Romances? Any experiences?

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Have anybody experienced the rumoured romances, and what are your opinions?

When do they start? Do you need to do anything special to trigger them? Are they just a random flirty comment here or there, or something more substantial?

Do the male and female romances seem fairly equal, or is one more developed than the other? (Like they were in Baldurs Gate 2, where males had three choices to fit their alignment, while the females could only choose a whiny paladin wannabe... )

 

If your character is male he will romance Elanee. If your character is female she will romance Casavir. The romance portion really just pops up out of the blue in chapter three.

Neither one of them is well developed at all. In both cases you have a jealous rival who gets ticked off at you saying influence gaining things to the romancable character.

Romancing Casavir actually has one plot consequence but it is not a significant change from what would otherwise happen.

If you romance Elanee it seems to be forgotten as soon as you are done the romance scene.

 

romances are very poorly done because most of the "advanced" NPC interaction is done via influence checks, and influence points are just gained via dialogue options throughout the game, so there is little personal in the whole thing (you don't get any special dialogue), and feels generic

generally i think, the romancing options were supposed to be:
elanee/neeshka for males
casavir/bishop for females

but in the end you can only get romance sequence with either elanee or casavir (some people claim it's possible to have a romance with bishop as well), the two most boring characters in the whole game

 

There is a bit of a flirtation with Bishop for female characters if you gain enough influence with him. At the end he gives a kind of "ah, perhaps we could have been a couple but I don't roll like that" speech. Talk to him while you're gathering evidence for your trial and he will suggest the two of you running off together. That's as far as it goes though.

 

I'm glad they HAVE included some romance in the game, since it adds a little spice to the NPC interactions. But Elanee...?? She must be the most boring of all the companions - as much personality as a dead fish! Ewww. Now, Neeshka on the other hand, SHE is a cool girl! Wish they had developed the alternative romance with her, instead of just making her jealous. The developers should move away from that default "female elf = romantic interest".

Although... Sand is so uptight that he should have been an option just to make him loosen up a bit! ROFL! Maybe Sand and Elanee could have hit it on....

By the way, I read on the bioware forum that some romance dialogues are so difficult to trigger that they are hardly ever seen. Like where you need to do things in a certain order, kill this, spare that, then choose a particular dialogue option with a third person, FAIL a charm check, PASS a bluff check etc., before anything ever happens. Even those who knew it was there AND were using the console to aid them, spend hours getting them to finally show. No wonder the romances seem poorly developed if much of the dialogues never turn up!

 

Well... I guess I am one of the few that really likes Elanee. Nice, kind, and has protecting the PC since his childhood, both by duty and because she has a crush on you, if the PC is a male that is.

When that is said, the romance is bland. 2 or 3 interactions and when it is physically consummated, which we don't see, not a kiss or a hug, it is never mentioned again. To bad.

I think Neeshka is a cool NPC too, but having a romance with her? Hell no. It would be like dating your little sister. Ewww... I mean here is a tiefling girl who is a little bit immature and screaming for attention and acceptance in a world where she is generally persecuted. Sounds like a teenager to me

Shandra Jerro on the other hand would have been a nice alternative romance. Smart, witty, sarcastic, kind, caring, not to mention all that crap she has taken and still standing, that is, until the end of ACT II

I felt sad after the end of ACT II with Shandras demise, which of course is sign of a well developed char and a good plot and story concerning her. Hats off to that.

@Blue:

That's true some of the romance dialogues are difficult to trigger. There is some pretty good influence guides out there explaining the conditions.

 

@Ironhawk: It's too bad that the romances aren't better developed - and with more choices - since it creates a lot of personality development. I love it when we get to really delve deeply into a complex character's thoughts, feelings, motives and reasons for doing what they do. That's when I really start loving them, instead of being mildly indifferent. Unfortunately I've found very few games where that has been done. The PS2 game Final Fantasy X comes to mind, which had a lovely story interwoved with the action.

I can't help comparing NWN 2 with Baldur's Gate 2 in that aspect, since its the only other game included on these forums where I know romances are included. There too, the romances had been cut short and aborted, with traces of sub plots that had been abandoned - like the jealousy triangle of PC and two of the companions, the winged elf Aire and the tiefling Haer'Dallis. In some cases, she was meant to chose him over you - or he could chose her over you - depending on your gender. But instead, the female PC only got the whiny brat Anomen, who spoke like a tacky love poem a couple of times before jumping in the sack with you (and of course never mentioned it again after that.) The male PC could chose between three elves, but nothing more happened there either, although one of them eventually had a baby you had to carry around in your backpack the rest of the game.

There was much complaining on the BG boards over the many holes in the romance developments and dialogues - and I fear that NWN2 won't be any better. Why can't the game developers realize that many of us want MORE than just dungeon crawls, quests and boss fights? I wouldn't mind a LOT of character development, drama, angst, romance, whatever.... and loads of interaction between the NPC's and others, not only bickering. I don't think I'm the only one who feel that way, and I'm crossing my fingers that a patch or a module with a lot more development in that area will surface eventually.

By the way: Where would I find these influence guides? There aren't any such guides on SP yet; could they be on the Bioware forums? I'm still fumbling my way around over there, and haven't found a thing.

 

@Blue:

I hear you. I must say for some NPC's, like Khelgar, Neeshka, Elanee, Shandra Jerro, Ammon Jerro and Sand, I think they have a good background story and you get a good perspective on their thoughts, feelings and motives.

But the rest of the NPC's are not very developed.

It must be a little bit frustrating for women who play those games since, as you say, the romances with male NPC's is bland, there is not many opportunities to who you can romance, and those male NPC's you can romance is boring or unattractive.

For my part, I have never played a female PC, since I really can't identify myself with being female.

But sometimes it looks like the game developers still think it is only male pimple faced teenage geeks who play those games. Well... I qualify as a male and geek but else...

The game developers should try to take a look on this site, then they would see there is a lot of men and women in different age categories who loves those kind of games. That's one of reasons I signed up.

I have played the romances with Jaheira and Viconia in BG2 and found them interesting, well developed and entertaining. But that's just me.

In NWN1 OC and HotU you could have romances too, but not very developed in either campaign.

NWN2 hasn't brought anything new to the romance part but I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the number of interactions with the NPC's I mentioned above. And at least the romances was there...

There is some postings with influence guides at Bioware forums. But it is not easy to find since you have to use the search engine, which is sad to say, not so developed as this sites search engine. You get sometimes more than 100 hits on a subject with lot of the posts being the same.

You could try the Neverwinter Nights 2 Wiki Homepage, there is a influence guide I have used, and I have not found any errors in it.

Here is the link:

http://wiki.elricm.com/nwn/HomePage

 

If you've played K.O.T.O.R. then you dhould know exactly what is meant by the word "Romance" Oh i love you for this conversation, but the next time we talk we'll still have all the exact same dialogue options. Oh yeh, and Elanee is creepy, in the derranged stalker way. BG 2 knew how to do it, play that instead, with the flirtpak muhuhahaha!

 

Elanee creepy? Well she don't make any moaning phonecalls, assault other female romance options or attack you saying you and her is meant to be. But I suppose you could call it stalking anyway.

For my part, if someone gave me the option of having a beautiful female elf druid following me all my life, protecting me from all kind of beasts when I walk into the Mere... Well.. I would sign up!

 

i've always been bothered by the age relation between the PC and elanee
basically if your PC is human, you're 20 years old, but as an elf you're 120 (by default)

so what bothers me, is when elanee says how she's been keeping an eye on you for the whole life; so if your PC happens to be an elf, it means she's been doing it for no less than 120 years!
and in that case, she has to be about 200 years old (or more), although we never quite get the specifics of her early life, except that she's been brought to druids at an early age

i don't want to make your head explode, but what do you think about this paradoxical situation? seems to be a slight overlook on the developer's part in here

 

Heh! You might have a point there Master Leo!

But then again, what do you think about the romances with Jaheira or Viconia in BG2?

A Half Elf who has been married before and is clearly older than you, and a drow who must be older than you also?

 

In Viconia's case i would be more than happy to make an exception despite age differences, i mean seriously who wouldn't?

 

Oh I don't mind any of the 3 cases.

Or Nathyrra in NWN1 HotU.....