Think I discovered how to trigger Xoti/Maia romance

[NotDumbEnough]

So after 1000+ hours in this game and futilely trying to trigger Xoti/Maia romance by raising their relationship with one another across many, man runs... I finally made it happen. It is insanely unintuitive and difficult to pull off, and last I checked there is no explanation on the internet for how to do this.

The steps are:

1. Get Maia and Xoti to mutually like each other (at least +1 relationship mutually)

2. Get Eder and Xoti to like each other

3. Xoti will initiate a conversation with you where she talks about romancing Eder. If you fulfill the first condition, you can now suggest that she romance Maia instead. Caution, this is hidden behind a dialogue option to suggest to Xoti to not romance Eder, and if you miss it, Xoti/Maia romance does not happen.

One tricky part is to not get 3 to happen before 1 happens (and 3 happens quite quickly after you fulfill 2), and the other tricky part is to get 2 to happen at all. Basically Eder does not have a lot of lines tagged as jokes. I've found it absolutely necessary to bring Eder and Xoti on two occasions:

1. While speaking with Serafen before going to Fort Deadlight, propose a head on assault. Serafen will joke about it being suicide, and Eder will chip in with his own joke.

2. While visiting Fort Deadlight, have both Eder and Xoti in the party when talking with Syri the Siren with Serafen in tow. Comment that Serafen made his bed, and now has to lie in it, rather than lying on his behalf. Eder will chip in with another joke.

AFAIK these are both mandatory for triggering step 2, otherwise it is near impossible to get Xoti to have +1 relationship with Eder. You then need to kick Eder out of the party ASAP (there are a few random conversations which will cause Xoti to hit the +1 threshold with Eder, and you don't want 3 triggering prematurely), go get Maia, and get Xoti and Maia to like each other. Careful where you bring Xoti, as she does not like Maia lying.

Anyhow I've attached screenshots of the beginning of the romance and a conversation that seems to confirm it, as I've never seen it on any previous playthrough.

Edited March 2, 2022 by NotDumbEnough

[thelee]

wow, I did not even know this was a possibility. Good find

[xzar_monty]

Wow! To me, this is the most interesting piece of game content related news in some two years. I never knew this was there.

[smilehigh]

On 3/2/2022 at 6:20 PM, NotDumbEnough said:

AFAIK these are both mandatory for triggering step 2

Sorry about the necro, but I just accidentally came across this thread and I would like to chime in and say that there are definitely more ways to make Xoti/Maia romance happen.

On my first playthrough I did not look for this outcome specifically and everything just happened naturally.

I played a Goldpact Paladin choosing mostly Rational/Stoic dialogue options in dialogues. I also did not encourage any Watcher/Xoti romance stuff.

In particular I did not have the two specific dialogues you mention (I spoke with Serafen on the deck of the Defiant, so Eder couldn't hear us) and I did not even have him in my party while speaking to Syri the Siren.

On 3/2/2022 at 6:20 PM, NotDumbEnough said:

3. Xoti will initiate a conversation with you where she talks about romancing Eder. If you fulfill the first condition, you can now suggest that she romance Maia instead. Caution, this is hidden behind a dialogue option to suggest to Xoti to not romance Eder, and if you miss it, Xoti/Maia romance does not happen.

I never picked that dialogue line or in any way pushed Xoti towards Maia before their romance happened.

I did remove Eder from my party once I arrived in Neketaka and could add Pallegina and Maia to my team.
 

In fact all this time I thought that Xoti/Maia romance was inevitable if you did not go out of your way to discourage it.

 

Game ending spoiler alert:

Spoiler

 

I also had the awkward ending slides that first stated that Xoti became a murder hobo leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

 

But at the same time somehow Maia and Xoti continued to be lovers, never far off from each other:

Whenever you come across Maia, Xoti is never far off. The two of them spend every available hour sharing stories over drinks, dangling their feet over docks, or exploring strange temples by the light of Xoti's lantern. 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by smilehigh

[daven]

Well done mate.