Romance in Hacks

I think it could be a neat aspect to the game. First off, in terms of the game, it doesn't really state how old anyone is. Sure, we all know the story, but you can change that to whatever you want. In terms of the art, some of the characters definitely look like they could be old enough to be in a relationship. Even if it's just a cute "boy-tries-to-impress-girl" (or vice versa) type of thing. This might be a lot of work, but it would be neat if (mostly) every girl (again, could be guys as well) in the game has a set of requirements you have to reach in order to progress the relationship. Maybe ones impressed by gym badges, maybe another is impressed with water type pokemon, etc... You could potentially create some new items, like flowers, chocolates, etc... And you just keep going back to the girl with "here's this" or "I did this". Which would allow you to progress to the next step. Maybe there's a reward for getting a girl, maybe that's the end of the game, finally impressing the girl of your dreams and it's happily ever after. Maybe she would get pissed if you keep bugging her without the next requirement. Could be something fun there... but quite a bit of work.

Hacks with romance isn't my thing. However it would be interesting to see that In a rom hack.

If it's done well, sure. The thing with romance is that if it ever comes across as forced (as in the writer FORCED A & B to kiss, instead of it feeling like a natural progression), it becomes a little cringey and puts me off from playing the game. Also the protagonist has to be old enough - I'd say 16 or older. Anything younger than that just seems a little odd for some reason, unless the characters are mature enough.

I think romance is fine for a game with 10-year olds as long as its a well written story and not blown out of proportion....it would have to be just hints or innocent-like, because let's face it, it would be awkward or borderlined creepy in a pokemon game if it screamed pervertedness in a game full of 10 year-olds. It'd have to be something like what they are doing now with Ash and Serena.


Even if you gave the characters a older age role, you could potentially have more room in it, but at the same time, not very much room. Take Brock for example in the anime. They was able to make a Brock a total flirt in the anime and he was much older than Ash, but they still had little room of what they could imply with him to keep it, child friendly enough to avoid crossing that border line for a cartoon-like anime

I think if it was well written it would be a great idea. Maybe a rival of the opposite gender and then from the rivalry develops a romantic story