Saturday 7 August 2010

I am a terrible person

... I am attempting to cheat on my RPG girlfriend. BUT HE'S ADORKABLE!

Well, and as I said before, him being so tied into the plot means that I do see him as much more of a person than Leliana, who only exists when I pay attention to her. I want to talk to him about the things that are happening to him [again no spoilers plz] (and shake him and scold him and comfort him and... oops).

Many people other than myself have commented on the limitations of "buy affection with presents" so I don't really need to get into it here. As a visual novel fan I obviously like being able to state my choices in dialog, but affection could be recorded in other ways through RPG gameplay mechanics. Companions look pleased when selected and sulky when left behind; keeping someone in your party could earn you a trickle of points over time. Upgrading someone's equipment to better stats also shows you care! And getting them KOed in combat could lose you points... surely you should protect the ones you love?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know what it is about Alistair. My (female) roommate adores him. She romances him every single playthrough. She can't help herself.

Maybe it's because of what you said--because he's more tied into the plot. Or I guess girls just like sweet, dorky knights full of snark and awkwardness.

Whiner said...

It's terribly unfair that the writers seem to have gotten bored with adding approval points in the script. I sparkle with goodness in front of him and get no reaction. I take plot-central actions that I didn't actually want to take, because he wanted me to, and still get no approval points for it. Hrmph. It looks like I was right and it's actually completely impossible for me to get as far as SEEEEEX with the boy after having made that one mistake early on.

Which is also stupid from the angle of designing believable romance, because having had a strong disagreement and making up after it is more compelling than grinding your way up a treadmill of endlessly agreeing with each other and giving presents.

Anyway, I think I'm moving on towards the end so he'll be staying at the level of "budding romance" only. After finishing I'll probably come back armed with cheats to push that over the edge.

(Also, the Landsmeet missed an opportunity for the plot to take Leliana seriously... I'll propose that later.)