Romance in Deadfire

[tinysalamander]

Edér as a blood brother

[Ninjamestari]

Just a thought for all those who want to bed Pallegina: Josh Sawyer is writing the character.  That means that when she confesses her undying love for you, when it describes her lying you down and having her way with you, that is Josh Sawyer thinking that up and writing it down, describing your favourite sexual fetishes.  You could say that he is cybering with you, and anyone who announces that they romanced Pallegina and enjoyed, he knows what they did.

 

Just wanted to put the image of Pallegina with Josh Sawyer's face in your head.  For my amusement.

.... 

....

....

That was just EVIL! 

 

EDIT: and now I saw the pic. **** my stomach hurts xD

Edited March 29, 2017 by Ninjamestari

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Instead of cinematic scenes like some other games, sex should be that storybook thing they did with scripted interactions. With Josh narrariting and supplying the sound effects.

[Ninjamestari]

I'm not really convinced that having sex is a good idea in the first place. It tends to cheapen the whole 'romance' thing. Also, it just might remind people of some recent BioWare titles and cause violent projectile vomiting.

[tinysalamander]

Death by sex if you dumped Constitution to lowest possible value

[Regggler]

Man, this thread just keeps getting better!

 

Death by sex if you dumped Constitution to lowest possible value

Random person of negotiable affections: "I'm a fine-looking strumpet, ain't I?"

Low-Con Watcher: "Argh - my heart!"

Edited March 29, 2017 by Regggler

[rjshae]

Main character has a wild and thoroughly enjoyable fling with a rich and gorgeous floozie (male or female) via scripted interaction, then breaks it off. Ex-lover becomes jealous and hires a cipher to give our protagonist nightmares. These continue to get progressively worse each time our hero returns to the port. Soon the former lover begins to be featured in these nightmares, swearing eternal vengeance in the form of a howling thunderstorm. Our protagonist must either beg for forgiveness and suffer some utter humiliation while serving the ex-lover's whims on a remote island, or spend an enormous sum to hire a cipher assassin who will end the attacks.

[Ninjamestari]

Death by sex if you dumped Constitution to lowest possible value

Why does that remind me of those grinning skeletons on that amazon planet in futurama? :D

[HooAmEye]

My dream idea for romance is a super long and slow build up to it. In PoE1 you were all just friends, lacking any romantic intrest in each other. So, I'd like PoE2 to have just the beginings of a relationship, just the courtship. Then in the inevitable PoE3, we can have a full blown romance, with all the lovey-dovey.

[injurai]

Such a slow build up that you don't even notice it. It was right under your nose the whole time!

 

At least that's what you keep telling yourself.

[Ninjamestari]

It always bothered me in Bioware games how quickly the relationships progressed. They usually move from "hi, who might you be?" to "let's go make kissy-faces" in less than a couple dozen lines of dialogue. It always made the relationships feel forced, shallow and cheap. Then again, their decisions for making romances are made in the faceless-men with suitcases department, so it isn't that surprising.

 

So hell yeah for a more natural and gradually developing relationship. If the game manages to make me care about a character, *then* it has my blessing on introducing the possibility for a romance, not before. Too bad about Pallegina though, she was such a promising character, had all the right little nuances, but I don't think I can ever unsee that Joshugina picture. Seriously people, have some shame, I don't think that character will ever recover from that xD

[DrTomT18]

Billion Dollar Idea: your character takes some weird drugs, and starts having weird hallucinations and sees "Joshugina" and your character freaks out.

"Who are you?

"Huh? Me? I'm Josh."

"Where is Pallegnia?"

"She's here. In my head. Or am I in hers?"

"What?"

"I am her father."

And then your character passes out

[Kadayko]

Did you guys not enjoy the previous romances Obsidian did? NWN2, Kotor2, Alpha protocol? 

[rjshae]

If you believe the rumors about romance in PoE2, they're just joshing you...

[kensu]

Have an option to romance the Grieving Mother, and your companions will start making fun of you for having an imaginary girlfriend. :D

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Have an option to romance the Grieving Mother, and your companions will start making fun of you for having an imaginary girlfriend. :D

I think that happens irl for most promancers anyway.

[DrTomT18]

Have an option to romance the Grieving Mother, and your companions will start making fun of you for having an imaginary girlfriend. :D

Shes not 'imaginary', they just see her in as a useless peasant women. Memory is a bit fuzzy but I remember Eder being like 'you mean the old lady? Don't know why you have her following us around but whatever' when you ask him about her.

Either way, it'd be funny.

[Karkarov]

It always bothered me in Bioware games how quickly the relationships progressed. They usually move from "hi, who might you be?" to "let's go make kissy-faces" in less than a couple dozen lines of dialogue. It always made the relationships feel forced, shallow and cheap. Then again, their decisions for making romances are made in the faceless-men with suitcases department, so it isn't that surprising.

 

So hell yeah for a more natural and gradually developing relationship.

This is the guys who made Alpha Protocol, they can do a "get it on" relationship well.  I remember in that game you had one Asian lady you worked with from the very beginning whom you could not "romance" until right before the last mission of the game.

 

[Ninjamestari]

This is the guys who made Alpha Protocol, they can do a "get it on" relationship well.  I remember in that game you had one Asian lady you worked with from the very beginning whom you could not "romance" until right before the last mission of the game.

 

Then faith +1. Oh wait, that came out wrong

[ShadySands]

I don't see what's the problem with an instant and intense attraction but then again maybe I'm just a floozy. Diff'rent strokes and all that

[Heijoushin]

I don't see what's the problem with an instant and intense attraction but then again maybe I'm just a floozy. Diff'rent strokes and all that

 

Interesting. I have never heard the term "floozy" before.

 

Anyway, considering that you go into combat and various life-threatening situations with these people, I would think that you would bond with them quite fast. People mistake adrenaline for love and all that.

[Ninjamestari]

I don't see what's the problem with an instant and intense attraction but then again maybe I'm just a floozy. Diff'rent strokes and all that

 

It gets old after you've experienced enough times. If you've never experienced instant attraction, then it can be quite intense and definitely worth experiencing. The problem when it comes to a fictional character though is that it is quite difficult to actually get that reaction out of the player. Giving the player a cheesy response-option to a cheesy "Damn, I just saw you and am already in love" doesn't usually generate player attraction. Quite the opposite really; try to remember Ashley from ME1, and how they tried to hammer in attraction from the very first encounter while failing utterly in their attempts at subtlety. I'm not going to even talk about Liara.

 

Attraction doesn't form naturally if you try too hard to force it, which is why a gradual relationship is so much easier to do properly in a game. Not to mention that a gradually growing more deeper affection is so much more satisfying, both in gaming and in real life. When you get enough instant gratification, it starts to feel disgusting.

[basic_hitler]

I know that Obsidian is three or four steps above Bioware in their ability to write a story or make a game but I would hope that any romance or deep companion relationships are handled with restraint and open disdain for the types of 'shippers and other fanfic writers out there. I frankly find the obsession that Bioware fans have over who they can romance to be kind of creepy and Bioware's dedication to administering a thick enema of fan service to these weirdos was the first sign of a problem with the company, and I absolutely don't want anything close to a Bioware type romance in this game.

 

I know Obsidian is way better than that, as I've said, I just really want to say it out loud.

 

The way Witcher 3 handled romance between Triss and Yennifer is closer to something I would consider reasonable and maybe even desirable, since even the goofy elements of witcher 3 are far more developed and mature than bioware fanfic romance shlock, and even if you don't like W3 romance, it's not like that stuff made the game worse by being a part of it.

 

That's the best I can hope for PoE2 romance options, that it doesn't cheapen the game by having it. PoE1 is a really strong game with interesting and sympathetic sidekicks and it was actually refreshing for hunks like Eder to JUST be companions.

[Ninjamestari]

It's not quite that clear cut; Bioware has superior storytelling in the technical sense; pacing, plot, overall design in mood changes, Bioware does all of those things better than Obsidian. A lot better. Obsidian's strength is in their own unique style, their stories connect with both the world and the player in a much deeper way than Bioware has ever managed to do. Bioware has created a formula and perfected their skills in utilizing it to the point when they can just engineer engaging stories. What they've lost in the process is the soul and the artistic vision though, while Obsidian still has those in spades. There's a lot for Obsidian to learn, but the difference is that while Obsidian can learn the raw proficiency Bioware has, the artistic integrity and vision Obsidian has is something that can't just be duplicated.

 

To simplify, Bioware is the superior craftsman, but Obsidian has access to better raw materials.

[HooAmEye]

Bioware has done several relationships very well though. Garrus, Thane, Solas, and Jack were all handled with a great arc with modern Bioware. Most of the romances are quite schlocky true, however that doesn't mean that there isn't some great ones in there.

 

Moving on, I can say there are only a few games that I've encountered that have handled romance well. I'm more than a bit of a sappy person at heart, and adore seeing a well done romance story. The problem is that games are designed to gratify and empower the mc. Thus, games romances will often come across as pandering, weirdly controlling, or extremely one sided. The LI aren't allowed to have their own problems that can't be solved without the mc, leading toward a dominance in the relationship, and creating an strange plotting dissonance. Games like Katawa Shoujo, Baldurs Gate, and Dragon Age are great examples of this. 

 

Other games will treat the romance arc as a reward for the player, meant to just gratify and pander the player. Persona, Heavy Rain, and Uncharted all do this. What we get from this is a pretty squicky situation, that just ends up feeling gross.

 

So, what games have I enjoyed in the romance aspect. The Darkness does a great job of setting up the relationship between Jenny and Jackie, allowing for heartbreak later down the line.  To The Moon focuses on the little moments in a relationship, and goes beyond the standard vows of love. Hatoful Boyfriend has a concept that is too ridiculous to truly take seriously, allowing the game to invest into its own style of pathos. 

 

There is once last example of gaming romance that I'd like to mention, and incidentally it's from a crpg! Theres a mod for BG2 that I'd reccomend to anyone that can get past its premise. The Imoen Romance Mod is utterly enthralling, and a surprisngly well done romance. Apart from just adding a done of depth to the lackluster Imoen, it adds several new routes to her character. The romance is drawn out through the entire campaign, with multiple conflicts during the relationship. She will end it with you if you pressure her too much, and will argue with you on the morality of the relationship. Both of you can influence each other during the arc, changing the alignments and abilities. It truly is the best romance I've found in games, and would heartily approve of it to those who want to check it out.