The Bioware Romances

[jcompton]

Jaheira's romance is okay for me. It seems to me that Jaheira's was the main romance and the others were just there for variety. And, anyway, Jaheira DOES take ages to get over Khalid, even though it might not seem like it. Even in ToB (I hate counting the ToB romances because they were written by different people weren't they?) when she sees Khalid's wraith accusing her of jumping into the sack with the PC straight away and never loving him she breaks down.

All of the TOB romances were written by Gaider, who wrote all but the Jaheira-SOA romance.

[Smoketest]

I'd get rid of the negative responses that show up even after the romance is 'committed to'. If you decide not to romance the NPC, avoid talking them up in your next game. Or, if you're completely psychotic, kill them off. I'm referring to the outright rude responses that typically end in the romance breaking up and/or the NPC leaving the party.

 

I'd rather add friendship components to NPCs than strap on a 'flirt pack' band-aid. Develop the character better and you don't have to try to describe flirt sessions with words.

[Guest Guest]

Well, Knights of the Old Republic has NPCs like that. For example, you can help Bastila through her troubles with her mother but if you're a man you get some extra romantic dialogues and extra stuff after that. The thing is KOTOR has MUCH less NPC interaction because they're always talking to the player.

 

But I mean, you can get the quests for all characters whereas in BG you would get them only if romancing them (except with Jaheira of course).

[Guest Guest]

Oh, and Anomen.

[Grim Squeaker]

For the record, the ToB romances are gonna be added to and modified for Improved ToB (if we ever get beyond the brainstorming stage...)

[Domi]

I think that flirt pack aka PC-initiated talks are a good idea, because they give a player a bit more control over the romance. There is no "ideal" lovetalk saturation. Some will be happy with a talk every 5 hours, and others would want one every 15 minutes. The opinions range from "Anomen's romance is not even a romance, it's so short!" to "Kelsey talked too much. Such a chatter-box" Player-initiated talks address this issue by allowing a person to go through them as fast or as slow as desired and supplement the "core" lovetalks. Plus, they are repetitive, and give a different reaction to the same action or conversation, which is interesting. I personally more into the "core" lovetalks, but I can see the advantages of the flirtpacks.

[Guest Guest]

"Like no other drow I cared for you," seems a bit MORE than friends there, really.

Depends which way you take it. I see two interpretations.

 

"I cared like no other drow for you" = I loved you more than any Drow ever could or would

 

"I cared for you, like no other drow" - no other Drow had, or would have, any feeling for you, but I did

 

The first does suggest something more than a brother-sister relationship, but I'd prefer to err on the side of the second, as that establishes that Valas' brotherly affection was indeed something very unusual. And it would be.

[Domi]

Yes, it is a matter of interpretation, but by some reason the whole story made a lot more sense for me with them being lovers and protecting their own child

[Smoketest]

I think that flirt pack aka PC-initiated talks are a good idea, because they give a player a bit more control over the romance.

Okay, I'll be more specific. I like the idea of player-initiated dialog (PID), even though it's not a new thing. After all, we've been able to conversate with Lilarcor and mage familiars since SoA was released, albeit through a slightly different method.

 

I'm all for being able to ask how an NPC is doing, give a complement, express affection, etc., but I don't think PID should be limited to that. I can see asking a mage or cleric for spellcasting advice, or getting some help with a quest from someone like Keldorn who has years of experience, etc. Yeah, we know this game like the backs of our hands by now, but I'm thinking from a roleplaying perspective.

 

I've never agreed with the idea of skipping game content due to boredom. That's a sign that the player needs to go do something else (although it can be handy in allowing the developer to test various parts of the mod). So having such a feature in PID in a mod's official release is a waste of space for me.

[Domi]

I've never agreed with the idea of skipping game content due to boredom. That's a sign that the player needs to go do something else (although it can be handy in allowing the developer to test various parts of the mod). So having such a feature in PID in a mod's official release is a waste of space for me.

 

I am not talking about skipping, I am talking about having as many interactions as the player wants - yes, it may seem a bit silly, but sometimes getting a story out of NPC at any time, or a compliment might be fun. That's how I view flirtpacks - additional repeative dialogues which helps to feel "in romance" (because honestly, between the talks, I often do not even know that romance is still active - for example I was waiting for ages for ANomen to say *something* after he passed his test - and it turned out that it was his last talk... before the Chapter 2 was even out).

 

I think that PID has a good potential for avoiding NPC has nothing to say to you" syndrome. We will be trying to integrate so far rather primitive PID's (basically expanded biographical conversations with a few variations) for every NPC in BG1 - all 25 of them; I am interested to see if that will make interactions a bit livlier.

[Smoketest]

I am not talking about skipping, I am talking about having as many interactions as the player wants...

Ah, I apologize for misunderstanding you. I agree that some confirmation is helpful, after the core lovetalks have finished. I've had that problem with Aerie before, as her romance typically runs out of lovetalks long before I finish the SoA portion of the game. It made for a very long and quiet game until I got into ToB and she started talking again.

[MyFinalHeaven]

I'd get rid of the negative responses that show up even after the romance is 'committed to'. If you decide not to romance the NPC, avoid talking them up in your next game. Or, if you're completely psychotic, kill them off. I'm referring to the outright rude responses that typically end in the romance breaking up and/or the NPC leaving the party.

 

I'd rather add friendship components to NPCs than strap on a 'flirt pack' band-aid. Develop the character better and you don't have to try to describe flirt sessions with words.

I agree with this whole heartedly.It irks me greatly.

[Grim Squeaker]

Yes, it is a matter of interpretation, but by some reason the whole story made a lot more sense for me with them being lovers and protecting their own child

It never actually occured to me that they could have been lovers. I always assumed it was just brotherly/sisterly love, which would be a very uncommon thing in the Underdark.

[Guest Guest]

Unless Viconia has some magical ability to give birth to human babies then I don't think that Viconia and Valas were lovers. She even says they had a mutual respect and that's as far as it went.

[Domi]

Well, that's maybe why my opinion is not wide-spread ANyway, it is one of the rare cases, where I do not care much what Bio says and prefer to stick with my gut feeling.