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No no, she isn't having second thoughts, but it still remains a fact that there are a lot of romances. Maybe "too many" is not the right word, but more like the game is going to be MUCH bigger than the first (at least in the romance interest field).
Yes I agree that from straight male perspective the one you mention are the most interesting I think Elenor / Jul might be my favorite ever in the sequel, but time will tell.

jack1974 wrote:No no, she isn't having second thoughts, but it still remains a fact that there are a lot of romances. Maybe "too many" is not the right word, but more like the game is going to be MUCH bigger than the first (at least in the romance interest field).
Yes I agree that from straight male perspective the one you mention are the most interesting I think Elenor / Jul might be my favorite ever in the sequel, but time will tell.

In the original story Jul came across as one of the two most girly characters of the game, but where Myrth kind of came across as the stereotype that modern day detractors of girly behavior like to disparage, Jul was girly in a very fun, delightfully wicked way. Jul is like a large box of dark chocolate cherry cordials. She's sinfully delicious; you know she's bad for you, but you want her any way. Chambara has some of that, but she's been a hunted loner for too long to have Jul's relaxed confidence. I'll no doubt play out the Jul romance as Elenor as well as Saren, to see the differences, just as I did for both Loren and Chambara in the original.

I'm actually having trouble buying Jul as a love interest. She made an effective and evil villain, but I didn't really drink the kool-aid on I don't actually know much about any of the newer characters, but, as the only returning character who wasn't in the original party, I'm just not feeling Jul getting along with everyone. Especially... you know, Karen, Mesphit, all the other party members whose minds she fiddled with who weren't able to just shrug it off due to their orientation. Where's the decent qualities that made us see why she might turn over a new leaf at all? Remember, we AREN'T restricted to Loren and company's viewpoint throughout the story, and the cut-aways to her and the rest of Fost's wrecking crew don't really paint her in a much better light.

The Zeal ending is the one ending I haven't yet tried. I've played all the sacrifice endings as well as the Sauzer ending. In the sacrifice endings, Jul Whether or not she succeeds is left to either the imagination or a sequel. In the Sauzer ending she She kind of reminds me of a cat, all soft and cuddly towards anyone more dangerous than she is, but an absolute terror to weaker creatures which she cheerfully torments. Oh, and I fully expect many of the returning characters to have issues with her, that's what makes her such an interesting addition to the party. It would be dull if everybody got along with everyone else.

You can be sure that having her in the party will cause total havoc to say the least

So far I've played through these romances:

Elenor/Rei - I like how this is kind of hinted at a bit in the main story - like the way you briefly see Rei for a bit, and then his line about how he noticed Elenor! The way he teaches her the stuff about her culture is sweet. He totally should have told her what the last thing meant though. LOl.
Elenor/Chambara - Not as romantic as some of the others, but I think it makes sense for her. But yeah, I wasn't even sure whether or not to trust her through some of her scenes.
Elenor/Amukiki - I was a little jealous of him at first on Elenor's behalf, because of their competition. But I like how there's a lot more to him under the surface when you get to know him.
Elenor/Loren - I really like the development of trust and respect between them.
Elenor/Karen - I totally laughed out loud when Karen started putting the moves on.

Saren/Draco - My favorite. I full out aww'd at most of their cutscenes, Draco is so sweet. I'm so attached to him and I don't want to cheat on him, that's why I haven't done all of the Saren romances the way I did almost all of Elenor's, lol.

I didn't have the patience to play through all of the romances starting from a new game every time, but in some ways I wish I had - I love how little extra scenes change depending on who you're romancing. All in all, a lot of fun and development in these romances - I enjoyed them a lot!

jack1974 wrote:

vexingaura wrote: Favourite character was easily Loren by a long way and I love her to bits and she made a lot of impact for me as I am not sure if other posters are aware but sexism was a big issue in the gaming industry last year. The argument is there are barely any strong female characters in games and I think Loren is a very strong character as she does what she can and truly has the most development of all the characters. I also loved how she had moments of doubt as her world view changed and wasn’t afraid to rely on others when she needed help it allowed the players of the game to interact with her more easily as a character. If I had more power in the gaming industry I would actually suggest Loren as a text book example of how a strong female lead should be.

In my games I always try to put strong female characters (of course NOT all of them, otherwise would be a bit unrealistic). Fun thing is that because of the risquè art the game was labeled as sexist by some people (who of course didn't even play it for 30 seconds and only judged from screenshots).

vexingaura wrote: Also on a final note I hope you don't over extent yourselves with the 24 planned romances in the sequel, I am not doubting your capabilities of course its just it will be damn hard having to do that many to the same level of quality of the romances in this game. Anyway thank you so much for the game and keep up the superb work.

Well remember that 24 includes both parts, the sequel will be divided into two parts first one will have 16, the second 8. Also for bisex romances many scenes can be reused luckily!

Wow what a fast response as I said it is so nice to see a developer so dedicated to communicating with fans and taking in feedback its very refreshing from the alienation of fans that big publishers have been doing recently. I think the only characters who could possibly be argued as risqué is probably are Amukiki and the dwarfs as I feel Loren, Saren, Elenor and Mesphit all had outfits suiting their setting so I would argue it would be stupid not to have them wearing clothing that wasn't in character. Amukiki is debatable though as you can argue he should be clad in armour being a warrior of the empire but at the same time is still a barbarian so he isn't so simple the dwarfs are harder to argue for as a warrior should be clad in armour and a thief with more subtle clothing? I personally had nothing wrong with them myself I am just trying to argue from their point of view. However people seem to forget that it isn't what a woman wears that makes her strong its how she reacts to the scenario she is placed in and Loren reacts very well and in character indeed its just sad that because she exposes a little flesh that suits her character people complain its quite absurd really. If I could draw I would make a comedy pic on respectable female characters where the setting would be eskimos in a polluted environment so they would need to wear masks. I think that would be a perfect setting for any game with a romance focus where you don’t even know if you are talking to a male or a female! Aside from my obscene example Loren is definitely how female characters should be portrayed not how Square Enix and Edios think that Lara being pretty much r**** is a good example of growth of female characters I think I am not the only one who prefers the old Lara.

Regarding the amount of romances if you manage to make them as high quality as the ones in Loren as while in my earlier post I said I dislike Draco and Mesphit in truth they their romances are much better than other games and series with romance in it in my opinion anyway. They were of all good quality so basically just add more of the same as they were really good much better than other games of the same kind have to offer.

kokois wrote:I didn't have the patience to play through all of the romances starting from a new game every time, but in some ways I wish I had - I love how little extra scenes change depending on who you're romancing.

Ah, goodness. I know what you mean!
The thought of doing a repeat playthrough to see the other romance paths is really intimidating. But I'm happy that the final love interest doesn't get "locked" until near the end of the game, so you can just reload from that point on to see the other ending xD;

I've only done one playthrough so far, and in that playthrough I aimed for Mesphit while... uhm... romancing Amukiki and Rei on the sides. The dialogues during the Mesphit-Rei jealousy/conflict scene was pretty intense though ;; Planning to reload from the final romance choice, then pick Amukiki this time. Then I guess replay to see Rei's romance [well, not really replaying since I saved during the jealousy scene hahaha. I'm just really lazy to replay orz]

I WILL replay though since I want to play as Saren and see the male romances too! Melting Loren's ice queen heart sounds really... cute.


Edit: I've finally seen the endings of Amukiki and Rei and I'm pretty conflicted with whom to say was the "best love interest" for me. I liked Mesphit's characterization. His evolution as a character (with how he dealt with Elenor and his problems) was nicely done. That "Please don't let me (get away)" line was what really got me to like him haha. Without a doubt, the LI I liked the most as a person was Mesphit xD

Then I got to play Rei's path completely and his romance scenes were, for me, the best written. I'll admit though, I'm a huge sucker for romance scenes where the guy has to visibly restrain his feelings from the PC. The other guys had scenes where there was light skinship of this nature (an accidental touch, a passing glance of interest, etc. that betrayed what they felt despite not acting on their impulse) but it felt like Rei also had this, and more xD

The scene where he does that "Elven ceremony" (sneaky Rei) then he falls on you really got my heart pacing because of the romantic tension, haha.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: while the other guys also had moments of visible tension about their feelings towards the PC, the focus on Amukiki and Mesphit's paths were more on what haunted them as characters. I mean, yeah. Rei also had his own problems but it was more of a sprinkling in his path than the main focus, so there was more focus on normal interactions with him. It also felt like his love scene was more... descriptive xD

Yeah... that was why I liked Amukiki. I always imagined my Joking!Elenor as using humor to cover up loneliness, so both Rei and Amukiki's paths were quite appealing. (But I didn't have the heart to choose Rei yet... alas, another playthrough!)

I don't find the poll to be able to represent really what I feel. I have to say that with one Elanor and one Saren play-through I don't view each romance with the same character as equal in quality.

With Saren, Amukiki hands down is my favorite. While Amukiki wasn't drastically different with Elanor, there were some definite subtleties that were present with Saren that Elanor just didn't have. Draco is such an awesome romance too. I also Like Mesphit more on Saren than Elanor but both my like for Mesphit and the difference I feel are less that Saren + Amukiki. Did not like Myrth.

Also I liked Loren a lot with Elanor but not with Saren. I really dislike Loren + Saren but found her and Elanor to be a very good romance (my fave for Elanor). Rei and Karen are both great romances and the Karen romance really made me feel sacrificing the main character as a good choice at the end. Most of the others Karen was ready to die and the protagonist had to much to live for with their partner. In all of them I wondered why Aplimesho wasn't the one to sacrifice himself. Without dark arts he has limited time left to live and he wants to die to be reunited with his daughter (the only family he seems to have had). I had thought that he would be the one to do it until I saw the end.

Chembara is a fun romance either way, I have no preference. She is my favorite female to romance for Saren.

Edit: After mentally arranging the romances in my head I realize in general I liked the same sex pairings better. Saren+Amukiki is my fave of them all. I really liked the Rei romance so it ranks as the highest heterosexual pairing but it's still 4th or 5th place for me.