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A lot of games these days have some kind of affection system built into dialogue, allowing you to pursue relationships with characters you like, be a general prick to characters you don't, and maybe murder a few that REALLY antagonise you. Is this a feature that you enjoy and actively seek to manipulate for the desired outcome with a character you like/dislike, or something you tend to ignore? In your opinion, is this a good way of building character development and party interaction? Are there any games that you've played that you feel would benefit from some kind of affection system, and any that could have done without it?

Heart points from me for anyone who replies to this topic, btw.

I like it in general, as usually if you grind it out enough you get some character development or backstory or even items, all of which is a plus. It's of course not the only way to implement those things, but there's possibly worse ways to do it too, and I've yet to play a game where it annoyed me.

The part where I imagine that I probably differ from a lot of people is that I don't engage in these things for the romance part of it, and if I do, it's purely either because I'm doing because you get something tangible out of it (i.e. kid units in Fates/Awakening), or just to see what happens if I do. I really couldn't be less interested in having waifus and husbandos. Which may or may not sound strange coming from someone who plays Fire Emblem.

I liked the affinity mechanic in Xenoblade 1. The game is just set up in such a way that all the relationships between the characters and their surroundings seem to fit together pretty nicely. XB2 kinda felt little bit like a downstep in that regard. Even Torna was kind of a let down and it's definitely not because they make it a requirement for beating it.

Fire Emblem I'm kinda meh on it, tbh. I Three houses I pretty much had all the options but ended up picking none of them. Simply because I could.

And then there are games that have such a system not to improve the overall gaming experience, but because seemingly every game now needs such a feature. Those games make me sad. I just know that if they had not wasted their efforts on something like that, they could have used the time to improve something that's actually important.

The reason I don't like it probably differs from why it would for most people, and usually deals with how it's utilized.

Looking at Persona, for instance- in fact, lemme use Persona 4 Golden as the perfect example. Love the game to death but and that they incentivize making friends there more than any other game in the series until 5 is great. But, flipside, after you max them out you don't have a reason to hang out with them again. Because it'd just be a waste of time.

To hang out with your friends. Your best friends, specifically. The people that you actually love you. Wanna see your girlfriend? Uh-uh gotta go save the world then yeet yourself outta the city. And that's a lot of games, most games with a hearts system. Fire Emblem does, Rune Factory and Harvest Moon kinda do, And that is a flaw in my eyes because when a game is based around the theme of or heavily focuses on these relationships and then basically just kinda ends it at max, that makes it seem incredibly superficial.

I don't dislike it, I shouldn't have said I don't, but it really is the execution that bothers me more than the concept. If someone likes you it should be reflected in more than just side content.

Dawn said:

A lot of games these days have some kind of affection system built into dialogue, allowing you to pursue relationships with characters you like, be a general prick to characters you don't, and maybe murder a few that REALLY antagonise you. Is this a feature that you enjoy and actively seek to manipulate for the desired outcome with a character you like/dislike, or something you tend to ignore? In your opinion, is this a good way of building character development and party interaction? Are there any games that you've played that you feel would benefit from some kind of affection system, and any that could have done without it?

Heart points from me for anyone who replies to this topic, btw.

Click to expand...

The games that come to mind upon reading this thread are Fire Emblem and Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons / Stardew Valley. I enjoy systems like these because it feels nice to connect to characters. Really fleshes out the world and makes your player character feel like they're part of something. Is it a good way of building character development and party interaction? Definitely. Some games can improve on theirs, but on the ones that do it right, it's great.

For Fire Emblem I remember being really bummed that I can't have max support levels with everyone, but I guess that makes the game replayable and balanced in a way, considering how the supports affect gameplay in a game like Path of Radiance.

For the farm sims, especially Stardew Valley, I took a lot of time to make sure everyone was happy with me just because it felt so rewarding to see their dialogue change to nicer things as time went on and affection was raised. The perks of getting recipes that would serve as gifts for other villagers were also nice to have.

If Pokémon Amie / Refresh also counts as well as the happiness / friendship stat then that's also one example done right. I love the benefit of your Pokémon getting stronger in battle with moves like Return, suddenly surviving a hit that would have knocked them out, or healing themselves spontaneously from status afflictions. It's great.

I would like Kingdom Hearts to have something like this in the future. Especially if the games go toward a direction of you getting to build a party out of the many characters that Nomura has made us invested in, all with their own personality and battle style, gosh the thought of that being improved with an affection system makes me want it.

i hate when there are no longer benefits to hanging out with people but i say that and. do it anyway. like how am i supposed to stay away. like oh i can't get linhardt's support any higher than it is now? eff that we're having tea anyway because i SAID so. oh i maxed out my confidant w yusuke???? shut up game i do what i want.

i have a bad habit of not being able to be mean to people though so you can imagine the people i've accidentally dated or the times i've made my least favorite characters like me. i'm way too nice. some y'all probably think i'm a rude ass but i'll literally feel bad over things i can't control and that carries over into video games where i have choices apparently aha. rip...