Romance Options

[EphPhoenix]

I got to a point in the game where I was suddenly being greeted by Jeska, and the option for romance came up. I was looking in the discussion thread and saw that you went up by other charas' estimations by actions in game. Soooooo...my question is is if Jeska is the only person in the game you can have a romance with? I know in one of the discussions the dev said any romance you start you won't get to see really develop in AoD, but if I started it with anyone, I'd rather it be Astrid. Anyone start a romance with Astrid? If so, got any tips? XD

[Dark Gaia]

Currently, you can only romance Jeska (if you're male) or Vane (if you're female). I would have loved to have made all companions romance-able, but as a one man studio it would have delayed the game's release by a considerable amount due to all of the conditionals and extra writing that would be involved (particularly in Episode 2, where your romantic status affects a number of different things). This was actually the original plan, but I soon realised that I'd have to cut things down to just one romance per gender.

That said, I wouldn't say there's no chance whatsoever of adding more romance options in the future, through updates or DLC. At this point though, anything I add probably wouldn't be as fleshed out as what's already there.

[EphPhoenix]

Thank you for letting me know! Makes me sad, now, I didn't take the romantic option when it was offered. XDDD

I'm having Mass Effect flashbacks, cause I played that and was like, "Is Tali romanceable?" Of course she wasn't. I always seem to like the non romanceables. XDDD

[EphPhoenix]

Scratch that, I didn't save over it. Though I've gotta redo the dungeon, now. XDDD

[necrogirl55]

well romaing gaius would be just plain weird, seeing as he's an old man, astrid as a romance option could have worked though, only problem being is that it would give the male character more romance options which might be a bit unfair.

[Dark Gaia]

@necrogirl: I agree. Though something I was toying with early in development was having additional romances that weren't party members, so instead of Gaius you'd get someone else.

[EphPhoenix]

That'd be awesome, too.

[psugothcowboy]

i can romance astride its actally jesca i would like to romance her being the smartass (my fav kinda of chick ) so question if i dont romance astride can i then do so with jesca? also sombody asked how to romance astrid to be honest it just sorta happend with out me really trying on my frist place threw (i got to the tecnopolus underwater city before i restarted) also found a very disturbing bug during one of the one on one romance convos with astrid the player charter starts refering to her as the cleric dude (the old freaking man ewwwww!) :P

[Dark Gaia]

If you want to romance Jeska, simply ignore Astrid's romance (pick a non-romantic response in her influence scene) and you'll get the chance to try with Jeska later. If you already advanced Astrid's romance beyond the initial scene, however, you're locked in. You can break up with her later, but won't be able to trigger any of the other romance paths.

I'll definitely have to fix the dialogue referring to her as Gaius there. :p

[nschornhorst]

Okay, so I played through all three games and I selected Vane to romance in chapter one. Nothing really all that romantic happened. We became 'close friends' but there was no romantic conversation. Granted, I played against his wishes here and there (I have a separate file with different choices). Does anyone know what number your significant other has to be at to get to any romance?

[Dark Gaia]

If you became close friends, it means you either didn't advance the romance any further or it fizzled out. There are several stages you have to go through in order to trigger and maintain the romance. Here's a mini guide of sorts to how the romance system works, in brief:

FIRSTLY, in the game's code, there are two levels of romance: "Intrigue", which is defined as a level 1 romance and "Romance", which is defined as a level 2 or "true" romance (ie. the romance needs to be at this level to trigger the romance scenes in Episode 3 and the ending slides).

SECONDLY, Vane and Jeska can be romanced by either gender regardless of influence score. Gaius and Astrid can only be romanced by the opposite gender, and you must have positive influence with them - triggering their negative influence scene at any point will permanently lock you out of their romance paths.

There are five romance "scenes" throughout the game that are pivotal to advancing the romance path:

1. In your chosen romance partner's first influence scene, select the Romance dialogue option. This can happen in either Episode 1 or 2. This will grant you the "Intrigued" buff from the companion and initiate a level 1 romance.

2. In the Weave in Episode 1, if you've initiated a level 1 romance you'll have a short scene where you get the option to either Reject or further the romance. If you choose the Reject option, the romance will end and your "intrigued" buff will be removed. In Episode 2, you may have the option to begin a new romance with a different companion.

3. If you completed the previous two steps, you'll trigger a scene during Episode 2 (stay at the inn for Jeska's, travel to the Technopolis for Vane's, or trigger Gaius' and Astrid's randomly on the Port Alexis map) where one of two things will happen:

• If your partner DID NOT leave you during the Dark Entity fight in Episode 1, you'll have the choice to either advance the romance or Rebuff their advances. If you advance the romance, you'll be granted the "Romance" buff from the companion and advance your relationship to a level 2 romance.
  
• If your partner left during the Dark Entity fight, you won't be able to advance the romance at this point and it will remain at level 1. Instead, the dialogue option you choose will determine the amount of influence you must gain before the next romance scene to attain level 2. Forgiving the companion will require you to gain 3 influence, while not forgiving them or choosing to say nothing will set this value to 5.

4a. If your romantic partner is Jeska or Vane, you'll trigger a small scene before the assault on Gaia's Sanctuary ONLY if you're allied with the Dark Disciples. In this scene, you can advance a level 1 romance to level 2 if you rebuffed your partner or weren't able to attain level 2 earlier. If your partner left you during the Dark Entity fight in Episode 1 you'll need to have gained enough influence for this to work, or else they'll tell you to "talk about it later" and add an additional +2 to the influence needed.

4b. If your romantic partner is Gaius or Astrid, you'll trigger a similar scene before the assault on Gaia's Sanctuary if you're allied with the Lightbringers instead.

In both of the above scenes, if you only initiated a level 1 romance in Episode 2 and did not do it in Episode 1, advancing to level 2 has no influence requirement.

5. In Episode 3, you'll trigger a scene in Gaia's Sanctuary just before leaving for Kariid. This is your last chance to advance a level 1 romance to level 2 if you weren't able to in Episode 2. If your partner left you back in Episode 1 or you rebuffed them in Episode 2, advancing the romance will require a certain amount of influence. If you don't have enough influence, your companion will chose to end the romance (you can also choose to end it yourself at this point). You will not have a chance to begin another romance.

After all this, if you have attained a level 2 romance, you'll trigger a couple of additional romance scenes later in Episode 3 and your romance will be referenced in the ending slides.

[nschornhorst]

Thank you, Dark Gaia! It looks like I'll have to replay from somewhere in game one, then. I did choose the romance option once, but nothing triggered in the weave. :)

[Dark Gaia]

As long as you've selected the "Romance" dialogue option at least once, you should trigger a scene in the Weave, specifically after you complete the 4 trials, in the final hallway leading to the boss. I did find a very specific bug that may cause it to not trigger (it involves stepping on a certain tile instead of another tile and bypasses the scene) which may be what happened to you. That should now no longer be possible :)

[nschornhorst]

Cool! Thanks again, Dark Gaia! Also thank you for allowing same gender romances. It's one of the reasons I chose the game. :)

[Touka Satomi]

Too bad Astrid isn't romanacible by the female protagonist since I went with the assumption that she was. I guess all my effort boosting her influence was wasted then and I think I’m going to put the game down...

[Dark Gaia]

Hi. You'll still benefit from having a high influence with her even without the opportunity to romance her. She'll back you up at various points in the game, won't leave the party etc.