Figured we could have a positive one.
I really like the "Oh god they're both like that!" moments. Whether its being murderous blood knights, greedy loot goblins, or grindset no-lifers I love how often we get "matched energy" degen couples in this genre.
Couples making complimentary builds so they’re mechanically and emotionally supportive of each other.
This is done very well in Path of Ascention, in my opinion, and is a very very central part of the story, especially as it goes on.
Matt and Liz make a very good team (in my opinion) because their teamwork consists of "You kill the ten thousand on the left, I'll kill the ten thousand on the right."
I usually don't care for "teams", since that leads to stories where the protagonist needs his team in order to function in battle, but PoA works since it's just a trio of absurd powerhouses.
Beware of Chicken too. Jin is might and earth, Meiling is healing and poison.
Ultimate Level 1 with Batrire and Fowl, the party tank and healer being a married couple fits it fore sure
jackal among snakes does this
Power couple.
I love a good power couple!
I am not original in my thinking, but a duo that adventures/battles well together is awesome.
Does "no drama" count? I like how they are usually uncomplicated and wholesome, especially compared to 99% of stuff in the romance genre.
Imagine, if you would, a romance in which they didn't have miscommunication issues to drive the tension and plot. 🤯
Love the clueless couple that both have no idea they're a couple: Linden and Yerin from Cradle being my favorite example.
Excuse me. How do you be a couple without knowing you are a couple? What level of density is this even? We might need to invent something above Blackhole for this.
We're not in love! We just really love training together all the time!
Lindon legit asked Yerin to build a home together with him before asking her on a date. So yeah, the shoe fits.
You need a level above Blackhole for Lindon-Yerin Density atp.
I met my partner during the covid pandemic, and we went through the whole year just vibing with eachother and spending like nearly our entire days and nights with eachother. Playing videogames, watching movies, shows, anime, even going out to the beach and stuff together.
One day we had some friends over to their apartment and they asked, "Surprised you two haven't just moved in with eachother. You've been dating for like a year."
Anyways five/sixish years later, we're still together but legitimately if someone didn't point it out—our dumbasses probably would have never realized it because we just vibed so perfectly that all of the other fun parts of a relationship were so unneccesary to just the time we spent with one another.
I likes how Defiance of the Fall did it, where his partners are a nice extra thing to the main character's life, but nothing central to what he's doing like 90% of the time, feels very grounded to me. Primal Hunter does that too with just a fling here and there that they both enjoy but a side to their main focus--to progress.
One thing I enjoyed about the romance in Victor of Tuscon is that the MC and FMC have a serious discussion about their goals and the fact that the MC is leaving her behind and she doesn't just want to sit around and be protected. It's been a while since I read it, but I think Mark of the Fool has some similar conversations.
So many series have women just blindly following around the male MC doing whatever he wants and their own goal in life seems to be "follow the handsome, powerful MC around". I enjoy series where the female MC has her own goals too, even if they differ from the male MC.
Some series get around this by making a power couple of equal stature with similar goals like in Path of Ascension and Chaotic Craftsmen Worships the Cube. This works well too. I just struggle to enjoy relationships where it's so one-sided for one character or the other in terms of power/goal dynamic to the point that the female MC is basically just an accessory and not a person.
I mean she dumps Victor for that reason, and then he pines over her for like the next two books, while doing the same with another woman. I wasn't a fan of that at all.
When stats are involved in why the couple exists such as in worth the candle
Power couple where one is some random peasant and the other’s are royalty and the royals are just so confused where this OP villager came from
The ones that don’t use sex to forward the plot because unless there’s some sort of sex magic that will allow for them to conquer their enemies (not saying that would be much better), it’s literally just a waste of space in the book.
My favourite romance trope in progfan is when the MC is aromantic and asexual.
lol would you want to read about actual interpersonal issues that real aroace people face, or is this just so there’s no distraction from The Grind™?
I mean as someone aro ace-spec it's nice to just not have sex or romance be a part of the story sometimes, and to not have to get into the issues I deal with irl
I am speaking as someone who is aroace and I just feel the opposite, for me it’s annoying that characters spoken of like this are largely headcanons where romantic themes are avoided rather than any sincere attempt at a portrayal. Most of us also don’t just accept this about ourselves without a period of at least trying to conform to what’s expected or wanted from us and failing at relationships of that nature (sadly).
My bare minimum would be for there to be strong platonic bonds, because if anything, being this way makes me even more reliant on friends for companionship. Which honestly… if an author is weak at writing romance it probably just means their strong suit isn’t writing relationships across the board.
But YMMV of course. Unlike many aces I’ve always enjoyed romantic/sexual stories too the same way I enjoy action without wanting to personally be in the middle of a fight. I just want characters that feel like they are people who have to exist in and interact with a world around them.
Either is fine. I just dislike most romance in this genre because there rarely is time for it, it doesn't work or it's even more blatant than the bad powerfantasy the authors Gary Stu's self insert is already doing.
My MC is a kobold surrounded by goblins, a sprite, a baby fae-dragon, and your typical fantasy race adventurers. I thought it would be best to stay away from romance, and maintain the MCs youthful innocence to an extent in that area as well (at least, as much as I can when he keeps ending up covered in blood.)