You know, since it's Valentine's Day and all that shit, let's talk about the thing Bioware can't write to save their life and VC did superbly. The Codex is going to talk about love once again, god help us all.
Now, I'd say the big issue with video game romance (Bioware especially) is that this plot-thread is treated completely separate from the main game and doesn't seem to have any kind of resolution tied into the main characters' character progression. The current Bioware gold standard being a sex scene either right after you meet or as an announcement that the final third of the game is starting. The thing is, none of the romances in Mass Effects or Dragon Ages matter jack shit in the overall narrative. There is no sense of build-up, synch between characters or resolution that is important to the characters involved. No, it's all about the fact the PC is awesome.
In fact, I'd say Bioware once took a few baby-steps towards writing a romance right, being the subplot between the PC and Bastila in KotOR. And they still utterly fucked up on it with the usual fashion, having a romantic resolution mid-game and then making the actual final encounter drawn-out and half-assed (you fight Bastila, like, two or three times before the whole Sith angle is resolved, not to mention it was one of the worst Dark Side turns ever to begin with). I mean, at least they tried to construct something important into the endgame. However, it still falls flat on its face simply because the characters seem to have no other attraction beyond the PC being awesome.
This is actually what I'm talking about when I say the cut Neeshka romance is one of the best in WRPGs: Because there's only one, but very significant, throw-away line present in the dialogue before the very final battle, it ends up having build-up and resolution at a significant point. The line and the response dialogue also enforced it as two characters making through the toughest spot in the story for them.
It's similar how the whole main romance plot in VC is handled, and it gets points for being fully intentional and because it bears significance to the overall plot and actually is the moment when Welkin and Squad 7 are really ready to go and save the day. It works as a climax for several plot-threads along the main couple's romance as well, being how it's the end for the argument started by Welkin and Faldio and Alicia's Valkyrian heritage subplot. Then there's the fact that this time the two characters actually do have a great deal of synch and build-up to this moment, and the moment itself is built as the kind of thing you'd WANT to happen to them.
Sure, this part of VC isn't out to re-invent the wheel or anything, but by golly it does a damn fine job with the old-fashioned set-up.
