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"I love it when women fight over me..."
Commander Shepard, Mass Effect

An optional Romance Arc sidequest in many Role Playing Games wherein the Player Character enters a romantic relationship with an NPC (usually, but not always, one of their party members). Sometimes it's a full-blown quest, sometimes just a series of dialogues with the NPC. Sometimes you can screw everything up with wrong dialogue decisions, sometimes you can't. May or may not involve sex upon completion. The term "Romance Sidequest" is more often used in reference to Western RPGs, whereas the term "Dating Sim Elements" would more often be used in reference to Eastern RPGs.

In the earliest examples, the number of female love interests was often higher than that of male ones, likely because Most Gamers Are Male, but the most recent trends gravitate toward gender parity. Also, most romance sidequests in older games were heterosexual, to avoid offending Moral Guardians, and, again, because most gamers (and writers) are (heterosexual) males. This, too, has been on decline in recent games and a Gay Option is often included nowadays (sometimes to the point of Everyone Is Bi). Romancing multiple characters at once is usually impossible, except on the early stages, after which you "must make a decision".

In contrast to Western RPGs, their Japanese counterparts usually tend to integrate the romance into the main story rather than move it to sidequests. Some, with their love for linearity, tend to pair The Hero up with one specific girl in the course of the story, into which this sub-plot is rigidly integrated. Others tend to incorporate a Relationship Values system to determine which character has a romantic relationship with who. The Japanese are also responsible for inventing the genre of games that consist entirely of romance sidequests: Dating Sim (incidentally, some gamers slap this genre label onto any game that includes romance with NPCs).

Subtrope of Companion-Specific Sidequest. Related tropes are Relationship Values that are sometimes interchangeable with (or a prerequisite to) a Romance Sidequest and Optional Sexual Encounter which this sidequest can but might not culminate in. Alternatively, if the PC and their love interest end up having children, see And Your Reward Is Parenthood. If the PC's chosen love interest has a specific role in the story outside of the romance subplot, it may overlap with Static Role, Exchangeable Character. Also related is the Match Maker Quest, when the PC does this for out of party NPCs. See also Romance Game for when romance is the main focus of the game.

See also our guide on how to Write a Romance Sidequest.


Examples:

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    Action-Adventure 
  • Nobody Saves the World: Played for Laughs, just like everything else in this game. There is an early game optional Objective in which you "experience unbridled love"... but it involves using your apparently female Horse form and falling in love with a certain stallion that gets freed at the end of the Horse Mines dungeon.

    Action RPGs 
  • In both Mega Man Legends games, you have the option to buy presents for Roll to increase her affection, which is reflected on her diary. The final entry in the second game has her outright admitting to love Mega Man if it's high enough.

    Adventure Games 
  • A minor case in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. One of the girls in the bazaar will develop feelings for Link, if you play your cards right. It's your choice whether to reject her or not.
  • In Quest for Glory V, the main character has the opportunity to woo and get engaged to one of the four women he encountered during the previous four games.
  • The PC game Secrets of da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript gives the player the option of how far to take the romance sidequest. It's only necessary to charm the female character enough that she'll let you enter her rooms to see the da Vinci artifacts kept there. However, pouring on the maximum charm will get her to invite the player character to share her bed for a night; if that happens, the ending implies that she has fallen in love with him.

    BioWare 
BioWare is undoubtedly the Trope Codifier among Western RPGs. As far as Western RPGs are concerned, this trope is found mostly either in their own games, or games influenced by them.

  • BioWare's first attempt at romance was in Tales of the Sword Coast, the expansion to the original Baldur's Gate. In the village on Balduran's Island there is a character of the opposite gender of your PC (Delainy if you're male, Durlyle if you're female) who will express interest in you. If you respond with flirty remarks, you are eventually given a quest. Upon completing their quest you receive a flower and a kiss as thanks, and they will later help you escape when you discover the dark secret of their village. The Updated Re-release Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition released 14 years later allows you to develop a romance with any of the three new party members: Neera for males, Rasaad for females, and Dorn for either. Its inclusion is quite a testament to how synonymous romance has become with BioWare's games.
  • Baldur's Gate II is the Trope Codifier and gives us Aerie, Jaheira, and Viconia if the PC is male and Anomen if female. Haer'Dalis and Valygar were also planned as potential love interests for females but they were cut due to time constraints, though light Ship Tease remains. The romance will develop slowly throughout the game and can be continued into the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal. it is initially possible to maintain several romances simultaneously but eventually the involved paramours will force you to choose one of them, which, if it's allowed to go on long enough, will cause the rejected love interest to leave the party permanently, taking all their gear with them. Again, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition allows you to continue any romance established in the original Enhanced Edition, as well as a new potential love interest for females in the form of lesbian vampire Hexxat.
  • Dragon Age:
    • In Dragon Age: Origins, there are four romance options among the recruitable NPCs: Alistair, Morrigan, Zevran, and Leliana, one each heterosexual male, heterosexual female, bisexual male, and bisexual female. So that's three out of four options (two of the opposite gender and one of the same) no matter what gender your character is. There are a few minor NPCs in the game with whom you can unlock one-night stands, and others you can have some flirtatious banter with, such as Bann Teagan. Each origin also has an optional romantic sub-plot, mostly restricted to female players. Additionally, one of the visitable locations in the capital city is a whorehouse, and yes, you can sample the wares this time. As if to influence you to knock up everyone, you can get an achievement for being a part of every possible romance account-wise.
    • Dragon Age II follows suit with Isabela (the bisexual pirate captain you could bed in the first game), Merrill (a temporary companion from the Dalish Origin), Anders (a possible party member from Awakening), Fenris, and the DLC-only Sebastian. However, it then tops Origins by making ALL of them bisexual (except Sebastian, who is also celibate). The romances can even take different paths depending on whether or not the romance is with a friend or a rival. A romance with a friend is fairly standard material. A romance with a rival is fraught with Belligerent Sexual Tension. And, like the previous game, there's also a city brothel where, again, the player character can sample the goods.
    • Dragon Age: Inquisition has the most potential love interests of any single BioWare game: eight in total, and for the first time more available for female characters than for male (six for female characters, four for male). It also has a side romance available to both sexes in the vein of Kelly Chambers of Mass Effect. Also for the first time, your character's race influences romantic options: Sera the lesbian elf is an Amazon Chaser who also experiences Cuteness Proximity, and thus can be more easily romanced by a female Qunari or dwarf than an elf or human, while Solas is only available as a romantic partner if playing a female elf; he has no interest in other races. The cut-scenes during sex are also much Hotter and Sexier than previous games, featuring uncensored frontal nudity from the waist up for both male and female characters.
  • Jade Empire has three potential love interests: childhood friend Dawn Star, Rebellious Princess Silk Fox and Gentleman Rogue Sky. While Dawn Star is only available for male characters (though female characters can still have a sismance with her), Silk Fox and Sky are available for both genders and a male character can even potentially end up with both Dawn Star and Silk Fox. In order to have a same-sex relationship though, you first have to make it absolutely clear to the heterosexual options that you are not interested (which pretty much means you have to insult them). If you have successfully built up approval with your love interest, you are treated to The Big Damn Kiss right before the endgame kicks in. The same-sex versions of the kiss are censored though.
  • Knights of the Old Republic has Bastila for male PCs and Carth for female, as well as a hidden (and very abbreviated) "plot" with Juhani for females. The sequel doubles the number of love interests (Visas, Handmaiden, Atton, Disciple) but downplays the "romance" part a great deal, instead opting for Relationship Values: in the final cut, there's not even so much as a kiss there. In the cut ending, the romances were supposed to play a greater role (such as making your chosen love interest sacrifice themselves for you or two love interests fighting to the death over Exile).
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic generally has at least two love interests per class (at least one male and one female) for each storyline, with the expansions adding some same-sex options (Rise of the Hutt Cartel added a gay male and female for the Empire and Republic respectively, Shadow of Revan introduced two bisexual romances).
  • Mass Effect:
    • Mass Effect has Ashley for male PCs, Kaidan for female PCs, and Liara for either. The latter became (in)famous for attracting attention of every Media Watchdog out there because not only does she effectively introduce a lesbian subplot (technically she's from a One-Gender Race, but who are we kidding) but she is also an alien, to boot. That the relationship culminates with (non-explicit) sex scene didn't help matters either.
    • Mass Effect 2 adds even more potential love interests. Male Shepard can choose among Miranda, Jack, and Tali. FemShep has Jacob, Thane, and Garrus as options. Regardless of Shepard's gender, they can go for a (female) bisexual Kelly Chambers, Samara (if Paragon), and Morinth (though that would be greatly inadvisable), though the last three don't net you the Paramour achievement. All permanent squad members require completing their Loyalty Mission before romance is unlocked. In addition to the new romances, there are three that can carry over from the first game if you pursued them and the game registers whether you stay true to them: Ashley or Kaidan, with whom you only get a single dialogue in the game, and Liara, the only old flame with whom romance can be consummated, if only at the end of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC storyline.
    • Mass Effect 3 lets you continue most of the romances from the previous two gamesnote , adds three new romances among the Normandy staff (two exclusively same-sex male and female, one bi female) and allows male Shepards to romance Kaidan. The Citadel DLC adds additional romance scenes with almost all love interests from the main gamenote  and allows Shepard to consummate the romance with Samara if it was pursued in Mass Effect 2. Female Shepards who are still single can also have a brief fling with James Vega or a one-night stand with Javik.
    • Mass Effect: Andromeda has at least seven major romance options within the main cast, one major romance with a supporting NPC, and potentially other "lighter" romances on various worlds.
  • Neverwinter Nights:
    • The game features romance, but downplayed it at the request of the publisher, who thought romance wouldn't appeal to their intended teenage male demographic. This time the available love interests were the main quest-giving NPCs rather than party members: Lady Aribeth de Tylmarande for males, and spymaster Aarin Gend for females, though your character needed average or better Charisma in addition to the right gender. Romancing Aribeth won't prevent her Face–Heel Turn. But it guarantees that she'll take her Last-Second Chance.
    • The second expansion Hordes of the Underdark, following an entirely separate but related story with a new protagonistnote , allows the player character to romance the Drow assassin Nathyrra or Aribeth again (her ghost, anyway (don't ask)) if male or the tiefling Valen Shadowbreath if female (though none of those characters appear until about a third of the way through and you don't encounter Aribeth until the beginning of the third chapter). A tricky player can even end up with both Nathyrra and Aribeth.
  • Neverwinter Nights 2:
    • The game has two possible romance options: The female druid Elanee for male player characters, and the male paladin Casavir for female player characters. Two additional romantic options were also planned: The female tiefling rogue Neeshka for males, and the male ranger Bishop for females. Both of the latter two's romance ended up half-implemented but was Left Hanging without any real resolution due to Executive Meddling.note 
    • The expansion Mask of the Betrayer has two different possible love interests: The female Red Wizard Safiya for male PCs, and the male hagspawn(don't ask) Gannayev-of-Dreams for female PCs. Word of God says Gann was also intended as a homosexual romance option for males, but Wizards of the Coast, the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, were not happy with the idea.
  • In Sonic Chronicles, making certain choices would result in a romantic subplot between Sonic and Amy.

    Minigame Games 
  • After a certain point in Cook, Serve, Delicious!, you can start to date people via a service called Cook4Luv. Your date sends you an email mentioning their favorite dish before the day they come to your restaurant; if you fix their order perfectly, they'll send you texts later on in the day and you have to choose the non-insulting responses (during work hours). Subverted in that, inevitably, your love interest breaks up with you after three dates even if you've done everything perfectly. There's an option in the menu to choose whether you want to date men or women which changes the names and sprites of the love interests; interestingly, you can switch between men and women at any time, and the names/sprites of your current and former love interests will change, like a stealth retcon.

    Role-Playing Games 
  • Alpha Protocol allows Mike to build up a potential romance with any of four female characters — Mina, Scarlett, Madison, and SIE. He can also bed all four of them in a single playthrough, earning an achievement and a perk. And no, unfortunately, he can't romance Sis.
  • Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, aside from the potential for paid sex and a few brief flings, had one potential romance, with an Elven Princess. She was a bit finicky (though somehow fell for an Escaped Lunatic,) requiring near maximum intelligence, highly good alignment, and at least average beauty. Courting her simply amounts to asking her opinion about various places in the world, and give flirty answers when she starts to appear twitter-pated. And avoid the obviously bone-headed comments.
  • Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia allows you to dive into the female protagonists' psyche and complete various tasks. After you reach the deepest level, you get a marriage scene. And a very powerful wedding dress for the heroine to equip. It's that kind of game.
  • Assassin's Creed: Odyssey did this in a series first, allowing players to romance male and female characters alike regardless of whether or not they're playing as Alexios or Kassandra.
  • Baldur's Gate III continues the tradition set by BioWare's original duology by allowing you to romance the recruitable origin characters (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Wyll). Later additions to the party such as Halsin or Minthara (depending on the outcome of a certain questline in Act 1) can also be romanced, with the exception of Jaheira and Minsc. Unlike the previous games, any of them can be romanced regardless of the player character's gender, and dumping one love interest for another will not cause the former to permanently leave the party (but not without changing their opinion regarding the player character for doing so). Additionally, the player character can stumble upon certain NPCs who can provide Optional Sexual Encounters under the right conditions, such as Mizora, Haarlep, and The Emperor. The game also features a brothel outside the eponymous city where they can avail the services of the drow courtesans Sorn and Nym Orlith.
  • In Cassette Beasts, you can choose to pursue a romance with one of the human party members after completing their personal quest and maxing out their relationship levels.
  • Contact lets the main character, Terry, woo four girls in the game, culminating in them living in the ship with him. Oddly, already having one girl does not mean another girl can not come. You can even have all four living with you at once, with no repercussions.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 allows players to enter a relationship with four possible characters: Judy, Panam, Kerry or River. The character creator doesn't have a male/female option, instead splitting V's gender/presentation into voice and body type. Judy will only romance a character with a feminine body and voice, Kerry: masculine body and voice, while Panam and River only need a masculine/feminine body type, respectively. The player can also set V's genitals, but those are irrelevant in all romance paths. Unlike in the company's previous game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the player can romance up to two characters in one playthrough with no consequences. Before they pick their ending, there will be an option to call one person closest to them. Whoever the player picks will appear in their epilogue. You can also not call anyone, but then V will be by themselves in their ending. Other than their respective sidequests and endings, the character(s) you've romanced will send you texts, and you can visit them to talk in their homes, which now become available apartments for you where you can stash your gear.
  • A Dance with Rogues has five romanceable NPCs, though only Pia's romance can be initiated in Part I. The four guys (Vico, Anden, Bran, and Rizzen) can only be romanced (and two of them, in fact, first appear) in Part II.
  • This is present in Dark Souls III, believe it or not. Though it is played with, regarding Anri of Astora's questline. It's necessary to marry him/her in order to achieve the Usurpation of Fire ending, but while the questline initially plays out like a regular one (with the player helping Anri along and vice versa), the actual "marriage" ceremony itself consists of the player kneeling in front of Anri's corpse and stabbing them in the face with a matrimonial sword. While the act does resurrect Anri so he/she can be the Ashen One's king/queen, it definitely isn't how you'd expect a regular romantic sidequest to end. Then again, this is Dark Souls...
  • Divine Divinity, an action-RPG in the mold of Diablo (but with more traditional fantasy trappings and a dash more humor) features an incredibly awkward and absurdly shallow "romance" with an elf of the opposite gender as yourself. Allegedly, this was inspired by Baldur's Gate II and the apparent elf-chick fetish on the part of whomever wrote the romance subplots for that game, and a jab in general at RPGs with shoehorned romance quests. To elaborate on how absurd the whole thing play out: First, the dialogue with her/him indicate that you're hopelessly smitten by first sight, and reads very over-the-top-poetry-written-by-teenager. Their response comes off as politely embarrassed and trying to get you to go away. They won't take it any further until the situation with the elf-dwarf war is dealt with. After that, they send you their father, who only agrees if you find their family heirloom... which doesn't actually exist in the game. So instead you find a dwarven jeweler and get a forgery. After that, they literally have no option but to accept you, and you can get your reward... a kiss. That's right, in order to get smoochies from a perfect stranger, who regards you as a borderline stalker, you only have to employ deception of the basest sort and insult their family honor behind their backs. True love, ladies and gentlemen.
  • The Ur-Example is possibly Dragon Knight, a series of RPG H-Games that features many romance quests that usually involved graphically explicit Hentai Sexual Encounters.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • In Morrowind, there is an exclusive quest chain available for male characters where you can enter a romance with a Khajiit thief named Ahnassi, doing favours for her and receiving gifts in return. At the end of the chain, she will give you the key to her house and ask you to move in with her. There is no corresponding quest for female characters, the closest equivalent to one for them is the Dunmer gentleman bandit Nels Llendo encountered on the road. Rather than try to rob you as he would a male character, he will instead be quite smitten by a female PC and will let you pass without a fight, and will also politely ask for a kiss which you can choose to accept or not.
    • Skyrim is rather unique among western RPGs for allowing the player to actually marry NPCs - including characters that can accompany you on adventures. Called "The Bonds of Matrimony", the sidequest involves arranging and attending your wedding ceremony after proposing to an eligible NPC. Getting a character interested in you simply require you to wear an Amulet of Mara while talking with characters that have a positive opinion of you (usually involving doing a quest for them). The courtship/marriages are somewhat chaste, with no love scenes, but you gain a temporary buff by sleeping in a bed with your spouse nearby.
    • Romance Sidequests is the point of the Skyrim mod Amorous Adventures. It adds dozens of romances with various NPCs (almost only women, though there's also one for Farkas and one for Vilkas; all romances are available to the Dragonborn regardless of their gender) including occasional sex scenes (offscreen, unless using a third-party sex mod). The romance sidequests have various length, but they always have Vanilla quests or conditions to be either started or to progress (for instance, Serana's romance follows the Dawnguard questline as flag events). A few of the Dragonborn's romance partners are also available as Vanilla spouses, though many other girlfriends aren't. Also, none of those quests are mutually excluding, so the Dragonborn can very well have over than twenty girlfriends at the same time.
  • Fallout 2 featured an Optional Sexual Encounter with a Farmer's Daughter (or son) that led immediately to a Shotgun Wedding. The new spouse spends the rest of their usually short life trailing after the hero.
  • Fallout 4 allows you to romance certain followers (regardless of gender) after you get their opinion of you high enough. For 2 followers, you also have to complete their personal quests in order to get their opinion high enough to romance them. You can choose to romance more than one companion, but romanced companions hate it when you flirt with someone else in front of them. You can also have a fling with the singer Magnolia (who's a synth) in Goodneighbor and the Robobrain Gilda in Vault 118 in the Far Harbor DLC.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • In Final Fantasy VII, there is a moderate amount of nonlinearity in regards of Cloud's love life: depending on how well the player treats Tifa, Aeris, and Yuffie at the early stages, Cloud gets a date with one of them at one point. If he doesn't treat any of them well, he gets a "date" with the Scary Black Man Barret. After that, it ceases to be relevant apart from his relationship with Tifa — Cloud's kindness towards her will determine whether or not they have a Pre-Climax Climax or just snuggle up together.
    • To a degree, this is also present in X as well. The Tidus/Yuna relationship is still central to the plot and two major cutscenes revolve around them, but by treating Lulu or Rikku well, Tidus can also develop a quasi-romantic relationship with either of them, to the point that Tidus' final overdrive where a character helps can feature any of the women, depending on who Tidus has the most affection levels with. Word of God confirms that different ending sequences if Tidus had preferred either character over Yuna were intended, but there was insufficient room on the disc for them.
      • This one is more of a friendly relationship though, as he can build relationships and alter certain cutscenes. The Snowmobile to Macalania Temple comes to mind. Depending on the players relationship with the party members, Tidus can ride with Lulu or Rikku, or the two will ride together and Tidus will drive next to Auron or Kimhari. A conversation will ensue that reveals tidbits about the character he's with.
  • In some of the Fire Emblem games, achieving the highest level Support (either A or S depending on the game) between two opposite-gendered characters will often, but not always, result in the two characters falling in love during the events of the game, which leads to them marrying each other (and usually having at least one child together) in the game's epilogue. There is also the occasional Gay Option where the two live and/or travel together.
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening features a literal and interesting variation of this: If any opposite-gendered characters in the army reach an S level Support, the player will unlock a sidequest chapter in which the couple's Kid from the Future child joins the group. Not only can they marry any eligible character, they all get unique Dating Sim style "confession" scenes when paired with the Avatar.
    • Fire Emblem Fates has confessions similar to those in Awakening, and in the case of the Avatar upgrades them to fully animated "confession scenes". And it keeps the child's recruitment sidequests, though in a different way. Plus there are two Bisexual Options for the Avatar.
  • GreedFall allows you to romance four out of your five companions. Kurt and Aphra can only go for de Sardet of the opposite gender, while Siora and Vasco swing both ways.
  • Lunarosse lets you attempt to build a proper relationship between Channing and Gloria, having them go from Teeth-Clenched Teamwork to a Perfectly Arranged Marriage couple.
  • The mainline Persona games from Persona 3 onward have several romantic options to choose from. In the original release of P3, Social Links with female characters are romantic by default, requiring the protagonist to get around quite a bit in order to max out all S.Links and obtain the most powerful Personas of each Arcana. Games from Persona 4 onward (including the female protagonist route added in Persona 3 Portable) give the player the choice of whether to pursue romance with S.Links/Confidants of the opposite sex or not.
  • There is brief romance with Annah in Planescape: Torment. Though the only tail you get is the one she wraps around your leg, all too briefly, while you make out. Grace, on the other hand, doesn't give or get even that much... what with being a succubus. But technically, if you have a low Wisdom score, you can kiss Grace...
  • Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 features an optional sidequest where you come across a lost Xtransciever, and return it to its owner after coming across specific event tiles on the map. Depending on which gender you play as, the owner will either be Yancy (male protagonist) or Curtis (female protagonist). Even after returning their Xtransciever, the sidequest indefinitely continues, as they register themselves in your Xtransciever, and calling them enough times will let you ride the Nimbasa City Ferris Wheel with them, before getting the chance to trade them any of your Pokémon for a Pokémon not native to the Unova region. After calling them at least 30 times, it becomes clear that Yancy and Curtis have fallen in love with you, as calling them from thereon out has them display a very visible Crush Blush.
  • Radiant Historia has a short one that triggers after making three specific decisions across two different timelines, during which Raynie will confess her feelings for Stocke. This sidequest is mandatory if you want the best ending. This sidequest is also a Guide Dang It!, because all three dialog options required... are combat related.
  • Rakenzarn Tales lets you romance your choice of 15 girls, each with their own story arc and rewards such as stat boosts, items or new moves. There's no harem option, though; once you max out a relationship, you can't date any of the other girls.
  • The various Star Ocean games are well known for this, as the endpoint of their Relationship Values mechanic; it doesn't affect gameplay strongly, but the choices you make in "Private Actions" throughout the game (either within storyline cutscenes or in special scenes focused entirely on the task) allow you to eventually choose which of the game's Multiple Endings you get. Star Ocean: The Second Story allowed you to pair up every character in your party, although most of the same-sex pair-ups were of a "Just Friends" nature, while Star Ocean: Till the End of Time only allowed it for the main character.
  • Tales of Symphonia allowed the player (via Lloyd) to pair off with any of the eight other party members. Only the female options were meant to be romantic, although there were some very strange vibes between Zelos and Lloyd.
  • Turovero: The Celestial Tower allows for Edric to finally confess his love for Leilia, contingent on the player triggering all of their campsite scenes and neither of them becoming the Dark One. This results in a slightly changed ending sequence and a secret Status Buff, wherein one character will get a massive magic power boost when the other falls in battle.
  • Winter Wolves' games, such as Planet Stronghold and Loren: The Amazon Princess, always include several of these. Like the Persona series, it's largely an outgrowth of the company's background in visual novels.
  • The Witcher
    • When the first The Witcher went for the mature-rating with their plot, content and dialogue, they figured they could throw in a whole pile of Optional Sexual Encounters (which makes sense, since Geralt screwed like a rabbit in the books). Most of them are just one-night stands but two (the medic Shani and the sorceress Triss) are solid romance arcs, complete with detailed dialogue trees and fairly intricate courtship, even by the usual standards. While the actual 'scene' is obfuscated in the usual way, you get a pretty explicit picture at the end of it.
    • Averted in the sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, where Triss is established as Geralt's love interest. However, there are still sexual encounters, which are much more graphic than the previous game.
    • In the final game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, they revert to the first game's method. There are a handful of Optional Sexual Encounters for Geralt, but once again he has two "official" love interests to choose between. This time the Betty and Veronica dynamic is filled by Triss and Yennefer, the latter of whom was Geralt's true love from the books. There's also consequences if Geralt tries to romance both love interests behind the others backs, which results in them tying him to a bed in revenge and Geralt losing out on being with either of them.
  • Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire (1990) seems to feature the earliest example among Western RPGs (though the first Dragon Knight does predate its release by a year in the overall RPG category). In it, the Avatar had the choice of dating the nubile Warrior Princess Aiela or her Alpha Bitch adoptive sister Tristia, with the ending making it quite clear whom the writers considered the better option (Aiela).

    Simulation Games 
  • You can romance any of your classmates in Growing Up if you wish, as it's still possible to get their good endings by just remaining friends with them. Sam is an exception if you're a girl since you'll be locked into his bad ending if you reject his romantic advances at the park. However, you can still remain friends with him and get his good ending if you make the right dialogue choices after making out with him once.
  • Harvest Moon has the Dating Sim element as a hallmark of the game. Competing with rivals to marry eligible NPCs changes the math on a simulation that is otherwise about making virtual money at your virtual job on a virtual farm.
    • In fact, 100% Completion (self-designated, open-ended games) usually involves marrying a secret option.
    • Many players do, in fact, 'level up' their relationships with all potentials because it carries certain benefits to do so. The end result of the choice, however, does not usually change gameplay significantly.
      • Certain games do react to this. The original allowed you to get a special womanizer themed ending if you wooed all the girls without marrying, and the boy option Wonderful Life games give you a "What the Hell, Hero?" type scene.
    • Also, since there are in fact rivals, many players take it upon themselves to initiate those events for the other pairings, as a kind of Match Maker Quest, so that nobody ends up alone.
  • In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, the options for flirting with the dateable characters are clearly marked so you can skip them, and you can still earn them on the title screen by maxing out their heart meters regardless.
  • Littlewood: Aside from their Parental Substitute, the Hero of Ambiguous Gender can romance all the people who move into the town they are rebuilding and marry one of them. It involves flirting with them when the friendship meter reaches a high enough level, going on a few dates and eventually proposing. The option include the Hero's former adventuring companions, several complete strangers and a former antagonist gone Amnesiac Villain Joins the Heroes.
  • In My Time at Portia, almost every single, well, single character in the game can be romanced, regardless of your player's gender, for an immense 30+ romance options. Of those who aren't available, the oldest Hulu brother has a possible relationship already, and Merlin behaves like a love interest up until you go on your first date with her... at which point she realizes that she's not really interested in relationships.
    • This continues in the sequel, My Time at Sandrock, with a few twists. Most romance candidates are available at the beginning of the game, but some need a specific event before they can actually be romances ( Elsie), or don't show up until much later in the game ( Nia, the schoolteacher). There is still quite a significant number of prospects, however, and you're never required to romance someone to increase their friendship.
  • Potionomics has the female protagonist Sylvia develop Relationship Values with other shopkeepers and Adventure Guild members for various bonuses, but if you select specific dialogue options, you can unlock a romance route with that character. Of the ten characters you bond with (five female, five male and one nonbinary) only the pirate cat duo Salt and Pepper (who count as a single character) are non-romanceable.
  • There are eight love interests to pursue in Potion Permit, each of them having an extra Friendship Event than the other characters. After completing all three Friendship Events of one love interest, you can confess your love to them by offering them a Moon Brooch.
  • There are many love interests to pursue in Roots of Pacha, as is given in a Farm Life Sim, but you can choose to remain friends with them even after maxing out their flower meters. They'll be a little heartbroken from your rejection, but are otherwise fine with being just friends.
  • Rune Factory, being Harvest Moon with action and dungeon crawling, doesn't skimp on the bachelorettes.
  • In Shepherd's Crossing 2, you can marry one of the townspeople if you fulfill the town's marriage customs. This means a male PC must raise several sheep and present them to his beloved, while a female PC needs to knit her beloved a homemade blanket from the wool of her sheep. It's treated In-Universe as being closer to an Arranged Marriage than a true romance, but the one you choose to romance ends up being very happy with the situation regardless.
  • Also being a Spiritual Successor to Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley offers the player a choice of six female options note  and six male ones note  who can all be romanced regardless of the character's gender. Once fully romanced, your love interest can marry you and come and live on your farm, and they'll lend a helping hand on the farm and do certain jobs for you as long as they're happy. You can also have children, either biologically or through adoption (if the same sex). The player can romance multiple characters, but if you romance all six characters of one gender, you will get an event in which they all dump you.
  • In World Neverland, you can date and marry any adult NPC who isn't in a relationship already. This is important, as your character will get old and die eventually — but if you marry, you can continue playing as one of your children. The only restriction is that first-generation player characters cannot marry into the royal family — you need to work to become King or Queen.

    Wide-Open Sandboxes 
  • Grand Theft Auto V: while most of the game's optional relationships fall into the Optional Sexual Encounter category, there are three exceptions:
    • A set of side-missions that involve Michael trying to reconcile with his wife, resulting in a rekindling of their romance.
    • Trevor and Franklin can optionally befriend a rather insane young woman named Ursula. Although the game primarily depicts her as a "booty call", she is considered unique from other similar characters (i.e. the strippers that become booty calls) and her interactions with Trevor and Franklin feel more like that of a girlfriend. It's very minor — this is GTA after all — but still present.
    • During one of Franklin's optional taxi missions, he can pick up a rather angry man who is very overprotective of his girlfriend to the point of being abusive and take him to her. When Franklin sees the girl, he decides to get to know her after beating up his original customer, causing Liz, said girlfriend, to hitch a ride back to her place, giving Franklin her number for a booty call as thanks for beating up her now ex-boyfriend.
  • Saints Row IV parodies the concept in general and Mass Effect in particular. You can "romance" anyone (and everyone) on your crew with the press of a single button. Even the robot. With the exception of Keith David, who says he'd rather keep things professional (ironically, David was also a voice actor in the Mass Effect series); and Benjamin King, who has a long cutscene building up to a love confession... but you really just want him to sign a copy of his book for you.

 
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Tali's Decision

Even though she has finally won a homeworld for her people, Tali decides to go with Shepard rather than stay & help rebuild. He wasn't going to pressure her to come, and their chances of defeating the Reapers are slim, but she wants to go through it with him (It also helps that she's his love interest).

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