Companions and Romance

[Tarlonniel]

Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?

 

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

I wonder if the Tekehu romance ends the same way. Maybe I'll just skip it and watch him flirt outrageously with everyone else.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Tarlonniel

[Mikeymoonshine]

Well we all knew some poeple would be upset if either eder or aloth weren't romance options. All over twitter I have seen fangirls (and some guys) debating which one of these two they would romance completely oblivious to the possibility that it may not be possible. A little venting is healthy but let's not get carried away and certainly don't harass the devs.

 

That said is there actually confirmation that Aloth can be romanced with a male character? Asking for a fried.

[Fashion Mage]

Remember Pillars of Eternity 1, where there were no romances at all?

Well seems almost better that way, doesn't it? Because then it's equal for everyone. Nobody will be able to romance any of the NPCs then. But now in Deadfire romances have been introduced, but Edér doesn't seem to be available. Well, shame on the developers!

That's a strange sense of "equality" considering that people who enjoy romance in stories got absolutely nothing out of PoE1 in that regard.

 

The issue here isn't that a certain romance wasn't made available, the issue is that the way it was made unavailable makes no sense from a writing-standpoint, and if it was written like that then what about the rest of the game? The fact that Eder rejects any kind of watcher but is arbitrarily shipped with Xoti makes it feel like some juvenile fan fiction to me. Writing quality doesn't suddenly stop being a thing when romance is involved, and personally I'm not enough of an Obsidian fanboy to look past that.

[Yria]

 

Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?

 

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

Well, that's a bummer. Thank you for clarifying.

 

 

The fact that Eder rejects any kind of watcher but is arbitrarily shipped with Xoti makes it feel like some juvenile fan fiction to me.

 

Is he, though? Do they actually end up together, or is it just speculation of the outraged fans? So far I only saw Xoti awkwardly hit on him, and he was kinda meh on the idea.

[Ryz009]

 

 

Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?

 

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

 

Well, that's a bummer. Thank you for clarifying.

 

 

The fact that Eder rejects any kind of watcher but is arbitrarily shipped with Xoti makes it feel like some juvenile fan fiction to me.

 

Is he, though? Do they actually end up together, or is it just speculation of the outraged fans? So far I only saw Xoti awkwardly hit on him, and he was kinda meh on the idea.

 

I'm pretty sure his interest in Xoti seems based on whether he's pro or anti Eothas.

[Voss]

 

 

A couple of posters here clearly haven't listened to what Edèr was saying when you start his personal quest or what his personal quest is about. Or the euphemism was too much?

At the start? He mentioned his 'old friend' was a bit of a screamer, but not much else.

and you didn't understood that he was asking help to find a lover who joined the Dawnstars after Eothas died who he clearly loved to f***?

I clearly did understand that. But... Tracking down a random ex doesn't prevent a romance between him and Chokey, so it doesn't make sense as a barrier for a romance between him and... anyone else.

 

If his stance was 'I love screamer lady and no one else' that would be fine. But, 'can we track her down so I can get with Chokey now' is a different message altogether. Especially when he turns around and complains about how young and clueless she is.

[Nebty]

 

 

 

Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?

 

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

 

Well, that's a bummer. Thank you for clarifying.

 

 

The fact that Eder rejects any kind of watcher but is arbitrarily shipped with Xoti makes it feel like some juvenile fan fiction to me.

 

Is he, though? Do they actually end up together, or is it just speculation of the outraged fans? So far I only saw Xoti awkwardly hit on him, and he was kinda meh on the idea.

 

I'm pretty sure his interest in Xoti seems based on whether he's pro or anti Eothas.

My Eder is pro-eothas and Xoti is still too much for him. I doubt it actually goes anywhere. I've seen no evidence that her feelings are reciprocated, which is backed up by what others have told me.

[Eirin]

I hope Eder is actually.romanceable if not now then in the 3 dlcs coming later in the year. One of which is specifically supposed to test your relationships with your companions. Im happy about Aloth, I understand Paleggina as a paladin and infertile godlike not wanting to be in a relationship but for Obsidian to say they want romances and relationship developments to feel natural and then for Eder not to have one will be a punch in the gut. If that is truly the case. Anyone tried romancing him as an Orlan? So far Maia and the other new guy feel very forced and have already both propositioned my watcher and we haven't even been through anything together yet!!!

[hatshepsut]

I guess if they have plans for Eder past Deadfire, having him be a romance option can be limiting for future storylines, but if they decided to troll fans, with some sort of "disappointment is a part of life" kind of lesson...um, yeah, lot of things in life are disappointing, but you don't purposely have to make fiction that way, it's not endearing in any way.

I couldn't agree more

 

eder and pallegina are two of the most favorite and popular characters, the players have such a history with them and of course a lot of people, if they had the opportunity, would romance this two

 

so yes, life is cruel, but it's not life, it's a game, and it shouldn't give you a feeling that developers just laughed at your expectations

 

I am russian, and so far a talked with some fans, and all of them are quet disappointed about the romance stuff

[Yria]

 I'm pretty sure his interest in Xoti seems based on whether he's pro or anti Eothas.

 

What is it determined by then? I got the same import bug as everyone, my mayor Eder transformed into Night Market Eder, but in his dialogue about Xoti he was still anti Eothas (or at least anti omg-Gaun-is-so-cool-gotta-collect-souls-for-him Xoti version of Eothas).

 

 

So far Maia and the other new guy feel very forced and have already both propositioned my watcher and we haven't even been through anything together yet!!!

 

Can't really comment on Maia, but Tekehi didn't seem forced to me because hitting on everything that moves seems to be part of his character. You don't need to be through anything with him for him to begin getting ideas (hence his story about the avian godlike).

[Guest Ontarah]

Oh man, always this drama about romances in a video game.

 

I see it that way, that romances are a topic where the developers simply cannot win/gain anything. They can only lose because no matter what they do, they cannot cater to all tastes, likes and preferences equally. Mind you not only the sexual preferences, but everything that involves the broader topic of romances.

 

In this specific instance there seems that a certain character is not available for romance (though I guess it's not 100% verified yet). Rejection hurts, doesn't it? Even if its just by a fictitious character.

 

Remember Pillars of Eternity 1, where there were no romances at all?

Well seems almost better that way, doesn't it? Because then it's equal for everyone. Nobody will be able to romance any of the NPCs then. But now in Deadfire romances have been introduced, but Edér doesn't seem to be available. Well, shame on the developers!

 

As I see it, the developers were very reluctant to introduce romances to the game series. I may have my suspicions as to why.

All that drama that romances bring. Of course, the drama also happens when you don't include any romances. People will be outraged. So you introduce romances and you hope you will appease people. Oh no ho ho ho, you couldn't have been more wrong!

 

Now people will be enraged because not every single possible preferences (and again I'm not only talking about sexual preference) was included: Edér doesn't seem to be romanceable.

 

Must be an agenda by the devs. How dare they to not cater to my needs? It must be because they want to teach me a lesson! How dare they to teach me a lesson?!

 

That's the great irony of the topic of romance. It creates so much fury, hate, frustration, resentment and contempt that in the end I think any reasonable developer would have to wonder if it's worth it. But don't expect any less contempt when you don't include them in the first place. People will always find a reason to make the devs lose on this topic, no matter what they do.

 

As always, just my subjective opinion, which you may or may not agree to.

 

So people do the same thing with romances that I've seen other people do about "streamlining" and "dumbing down" combat?  About how the devs are betraying "hardcore" gamers by "catering to console players" and blah, blah, blah.  Truth is the "no romance on principle" people get just as uppity, preachy,  and petulant when they don't get their way.

 

Throwing stones, glass houses, you know the drill. 

[Nebty]

I hope Eder is actually.romanceable if not now then in the 3 dlcs coming later in the year. One of which is specifically supposed to test your relationships with your companions. Im happy about Aloth, I understand Paleggina as a paladin and infertile godlike not wanting to be in a relationship but for Obsidian to say they want romances and relationship developments to feel natural and then for Eder not to have one will be a punch in the gut. If that is truly the case. Anyone tried romancing him as an Orlan? So far Maia and the other new guy feel very forced and have already both propositioned my watcher and we haven't even been through anything together yet!!!

There was datamined stuff on the fan discord where he said in dialogue that he specifically wasn't attracted to Orlans.

 

[hatshepsut]

So far Maia and the other new guy feel very forced and have already both propositioned my watcher and we haven't even been through anything together yet!!!

so true

 

I have only one chat with maia and - ooops - she already started the conversetion about our relationships. c'mon, we just met!  

[Nebty]

 

Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?

 

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

Maybe that's a bug? It sounds strange to have romanced a companion and then the ending slides break you up. :/

[CENIC]

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing.

 

Is a romantic relationship for your player character only appealing to you if it ends with "and then they lived happily ever after"? Not mocking you or anything btw, just curious.

[Guest Ontarah]

It's also possible it has branching paths with multiple ending slides.  I'd be kind of surprised if it didn't actually.  Most every other quest in the game does.  Why not romances also?

[Malavai]

So I went digging through the companion data text files out of curiosity, and Eder is definitely not player romance-able, which is gonna be a major bummer to a lot of people. He also doesn't get together with Xoti, it seems, which will cheer everyone up again until the read the next part.


... He can, however, and as a disclaimer I haven't gotten it to trigger in-game yet so I don't know if this is actually implemented or not, but he can get together with

Iselmyr, even though she's in Aloth's body. Aloth is rather unenthused about this and talks to you about it. Personally, I think that's a bit icky for poor Aloth. Also, Eder constantly states he doesn't like dudes, and Iselmyr is kinda permanently in a man's body as a secondary personality. >.>

Poor Watcher tho, no Eder for him/her.

[soraela]

Whoa

 

So I went digging through the companion data text files out of curiosity, and Eder is definitely not player romance-able, which is gonna be a major bummer to a lot of people. He also doesn't get together with Xoti, it seems, which will cheer everyone up again until the read the next part.


... He can, however, and as a disclaimer I haven't gotten it to trigger in-game yet so I don't know if this is actually implemented or not, but he can get together with

Iselmyr, even though she's in Aloth's body. Aloth is rather unenthused about this and talks to you about it. Personally, I think that's a bit icky for poor Aloth. Also, Eder constantly states he doesn't like dudes, and Iselmyr is kinda permanently in a man's body as a secondary personality. >.>

Poor Watcher tho, no Eder for him/her.

Whoa! I joked about it happening and was also curious but didn't think they would actually do it hahaha.

 

Of those who did finish the game, did their romances end the same? ie Companion goes their separate way? If so, this is like Divinity all over again...

[Guest Ontarah]

So I went digging through the companion data text files out of curiosity, and Eder is definitely not player romance-able, which is gonna be a major bummer to a lot of people. He also doesn't get together with Xoti, it seems, which will cheer everyone up again until the read the next part.

 

 

... He can, however, and as a disclaimer I haven't gotten it to trigger in-game yet so I don't know if this is actually implemented or not, but he can get together with

Iselmyr, even though she's in Aloth's body. Aloth is rather unenthused about this and talks to you about it. Personally, I think that's a bit icky for poor Aloth. Also, Eder constantly states he doesn't like dudes, and Iselmyr is kinda permanently in a man's body as a secondary personality. >.>

 

 

Poor Watcher tho, no Eder for him/her.

 

Whaa?  How the heck is that supposed to even kinda, sorta work?

[Ianamus]

 

So far Maia and the other new guy feel very forced and have already both propositioned my watcher and we haven't even been through anything together yet!!!

so true

 

I have only one chat with maia and - ooops - she already started the conversetion about our relationships. c'mon, we just met!  

 

 

I think that's mostly an issue with the relationship bar with Maia filling too quickly. For some reason it seems to be much easier to get hers to one bar than the other characters, though I'm not sure if that's a bug or an oversight. 

[Witness41920]

It never ceases to amaze me. 

 

It doesn't surprise me or bother me in the least that Eder is not attracted to the Watcher (regardless of gender). It's easy to understand that he simply may not be attracted to your character for whatever reason. It happens all the time in both life and fiction that characters aren't always attracted to one another and attraction, interest and/or love are not always reciprocated. 

 

The same is true of any companion that isn't interested in the Watcher, why do they have to be? You can pine after whomever you want it doesn't always mean they're going to be open to a relationship. 

[Malavai]

It never ceases to amaze me. 

 

It doesn't surprise me or bother me in the least that Eder is not attracted to the Watcher (regardless of gender). It's easy to understand that he simply may not be attracted to your character for whatever reason. It happens all the time in both life and fiction that characters aren't always attracted to one another and attraction, interest and/or love are not always reciprocated. 

 

The same is true of any companion that isn't interested in the Watcher, why do they have to be? You can pine after whomever you want it doesn't always mean they're going to be open to a relationship. 

Well that's both fair and true. I think it's a good thing that some people are completely unattainable, it is as you say, realistic. It's less that I'm concerned about Eder being player unromanceable (I don't personally care either way, just got nosey with the game data and thought that tidbit was interesting), but it's at odds with previous information given by the character. His whole thing with rejecting the Watcher is either "I'm really sorry but I don't like men" for male watchers, or "I haven't even thought about any romantic relationships for years, so that's why I haven't even tried to think about you that way" for female watchers. Not direct quotes ofc, but those are the points he lays out.

 

And then he potentially goes and hooks up with someone who is at best an occasional consciousness in a man's body, so he was either lying to the watcher about his reasons (which is a mean thing to do to someone you respect) or he has been inconsistently written, both of which some people may see as narratively frustrating.

[molotov.]

So I went digging through the companion data text files out of curiosity, and Eder is definitely not player romance-able, which is gonna be a major bummer to a lot of people. He also doesn't get together with Xoti, it seems, which will cheer everyone up again until the read the next part.

 

 

... He can, however, and as a disclaimer I haven't gotten it to trigger in-game yet so I don't know if this is actually implemented or not, but he can get together with

Iselmyr, even though she's in Aloth's body. Aloth is rather unenthused about this and talks to you about it. Personally, I think that's a bit icky for poor Aloth. Also, Eder constantly states he doesn't like dudes, and Iselmyr is kinda permanently in a man's body as a secondary personality. >.>

 

 

Poor Watcher tho, no Eder for him/her.

You got any information for a Pallegina romance?

[Malavai]

 

So I went digging through the companion data text files out of curiosity, and Eder is definitely not player romance-able, which is gonna be a major bummer to a lot of people. He also doesn't get together with Xoti, it seems, which will cheer everyone up again until the read the next part.

 

 

... He can, however, and as a disclaimer I haven't gotten it to trigger in-game yet so I don't know if this is actually implemented or not, but he can get together with

Iselmyr, even though she's in Aloth's body. Aloth is rather unenthused about this and talks to you about it. Personally, I think that's a bit icky for poor Aloth. Also, Eder constantly states he doesn't like dudes, and Iselmyr is kinda permanently in a man's body as a secondary personality. >.>

 

 

Poor Watcher tho, no Eder for him/her.

You got any information for a Pallegina romance?

 

I read through what I could find and unless I've missed something it seems like Pallegina isn't an option for anyone, even other companions. Sorry. :/

[Roahin]

On my very first playthrough with no preconceived notions about the game or spoilers for the plot, I ran a Kind Wayfarer Paladin. I had Pallegina in the group the whole way too despite the class overlap because I liked how her Paladin Order contrasted mine.  At the end of the game, she ended up being cast out and joined the Kind Wayfarers.  I honestly thought at the time it was something I had done and it was a unique ending for Kind Wayfarers.  Then I found out it was just one of the stock endings for her.

 

Still, it sort of bonded me to the character.  Like my guy was the one who initiated her into the Order himself.  And then when PoE2 was announced and Pallegina was one of only a few returning characters - and the game was to feature NPC romances, I couldn't have been more hyped!

 

...what a kick in the gut.