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A trauma based romance twist of one Mage (aka I Hope Viconia Still Loves Me) MASSIVE SPOILER

AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
Hey everyone,
At first I hope it's a good category to place my topic, if not, well.. I'm the Antagonist, I don't care ;)

I know I could as well simply ask the damn question but I feel like explaining to you what, why and when. Hope you enjoy, and sorry if mine speak bad English, this no the language of my ancestors ;)

It has been a long time since I played the original BGs, and now I am on my first playthrough with the Enhanced Edition. My protagonist is a human male Wild Mage, Azariel, whose Chaotic Neutral alignment always caused him to get in a lot of trouble, which at this moment caused him to end up in the middle of the Underdark. I mean, he is, like the magic he uses, totally unpredictable, and I am not talking about Neera-like unpredictable. He doesn't care about anything. Or didn't.

Back at the time, when he traveled along the Sword Coast, young and unexperienced, he stuck with Khalid and Jaheira, both of them protected him, as was their duty as Gorion's friends. There was also Imoen of course, and Branwen. The party helped him, kept him safe both from physical danger and the worse one, temptations. Thoughts of power. His fascination with wild magic combined with constant threat caused him to think about Power more and more frequently. But the good party was always there. However, everything changed when he met Dorn. And this was when his friends lost the battle. Dorn showed him power, he was a walking fortress, always confident, always strong. He had goals, he had means to achieve them and because of all the burden that Azariel had to bear, Dorn became his idol. Wherever they came, whatever they did, there was always someone that tried to kill them. Assassins, hired thugs and mercenaries, the further he went the deadlier they were, their swords sharper, their magic stronger and their attacks harder to survive. And yet, all but Dorn kept him away from trying to improve his skills, tame the wild magic and shape it into a powerful weapon that would destroy his foes.

As Dorn joined the party, the rest backed down, their influence grew weaker, and every attempt to reason ended with an argument. Still, they did not turn their backs on Azariel, maybe because they still had faith, maybe they became afraid of Dorn's temper, if he made this treachery personal. So the story went on, Azariel's choices were always a lottery, no morality, no hate, no good intentions, no desire for wealth. A chaos that grew stronger, caused him to help the innocent at one time because he just felt like it, just to laugh at someones misery a few hours later, help a shadow skinned Tel'Quessir in need, just to watch her walk away into the hostile world. But the deeper he went into what was ahead, the more he started to hate. The more Dorn kept talking about how pointless trust can be, the more he started to question the world around him. And then, one night at the inn, he heard about Durlag. A story so grim, so cryptic, his curiosity grew stronger until he finally decided to set path and travel to the mysterious tower. We all know what happened there. And we know what he's been through. Khalid lost it, Imoen couldn't sleep for weeks. But time was running out, they already knew about Sarevok, he grew stronger and they couldn't stop now. The trauma was still there when they fought Sarevok, and just when they thought they can cure their minds and souls, Jon Irenicus came.

The eternity spent in captivity, the surrounding death, the things that were to come after they got out, after they found out what happened to Jaheira's husband... Azariel fell out with her, turned down that dumb wannabe ranger with his stupid rodent, who claimed to have met him back in Nashkel. Filled with hate and anger, he started to assemble a new company. One that will support his efforts, instead of holding him back. Because it was his former friends that were responsible for all that happened, for him being too weak to fight Irenicus when he got them near Baldur's Gate. He met his old "friend" Dorn, who then introduced him to a dwarf he met at Copper Coronet. At the same place, they met a strangely behaving woman who insisted to go to the graveyard, and since Korgan also had a business there, they let her go with them. The surprising set of events that gave them the opportunity to accept a vampire to their company pleased Azariel.

After a few days destiny once more had him rescue the unlucky drow that he once met before. This time, in time of need, he let her stay, although not sure if she is so valuable, if he has already seen her twice, begging for her life. But a help of a cleric was much appreciated, since that gay-looking Anomen DelSomething in the Copper Coronet happened to be somehow related to the Order of the Radiant Heart, and since a few days earlier the whole company's party at the Orders place went wrong, Anomen had to die.

So there he was, the child of Bhaal and his fellowship of revenge, once again on a war path, trying to settle down a debt, searching power, fighting their way through trouble they somehow had a talent to find. Viconia turned out to be a very useful companion, and an attractive one as well. But then things have changed as Azariel, the Wild Mage, met Neera. This was something unpredictable, as his whole life was, but as much as he learned to be ever prepared, he did not expect this. He fell in love. Forgot about Irenicus, about the debt, the pain and all that has been pushing him forward for so long. Maybe it was the common type of magic they were both into, maybe her character and unpredictable, yet so well known to Azariel, nature? It didn't matter, as he held back all his plans and focused his efforts to help her cause. And then, everything started to collapse. Though they still loved each other, Hayes's treachery unleashed an uncontrollable rage, that started to slowly consume Azariel from the inside. The revenge on red wizards was a total slaughter, though he satisfied his thrist for blood, he became more and more short-tempered and furious. He decided to pursue Irenicus once again, by any means necessary, showing no mercy to anyone foolish enough to show any sign of weakness. Shadow Thieves, fight with Bodhi, Spellhold... Through all this time, Neera stood at his side and supported him. She felt the same, after what happened to her friends. But then, as her anger weakened, she started to realise that her beloved one has fallen into a self-propelling wheel of hatred, fury and chaos. It was not like the chaos of their magic, it was dark and evil, and she did not know a way to stop this. She feared him though she still wanted to be with him. But her spirit finally gave up when Azariel transformed when they were making their way out of Spellhold. And he saw that. He saw that she doesn't believe anymore, he saw that her feelings are not strong enough, that she cannot accept him for who he is. And as they entered the Underdark, dark thoughts invaded his mind, he started to think about Viconia, that she never judged him, she never tried to make him change his mind. She lived in the harsh, deadly environment of the Underdark, then she fought her way on the surface. After all, these two times when he had to save her, were probably nothing compared to the probably countless times, when she survived encounters with the world that hated her. Yes.. She was strong.

Phew! That was exhausting. I'm pretty sure the online dictionary hates me right now, sorry for any mistakes though, I don't feel like I can make this whole essay more grammatically correct :D

So that's it. My party's reputation reached 2 and I am aware that Neera will inevitably leave my party, because Azariel has already gone too far into chaos. And this is where the whole story is at a turning point, which I am not sure can be achieved. I already turned down the first romance dialogue with Viccy, but I don't remember if I was already in romance with Neera, and it never showed up again. Though Dorn tried to seduce me twice, when I already was in romance so I have faith. So the question is - will I be able to romance with Viccy after Neera leaves Azariel and he, in a moment of fury, will slaughter her? (That's mean, I know. But it's going to happen.)

Comments

  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    Just to make it clear. I could just go on and find out, yes. But as I have never really been involved in a romance in my previous games, I don't know what to expect. And for the sake of the story I don't really want to mess it up. So I'm stuck and don't know how to proceed.
  • TwaniTwani Member Posts: 640
    Unfortunately... Dorn is a bit more persistant then Viconia. (Or desperate, perhaps. With Dorn, who knows?)

    If Viconia started talking to you once with her pretty music and you shot her down, then you've ruined your chances with her. Viconia isn't going to chase after Azariel, I'm afraid. The original romances are minefields of a sort: if you basically don't go along with their desires and encourage them, they will end the romance (simply refusing to listen to them at times can be enough to stop it). If Viconia was still interested in romancing you, you would have gotten more dialogs.

    If Azariel followed a different path and repaired his reputation, I believe he could repair the romance with Neera upon meeting up with her again, though I'm not certain on that- if she leaves, the romance might be over for good. But I suppose that's too much to ask for in any case.

    Someone will assuredly eventually show up with the console commands to activate Viconia's romance, if you want to go that route. I know how to restart the romance active, but not the timer off hand.
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    Dammit.. wait, pretty music? Well that confused me now.. I do remember her, starting a conversation on idle, but I'm not quite sure if there was anything about music. Double dammit because while I'm writing this comment, googling finally popped up a list of romance dialogues.. Seems like the game has somehow triggered the 3rd romance dialogue in the first place. As in, I am pretty dead sure I did not have the first and second one.

    The 3rd Viconia's dialogue is (according to http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/12164)

    'I wish to...apologize...for unburdening myself upon you before. I
    was so foolish to be weak in Beregost, and worse yet to speak to
    you about it.'

    And I bet my head I didn't get the previous two, because I was completely surprised, since I didn't talk to her about anything. Can't recall which answer I chose though.
  • JackWalrusJackWalrus Member Posts: 16
    The romance with Viconia is without a doubt screwed. Using the CLUA console, you can resolve this problem:

    CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("ViconiaRomanceActive","Global",1)

    This will "repair" your romance with Viconia. After this, you want to trigger the next lovetalk, which should be done like this:

    CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("ViconiaRomance","Global",1)

    I also think that you can force the dialog by advancing real time with this command:

    CLUAConsole:AdvanceRealTime(99999) (Or any other big number)

    You could also do the same thing using EEkeeper, but this should do the trick.
    Antagonist
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    Yeah it is screwed. I just found...

    VICCY: I wish to...apologize...for attempting to unburden myself upon you before. I was foolish to be so weak in Beregost, and worse yet to speak to you about it. (VICONI69)
    1. Well, I was barely listening, anyway, so don't worry about it.
    VICCY: I shall do that, jaluk. And when I bash its skull in, you do not mind if I picture you in its bovine features, hm? (romance screwed, she stays in party)

    *sigh* That was how the conversation went. Ok so I'm going the hard way :/

    Thanks for the tips, I'll let know if it works or not.

    And by the way, writing that little story actually gave me an idea. Is there a thread somewhere here, where people post things like that? I think it's safe to assume many BG fans are hardcore immerse roleplayers, thought there might be a place to share similar stuff. Of course the main storyline's always the same, but I guess there are some people that make up those little unmade events that can take place in BG, so is anyone into storytelling, maybe?
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    edited January 2014
    There is a fan creations forum here, where people post art and fiction sometimes. And people sometimes post their own walk/play throughs in the general discussion forum.
    Antagonist
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    Whoa I just found the Roleplay section, that's something for me. Thanks @Coutelier I actually didn't even look at the Off-Topic section before.
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    @JackWalrus

    I think Viconia has some serious problems... I've dealt with Neera's romance quite surprisingly, I forgot that I'll have a chance to get laid with Phaere in Ust Natha, that did the trick :D So in all Neera's luck she's still in the party because I didn't have an opportunity to decrease my reputation in the Underdark (as if I could not have expected this, god am I dumb).

    Anyway, after I got to the surface and got through this irritating Elhan's interrogation, I received two talks, one from Hexxat and one from Neera (-_-'), turned down both, and decided to finally try out those CLUA commands and something got wrong. After entering the first command

    CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("ViconiaRomanceActive","Global",1)

    Vicky immediately started the romance talk, and after we finished she started spamming selection quotes. I can select any party member, yet she will keep spamming them per second and won't go anywhere, because as soon as I command the party to go, the selection quote will cause her to stop.

    Selecting, deselecting, save/load, quit game/load game, all of it useless. I also managed to zero all the npc romance variables in EEkeeper. After loading the game I advanced real time in CLUA, Neera started the talk, I turned her down and she didn't get any freakin' spasms. Then I activated Vicky's romance, and after we finished the talk she started again... Help?

    image
  • JackWalrusJackWalrus Member Posts: 16
    edited January 2014
    @Antagonist , sorry for the late reply, I'm not here very often.

    This is quite an unusual problem you have there. I really have no clear idea what could be the cause of it. I personnally used these commands myself and never had any problem.

    Have you entered the second command afterwards or only entered the first one? It's quite important:

    CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("ViconiaRomance","Global",1)

    If the problem persist, the only thing I can think of is that the LoveTalk variable is messed up, making her triggering this selection sound all the time.

    Using EEkeeper you should verify that LoveTalk is an uneven number or not. If I remember correctly, an even number (e.g. 2) means a dialog is triggered, an uneven one means a dialog is not triggered. There may be a bug that occurs with this since you are activating the romance with console commands.

    For now, this is the only thing I can think of that could be wrong. Sorry if this isn't of any help.

    EDIT: I just remembered a command I forgot to mention before, but I don't think it is that important. Just in case it may help you: CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("ViconiaMatch","GLOBAL",1) . As the name says, it should make you a match to Viconia. However, I think this should already be alright in your situation.
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    edited January 2014
    Ah, sorry I didn't give heads-up earlier, I managed to fix the problem before you posted.

    Turns out too much of my tampering with game files caused a global problem, I managed to fix Vicky, loaded a save from before leaving the underdark exit, some changes in the variables and tampering with the ViconiaRomance timer fixed the problem after a gazillion times. Fool's luck though, because I saved immediately and, from pure curiosity, loaded again from before the change and the next try with same settings did not work (no idea how's that even possible).

    Still I get looping dialogues all the time, when I went to kill Bodhi and get the Lanthern, after entering the crypts Korgan started yapping about the book of Kaza(!!!), even though I finished the damn quest 4 chapters ago :D

    Thanks for help anyway, it was you who made me move my lazy ass and start learning a bit about the game's engine and these variables. ;)
  • TheostanzinTheostanzin Member Posts: 53
    I think I know what it is. Viconia needs to make a comment about Phaere and it has to be made in the Underdark. This also worked for me when I went back to a save right before leaving the Underdark.
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    Yes, exactly. My bad I didn't mention it. Still, I can't understand why she started the romance skipping the first few conversations.
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