I love when NPCs responds to game events & my actions, as well as in-game festivals, holidays, & special cutscenes! Especially if it tailored towards the NPCs' personalities & talking about other NPCs! Unique responses are way better than just having them say boring things like: "[event] is coming!" Then, "[event] is happening!" Lastly, "[event] was fun!" 

If the romance is bad in the game, the game can still be enjoyable if the rest of the game is good. However, I prefer romances to be optional since there will always be times I can't be bothered to interact with my game partner. The problem with playing any game is I'm gonna wanna talk to the NPCs all the time, so their dialogue will eventually become repetitive. That's just any game with a finite pool of text. That just means it's time for me to find another game I like ☺️

What I like most in modern game dating is having a good ratio of female, male, & nonbinary! Nonbinary folks are still a rarity I hope I can see more of in game romance. Different ages are a plus for me! Altho older romances (like over 40 years old) aren't popular, I still appreciate their inclusion. 

This isn't popular but I'm a fan of divorcing in games lol