History Main / MoreFriendsMoreBenefits

** One of the improvements ''{{Persona 4}}'' made on this system was to add the ''option'' whether or not to pursue a romantic relationship with any of the available girls, complete with a warning if you were about to move beyond friendship -- especially if you already had a girlfriend. (You could still end up two-timing if you wished, though if you attempt such a thing [[spoiler:you suffer absolutely no negative consequences]].)

* In the RPG-DatingSim hybrid ''SakuraWars'' series, each character's combat stats are dependent on her relationship with the player character. Been neglecting one of the girls? Hope you weren't banking on her being any help to you in the next boss battle.

* Done with a non-romantic variation in ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel''. While it is better for you to build and maintain good rapport with all the Angels under your command, you can only ever specifically romance one member throughout the game and its sequels. That being said, it is still not a good idea to make others lose their trust at you, because this directly translates into poorer performance during the Real-Time Tactics segment[[note]]Of course, this is moot if you modify the game to skip such segments, automatically making the game assume you "win" each time[[/note]].

* ''ArTonelico'' isn't a heavy offender on this -- for starters, because it only has two normal love interests and a secret one -- but there's points in the game where you're forced to use the girl ''besides'' the one you're focusing on romantically, and if you haven't at least gone through the motions with the other girl, the game suddenly gets harder and more tedious.
** ''ArTonelico2'' is a bit better about this. While the first allows you to go through the entire cosmopshere of each girl complete with the concluding levels that are basically marriage ceremonies, the second only allows you to progress past the halfway mark with one girl, and choosing to do this irreversibly locks you in to her ending.
** ''ArTonelico3'' reverses it, though. While you can't complete everyone's Comsosphere, you can go most of the way (and complete one if you turn down her confession). It does, however, fit more strongly than the first game in other ways: the girls can turn into ''other'' girls this time, and how deep you've Dived determines how much they'll strip for you in battle. (Seriously.)

* EchoBazaar. Particularly in the Persuasive area.

** Well, date one of them plus Kelly, who will then feed your fish for you. (the likely reason for most Kellymance!)

* Similarly, the {{RPG}} / DatingSim ''Brave Soul'' gives each party member [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 LevelUps]] as you pursue them romantically. Once you have sex with one, though, no more dates (and thus level-ups at Intimacy 5) can be pursued with any other girl... Thus rewarding the pursuit of all of them before finally choosing your girl.

* In ''SentimentalGraffitti'': The more girls you meet and the more relationships you cultivate results in more memories being unlocked, which in turn increases your stamina, allowing you to do more things. (However, you are only allowed to have one date at any given time, and can only confess your feelings to one girl at the end of the game.)

* Both the Career Ladder and Casual Life playstyles play this trope very straight indeed regarding platonic relationships; the former encourages players to max out their RelationshipValues as early as possible in order to secure the best jobs and promotions (with a good starting set of Blood Relatives [[{{Nepotism}} being especially helpful]]), while the latter involves establishing a smaller set of better-maintained relationships in order to establish a healthy trickle of Happiness, offsetting this path's less generous Money haul.

In these games, the ultimate path to power involves rolling every relationship up into a massive LoveDodecahedron, [[KatamariDamacy Katamari]] style.

This is basically the gameplay-motivated TenchiSolution. Often a GameBreaker. See also YouLoseAtZeroTrust.

But what happens if you get these bonuses for [[{{Casanova}} seducing everyone who's even mildly interested in you,]] rather than developing a single intense relationship?

* Similarly, the {{RPG}} / {{DatingSim}} ''Brave Soul'' gives each party member [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 LevelUps]] as you pursue them romantically. Once you have sex with one, though, no more dates (and thus level-ups at Intimacy 5) can be pursued with any other girl... Thus rewarding the pursuit of all of them before finally choosing your girl.

** In all games to use the support system, you're limited to a total of five support conversations. You can only have one A and one B, or two B's and a C, etc.

* If you want your entire team to survive ''MassEffect 2'''s suicide mission, you're advised to obtain their loyalty by doing each party member's personal {{sidequest}}. However, you can only ''date'' one of them. Note also that they receive an extra ability once they are loyal, so it has more direct benefits.

* {{Echo Bazaar}}. Particularly in the Persuasive area.

* In ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', CJ's girlfriends each have their own bonuses for dating them. There is a cop who lets CJ keep his money and weapons after getting arrested, a nurse who does the same if he becomes incapacitated (even if the incident doesn't happen in the ladies' jurisdictions), a mechanic who fixes and paint his cars for free (but only if you go to her garage in San Fierro), and a few others with minor bonuses. At some point you can even drive your girlfriends' cars, despite the fact that they're never returned in one piece (if at all.) Dating one of the girls is necessary to complete the game; the rest are optional.
** Niko Bellic can do the same thing in ''GrandTheftAutoIV'', though his girlfriend perks are substantially less useful. He can also maintain limited relationships with male friends that are substantially more profitable, but no more in depth than drinking or darts. TruthInTelevision.

[[quoteright:347:[[TheSims http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dreams_popularity_2488.jpg]]]]

* In ''TheSims 2'', if you choose the romance aspiration for your sim, one of their goals will be to "woohoo" with twenty different sims, which gives you points. It's even possible through very careful planning to juggle that many relationships ''at the same time''. Heaven help you if you get caught cheating, though.
** ''TheSims 3'' makes it even harder: the entire town exists, rather than separately loaded lots, and to make matters worse, if you get the ''Late Night'' ExpansionPack, ''rumors will spread''. They don't even have to be true!

* In order to get HundredPerCentCompletion of ''MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', it's necessary to complete the date with both Paz and Kaz, and certain Extra Ops won't unlock until you do; they also both yield various useful items, some of which can only be obtained by achieving maximum affinity with them. Ironically, the prize for successfully seducing Paz (the girl) is Big Boss's fanservice outfit, but the prize for successfully seducing Kaz (the man) is a bikini for the female characters. Since Big Boss dating a man causes mass {{Squick}} with [[FanDumb certain fanboys]], it's not uncommon to hear the instructions for obtaining the Patriot blueprints euphemistically described as 'knock out and pat down the lone soldier in Extra Ops 68'. Dating them doesn't impact on the plot or change the relationship between Snake and the character at all, but since the dates are only unlocked by completing the main story, this isn't unusual.

* ''{{Persona 3}}''. Nearly every female Social Link winds up becoming of a romantic nature, and since maxing out each Social Link allows you to create the best Persona of that Link's Arcana... yeah. In the Fes expansion if you max out every Social Link in one playthrough you get a special super version of your original persona.
** One of the improvements ''{{Persona 4}}'' made on this system was to add the ''option'' whether or not to pursue a romantic relationship with any of the available girls, complete with a warning if you were about to move beyond friendship -- especially if you already had a girlfriend. (You could still end up two-timing if you wished, however.)

*** Except ''RadiantDawn'', where you're only allowed 1 support per character and it can be with any other character. (However you can delete and change said support if you wish.)

* The original ''HarvestMoon'' and ''{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' rewarded you in the final evaluation if you had all five of your potential brides at Red Heart level (and the original gave you a "Ladies Man" ending if you didn't marry any of them.) In fact, in [=HM64=], you had to have a certain level of friendship with the other brides to get them to marry their alternate suitors. (And in Karen's case, keep her from leaving town). Later games eliminated this by locking down affection points once you got married. Friendship was a separate score and still counted.

* In ''VideoGame:StarWars:TheOldRepublic'' you have companion Affection which you gain by saying things your companions like and giving them expensive gifts. The benefit is a significant time reduction in how long companion missions take, more chance of a critical result, and a slight improvement in their combat effectiveness.

* In ''Video Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic'' you have companion Affection which you gain by saying things your companions like and giving them expensive gifts. The benefit is a significant time reduction in how long companion missions take, more chance of a critical result, and a slight improvement in their combat effectiveness.

** ''TheSims 3'' makes it even harder: the entire town exists, rather than separately loaded lots, and to make matters worse, if you get the ''Night Life'' ExpansionPack, ''rumors will spread''. They don't even have to be true!
* The original ''HarvestMoon'' and ''Harvest Moon 64'' rewarded you in the final evaluation if you had all five of your potential brides at Red Heart level (and the original gave you a "Ladies Man" ending if you didn't marry any of them.) In fact, in [=HM64=], you had to have a certain level of friendship with the other brides to get them to marry their alternate suitors. (And in Karen's case, keep her from leaving town). Later games eliminated this by locking down affection points once you got married. Friendship was a separate score and still counted.

* In order to get HundredPerCentCompletion of ''MetalGearSolid: Peace Walker'', it's necessary to complete the date with both Paz and Kaz, and certain Extra Ops won't unlock until you do; they also both yield various useful items, some of which can only be obtained by achieving maximum affinity with them. Ironically, the prize for successfully seducing Paz (the girl) is Big Boss's fanservice outfit, but the prize for successfully seducing Kaz (the man) is a bikini for the female characters. Since Big Boss dating a man causes mass {{Squick}} with [[FanDumb certain fanboys]], it's not uncommon to hear the instructions for obtaining the Patriot blueprints euphemistically described as 'knock out and pat down the lone soldier in Extra Ops 68'. Dating them doesn't impact on the plot or change the relationship between Snake and the character at all, but since the dates are only unlocked by completing the main story, this isn't unusual.

** Niko Bellic can do the same thing in ''GTA 4'', though his girlfriend perks are substantially less useful. He can also maintain limited relationships with male friends that are substantially more profitable, but no more in depth than drinking or darts. TruthInTelevision.

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