23 replies to this topic

[Tempest]

Minor update: Banters with Minsc, Jaheira, and Sarevok written and coded.

And before you ask: I accidentally deleted the old progress report thread. Whoops.

[Tempest]

Temple of Bhaal wraith scene written and partially coded, third lovetalk written and coded. I've also tentatively finalized the shape and structure of the ToB romance, such as it is.

Ladies: don't get your hopes up about flirts. At a certain point in the romance, they're going to almost entirely cut off. Darian's romance arc in ToB is not traditional romantic fare, and I think it's appropriate for the character and his character development.

Also, I would like to extend major thanks to Aeryn, whom you may know as the writer of the Sarevok Romance mod, for helping me with the Darian-Sarevok banters. Spoiler alert: they do not get along.

[Tempest]

Most of the remaining banters, bar the mess with Aerie that I'm putting off, are now written.

"I have found it takes more strength to admit weakness than to lie about lack of the same."
- Darian, to a Bioware party member in ToB


Completed:

Romance Lovetalks 1-3 (written and coded)
Romance Wraith Encounter (written, partially coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded, EXCEPTION: Aerie)

Future Work:

Romance Lovetalks 4-6
Player-Initiated Dialogue
Epilogues
Interjections
Aerie

Edited by Tempest, 30 July 2011 - 07:38 PM.

[Tempest]

Not a progress report, but an update/clarification on a few things:

1. Darian has 1-3 banters with each Bioware NPC. Some of these are conditional.

2. Darian's FAQ thread has been updated with ToB info and a few minor general updates.

3. Now that Darian's ToB personality has solidified, I offer fair warning: he is not the same man he was in Shadows of Amn. He has grown and matured since then.

4. Despite what I promised a long time back, there will be few to no new flirts, and not more explicit ones. They will cut off entirely at a certain point in the romance, in fact.

[Tempest]

1. Darian/Aerie sorted out, written, and coded. Darian and Aerie will, barring romantic involvement of Charname in either of them, develop a romantic relationship in Throne of Bhaal. Please bear in mind that not everything occurs within earshot of Charname. Their relationship consists of five lovetalks, with a special sixth if Haer'Dalis is present. In light of the fact that by canon Aerie and Haer'Dalis break up anyway in Throne of Bhaal if their romance even lasted into the expansion, Haer'Dalis will lose this love triangle.

2. I am pleased to announce that Darian's ToB release will include cross-mod content, with Sarah and Auren Aseph, both mods hosted at Gibberlings 3 and written by the very talented Theacefes. Both SoA and ToB banters are planned.



However, due to increasing computer difficulties, there may be further delays in work on the mod.

Completed:

Romance Lovetalks 1-3 (written and coded)
Romance Wraith Encounter (written, partially coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded)
Darian/Aerie Relationship (written and coded)

In Progress:

Romance Lovetalks 4-6
Player-Initiated Dialogue
Epilogues
Interjections
Cross-Mod Banter (Sarah, Auren Aseph)

[Tempest]

And I will promptly eat my own words. Upon further discussing the issue with Theacefes, Darian and Auren Aseph will not have crossmod banter after all. This is a deliberate decision: they simply don't have anything of interest to say to each other.

[Tempest]

Non-update: my computer issues have gone from "irritating" to "out of commission." Fortunately I have all my work on Darian ToB backed up, but the computer's gone for a while.

[Tempest]

My computer still isn't back yet, but through the miracle of borrowing a computer and Darian's workroom, I've finished writing Darian's epilogues. I've settled on seven, after trying and failing to make a couple more distinct and separate from the others. Five are romance-related.

As it is, here's a snippet of one of Darian's lovetalks with Aerie, highlighting the character development he's undergone and the difference in his attitude between SoA and ToB:

~I've been a warrior my entire life, Aerie. It's one thing to preach a doctrine of war and extermination. It's another matter entirely to see so many dead... innocent and guilty, good and evil, just and depraved. I'm not sure I can remain a warrior after this... the entire notion is starting to become bitter in my mouth. I rained down condemnation and judgment on you when you needed anything but that.~

Completed:

Romance Lovetalks 1-3 (written and coded)
Romance Wraith Encounter (written, partially coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded)
Darian/Aerie Relationship (written and coded)
Epilogues (written)
Some Cross-Mod Content (written)

In Progress:

Romance Lovetalks 4-6
Player-Initiated Dialogue
Interjections

Edited by Tempest, 20 August 2011 - 08:09 AM.

[Tempest]

Everything's back up to speed now, but the fall semester has started and grad school takes precedence over Darian.

As it is, here's a freebie preview of a Darian ToB banter.

Darian: That you still serve astounds me, Lord Keldorn. I, for one, am looking forward to some peace and quiet when this mess is all over.

Keldorn: A life of battle and service is not for everyone. Too often, I have found that my estate feels less like home than the road of service does.

Darian: I don't know if adventure and battle will much interest me in the future. I doubt anything I could face after this will compare.

Keldorn: Hah! I suspect there are many challenges left for you, young man. Challenges like nothing you have yet faced.

Darian: I find that hard to believe.

Keldorn: Just wait until you marry or become a father. You may decide you preferred battling dragons.

Darian: That... is not a comforting thought.

Keldorn: Take your trials as they come, Darian. Tomorrow is another day.

[Tempest]

Romance lovetalk 4 written and coded. This is where the romance can potentially be resolved, for good or ill. Or you can keep things going further, though Darian is correct when he doubts that it will lead to any real resolution...

[Tempest]

Lovetalk 5 written and coded.

[Tempest]

Darian's ToB romance is fully written and coded.

If there is really a theme to Darian's ToB romance, like learning to look at other people for who they are rather than what they were was an underlying theme to Darian's SoA romance, in Darian's ToB romance that theme is that love is a complicated thing, and is not the end-all, be-all of life. It is a joy, but it is not a miracle, and is easily confused with and for other things.

Completed:

Romance (written and coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded)
Darian/Aerie Relationship (written and coded)
Epilogues (written)
Some Cross-Mod Content (written)

In Progress:

Player-Initiated Dialogue
Interjections
Flirts

Edited by Tempest, 12 September 2011 - 04:10 PM.

[Tempest]

Not a big update, but Darian's flirts are written and coded. There are fewer of them, and they cut off at a certain point in the romance, but they are there.

Completed:

Romance (written and coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded)
Darian/Aerie Relationship (written and coded)
Epilogues (written)
Some Cross-Mod Content (written)
Flirts (written and coded)

In Progress:

Player-Initiated Dialogue
Interjections

[Tempest]

I have ultimately decided to include an option for Darian ToB that I've thought about since the beginning. At any point in the ToB romance, Charname can tell Darian that she is pregnant, and confirm it when he asks if she is joking. This is strictly optional. Doing this will change the epilogue, no matter which conclusion for the romance you chose. Again this is optional. The player has to deliberately raise the idea, then confirm it.

And yes, this does technically bring the number of Darian's epilogues up to twelve.

[Tempest]

Darian's player-initiated dialogue is tentatively finished. There's not a lot of it - Darian's still not a talkative guy - but there is a little. Only remaining task for me is his interjections.

Completed:

Romance (written and coded)
Banters with Bioware NPCs (written and coded)
Darian/Aerie Relationship (written and coded)
Epilogues (written)
Some Cross-Mod Content (written and coded)
Flirts (written and coded)
Player-Initiated Dialogue (written and coded)

In Progress:
Interjections

[Tempest]

All writing and the first phase of coding for Darian ToB are now finished. The second phase of coding, which will mainly be done by K'aeloree, is now underway.

[Tempest]

Unfortunately, K'aeloree has been extremely busy with real-life stuff, and so I still cannot give an ETA for Darian's ToB content.

However, in the interim, I have been writing and coding Darian's responses to the Romantic Encounters mod:

If T1DarRomanceActive is at 1 or 4: Darian will silently ignore the first incident, warn Charname after the second, and terminate the relationship after a third.

If T1DarRomanceActive is at 2, Darian will immediately warn Charname after any Romantic Encounter. After a second, he will terminate the relationship.

Darian will react to the same encounters that Anomen will respond to, as well as Chanelle since that Encounter can be accessed by females.

[Tempest]

Been out of town the last couple of days, but it's official: Darian ToB has been released. Anyone interested in the ToB arc of the romance, I strongly recommend you see the readme, which has been updated for ToB. Darian's Throne of Bhaal romance arc doesn't end in the standard way.

For those curious, Darian has twelve different epilogues, though some of them have greater and lesser degrees of distinction between them. Ten are related to a romantic relationship with Charname, one is for an Aerie-Darian ToB romance, and one is for if he walks a solitary path.

[Tempest]

A new version of Darian ToB is now underway. This version will mainly be adding crossmod content, for both SoA and ToB.

Edited by Tempest, 06 August 2012 - 05:13 AM.

[Tempest]

Update with specific plans and progress.

Crossmod content, SoA and ToB, is currently planned with the following mods. For all of these, I have received permission from the authors. I hope to receive permission from other authors, but have not yet at this time and have no plans to write crossmod content without the express consent of their authors.

Sarah (expanded)
Auren Aseph
Gavin
Tyris Flare
Arath
Nephele
Iylos
Yeslick


At present, SoA and ToB corssmod banters with Sarah, Auren Aseph, and Tyris Flare have been written and sent to their authors for revision and approval. SoA banters and romance conflicts with Gavin have been written and sent to his author for revision and approval.