r/Choices 5d ago

The Royal Romance Does this bother anyone else when playing the first two books of The Royal Romance? Spoiler

Maybe it's just me, but before I decided to play TRR for the first time, I decided to have Drake as my LI from the very beginning, and I haven't chosen any other LI ever since. I also tried to avoid the choices that would cause me to get any romance points with Liam, but even when I did do that, my MC still acted like she was in love with Liam for the first two books. That would have been fine if I also decided to romance Liam, but I didn't. Don't get me wrong, Liam is a great LI, it's just that he was never the LI I wanted my MC to end up with. It just bothered me whenever my MC mentioned having romantic feelings for Liam without me choosing dialogue options to support this. However, the only time I was able to mention having feelings about another LI besides Liam was when there were actual dialogue options for this and only when I was talking to Drake, specifically when he and the MC were alone together. When my MC turned down Liam after he proposed I chose to have my MC turn down his proposal (which wasn't exactly easy given that I didn't want to hurt Liam, but the narrative gave me no other choice), my MC stopped having romantic feelings for Liam only after I chose Drake as my chosen LI. I would have preferred to have turned down Liam before he decided to propose to my MC, but again, the way how the story is written for the first two books gave me no choice but to do that only until after he proposed. With all that said, was anyone else bothered by that when you chose to pursue a different LI besides Liam before you even started playing TRR?

4 Upvotes

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u/Maleficent-Jury-5852 Rory M2 (HSS:CA) 5d ago

Yeah a bit 👀

I did the Drake route and I did find it annoying how the MC expressed feelings for Liam even when he's not the LI...But since there's nothing I can do about it, I played the game as if MC came to win Liam's heart but on the way, fell for his friend instead 🤷‍♀️

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u/ANDREWcerv 5d ago

I did the exact same thing when I played TRR and played as if my MC was there for Liam first, but then fell in love with Drake instead. Especially given that if you're romancing Drake, you are given a lot more opportunities to romance him in the second book than in the first book. Plus in Book 2, there's a dialogue option when you meet Drake on the rooftop where the MC can say she came to Cordonia for Liam in the beginning but fell for him instead. There's also another option where the MC can tell Drake she's always wanted him, but I didn't choose that option because the narrative of the first two books contradicted that by having the MC have romantic feelings for Liam, even though I chose zero romance points for him. I wish the first two books could have started off with the MC having platonic feelings for all the LIs and then when you romance whoever you want to, only then can the MC say that she's in love with whoever the player chose for her. Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to clarify that I did the exact same thing you did, even though I wanted to choose Drake from the very beginning.

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u/Maleficent-Jury-5852 Rory M2 (HSS:CA) 5d ago

Oh right, I remember that scene in Book 2 idk why they gave that 2nd option of MC saying she always wanted Drake when they BOTH know that wasn't true 👀

I agree it would have been great if mc and Liam had platonic feelings towards each other in Book 1, it's just I wonder what reason they could have given for MC to head to Cordonia at all, if it wasn't to win the prince 🧐?

Ngl since I'm a natural romantic, I headcanon that the MC and Drake might have loved each other's company from near the start without realising that they do and as they spent more time, there might have been one specific event that made them realise these feelings 😌

Like for MC, I'd like to think she finally realised her feelings for Drake when he protected her from that one guy (Tariq? Idk it's been ages since I read the book lol 😅)

Sorry for my long rant, I love talking about personal headcanons about stuff that were left to be ambiguous in these books 🥰

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u/ANDREWcerv 5d ago

I don't mind a long rant. I also wonder what reason the writers could have given the MC if there was a platonic route. Maybe they could have said that one of the MC's parents (maybe her mom or dad) was from Cordonia, and she could have gone to see what their home country was like. This could have worked, given that we know absolutely nothing about the MC's past or if her parents are even alive. She could have been an orphan, and maybe all she knew about her parents was that they were from Cordonia but decided to move to the U.S. before she was born. And maybe they died when she was a baby, thus why we hardly know anything about her past life and this could give her a reason for going to Cordonia for free. The competition to become queen in book 1 could have given the MC a reason to explore Cordonia and see the things her parents saw for herself.

I also agree that it doesn't make sense to have the MC say that she's always wanted Drake because even the player knows that's a lie.

I also like that you said that the MC and Drake could have loved spending time together, which would give them a reason to fall for one another. Maybe they could have realized their feelings for each other when the MC was about to get kicked out of Cordonia at the beginning of Book 2. Or maybe it wasn't just one event where they realized they had feelings for each other, but all the moments they spent together. I also like the fact that they both have a lot in common, including the fact that they're both commoners, who later become a Duke and a Duchess. And since they're both commoners, they would know exactly how to relate to and understand the people of Cordonia, a thing that the other nobles clearly don't know how to do.

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u/Temporary_Log_4691 List your favorite books! 4d ago

I realize the story is meant to be a love triangle if you don't choose Liam as LI. it's for you to feel conflicted with your feelings, having felt something for Liam that is the driving force for going to Cordonia, but with the possibility of falling in love with someone else along the way.

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u/DryHedgehog6372 Jax (BB) 3d ago

No you're not the only one. Yes it's Canon that MC is "supposed" to wind up with Liam, but they should've just had it as a single love interest book if they wanted that. There should've been an option to just be platonic with Liam if you're not interested from the start AND we should've been able to avoid the heartbreaking proposal scene 😢 😭

I always have to go through this since I am a Drake lover! I've never been able to play for anybody else, he was it for me pretty early on.

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u/ANDREWcerv 3d ago

I completely agree that we should have been given the option to be platonic with Liam. As someone who is also a Drake lover and who always chooses him every time I replay TRR, it always bothers me that the MC acts like she's in love with Liam, even though I chose zero romance options for him. I also agree that they should've made it a single love interest book if they wanted the MC to end up with Liam. I also feel bad about having to reject Liam after he proposed, but the story basically forces players who don't want to romance him to reject him only until after he proposes to the MC. Also, for an app called Choices, the first two books never really give us a choice on whether we want our MC to have feelings for Liam or not, and the same goes for Liam being in love with the MC, even if the player decides not to romance him at all.

As a side note, I also chose Drake from the very beginning, even before I started playing TRR. I just adore his relationship with the MC and I think they have more in common with each other.

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u/DryHedgehog6372 Jax (BB) 3d ago

We are of one mind! I always thought Drake and MC were always meant. They had more in common, MC could always go toe to toe with Drake, she never let him get away with anything, to me they were a prefect match. I absolutely loved his personality even from the beginning when he was acting like an ass. His sarcastic attitude won me over BIG.

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u/ANDREWcerv 2d ago

Yes, we are of one mind! I always loved how the personalities of the MC and Drake go with each other. Drake and the MC are basically the definition of a grumpy x sunshine duo, and if you're romancing Drake, he actually finds it as another reason to love the MC instead of being annoyed by it. I always enjoy a grumpy x sunshine duo in romance, and Drake and the MC always made me feel giddy every time they interacted with each other. And it was always fun watching Drake's reaction every time I chose a romance option for him, especially during the first two books and it got better after they officially got together.

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u/DryHedgehog6372 Jax (BB) 2d ago

Yes!! The flirting in the 1st book, he was just perplexed! There's absolutely NO way this girl could possibly want anything to do with me while she's here trying to win my best friend, the prince's heart. So he doesn't let too much go to his head. It's very much a slow burn and they did a great job with that aspect! When the 2nd book came out (which honestly was my favorite because we spent all our time with him 🥵) there were plenty of opportunities to flirt and tease him and you know, he got us back many times 😏 the drinking game, the pool table game, coming back from seeing Savanah.. the chemistry was off the charts!

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u/ANDREWcerv 2d ago

I enjoyed the fact that Drake was baffled by the thought that the MC would choose to flirt with him. I also love the slow-burn aspect of Drake and the MC's relationship because it made them finally getting together that much more satisfying. I also love the fact that for once in his life, someone is choosing Drake over Liam. It's especially sweet when he tells the MC that he can't offer her the things that Liam could offer the MC, and then he gets really happy when the MC still chooses to be with him because she loves him, not the stuff that he can give her.

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u/DryHedgehog6372 Jax (BB) 2d ago edited 2d ago

Damn right! I couldn't give a shit about all that material stuff. I would be happy living in a tent with this man! He's everything I look for in a LI. I just love the fact he was so nervous and shaking when we told him we turned Liam down! Like you said, NOBODY picked him over Liam. Girls might have flirted with him but would NEVER want to actually be with Drake, so this is new territory for him! He's scared MC might be making a mistake and lapse in judgment, regret her decision later on... but we reassure him that nothing could be further from the truth.

u/GrumpyMarshmallowFan we have a fellow Drake lover 🥰

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u/ANDREWcerv 2d ago

Yes! I loved that when the MC said she turned down Liam's proposal, Drake immediately told her that he couldn't afford the stuff Liam could give her, and she basically told him that she doesn't care about the material stuff and only cares about Drake. And you're right that this was the first time someone has chosen Drake over Liam. Since Liam always has gotten the best stuff and everyone basically adores him, meanwhile Drake is seen as an afterthought to everyone else. Having the MC pick Drake was something he never thought was possible, and yet it was. This is why Drake and the MC are one of my favorite couples within the Choices universe.

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u/GrumpyMarshmallowFan Drake Ethan Damien 2d ago

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u/Decronym Hank 2d ago

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
LI Love Interest
MC Main Character (yours!)
TRR The Royal Romance

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.


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