Discussing Ajantis Romance Concept

[Lauriel]

1 minute ago, jastey said:

Thanks! I'm not decided whether to just let it run similar to the engaged path (him addressing the PC as my love and everything) and whether to allow for a pseudo break-up which would lead to a reconciliation in BGII. I only know it will get quite complicated and will be a lot of fun to write.

I know we talked about this before but from the top of your head what yould be the story arch you would like most to see?

Nooo, I am completely immune to these kind of influences.

I'd like to have them court longer for one.  Seems he goes from the inquisitive stage (finding out about what makes the protagonist tick) to the proposal a bit too quick.  He does like to have her around when he cleans his equipment, but there could stand to be more kisses on the hand, more closeness under the stars, sitting near her at the camp fire, hand holding sort of stuff.  He should at least be able to look at her in the eyes without turning beet red before he asks her to marry him.  I'd like him (and give her the option) to consider the dark hints she gets from folks around her and from her dreams, that all is not well with her parentage.  Allow those forebodings to warn him or her off on any commitments until they learn more.  He is from a noble family and should know there are obligations there that he should consider before jumping in with both feet AND his heart.  But he is rather naive so perhaps it's on her shoulders to 'tap the brakes'.  Not say 'no', but not say 'yes'.  Rather a 'love ya, but let's wait and see'.  Allow for a 'going steady' sort of thing, rather than an engagement-or-nothing situation.  Like, the only promise she can make is she won't give her heart to another until the issue of these forebodings have been dealt with but they have 'an understanding'.  I don't know if that communicates or not.

Even if they're not engaged, it would be nice if the PC would get at least one letter from him.  That is such a nice touch.  Even on a friendship route.  He owes the protagonist a lot.  He got his knighthood based on the experience he got with him/her.   It might find him/her in Baldur's gate, maybe while...

Spoiler

... he/she's in prison, or maybe not until he/she goes to the Bleeding ... cough... I mean Radiant Heart headquarters.

I'd like to see an option, when we do learn about the parents' decision to not give their permission for the marriage, to have the PC not allow Ajantis to go against their wishes.  Let's face it.  If she's a good enough person to marry a paladin knight of the Radiant Heart, she's gotta be a shiny enough person to not want to break up a family.  She must have issues with not having a family of her own and seeing herself breaking up someone else's?  I have a tough time with that.  If she can help Anomen stay on the straight and narrow, she can certainly get Ajantis to see how this is impossible for her.  Then let the tears flow and the angst set in, but eventually move on.  Or say what the hell, let's get married anyway.  I'm just talking of one option of many. 

Spoiler

But please, if they marry and she ascends to god-hood, let him move on or let her take him with her.  There's got to be a happier ending for him.  It feels like, if they marry she ends up breaking him into little tiny pieces.

I'd also like to explore what the parents would do if they would to have a 'battlefield wedding', as in elope, get married on the quick, as soon as their permission came in - and then find out who she really is.  That could be some real drama, as well.  Yes, I'd like a 'wed me, bed me, or lose me forever!' sort of option, too.

And why is pregnancy so readily skipped over?  I know this is fantasy land, but people still get pregnant from having sex even with 'herbs'. LOL  What would ascending while pregnant do? LOL  These are questions that run through my head.

But no matter what, if their relationship becomes committed either engaged, married, or whatever, please don't let the romance end.  So many of these NPC romances just seem to end once they've hit the sack once.  Commitment actually should allow things to get steamier, not cooler.

[jastey]

Thank you very much for your ideas. There is a lot of really good things in there.

Thinking about it now, I guess would I rewrite it, I would make the romance go through the whole saga, with an arch that does not come to conclusion in BG1 (although he would flirt heavily because he is totally swooped from his feet by the PC) but only in BGII when they meet again - after he tried so hard to forget about her during the absence, because He Is Paladin And Son Of  A Noble Family And She Is Bhaalspawn. - Ajantis did not venture forth to find a wife, but to get knighted, and considering the one-track-mindedness that characterizes him (especially in BG1, maybe less in BGII), he would rather tourment his heart than to lose focus of that.

But he is also very young and definitely suffers from a certain form of megalomania - thinking he could make it all work, somehow, so it is not a mis-charcterization imho. EDIT: Also, there is definitely the theme of him wanting to protect her, from everything, including herself, which adds to his belief of doing the right thing.

The BG1 romance is great and I am not regretting I wrote it the way I did but it is clear that coming to a "conclusion" in BG1 was due to the fact of the strictly separated games in the past when it was written - BGT existed but it was a non-weidu niche mod BG1NPC didn't even support for a long time, BG1NPC was written for Tutu, not having the whole saga in mind. That is the only thing I regret - having bound myself to the "standard" way of writing romances where "getting committed" would be the goal before the end of that particular game. I see the flaws in that design now, as you also pointed out there is so much that should make him hesitate before binding himself to the PC.

[Lauriel]

I like the concept of looking at a romance story over the entire series.  Not saying they (whoever they are) can't get married in chapter 3 because their story doesn't end when they get married, or engage, or even maybe break up - they can always make up again.  It's gotta be harder to write in a mod, though, unless there's only one story to tell and the PC can either play along or not.  I prefer having options - let's see what happens if they do this...  Which is why I'll probably never write one because I'd want to have too many options and it would eventually drive me over the edge.  I teeter near it enough without getting lost in trying to imitate life on that order.