What's your favourite romance?

Sophia

I know that there was already a tread somewhere asking "Aerie or Viconia", but in this one I mean between ALL the romance option, male/female, vanilla/mods...
What's your favourite ?

I must admit that for me the romance is optional, I played for years without npc mods (and most of the times without Anomen romance too), but my favourite romance is probably the npc mod Angelo, it's really well written.

O_Bruce

Shamefully, I've never managed to finish any mod romance, thought I do not consider Solaufein's as a pleasant memory.

My personal favourite is Jaheira.

raywind

Viconia if playing male if not then idiot useless anomen

Koson

For my male PCs - Viconia, for female PCs - CN Anomen. Only romance mod I've tried was Kelsey and in the end I let him find happiness with Imoen.

Schneidend

Like Zelgadis I've never actually finished a mod romance, but for me it's definitely Viconia. The epilogue for her where both CHARNAME is Evil and she stayed Evil is magical.

ajwz

Viconia hands down

MetaSieg

Jaheira even if the beginning of that romance bugs me (my husband just died but I love you! blah).
I haven't finished Viconia's before, I need to make an evil character and do that. Forget that turning her good nonsense.

rodneyandsteptoe

Hopefully there'll be a choice in future if you play as a female PC - hand holding Anomen wasn't a fun thing in TOB (what was was hearing him whimper as I ascended as a demi-god...)

CCarluNN

Aerie, or any mod NPC that CHARNAME can have offspring with before he ascends to godhood.

Pfff, romances. BG is no dating sim.

Schneidend

MetaSieg said:

Jaheira even if the beginning of that romance bugs me (my husband just died but I love you! blah).
I haven't finished Viconia's before, I need to make an evil character and do that. Forget that turning her good nonsense.

People overstate the "weirdness" of Jaheira's romance too much. The first like 8 romance dialogues have nothing to do with her being in love with you. That's at least 8 hours of RL time, more if you don't complete the Harper and curse quests right away. Also, you never know, she may not have been all that close to Khalid after all, and may have been holding a torch for CHARNAME she kept hidden all along. One good part of the Baldur's Gate novel was the fact that Jaheira and Khalid's marriage was strained before Abdel even met them.

MetaSieg

@Schneidend
You have a point there. It still feels strange to me but maybe that's because the relationship between Khalid & Jaheira isn't explained in depth. I have never read the novel before so their marriage being strained is news to me. In BG1 their marriage seems fine to me. (opposites attract and all that)

I admit I was exaggerating with the "my husband died but I love you" thing.

Paheej

Of the standard romances I found Viconia's romance to be the most interesting.

However Jaheria's may technically be better with a multitude of related quests, scripted events, and what not.

Of the mod NPCs . . . I find it astounding that no one has mentioned the de'Arnise (Nalia) Romance Mod by @jcompton and @Kulyok.

Kholdstare

I guess I liked the romance in the Xan mod. Not a huge fan of that mod's voice actor, though. I'd prefer to keep Jeff Bennett's voice.

Sophia

The voice actor (Sister Vigilante) is also the voice and author of Angelo's mod. I like his voice very much, but i think it's not fitting Xan personality, it's better on the other npc

Cheesebelly

For it's content, definitely Viconia's... but shamefully admitting that behind that annoying personality... Anomen's is the one that stroke me with the best possible ending really. I mean, Aerie's ends up well too I guess, but I didn't like how the romance evolves (you're either a couple or she'll hate you)

Jaheira is meh at best. If my hypothetical husband died (and if I was a woman that is), I couldn't just move forward. Nah, it seems weak. I am an optimist and sometimes an idealist - love is forever, and so is marriage. Even after death. Jaheira strikes me as weak because of this exact reason. It is my ideals that make her weak, to be more specific.

EpitomyofShyness

Angelo NPC, one of the most amazing mods ever, and my own personal favorite the Sarevok Romance mod by Aeryn.

CrazedSlayer

Schneidend said:

People overstate the "weirdness" of Jaheira's romance too much. The first like 8 romance dialogues have nothing to do with her being in love with you. That's at least 8 hours of RL time, more if you don't complete the Harper and curse quests right away. Also, you never know, she may not have been all that close to Khalid after all, and may have been holding a torch for CHARNAME she kept hidden all along. One good part of the Baldur's Gate novel was the fact that Jaheira and Khalid's marriage was strained before Abdel even met them.

I always thought that because they were both half-elves that she felt more comfortable with him than she had with anyone else (aren't half-elves rather rare to come across?) So when CHARNAME showed up she had to kind of repress everything she felt for you?
I think Viconias is the most rewarding in terms of character development (no one else changes alignment over you), I think Jaherias is the best in terms of depth (she has the most quests and love talk dialogue), and I like Aeries for the in-game results (baby in inventory FTW :P). My fav mod romance is Fade, because of its depth and the quests that build it up, and plus I'm a fan of player-initiated dialogue ^.^

zarffyn

I enjoyed the Kelsey mod by @jcompton even if there were times Kelsey annoyed me, he's a sweet "boy next door" type guy. It's well developed, and I appreciated not being locked into any particular path.

That said, I Aeryn's Sarevok mod, and I recently finished Berlinde's Keldorn romance mod. Both were fairly true to the characters.

EpitomyofShyness

@zarffyn What was Keldorn like? I heard that was being made and now I'm curious.

kamuizin

I would like aerie romance if she didn't whine all the time and become a bitch after i sleep with her the first time she asked (if you don't refuse her on the first time, later she finsh the romance with you). I really like her romance music.

Viconia is worst than Aerie, she try to play the bitch but in the end all she want is a shoulder to whine too.

So among female romanceables, Jaheira is by far, one of the best romances. I like womans that try to boss around, i never take offense in silence, so i always take fun in the strife mess.

Among Anomen romanceable, i really enjoyed the chaotic neutral Anomen, it's flawed cos the game forget to change and fix a lot of things after the order test, but it's a nice romance if you played it to the end. The ToB part of Anomen romance is a lot cool too as he change a lot there.

Among the mod romances, i can't say which one is the best, but surely i can say which one is the worst: Saerileth.

Schneidend

CrazedSlayer said:

I always thought that because they were both half-elves that she felt more comfortable with him than she had with anyone else (aren't half-elves rather rare to come across?) So when CHARNAME showed up she had to kind of repress everything she felt for you?
^.^

I'd say Khalid and Jaheira are compatible in many ways, being half-elf among them. As @belgarathmth pointed out in another thread, Jaheira is probably the sort of woman who is likely to bristle and get out the claws when a man is brash and boastful, but while a soft-spoken, soft-hearted smooth operator like Khalid could slip past those barbs. And, besides, Jaheira is the momma bear of the group. I believe at one point in BG2 she'll even reprimand Aerie for slouching and moping. So, then, here comes this strapping young lad from Candlekeep with eyes full a naive inexperience, but tempered by the grim severity of watching his father get cut in half by a greatsword. What is a half-elf cougar/momma bear to do? Take a cold bath and hope Khalid does something romantic and sexy soon before she jumps this kid's bones.

Dazzu

My favorite Romance is Saerileth, because she pretty much forces you to avoid thieves and vampires and can die of heart attack and makes you go to Sigil on the fly... true love.


Tsujatha for the ladies, because a Truely Evil man digs good aligned women... also he slits his wrists and is emo so that's hot or something.


Happy opposite day!

EpitomyofShyness

I liked Tsujatha... till I found out that he never really liked my girl, and was just pining for some other chick from another dimension. Then the rage doth burn.

Schneidend

@EpitomyofShyness

Sounds like excellent fodder for the sacrifice Hell Trial. On Insane difficulty!

CrazedSlayer

@Schneidend Ive gotta say the phrase "smooth operator" wouldn't remotely be in the list of ways Id describe dear Khalid I think its a safe assumption that she would have been the one to make the first move. As for Jaheria's interests in both charname and Khalid, I'd personally look for something apart from her maternal instincts to describe her choice in men. Aerie herself insulted Jaheria by saying that Khalid was only capable of loving her because he was a spineless, emotional punching-bag for her. Even if she went for the wide-eyed type, the power dynamic between charname and her is inverted from the moment you wake up in Irenicus' dungeon. I'm not saying she didn't love Khalid, but the events of ToB especially would indicate that the player has something he didn't.

Schneidend

If I recall, Aerie blurted that out in frustration, and probably didn't mean it. Either way, she has no idea what she's talking about because she never even met Khalid.

Kenji

Nalia.

For a community mod, it was well-written and far less cheesy than you'd expect.

Too bad there's not a continuation on ToB for it.

Permidion_Stark

I don't like any of the romances. I preferred the voice-acted bickering between NPCs in BG1 to the text-heavy dialogues with the CHARNAME in BG2.

I find most of the dialogue options in the romances faintly ridiculous and they always seem to start talking just when you have buffed up the whole party and are about to charge into battle.

Sophia

Ahahahah that's true, the NPCs usually find the dragon liars and the preparations for battle extremely sexy

zarffyn

EpitomyofShyness said:

@zarffyn What was Keldorn like? I heard that was being made and now I'm curious.

It's a well-written, mature romance. Berlinde put a lot of thought into Keldorn's motivations and development. It feels slow at first, as Keldorn works through what he's feeling. There's no real commitment until ToB. It's not puppy love, and I appreciated that. You're romancing a mature, older guy who has gone through a separation and divorce. Some of the flirts are downright hilarious--Keldorn can do a fair amount of blushing. I definitely enjoyed it.

Duron

Jeheira had the hardest romance for me, felt a long and a hard thing, something that we've been building since BG 1. So to me Jaheira romance was favorite.

After that comes Viconia romance, especially after the shit that happens with her getting raped by farmers etc.

Aerie and Anoman romance I never cared for, Aerie to me is WAY to whiny. Oh I lost my wings, I lost my wings, I never had sex, oh look I have your baby now.... Da hell?!