Life is (mostly) pain for Charname (romantically speaking)

Volksgeist

I find that most of the romances in BG2 give you the raw end of the stick. I understand that this is largely because adventurers are tormented souls out to prove something, but would it be too much to ask to have a relationship where you aren't semi-constant damage control?

A few of my unsolicited opinions:

I find Neera super jerky. Like, "hey, you can date me, but I'm probably just going to leave, just so you know."

Viconia has KILLED 100% of her previous husbands, mostly for fun, with no remorse.

Jaheira doesn't let herself grieve properly, brings her husband's ghost to bed and is likely old enough to be your aunt.

There's more I could say but I feel as though you have to really like punishment to go for some of these people.

golingarf

Yeah, well... maybe there's a reason wise people tell you not to mix business and pleasure.

Lesse

Strictly speaking Jaheria, Viconia and Aerie are all probably going to be old enough to be your aunt. Given that they're elves and all. But then BG just seems to assume you want to be a guidance counselor/ emotional punchbag/ target dummy in one go

Heindrich

Aerie's your dream girl. :P

Eudaemonium

Lesse said:

Strictly speaking Jaheria, Viconia and Aerie are all probably going to be old enough to be your aunt. Given that they're elves and all. But then BG just seems to assume you want to be a guidance counselor/ emotional punchbag/ target dummy in one go

And thus began a glorious Bioware trend that has weathered the ages.

Lesse

...And thus when I remember how when playing DA2 I used to fantasize about skewering Fenris with his own sword. Oh, good times!

Volksgeist

Heindrich1988 said:

Aerie's your dream girl. :P

I hold nothing against aerie but she's got slavery/image/confidence issues and needs therapy.

Viconia_DeVir

When it comes to elves, age matters more in the mind than it does in the flesh. Perhaps if one is seeking to be coddled from the growth of others, painful though it might be to witness such inner feelings laid bare, they had best keep their interest to themselves. A life without risk enough to shiver at is a life without the most pleasurable rewards that follow.

Volksgeist said:

Viconia has KILLED 100% of her previous husbands, mostly for fun, with no remorse.

Would you feel more secure in your courting had the number been merely half, jaluk? A quarter, perhaps? Alongside your other options, you'll find Viconia the soul of restraint and self-assurance.

Volksgeist

Viconia_DeVir said:

When it comes to elves, age matters more in the mind than it does in the flesh. Perhaps if one is seeking to be coddled from the growth of others, painful though it might be to witness such inner feelings laid bare, they had best keep their interest to themselves. A life without risk enough to shiver at is a life without the most pleasurable rewards that follow.

Volksgeist said:

Viconia has KILLED 100% of her previous husbands, mostly for fun, with no remorse.

Would you feel more secure in your courting had the number been merely half, jaluk? A quarter, perhaps? Alongside your other options, you'll find Viconia the soul of restraint and self-assurance.

Oh my, I was not aware that there were straight up BG character roleplayers on the forums.

Yeah, I'll give you that. Relative to what she could be she might even be considered good.

You have to admit that she does have a very American/British way of treating the surface. She acts as though she's still underground and expects people to be alright with that. It's hard to deal with.

Thrasymachus

Heindrich1988 said:

Aerie's your dream girl. :P

If by 'dream' you mean 'annoying nightmare of endless whine'… :P

BlueSorceress

Volksgeist said:

I find that most of the romances in BG2 give you the raw end of the stick. I understand that this is largely because adventurers are tormented souls out to prove something, but would it be too much to ask to have a relationship where you aren't semi-constant damage control?

At least you aren't a lady playing vanilla SoA.

Anomen is a textbook example of exactly the sort of guy I would never want to be in a relationship with - emotionally damaged, deeply insecure, and masking his problems with braggadocio and condescension. He turns out okay if you put the work into helping him deal with his problems, but holy smokes, he sets off all of my alarm bells.

Rasaad is better, but he has his damage, too. He's clearly depressed in SoA and ToB, and he seems to need a lot of emotional support.

They both have very understandable reasons for having the problems that they have, but it's exhausting just thinking about the effort it would take to help them on top of dealing with everything else that's going in the story. If I were in Charname's shoes, and had been through everything that she's been through over the past year or so in-game, I don't think I could manage putting in all the work and time that it would take to help either of them figure out how to work through their issues and become a good partner in a healthy relationship.


-Blue

Volksgeist

I always thought that Anomen was the original writers sly way of communicating to the women of BG2 "Ah, no men."

Raistlin82

It's even more painful, if you date Dorn.
Just sayin'...

jackjack

I'm reminded of the Dread Pirate Roberts:
"Life IS pain, Highness!"

Eudaemonium

Raistlin82 said:

It's even more painful, if you date Dorn.
Just sayin'...

Its even bloodier than you hoped.

Nonnahswriter

Eudaemonium said:

Raistlin82 said:

It's even more painful, if you date Dorn.
Just sayin'...

Its even bloodier than you hoped.

Maybe my Charname likes blood...

You know, to spill. Along with entrails. <--Chaotic Evil.

Eudaemonium

Nonnahswriter said:

Eudaemonium said:

Raistlin82 said:

It's even more painful, if you date Dorn.
Just sayin'...

Its even bloodier than you hoped.

Maybe my Charname likes blood...

You know, to spill. Along with entrails. <--Chaotic Evil.</p>

It doesn't matter how much you like blood, it will still be even bloodier than you hoped. Dorn just likes to outdo expectations. He's that kinda guy.

Coutelier

Thrasymachus said:

Heindrich1988 said:

Aerie's your dream girl. :P

If by 'dream' you mean 'annoying nightmare of endless whine'… :P

Except it does end, isn't that annoying, and doesn't really qualify as whining. That said though, I tend to agree that the romances all focusing on whatever issues the character is currently having doesn't seem like the best basis for a relationship. I guess the problems are that the NPC has to lead every discussion, and there's really quite a short amount of time to form a bond with your chosen.

Some day, I will create a video game AI that will respond in character to whatever text you input (so you'd have to work on getting Aerie to trust you, for example, but you can ask her about any subject you want). My last attempt to do so ended in complete disaster though; it malfunctioned and started spewing out scripts for Transformers movies.

Nonnahswriter

Eudaemonium said:

Nonnahswriter said:

Eudaemonium said:

Raistlin82 said:

It's even more painful, if you date Dorn.
Just sayin'...

Its even bloodier than you hoped.

Maybe my Charname likes blood...

You know, to spill. Along with entrails. <--Chaotic Evil.</p>

It doesn't matter how much you like blood, it will still be even bloodier than you hoped. Dorn just likes to outdo expectations. He's that kinda guy.

And I expect no less.

tennisgolfboll

Aerie is awesome

Wittand

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Right until the Underdark, when if you fail to talk your way out of Phaere´s bedroom she dumps you for being raped.
Ever since that happened to one of my characters years back I hate her with a passion and always let her stay in the circus.

Thrasymachus

Coutelier said:

Except it does end, isn't that annoying, and doesn't really qualify as whining.

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Tastes differ, obviously, but I find Aerie intolerable. She is the only NPC I never even consider including in my party, let alone 'romancing'.

She's just so … ugh.

Coutelier

Wittand said:

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Right until the Underdark, when if you fail to talk your way out of Phaere´s bedroom she dumps you for being raped.
Ever since that happened to one of my characters years back I hate her with a passion and always let her stay in the circus.

Most of them do, except for Viconia who doesn't care what happened to you in there. Phaere doesn't force you to do anything; talking out of it is quite easy. Although whoever wrote those scenes should have thought more carefully about the situation you're in and the potential risk of turning down a drow priestess; they obviously just treated it as if you were caught willfully cheating.

Wittand

Coutelier said:

Wittand said:

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Right until the Underdark, when if you fail to talk your way out of Phaere´s bedroom she dumps you for being raped.
Ever since that happened to one of my characters years back I hate her with a passion and always let her stay in the circus.

Most of them do, except for Viconia who doesn't care what happened to you in there. Phaere doesn't force you to do anything; talking out of it is quite easy. Although whoever wrote those scenes should have thought more carefully about the situation you're in and the potential risk of turning down a drow priestess; they obviously just treated it as if you were caught willfully cheating.

Jaheria is disappointed if you fail to get out of Phaere´s grasp but she does not end the romance and has more of an "you ghad to do what you had to do" attitude about it. The only character who ends it as far as I know is Aerie.
And I know how easy it is to avoid Phaere, but in that case my character had both low intelligence and charasma and I decided to roleplay that, so there was no way he could have avoided the sex with Phaere.

Coutelier

Wittand said:

Coutelier said:

Wittand said:

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Right until the Underdark, when if you fail to talk your way out of Phaere´s bedroom she dumps you for being raped.
Ever since that happened to one of my characters years back I hate her with a passion and always let her stay in the circus.

Most of them do, except for Viconia who doesn't care what happened to you in there. Phaere doesn't force you to do anything; talking out of it is quite easy. Although whoever wrote those scenes should have thought more carefully about the situation you're in and the potential risk of turning down a drow priestess; they obviously just treated it as if you were caught willfully cheating.

Jaheria is disappointed if you fail to get out of Phaere´s grasp but she does not end the romance and has more of an "you ghad to do what you had to do" attitude about it. The only character who ends it as far as I know is Aerie.
And I know how easy it is to avoid Phaere, but in that case my character had both low intelligence and charasma and I decided to roleplay that, so there was no way he could have avoided the sex with Phaere.

It depends on what you say to Jaheira; you have a chance to talk your way out of it. But unless you're metagaming, you can't know that it is easy since in the underdark the priestesses are in charge and would find it not only strange, but might react most unfavorably to being turned down. Aerie is smart and would understand, so it's another thing on the list of things that I need to correct.

Coutelier

Thrasymachus said:

Coutelier said:

Except it does end, isn't that annoying, and doesn't really qualify as whining.

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

Tastes differ, obviously, but I find Aerie intolerable. She is the only NPC I never even consider including in my party, let alone 'romancing'.

She's just so … ugh.

I find that people who dislike Aerie tend to make lots of assumptions about her character, few of which are actually borne out. She doesn't whine much at all, for example; unless she's asked and encouraged to, she never really talks much about her wings (skip the romance, and the only times she does are when another NPC asks her about it). She does complain about not being used to walking so much, once, but it's not much complaining and she'll carry on regardless of what you say. And being from a traveling circus, she's obviously never going to complain much about roughing it and getting dirty.

On the flip side, she's not a perfect angel either. She obviously can be sensitive and has a bit of a temper, or pent up anger that slips out occasionally. She's really just a well written character.

Heindrich

tennisgolfboll said:

Aerie is awesome

@tennisgolfboll

lol We can agree on something! It is possible!

You probably think she's awesome for totally different reasons though, but meh... I'll take it!XD

Thrasymachus

Coutelier said:

I find that people who dislike Aerie tend to make lots of assumptions about her character, few of which are actually borne out.

I find that people who dislike the fact that other people dislike Aerie tend to make lots of assumptions about those people, none of which are actually justified.

Coutelier

Thrasymachus said:

Coutelier said:

I find that people who dislike Aerie tend to make lots of assumptions about her character, few of which are actually borne out.

I find that people who dislike the fact that other people dislike Aerie tend to make lots of assumptions about those people, none of which are actually justified.

I never do; my assumptions are always fully justified. Just call it experience.

Every negative comment about Aerie is ever so predictable. As I fear is my defending her and pointing out the errors, but some balance has to be maintained.

Twani

It's the same with Anomen, actually. Ironically, some of the most fervent Aerie defenders are the greatest Anomen haters, which always makes me giggle a bit. They're a lot alike, both masking their issues and... well.

Every romance that's officially in BG needs a lot of emotional support (save for perhaps Hexxet and Dorn, in which you get more the impression that they're not really that attached). I generally prefer mod romances so I get the feeling that they're actually with me, till the end.

In any case, my thoughts: NEVER should your romance interest be your therapist. That makes for an extremely unhealthy romance, and isn't fair to either partner. Anyone in RL could tell you that one. Now, this is a game, but I still hold to it, and thus I don't romance Anomen, Aerie, Jaheria, or Viconia anymore. Rasaad will probably be added to that list, but I'm going to play through him once. Same with Neera.

Coutelier

Twani said:

It's the same with Anomen, actually. Ironically, some of the most fervent Aerie defenders are the greatest Anomen haters, which always makes me giggle a bit. They're a lot alike, both masking their issues and... well.

I don't hate Anomen at all. To be honest, I don't think about him that much, but when I do I think his arrogance and pomposity is just a way to deal with being put down and abused by his father all his life.

Maybe all adventurers just have issues and that's why they're adventurers and not, say, accountants.