Not content with simply making an Action RPG, Team Ninja saw fit to add the option to romance one of many characters in Rise of the Ronin. The decision didn’t make much sense to me at first, but looking back, I recall Samurai movies and novels having elements of love stories – the tragic kind.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to romance characters in Rise of the Ronin and earn the Veiled Vow Trophy. Rise of the Ronin features a dynamic romance system where your choices matter! Build relationships with characters through missions, thoughtful gifts, and meaningful conversations. These bonds directly influence the story and may even lead to blossoming love. Be mindful, however, as some romances might be exclusive or only available during certain parts of the game.
How to Romance Characters in Rise of the Ronin
Understand How Rise of the Ronin Romance Works
Romancing a character in Rise of the Ronin begins and ends with their “Favor” meter. This meter, underneath their Bond meter, determines their level of romantic involvement. To romance a character, you’ll need to know how to build a certain level of Favor with said character effectively until you can start a Veiled Vow.
You can see how close you are to a character if you check out their character profile in the “Bond” menu in the pause menu. This is the only way to know how far your relationship has progressed before you can start courting them.
Switching your gender is a choice in Rise of the Ronin, and it has no impact on the romance system or the number of romances you can have with any of the characters listed above. You can choose from every romantic path imaginable, regardless of your gender.
How to increase Favors in Rise of the Ronin
The following are all the ways to increase the Favor meter for a character:
- Giving favored gifts: Gifts are the most common way of showing affection to a character. You can get gifts from completing missions, buying them from merchants using Silver Coins, or earning them from side activities. You can tell which gifts a character prefers by looking for the “heart icon” on the bottom left of the gift. You can give as many gifts as you want to a single character but there is a cap to how much affection you get back after the third gift. Once you’ve given a gift, you’ll have to wait a while until you can give another one.
- Bond missions: Most central characters have bond missions you can do to increase their Favor meter greatly. They are akin to side missions and they don’t particularly affect the main story by much, if anything at all. However, doing so will dispel any reservations they have about your character and will open the possibility of a relationship.
- Conversation opportunities: Every once in a while, a character will discuss some private matters that they won’t entrust to anyone else. Hearing them out will greatly increase the Favor meter. Other instances arise in certain conversations as well. If you agree with what they say or remember certain lines they said previously, it will go a long way in increasing Favor.
- Find Collectibles for a specific character – You can earn favor with the romanceable character Usugumo Dayu by finding all of her cats; she currently has no Bond Missions to complete, so this collectibles feature is perfect for her.
How to Start and Break a Veiled Vow in Rise of the Ronin
Once you’ve built enough of a relationship with a character, a new conversation option will open, and if you choose to accept their feelings, they will confess their feelings towards you.
If you accept their feelings, they’ll gain a new status called, “Veiled Vow”. This means that you are in a relationship with this character. As such, you will be treated to a cutscene and occasionally receive special items from your significant other. You will unlock the “Veiled Vow” trophy after accepting the feelings of your first lover.
The last thing to note is about breaking up. Relationships don’t last forever, even in video games. You can initiate the break up any time by choosing the “I have something to tell you.” option during your conversation. Some characters will take it well, while others… do not.
The reason is that some characters will get angry with you if you decide to pursue multiple partners. For them, you’ll need to break up with your previous lover(s) first before pursuing that person. Otherwise, the others are ok with you having multiple lovers.
All Romanceable Characters in Rise of the Ronin
There are 13 Romance options in Rise of the Ronin:
- Ernest Satow
- Fumi Sugi
- Genzui Kusaka
- Goro Katsura
- Ine Kusumoto
- Matthew Perry
- Princess Atsuko
- Ryoma Sakamoto
- Sana Chiba
- Shinsaku Takasugi
- Soji Okita
- Taka Murayama
- Usugumo Dayu
Exploring every romance path in Rise of the Ronin takes dedication. Focus on missions tied to factions with characters you want to romance. If you are adventurous, it’s even possible to romance multiple characters at once. Maybe they’ll add more love interests in the future, who knows? But all I know is that the Ronin is a heartbreaker and a liberator at the same time.
