NPC Romance MOD Opinions

[mashedtaters]

I just want to say, thank you to all the modders out there. Making a mod is a lot of hard work. Who would have thought it possible that making the Baldur's Gate series better was even possible, but thanks to modders and beta testers, the game is somehow better for it.

 

Also, thank you all for the feedback!

[mashedtaters]

As for the topic itself - I see. I must admit that I didn't read the whole thread. Just some chunks. But... erm... is the description really that important. It looks as if Mashedtaters was making some kind of ... strange research. I am not sure if I do remember everything I worte in my mods...

 

I guess you could say that I'm doing research. I don't know that it's necessarily strange, because rating the content of games/movies/tvshows/etc. is nothing new.

 

I'm only doing this, though, because I hope it will be a time saver, albeit perhaps inaccurate or opinionated, for people out there who want to know what "inappropriate" content is in a mod (the word inappropriate being subjective). I'm not a professional or anything, just an insterested player of the game and mods.

[mashedtaters]

Oh, and this is great! These reviews are awesome and thanks to everyone who has participated so far! Especially to berelinde. Your feedback has given a lot of insight to me on how something like this should be done. Thanks!

 

Hopefully we can all work together to fill out the rest of this table. Thanks again!!

[Tempest]

On Darian:

 

Darian has mature elements, but they're not sexual. Although he's a romance option, sex is only suggested and implied - Charname can, at her discretion, flirt with him in a more direct fashion, but you could read Darian's romance easily enough as an entirely chaste one involving lots of cuddling and sleeping in the same tent (assuming you don't take the player-initiated dialogue to announce that Charname is pregnant). However, Darian has done some morally questionable things in his past, and his romance has themes that some people may find troubling, such as racism, encountering differences between the real world and what his culture lead him to believe, and, in ToB, questioning what love actually is. His ToB romance might be considered mature because it revolves around him questioning and reconsidering his romantic relationship with Charname, looking over the facts and realizing that they might not have a healthy foundation for a long-term relationship.

[mashedtaters]

Updated. Thanks, Tempest.

 

Let me know if you think that is accurate, or if there's something you think I should change.

[Ardanis]

From memory, mods that I've either played or read.

 

Yoshimo & Kachiko (Tortured Souls) - safe.

Ninde - few non-graphic references about character's sexual adventures. Nude woman sits on PC's lap, following act is implied.

Tashia - a fair number of groping scenes. That's all I remember

Leina (NEJ) - brief non-graphic whirling skirt shot.

Imoen - rape discussion, several not very graphic (?) but otherwise strongly implying scenes.

Saerileth - lots of kissing, few wakings up in the same bed.

[mashedtaters]

Updated.

Gave the following ratings:

Yoshimo & Kachiko--Teen

Ninde--PG-13/Mature

Tashia--Mature

Leina--Teen

Imoen--Adult

Saerileth--PG-13

 

Tell me if you agree with these arbitrary ratings. (I haven't played any of them.) I tried to use Viconia's romance, with the rating of teen given by ESRB, as the basis for rating these mods from your description. If you feel that these rating are more or less intense than Viconia's, please tell me and I will change the rating.

 

(I grabbed the PG-13/Mature rating from here http://www.spellhold...os.net/ie/ninde, in the description of the ninde mod)

 

Also tell me if you do or do not feel that what I posted reflects your review accurately.

[mashedtaters]

Speaking of which, does anyone know if the Imoen romance or the Tsujatha romance has an optional adult content install or an opt out of content option? I should put it on the table if they do.

 

They're the only ones of the "Adult", so far, that don't have one mentioned. (Except for Coran and Shar-Teel romance in BG1NPC project, but you can choose to not install those specifically during installation of bg1npc.)

[Tempest]

Updated. Thanks, Tempest.

 

Let me know if you think that is accurate, or if there's something you think I should change.

 

Seems accurate enough. In my experience, the stuff Darian involves is very much subjective - some people have problems with it, others don't. For example, Darian is deeply racist when you first meet him, but his character arc involves him growing out of that, and his racist attitudes are presented as negative aspects of the character.

[Rhaella]

I was contemplating how I'd rate my guy once he comes out (relatively tame on sexuality but fairly mature in other ways), and I really am beginning to think that with themes as well as suggestiveness, we should probably be using the Viconia romance as a meter. Because Viccy's got racism, sororicide, mariticide, abuse, and a whole lot of other questionable subjects tossed in for good measure. And that's PG-13.

 

I'd be careful of conflating intellectually maturity and age inappropriateness, which is what seems to be going on now. While I'd consider mods like Darian and Keldorn "mature" since they can approach issues in a more adult fashion than what you normally get in the vanilla game, as far as I'm aware, neither is really inappropriate for teenagers. A teen may or may not enjoy them and it's great that the readme's tell you as much, but I really am not sure that we should be saying on a list like this, out of context, that they're effectively more problematic than Viconia. It might scare off people who otherwise would have enjoyed the mods, and it also might soften the "mature" label to the point where it doesn't really mean anything here.

 

[edited] Also, Tsujatha actually does have a warning in the readme. I don't think there's an opt-out, though, unfortunately.

[Ardanis]

Yoshimo & Kachiko--Teen

That's too strict. If vanilla romances are considered teen, then this is for any age. Two characters simply develop feelings for each over and eventually declare love in the good old classic fashion.

[Miss Jade]

Hmm, should there be a Rating skeleton mapped out to help players actually name the content within the mod a little more accurately?

 

Perhaps like:

 

Sexual Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Psychological Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Violence Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Drug Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Alcohol Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Profanity Content: None, Light, Mild, Strong

Final Rating: Everyone, Teen, Mature

 

From there, folk would rate what the content is: None, light, mild, strong, based on how many times the content occurs throughout the mod, and/or how graphic/detailed the scene is described.

 

Example:

 

Sexual Content: [Light]-There is one scene referring to sharing the same tent.

Psychological Content: [strong]There are five scenes that deals heavily with the bereavement of a loved one.

Violence Content: [Mild] There is one scene that graphically describes a battle.

Drug Content: [Light] There is one scene referring to drug usage.

Alcohol Content: [Mild] There are three scenes that pertains to getting drunk.

Profanity Content: [Light] There is usage of the 'D' word three times, and 'Hell' is used once.

Final Rating: Teen

 

I feel like this gives away nothing, but lets players know the actual content within the mod. If they think it's mild. Cool.

If they think it's too much. Fine. But at least now it's mapped out for them to make an opinion on, without the mod coming off like it's being 'judged' harshly for it's content. These are simply the facts. From the facts, another rating could be slapped on it.

It could now make sense that it got Teen simply because of the Psychological content.

Of course, this could be improved, but just a suggestion.

[mashedtaters]

This is all great feedback, especially the idea of using Viconia as a meter and placing different catergories.

 

I should revamp the table to reflect this excellent advice.

 

Hold on.

[mashedtaters]

Updated and revamped the table and instructions. It's changed quite a bit, to include more topics. It also uses the Viconia romance as a basis.

 

If everyone who has posted so far would please look through what I've done to make sure that it's accurate, I would appreciate it.

 

Thank you everyone for the feedback! Sorry that this has been such a learning curve for me.

 

Now, hopefully we can make the ratings more accurate without scaring people off.

[Tempest]

My thoughts on the other categories for Darian:

 

Violence: Moderate. Darian briefly discusses a past scene of violence at one point, and talks about the aftermath of the sacking of Saradush.

 

Drugs/Alcohol: None. Darian never refers to such things and has no alcohol-related content.

 

Profanity: None. Darian uses what he afterwards states was a very impolite expression in elven exactly once, but does not elaborate and it's a meaningless made-up word in any event.