Aridea

Uh Nemnok is a GIANT FLOATING imp, and the amulet is supposedly on his neck. How are you going to pickpocket that? Teleport on his head? I would have liked to tell villagers off though for being stupid.

Romance is content, content is optional. Its also controversial. For every argument for there will be an argument against. Thing is either side is a limitation for someone. If you decide to pull the realism card, then you are limiting options for people who like certain companions and will not be able to romance them due to the gender of race or other restrictions. If you go other way then you piss off people who either dislike romances or think its unrealistic, heh. There is no win-win for everyone sadly. The fact in Deadfire is, everyone can bang everyone. Which is okay in my book because this provides LESS limitations since people who are pro any romance have more choices. And it only pisses off people who are anti romance. Those in the middle would still play the content even if they grumble about lack of realism. And again, its optional. You say no once, and it is never brought up again. Its the safest route imho. It also kind of makes sense in the context of Deadfire since it seems like free love for all is a prevalent theme in the game.

But what if he WAS written with various physical interactions? Wouldn't you be more upset he wasn't a romance in the end? Because this would lead you on even more. I mean there are already so many disappointed fans of his out there, this would just make it worse. Besides no other non-romance companion has physical interactions, i.e. Pallegina, or Serafen for that matter as far as I recall. You can flirt with him but I don't remember if there is any touching. Thus, if you included more roleplaying options for Eder as a non-romance you'd have to include it for others as well for fairness sake, again Pallegina (regardless whether they respond in kind). Which would be counter-productive imho. I love Eder, I really do, but I don't see why one companion should get special treatment over the others.

His personal quest is pretty much the one you get from Prince Aruihi to investigate smuggling in the Gullet and Delver's Row. But its easy to miss and not take him on it since it triggers by itself. He is tied with the Gullet, food shortage, and later Watershapers guild and Ukaizo. You could say they are all parts of his personal growth.

Eh, I think there can't be talk of any babies for the Watcher in the foreseeable future. With the way things are going. No rest for the wicked and all that. The Watcher is just too... abnormal, and seems to attract abnormal. Not to mention status quo had been broken. Not saying I disagree with you. I think Eder was just written in a way that you are not supposed to show much physical affection towards him. Neither bad nor good imho, just is.

The options show up regardless of you being in a relationship or not, i.e. I had too many with Xoti to the point that I booted her out of the party and never looked back. What what I mean is that they are present in the first place only with companions who can be romanced. You can't hold Pallegina's hand, she'd probably impale you with that sword of yours.

I assume the hand-holding, hugging and touching interactions are all with romanceable companions. All non-romance don't have, or never had these options. Funny I remember in first Pillars there is only one option and its with Aloth, where you are given a choice to support him by holding his hand in the Sanitarium. And Eder is actually more touchy to the Watcher than the other way around (wakes Watcher up in pillars 1, pokes in deadfire, etc.). I think he is the only one which has some physical interactions described in the dialogue outside of romance.

Technically Tyranny had *some* content in the expansion which went into the main game, so its possible. But I think not probable.

Except at that point I feel that Durance only cares about his vengeance on Magran. He doesn't give a damn about Eothas, since he is so obsessed with what Magran did to him. I would have loved to see old coot, but I feel like he has even LESS reason to appear. Aloth for me had the weakest reason. Pallegina was alright since there was a big thing in Deadfire and she was called by the Republics, Eder is affected directly because it was his own god that rose from the dead, so its natural for him to follow with you.

He still dies though in the epilogue if you don't do his quest... So idk if not meek means just being an ass

Lol good point. I did always think it was more of a joke. I don't think we are supposed to take it seriously. But again who knows.

That's amazing! Thank you OP.

Yeah, Eder is probably the most normal and human out of all of the characters, including the Watcher. So while beings friends is fine, any sort of romantic relationship will probably be taking it too far. Although all that speculation may be completely wrong and we get surprised in the third game, who knows.

Yeah I thought she hates making gods out of godlikes, worshipping them, putting them above others, and generally treating them differently. I'd say its inverse racism. She wants everyone to be treated equally, godlike, orlan, elf, dwarf, or human.

I haven't completed Tyranny, but I remember Barik and Verse were my favorites. What happened to him? Aside from being a walking sewer stuck in a tin can. As for Eder not liking the Watcher. I feel like the Watcher is the least "normal" person regardless of what they want in their miserable life. The first game they were going crazy, staring into space drooling, conversing with ghosts. Second game they still converse with ghosts, still drool and stare into space but now they also have gods watching them like a reality show and taking active part in their life. Idk this is anything but normal. I know we are talking about fictional characters here, but I feel like you don't need logical reasons for someone to like someone, and vice versa. Sometimes people are just not attracted romantically even though they have extremely close friendship. Sometimes being friends is better than being lovers. And in fictional universes its alright too, they don't need legit reasons if the writers decide they don't.

Yeah, when life seems too bleak I look to gifs of Skyrim bugs, and it immediately turns brighter.

To be honest, I am not holding out for the 3rd game on this. Since this game handled it in such an unpleasant (for his fans) way, I think if the writers cave in to romance in the third game, it will be worse. I think you need to talk to Dawnstars somewhere for his quest to pop up. On my pt where I didn't get Xoti his quest triggered in the Gullet.

Um, just because the guy is blond and cracks jokes doesn't mean he is similar to Alistair/Cullen and attracts the same fans. I'd rather they wrote what made sense for the characters. I feel like too much catering to fans can ruin the game. Dragon Age suffered from that already. Planescape Torment was a beautiful game with a beautiful story because it was created exactly how the writers wanted to create it.

Thats because you are not a fish. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that two different godlikes can correspond to one god. They are just stricter parents. They want to kick you out of the house early so you'd emerge stronger from the experience.

And thats one of the best-selling games of all time. Every rpg developer does need more testing. But Deadfire is actually playable. Much drama?

Was it Maia? Sounds like her

I'd assume the characters changed because of the revelations of the first game, and its been 5 years, they had a lot of time to think about the state of the world. Pallegina did become more extreme and pro-Vailian, but perhaps she was always like that. Now that I remember her quest in POE1, she didn't care how the trade arrangement would affect Dyrwood, but rather how short-sighted it was in case Dyrwood recovered. Strong Dyrwood would not be beneficial to the Republics under the original contract. So I guess she didn't go far from her original character after all. Eder is still conflicted, he still has issues with his god, even if he is skeptical. But he can't go on about the same topic for the second game. Status quo had changed and he is not getting younger, so his mind is moving into different direction. Aloth's Leaden Key task is too much of a burden either way. He is unhappy, still uses subterfuge, and barely has anyone close. He is very lonely. I am not justifying the writing, but I think it makes sense why the companions are what they are. They could have been done better, they could also have been done worse.

That argument can go both ways. Why does he have to be romanceable just because he is a fictional character. Friendship isn't a bad basis yes, but not with everyone. You don't except your every friend to secretly want to marry you, thats just ridiculous. Aloth would have made sense in both situations. He is reserved and doesn't open up to anyone except the main character. He is also like a lost puppy without the Watcher, immediately goes somewhere and dies if you as much as look at him wrongly. Eder is more wordly, older, and he does have history with someone else. I do kinda agree that the way Eder's quest was handled was a bit of a middle finger to people who felt really strongly about the character. I don't know maybe his writer just enjoys drinking fan tears or something.

Favorite is always and forever - White that Wends. But the checks are boring. There should be some mystery or some fascination associated with Pale elves, but there is nothing more than "your blizzards are worse than our storms" and "hardy land hardy people" :/

Sounds like a bug to be honest. If he tells the Watcher they are like Iselmyr at -2 (or Thaos), then the Watcher would probably be the last person he'd want to be with. Or some very convoluted idea of romance which is... strange.