCake certain age]] much more acceptable. Won't [[spoiler: prevent death]] but makes you less pitiful during it.
** Subverted: you often pay more taxes. [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear And your significant other can often walk away with half of your shit.]]
** It all depends on the server. All versions have some rules for it, but on some it's more necessary than others (especially for female characters), in others it's just a perk or a SelfImposedChallenge. [[BrokenBase Don't get us started on the]] GayOption patch.
* In ''MonsterRancher 2'' (not sure about the other installments), your monster's relationship values have a ''major'' game mechanic effect. Monster with low Loyalty are much more likely to fool around during fights, disobeying your commands and leaving themselves open to attacks. If a monster gets to spoiled, it will often refuse to do its training exercises, while a monster that fears you too much gets stressed out (shortening its lifespan) and is likely to run away.How you treat your monster can also affect its Good-to-Evil axis, which both affects its behavior and its access to certain techniques.
* Literature example: near the end of "Illuminatus!", this has to be used repeatedly by one character to become an avatar of a goddess.
* ''SengokuRance'', as well as the other games in the series, love this trope. As relationship goes up, characters get stronger, to put it in a simple way.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

* In the ''[[GalaxyAngelGameVerse Galaxy Angel]]'' [[GalaxyAngelGameVerse game verse]], your relationships with the Angels makes them stronger, and inversely, they like you more the better they do in battle. Insulting them makes their stats drop, and if you let them get blown up, they hate you.

[[caption-width-right:227: Good thing that wasn't a [[YouLoseAtZeroTrust Trust Break]] action.]]There are a lot of games out there that want to encourage relationships, romance, and sex between the characters: a game where you LevelUpAtIntimacy5 ''actually makes your character stronger'' or gives them additional capabilities for doing so, usually by having increased RelationshipValues correspond exactly to combat modifiers - say, Intimacy Dice in BlissStage or the powers of your [[{{Persona3}} various]] [[{{Persona4}} Personae.]]

--> "You fight (the aliens) with giant robots made of ''weaponized love.''"
--> Ben Lehman, the author of ''BlissStage''

** Not necessarily HoYay; ThisTroper knows a few (straight) men who are far more apt to show off in feats of physical prowess in front of other (straight) men, while being somewhat painfully shy in front of women. That sort of qualifies as 'Fancies Men,' doesn't it? (at least in terms of stat bonusses)
*** Not when the character in question has a stereotypical lisp.
**** And has another ability called [[HoYay 'Largo Lover']].

* In ''[[MitsumeteKnight Mitsumete Knight R: Daibouken Hen]]'', you gain access to powerful magic spells if one of the two female partners of your party has very high RelationshipValues with [[TheHero MacLeod]]. If ''both'' of them are in love with him, you get ''even stronger'' magic spells, one of which being a [[EverythingsBetterWithRaibows rainbow-colored]] WaveMotionGun.

** A handful of NPCs will teach moves to a Pokémon only if it loves its trainer enough, or give the Pokémon a ribbon, or will give you an item if the first Pokémon in your party loves you enough.

* Not a romantic example ([[RuleThirtyFour in most cases]]), but there are a fair number of {{Pokémon}} who will only evolve if the trainer keeps them happy and builds a strong relationship with them.

* Not a romantic example ([[RuleThirtyFour in most cases]]), but there are a fair number of {{Pokemon}} who will only evolve if the trainer keeps them happy and builds a strong relationship with them.
** Also, the move Return gets stronger the more the Pokemon likes the trainer. The reverse is true with the move Frustration.

* ''Sengoku Rance'', as well as the other games in the series, love this trope. As relationship goes up, characters get stronger, to put it in a simple way.

** Subverted: you often pay more taxes. And your significant other can often walk away with half of your shit.

* "Sengoku Rance", as well as the other games in the series, love this trope. As relationship goes up, characters get stronger, to put it in a simple way.

* ''HarvestMoon'' (at least in A Wonderful Life) requires you to betroth a girl and have a baby in order to advance the story.

*** The only problem with that is that it's not always clear whether the choice you're picking is the romantic one or not. It does tell you when the choice comes up, but not which one is correct. For example, one character asks you if you want to begin a romantic relationship. Answering, "Yes," is the INcorrect answer for starting a romantic relationship.