Zs00zsa

No, I've always been annoyed by bad writing. Good, who isn't? Then I ask again; what's stopping you guys (as a company), from hiring professional writers, who could make a difference? But it isn't for all relationships, and I don't think romantic relationships should always culminate in sex. No they shouldn't. I think a healthy balance is the key for everything and taking the character's personality into account. And I am one of those people. Great. So I'm sure you agree in that case that eg. Casavir is a cardboard box? Even if you had nothing to do with his character, just asking your opinion. I'm pretty sure Avellone and/or Ferret cut the romances down to what shipped in the game. I really had almost nothing to do with the companions, for good or ill. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> In that case my apologies are due. You never said anything to my (or anyone else's question for that matter) about if you are going to address this on the official NWN2 board or not?

If you actually read my post and not 'skimmed' it you'd have seen that I'm asking for the exact opposite.

I do not enjoy many of the stories, characters, and dialogue styles that are popular in CRPGs. Emulating them is unenjoyable and writing as I see fit isn't likely to be popular, so I don't do it anymore. I stick to mechanics and story suggestions; I reserve personal writing for personal time. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's perfectly fine for me, you have grown tired of some of the things that make up CRPG's, I can even understand that. But in that case, may I please ask you, BEG you not to ruin the experience for those who still enjoy everything that these games are about? Referring to one of your earlier posts about 'either no romance or more romance in rpg's' (correct me if I'm wrong, but that roughly summarize it?) and that they have been getting worse and worse lately; is the solution really to exclude them entirely? Basically, let me break it down a bit; the romantic elements in crpg's have started a revolution with BG2 opening a whole lot of new possibilities in ROLE playing. I see no reason why such options should not be exploited, especially when the community has been desperately waiting and asking for it and when role playing is about having options. I might even agree with you that certain characters should not be romancable because it simply wouldn't feel right, but let's say, in NWN2 we are talking about 10+ characters, only 2 of them 'available'. Oh and one more thing, again please correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall you saying that a lot of these romance options just cheap excuses for getting some shallow 'faded-out' sex scenes. Only in the case this statement was correct I dare to say... since WHEN do said scenes have to be cheap? Sex is (for most of us) a healthy part of a relationship and there is no reason why it couldn't be done right in games, without the 'virtual nookie' feeling, as someone referred to it. I might go as far as to say hiring screenplay writers and real novelists wouldn't be a bad idea either, because these scenarios CAN be done right. But most of us gamers really only want character depths, great dialogs and if possible, romances that are IN TUNE with the character's personality. Take Bishop for example, such a passionate ranger with an enticing background who when asked you if you wanted to run away with him and leave Neverwinter to rot, you could answer the same 'no' in three different ways. Why did you (not you personally, but whoever was responsible for that decision) even include his question if the only thing you could achieve with the player is to get him/her frustrated if they actually wanted to say yes. I somewhat gathered from all the things you said, that you probably thought Bishop should not have been romancable and from your point of view this I'm sure even made sense. I wish though If you asked someone from the opposite gender as well, and you'd have been definitely surprised and taken back by the answers. Contrary to belief, us, female players are less and less minority nowdays and would be really happy to see some options for ourselves as well (although the male players had it just as bad in NWN2). As for you only being on the production for 6 months, I did know that, I don't think I even mentioned anything different. The discussion was about WHO had the final word on cutting some of the material from NWN2 (eg. romances)? If you say you had absolutely no word in it, I sincerely apologize. To that particular someone who thought we on the Bioware forum already made up our minds; no we haven't. But due to the lack of responses from OE we had to come to sad, perhaps incorrect, conclusions. Thus I most definitely encourage JE Sawyer to address the fans on that board as well and maybe clear up some things.

Ever heard of something called 'replayability value'? As much as I agree with RPG romances should have way more depth I disagree with excluding them for merely because it is supposedly too much work and 'won't be experienced by most players of the game'. A role playing game IS and SHOULD be about having a lot of different ways of solving problems, talking to NPC's, romancing henchmen. Why is it that the designers don't even try to understand the GROWING need of such options in their games? Now I understand that Obsidian wasn't the only culprit in this, as we all know how Atari rushed the game out and so on and so forth... what grieves me is that I see the lack of intent from JE to give it even a little thought at all. All right, we got that. That's a perfectly fine thing for a shoemaker or a gardener to say. But not for a designer, who can ACTUALLY do something about. So he is only against badly scripted romances then, who isn't? I assure you, the community will stand by him with full force if he decides to make a difference about it, but not until he just throws his hands up in the air helplessly and say 'yeah I mean, it's only my job, I can't do anything about it, tootles.'

The prose isn't necessarily any better or worse, but the writing often comes across as worse because I think many people are more sensitive to the context of romance than to other situations. "Oh, [CHARNAME]. I know that I'm a devout pacifist druid of Eldath and you're a halfling cleric of Talos, the Lord of Storms, but... as I stand next to you among this pile of fourteen freshly fireball-charred goblin corpses, I really feel something special between us. It's the sort of bond that could only be felt between me and someone like you, someone with the [PROTAGONIST] tag." 3. Shut up and get out of my face. "Oh... oh, [CHARNAME], how could you? After that one previous node of dialogue where you gave a non-hostile response, I thought I was something special to you! Well now I see I was wrong!" 5. I hate you and hope that the Lord of Storms consumes you with a divine call lightning spell. "Okay, I'll end this dialogue now, but you better know there's only one more floor trigger that's going to give you the option to be my sweetheart!" <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am honestly mourning all of us pro-romance gamers that a person like you have the last word over games that had great potential, until you shove it aside with the wave of your hand. You should have realized by now that it's none other but people like you, who can make a difference and with a little work, revitalize the romances in games. Do not give sloppy reasons like 'I don't like it because they are poorly written most of the time', because that is indeed as dubious as it sounds. Who else is going to make them work if not companies like Obsidian? (well, Bioware obviously, but that's another matter). If you are not in favor of the romances, say the real reason, like simply not liking them. Even that is more understandable than the answer you have initially given. Now I'm expecting the defender hounds jumping at my neck, but the reassuring thought that there are a lot out there who agree with me is enough to repel them.