For The Love Of Life - Part 2

Since my last Valentine's Day special blog got such an enthusiastic reaction from Cat, I'd thought I'd give it another try this year. However, I realize I'm limiting my options severely by sticking to the same rules as I did last year, so instead we're going with a different theme:

Unconventional

This valentine's day, we shall examine the more unconventional stories about love in videogames. This means either unconventional love interests or storylines that break the mold from your usual cookie-cutter plots.

So ready up your hot drinks, snuggle up to your significant other and prepare to 'D'awww' as we look at videogames unconventional tales of love.

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Ash and Eleni

VANDAL HEARTS

In one of Konami's most epic games, Ash Lambert is a platoon leader in the Ishtarian Security Forces. When his mentor orders him to find the famed General Magnus who is suspected of cooking up a coup d'état against the Republic, Ash and company encounter the General's daughter, Eleni.

Eleni does not catch Ash's eye at first, given the age gap between them and the fact that she's his target's daughter. However, in an interesting twist, Ash gets sucked into a dimensional distortion when his party assault Magnus' stronghold and he re-emerges to a world where many years had passed, only it has been but a single day for him. Though most of his friends are either imprisoned or being hunted down, the upside is that Ash encounters Eleni who has blossomed into a very beautiful woman.

Given how the age of consent has gotten uncomfortably lower and lower in today's games, it's nice to look back and see one adhere to some age appropriate romance even if they had to bend time itself to make it work.

Aeron and Elena

PANDORA'S TOWER

As opposed to 99% of every videogame out there, Pandora's Tower begins with the main leads already in love. The game follows the struggles and tribulations of Aeron as he attempts to cure Elena of the horrible curse that transforms her into gigantic hideous beast. To stem Elena's transformation, Aeron must slay monsters in the titular Tower and give them to her to eat. This is a rather pivotal part of the plot, as Elena is a staunch vegetarian both by choice and due to her religion. Watching Elena struggle and wretch whilst she consumes monster flesh is heart-breaking...all while her mental health is deteriorating.

Balancing the stemming of Elena's beastly curse and tending to her mental health by strengthening your bond with her, provides one of the most unconventional and 'fleshed' out love stories I have ever witnessed...darn, I had to go there, didn't I?

Spawn of Bhaal and Jaheira

BALDUR'S GATE II

Back before Bioware got taken over by the mutant lizards from Mars that sapped them of the ability to write a compelling narrative, they were pretty good at penning a love story.

Of course, as many are probably going to point out, there are loads of romantic options in Baldur's Gate so why single out Jaheira?

For one, let's do a short recap. In Baldur's Gate II, after realizing you are the son of an evil god and fresh of killing your sibling, your protagonist must confront his destiny and either became evil incarnate or stay true to his humanity. Along the journey, many will join your cause and several of them are romantic options.

Jaheira is a previous companion from the original Baldur's Gate. She is introduced to you with her husband, whom is promptly killed off in the opening of the second game. As opposed to her colleagues, Jaheira does not sleep with you or confesses her love until the end of her very, very long quest line. This gives some nuance and emotional depth to the character, as you help her work through the various stages of her grief.

While other games -have- portrayed protagonists who manage to win over their love interests from their previous boyfriends, it is only in Baldur's Gate where you tackle a romance subplot where the girl in question suffered a recent loss of her significant other.

Moving in on a recently widowed woman (no matter how very, very, VERY well written and portrayed) takes some serious brass. Truly, thou art a god amongst men.

But seriously, it is kind of sweet.

Recker and Psyme

SIGMA STAR SAGA

In one of the most original of plots, you play as Ian Recker, Ace Pilot and Bastard. In the far future where Earth is at war with a mysterious alien species as known as the Krill, Recker is sent to infiltrate the enemy ranks as a double agent. His cover being that he was a criminal who was sent to die by drifting through space. Captured by the Krill, Recker must win over the trust of his new alien overlords all while serving to undermine them.

Psyme is a disgraced Krill pilot who had lost her standing amongst her species when she failed to shoot down Earth's ace pilot (Recker, as luck would have it). She is forced to do grunt work with Recker, having been demoted to the bottom of the caste.

Psyme and Recker grow close and bond over their shared predicament. They are essentially grunts who are at the beck and call of an increasingly trigger-happy succession of bosses (the second one, in particular, was a psychopath).

Had this been a typical JRPG, Recker would have convinced Psyme to join him mid-point through the story but, thankfully, not so much here. Recker's duplicitous nature remains until the very end, at which point he reveals his true allegiance to a very furious Psyme who faces against him in a boss battle.

Depending on your choices, Recker can either shoot her down or save her.

Taiga and Subaru

SAKURA WARS V: SO LONG, MY LOVE

The Sakura Wars series is infamous for its unholy mix of tactical combat along with dating-sims mechanics...but it works.
The fifth entry stars Shinjiro Taiga, a naval officer who heads New York's Star Division.

Now the world of Sakura Wars has been invaded by demons that can only be defeated by five very special ladies who are spirit armor wielding demon hunters by night and actresses in stage shows and musicals by day (I don't get it, either...)

Of the many love interests in the game, none exemplifies my title of 'unconventional' than Subaru.

Subaru is unique case because Subaru's gender is never revealed. Everything about Subaru is androgynous, from the way he/she dresses to the stylized Japanese choice of words which eschews the male/female connotations in favor of referring to him/herself in third person. Even the name Subaru is androgynous. A running gag is that Taiga repeatedly and persistently tries to discover Subaru's true gender but fails at each and every turn.

At the climax of the game, Subaru gives Taiga an ultimatum - "Love me from who I am, not for my gender." Though we, the audience, may never discover Subaru's gender (even though Taiga would logically discover it should they get physical) it does raise a very thoughtful point. Subaru is asking Taiga if he is truly in love with him/her, what does their gender matter?

That is a surprisingly adult argument to make from a game about giant steampunk robots...

So that's it, see ya all next year when I do this again.
Share your favorite love stories in the comments.

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MightynoX disagrees with the notion that love is blind. It has a 20/20 vision and it always runs in the opposite direction when it sees him.