The Not Love Interest / Video Games

Not Love Interests in video games.

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• Ao Oni: Mika/Megumi for Hiroshi. Her core motivator in the games (from Version 5.0 onward, anyway) is to find Takuro — or wait for him to find her — so they can leave together.
• This is actually enforced in Aveyond, as the lead producer, Amanda, claims to prefer "unusual" pairings, and deliberately makes the most obvious Love Interest archetype non-Canon.
  • In Ahriman's Prophecy, Childhood Friends Talia and Devin are the only two Required Party Member in the game. Talia is sent out from her tiny village to become The Chosen One, and Devin is the only one willing to accompany her in her quest to keep her safe. The game then gives the option for Devin to either marry Talia or Alicia. Despite Alicia not being too relevant plot-wise, the sequel reveals that Devin does canonically marry Alicia, while Talia marries an unnamed priest.
  • In Rhen's Quest, Rhen's first and most steadfast companion is Lars, whom she shares a tumultuous history with (he was her master when she was Made a Slave, and he used to bully her when they both attended Shadwood Academy). As the journey progresses, he grows out of his selfish immaturity and even apologizes to Rhen for his past behaviour. He also shows some hints of jealousy when Dameon flirts with Rhen. But while Rhen acknowledges Lars's growth, she doesn't fall in love with him, choosing Dameon instead.
  • Word of God states that the Canon Official Couple in the Aveyond 3 series is Edward/Stella, even though Edward spends more time and shares a lot more interaction with the series's main protagonist, Mel.
  • Shadow Of The Mist has Myst, the Deuteragonist whose mission to save her little brother triggers Boyle's Redemption Quest to become a hero. Despite having the typical role of a Mystical Waif Magical Girlfriend, she explicitly says that she can't stand people like Boyle, and has more of a Ship Tease with Robin.
• In the "This is not a Meet Cute" department, there's Double H to Jade in Beyond Good & Evil. After Double H's rescue, he becomes Jade's loyal sidekick, following her everywhere. His single-sided devotion to her slowly deepens to a real friendship between the two of them. However, there's no overt romance between them, though they are frequently shipped.
• Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite has many cute moments with Booker DeWitt, including one early in the game where she near-coyly asks if he has a "woman in his life". Nothing comes of it, but seeing as he's her father it's probably for the best.
• Cold Winter have the player hero, Andrew Sterling, and his partner Kim who despite working closely with Andrew several times throughout the game (including busting his ass out of a prison cell in the first stage and saving his life more than once in cutscenes), but there are no indications of a romantic relationship. If there is, there isn't time to develop with Kim getting killed before the final act.
• In Disco Elysium, there are various characters your detective has obvious attraction to and a crippling breakup in his backstory. However, the character whose opinions you will be most concerned about over the course of the game is your partner, Kim Kitsuragi, who has Relationship Values with you and becomes more of a Defrosting Ice King as the story progresses. (Or, you can be racist and horrible and make him unable to defend you.)
• Kian and Likho from Dreamfall Chapters are both gay and can become very close during the game depending on player choice. Despite this, there is no hint of romantic or sexual attration between the two and they will only refer to each other as "brothers". There is a good reason for this though: Kian killed Likho's father, so the fact that they can go from sworn enemies to brothers in arms is remarkable in and of itself.
• Dragon Age: Origins:
  • Alistair and Morrigan are the most obvious ones, provided you're outside of their preferred gender, but pretty much anyone in your party can become this.
  • In the City Elf origin, Shianni serves this role for the protagonist. She's given a lot more characterisation that the Player Character's bride/groom and she shares more emotional dialogue with him/her, leading one to infer that the only reason she's not the love interest is because she's supposed to be one of their many cousins.
  • Dragon Age II follows suit with Aveline and Varric, neither of whom can be romanced. However, the game actually does go out of the way to Ship Tease Aveline and Hawke (if the player chooses) before sinking that ship. Word of God has mentioned they originally thought about including a scene where an unromanced Hawke would have met up with Varric at the end, revealing the two were in a secret relationship.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition:
    • Felix for companion Dorian Pavus. He's Dorian's best friend and helps him by infiltrating the Venatori, but Dorian states that there was never anything between them as Dorian would not have betrayed the trust of his then-mentor, Felix's father, by seducing his son.
    • Dorian can also be this for a female Inquisitor, as there are a number of opportunities for the characters to flirt as their friendship grows stronger. Due to Incompatible Orientation, they can never be a ship, but (depending on player choices) this doesn't in the slightest hinder their flirtations.
• The Dawnguard expansion of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim gives us Serana, the Friendly Neighborhood Vampire. She's easily the NPC with whom the Dovahkiin can have the most emotional scenes, has plenty of unique dialogue, and exudes plenty of Ship Tease in their interactions. However, because of her unusual circumstances, she is not a candidate for marriage and will let the Dovahkiin down gently if they try to propose. (Unsurprisingly, fans of the pairing responded by creating mods that allow her to be married.)
• Final Fantasy:
  • Terra in Final Fantasy VI is upset that she can't feel love, and, in the second half of the game, finds it — looking after a town of orphaned children.
  • In Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, Zack's main love interest is Aerith — but his friend Cloud is the one who he ends up rescuing, fighting for, and dying for.
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2 has this with Noel and Serah. They have basically the same dynamic as any other male and female lead of a JRPG, but Serah is engaged to Snow, and Noel has Ship Tease with Yeul.
  • Final Fantasy XV:
    • The primary relationship is between Noctis and his best friends, especially Prompto, who is the closest to Noct out of all of them and has the most prominent emotional plotline, including needing to be rescued.
    • Episode Ignis clarifies that Ravus's Face–Heel Revolving Door is all in the name of protecting his beloved sister, to whom he is completely dedicated, to the point of obsession. This is justified, as he lost all his other family members due to Regis's actions.
    • Episode Ignis: Extra Verse shows Ignis able to Screw Destiny and bring about a Golden Ending out of his love for his best friend, Noct.
• Fire Emblem:
  • This is actually a possibility for any game where ships are decided by the player. Of note are lord character with a teased relationship and many love interest options; e.g. Eliwood and Ninian or Roy and Lilina.
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn:
    • Princess Elincia is one for Ike. When we first meet Elincia in Path of Radiance, it seems possible, even likely, that she'll end up together with Ike due to Rescue Romance conventions, Ship Tease, and the fact that she's the most important female character in the game. Not helping is how much the English version played up the Ship Tease, and the fact that the two practically walk into the sunset holding hands at the end. In Radiant Dawn, not only do the two spend less time around each other, but Ike has paired endings only with Soren and Ranulf, and Elincia only with Geoffrey.
    • Mist and Rolf would seem like an obvious pair to new players. They are introduced and recruited together. They clearly share a very close bond. And both appear too young to be paired with anyone else but each other. Many players were surprised to learn that Mist's only paired ending is with Rolf's older brother: Boyd.
    • Aran and Laura. The two have all the hallmarks of a Childhood Friend Romance, but don't have a paired ending.
  • Chrom and The Avatar, AKA Robin of either gender in Fire Emblem: Awakening. If you don't choose a Female Avatar as one of Chrom's possible brides, they remain as each other's best friends and "two sides of a coin".
  • A similar case to the above is Azura and The Avatar, AKA Corrin of either gender, in Fire Emblem Fates. While Male Corrin and Azura receive heavy Ship Tease, it is entirely possible for them to end up as Platonic Life-Partners instead.
  • Fire Emblem Engage continues the trend with Veyle. She's a major player in the story and her relationship with Alear is one of the most important aspects of the plot. Unlike Robin and Azura though, this one remains strictly platonic, as Veyle is actually Alear's full-blooded sister.
• In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the protagonist is motivated by searching for his teacher, who drew him into the world of demons in the first place. It's the usual 'love interest' plot, but there's not an iota of sexual tension there: the plot is more of a Coming of Age Story about how he Surpassed the Teacher. Although that doesn't stop NPCs from getting the wrong idea...
  Madam Nyx: I'd tell you not to try [infiltrating the Nihilo base], but boys love risking their necks for girls.
• TearRing Saga has Sasha. She's a blue-haired pegasus-riding princess of a nation allied to The Hero, who is introduced early in the story, making her an extremely blatant Expy of Fire Emblem's first love interest, Caeda... and she and The Hero have no romance at all. He always hooks up with Enteh, and while one recruitable character has a crush on Sasha, nothing comes of it and she has no explicit romance in the epilogue.
• Hitman's Agent 47 and his handler, Diana Burnwood. The two have worked together in the ICA (and out) for years and they both place a great deal of trust on each other, but their relationships and interactions are mostly strictly profession, they both their line of work very seriously, and not to mention 47 is just an absolutely stone cold man. The closest thing to a Ship Tease is them having a little dance together in Hitman 3.
• In Kingdom Hearts:
  • Sora's devotion to his friend Riku and determination to find him is one that you would normally expect to see an RPG hero express towards a Damsel in Distress Love Interest.
    Sora: Riku... It's Riku. Riku's here! I looked for you. I looked everywhere for you!!
    • On the flip side, the Japanese dialogue of Kingdom Hearts III all but confirms that Sora is Riku's most precious person/'the person that matters most' (taisetsu na hito).
  • Roxas and Xion. The latter fills the traditional role of a JRPG protagonist's love interest, but there does not seem to be romantic love involved. It is probably since they are too young to understand what love is.
• Elisabeth Blanctorche from The King of Fighters is this to Ash Crimson, specially since she's also his Only Friend and the person whom he did... well, everything he did in the Tales of Ash saga for.
• In The Legend of Zelda, while there are titles where Zelda and Link are romantically interested in each other, there are just as many where the two are never implied to be or become anything more than friends, or are little more than acquaintances throughout. The biggest example of this in the series is Twilight Princess, where Link has two Implied Love Interests^note Ilia and Midna that he frequently interacts with, neither of whom is Zelda, who is entirely stoic and professional in her brief dealings with him.
• Mass Effect:
  • For a player who chooses not to have Shepard (of either gender) enter into a relationship with her, Liara falls into this role during the second and third game. While Shepard has their coterie of True Companions, Liara's loyalty and devotion to Shepard takes her beyond that of a mere friend and teammate.
  • Male Shephard has Tali comes to this level in the second game if he manages to negotiate her loyalty mission with her father's reputation intact.
  • Thane can fill this role for female Shepard, to the point that his death scene makes it quite clear he loves her deeply, as she does him.
  • Garrus fulfills this role for Shepard when not romanced. He respects Shepard greatly and relies on them for moral guidance; his introduction quest in the second game is basically a Rescue Romance; and during their goodbye before the final battle, they both pull a Try Not to Die on each other, and Shepard even admits "There's no Shepard without Vakarian." Garrus is also shown to be pretty good at seeing through Shep's heroic persona and offering them moral support when they're breaking down.
• Metal Gear:
  • Otacon is Solid Snake's Not Love Interest. In Metal Gear Solid, they have what could be described as a Meet Cute in a warped sort of way, exchange some emotionally loaded dialogue, and, if Meryl (the actual love interest) dies, Snake leaves with Otacon instead. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, they're best friends for the whole game, tease each other and support each other emotionally when things get rough. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, they're raising a kid together, Otacon is supporting Snake through his serious illness, and the game ends with an emotional declaration from the both of them that they will stay together until the end of Snake's life. Hideo Kojima even stated, with some irony, that Otacon was Snake's 'love interest' in 4. The voice actors have some fun with how "Not" Otacon actually is (see the lengthy MGS entry under Ho Yay). In Canon, though, MGS4 tried to sink the Snake/Otacon ship and make it clear he was the Not Love Interest and Snake's Platonic Most Important Person. It didn't work.
  • Meryl counts, too. Even though she canonically survives, she never does become Snake's love interest. Hell, she actually hooks up with the series' dedicated Butt-Monkey!
• The story of Monster Hunter 4 sets this up between the Player Character (who has a Purely Aesthetic Gender) and the Ace Commander. He has a general Tsundere attitude towards the Player Character, admires their accomplishments over the course of the story and saves them from drowning at sea at some point. There's even a victory cutscene during which a mutual friend pats the Ace Commander and the Player Character on the shoulder at the same time with a big smile on his face while they're shaking hands.
• Mortal Kombat: Jax and Sonya are partners in the Special Forces, and are usually seen together. Jax is very protective of Sonya and is not happy when he sees Johnny Cage flirting with her. However, Jax is already married, and Sonya goes on to marry Cage (yes, we know). It's possible their relationship is closer to a Mentor-Apprentice bond.
• Kumatora to Duster (or maybe it's the other way around) in Mother 3. When Duster gets Easy Amnesia for three years), it's Kumatora who stays with him throughout it, even if only on the sidelines. And while she hides herself behind harsh words, she genuinely seems to care for him. But as for love? There's no real evidence of that.
  • This similarly applies to Lucas and Kumatora, which might be jarring for those who have played the previous two games in the series, in which the protagonist and lead girl are either outright confirmed to be a couple^note Ninten and Ana or highly implied to be one^note Ness and Paula. Kumatora is good friends with Lucas, but there's no indication that either feels anything beyond that.
• Neverwinter Nights 2:
  • A lot of people play Neeshka like this, as she's a genuinely likable character but the developers never finished her Romance Sidequest.
  • Ditto for Bishop, who also lost the ending of his Romance Sidequest but still has way more chemistry with the female Player Character than Casavir does.
• The Persona games often have this with the best friend character being pretty close.
  • Persona 3 has Junpei Iori being the best friend to the main character, either male or female. While he's initially resentful of his more accomplished best friend, the two become pretty close. This is more notable if the main character is female as he is more like an older brother figure and it never becomes romantic between the two (notably, Junpei is the only one with a solid love interest, albeit one who dies though the Updated Re-release has a way for you to save her if you know what you're doing.
  • Persona 4:
    • The protagonist and Yosuke. Both of them refer to each other as "partner" and there is a surprisingly deep and impactful friendship between them. This unusual relationship actually came about because Yosuke was originally supposed to be the Gay Option. Even with the relationship now platonic, the deeper elements are still notable.
    • Yukiko and Chie. During the quest to rescue Yukkiko, Shadow Yukiko reveals that she considered Chie a female version of Prince Charming. Chie's English voice actress has pointed out her thoughts that Chie may have a crush on Yukiko. Yukiko herself does admire Chie, but there's not much known on her side (though she does think Chie and Yosuke would make a cute couple).
  • Persona 5:
    • Joker and Ryuji Sakamoto. Unlike most examples, Ryuji is The Chariot (with Morgana being more the mascot despite being The Magician.) Ryuji serves as the rough right-hand-man to the more suave Joker. They're both each other's closest friends (more meaningful since both ignored the social stigmas surrounding them and became each other's first true friends). Heck, whenever there are events one could have with a romantic partner, Ryuji tends to be a default if romance wasn't pursued. While perhaps not as close to P4's protagonist and Yosuke, there is still a great deal of trust between them.
    • Interestingly, quasi-Honorary True Companion Yuuki Mishima is often roped into these situations as well (Yuuki trying to help Joker in whatever ways he can after he was forced into leaking Joker's criminal record). Hilariously subverted in the Valentine's Day event, where if Joker romanced no one, Ryuji comes in and both he and the protagonist realize that the only reason Yuuki is not there is because even he found a date, causing them to humorously declare him a traitor.
• Rui to Wes in Pokémon Colosseum. Their initial meeting certainly seems like it's working up to a Rescue Romance, as Wes saves Rui from a band of kidnappers. The two team up, and Rui follows Wes everywhere. Without Rui's ability to see Shadow Pokemon, there isn't much Wes can do, so they depend heavily on each other. However, after that, there's not much evidence that their relationship is anything but platonic. Even the end of the game (which the viewer might expect to hold some kind of Love Confession) has... not much, really. Maybe Rui's just not into bad boys. Though it's hard to establish any kind of a relationship when Wes never says anything.
• In Puyo Puyo, Ringo and Maguro have a close, supportive relationship that stems from them knowing each other since childhood, yet neither character has shown any sort of romantic inclination to the other, aside from several vague Ship Tease moments.
• Queen at Arms has Nicholas, the player character's adopted older brother. Though Nick and his "brother" can potentially share a number of emotional scenes, there are no story paths in which they become a pair. The developers acknowledge that they originally intended for Nick to be one of the romance options, but ultimately felt that keeping the sibling relationship intact was more true to the characters.
• Eruca in Radiant Historia. She and Stocke have a Lady and Knight relationship that's disproportionately close for how long they've known each other, he's constantly going through hell and high water to help and protect her, and they even get mistaken for a couple a few times. He's actually her older brother, so that would be a bit awkward. Hence, not much shipping from this one.
• The eponymous Ratchet & Clank are extremely close and would do anything for each other. While Ratchet has a couple Girl of the Week love interests, and Clank is a general Chick Magnet, none of these relationships are as serious and enduring as their friendship (to the point that Qwark once referred to Clank as Ratchet's Only Friend — untrue, of course, but they're definitely each other's best friends).
• Rune Factory 4 has Ventuswill. The first girl that the protagonist meets, the plot is actually centered around her for the first half, the first female Dragon God in the game series and, despite being a dragon, has a human-shape sprite to interact with at times... but is not an actual bachelorette to marry, despite what these signs may indicate, especially the last one.
• Secret of Mana: At a time when the male and female leads nearly always ended up together in JRPGs, Primm has a boyfriend outside of the party, who she spends the whole story trying to rescue from the villains. Because of this, there's no implications of romance between her and Randi, even after her boyfriend dies near the end of the game.
• Shining Force II reveals that Sarah has been this to Bowie the whole time. She shows a great affection for her childhood friend and leader, but at the end of the game, nothing has changed the fact that Bowie is in love with Princess Elis. When Bowie is selected to wake the sleeping princess with a kiss (who was put in a coma by the Big Bad, Zeon), Sarah tearfully concedes defeat in not being able to be with Bowie, but wants him to be happy regardless. Thankfully, Kazin goes after her to comfort her. It's later revealed in Shining Wisdom that they are romantically involved.
  • Surprisingly, though, Kazin becomes this to Sarah in the original Japanese version of Shining Wisdom. Despite Kazin having a genuine affection for Sarah, the elven girl blatantly refused to be in love with anyone else, her heart still unable to let go of Bowie. This was changed in the English Translation, as seen above, that they did get together.
• In Silent Hill: Downpour Murphy and Anne. The way she acts antagonistically to him because she mistakenly believes he killed her father can come off almost like she was a furious, hurt ex. In fact, in one Let's Play, the player believed that Anne would be revealed as Murphy's ex-wife who left him when he was sent to prison.
• Stardew Valley has Krobus, who is a Relationship Values version of this. He acts like a marriage candidate in that he has heart events, and if you max out your friendship with him, you can give him a Palette Swap version of the Mermaid Pendant (the item you use to propose marriage) to get him to move in with you instead of getting married. However, he's stated to simply be a good, platonic friend and a roommate.
• Street Fighter: Chun-Li and Guile are the most recognizable ones. They're very similar in lots of ways and have a close working relationship. Guile is, of course, a family man, so this ship really isn't sailing any time soon. Other instances are Guy and Rose (the married thing again) and Ryu and... everyone else.
• Super Paper Mario: According to Luigi, Princess Peach is Mario's Not-Love Interest. However, most Mario games have Peach as an Implied Love Interest or outright have Mario and Peach be the Official Couple
• Tales Series:
  • Jude and Milla from Tales of Xillia can be said to be this. Even though Jude seems to be very fascinated by her, to be the point of being a stalker, and despite the two being set up as the typical male and female lead roles, there is actually very little development that can be considered romantic. Tales of Xillia 2 gave them a bunch of Ship Tease, but still not nearly as clear as most other Tales lead roles.
  • Yuri and Estelle from Tales of Vesperia. They're the two lead roles and their circumstances and development leading to romance could be considered typical but there are no strong or explicit romantic development between the two. The two still develop a close relationship, but the game itself does not delve into any possible future romance.
• Heavy and Medic have a platonic, quasi-romantic dynamic in Team Fortress 2. Medic is noticeably warm and jovial with Heavy in the "Meet the Medic" video, affectionately pinching Heavy's cheek at one point. The "End of the Line" video shows Heavy and Medic acting like a quasi-couple, with the two having a minor spat over a chess game, Medic desperately trying to save Heavy with an UberCharge as a train approaches him, and Medic falling to his knees when he believes that Heavy has died. Heavy rescues Medic from danger in the "End of the Line" video and "The Naked and the Dead" comic, and goes berserk when Classic Heavy kills Medic in said comic.
• Trails Series:
  • In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Rean has a rivalry with Crow who betrays them at the climax of the first game. Come the second game, Rean is very insistent in bringing Crow back to the academy. And when they finally meet each other face to face in a long while, Crow's first action is to cook breakfast for him, then tells his past towards Rean after the latter really insisted on it with lines that wouldn't look out of place for the hero and his love interest. Add their duels which are so over the top their friends call them out on it with the resident Little Miss Snarker claiming that they're in their "own little world", and the fact that they have the only Combination Attack in the entire saga, and it's really hard to not see Crow as Rean's sorta love interest, despite the game having a dating sim of sorts (which really did little to curb the notion as Crow's events in Cold Steel II and beyond are mandatory to the plot).
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie: C aka Rufus Albarea and Lapis Rosenburg form a bond together and find out that their circumstances are very similar to one another. Their bond is so strong that Lapis will tackle hug C at the first sign of opportunity when they get separated with one another. However, as C is near his 30's and Lapis is a young-looking doll that has only existed in the world for a few months, their bond is more akin to that of a father-daughter relationship.
• Sam is this to Lara in the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. Lara becomes an Action Survivor in order to rescue her, fights her way through an entire island filled with madmen to rescue Sam, and even does a bridal carry at the end of the game. Despite all of that, they are never portrayed as anything but friends.
• Yandere Simulator: Hanako Yamada, the ninth and penultimate rival. She's your Senpai's adorable if clingy younger sister. She adores her older brother so much she transferred into his school to be with him, and her death or disappearance will take a huge hit out of Senpai's hidden Sanity Meter. Despite her presence in the game being a clear reference to the Little Sister Heroine trope in romance anime and dating sims, there's nothing incestuous about their relationship at all. The reason why Hanako is a rival is because she's so clingy she'd demand that Senpai not get a girlfriend for the forseeable future, simply because she's scared he'd stop paying attention to her. Unfortunately, that's enough to be targeted by Ayano.

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