NPC reactions to PC romance

[Domi]

This is the topic that was bound to be brought up sooner or later, so when someone asked me in the PM about it, I figured, that I would re-post my answer here:

 

This is something that I am undecided on. Basically, if you asl people they will reply "YES!", but I have done those for Coran's, Dynaheir's and iirc in Shar-Teel's as well, plus helped for the other romances, and there are the problems I am having.

 

IMO, they are only valuable, if they come from every NPC, or almost from every NPC, and if they are interesting and not predictable. Otherwise, it is not so difficult for the player to imagine raised brows or smiles etc.

 

Unfortunately, in BG2 we have a host of modded NPCs, and I think that many people do include one or two of those in the party. Writing a modded NPC cross-content is always an exercise in logistics, and by now, I think, I counted 16 or so valid NPCs, and that's only romances! So that would preclude all of NPCs reacting.

 

The second, and probably most important, point is about making it interesting. Again, people do rotate NPCs to see their content, but even if they do not, hearing five times the "OMG! You've hooked up!" in rapid succession is well, pretty annoying. Finding interesting topics to discuss (for example, in BG1 reactions, the first time Faldorn piped in about mating and cubs in Coran's romance reaction it was fun, but when she was repeating pretty much the same ideas in both Dynaheir's and Xan's RR's it was imo growing old. On the other hand, Edwin's reactions to Dynaheir Romance were easily one of the best parts of the romance ).

 

So, I think that unless I have a stroke of genius and have something unusual (not Haer writing a mocking poem, or Jaheira expressing maternal concern or Keldorn clapping Kivan on the shoulder, which I am sure appeared in every other romance out there who has the reactions) and interesting texts, I'd rather not do them for the sake of just having them.

 

I have plenty of time to think about it while play-testing, so maybe I will see some cool ways of implementing the party reactions. Please, do not hesitate to contribute ideas, but I will likely be picky, because I feel that it is a difficult to implement well component.