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No are still there, you'll be able to make the same background choices.

Ok. Then what about special background events during romances?

In the first game only Loren had a special event during her romance. This event changed based on the past career of the player character: the healer, the trainer, the palace guard and harem spy. This feature encouraged me to finish the game at least four times. For the upcoming sequel is there any chance that more love interest characters could have some career based special event? If not every career event for every character, then maybe certain career events for certain characters. For example: harem spy event for Karen, healer event for Breza, and so on...

Is possible but remember that there's a lot more characters now, so probably not all will have the special event. I think would make more sense to have them only for the new characters than the old ones.

How about the ability to fend off a romance you no longer want? I had played as Elenor and was having her romance Rei, I also started to the romance with Amuiki. I tried to get the ending with Rei, but his affection level was the same as Amuiki, so I had to start back in chapter two to get the ending with Rei. I would be nice to just talk over a line like, "I think we have grown apart" or "Things between us have been nice, but we will both be hurt if we continue leading each other on." It would be a good way to end the affection level without having to rely on events to cut off an extra heart.

I never got to see the endings anyway because my cleaning program got rid of my save games. Never change the settings of your cleaning program for this reason.

When you start a new game, you will be able to select:
- Gender (Saren or Elenor)
- Class (Warrior, Thief, Mage, Healer)
- Outfit and color scheme, based on class
- Starting weapon (or at least what your character will be seen wearing, with the option of no weapon showing)
- Background job; Healer, Trainer, Guard, or Harem Spy
- Your current job will be dependent on your character class (may change this)
- Which path you chose in Chp1; Empire (Ember Blade) or Elven (Hawk Blade)
- If you let Mesphit live
- If you adopted Trouble
- Which expansion party members you recruited
- Who you romanced (only 1 choice), with the option of choosing no one.
- Who killed Fost. Currently deciding which options to allow, since sacrificing certain characters would create a completely different story. Currently considering disallowing Saren/Elenor and Loren options, but including Karen, Zeal and Sauzer options.

If I left anything out that you think is important, just request it.

You will be able to break off your current romance in-game, if you wish. I will try to incorporate the background job more in the story.

I'll probably consider checking for a rival romance that you rejected in the previous game, but that is not high priority at the moment. I may check it in-game, through dialogue with the character. How important is it to everyone that (at least one) rival/rejected romance be remembered by the game? How important is it to everyone that you be able to re-start that relationship, at the expense of the current one? I can get certain characters on board with polygamy, but let's not count on it at the moment.

Maybe you should get to select which attitude you gravitated towards in the previous game (friendly/joking/forceful)

Aleema wrote:How important is it to everyone that (at least one) rival/rejected romance be remembered by the game? How important is it to everyone that you be able to re-start that relationship, at the expense of the current one? I can get certain characters on board with polygamy, but let's not count on it at the moment.

Hmm. If you can comfortably pull off rival/rejected romances tastefully enough to make an impact on us then I say it's very important! Anything that can add flavor and depth to the tale is great. Especially if it influences the story line itself, even if only in minute ways. I enjoyed the small events between two people when trying to romance them, I think the karen/elenor/loren scene was depicted quite splendidly, as no matter what we chose it left an ache and it showed clear effects on the characters.

I do feel however that I have a suggestion that's important. In the case of rejection, it would be nice to see a different stance taken towards the pc, even if it's only noticeable to the actual player and saren/elenor misses it. It was kind of weird picking Karen over loren as elenor, having her run off and cry, then talking to me like normal in the next story event. I think that's the biggest hurdle, breaking immersion is a huge nono in a story driven game like this!

Honestly, I'd rather have a "can't romance characters from last game unless you start with that romance" system. Having a "we didn't get together last time" version of each romance would certainly be neat--but it seems like having major variations on a path will always come at the expense of depth/length for each variation. I'd rather have one super-awesome path with a few minor variations.

Neverr wrote:

Aleema wrote:How important is it to everyone that (at least one) rival/rejected romance be remembered by the game? How important is it to everyone that you be able to re-start that relationship, at the expense of the current one? I can get certain characters on board with polygamy, but let's not count on it at the moment.

Hmm. If you can comfortably pull off rival/rejected romances tastefully enough to make an impact on us then I say it's very important! Anything that can add flavor and depth to the tale is great. Especially if it influences the story line itself, even if only in minute ways. I enjoyed the small events between two people when trying to romance them, I think the karen/elenor/loren scene was depicted quite splendidly, as no matter what we chose it left an ache and it showed clear effects on the characters.

I do feel however that I have a suggestion that's important. In the case of rejection, it would be nice to see a different stance taken towards the pc, even if it's only noticeable to the actual player and saren/elenor misses it. It was kind of weird picking Karen over loren as elenor, having her run off and cry, then talking to me like normal in the next story event. I think that's the biggest hurdle, breaking immersion is a huge nono in a story driven game like this!

I think if Aleema can pull it off, it can add alot of depth. Romances are important in Loren 1 since it helped open everyone up to the world and help them experience different things. For example, Myrth learned from being with Saren that the humans are not as bad as the elves believed, falling in love with a human that helped open her mind to the world outside the forest. Imagine what it would like if Saren left her to be with someone else. She be crushed.

I agree with the tastefully, but I'd be fine with uncomfortably as well. For all extents and purposes, our heroes has to stay with each other for most of their travels. Bonds are formed with each other, but imagine what it'd be like to have those bonds twisted. If you can go polygamy, sure go for it(I play too many VN with harem routes) if you can make it without it seemingly awkward sounding. I do agree that the people in the camp in Loren 1 sounded extremely off when you talked to them after, say, something traumatic or a jealous scene happens and yet they just give you the same ending dialogue as always. That pretty much felt like a slap to the face in terms of immersion.

If anything, if you brake a romance to be with another, I would like it so that if you can talk to the person you broke off with in a specific time in the story, say resting at a town or something before a massive battle, to talk things through so they can at least forgive you.

Is Loren still DLC exclusive in 2 or is that changed? I haven't seen an announcement about that. If she is, imagine that you strayed away from Loren for someone else and she finds out. You would atleast want to talk about it, alone. The sadness from losing someone she loves because she couldn't be there with them would be devastating. That would be heartwrentching.

I like what you described Aleema. I wouldn't want to put you out for a lot of extra work on a kicking out an old romance. Then Loren 2 would take much longer to come out.