SusanStoHelit wrote...
Zevran is physically unappealing to me (I'm female IRL). I don't care that that he's blonde or has long hair, but his fake tan is just yuk, and he's short and slender and looks like a girl. Not my type at all.
I don't care that he's bisexual. As for sleazy, he is, but his childhood and training have left their mark - and lots of sexual experience in and of itself is not a problem. And Zevran is intelligent, witty, honest, and all those things.
What is a problem is that he doesn't regret being a killer, a murderer, an assassin. Doing what you have no choice in to survive is one thing - not being remorseful or regretful is another. If your character is evil, no problem. Maybe even neutral, though still unlikely, I feel. But a 'good' character starting a relationship with someone with that attitude? No way!
Now, I acknowledge that if you romance him you find out much more about him and learn that, in fact, his lack of regret, his apparent callous attitude, and so on, are a mask he wears to fool himself as much as others. However, all of that requires metagame knowledge. If you don't know that he has those qualities before you start to romance him, why would you start a relationship? So, from a roleplaying perspective where only what your character knows matters, no 'good' character would choose to 'romance' him in the first place, because he's not a good candidate for a serious relationship. So I left Zevran strictly alone, at first.
However, my elven mage decided to have a fling with Zevran. She is 'good', but also has just escaped from the tower, the lore tells us mages are pretty casual about sex and generally don't marry and have children, and she just wanted to have good time. Besides, she can keep him under her thumb by means of sex. And he's an elf. And she's suspicious of Alistair because he's a templar. And Leliana is a religious freak and also chantry obsessed (not appealing to my mage). So - Zevran was casual fling material.
This led, by chance, and without metagaming, to the discovery of the 'other side' of Zevran, and is developing into a romance. I haven't gotten to the endgame with her yet, though. However, I don't feel that this would 'work' for all origin stories. For those who know what Zevran's attractions are all about and who are happy to metagame to get to them - fine. But I'm not. Each character makes choices based on their background, their personality and experiences, and what is known to them ingame.
So, my choice of a partner for romance is based not on what I (IRL) would choose, but on what the character would choose in those circumstances. Evil characters can romance (or use) anyone who is 'available'. Neutral or good characters are more limited, and choice will depend more on the factors I've already mentioned.
From what I gather, your main problem is not the romance between a good PC and Zevran, but starting the he romance and following up with it until you discover the 'softer' side of Zevran (i.e. during the phase where seems 'evil'.) Am I reading it correctly?
First, I think you're not taking all the possibilties in account when you speak of metagaming. For me, metagaming is necessary to construct my character better before and during the game. You learn much of the lore only after you've spent several hours gaming. When you start a new character, your character is supposed to have an established relationship with many NPCs, but you as a player are stumbling around it blindly.
Only after you learn more about what's going on, you can imagine what your character has been going trough, what he can or cannot know, which social norms he/she follows and which not. And only at that point you create a good and convincing backstory/psychological profile (that may or may not also cover some smaller or bigger inconsitsencies in game and gives enough reasons why your character acts dfferently for what you as a player would).
At least, that's how it works with many of my characters. I choose my character looks, voice, and name (sometimes even skills) based on what what kind of personality I think he/she should have. In turn, the personality is decided before-hand based on how I wish to play during that playtrough. While the actions of my characters often reflect my personal tastes, it is never inconsistent with what my character thinks and would do. (Unless I'm playing my character as confused, hypocritical, or dumb; he may be inconsistent then.)
Another reason why I think it's good to metagame comes from the limited choices in the dialogue. There is no hint on how your character delivers the lines, if it's serius, sarcastic, affectionate, so the way I percieve a certain line is not necesarily how the devs intended it, and usually you don't have to option to say, "But that's not how I intended it."
Second, in many cases dialogue options end the same way, maybe with a small reaction to the PC's lines and then the conversation plays normally regardless of your choices. I try to convey my character's reasoning not only one line at the time, but trough the conversation as a whole as well.
For example, my smartest and prettiest half gave up on the game because the dialogues don't give him the option to play his character's personality as he imagined it; can't keep it constant enough, because there's no enough dialogue options for that.
It's a matter of what your viewpoint is and on how exigent you are about roleplaying.
So you may dislike metagaming, but if you say that metagaming means breaking your ingame character or maybe not even developing it in first place, I have to disagree.
As for good characters starting a aromance with Zevran, here too you have to first know your definition of 'good' as a player and then your character's definition of 'good.' (Regardless of whether you choose an alignment or no.) There are many instances in the game where you could decide one thing is good or it's the exact opposite.
Is it good to help a childhood friend, even when he might be involved with blood magic? Is it good to rat him to the First Enchanter? Is it good to try and save everyone at Radcliffe, even if that means risking the death of more people? Is it good to sacrifice one life for the other? Which life is worth more? Is it good to kill Vaughan? Is it good to kill someone who betrayed/lied you? Is it good to lie to spare someone's life? Is it good to lie to kitty or is it good to risk the girl's life? Is it good to keep the Joining secreet? Is it good to kill to ensure it? Which sacrifices are good to stop the Blight? And so on...
Those are questions each player should answer for himself.
Then, your character, wherever he/she originates, has been trough a life-changing/traumatizing events, and while he may be good, his reasoning might have changed a little compared to the beggining of the game.
Another thing - is your character only good, or perfect as well?
Does it have weaknesses, doubts, blind spots, certain idealistic notions, does it need comfort, is accepting the events difficult for it? Is it easily persuaded? What are its opinions about casual sex? Does it have a broken heart? What were its past romantic/sexual encounters like? How does it view the dilemma of duty VS personal opinion/feelings? Which is eventually the measure for 'good?'
Each of the above can play a part in why the PC could be romancing Zevran.
(Uh, I wanted to avoid using 'she/he' every time, and instead ended with a weird 'it' talk in pure Shale style.
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A Dalish and city elf may be good but wary to start a relationship with a human and therefore gravitating naturally toward Zevran. A dwarf commoner may feel additional symphaty toward Zevran's position and may think Zevran would want to change his life right away. A human and dwarven noble may think of paramours alongisde his/her duties as of the most natural occurence.
A human/elf mage form the tower, maybe also the Dalish could be naive enough to think that Zevran doesn't really mean what he says, or on the contrary, like Wynne, your PC may be wise enough to think he regrets his way of life deep down inside. A good PC may want to convince Zevran of how wrong his ways are and end up persuaded to come into his bed instead. If your PC has little or no sexual experience, it may find Zevran's open talk about sexuality confusing or attractive enough to momentarily put aside other doubts.
If it takes sexual relationships very casually, it may not think of joining Zevran as something of importance (the case of your mage).
There are many options.
Bottom line is, you know your characters best. If you think none of your good ones would find a reason to romance Zevran, then I don't think they should romance Zevran.
Nevertheless, I personally can imagine a perfectly good reason for my good PCs of whichever origin to do so. It actually comes as the most natural thing at that point, a matter of actions and consequences.
EDIT:
If I were choosing my romances in the game based solely on what I'd choose IRL, I'd probably be single in every playtrough.
Modifié par Carliw, 02 janvier 2010 - 10:20 .
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