Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General romance in game - a doubt???

never used twitter or have a twitter account (do you even need an account to use it??? no idea really).

anyone who actually use twitter and have the same doubt could you try to ask there to see if we can get an answer. thanks!

so no official word about it... thats sad!

Reading that update[?] snippet and RPS article, if there is no form of relationship story between the protagonists in the game you could say Larian has been leading romance fans on ;-)

It depends on how one defines romance I suppose or what you were expecting and hoping for. We'll see what's what when the game's released, though personally I've never expected any detailed 'romance' content a la Bioware, but instead for the relationship between the two protagonists to be significant by reacting to player choices (arguing while adventuring etc) to help create our own unique stories throughout each playthrough with variation in how the protags get along. Which to my mind seems a hell of a lot better than any bioware-style romances if it's like how I am perceiving it. To what extent the systems Larian have implemented will matter I have no idea, though they seemed pretty proud of it back during the kickstarter.

If it is still possible for the protags to become lovers I wouldn't expect lots of romantic type dialogue and dialogue choices accompanying that (ie not the 'choose the right lines to further the romance' bioware-style), but rather it would probably happen more organically as a result of your game choices presenting that option if the protags are getting along well enough, 'to take it further' as Swen said in that RPS article. I don't expect it to be a focus of the protagonists' relationship - that would undermine the system - or much 'romance' content to speak of, but would expect it to be acknowledged with a bit of dialogue at a few points.

/speculation.

I'm probably not the best person to talk anyway as I haven't been playing the beta so haven't been keeping up with developmental changes in any depth.

If it's any consolation for anyone expecting more I would imagine there would be romance mods down the track as romances are pretty popular.


My personal opinion on the divisive and contentious issue of romances in cRPGs is that I would like character interaction to be explored more broadly than exclusive romantic content allows. I want to explore all different types of character relationships that do not merely pay fan service to my character, but tell the story of my companions in a way that's accessible to everyone, not just those romancing them. I don't want to have to romance a character to get to know them better (get their deeper story content) or become close to them.

That said, I am not vehemently anti-romance either. While I recognize that romances in cRPGs are very difficult to write organically with any depth, I can overlook how trite and 'gamey' they often feel and enjoy them for what they are - abstract flavour. Sometimes very abstract lol. I think resources are generally best spent elsewhere but will not be upset if they're included in a game because I know lots of people really like them. I will be sceptical of that game's character development though, yet at the same time will also hope that the romances will surprise me with quality and depth.

"Reading that update[?] snippet and RPS article, if there is no form of relationship story between the protagonists in the game you could say Larian has been leading romance fans on ;-)"

thats what i hope its not the case... we'll have to wait and see till after the game is released or if any of the devs clear this up here before.

It's a bit silly that such crucial questions will be answered probably few days after release.

It's so simple ...

1) "Among the main characters is possible to establish a romantic relationship."
2) "Among the main characters is not possible to establish a romantic relationship."

Can not some knowledgeable person just pick a number?

Out of curiosity, why is it important to know before the game is released?


I would have thought that it would be better to just play the game and see how the story and protagonists' relationship develop before deciding if you'd even want the characters to pursue a romance if one was possible. It seems like s spoiler to me.

I think the reason the question is being raised is because people were surprised/concerned by Swen's response on the livestream, particularly because it's was contrary to a feature the game has been advertising all this time.

I don't think people want to know specific details, just whether a planned feature has been cut or not.

I don't think Swen's response was necessarily contrary to previous information. They've never talked about the feature in terms of romance as far as I can remember. If I had to guess I'd say nothing's changed.

Genuinely curious about my question, not trying to belittle romance.

I think the expectation comes from this:

Social stats shape inter-player relationships
Disagreeing in cooperative dialogs doesn't just influence choice and consequence, it also shapes how well the two protagonists are compatible with one another. Every decision adds to a social stat: what do your heroes' traits tell about their affinity? Will they end up as friends and even lovers, or do they have to learn to live together out of sheer necessity?

..which was paired with this background image:



..and mixed with this:



..which is actually touched on with this:

RPS: You have the characters holding hands on the main image. Is there romance at the core of the plot, or is that just more of a symbolic kind of thing?

Vincke: You have the affection dials. If you have a high like score, you have the option of taking it further. It happens a few times in the game. If you don't want to, then you'll be very good friends. If you want to, then you'll take it one step further. But the holding hands has nothing to do with romance. You'll have to figure that out for yourself when you're playing the game.

Now, that response indicates the hand-holding has nothing to do with romance. For all we know it's the two of them activating their Wonder Twin powers. But this part of the comment:

"If you have a high like score, you have the option of taking it further. It happens a few times in the game. If you don't want to, then you'll be very good friends. If you want to, then you'll take it one step further."

..pretty much sounds like there is a step beyond "very good friends" that you can take the relationship to. Granted, he could mean "very, very good friends", but I don't think people are reaching too hard here expecting all of that to equal some kind of love-bond potentially existing between the two main characters.

During the livestream, the question asked was:

"Can the player have a romance?"

And the answer given was:

"Not really, it's not a Bioware type of game." .. which is just odd considering the above. But it's totally possible the question and/or answer was taken the wrong way.

Guys,as I understood there will not be deep well writen romances,no sex scenes,I think there will be just simple relationship likewise as it was Divine Divinity between Divine One and Eleanessa

Gyson, are we arguing about something? I can't tell I get where the expectation comes from and why people are concerned. I did previously mention I thought that if there is not some form of relationship story between the protags in the game Larian would have been leading romance fans on.

People's conception of what constitutes romance in game will vary. To my knowledge Larian have never described the protags relationship in terms of romance (have they ever used that word?) but have discussed it in terms of system mechanics and overall story of the game.

When Swen said, 'Not really, it's not a Bioware type of game', it doesn't mean the characters won't have a significant and interesting relationship with the potential for a strong and intimate bond. I would also argue that they do not need to be lovers to have an interesting and profound relationship yet this may also still be possible without being a 'Bioware type of game'.

For Larian to answer the query raised in this thread would require at least a little more context I think than saying yes or no we have romance, if they are to make clear what that means.

Incidentally, do those images necessarily indicate a 'romantic' relationship? Or are holding hands and arguing possible between friends? Also, didn't Larian say that we would have to play the game to discover what the significance of them holding hands was?

I kind of took the twitch question to imply an ongoing relationship, whereas Larian's comments before that were more that at the end of the game there could be a 'happily ever after' result for the 2 main characters.

Haha, no. I was just trying to answer your question thoroughly and send all the information I knew about on the subject. Don't look at that last post as me throwing images in your face, more like me spreading all the collected data I have on the table and saying "what can we make of this?"


Oh, I completely agree. That's what I meant when I said it's possible the question and/or answer given during the livestream is being taken the wrong way.



No, not necessarily. Both the images were simply paired (on web pages) with their respective text I quoted; I mainly provided them for reference.


Yes, that was actually the response given in the text I quoted above, in case it got lost in the spammage.

Rightio.

I'm still curious about why the "nature of the protagonists' relationship" might feel important for someone to know prior to playing the game, if anyone does feel like that and would care to share.

Beyond just wanting to know about the state of the feature I mean.

ouch this is a hard kick ^^

Robcat:

"I'm still curious about why the "nature of the protagonists' relationship" might feel important for someone to know prior to playing the game, if anyone does feel like that and would care to share."

why is it important to you to know why this question is important for other people??? it is, after all, just a simple question of explaining the conflicting info we have here.

anyway i was happy when i saw that the topic had so many answers, thought that maybe we would get some light on the subject here. but the topic has grown in size with everything besides the main point of the topic.

so if nobody knows for sure whats what about this conflicting info till the game is released, let us all be patient and wait a little bit more.

thanks everyone about your input on the subject in question.

Well let's compare Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2. BG1 has no romance and I know it. BG2 does and I know it. I played BG1 completely differently than I played BG2. BG1 if I felt like disagreeing with Jaz I just did, what difference did it make? But in BG2, when I knew she was a romance option it completely changed how I treated Jaz. It's like when you meet a cute girl in college and how you treat her before you find out she's engaged. When you think she's 'available' you treat her differently ... there are more options. Either way you can be good friends, but in one situation there is an invisible wall. You approach the game the same way based on what you know is available.

Well, I hope that helps you see the difference.

EDITED to get right quote.

"leburns said"

"Well let's compare Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2..."

i think that you wanted to answer that to this right:

"robcat said:"

"I'm still curious about why the "nature of the protagonists' relationship" might feel important for someone to know prior to playing the game, if anyone does feel like that and would care to share."

Yea, I remember Swen stating somewhere that the players (whether with other protagonist or with companions I don't remember, but most likely with 2nd main char) that through dialog choices and actions throughout the game that they can eventually have the option to "Take the relationship a step further"

Kinda sad if they decided to cut that for some reason.

Romance is completely worthless if you choose the dialogue of more than one protagonist. For the sake of immersion(not feeling like I'm playing the game by myself but with a companion that may disagree or agree with some of my choices on their own), the game should have an option to make one of the protagonist AI controlled. I don't know what they were thinking. Majority of people aren't going to play co-op.