Delerius_Jedi wrote...
Plus, Obsidian really have a problem when it comes to some aspects like romances. KotOR 2 didn't have any where the player could actually participate - NWN2's came out of nowhere as both NPCs would refuse talking to you up until The Event™. Can't speak for the NWN2 expansions as, quite frankly, I considered myself done with Obsidian after NWN2. They seem to actually get good ideas, occasionally, but based on their history *as Obsidian Entertainment* they've lost the ability to actually implement them into satisfactory gamedesign.
You know, I don't think they do. Obsidian has never tried to seriously write a romance. I'd have to dig it up in the bowels of the interwebs, but I distinctly remember an interview or perhaps a blog post where Avellone commented on romances in RPGs. It was obvious he held them in some contempt. He wasn't impressed with how they've been implemented so far. Moreover, it isn't the kind of content he enjoys writing. I'm no professional author, but I know that when my heart isn't in what I'm writing it turns out worse.
Avellone is more of a hatemance guy. He seems to prefer writing game romances that are subtle and end in tragedy if he must write them at all. He also mentioned some random game considerations which shows he thinks at least a bit like a designer while writing a character and not completely like an author.
Knowing that, it quickly becomes clear why the romances felt tacked on or understated. Planescape: Torment had romances... in that the Nameless One could forge a romantic link to Annah and Fall-from-Grace. It wasn't spelled out for the player until the very end. The cues were very subtle. It wasn't until he was about to be dragged to Baator after merging with the Transcendant One that his woman of choice bluntly expressed those feelings at all.
In KotOR2, judging from what was in the complete game and what was cut, it was definitely there. But again, not overt. I can't disagree on Casavir though. That guy had so much of content cut he may as well have been a zombie. Elanee on the other hand gives plenty of cues that she likes the player character, but doesn't come out and say anything until she thinks they all might well die. MotB had much more overt romance, but even then, it was ancillary to the whole soul eating curse thing. Much of it was subtext or small cues brought up by another party member.
To sum things up: I think Obsidian's fundamental issue with romance is that their main writers have a different way of going about it, and are not into writing them in the first place.
I can't entirely disagree with some of Avellone's criticisms either. I enjoyed BioWare's romances thus far, but they are, in many ways, quite hokey and on ocassion a bit forced. I think Dragon Age is the first BioWare game where not only the quality, but also the content and approach of their romances impressed me. I could go into that in further detail but this post is dragging on as is.
Modifié par Seagloom, 27 février 2010 - 12:09 .
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