Ideas to Romance track BG1/BGII

[Lauriel]

BG2: I have a request for additional and / or modified dialogue.  Is it possible to have the PC respond to Ajantis (after the parents say 'no') that the PC needs the support of his family in order to make the marriage work as well as (or in place of) the one that says something on the order of I wanted to be part of a noble family.  The difference being the motivation.  Or perhaps that the PC will have nothing to do with breaking apart a family.  Something more altruistic than 'I wanted to be a noble'.

BG1: Also, is it possible for an option to be added, for his sake, to not accept the engagement at all until the mystery of the PC's origins are made known?  She's getting all sorts of dark hints about her heritage, it should be enough for her to want to be sure who she is before accepting an engagement to a paladin first of all, and one of a noble family especially.

I'm assuming that a PC would have to be a good alignment in order for Ajantis to ask her to marry him to begin with and therefore the PC would be somewhat honorable.  Anyway, as I've said before as Guest LZenn, Ajantis really is the only viable alternative for an honorable (and slightly naive) female PC in BG1, but knowing how it ends, I'm not comfortable with going through with the marriage.  A little angst is ok, though.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Lauriel
to make a sentence easier to understand

[jastey]

@Lauriel Welcome to G3!

Those are really beautiful suggestions. I am especially intrigued by the BG1 idea and admit that it makes a lot of sense. When I wrote the BG1 romance I didn't see the games as one big epic - I was kind of trapped in the "this has to be settled in BG1" idea, and that kind of hits me in the face now, heh. Problem is, that it would mean I'd have to rewrite parts of the romance in BG1 as well as BGII... And the coding would be a slight problem, too, since currently I distinguish in BGII between "is engaged" and "is falling for PC anew", so I'd need a third status for his reactions. What I could offer more easily is that the BG1 romance would "break" in such an instance - but leads to the "new beginnings" romance in BGII, where he proposes after knowing his parents' answer. It would mean missing out some of the romance content in BG1 and at the beginning of BGII, and having a yearning but rather shy Ajantis in BGII until he decides to propose to the PC no matter what.

Adding such an option to BGII would be easy enough, but probably break the romance (because he can't give her the family's support if it is not there).

Thank you for pointing this out and your suggestions! I do see the flaw in the romance concept thanks to your feedback and agree totally that it would make a lot of sense for him to wait until he knows what all the dark hints and strange dreams mean with regard to the PC's fate. I can only say that he is young an naive himself, and also rather black/white in his judgement (especially in BG1), and fully and truly means it the moment he proposes to the PC (but it would have been wiser to wait, but "wise" is not exactly his speciality, although he tries his best).

 

I'll note these down and will toy with the ideas some more. It will be a while before I'll come back to this, though.

Thank you for your kind words!

 

 

[Lauriel]

I'm really happy that you thought the suggestions had merit.  I couldn't ask for much more than that.  I really appreciate the work you have done and still do and look forward to more to come!

[jastey]

Thanks for your kind words.

When I designed the romance it was clear to me that Ajantis would not (with a sad and heavy heart) propose once he knew about the PC's heritage. Not right away, that is, but maybe somewhere in BGII when he gained more insight and wisdom that it does not define her as a person. That is why he only proposes sometime along the game before the PC gets to know it. The romance breaks if the heritage is known before his proposal (and will start the "new beginnings romance" in BGII).

Thinking about it now I see that the whole romance could have been woven into one big, much more emotional/dramatic romance arc until all the drama (heritage, family's consent) is settled.

[Lauriel]

I see potential for a real tear-jerker ending if they decide to abide by Mom and Dad's decision. 

To be honest, I used to run right up and get Ajantis into my 'good' group but now, I'm trying to wait until closer to the end so that her heritage comes out before he has a chance to ask her to marry him.  It's more fun to have him go through the 'What have you led me into?!' accusations.  I really enjoyed that.  I was behind the screen going 'Dude!  We were framed!  WTH dude! Exactly what part of that is my fault?!'  LOL  It was so perfectly him, though.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I could use more of it - and maybe some chiming in from the rest of the group.  I could see a rival trying to urge him on to drive a wedge between him and the PC giving the rival an edge.  Or a true-blue supporter of the PC's, like Minsc or Imoen, getting all in Ajantis's face about his accusations.  I don't know how hard all that is to code, it just sounds like fun.  The group is way too calm about the turn of events, if you ask me. LOL  A little venting could be fun.  Maybe small amounts of sploding (splode = minor explosion in my own personal vernacular).

One other thing you did in BG2 that was a real nice touch was the stack of letters to the PC from Ajantis.  I hope she still gets at least some of them in the future even if they're in the 'pre-engagement' stage.