I just want to say ...

[Quiss]

Um, that's what actually concerns me. Isn't there a risk of a character turning into someone without faults... but also without a personality?

 

There are faults and then there are annoyances. Xan has plenty of the former but doesn't seem to annoy people even remotely as much as Tsujatha (who is, in most other ways, super-sexy), so it seems to me you got your mod just right

 

Game-play aside, why are we playing these romances? For the romance, not to listen to rebound-boy whine about someone else. Sure, he can have flaws that need to be dealt with but in the end I think the PC would like to take center stage in his life, sooner than later Lots of real-life people in my real life - I don't play BG2 to get real-life.

 

While I'm still pining for a manly-man bad-boy romance with a bit of spice to suit my warrior Bhaalspawn, I so far found Xan's issues (faults!) the most interesting. Once I got a grip on his character, I actually found him a bit TOO easy-going at the end and nearly wished he'd go back to keeping me on the edge of my seat, as much as that annoyed me at first. Well done!

 

While we're comparing these mods, was anyone else annoyed by the switch of personalities that overcame Edwin and Sola once they got turned into a romanceable character? Edwin, who is mostly excellent, ended up with too much comic relief, I think, to the point of seeming like a caricature - would Bhaalspawn hang out with someone who can't get no respect? Solaufein just got too "good" for my liking. C'mon, he's a Drow! Even if he already had some undrowish traits before the mod, would have been nice if he kept a bit of an edge.

[Caedwyr]

One thing that also bothered me about Edwin, was he and his family didn't seem so much as evil as good characters that occasionally did an evil deed or two to make sure their alignments stayed over on the evil side of the spectrum. It really felt meta-gamish to me. As well, his father in particular felt very gary stuish in a lot of ways.

[Eleima]

Hear, hear Dragon's Jewel, you're making hate Tsujatha even though I've never even played the mod!

 

To get back on topic, regarding Aklon's voice, I'd imagine him as having a quiet, deep voice, but not too deep. I don't know, I guess it just would have to fit with his personality: wise, soft-spoken, makes every word count, doesn't speak just for the pleasure of making air move... I don't know, maybe I'm totally off, and if that's the case, tell me.

 

But in the end, Aklon's voice will be what BigRob decides, and that's good enough for me!

[Domi]

It seems as if we all agree, more or less, about what kind of character we like to see...

 

No, actually, and I think this is the most important thing. That we're well past the day when it was Anomen, Anomen or Anomen. There will never be a romance that suits 100% of the gaming population. But the diversity will. And that's why it is so important that all the romances created were created, and all the romances that would be created - will be created.

[dragonjewel13]

Re: Aklon's voice

 

I mentioned Cam Clarke as an example of how I've always envisioned Aklon's voice, and then tried to come up with a bunch of examples of his voice work. Cam Clarke also, duh, voiced Aran Linvail.

 

I love it when I insist on threading through the woods when there's a path through the plains right in front of me.

[Silver]

I thought about what people said about the autor's desire to put him or her 'self' in the work

 

I'm a writer and I know that it's slightly different than a mod creator (mainly because people have no interaction with my works teehee), so I can say how I feel about it:

 

I don't put my name in the story I create, because I don't want to be remembered as a "story character". I'm the AUTHOR, not a piece of my own story - I'm like the soul, and so is any mod creator - you guys are the souls of the story.

 

Also there's no need to put the presence into a mod - anyone who played the mod remembers the author. Or at least I do.

[Stnemele Faerie]

Also as a writer, I've tried to put myself into stories before. It ends up being horrible (and embarassing to read when you go back to it). It takes tons of time and patience to create a character, especially one that's relatively realistic and not perfect, etc.

 

I'm the kind of person that remembers characters. Firstly this is because I don't look at authors all that often (when it comes to BG mods, that is) and secondly because I find them to be fascinating. Suffice to say, I commiserate with you, BigRob, at the time it takes to put together a good character. It took me...er...five years to get one down, and even then they still need work.

 

But, as always in a kind manner, BE FAST! *please?*

[Silver]

But, as always in a kind manner, BE FAST! *please?*

 

lollerskaters

[Vestrael]

Solaufein just got too "good" for my liking. C'mon, he's a Drow! Even if he already had some undrowish traits before the mod, would have been nice if he kept a bit of an edge.

 

yeah, i agree that he needed more drowishness. i mean, the guys get viconia, and she's about as drowish as you can get. i think we deserve to see some of sola's dark side....

Re: Aklon's voice

 

I mentioned Cam Clarke as an example of how I've always envisioned Aklon's voice, and then tried to come up with a bunch of examples of his voice work. Cam Clarke also, duh, voiced Aran Linvail.

 

I love it when I insist on threading through the woods when there's a path through the plains right in front of me.

 

oh, aran linvail? he has a good voice. i hope cam clarke can do a british accent, cuz that's what i always imagined aklon having. just my opinion, though...

 

p.s. is "drowishness" a word?

[Silver]

p.s. is "drowishness" a word?

 

nah but is zomg a word?

 

yeah, i agree that he needed more drowishness. i mean, the guys get viconia, and she's about as drowish as you can get. i think we deserve to see some of sola's dark side....

 

I think I started to realize why I didn't like Sola - he's not drow-enough to be a drow, no matter how devoted to Elistree he is. He spent most of his life in a drow-city, he shouldn't adopt goodness so easily, after all being brought up by drow is a cute brainwash.

 

Is it just me, or there's no evil-side romance for female char (well besides Edwin, but it's more like he doesn't care if PC is evil. That's why I like him)

[BigRob]

One of the things I've been most concerned about with Aklon is not turning him into a soulless Gary Stu... He is alot more focused on <CHARNAME> than Anomen is, for various reasons, but the last thing I want is for him to be the "perfect" man. "Great", yes (well, hopefully).

 

Probably the two most general flaws I have tried to keep in his character is fatalism (though not to the level of Xan ) and some literal mindedness. When testing comes around, I'll be glad to accept criticism of the level of Gary Stu-ism and how it might be best removed.

 

 

 

 

 

Re: Aklon's voice

 

I mentioned Cam Clarke as an example of how I've always envisioned Aklon's voice, and then tried to come up with a bunch of examples of his voice work. Cam Clarke also, duh, voiced Aran Linvail.

 

Cam Clarke is probably somewhere in the right area for Aklon's voice. I tend to think of it as slow, measured and calm. Not to high, not too deep, but there is some room to move on that.

 

Currently, I don't have anyone in mind to do the voicing, so you can keep speculating as much as you like.

 

I'm the final back-up voicer, in case I can't find anyone to suit, though I do have some people lined up for other parts in the mod (no, I haven't forgotten!). I have the advantage of knowing exactly how I want things inflected on certain lines, but I did some test lines and I wasn't very happy with how they turned out... we'll have to see how that goes.

[Silver]

Well... if there's a problem with the mood of voice or 'color' of it (meaning tune) you could always play around with the files in GoldWave or any other program to edit music. i recall hearing some 'edited' ones and they were pretty good.

[berelinde]

Don't know if you're going to like this suggestion or not, but you could always post those recorded lines to see if Aklon's fans are as critical as you are.

 

The answer is probably an enthusiastic no.

 

That was the only problem that I have with self-voiced mods. It's *way* too easy to be hyper-critical when there is no reason to be. You wind up recording everything like 60 times, when you could probably have gotten by on two or three, and had something more spontaneous sounding.

[Domi]

I don't know. Voicing for me is probably the single toughest part of modding. But I think that it would be great to hear a voice sample or two for Aklon. Apart from the encouragement there are folks around here who can give an advice on how to improve quality if it is not stellar.

 

I think I started to realize why I didn't like Sola - he's not drow-enough to be a drow, no matter how devoted to Elistree he is. He spent most of his life in a drow-city, he shouldn't adopt goodness so easily, after all being brought up by drow is a cute brainwash.

 

(Nods) But I think we needed Solaufein to see this. My single biggest inspiration for Rizdaer was 'not going Sola', making sure he was remaining drow and evil, despite falling for PC.

[Silver]

(Nods) But I think we needed Solaufein to see this. My single biggest inspiration for Rizdaer was 'not going Sola', making sure he was remaining drow and evil, despite falling for PC.

 

Rizdaer? my friend mentioned someone like that a few days ago but didn't answer who is it... your mod I presume?