Basic Trope: Working on your Relationship Values with other characters in a Video Game has tactical benefits.
- Straight: Hiro has to work to befriend his teammates Mana, Pike, Morgana, Kowalski, Cherry, Ayanami and Mark. As he gets to know them, they can team up for Combination Attacks, unlock Side Quests, and offer him gifts.
- Exaggerated:
- The only way Hiro can raise his Character Level is by improving his relationship with his teammates.
- On top of having to manage his relationships with all of his companions, Hiro also has to consider his relationship with important NPCs like Princess Velvet, her sister Satine, their maids Minako and Kaya, the head of the knights Sir Isaac, his best man Kelvin... the list goes on and on. Some of them can even join the party if he plays his cards right...
- Downplayed: High relationship values may unlock new skills or new builds for a few characters, but this is more to make the characters more versatile than to make them objectively more powerful.
- Justified:
- Hiro draws his powers from an Empathic Weapon that's explicitly powered by his social bonds.
- Hiro's friends might decide to leave if their approval isn't high enough.
- Hiro is a very specific kind of Guile Hero: On his own, he doesn't have any special power nor proficiency in any physical nor intellectual skill... However, he has a great degree of charisma and empathy, so he uses these talents to recruit adventurers capable of helping him in his journey. It therefore stands to reason that the more he can motivate them, the more effective his party.
- Inverted:
- Hiro is a lone wolf and derives his power from that. As his teammates gain more trust in him, he gets less powerful.
- Gaining levels and abilities helps Hiro become closer to his allies.
- Subverted: While Hiro can pursue relationships with his teammates, none of these choices have any impact on actual gameplay.
- Double Subverted: While it appears at first to have no point, this actually effects which of the ending paths are open to Hiro.
- Parodied: Hiro's companions tempt him to spend more time doing their side quests and such by casually mentioning the rewards.
- This is recognized as a valid thing in universe which results in the military attempting to force it for tactical benefits. At a boot camp Hiro is squicked out by orders to make out with Lance and later his own sister, Mana.
- Zig Zagged: Every relationship Hiro builds has bonuses from his bound of friendship, but also incurs penalties as his friends dislike certain kinds of fighting styles.
- Every friendship comes with buffs and debuffs from a relationship as they influence each other. Optimal power involves carefully arranging relationships and keeping them in the right window of friendliness and rivalry. A positive relationship between Charles and Kelvin can result in the previous's resistance to religious magic weakening and the latter's holy abilities to decline.
- Averted:
- Hiro has no teammates or friends, so there are no such relationships.
- There is no relationship value system.
- Enforced: Hiro has been tasked with taking good care of his girlfriend. The more she tells her parents how much she loves him, the more they are willing to provide Hiro with better equipment.
- Lampshaded: Hiro tells a girl that the more "relaxed" he feels before battle the more focused he can be (and as a result more likely to save the town).
- Invoked: Hiro takes special pains to earn loyalty as a result of the belief that loyalty is a traditional "good guy" virtue. Likewise, his teammates state that they are more willing to put more and more effort into their Punch-Clock Hero jobs in his squad the more rewarding the work proves to be.
- Exploited: Hiro performs every favor he can for his team to accumulate all the benefits for every character involved, just to make sure.
- Defied: Hiro and his teammates already trust each other enough to perform all combination attacks available and have all squad member side quests available from the start. The party has agreed to avoid buying gifts, since it comes from the team's treasury. Therefore, there's no practical reason to improve relationship reasons.
- Discussed: A military commander discusses the pros and cons to enlisting married vs single people.
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Hiro comes to view his friendships as merely means to an end; as soon as he judges he's gained all the 'rewards' for spending time with someone, he ditches them to focus on others.
- Reconstructed: ...But is forced to backtrack when those 'rewards' are suddenly taken away from him. Hiro has to maintain his relationships if he wants to continue to enjoy the spoils.
- Played For Drama: Some of the relationships Hiro can have are mutually exclusive, or practically so — for instance, the Lawful Good Kelvin wants to arrest Mark for his myriad crimes. Hiro must tread carefully if he wishes to befriend both, or risk losing one or both.
In order to go back to Level-Up at Intimacy 5, you'll need to unlock the date scene.
