Companions and Romance

[Tarlonniel]

No idea what dialogue occurs when you have two on the go at the same time though. If anyone has tried this let us know??

It's not possible to do more than one romance at a time  - as soon as you accept one person's advances, there's no option to accept anyone else's. Unless there's a bug I'm not aware of. And this is only until the modders figure out how to remove the checkromance flag

[morhilane]

 

Xoti can end up with a romantic relationship with 3 characters: Edér, Maia and the Watcher.

 

With two. Xoti can become good friends with Eder, if you nudge them in the right direction, otherwise Eder takes her aside and tells her he's not interested.

 

During the game she is all over Edér in a romantic way though unless he tells her he's not interest. So ok, she doesn't end up in a romantic relationship with him, but she does show romantic interest in 3 different characters.

[Tarlonniel]

For those who like poking around in dialogue files, the stringtables with the text can be found in PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported\localized\en\text\conversations\companions

 

I'm browsing Aloth's relationship_player file for goodies.

[Aramintai]

For those who like poking around in dialogue files, the stringtables with the text can be found in PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported\localized\en\text\conversations\companions

 

I'm browsing Aloth's relationship_player file for goodies.

Why bother going through text - all romances are already datamined on YouTube:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/97310-companions-and-romance/?p=2022540

Edited May 18, 2018 by Aramintai

[Merany]

Speaking of romance with Xoti, seems like mine has completed stopped. Tried to be nice with her every occasion, completed her quest (she released the souls and no longer has nightmares) but there really isn't anything 'romantic' between her and the watcher (though she still kinda flirts with Edér during banters).

Did I miss something?

[Aramintai]

Speaking of romance with Xoti, seems like mine has completed stopped. Tried to be nice with her every occasion, completed her quest (she released the souls and no longer has nightmares) but there really isn't anything 'romantic' between her and the watcher (though she still kinda flirts with Edér during banters).

Did I miss something?

Is her aproval rep +2? If not that is your problem.

[Merany]

It is not actually... only 1, damn. Suppose it could be me being a bit too anti gods from time to time... Are there random opportunities to get approval with her or am I screwed now that her quest is done? Thanks for the quick reply anyway!

[Aramintai]

It is not actually... only 1, damn. Suppose it could be me being a bit too anti gods from time to time... Are there random opportunities to get approval with her or am I screwed now that her quest is done? Thanks for the quick reply anyway!

Well, if you're not at the end of the game you can still try choosing all the options she likes during dialogues with npcs while she's in the party.

[InsaneCommander]

Haha yeah its White that Wends.

I have a thing for arctic regions too. A lot of people hate Hoth in SWTOR but its one of my favorite planets I'd love it if the next game was set there, but not holding my breath. I think it will probably be Ixamitl planes or Old Vailia. I think Living Lands are a bit too similar to Dyrwood in terms of foresty areas? 

From what we saw in POE1 pale elves and their culture just feel so... surreal. Naasitaq is based on Inuit tribes so its kind of easy to imagine. Pale elves are completely unknown. I wish their reactivity in Deadfire was a bit more interesting though, other than "hardy place hardy people" thing.

White that Wends is double boring - freezing wasteland of nothing but snow for miles ahead.

Living Lands on the other hand, are very diverse and awesome sequel material:

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/The_Living_Lands

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/True_Stories_from_the_Living_Lands

 

 

PoE3: The Living Lands. Maybe with an Old West setting instead of pirates?

 

The frontier theme made me think of that, not that I'm actually suggesting it.

[PatrioticChief]

 

 

Xoti can end up with a romantic relationship with 3 characters: Edér, Maia and the Watcher.

 

With two. Xoti can become good friends with Eder, if you nudge them in the right direction, otherwise Eder takes her aside and tells her he's not interested.

 

During the game she is all over Edér in a romantic way though unless he tells her he's not interest. So ok, she doesn't end up in a romantic relationship with him, but she does show romantic interest in 3 different characters.

 

 

Xoti is one thirsty gal. 

[Ryz009]

 

So they decided to go with player-sexual companions after all, despite all their bravado of not doing so. Disgusting. It feels like Obsidian is in an utter moral decline, they obviously no longer have a moral spine at all.

 

They're bisexual. Or at least Tekehu, Maia, Xoti and Serafen are all bisexual - don't know if Aloth ever expresses any interest in anyone other than the Watcher, so he could be playersexual. But everyone else is is explicitly attracted to both men and women and can mention this during the course of the game regardless of whether or not the Watcher romances them.

 

I mean, I don't think making playersexual character is a sign of moral decline anyway, but that's not really what they did.

 

 

To be fair this is the same guy he goes off and kills himself if you tell him to buzz off in the first game. Not that strange he'd get overly attached.

[Ryz009]

 

For those who like poking around in dialogue files, the stringtables with the text can be found in PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported\localized\en\text\conversations\companions

 

I'm browsing Aloth's relationship_player file for goodies.

Why bother going through text - all romances are already datamined on YouTube:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/97310-companions-and-romance/?p=2022540

 

 

Because as someone who plays BW romances dana sometimes misses things or context is incorrect.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Ryz009

[Aridea]

I really don't get all the hate.

Romances are just content in the game, as every other content they are completely optional. Don't do them if you don't like them. Tell Tekehu or Maia off, and they never mention it again. Xoti so far as I know only starts it if you are not in romance with anyone, is at 2 rep with her and did her personal quest. And Aloth, you can't even see it if you do not specifically look for the option. Serafen also, unless you pick the flirt, he feels like more as a brother, or an uncle as he said it himself.

 

Re-rowdiness of character. The whole freaking Deadfire is rowdy as hell. Everyone sleeps with everyone, its not just your watcher. You get flirted with and propositioned by several other characters. So its not exclusive to companions or the watcher, its just the overall feeling of the second game. The first was more serious, the second more light, open, and naughty.

 

Romance in games will always be cheesy no matter how hard you try. Because of the medium and because of the limitations. And I thought Deadfire's wasn't as bad as many make it. Its there for people who like that sort of thing.

Speaking of archetypes - every new thing created now will be an archetype of something already done before. The whole fantasy/sci fi genre had been so overused over the years its difficult to come up with something unique. Everything is an archetype, and if you think its not, its just well cloaked by the authors.

 

Again its optional. People who like it can enjoy it, people who don't have the option to ignore. Nobody is putting a gun to someone's head and telling them to do it. Or is it the fact that such options exist in the first place get people riled up so much?

[E.RedMark]

I really don't get all the hate.

Romances are just content in the game, as every other content they are completely optional. Don't do them if you don't like them. Tell Tekehu or Maia off, and they never mention it again. Xoti so far as I know only starts it if you are not in romance with anyone, is at 2 rep with her and did her personal quest. And Aloth, you can't even see it if you do not specifically look for the option. Serafen also, unless you pick the flirt, he feels like more as a brother, or an uncle as he said it himself.

 

Re-rowdiness of character. The whole freaking Deadfire is rowdy as hell. Everyone sleeps with everyone, its not just your watcher. You get flirted with and propositioned by several other characters. So its not exclusive to companions or the watcher, its just the overall feeling of the second game. The first was more serious, the second more light, open, and naughty.

 

Romance in games will always be cheesy no matter how hard you try. Because of the medium and because of the limitations. And I thought Deadfire's wasn't as bad as many make it. Its there for people who like that sort of thing.

Speaking of archetypes - every new thing created now will be an archetype of something already done before. The whole fantasy/sci fi genre had been so overused over the years its difficult to come up with something unique. Everything is an archetype, and if you think its not, its just well cloaked by the authors.

 

Again its optional. People who like it can enjoy it, people who don't have the option to ignore. Nobody is putting a gun to someone's head and telling them to do it. Or is it the fact that such options exist in the first place get people riled up so much?

ah...

 

but its more about 'they didn't do it my way ' then 'I don't like romance..they are soo dorky!' . 

[Strange_Trees]

Again its optional. People who like it can enjoy it, people who don't have the option to ignore. Nobody is putting a gun to someone's head and telling them to do it. Or is it the fact that such options exist in the first place get people riled up so much?

 

Heh, I'm one of those people that always argues against including romances unless the writers/narrative team I actually want to themselves. Like, enthusiastically want to write some sappy romance arcs for that character, not just begrudgingly write something because their character is of the age and attractiveness level to maybe be of interest to the general demographic the player character is likely to fall into.

 

My argument against including them has always been that they limit the sorts of companion characters that the writers can write. Game development is ultimately zero-sum, there's a limit to time and money and other resources that are needed to make games, which largely determine how many companion characters will be available. So once it's decided that 'romances' will be a thing, it kind of limits what sorts of characters those can be. In PoE1, a lot of my favorite characters were the unattractive/unavailable ones; I loved how Durance was an unapologetic **** (it's so common for those kinds of characters to be written for the player to 'fix' or prove wrong), Sagani was a hilarious snarky dwarf mom (who is very pretty but  would never entertain the idea of cheating on her hubby), and Devil of Caroc had her hilarious lovable moments while being one of the most heartbreakingly tragic followers I've seen in a long time. But there's not really room for a lot of characters like that when the dev team has to worry about making a bunch of the companions attractive and available.

 

I don't think that's a horribly negative or controversial view of the argument? Although in pre-release forum hype, that still got me labelled as someone who must be 'a bitter sad loser who hates love and doesn't want anyone to be happy'. Le shrug.

 

I guess the short version would be to let the creative team do what they want and think is best for the characters and the narrative, which is why I'll defend any writers decision to not force a romance onto a character if they don't think it would fit the character.

[daven]

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

For example Isabella in Dragon Age 2, i find completely acceptable to be like that because it's completely part of her character. 

 

And on another note, i don't hate romances in games as a rule. I quite like the BG2 ones because they take the entire game to develop and can be quite hard to maintain(Jaheira) if you say the wrong crap.

 

In this it's just ... do you want to flirt? Yes? Okay you're now dating. 

Edited May 18, 2018 by daven

[Ryz009]

 

Again its optional. People who like it can enjoy it, people who don't have the option to ignore. Nobody is putting a gun to someone's head and telling them to do it. Or is it the fact that such options exist in the first place get people riled up so much?

 

Heh, I'm one of those people that always argues against including romances unless the writers/narrative team I actually want to themselves. Like, enthusiastically want to write some sappy romance arcs for that character, not just begrudgingly write something because their character is of the age and attractiveness level to maybe be of interest to the general demographic the player character is likely to fall into.

 

My argument against including them has always been that they limit the sorts of companion characters that the writers can write. Game development is ultimately zero-sum, there's a limit to time and money and other resources that are needed to make games, which largely determine how many companion characters will be available. So once it's decided that 'romances' will be a thing, it kind of limits what sorts of characters those can be. In PoE1, a lot of my favorite characters were the unattractive/unavailable ones; I loved how Durance was an unapologetic **** (it's so common for those kinds of characters to be written for the player to 'fix' or prove wrong), Sagani was a hilarious snarky dwarf mom (who is very pretty but  would never entertain the idea of cheating on her hubby), and Devil of Caroc had her hilarious lovable moments while being one of the most heartbreakingly tragic followers I've seen in a long time. But there's not really room for a lot of characters like that when the dev team has to worry about making a bunch of the companions attractive and available.

 

I don't think that's a horribly negative or controversial view of the argument? Although in pre-release forum hype, that still got me labelled as someone who must be 'a bitter sad loser who hates love and doesn't want anyone to be happy'. Le shrug.

 

I guess the short version would be to let the creative team do what they want and think is best for the characters and the narrative, which is why I'll defend any writers decision to not force a romance onto a character if they don't think it would fit the character.

 

 

While I do love romances I do agree with not having a writer who doesn't want to write them write it. It really shows and I rather have no romance at all than a bitterly written one. That said I disagree with the type of companions. I wish games didn't cling so hard to the must be young and unattached to be romancable bit.

 

And yeah it's weird that got you labeled that and pretty stupid =/

Edited May 18, 2018 by Ryz009

[CaptainBiscuit]

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

Sorta unrelated, but David Gaider once said, that he originally wanted Anomen to be gay romance, but they decided against it in the end, because they thought the audience wasn't ready. I actually have mixed feelings about this, since I think he's boring, whiny and obnoxious as hell and his romance is no better, but then would that be 4 romances for male characters and 0 for female?

 

 

Heh, I'm one of those people that always argues against including romances unless the writers/narrative team I actually want to themselves. Like, enthusiastically want to write some sappy romance arcs for that character, not just begrudgingly write something because their character is of the age and attractiveness level to maybe be of interest to the general demographic the player character is likely to fall into.

<Snip>

 

I actually agree with both points of view to some extent. I love romances as much as the next person (provided, they are well-written), but I also don't want the writers to feel forced to write them if they don't want to - if anything, it tends to reflect on the quality of said romance.

Edited May 18, 2018 by CaptainBiscuit

[E.RedMark]

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

For example Isabella in Dragon Age 2, i find completely acceptable to be like that because it's completely part of her character. 

 

And on another note, i don't hate romances in games as a rule. I quite like the BG2 ones because they take the entire game to develop and can be quite hard to maintain(Jaheira) if you say the wrong crap.

 

In this it's just ... do you want to flirt? Yes? Okay you're now dating. 

if you wanna talk about lazy , you may wanna take a closer look at BG2 avaible romance . How unfair and lazy it was when it came to numbers . 

 

Male get : Jaheira , Viconia and Aerie . And female get : Annoymen . 

 

No , it doesn't change the writing . Someone having the Tag 'Bi' or 'Gay' won'T become a lousy character just cose it has those Tag . It's always has been a lousy character . 

 

Changing he to she , won't change someone from being a nuisance at the end of the day . 

 

Think Irenicus goal will change if you learn he was banging a dude elf behind the queen back ? 

[daven]

 

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

Sorta unrelated, but David Gaider once said, that he originally wanted Anomen to be gay romance, but they decided against it in the end, because they thought the audience wasn't ready. I actually have mixed feelings about this, since I think he's boring, whiny and obnoxious as hell and his romance is no better, but then would that be 4 romances for male characters and 0 for female?

 

 

Heh, I'm one of those people that always argues against including romances unless the writers/narrative team I actually want to themselves. Like, enthusiastically want to write some sappy romance arcs for that character, not just begrudgingly write something because their character is of the age and attractiveness level to maybe be of interest to the general demographic the player character is likely to fall into.

<Snip>

 

I actually agree with both points of view to some extent. I love romances as much as the next person (provided, they are well-written), but I also don't want the writers to feel forced to write them if they don't want to - if anything, it tends to reflect on the quality of said romance.

 

That's quite interesting, I don't think Anomen being gay would suit him. I guess it's difficult to say now after being used to the character being a certain way.

 

One of my favourite David Gaider characters is Dorian, he is a well done homo character.

[daven]

 

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

For example Isabella in Dragon Age 2, i find completely acceptable to be like that because it's completely part of her character. 

 

And on another note, i don't hate romances in games as a rule. I quite like the BG2 ones because they take the entire game to develop and can be quite hard to maintain(Jaheira) if you say the wrong crap.

 

In this it's just ... do you want to flirt? Yes? Okay you're now dating. 

if you wanna talk about lazy , you may wanna take a closer look at BG2 avaible romance . How unfair and lazy it was when it came to numbers . 

 

Male get : Jaheira , Viconia and Aerie . And female get : Annoymen . 

 

No , it doesn't change the writing . Someone having the Tag 'Bi' or 'Gay' won'T become a lousy character just cose it has those Tag . It's always has been a lousy character . 

 

Changing he to she , won't change someone from being a nuisance at the end of the day . 

 

Think Irenicus goal will change if you learn he was banging a dude elf behind the queen back ? 

 

Why is that lazy? I don't believe that Jaheira would date a non Human/Elf/Half-elf.

 

Just because you chose a character who's a Dwarf doesn't mean she should instantly want to bang you.

[Ryz009]

 

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

Sorta unrelated, but David Gaider once said, that he originally wanted Anomen to be gay romance, but they decided against it in the end, because they thought the audience wasn't ready. I actually have mixed feelings about this, since I think he's boring, whiny and  obnoxious as hell and his romance is no better, but then would that be 4 romances for male characters and 0 for female?

 

 

Heh, I'm one of those people that always argues against including romances unless the writers/narrative team I actually want to themselves. Like, enthusiastically want to write some sappy romance arcs for that character, not just begrudgingly write something because their character is of the age and attractiveness level to maybe be of interest to the general demographic the player character is likely to fall into.

<Snip>

 

I actually agree with both point of views to some extent. I love romances as much as the next person (provided, they are well-written), but I also don't want the writers to feel forced to write them if they don't want to - if anything, it tends to reflect on the quality of said romance.

 

 

To be honest they could have Anomen. I hate him that much. Maybe that would've forced them to give femPCs an option that wasn't garbage.

 

That said screw everything about BG2 having 3 very different options for a male PC and then one obxious half-wit for the fem PC and it's not like no other male character hits on her elf boy would've been a fitting romance (and the mod that makes him one is <3)

 

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

For example Isabella in Dragon Age 2, i find completely acceptable to be like that because it's completely part of her character. 

 

And on another note, i don't hate romances in games as a rule. I quite like the BG2 ones because they take the entire game to develop and can be quite hard to maintain(Jaheira) if you say the wrong crap.

 

In this it's just ... do you want to flirt? Yes? Okay you're now dating. 

 

Something that amused me is among my friends more of the gay men liked his romance than the straight women did.

 

Eh it's all pretty fanservice. I found all of BG2 romances fanservicey as hell in different ways. (Viconia was pretty much taming the shrew, Jaheria was just...NOPE and Aerie *barfs*) But at least they got choice where femcharacters were just stuck with Amodouche.

[daven]

I guess i'm the odd one out here, I actually like Anomen as a character.

 

I've only played as male PC's in BG2 and always bring him along, he's a snarky arse. What's not to like?!?!

[E.RedMark]

 

 

Look, I have absolutely no issue with being bisexual/gay/australian/whatever but this reminds me of a topic on beamdogs forum. Some people wanted Anomen to be able to be romanced by male characters as well. Why? Just because YOU want him to be gay? His character was heterosexual. 

 

I think it undermines the writing, this kind of lazy fan service.

 

For example Isabella in Dragon Age 2, i find completely acceptable to be like that because it's completely part of her character. 

 

And on another note, i don't hate romances in games as a rule. I quite like the BG2 ones because they take the entire game to develop and can be quite hard to maintain(Jaheira) if you say the wrong crap.

 

In this it's just ... do you want to flirt? Yes? Okay you're now dating. 

if you wanna talk about lazy , you may wanna take a closer look at BG2 avaible romance . How unfair and lazy it was when it came to numbers . 

 

Male get : Jaheira , Viconia and Aerie . And female get : Annoymen . 

 

No , it doesn't change the writing . Someone having the Tag 'Bi' or 'Gay' won'T become a lousy character just cose it has those Tag . It's always has been a lousy character . 

 

Changing he to she , won't change someone from being a nuisance at the end of the day . 

 

Think Irenicus goal will change if you learn he was banging a dude elf behind the queen back ? 

 

Why is that lazy? I don't believe that Jaheira would date a non Human/Elf/Half-elf.

 

Just because you chose a character who's a Dwarf doesn't mean she should instantly want to bang you.

 

So now you going wacist on dwarf ?! They are super duper cute! YOUR LOSS! THAT HAIR CHEST!!!!!!!!!! 

[Ryz009]

I guess i'm the odd one out here, I actually like Anomen as a character.

 

I've only played as male PC's in BG2 and always bring him along, he's a snarky arse. What's not to like?!?!

 

Yeah Rassad in BGEE made me waaaay more happy than it should've. Even with him being a liability in BG1 I take him along. (His ending made me sad though)

 

He's a prat imo. Also his bragging if you're playing a fem character is just. ugh. And unlike later LIs you can't even laugh at him without him throwing a fit. So he's a blowhard without a sense of humor. Kiss of death for an LI for me.