History StrangledByTheRedString / VideoGames

** On the topic of Naminé, her feelings for [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories the Riku Replica]] create an example... for the real Riku, as he seems to reciprocate her feelings in his clone's stead. What makes it this trope is that, over the [[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 entire]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII length]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance of]] [[[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII time]] Riku had to develop those feelings, he had [[DeepSleep infinitely]] [[ToBeAMaster more]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt important]] [[TheWarSequence things]] on his mind.

* The ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and the credits of the ''2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'' HD collection indicates that Roxas and Naminé, Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, are intended to be a romantic pairing. The problem is that whereas Sora and Kairi share a history and close friendship, Roxas and Naminé have only a few interactions that are largely based around plot exposition -- Roxas himself shows much more closeness with Hayner, Pence, Olette, Axel and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]] than he ever does with Naminé, so pairing them together comes out of left field and only seems to be on the basis that if Sora and Kairi are in love then their Nobodies have to be. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' seems to tone this down a little by having Roxas's focus on Axel and Xion, and later Hayner, Pence, Olette, and [[spoiler:Isa]]. Meanwhile Naminé is seen interacting with Sora, Riku, Xion, and was mentioned to have contacted [[spoiler:Terra]].

* In VideoGame/Persona4 and VideoGame/Persona5, it isn't until the penultimate event of a character's S-Link or Confidant that you have the option to either pursue a romantic relationship with them or keep it platonic. While some S-Links drop in enough ShipTease to make it plausible, others are almost entirely chaste until this last moment. It's particularly noteworthy with non-party characters, who you have much less interaction with.
** Averted with the male character's S-Links in VideoGame/Persona3, which become romantic by default at a high enough level and are thus written to lead to romance. Played straight with the female protagonist's S-Links, which have the same mechanics as in later games.

* Often in Franchise/Persona, it isn't until the penultimate event of a character's S-Link (or Confidant Link in VideoGame/Persona5) that you have the option to either pursue a romantic relationship with them or keep it platonic. While some S-Links drop in enough ShipTease to make it plausible, others are almost entirely chaste until this last moment. It's particularly noteworthy with non-party characters, who you have much less interaction with.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': Unless you watch all the cutscenes where they interact, (some being trigger-cutscenes) you'd be very confused at how fast Raz and Lili hook up.

* ''VideoGame/LonelyWolfTreat'': The relationship between Danny and Chai. The two officially meet and become friends in "Dreaming Treat", with Chai helping Danny through their gender identity issues. In the next game, Mochi discovers that the two hooked up without proper buildup to it. However, TropesAreNotBad in this case as their subplot doesn't affect the story and fans seem to love the ship regardless.

** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. Legretta loves Van Grants... a love mandated by BecauseDestinySaysSo, and she ''hates'' it because she wants to fall in love by her free will. Thus, she wants to destroy the world's concept of destiny. [[spoiler:Fortunately for her, Van wants the same thing, so she has an actual reason to follow him.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ShiningForce II'', at the very end of the game, it's revealed that [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty the Princess can only be awakened from her magical sleep by a kiss from her true love]]. An NPC then informs the main character that they're talking about him. Which is good because, until that moment, there's been no indication that the Princess would have been able to pick him out of a line-up, let alone been in love with him. The princess gets one line appreciating the hero's bravery, then literally right afterward is pulled into the Demon World and stays there for the next 4/5 of the game, only appearing again after the BigBad is defeated and the kissing matter comes up as mentioned.

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'' pushes the pairing of [[PlayerCharacter Jodie Holmes]] and [[OvertOperative Ryan Clayton]] as hard as it can, even getting a entire chapter which supposedly depicts their love blossoming, "The Dinner". The only problem is, every prior chapter in the game's story has shown Ryan to be a colossal jerk who doesn't care about Jodie at all beyond her service to the government; in fact, "The Dinner" is prefaced by "Separation", the chapter where he coldly recruits her into the CIA, which makes her claims that he's charming, intelligent and funny appear to be {{informed attribute}}s. The player can turn down his advances as much as possible and [[spoiler:unless he dies]], Ryan will still ''at minimum'' declare that he cares and will wait for her.

* Possibly in ''VideoGame/StarFox'' Krystal inexplicably becomes the love interest for Fox, despite randomly finding her on a planet in a rushed re-theme of a game that originally didn't even have Star Fox in it.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', Fjorm was initially introduced as an earnest, loyal defender of her homeland, but over time she came to be defined more and more by her romantic feelings for [[AudienceSurrogate the summoner]]. This was already rather controversial, both for fans who wanted to see more of her original personality and those summoners who would rather her attention not be directed towards them, but it reached new heights in the Fire and Ice Tempest Trials event. If the associated Ascended Laegjarn is summoned, many of her lines and even her ''confession speech'' talk about Fjorm's feelings for the summoner, even threatening to hurt them if they let her down, which was heavily disliked by players who much preferred Laegjarn herself. Even Laegjarn's newfound protectiveness of Fjorm was criticised, due to the two barely meeting in the original story, and not exactly having any opportunity to become close during the Trial event.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/Bayonetta3'', Bayonetta and Luka undergo a last-minute RelationshipUpgrade near the end of the game [[spoiler:a little while before they both get dragged down to Inferno together]]. Now, with this game introducing TheMultiverse to the franchise, it's also revealed that Bayonetta and Luka had gotten together in other timelines [[spoiler:and sired a daughter in the form of Viola]], so there were plenty of opportunities to show how the various stages of the relationship between the alternate Bayonettas and Lukas. But this is never addressed. in the prime timeline, their relationship amounts to not much more than a LastMinuteHookup. Throughout the entire series, their relationship had been portrayed as vastly unequal, with Luka being a dorky everyman and HandsomeLech chasing after Bayonetta, with a lot of flirting and BelligerentSexualTension along the way. With this setup in mind, many fans felt that there just wasn't enough chemistry between the two to make the pairing believable, and even those who were in support of the pairing felt that the execution of their romance ended up betraying the pairing's main appeal.

* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' actually [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment punishes players]] who attempt to put this trope into practice. Throughout the game, your interactions with Catherine and Katherine will affect a meter -- acting like you're in love with Katherine tips it to the Order end of the meter and the same goes for Catherine with Chaos. However, through a series of questions near the end of the game, it's possible for Vincent to choose either girl [[TakeAThirdOption (or even neither)]] no matter what your position on the meter is. ''But'', the game checks the results of your questions against the meter, and if it doesn't match up -- for example your answers suggest that Vincent wants to stay with Katherine, even though the meter reflects that he's acted more in love with Catherine -- you will get a bad ending. (On the opposite end of the scale, if your answers perfectly match up with Vincent's meter, you get a "true" or better-than-good ending.)
* Kid and Serge in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Kid is a unique example in that the player isn't initially forced to take her into the party. It's entirely possible to refuse her at several points and opt not to come to her rescue, ''but she shows up at all the major plot points anyway''. The story justifies it by saying that she just follows you around because you're tough and can clear the way for her, but it mostly means she shows up at exactly the right time to [[SpotlightStealingSquad make a dramatic speech and run ahead of you]], only to [[RescueRomance end up imperiled]] and need to be rescued -- ''at the player's discretion''.
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': The romance between a straight, female V and River Ward, a hard boiled cop, comes across like this. It takes place in a very short period of time while the pair search for River's nephew who was taken by a paedophile serial killer and left to die. The focus is on finding the child rather than River as a person. His storyline is entirely optional, isn't connected to the main questline like the other major romances are and River is a very FlatCharacter in a game filled with larger than life personalities.

* Out of all the {{Official Couple}}s that get together in ''VideoGame/CriminalCase'', Carrie x Enzo is probably the least popular among fans, largely due to the series being CutShort forcing Pretty Simple to rush through their relationship without having time to develop any proper romantic build-up between the two. Their relationship goes like this: Enzo asks Carrie out on a date, but he offends her by his egoistic remarks, and she leaves before the date even starts. After a few cases of them tiptoeing around each other, Enzo takes care of Carrie when she gets sick, and this is enough for her to look past his chauvinistic personality and reciprocate his advances. Two cases later, they get engaged.

* The ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and the credits of the ''2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'' HD collection indicates that Roxas and Naminé, Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, are intended to be a romantic pairing. The problem is that whereas Sora and Kairi share a history and close friendship, Roxas and Naminé have only a few interactions that are largely based around plot exposition -- Roxas himself shows much more closeness with Hayner, Pence, Olette, Axel and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]] than he ever does with Naminé, so pairing them together comes out of left field and only seems to be on the basis that if Sora and Kairi are in love then their Nobodies have to be. Then the ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' seems to be attempting to ShipTease Naminé with Riku, who at least had [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories a scene]] that aided in Riku's CharacterDevelopment.

* Similar to the ''Beyond: Two Souls'' example, Kid and Serge in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Kid is a unique example in that the player isn't initially forced to take her into the party. It's entirely possible to refuse her at several points and opt not to come to her rescue, ''but she shows up at all the major plot points anyway''. The story justifies it by saying that she just follows you around because you're tough and can clear the way for her, but it mostly means she shows up at exactly the right time to [[SpotlightStealingSquad make a dramatic speech and run ahead of you]], only to [[RescueRomance end up imperiled]] and need to be rescued -- ''at the player's discretion''.

* It can be argued that the Matchmaking mechanic in ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is this trope in action, due to Yandere-chan manipulating events so the rival of the week falls in love with another character in ''one week'' so she would leave Senpai alone for Yandere-chan herself. The alpha builds have Kokona fall for her fellow drama club member Riku but there will likely be pairings where the rival barely knew her love interest until Yandere-chan started pushing them together (and indeed, the first official rival, Osana, and her suitor [[spoiler: Kyuji]] didn't know each other unless and until Yan-chan pushes them together).

** A similar example can happen in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', which clearly intends to ship Tidus/Yuna, but inexplicably includes a relationship system that includes Yuna, Lulu, and Rikku. Thus a number of scenes can take place implying Tidus' attraction with one of the other two girls before the game takes over and pushes him back to Yuna instead. While not nearly as extreme as the Rinoa example, as Yuna and Tidus have plenty of mandatory scenes throughout the story that build them as a couple and Yuna is always in the party when the game needs her to be, it can feel a bit ham-fisted if the player chased one of the other two women and yet Tidus always ends up with Yuna, Lulu always ends up with Wakka (which comes out of nowhere in its own right), and Rikku always ends up in the sequel single and refusing to talk about her relationship with Gippel.

** ''Aveyond 3'' gives Edward three possible love interests in Mel, Stella and Lydia, but WordOfGod states that he would canonically end up with Stella. This is despite the fact that he spends more time interacting with Mel, especially in the first two chapters. The "canon" prologue of the third chapter even has Edward almost marrying Mel before the wedding was sabotaged by Lydia, impliying that the two ''were'' a couple.

* The relationship between Apollo and Rhea in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorneyCase5TurnaboutSubstitution'' seems to progress unnaturally quickly. [[spoiler:However, it eventually turns out that it was simply a ploy on Rhea's part to get inside information on the case. Lampshaded when Apollo, after learning that Rhea is the serial killer, curses himself for trusting her so easily when they only met days ago.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' actually [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment punishes players]] who attempt to put this trope into practice. Throughout the game, your interactions with Catherine and Katherine will affect a meter--acting like you're in love with Katherine tips it to the Order end of the meter and the same goes for Catherine with Chaos. However, through a series of questions near the end of the game, it's possible for Vincent to choose either girl [[TakeAThirdOption (or even neither)]] no matter what your position on the meter is. ''But'', the game checks the results of your questions against the meter, and if it doesn't match up--for example your answers suggest that Vincent wants to stay with Katherine, even though the meter reflects that he's acted more in love with Catherine--you will get a bad ending. (On the opposite end of the scale, if your answers perfectly match up with Vincent's meter, you get a "true" or better-than-good ending.)
* Similar to the ''Beyond: Two Souls'' example, Kid and Serge in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Kid is a unique example in that the player isn't initially forced to take her into the party. It's entirely possible to refuse her at several points and opt not to come to her rescue, ''but she shows up at all the major plot points anyway''. The story justifies it by saying that she just follows you around because you're tough and can clear the way for her, but it mostly means she shows up at exactly the right time to [[SpotlightStealingSquad make a dramatic speech and run ahead of you]], only to [[RescueRomance end up imperiled]] and need to be rescued-- ''at the player's discretion''.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': Noctis and Lunafreya have a relationship that is seen by fans as poorly drawn out and unfocused. This couple first met when they were kids after Noctis had a near death experience and they had not met again until the events of the actual game when they get betrothed as a result of a treaty between Lucis and Niflheim that turned out to be a sham. Even then, Noctis only interacted with Lunafreya before the eighth chapter through a notebook that they kept delivering notes to each other with Luna's dog, Umbra being the carrier. Noctis doesn't even meet up with Luna again until Ardyn murders her. The game's epilogue even shows them after they died, dressed in their wedding clothes and sharing a kiss. All of this is really not helped by the fact that Luna in general gets ''very'' little screentime, and Noctis spends almost the entire story hanging out with the actual main adventuring party, all of whom get their relationships with him fleshed out extremely well--meaning the love story that's meant to be seen as the core of the narrative to the point of being the game's logo is also the least interesting relationship in it.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', Finn and Lachesis are nearly an OfficialCouple; Finn gets a conversation with Lachesis's daughter in the second generation if he's her father[[note]]not true for all potential fathers[[/note]], and they're one of the pairings in the Oosawa manga adaptation. In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', it's strongly implied that Finn and Lachesis were in love and that Finn continued to search for her. The only hitch is that during the time both characters are playable in ''Genealogy of the Holy War'', they have no conversations together, not even if they're married in Chapter 5 (admittedly, Finn isn't there for plot reasons). It's like the devs somehow forgot to put it in there. Then again, it's also heavily implied in ''Thracia'' that Beowulf was Lachesis's "canon" lover, which makes things even more messy--given the timeframe, it's not ''impossible'' that Finn and Lachesis could have hooked up between the timeskip for a brief period, but it's not very likely, either.