Multiromancing in the committed state?

[Kulyok]

I know what can help to get rid of multiromancing FOREVAAAH! Friendship paths for EVERYONE!

 

(Sorry. But a game with Amber, Kivan, Jaheira, Xan and Fade does it to a person. Too bad Jaheira and Fade are only into romancing...)

[berelinde]

That a player will go around the restriction if they don't suit their particular game design. That they will make ultimate descisions on the NPCs behavoir in their games.

 

Yeah, people do that all the time. Don't know what to say about that. I had given some thought to what to do about the multi-romance patch, whether to follow Amber's example or Xan's, and I think I'm going to go with Xan's example, at least as it relates to Gavin. If someone has that cheat/tweak installed, Gavin's will still progress as I have described, but after somebody sleeps with somebody else, there's going to have to be a decision. If that decision goes in Anomen's favor, Gavin's romance goes to 3. If it goes in Gavin's favor, Anomen will carry on as he normally would with said cheat/tweak in place, but don't come crying to me about anything that breaks in the game as a result of it.

 

(Shrug.) While I can understand what Berelinde's trying to do with Anomen, and it is an interesting content, and I am sure people would play it, I just can't see that level of complexity integrated for every romantic rival routinely, which will stand out.

 

All mod NPCs stand out. Xan stands out because you can start the game on any of 3 paths. Kivan's stands out because it has a highly original implementation and is really a ToB romance, which is kind of different. Tsujatha stands out for reasons covered elsewhere. I've never played the Edwin romance, but I'm sure it's pretty noteworthy, too. Amber stands out because she'll romance player 2 just as cheerfully as the bhaalspawn. Kiara stands out for reasons that have nothing to do with whether or not she will continue to romance the PC who has committed to Aerie.

 

My point is that everyone has a different tolerance for innovation. If it's handled delicately, even some pretty outlandish ideas can blend with the original game. After all, who would have thought that a romance that started as a friendship in SoA could evolve into a full-blown romance in ToB? Certainly, it was never part of the game design. Yet it is integrated well enough that it makes the player think that maybe it could have been, had the developers not cut a few too many corners.

[Domi]

Well, let's see what Berelinde's going to do

 

And to be honest, if I ever get to making my NWN2 mod, one of the important story-line elements is the conflict between two possible love-stories, where the PC starts married by proxie and can fall for a rogue who tried to steal dowry while searching for his/her mysteriously dissappeared spouse whose romance is 'maintained' via stories by a loyal soldier and other NPCs met on the road... But here again, I will have full control over the story and NPCs, unlike BG2, where you can end up with 5 romanceable chars in one party nowadays.

[Domi]

I know what can help to get rid of multiromancing FOREVAAAH! Friendship paths for EVERYONE!

 

Well, there is a little voice that tells me that even in my IWD2 where this is the case, and where the romance conflicts lead to shutting down all rival romances, I'll still have people multiromancing.

[cmorgan]

If you put it like that, I can very well see it working - if PC does not immediately jump in bed with Gavin, but holds him at arm's length for the reasons you've described. This way, his romance is, in a way, at 1 again - "he is on trial" value - Anomen's is at 1, too, and, once again, "all is fair in love and war".

This is what I was referring to in my extrapolations on what you could do from a coding standpoint - Kulok has a good point and points to a solution - in the face of a committed romance challenge, rather than a full "two-timing", it might be possible to put everyone into "attracted but uncommitted" status in a mod. The problem with doing this through is that Mulit-Romance tweaks mean that the coding might be downright byzantine - so a better, more "permanent" way for a modder to deal with this issue is to look for "flag events", and set a variable off of them.

 

So I am a male and want to have some serious fun. I install multi-romance, and get Jaheira and Aerie into a romance with me. This completely strokes my ego, but is utterly impossible to contemplate from any direction - personality wise alone, there would be huge fights and competition, and if Jaheira is the way I read her, she would rationalize the PC behavior (a 21 or 22 year old sheltered human male) regardles and remove herself from the children's play. If I were a modder who wanted consequences for actions, I would do Jastey's setup, then create a series of confilcts, culminating in an absolute block of any further romance continuation on Jaheira's part -- and it would make sense. Heck, I could even make her leave FOREVAR, so that the Romance variable could not be reset to two and my work escaped. I *will* control that pesky stupid end-user, I *will* make them only see things from my point of view; *I the modder* am the most important thing in this story (insert evil cackling laugh, thunder, flashes of lightning, and Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor [ E.Power Biggs, 1968, BMI Recordings ] here)...

 

It would just take some work.

 

And then I couldn't have my harem.

 

Which means I wouldn't install the mod I just built.

 

Which brings us back to - why are we discussing shutting down the romances directly, when we have the technology to simply add a blanket PID option for the PC to choose which shuts down the romance? And perhaps a consequence or two built Jastey's proposed way?

 

'Cause then the Player, who wants to reformat all these characters after their own likes and dislikes after the first run anyways, gets to choose what each of these characters would do in their own reality.

 

[bIG JOKE]And my dream of a Aerie/Jaheria/Anomen/Saerileth/Kelsey Harem Party of Libidinous Pleasures could come true [/bIG JOKE]

 

 

/Edit: OK, damn it, you people type to fast. something like FOUR REPLIES and the conversation moved on before I had fnished typing and posting --- you ladies think too fast for me. I'm going to go have a nice cup of coffee, and read back posts

[berelinde]

No, cmorgan, we're just typing with 8 more fingers than you are.

[Domi]

Heh, not me.

[berelinde]

As for the whole multi-romancing thing using the tweak, I'm ambivalent about it. On the one side, as a modder, I have precious little time to play anymore. I love NPCs, and I like romances. Some appeal more than others, though I suppose that's only natural.

 

To get the most out of the story, I understand the need to avoid messing with the code. No multi-romance tweak, no hacking the mod before I run the setup. And that's usually just what I do. I know how the game goes already, so for conventional timered romances, I'll just play through to the last lovetalk, then "Next!" on to a new game with different NPCs. I don't much care if I never finish the game, as I've done it already.

 

Problem is, modders are deviating from the traditional timered romance. Now, they've got chapter- and event-specific content, and the only way I'm going to see the whole thing is if I play with them in the party the whole time. Oh, man, decisions, decisions. What to do?

 

Enter the multi-romance tweak. Blech. What an unlovely option, and the only one it really affects is Anomen, and then I've got to endure Aerie and Jaheira hitting on my female PC, which doesn't do much for me. I don't often play with Viconia in the party, since Anomen's a cleric, and I like Anomen better. I'd really like an additional option in whatever adds PID choices to romance NPCs (flirt pack?) to account for the presence of the "Ignore race/gender/other romances" tweak, something along the lines of "I prefer men."

 

So, only option is to just stop playing and get writing. (sigh) Yeah, I suppose I should.

[dragonjewel13]

I'd like to jump in and make an unrelated comment even though, yes, it is a bad bad thing.

 

[q]What an unlovely option, and the only one it really affects is Anomen, and then I've got to endure Aerie and Jaheira hitting on my female PC, which doesn't do much for me. [/q]

 

I can't tell you how annoying it is to realize that I must have accidentally installed the multi-romance option because I've suddenly got Viconia oozing all over my female PC.

[Kulyok]

Yes, to make the BG2 Tweak Pack complete, "No Racial requirements for the romance"(three more new options) - but no "Gender" thing. I think it would be nice, and there is demand for it, too.

 

The funny thing is - I am, when it comes to me playing the game, against multiromancing, but my NPC mod, Xan, allows the player to multiromance and to install the multiromance patch, as well. It's just the player's choice whether he would choose to install Romance Conflicts from the Crossmod Banter Pack or not. If (s)he doesn't - (s)he can have as many romances as (s)he likes. I wish it was done in other romances, too - I think it will make things for both 'one-romancers' and 'multiromancers' easier.