Dragon Age

Because some argue that what matters most in a video game is the gameplay. Others would say it's the story, or the visuals.

I'd say it's the cocktail.

Gameplay, story, visuals, writing, music, game design, gameplay features, quest design, and so on.

It's the whole fucking cocktail, where I can shake it up and there's so much to feed me.

Of course, it's hard as fuck. Making a full-ass RPG with everything it needs costs a ton of money, resources, time, and, more importantly, talent and ambition.

Talent and ambition.

Well, talent isn't easy to find, but ambition? I call most "attempt RPGs" lazy because I can easily tell that the ambition left the room a long time ago.

"Let's make light RPG #46,181,578 that looks exactly like all the other ones."

At some point, I can barely tell the difference between one and another. Just like the shitload of roguelites or all the base-building survival games that keep popping up on Steam like friggin' popcorn.

Some are cool though, that's not my complaint. Of course, there are always some that are good and fun.

But my issue is that the true RPG experience is so rare.

Games like the ones BioWare used to make, and now Larian etc... They are rare. Throughout the entire history of gaming, you can easily count them and reach the end of the list because there just aren't that many games that offer the full cocktail.

I want to live the experience. Some movie-games are great, and many gameplay-focused games are great (I mean, I consider S4 League to have the best gameplay ever made, and nothing has challenged it since).

But they'll never stick in my gamer head and heart the way RPGs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, or Baldur's Gate 3 do. I will never be as obsessed, as devoted, or as crazy about them as I am about those games. Because those games gave me the WHOLE EXPERIENCE.

They're not perfect. Hell, I keep ranting about Mass Effect day and night, and Baldur's Gate 3 is far, far from being as flawless as many people claim it is. But that's because I love those games. I care.

Every game has flaws and things that could have been done better, but I'm not going to write about them, or even think much about them, because... I don't really care. I played them, enjoyed them, and then I moved on to the next game. It was nice. I don't regret spending my money. But that's about it.

Living the RPG experience is peak gaming.

Because video games are the apotheosis of art. They're the combination of writing, cinema, and music in a simulated environment. It's being inside the book, the movie, the song. It's living it.

Reading, watching, or listening passively is far less engaging (though it's still enjoyable) than actively living the experience. That's why gaming has become such a huge medium nowadays.

And that's why I think RPGs are the best genre this medium has to offer.

The real RPG.

Now, going back to the title of this post, I think that real RPGs with optional romances are even rarer. We could count them on our fingers. They're that rare.

When I say optional romances, I mean more than just kissing and banging like in Fable or some visual novel/J-"RPG" games.

I mean discovering a character, building a bond with them, and maybe even writing part of the story together. That's why BioWare was so unique.

Because, unlike traditional Western RPGs like Bethesda's games, where you do create your own character and have a say in the story, romances are either completely nonexistent or extremely, extremely basic. Fable levels of basic.

BioWare created a formula, a whole cocktail, that is now being copied by younger studios like Larian, CDPR, etc. They understood, before everyone else, how impactful a good companion could be for the player and, therefore, for the overall gaming experience. And being able to build a real bond with that character, rather than simply marrying or sleeping with them, is incredibly powerful.

Why is romance seen as something so trivial, so useless, almost shameful, by the majority of game developers?

Romance in the gaming industry had its own genre: Dating Sim. Basically, visual novels with romance options, sometimes featuring some very basic gameplay, and maybe a few extra features if the studio had the ambition and the budget.

But they have always been extremely niche, dominated by a male audience (with their female-oriented counterparts being even more niche), and were kind of treated as a joke by the industry. At least until recently. Now they seem to be entering a new golden age, which is cool.

But somehow, romance is still perceived as something "girly", which is idiotic considering that the vast majority of visual novel players have always been men. And even if it were something mostly enjoyed by women... so what? As soon as something is perceived as girly, it's automatically ridiculed and considered stupid or useless.

he gaming industry still has some fucking stupid stereotypes about romance. Making great games doesn't magically make developers immune to them.

Adding romance options to an RPG is like adding cheese to your sandwich. It's not going to save it if it sucks. But it's definitely going to make it even tastier if the overall game is already good.

So why is it still so, so, so rare? Why do so many new RPGs still come without the cheese?

Hell, why can't we have romance options in non-RPG games too? They don't have to be as deep or as complex as romancing Astarion, but I wish they were a more common feature in video games.

Something that isn't regarded as useless, stupid, or shameful.

But as something that can make an already great game even better.

A game with cheese.

My answer:

The thing is, I don't really know the reason why.

Some people might answer: because it's expensive.

But many features are expensive, and they're still present in games. Things like crafting, housing, collecting, building, etc. So why not romances too?

And not every RPG needs to have BG3-level romance complexity. Mass Effect romances are not complex at all! They're basically just a bunch of dialogue options, some cutscenes, and that's it.

Same thing with Cyberpunk. The romance options are very optional and don't have a huge impact on the game. They don't take much time; it's just a few dialogues, some cutscenes, and that's it.

But they still work. People still love Liara, Garrus, or Judy.

So I don't really buy the "it's expensive" answer. Because, honestly, I think that's only part of the explanation. If a game can have an entire building/housing system, it can have a few romance options.

For me, the reason is that developers, and many players too, are still influenced by stupid stereotypes.

And that fucking sucks.

As there wasn’t an official Kinktober prompt list last year, we’ve put together an unofficial one for 2025, along with an AO3 collection. The graphics were all made by @latte-cucumber, and she's also made a banner that you’re welcome to use for your Tumblr Kinktober posts:

More information

Kinktober is an October prompt challenge that’s been running in one form or another since 2016. There are three prompts for each day in October, and the challenge is to use one (or more!) of the prompts to create something for that day. If you don’t want to use any of the three daily prompts, you can swap them out for the bonus prompts at the bottom of the prompt list.

Our askbox is open for questions about how the challenge works or what the prompts mean.

Prompts

Masturbation – Orgasm Control – Incest

Coming Untouched – Ageplay – Kidnapping

Threesome – Nipple Clamps – Alien Abduction

Voyeurism – Sounding – Hypnosis

Finger Sucking – Wax Play – Dacryphilia

Outdoor Sex – Humiliation – Intoxication

Blindfolds – Chastity – Bloodplay

Webcam – Figging – Cages

Exhibitionism – Shibari – Tentacles

Oral Sex – Punishment – Consensual Non-Consent

Come Licking – Handcuffs – Somnophilia

Sex Work – Kneeling – Sissification

Dildos – Dom Bottom/Sub Top – Medical Play

Omegaverse – Possessive Sex – Choking/Gagging

Semi-Public – Object Insertion – Sex Pollen

Remote Control – High Protocol – Fire Play

Messy Sex – Service Kink – Anal Hooks

Size Queen – Dom/Sub – Genital Torture

Creampie – Sensory Deprivation – Electricity

Mirror Sex – Golden Shower – Dubcon

Rimming – Forced Orgasm – Monsterfucking

Quiet Sex – Crawling – Gunplay

Biting – Praise Kink – Enemas

Anal Sex – Gags – Noncon

Double Penetration – Impact Play – Pillory/Stocks

Lingerie – Cuckolding – Sex Robot

Hair Pulling – Animal Play – Gangbang

Multiple Orgasms – S&M – Needle Play

Body Worship – Omorashi – Full-Body Bondage

Breeding – Fucking Machine – Degradation

Hot Tub Sex – Foot Fetish – Writer’s Choice

Bonus prompts:

Aftercare

Fisting

Wall Sex

Sugar Baby

Uniform Kink

Free Use