12 replies to this topic

[Maid Of Many Names]

It was pure chance that let me find your mod and you have no idea how ecstatic I was! I've been hoping for *years*, hells since BG1 was released, that someone would write a mod for a Sarevok Romance. I stayed up all night playing this gem and it was worth every yawn and scowl from my boss today .

You did beautifully with how the romance developed. It was very realistic and I loved seeing Sarevok's inner conflict. The writing was excellent but then I've come to expect that from you. Sarevok's characterization was right on target too. Mind you I've only completed one play-through as a relatively good character who refused her divinity. I now have to play it the other way as an evil character!

There is just one thing I noticed- I did try the alternate decision (becoming a god) as a good character and didn't get an altered epilogue for Sarevok. The epilogue for the refusal of divinity was great and fired without a problem but if I became a god, the default epilogue fired. I wasn't sure if this was intended or not so I thought I should mention it. The standard epilogue after you go through the romance and then run off to be a god and essentially dumping poor Sarevok kinda makes sense but I half expected my PC to have her cake and eat it too . There is precedent! Look at all the affairs with mortals the Greek gods got into! Ok, bad example given how most of those turned out but you get my drift.

Given how new this mod is, do you have any further plans to add content? That's a fairly cheeky question when I should be darn grateful to have the mod at all but I must confess that there were a few things I would love to see. The first is some dialog about the Sword of Chaos, should the PC still have it. I know during my second play-through I kept it hoping it would prompt a dialog with Sarevok but to no avail. I suppose it could also be spawned in the PC's inventory in the Glade at the start of ToB with all the other stuff. I'd also love to see something similar about 'Koveras' Ring Of Protection'. I never quite understood why he gave it to the PC in BG1. Or rather I thought there was more to it. Since I believe we never get the ring back after Irenicus pawns our gear, then maybe the character just asks about it? A comment or two more on the consequences of sharing a soul with either the PC or Imoen would have been interesting too. There could be a lot of fun involved in trying to find out just how big the consequences are. Another thing I would have liked is more comments from the peanut gallery, ah, I mean the other NPCs. I thought the PC got off rather light given the object of her affections. I was expecting there to be a little more fuss given he killed Gorion and who knows how many others. Not to mention the whole 'brother' thing. Not that I think that holds much water but still, I would have thought all this would cause more fuss. It would have been great to have more input from Imoen and Jaheira particularly as they are 'core' characters of BG1. Perhaps as the friendship/romance progressed rather than just at the end? There were times during dialogs between the PC and Sarevok that I totally expected someone to jump in.

Anyway, I did love the mod. I think I just have sequel fever- I want more, more, more all the while knowing it's not possible .

Maid.

Edited by Maid Of Many Names, 30 September 2009 - 04:30 PM.

[Kaeloree]

Imoen, Jaheira and several other members of the gallery do in fact have dialogue, but oddly enough it doesn't seem to trigger for some people. With any luck it'll be fixed in the next version.

[Aeryn]

Thank you, Maid, and not just for the kind words - it's because of your story, Warp and Weft, that I really got interested in Sarevok in the first place. In fact, it was what first got me interested in fanfiction in general. I had no idea that I wasn't the only person to see Sarevok as something other than a bloodthirsty half-brother to the PC, and after some digging I was amazed to find out that there were loads of fangirls (and boys) out there. Without your story, I may never have started stalking every hint of mention of a mod for him for years until I couldn't stand it anymore and had to write one myself.

The epilogue for the "good"/ascended PC is the vanilla epilogue on purpose, though I may think about writing a new one for a future version. Those were possibly my favorite part to write, but that particular situation has a lot of variables that make it hard for me to imagine an all-encompassing statement that won't make some people go, "Wait, that's not what I would have done!" I'm just making excuses probably, but it's hard for me to imagine something more fitting for that ending than the epilogue that already exists.

I definitely do plan future content. There are at least a half dozen talks I put off as "less important" (or "potentially extremely huge, but not exactly vital" in some cases) for the sake of taking on a first project that wasn't going to drown me. One of them was about the Sword of Chaos, as a matter of fact. I'd like to expand some of the flirts, maybe play with some class-specific talks and flirts that I wrote but didn't want to release without having at least some for every class, and there were several interjections that I'd like to finish now that I feel more comfortable with the whole...everything. But, real life has me in a choke hold for the rest of this year most likely. I imagine the start of the new year will see me much, much less stressed and overwhelmed, so my tentative plan is to dust off the unfinished files after my kids' Christmas break and see what I can come up with.

As Liam said, there should be interjections showing up, but we're not sure why they're not doing what they're supposed to sometimes. Jaheira and Imoen have one banter with the PC and one banter with Sarevok each, and several others have at least one talk with either the PC or Sarevok. Haer'Dalis' is my personal favorite. Hopefully we'll find something easy and obvious to fix and those will behave themselves in the future.

Thank you for the feedback, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the mod!

- Rebecca

[Maid Of Many Names]

Imoen, Jaheira and several other members of the gallery do in fact have dialogue, but oddly enough it doesn't seem to trigger for some people. With any luck it'll be fixed in the next version.

Yeah, I just finished reading the posts in the forum and it seems like I'm just one of the unlucky few. I did notice something interesting, though, using the Infinity Explorer tool. There don't seem to be any dialogs for Viconia. The file is there but it's empty. I'll have to check the files for the other PCs. As for Jaheira and Imoen the only dialog options I can see are the final ones where they 'accept' the romance. In the game, these did not fire until I talked to them (and Minsc) but Viconia did not have anything to say at all. Am I looking in the right place? Or is Infinity Explorer messed up? Or did I not install the mod correctly? Another possibility is that I'm using the 'happy group' mod. Could that be the culprit?

Maid.

[Maid Of Many Names]

Thank you, Maid, and not just for the kind words - it's because of your story, Warp and Weft, that I really got interested in Sarevok in the first place. In fact, it was what first got me interested in fanfiction in general. I had no idea that I wasn't the only person to see Sarevok as something other than a bloodthirsty half-brother to the PC, and after some digging I was amazed to find out that there were loads of fangirls (and boys) out there. Without your story, I may never have started stalking every hint of mention of a mod for him for years until I couldn't stand it anymore and had to write one myself.

Wow, thank you, that's high praise! I'm sure glad that I got you interested in fanfic because you are one of my favorite authors. Think of all the great stories that might never have come into being! Horrible ! It also reminds me I really need to reread, edit and finish that fic. I have the ending all set out too. I was surprised as well about how many people liked Sarevok. I always thought most people held a grudge and pretty much dismissed his character. Given his potential, I just had to dabble in casting him as an unconventional romantic lead. Besides, his voiceover rocked my socks since BG1.

The epilogue for the "good"/ascended PC is the vanilla epilogue on purpose, though I may think about writing a new one for a future version. Those were possibly my favorite part to write, but that particular situation has a lot of variables that make it hard for me to imagine an all-encompassing statement that won't make some people go, "Wait, that's not what I would have done!" I'm just making excuses probably, but it's hard for me to imagine something more fitting for that ending than the epilogue that already exists.

That is probably the worse part of writing for a mod- you have to cover all the bases. Of course, if you forget something everyone will let you know! I can honestly say that you did a very good job of keeping the epilogue general while giving players a nice 'happily ever after'. You dialog options were also cleverly done. I thought all of the options flowed well and were reasonable. As for the good/ascended epilogue... the generic end worked and made sense. It wouldn't surprise me that Sarevok felt both abandoned and confused after that. You could just say something along the lines of 'he wandered, traveled etc. and there were tales of a mysterious woman who visited or appeared by his side'. That could just be my PC, though. I don't think she'd forget him the second she ascended but mileage may vary.

I definitely do plan future content. There are at least a half dozen talks I put off as "less important" (or "potentially extremely huge, but not exactly vital" in some cases) for the sake of taking on a first project that wasn't going to drown me. One of them was about the Sword of Chaos, as a matter of fact. I'd like to expand some of the flirts, maybe play with some class-specific talks and flirts that I wrote but didn't want to release without having at least some for every class, and there were several interjections that I'd like to finish now that I feel more comfortable with the whole...everything. But, real life has me in a choke hold for the rest of this year most likely. I imagine the start of the new year will see me much, much less stressed and overwhelmed, so my tentative plan is to dust off the unfinished files after my kids' Christmas break and see what I can come up with.

Ohh! I'm glad you considered something for the Sword. I always thought it a badly dropped plot point. Class flirts would take a lot of time but could be very rewarding. I admit all sorts of alternative uses for cantrips just flew through my mind . I suppose you could split it into generic categories; fighter, mage, thief, cleric and multi type flirts. And bard. I always forget the bard class. That is still a huge amount of work, even if you don't get really specific for classes. Don't feel like you have to rush no matter how enthusiastic I am. Goodness knows I understand about being busy!

As Liam said, there should be interjections showing up, but we're not sure why they're not doing what they're supposed to sometimes. Jaheira and Imoen have one banter with the PC and one banter with Sarevok each, and several others have at least one talk with either the PC or Sarevok. Haer'Dalis' is my personal favorite. Hopefully we'll find something easy and obvious to fix and those will behave themselves in the future.

For me they didn't fire by themselves. I had to talk to the characters for it to trigger. I just realized I said Minsc in my other post but I meant Keldorn. Gah, my brain is fried . I just did a bit of checking and so far Edwin, Minsc, Haer'Dalis and Viconia don't have anything in their dialog file. The file exists but there's nothing in it. Hope I didn't do something to it!

Maid.

[Aeryn]

Some of the banters are in the banter file (BIMOEN25, BJAHEI25, etc) and others are in the joined file (IMOEN25J, JAHEI25J, etc), so some are scattered to different places. Those are the only two places I think they should be...Viconia's is under BVICON25 I believe.

I would love it if you finished your story.

Edited by Aeryn, 30 September 2009 - 10:04 PM.

[Maid Of Many Names]

Some of the banters are in the banter file (BIMOEN25, BJAHEI25, etc) and others are in the joined file (IMOEN25J, JAHEI25J, etc), so some are scattered to different places. Those are the only two places I think they should be...Viconia's is under BVICON25 I believe.

I would love it if you finished your story.

I looked at the banters and they are great. Naturally, I want more but then the romance could be twice as long as the entire SoA game and I'd still want more .

I do have a question, though, about this mod. Is it compatible with Romantic Encounters? Heh, heh, I want the hot springs nookie along with the rest of the Sarevok romance. Actually, have you considered doing an adult version of the romance, where the 'consummation' scene is a little more filled out?

Maid.

[Maid Of Many Names]

Is it compatible with Romantic Encounters?

Okay, I think I need more coffe! It is compatible and it even says so in the appropriate post! D'oh!

Maid.

[Aeryn]

Naturally, I want more but then the romance could be twice as long as the entire SoA game and I'd still want more .

That's my problem too. The hardest part of all of the writing was finding a way to box it into the time frame of ToB. In my original plans, I wanted to make Watcher's Keep mandatory and use a series of talks that trigger there as the means to start the romance because I thought there was no way I could get a believable romance crammed into such a small space of time. But, I started rethinking everything at some point and settled on the setup that exists now. Like I said, though, there were a lot of talks put on the back burner that will hopefully see the light of day in a future release. I would love to flesh it out to the maximum capacity of ToB.

[Maid Of Many Names]

Naturally, I want more but then the romance could be twice as long as the entire SoA game and I'd still want more .

That's my problem too. The hardest part of all of the writing was finding a way to box it into the time frame of ToB. In my original plans, I wanted to make Watcher's Keep mandatory and use a series of talks that trigger there as the means to start the romance because I thought there was no way I could get a believable romance crammed into such a small space of time. But, I started rethinking everything at some point and settled on the setup that exists now. Like I said, though, there were a lot of talks put on the back burner that will hopefully see the light of day in a future release. I would love to flesh it out to the maximum capacity of ToB.

Yeah, it is a fairly short period but then I doubt there would be complaints about too many lovetalks. Goodness knows if it was RL, then Sarevok would probably have filed a restraining order on my PC after the number of times she just had to double check if there was another possibility for conversation

I'm sooo glad that you didn't make Watcher's Keep mandatory. I *hate* that bloody pile of rocks! *Ahem* Sorry, but I have bad memories of the maze.

The length of ToB is an issue. I put Warp and Weft on hiatus because I felt there were things that desperately needed editing but the time frame is something I'm still not fully happy with. I had flirted with the idea of the PC having dreams not of Irenicus during SoA but of Sarevok and that he really was summoned into the PC's dreamscape. I thought it would give a romance more of a foundation but I don't think it will make it into the fic. It would make for an interesting material to use for something else, though. Anyway, I do think that a Sarevok/PC romance is possible in ToB. There is a lot we don't get to 'see' in a CRPG. Lets face it the walking for miles and miles everyday, cooking dinner and digging latrines are left out for a reason! Still, that gives a lot more wriggle room that is necessarily clear at first glance.

I suppose that was why I loved the part where the PC's pack is adjusted. It's such a everyday thing but so terribly telling! It made me wonder about all those everyday interactions we don't see. LOL! I wonder if anyone ate dinner when it was Sarevok's turn to cook. I can just see Jaheira looking at it wondering if it was poisoned

I would guess that how BG codes things makes a difference too. I hear that for dialog there is an element of real time to it as well as event triggered conversations. That could potentially limit what you could add. I don't know how you modders manage!

Maid.

[Bardess]

Sarevok romance? *faints*

[Anna]

I have recently finished ToB and I must say that I really, really love this mod! Sarevok becomes so realistic, at the same time he is still... him: in his character, looking down on everybody. The writing is very good- his behaviour, desire for power- just as I would expect from him! I wish he would join the party earlier than in ToB. I have only one suggestion: there is one dialogue in which Sarevok tells you to seek him out.... and after spending a night with him you can "slip out and sneak away" ... but you really can't do it; his reaction is the same as when you choose "wiggle away to give yourself some space". Maybe if you could sneak away without waking him up, there could be some more dialogues later?