58 replies to this topic

[Tempest]

General discussion of the Valerie mod goes here.

[Beleg33]

Finally a new NPC for BG1, thank you!

Is the release planned any time soon?

Edited by Beleg33, 09 September 2012 - 02:23 PM.

[Tempest]

It's tentatively planned for the 12 Days of Christmas.

[Smiling Imp]

Why does Valerie hate Alora?

[Tempest]

In short? Valerie finds Alora just annoying and Alora deems Valerie a grumpy-pants. Alora's kleptomaniacal tendencies do not help.

[Shaitan]

Splendid with a NPC for Bg1 tutu. I love that!

[Tempest]

I do have plans and a great deal of sketchwork laid out for BG2, but for the moment I'm only working on Valerie for BG1. Tutu, Trilogy, or EE will be required for her, as it's hard to have a sorceress in vanilla BG1.

And I suppose no harm in clarifying: a female gnome or halfling, or a male of any race will get flatly shot down if you attempt to flirt with Valerie at any of the points that it's possible to do so in the friendship arc. Female humans, elves, half-elves, half-orcs, and dwarves will meet with somewhat greater interest, but Valerie is not ready or looking for a romantic relationship at this time.

[Tempest]

Correct. Valerie is gay and exclusively so. She is happy to befriend a male PC, but she won't be attracted to him or potentially fall in love with him.

As it is, for a female PC who meets her race requirement (Valerie does not find gnomes or halflings attractive), the friendship in BG1 may or may not be tinged with attraction and flirtation depending on the dialogue choices you make. She doesn't make a secret of finding the female human/elf/half-elf/half-orc/dwarf PC attractive, but she's not looking or ready for a relationship at this time.

[Tempest]

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until BG2 to romance Valerie. The BG1 friendship can potentially end with a kiss and promise of something more in the future, but that something is for another day, as is the answer to a question Valerie raises about herself.

Otherwise, Valerie as planned for BG2 won't require you to have befriended her in BG1. As tentatively planned, when you meet Valerie surveying the damage to Waukeen's Promenade you'll have a few different ways to address her - as a friend (in which case her dialogue will assume that she was with you throughout BG1), as a stranger, or if you meet all of her romance requirements save maybe reputation, as a certain someone she shared a kiss with on the Sword Coast. The friend and kiss options will start her romance proper earlier than usual (I'll explain more when I start seriously working on her BG2 material), but otherwise you won't really miss out on anything of note about her.

Save maybe the fact that, as her banters with Yeslick reveal, Valerie reads dwarven poetry. Dwarven love poetry.

Edited by Tempest, 29 September 2012 - 07:08 PM.

[Tempest]

Actually, I'm already working on her BG2 material while K'aeloree wraps things up for BG1, which should be done in time for the 12 Days of Christmas. As currently planned, and the first two dialogues written, Valerie will have a friendship in BG2 for player characters of non-evil alignment, and her romance is an outgrowth of the friendship should the player prompt such a relationship - Valerie will not start a relationship with Charname of her own initiative. However, a player character who befriended her in BG1, and especially one who kissed her, will have an easier time starting the romance.

But be warned. Valerie has no sympathy or goodwill for those who have been murdering her friends and colleagues. Not even an old friend...

[Tempest]

Why aren't they the good guys? In BG1, the Cowled Wizards have nothing against the Bhaalspawn - sure, they'd join the Amnish war effort if things came down to that, but Valerie's hoping to prevent things from going that far. You find her in Amnish territory, after all, interested in solving a problem also in Amnish territory. And in BG2, Valerie will note that it's simple: Imoen broke a law that the Cowled Wizards universally enforce, and that's her own fault. Neither I nor Valerie will say that they were in the right to imprison Imoen, but Imoen *was* heavily involved in a mess that killed a number of Amnish citizens, including some of Valerie's friends. Actually, Valerie will say they were right to do so, but something to bear in mind is that Valerie does not know all that the player does, and she won't tell Charname everything she does know.

As Valerie will present and explain the situation, circumstances bring the player character into conflict with the Cowled Wizards and do not endear the Cowled Wizards to the player character, but there's no malice on their part. They're doing their job and enforcing Amn's very strict laws against unregulated use of magic. Now, you're free to argue that those laws are unjust (and indeed you can do so in her friendship), but Valerie disagrees. She agrees with the Amnish view of magic: it's dangerous, volatile, and is often used to kill an awful lot of people. The Amnish army tries not to let people in the streets have siege weapons, and the Cowled Wizards take the same view of magic.

[Rhaella]

She agrees with the Amnish view of magic: it's dangerous, volatile, and is often used to kill an awful lot of people.

I've actually been wondering this for a bit... what with her views on magic, how does she manage to actually get along with Edwin? Is it naïvété and she just thinks the Red Wizards are ultimately self policing?

[Tempest]

Indeed, Valerie has no clue what happens in Spellhold - as far as she knows, Imoen will be perfectly safe there, if terribly bored. Bringing Valerie along will have... consequences. And Valygar is a murderer.

I've actually been wondering this for a bit... what with her views on magic, how does she manage to actually get along with Edwin? Is it naïvété and she just thinks the Red Wizards are ultimately self policing?

Mainly? Edwin basically never does anything actually evil in the party's presence, and Valerie won't go "You're obviously evil. Die, evil-doer!" More to the point, Edwin and Valerie genuinely like each other (in a non-romantic sense - well, Edwin would probably sleep with her in a heartbeat) despite how much they may seem not to. They're both smart, intellectual, formally trained mages who love the complexities and theories underlying magic. All it takes is a little insincere flattery to make Edwin purr.

[Rhaella]

Nah, it's not necessarily that he's evil so much as that he's irresponsible when it comes to magic. There's the infamous Nether Scroll incident, and then an unrelated banter where Mazzy calls him out on being constantly reckless with his spellcasting. Unless the crazy doesn't really start showing until BG2, which I suppose is possible.

[Tempest]

If Valerie had to point to anyone who's irresponsible with magic, it's Imoen (and in fact she does exactly that in BG2 in her intro dialogue if you set her to having been with you in BG1, noting that Imoen's arrest and imprisonment is more or less her own fault) or maybe Nalia, who uses magic only as a means to ends she doesn't seem to think through very well. Edwin never does anything Valerie objects to except the Nether Scroll incident, kinda, and in that case Valerie is too busy laughing to disapprove.

Using magic to hurt and kill people with undeniably evil intent is Valerie's big red button, and it will come up more than once in BG2, but Edwin strikes Valerie as pretty harmless, all told. Egomaniacal, but harmless - in Valerie's eyes, Edwin is too self-absorbed to actually be a danger to anyone except on accident.