74 replies to this topic

[berelinde]

He's loyal. He's brave. He's... single?

Life is an uncertain thing, and changes come when we least expect them. This mod offers a chance to romance Athkatla's newest... and most reluctant... bachelor. All relationships take work, and this one takes more than most, but the rewards are great, for those patient enough to endure the trials.

This romance is not for everyone. It is certainly not a romance for the hasty. When it begins, Keldorn is grieving after the collapse of his 20-year marriage, and it takes him a long, long time to recover. It deals with mature themes, the real consequences of rejection and recovery, and some players may not want to go through all that, no matter how devoted the would-be love interest becomes in Throne of Bhaal. It is also very, very long, with 35+ talks in Shadows of Amn, though the talks are spaced more closely together to compensate for this.

To begin the Keldorn Romance, you must allow Keldorn and Maria to reconcile. He will only consider himself free if his marriage to Maria is legally ended, and imprisoning Maria will only separate them, not divorce them. Also, Maria's incarceration might present childcare issues that would be impossible to overcome.

The mod also features a quest for all PCs, romanced or not, though that, too, requires a reconcilliation between Keldorn and Maria.

At this point, only the SoA portion of the mod is done. Because of the nature of the romance, I will not be publicly releasing the mod until the ToB portion is written and tested.

Petals and Thorns is a community geared toward the female gamer. It features fan fiction and fan art in addition to modding projects for BG2, NWN, and NWN2. Check it out!

To sign up for beta-testing, please register at Petals and Thorns and reply to this thread so mynfel can add you to the workroom.

Edited by berelinde, 22 June 2010 - 06:41 AM.

[loudchai]

Any news on this mod? I've been dying to play this. *_*;

[berelinde]

Beta-testing of the SoA portion is done. I'm not releasing it until the ToB portion is finished, though, and that still has a way to go.

[loudchai]

Awwhhh. Okay. Well congrats on the big bulk of it being done. I'd still love to do the beta, but I understand that it's over. I picked the wrong time to kickstart my love of BG and NWN again.

I will wait patiently for it! In the meantime I'll just doodle some Keldorn love. :B

[berelinde]

Hey, if you want to play a mod where only the SoA portion is done, I'm not going to stop you. You can download it below. Just understand that things take time and be warned that it sometimes takes quite a lot for someone to realize what another person means to them. The mod is debugged, but if you have questions or run into something, you can report it here.

Edited by berelinde, 04 October 2010 - 05:50 PM.

[loudchai]

Ah! Omigosh! Thanks so much! <3 <3

Eeeee! I might just have to call in sick tomorrow. I feel a sudden bought of flu coming on...Coughcough. A real shame.

[berelinde]

There were some problems with a few of the NPC romance reactions for Edwin and Viconia. Apparently, my beta-testers avoided taking along NPCs who were likely to get into a disagreement with the paladin.

Anyway, it's fixed now, and available here. I'll take down the link in the post above.

Edited by berelinde, 04 October 2010 - 07:18 PM.

[loudchai]

Thanks for the update.

I also ran into a problem where Keldorn never recieved the letter, but I went in through ShadowKeeper and set the global variable to after he recieved it and it seems to have cleared it up. (I think there might be a little conflict with Dungeon Be Gone so I removed it and it seems fine now.)

[berelinde]

Er... you do know it takes 5 game days to receive that letter, right? That's a really, really long time, I know, but having it be any shorter wouldn't have been realistic.

Anyway, I'll see if I can get the crew to run the scenario on different machines to see if the glitch can be duplicated. Did you keep him in the party or re-recruit him after a day? Or did you tell him that he was free to stay with Maria. If you do that, he will never get a letter, but he'll show up after 5 days and tell you the story himself.

[loudchai]

I know it takes five days (in game, I'm assuming), but I picked up Keldorn and did his quest on the first day. I was on day 22 had gotten almost to Chapter 4 (and had done all side quests) without the letter showing up so I'm assuming something messed up. More probably due to all the mods I have on my game than anything on your mods part.

I might try a new game and see if it happens again with all my other mods uninstalled. Oh, and I let him go to Maria without me after confronting Sir William. And I believe you pick him at the house instead of the Sacred Heart. Or maybe its vice versa. Errrrr...can't remember exactly. I did a save game before the conflict so I can go back and retry it.

[berelinde]

Ah, that may be it. Depending on what you have installed, sending him to reconcile with Maria alone might cause problems. Keldorn's family quest has to be one of the most seriously bugged quests in the vanilla game. The G3 Fixpack helps, and I've got a fix or two in the Keldorn Romance, but there are parts where the code in the vanilla game is really a disaster. Misspelled variables, timers that don't do anything, and phantom dialogue states with nothing pointing to them are rampant.

To make sure that everything goes well, you really should accompany Keldorn back to his house so he and Maria can make up. That will work no matter what you have installed.

[loudchai]

It seems to be fine now. I've finished Keldorn's quest. (without bloodshed! So proud of myself.) Heh. It's been hard to play a good character. And I restrained myself from picking the suggestive dialogue, DESPITE the fact I am in truth a brazen hussy, because I didn't think that would appeal to Keldorn's sense of values. ;P

Also, I scribbled this sorta..fanart thing in between playing and work and other nonsense:

There are so many points in your mod I want to draw, heh. xD;; (Especially the lace one. There's something charming about the way Keldorn pats your head when he's done.) I'll get around to it eventually! Anyway, I do love your mod so far. Looking forward to ToB when you get the chance to finish it!

[berelinde]

Oh, wow! Art! That's really a gorgeous painting. You have a lovely PC! And a lot of talent!

Congratulations on finding the peaceful resolution of the quest. Goading them on is fun, but it's really better for everyone involved if you help them work it out.

You don't have to be afraid of being too suggestive with Keldorn. As long as you don't actually offend him by doing or saying something truly inappropriate like "I like to steal stuff!" or making truly crass comments while he's still grieving, he takes it in stride. Once he starts recovering, flirting with him (like asking him to fish a bug out of your bodice) is fine... and might be quite entertaining. He is a paladin but he does have two children, after all. He must have some idea how things work.

And glad you enjoyed the mod!

[berelinde]

I'm bumping this because I've been answering the same questions a lot lately.

The ToB portion is not included in the linked download.

I am hoping that the ToB portion will be in testing by the end of the year, but I cannot make any absolute promises. I'll be recruiting ToB testers at some point, so watch this space for more info.

[berelinde]

Just a heads-up. I'm putting the finishing touches on the ToB portion of the mod and hope to have it in alpha-testing by New Year's. About a week after that, I will be looking for beta-testers.

[Iavasechui]

Wow I think I will have to try this mod XD will give me an excuse to bring him along Never thought of him as a romance interest before but now I'm really wanting to see how this will play out.

[berelinde]

ToB alpha testing is underway.

[berelinde]

The alpha-testing went well and the beta is ready. If you would like to beta-test this mod, there is no need to start another thread for it anywhere. Just introduce yourself so I know who to thank, download the mod using the link below, and post any findings here. With that in mind, please consider PMing me about any content that would make you blush if you had to read it aloud to your grandmother.

This mod adds a lot of new content. If you are installing it on an in-progress game, you will definitely need to use string-fixers for any mod NPCs you might have. Starting a new game is strongly recommended. Please note that the way you start the romance has changed ever-so-slightly. Some players may want to pursue the romance some play-throughs and give it a miss on others. This version allows you to do that. Please check the readme for particulars.

[ Download link removed ]

Edited by berelinde, 17 January 2012 - 09:57 PM.

[berelinde]

Well, tried something different with the way the romance began and it turns out that it is too unreliable to use. It worked fine in alpha testing, natrually, but some users are having trouble getting it to start. Something about the quirky nature of EXTEND_BOTTOM on a state that doesn't already have PC replies. Darn. For the time being, we'll revert to the old behavior: if you make a female PC who meets the eligibility requirements you choose, the romance will begin. Sorry, I really wanted to give folks the opportunity about whether to pursue it or not, but it looks like some more extensive offline testing is required before I can let that component loose upon an unsuspecting world.

If you began a game using beta 20120116, you do not need to begin a new game, but you should go back to a save before you brought Keldorn to talk to Maria. If that's impossible, send me a PM and we'll see if we can work out the variables to let you carry on.

Download Beta 20120118