Franklin Can Have Up to 6 Girlfriends in GTA V
As an expert gamer who has put far too many hours into Grand Theft Auto V, I can definitively state that protagonist Franklin Clinton can have intimate relationships with up to six different girlfriends throughout his journey in Los Santos and Blaine County.
However, it‘s crucial to note that dating any of these women is completely optional side content that is not at all required to achieve 100% total game completion. Franklin can easily finish the entire main storyline while staying single and ignoring any romantic pursuits altogether if the player so chooses.
Below I provide an in-depth overview of each of Franklin‘s six potential GTA V girlfriends, how to unlock them, the unique bonuses/rewards they offer, and my insights into how dating enhances and expands upon the incredible open-world gameplay…
Denise – Unlocked During Main Story
Background
Denise is the first girlfriend that Franklin (and the player) encounters during the main GTA V storyline. She meets Franklin during the mission "Burning Desire", where he saves her from getting injured by the fire spreading at her house in Strawberry.
How She‘s Unlocked
Since Denise appears during a mandatory story mission early in Franklin‘s arc, she‘ll organically become available without the player having to take any special actions to unlock her.
Her Reward Perk
After completing Burning Desire, Denise will occasionally call Franklin to hang out. Dating her unlocks free upgrades for Franklin‘s lung capacity attribute, which increases his ability to swim underwater for longer periods before drowning.
My Take
The fact that one of Franklin‘s girlfriends appears so early on, and connects back to a pivotal mission where he solidifies himself as the hero, seems very intentional from Rockstar. It adds replay value by giving players incentive to revisit story missions like Burning Desire, while making the open world feel more alive.
Millie – Unlocked Via Solomon Mission Strand
Background
Millie Perkins is first encountered during another main story moment, specifically the mission Key to Her Heart triggered by shady celebrity agent Solomon Richards. In this offbeat mission, Franklin must sneak backstage disguised as Millie‘s boyfriend in order to retrieve Solomon‘s stolen keycard.
How She‘s Unlocked
After Key to Her Heart is completed, Millie can then be triggered via her Strangers & Freaks mission "Chop the Dog (Lives)". This leads to a humorous paparazzi-dodging adventure, ending with Franklin returning Chop to her home after the dog went missing.
Her Reward Perk
If Franklin successfully starts dating Millie after these events, her bonus gift is a stylish, slick black Huntley S civilian SUV that will spawn outside his Vinewood Hills home.
My Take
The Millie unlock process continuing into a standlone S&F mission strand highlights Rockstar‘s attention to detail with weaving side content into the past drama of main characters. And the SUV reward is a great getaway car suited to Franklin‘s slick repo man persona.
Lidia – Unlocked Via Legal Troubles
Background
Southern momma Lidia is first met while Franklin helps his childhood best friend Lamar deal with yet another legal situation, in the Strangers & Freaks mission "Pulling One Last Favor". She‘s the sister of Lamar‘s hotheaded friend JB, breaking him out of prison transport.
How She‘s Unlocked
After Lamar escapes police clutches thanks to Lidia‘s ankle monitor hack, Franklin receives a grateful call from her to hang out as thanks for his help. Going on this date successfully starts their relationship.
Her Reward Perk
Lidia isn‘t the most glamorous girlfriend, but dating her nets Franklin with a unique, decked-out blue Bravado Seminole civilian SUV. This is the perfect blend of style and ruggedness for off-road country cruising.
My Take
While Lidia certainly doesn‘t match the usual "trophy girl" trope you‘d expect for GTA dating side content unlockables, I appreciate Rockstar diversifying Franklin‘s relationship options. And the pickup truck reward matches her rural personality.
Liz – Unlocked By Purchasing Cab Company
Background
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Party girl Liz Macallen can be met by Franklin after he completes the optional Downtown Cab Company asset acquisition. Buying this business for $200k and doing enough driving missions leads to encountering her.
How She‘s Unlocked
A Downtown Cab Co special fare sees Liz arguing with her boyfriend. After Franklin intervenes, she decides to leave him to pursue a relationship with her hero repo man instead.
Her Reward Perk
Of all Franklin‘s potential GTA V girlfriends, Liz offers perhaps the best reward for dating her: immediate maximum upgrades to the nitros level across all of Franklin‘s vehicles, giving an edge in dangerous police pursuits.
My Take
The unlock process connecting her back to purchasing a business shows the depth and interconnectivity across GTA V side content strands. And advanced nitrous is such a thematically appropriate reward for adreneline junkie Franklin that helps amplify some of the game‘s most intense chase moments. This was clearly a well-designed girlfriend by Rockstar.
Ursula – Unlocked By Buying Sonar Docks
Background
Ursula is a paranoid conspiracy theorist first appearing near the Sonar Collection Dock property once Franklin plunks down $250k to purchase it. She believes strange things are happening underwater and wants help investigating.
How She‘s Unlocked
Shortly after Franklin buys the docks, Ursula appears asking him to investigate underwater coordinates that may have alien connections. Franklin soon realizes she‘s just lonely and wanting companionship…making her open to dating him.
Her Reward Perk
Franklin‘s reward for entered an intimate relationship with this quirky oddball character is one of my favorite vehicles in GTA V: a Bravado Duneloader with striking red/white paint job perfect for blazing over off-road dunes.
My Take
The unlock process here continues the trend of tying side girlfriends indirectly back to Franklin advancing his business/income means, nicely bridging the open world empire building systems. Andwho doesn‘t appreciate a unique new whip to tear through the backcountry while evading the law? Plus…aliens!
Taliana – Unlocked Via Random Kidnap Event
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Background
Taliana Martinez is the least prominent and most obscure girlfriend Franklin can acquire in GTA V. She‘s met by chance when Franklin intervenes in a Vinewood Hills random event to rescue a woman kidnapped by bikers.
How She‘s Unlocked
During free roam after completing the story mission "The Long Stretch", Franklin will occasionally encounter a unique blue dot event where the Lost MC biker gang are shoving a woman into a van. Killing them and saving her life makes Taliana grateful…and interested in Franklin.
Her Reward Perk
Avenging Taliana‘s traumatic kidnapping ordeal to kindle a relationship with Franklin allows him to periodically receive free ammo refills for the devastating, illegal Grenade Launcher weapon. Helpful for chaotic rampages!
My Take
Taliana being tied back to a fully dynamic free roam event that randomly occurs, rather than scripted missions, is brilliant emergent open world design only possible in a game like GTA V. Her unlock process feels completely natural and matches the core game‘s mayhem.
Why Girlfriends Don‘t Impact Main Story Progress
As mentioned in my intro, it‘s important to reiterate than none of the half dozen girlfriends detailed above are required to make actual progress within GTA V‘s main critical path and arcs. Hence why I categorized them as "optional side content" qualifying my original answer to the query posed.
Franklin need not ever indulge in a single date across his entire redemption journey to still complete all core story missions and achieve 100% game completion. Romance is intended as side fluff.
Dating any/all of these women just allows players to have fun with interesting diversions that expand the open world, while netting some nice cosmetic bonuses like unique vehicles and gear for Franklin. But that‘s it.
No matter how many dates Franklin goes on, even if he tries to juggle all six girlfriends at once (which I don‘t recommend!), the central plot advancing events will remain completely unaffected. Frankin‘s fate depends wholly on player actions during core missions.
The Takeaway
While GTA love interests have never been absolutely pivotal in terms of required critical path advancement, I believe the girlfriend options introduced in Grand Theft Auto V represent some of Rockstar‘s most creative and diverse relationship content to date in the series.
The way each girlfriend organically ties back into other gameplay systems, side missions, world events, properties/businesses, etc is extremely impressive. Their rewards also seem deliberately tailored to compliment each protagonist‘s abilities and needs.
So in summary, Franklin can get ~freaky~ with up to six female partners in GTA V if the player decides to dabble in these affairs. But he can just as easily finish saving the hood all alone. It‘s 100% optional…but highly entertaining!
