Jump to content

Bioware Romance Expansion


-JR-

Recommended Posts

As I do not wish to strain my fragile mind phrasing everything in a different way, this thread will contain statements and responses of mine copy-pasted from Spellhold Studios, and vice-versa. Feel free to limit yourself to only one of the (currently) two discussions unless someone says something in the other that you really want to address.

 

The mod I've been working on is an expansion to the Bioware romances. (Aerie, Anomen, Jaheira, and Viconia)

 

Though there will be numerous smaller aspects, the premise of this mod is quite simple, that more often than not there is more than one way to someone's heart (or into their arms I suppose). For example, despite considerable posturing and some rocky patches, Viconia's current romance is tender and patient, a rare and true love none would have guessed she would ever find. But isn't it a lot more likely that this undeniably libidinous drow would act on her learned shallowness and find mererly an object of physical attraction for which to occupy her time? Also, wouldn't it be refreshing to see greater dichotomy between lawful good and chaotic neutral behavior in the current Anomen romance? What if an evil character focused on corruption of the once ideal-driven squire, or a reckless but kind-hearted woman who accidentally led him astray decided they wished to build him back up to a man of dignity? Wouldn't it be more likely for Aerie to cling onto a strong but selfish character who wants her in the palm of his hand than find the one man in the world who wishes for a happy, independant lover? As for Jaheira, well, this is currently a secret. I couldn't picture her romance any other way, and thought her beyond any sort of corruption. But Sister Vigilante's got something good in the works, but it's not the sort of thing that currently needs input.

 

As the darker side of relationships are rarely as lasting and fulfilling, naturally some of these would be shorter than the "good" side of things. In addition, the splits in the characters' paths won't be carbon copies of eachother, rather I plan to focus on increasing the differences for a more varying experience.

 

Though evil and darker choices are something that needs a great deal of expansion in this good-focused game, the "good" paths will be expanded upon as well. This is important to me as the player of primarily good PCs, as I usually am finished with, say, Aerie or Anomen by the time I reach Brynnlaw, and Viconia and Jaheira not too long after. In addition, an earlier and more believably written Viconia "redemption" could benefit us all.

 

There has also been call for an increased degree of mature content, something I am open to including as optional content (though I am probably too shy to write it myself). However, I wish to imprint that I will not see this turn into a smut-fest. If an artistic manner does not present itself, or if I begin to think it is detracting from the story in any way, this aspect will be shelved or scrapped.

 

Ipsissimus and I have been discussing this mod over... several hundred(?) emails, so it is unlikely that many new ideas will be brought up. But on the off chance we've skimmed over some absolutely crucial thing, it would be great to hear it. And discussion is always useful for one as scatter-brained as I.

 

Plus, it doesn't hurt to let the community know what's on the horizon ahead of time. Or at least it doesn't hurt me. :p

Link to comment

Though I'd love to hear generic thoughts at any point in time, the first direction I would like to take the discussion is rather simple. I think the name needs work. So far we have the rather self-explanatory "Bioware Romance Expansion," and "Expanded Romances."

 

I think both "ER" and "BRE" sound a bit too much like the somewhat similarly focused and already released project, "RE," or "Romantic Encounters."

Link to comment

Dammit. You're picking these things up at a time when I've got to quit modding due to real life considerations.

 

In any case, I wish you success beyond your wildest dreams, as these ideas really need doing.

Link to comment

Hopefully temporarily, Berlinde; I've always been a fan.

 

Glad to know someone else approves. I'm actually surprised at how well the planning for this is coming along. Again, thanks in part to ideas suggested by and bounced off of Ipsissimus. I have a lot of trouble reading my own mind, so I need to hear myself talk.

Link to comment

Talking to yourself is a useful modding tool, but it never hurts to get a second opinion.

 

The BioWare romances need expansion. They were OK when the game came out. After all, that was all there was, so no need to expand. But mod romances offered more, beginning all the way back wtih the first, and the inclusion of PC-initiated flirting.

 

IMO, all the BioWare romances suffer from a severe case of the shallows. Aerie is the innocent, Jaheira is the older woman, Viconia is the bad girl, Anomen is the troubled suitor. No depth at all, really. An expansion would help, both in terms of fleshing out existing content by adding new branches to existing talks and by expanding the content by adding new talks. There are just so many avenues that could be explored. I'm not even talking about changing NPC behavior here. Maybe Aerie is still reluctant to bed the PC, but perhaps her motives are a little more credible than "good girls don't." All the other BioWare NPCs have similar 'challenges' to their public perception.

 

So yeah, I wish you lots of success in your endeavors. I'll check in periodically. Good luck, and I'm sure you'll do well.

 

Oh, and by the way, don't be afraid of mature content. If it happens, great. If it doesn't it will still be a good mod.

Link to comment
An expansion would help, both in terms of fleshing out existing content by adding new branches to existing talks and by expanding the content by adding new talks.
This is indeed what I'm going for. In the existing paths, I am not removing much, but I am compacting smaller talks into eachother and adding new, fresh ones into their midst. I'm also changing up the manner in which they appear. Sometimes a lovetalk will lead to a possible player initiated dialogue that will be needed to move forward with the story, or the other way around. Most relationships aren't completely one-sided.

 

I'd always thought Aerie's ill-thought-out proposition to the PC to be a rather well-done look into how a character acting out of character can still be believable (we all do stuff we're not proud of, or wouldn't think ourselves capable of or willing to do), and will probably be keeping it as an element of the independant Aerie path (though I think I will make it more obvious that she is suggesting something that on some level she doesn't truly want- minor cosmetic changes like that are also a focus of the project). A dependant Aerie might state the rather weak argument that you mentioned, but would be able to be talked down based on a low-grade stat-check or reputation check. Broken Aerie, a branch off from dependant Aerie, won't suggest much of anything ever but will go along with most anything, and it will become almost impossible to lose her due to bad behavior on the part of the PC.

 

One thing I'd like to add is that I plan on going as crazy as possible with race and class specific talks. Maybe even to the extent where there will be race or class based paths in later versions. Ipsy and I have discussed the concept of an elven bond with Aerie, or the idea of a troubled (and extremely difficult to play) elf-Viconia romance, an extended look into an Anomen-cleric/paladin romance, and more. Sister Vigilante once mentioned a desire to see an Aerie-gnome specific path. It's definitely worth discussing and keeping on the back burner, but right now I'm sticking with the main ideas, as I have a lot on my plate already.

Link to comment

This was something I once considered as a mini-mod. The general idea was to expand the array of choices (generally they were actually the illusion of choice) and also allow replayable lovetalks (in the way I've done in Jelina and Tyris) i.e. if she says "is this a good time?" you can say "not right now" and she'll try the talk again in quarter of hour with a slightly different opening line (e.g. "Is now a better time to talk about xyz?")

 

Looking through my miscellaneous modding folder, this is all I found:

 

// LOVETALK 2

EXTEND_BOTTOM BAERIE 106
++ ~Would you please stop whining.  It's getting quite irritating.~ GOTO 108
END

// LOVETALK 4

EXTEND_BOTTOM BAERIE 112 #1 //ExtendedAerieLovetalk#4.1
++ ~Barely anything to be honest.  In fact I hadn't even heard of your kind before we met.~ GOTO ExtendedAerieLovetalk#4.2
END

EXTEND_BOTTOM BAERIE 112
++ ~Don't you realise I don't care in the slightest about the Avariel?  Just leave me alone, Aerie.~ GOTO 108
END

APPEND BAERIE

IF ~~ BEGIN ExtendedAerieLovetalk#4.2 //From ExtendedAerieLovetalk#4.1.1
SAY ~That's not surprising.  There aren't many of us left anymore, or so my mother told me.  Many of us were killed by the dragons before the First Flowering.  But some of us still survive in isolated places.~
IF ~~ GOTO 114
END

END

 

Could've sworn I'd written more, but oh well. Feel free to use what little it is or adapt it accordingly.

Link to comment

Thanks for the offer, Squeaker, I'll probably end up making use of it to some extent. I'll have to check out what you mean with Jelina and Tyris, I haven't played them before.

 

I had considered the "ask again later" option, but I'm not a coder, so I wouldn't know how easy it would be to implement it. Also, I'm not sure how much of a call for it there would be. I mean, it would definitely be a neat feature to have, but not a lot of people would be partaking in the romance if it wasn't of considerable importance to them. It's definitely worth asking about though.

 

If there was time, it would be neat to include a counter, where a certain amount of "not now" comments would invoke a "well I'm obviously not that important to you" talk, and maybe killing an early-stage romance if the PC didn't heed the warning.

Link to comment
Guest GuestguesT

Sounds like a great theme to develop.

 

Additional idea/feature from the Amber mod that might be useful:

 

potential for a romance with a suitable male protagonist (or Player 2 in a multiplayer game) or a non-romantic friendship with non-eligible protagonist

 

Obviously the demigod <Charname> is usually centre-stage, but the trusty sidekick <Player2> isn't without dramatic/mod possibilities.

Link to comment

This is definitely a good idea, but I think it would be a lot more work than it seems. I'm already wary of taking on too much at this point, as it's already a fairly large project, and we need to keep it to a managable level. This, combined with a sudden influx of real life issues that have temporarily slowed my progress to some extent, intensifies a sort of morale issue; if you take on too much without flashing results around, people lose faith that you will finish it, and therefore interest often dwindles.

 

It would definitely be worth considering, though probably for a later version at this point. I would have to look more into that aspect of Amber, as I only had time for a cursory glance at it.

 

As for the friendship, such a thing is already in the works at Spellhold Studios. It's called IEP.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...