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Aerie Romance

TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
This discussion was created from comments split from: Interesting bug.
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Comments

  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    Slayer Charname
    Werewolf Cernd
    Jaheira druid shapehsifted
    Wilson the bear
    Haer'dalis the tiefling bard

    You could quite easily have your party double as a traveling circus!
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Grum: Aerie, too.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    semiticgod said:

    Grum: Aerie, too.

    @semiticgod Wow. That was kinda mean... I think your AerieRomanceActive variable just got set to 3.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Grum: I wasn't talking about her wings or her scars. I was thinking she could turn into a spider with Polymorph Self to entertain people, and Haer'dalis.

    I don't romance Aerie anymore. My Charnames are all female. Besides, Pai'Na is much more fun in the (web) sack.
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    No no...that was hilarious if you take it in a mean way. :smiley:

    Uhm...what I mean to say is...she has alot of experience in running a circus. Yes...
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    Ah. Still though, I think she has had rather enough of being a part of the circus act...
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    Aerie is just fun to romance once IMO.
    Her behaviour changing from the caricatural pure innocent virgin in SoA to the actually naughty girl in ToB were quite of a disappointment. I really do prefer Neera or Jaheira
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    I like Aerie...
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    I really like her romance in SoA as well but her romance in ToB is just terrible IMO. Every dialogue she says something like "You will see tonight if I am that innocent". It is so opposite to her behaviour in SoA I really found it terrible
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    I don't see it as such... I just see it as her finally committing to you, maturing enough to handle that, and finally gaining the confidence to move on to the next stage. None of us really stay innocent forever. She had been through quite a lot from traveling with you and it changed her a bit. Besides, she still seems innocent enough to me in ToB, she is just maturing a bit is all.

    I should probably split this discussion now...
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    @Arunsun
    Arunsun said:

    I really like her romance in SoA as well but her romance in ToB is just terrible IMO. Every dialogue she says something like "You will see tonight if I am that innocent". It is so opposite to her behaviour in SoA I really found it terrible

    I disagree with that as well. I consider it to be character progression.

    Given everything you go through in the saga, it would be disappointing (and annoying for many people) if Aerie remained hesitant and shy all the way to the end of ToB. Frankly I don't think that version of Aerie could survive the challenges you must overcome.

    I loved the Aerie romance, and having seen Viconia and Jaheira's content as well, Aerie remains my favourite. I especially love how confident she grows in ToB. When she tells you about her pregnancy, she has no doubt that Charname is committed to her. And one of my most memorable moments of my first playthrough was the wedding just before entering the Throne of Blood and facing Melissan. To this day I don't know if that was scripted or just lucky coincidence, but I found it very appropriate and touching.
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    Well, I agree it is nice that she is not as shy as she was in SoA. She matures and that's fine. But I do hold on my position saying she may have become a little too explicit sex-wise. I almost feel like I am romancing Viconia at this point :smiley:
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    Committed people usually have sex. I see nothing wrong with this.
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    Sex itself is not a problem. It is just that Aerie speaking as Viconia just does not sound right to me. I mean, she could imply sex in the discussion, occasionnally. But IMHO it is too much.
    It is not that I am shocked or anything. It is just that, to me, it doesn't fit the character. I do get and agree your "maturing" point. But an innocent young girl does not "mature" that hard in a couple of months time. Jaheira, why not. Viconia, certainly. But Aerie? No way :smiley:
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    @Grum Did I say something wrong?
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    @Grum I figured it was. Oh, and for the record, my autistic condition is more to blame than your charisma. I have about a 25% chance to not realize that a joke was made.
  • RavenslightRavenslight Member Posts: 1,609
    @Grum
    It gave me the best chuckle I’ve had all day.
    :smiley:
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    :)

    And for the record, don't let my wife read that. I think that she might be a monk, given her unarmed combat skills when I make bad jokes about our relationship.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I don't remember this... I must have missed some content in Aerie's TOB romance.

    Is there a mod to get Aerie sweet on a female Charname?
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,266
    @semiticgod You don't need a mod for that. Just use the console to create a Girdle of Sex Change and anyone will romance you. C:CreateItem("belt05")
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    That is horrifying.
  • ThesblahThesblah Member Posts: 56
    Aerie reminds me too much a frustratingly annoying ex.

    I just always assume the innocence and naivete is her being manipulative and self-absorbed.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited March 2015
    @Grum: I fail to see what is horrifying about somebody not sticking to their biological sex. I do not think we should be bothered by the concept of sexual fluidity or a sex change--particularly considering this particular form of a sex change doesn't even involve surgery.

    Some people are born female and transition to male. This is not horrifying.
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    What is horrifying is that the characters get to know you as a gnome, dwarf, whatever. Then see you get cursed into the opposite gender...and then, and only then, will romance you. It's just messed up.

    And this from someone who wishes that Jan's advances on Viconia were not so cruelly rejected. They'd have made a great couple.
  • reap_iireap_ii Member Posts: 43
    A sex change belt is maybe horrifying to some people satisfied with their current equipment. I could see that.
  • MountainTigerMountainTiger Member Posts: 7
    Aerie's story suffers badly from overcompressing her character development. Going from (mysteriously powerful) PTSD-wracked naif, just setting out after what she went through in captivity, to utterly confident ToB Aerie over a few months is pretty jarring, especially in contrast to the rest of the cast; even Anomen only manages to change from Lawful Insufferable to Lawful Kind-of-Bearable. I think it would work better if more of either end (or maybe both) were pushed into backstory and epilogue.

    Then again, I went with the Aerie romance back when BG2 was new and again for my first time through EE, so apparently something about her character works for me.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Grum: This is a long post, but I think this is an important subject.

    As for me... I can think of three separate men that I would gladly date if they were to somehow become women. I've never been attracted to a man, but I have been very fond of some, and I wouldn't hold it against them that they used to be men. Knowing somebody as one sex does not mean it would be so awful to see them as another.

    So, we have Aerie. She's straight. She's fond of my Charname and they're close friends. Charname is interested in Aerie, but Aerie just doesn't want a woman. So far, pretty reasonable.

    Charname becomes a woman. The only obstacle to a relationship--sexual incompatibility--is now gone. They become a couple, because they are find of each other, and because the sexual attraction is now mutual. What else do you need for a relationship than love and friendship?

    Is it weird that Aerie, as a straight woman, would accept a transgender man? Is it weird that Charname should still like Aerie, after becoming a man? Aerie can't help being straight. It is not "messed up" that she's only attracted to men. It is not "messed up" that she would accept Charname after Charname became attractive to her. Would you expect Aerie as a straight woman to accept a female Charname, even if Aerie is not attracted to her? I wouldn't. Would you expect Aerie to reject Charname after Charname became a man? It's perfectly reasonable for Aerie to want a male Charname, but not a female Charname.

    I see nothing strange or horrifying about a straight woman being attracted to a man, even if that man has lived as a woman. You seem to think that Aerie should either accept Charname, regardless of her sex, or reject Charname, regardless of her sex. How would Aerie explain that?

    "Yeah, I know you're a man now, and I know I said the only problem was your sex, but you still USED to be a woman, and I can't handle the knowledge that you underwent a sex change. That's all."

    There's nothing wrong with Aerie only being attracted to one sex. There's nothing wrong with Charname becoming the other sex. And there's nothing wrong with Aerie saying, "You got a new body I'm attracted to. Sure we can add a sexual element to our relationship."

    What else would you expect Aerie to do?
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    I suppose if you put it that way...my wisdom score is high enough to accept that other people think differently than me. So I'll retract my 'horrifying' comment and replace it with 'well...if a cursed gender changed gnome and a drow love each other, then who am I to say no?'
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