Race Restriction for Romances
Zidane
Member Posts: 1
Would it be possible for the race restrictions for romances to be removed? I understand the need for flavor and that not everything is equal in the eyes of the characters, but it felt too punishing for playing a non "human" type race with regards to this subplot. I remember modding BG II to allow any race to romance and the fact that I wasn't one of the normally romance-able races never came up to ruin the immersion of the subplot.
15
Comments
Anomen is too stupid to be human and his " romance " is to much terrible to be count...
(spoiler)
...dies.
So please. Please. Fix this. Half-orcs are humans too. Half-humans who need to be loved. +1 STR/CON is not worth this kind of suffering.
Support racial equality.
Hopefully by the time we get to BG2EE, they'll either have added options for everyone, or they'll remove the restrictions. It's not as much of an issue in BG1 - except that I want to take one character all the way from BG1 through ToB, so it affects my decisions when making my BG1 character.
Gotta say I disagree with this concept, since it compromises the writers original views of the characters they created. The thought of Jaheira romancing a dwarf seems completely laughable and doesn't make any sense for her character.
I can understand the frustration for the vertically challenged characters, though. Pity they didn't make Mazzy and Korgan romanceable for you.
But even if they weren't, I find the race restrictions on romances unfounded when the reasons for such haven't been written into the characters. So, Viconia not romancing an elf is understandable, although I'd rather see the romance address the enmity between the races and possibly overcome it (it's hardly the only obstacle in that one). If the race isn't a noteworthy issue in the writing, allowing options for the player and granting them access to game content should come first.
I actually feel the same way about limiting romances based on gender. If it's relevant in the story, fair enough. If not... why limit the options of the player?
Jaheira, being the True Neutral druid she is, has very little in common with the typical dwarf. She'll find their adherence to strict laws stifling, their black-and-white views of the world absurd. She won't even bond with them as a fellow warrior, because she's more open-minded about who/what she kills than most dwarves would be. The only good tribe is a dead goblin tribe by dwarven standards. A druid might look at a goblin tribe and see it's value in keeping the balance in a region, whether it halts the expansion of civilization or keeps a hungry dragon from feeding strictly on the other wildlife.
And, failing that, dwarves are short, stocky and hairy. My girl Jaheira can do much better. She shouldn't set her sights so low.
I don't just view the npcs as lines of code - I think of them as having personalities that can preclude certain things. If people want to mod things to change the game, then that's fine. The Enhanced Edition is being released in an official capacity, though, and should not change the original personalities.
If Trent and the talented team at Beamdog want to introduce characters to fill the romance void, more power to them. I personally dislike the idea of the characters I've grown to love being changed from a narrative perspective.
I think Bioware had it right when they moved towards more of the open romances, like in the ME and DA series. They had memorable characters who preferred a certain type of personality (usually evil or good) but did not require them to be of a specific race, class or creed. I don't think it's a good idea to just limit one race entirely from having romances, whether it's logical or not.
Still, this is an easy mod for people to do. So it's not like Beamdog has to do it for us.
I'm all for making things more open. As I've stated in other threads, I think everyone should have romance options, no matter what their character choices may be. I just want the quality to remain and the characters not to suffer for it.
Unless you install Aeryn's awesome mod.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4541/baldurs-gate-ee-is-a-cheap-moneygrab-no-prove-me-wrong-then/p1
The poster was underwhelmed by BG:EE and wanted to be convinced that be BG:EE is worth 20$. And 95% of people actually tried to convince him and somehow a flame war did not start. Remarkable.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/047/3/b/Garrus_by_Azint.jpg
So for me Halflings with Half-Orcs is small fry stuff. I just don't see it as a big deal. Now an NPC having distinct personal preferences is fine, if that's the way the writer sees them, but in general I think it should be mostly open.
It can be argued that it's a "canon" feature of Jaheira that she isn't attracted to dwarves based on the fact that in original BG1 her romance content isn't available to a dwarven CHARNAME. It can also be argued whether it's such a key feature of the character that changing it would change her. You think so, @AurenRavidel, I think it isn't
As a sidenote, in Dragon Age: Origins, elf/dwarf relationship was possible and IMO credible. Of course it can be said that D&D (elves and) dwarves are stereotyped differently, but I personally enjoy and prefer RPG characters that aren't enslaved to those stereotypes. From roleplaying perspective, the BG protagonist isn't even brought up in their respective culture, they're brought up by Gorion, a very learned human.