A Happy Ending

First of all I want to thank Dave for even bothering to listen to the ideas of the actual gamers. It's great that the designers of my favorite game are interacting with us.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really want to see a happy ending to any continuation of the Aerie romance. Her storyline is the only one I actually followed, and I was touched by her final dialougues with my PC ("You have taught me that I don't need wings to fly") or something like that. While her romance plot was short, I loved it for its promise of great things to come, just like a good fantasy novel. From what I've read on other boards, it seems that Viconia and Jaheira end their respective romances on a sour note.

So what I really want to see is any continuation to the romance ending happily, with your PC and Aerie still together. I really couln't feel satisfied finishing an expansion or sequel knowing that my son of Bhaal was once again wandering alone, seperated from his beloved Aerie. On the other hand, finishing the game and knowing that all of the pain and suffering the PC encounters was worth something, that at the end he finds peace with Aerie (or whoever) at his side, would be truly great.

Thanks for listening!

I think all of us want to see that with our personal favorite romantic interest.

*smile*

The problem, of course, is how they would go about doing such a thing. They'd first have to determine if your character played through a romance (or dumped the person in question, or perhaps never started one - maybe the only healers in your male protagonist's party were Cernd and Anomen?). Then they'd have to figure out exactly who the romance was with.

Admittedly, it could probably be done quite easily, provided you were willing to honestly answer a few questions at the beginning (i.e. for some reason, your memory is a little shaky again, like in the beginning of BG2, and Imoen asks your male character, among other things, which particular harpy you had been displaying an interest in).

I also think a fun way to continue the Viconia romance would be to have her save YOUR sorry tail for once...

*chuckle*

Anyway, such things will have to wait for a hypothetical sequel, I suppose.

Actually, in the case of an expansion, I don't think it would really be that hard after all. Here, I'm assuming that the progression along the lines of where you are in various romances is saved in the save game, so I could be wrong, but the way I see it, all you need is to have the expansion read the final savegame at the end, thereby eliminating the need for another questioning session similar to the beginning of BGII. Again, I must mention that I'm just assuming that the data is saved in each of the savegame files, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

> Actually, in the case of an expansion, I don't think it would really be

> that hard after all. Here, I'm assuming that the progression along the

> lines of where you are in various romances is saved in the save game, so I

> could be wrong, but the way I see it, all you need is to have the

> expansion read the final savegame at the end, thereby eliminating the need

> for another questioning session similar to the beginning of BGII. Again, I

> must mention that I'm just assuming that the data is saved in each of the

> savegame files, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Nope, you are right. Part of the problem with BG2's beginning is that BG's programming and globals really weren't put together to send information to a sequel. BG2 works a lot better in this regard. We'll be able to tell not only who you had a romance with, but what state the romance is in, who's dead and who's alive and even what quests you've done.

David Gaider

Design, Bioware corp.

> First of all I want to thank Dave for even bothering to listen to the

> ideas of the actual gamers. It's great that the designers of my favorite

> game are interacting with us.

> Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really want to see a happy ending to

> any continuation of the Aerie romance. Her storyline is the only one I

> actually followed, and I was touched by her final dialougues with my PC

> ("You have taught me that I don't need wings to fly") or

> something like that. While her romance plot was short, I loved it for its

> promise of great things to come, just like a good fantasy novel. From what

> I've read on other boards, it seems that Viconia and Jaheira end their

> respective romances on a sour note.

> So what I really want to see is any continuation to the romance ending

> happily, with your PC and Aerie still together. I really couln't feel

> satisfied finishing an expansion or sequel knowing that my son of Bhaal

> was once again wandering alone, seperated from his beloved Aerie. On the

> other hand, finishing the game and knowing that all of the pain and

> suffering the PC encounters was worth something, that at the end he finds

> peace with Aerie (or whoever) at his side, would be truly great.

Well, a lot has been made by some people of the dark tone of BG2. Personally I feel that part of this has to be attributed to the fact that your character lives in a world where real evil not only exists...but is common. The potential for tragedy has to be there, and in the main character perhaps more than anyone else. Look at the glimpses you've been given of what lies ahead for you.

As for how the romances end in BG2, I wouldn't say any of them end on a sour note. Jaheira's doesn't. Aerie's end can be a bit more bitter if the PC chose to sleep with her...but even though she says the romance is over, it really isn't. Viconia's end is more tragic, but that's an inevitable result of the differences between the PC and her. And even I don't forsee an unhappy ultimate ending being necessary.

I'd like to think that there's always the *potential* for a happy ending for the main character, whether he or she is involved romatically with someone or not. A lot of it will have to do with the choices the PC makes in their future...and the particular NPC involved. Do you think Aerie will be happy if the PC makes evil choices and becomes more influenced by the taint within his soul? Probably not. But what lies in the end is hopefully something that will, at least, satisfy if nothing else. We'll have to see.

David Gaider

Design, Bioware corp.

> I'd like to think that there's always the *potential* for a happy ending

> for the main character, whether he or she is involved romatically with

> someone or not. A lot of it will have to do with the choices the PC makes

> in their future...and the particular NPC involved. Do you think Aerie will

> be happy if the PC makes evil choices and becomes more influenced by the

> taint within his soul? Probably not. But what lies in the end is hopefully

> something that will, at least, satisfy if nothing else. We'll have to see.

Something I've been thinking about is the transformation into the Slayer. As

in, I wonder if the programmers have some slick little code imbedded somewhere

that tallies the number of times you accept the transformation. In fact, my

first time through BG2, I never transformed into the Slayer, except when it was

scripted into the game. It was a matter of pride and against the character's nature.

> As for how the romances end in BG2, I wouldn't say any of them end on a

> sour note. Jaheira's doesn't. Aerie's end can be a bit more bitter if the

> PC chose to sleep with her...but even though she says the romance is over,

> it really isn't. Viconia's end is more tragic, but that's an inevitable

> result of the differences between the PC and her. And even I don't forsee

> an unhappy ultimate ending being necessary.

Like I said, the only romance plot I've played through is the Aerie one, so my comment on the other romance endings was just based on what I heard from other people. Many seemed dissapointed. Anyway, my character didn't sleep with Aerie, so he got the sweet ending where she's happy. I would definately classify it as a happy ending.

> I'd like to think that there's always the *potential* for a happy ending

> for the main character, whether he or she is involved romatically with

> someone or not. A lot of it will have to do with the choices the PC makes

> in their future...and the particular NPC involved. Do you think Aerie will

> be happy if the PC makes evil choices and becomes more influenced by the

> taint within his soul? Probably not. But what lies in the end is hopefully

> something that will, at least, satisfy if nothing else. We'll have to see.

Yeah, I was just thinking in terms of the way I roleplay. I always play "good" characters, so a happy ending for one of my characters would be much different than something an evil character should experience. An ending based on the PC's actions and interactions with NPC's would be fantastic.

Thanks again for listening!