Valerie romance question - second tavern scene

[Crenge]

How, how, how how do you people trigger the second tavern scene?
I did the usual stuff:

- tell her she is pretty but I won't stalk her,
- help her fix the buckle,
- first tavern scene - tell her she is always beautiful,
- cutscene 1 - inquiring about the wishes of the gallant dame,
- cutscene 2 - told her to throw away the potion, and then... nothing, no romance progression at all
- finished all her quests (lost the duel, talked out her anger and succeeded in the trial: no scar, +2 valorous buff and so on)
- I'm on the Twice-born warlord and Candlemere quests now.

I even checked the save file as I saw in the other thread and I am sitting on 59 approval (I got a test-save to edit, increased the approval, and all that happened is that I could sleep with her, second tavern scene still wouldn't trigger).

I spent the last 2 evenings looking for any sort of hint / guide / walkthrough but all I can get my hands on are bits and pieces, which only tell me what I already know. The few forum posts I found were useless - of the "I can't trigger it" and the reply "Oh yea, I had that problem but i fixed it (no details ofc)" or "Weird, worked perfectly for me (again, no details) kind.

I know it's not a huge problem, but it's annoying as hell. I have the "let's go back to when we met" dialogue option, but I still have no idea if my romance is dead, and if it isn't how to progress it.

I like the game, but not even knowing IF I can progress it, makes the whole experience nothing but frustrating, if this goes on I'm honestly not even sure I will want to even try finishing it...

[aramintai]

1. You probably didn't raise enough approval points soon enough.
2. To trigger the second tavern scene you gotta transition from the throne room into the city. This can be triggered even before doing Vordakai plot.
3, Romance can still be completed until after the War of the River Kings chapter ends, if nothing's happening even with modding the approval counter and transitioning between areas in the capital you've botched it somewhere along the way.

To raise more approval you gotta:
1. Always take her with you and in various encounters with npcs try doing things she likes - taking her side, being lawful, killing bandits, monsters, bosses, etc.
2. Be careful as to what you say to her in romance dialogues, one wrong phrase can terminate the romance permanently with no special indication.
3. Don't fail any of her quests (as in don't have them at failed state) and especially don't fail her trial in her last quest.
4. There are several romance dialogues happening as early as chapter I:
-first talk (Oleg's Trading Post, Stag Lord chapter)
-buckle talk (after camp rest, Stag Lord chapter)
-talk about the future (Oleg's Trading Post, after beting the Stag Lord)
-Valerie vs. Regongar talk (after camp rest, gotta have Regongar in the party, season of Bloom chapter)
-suitors talk (after camp rest, season of Bloom chapter)
-potion talk (after camp rest, season of Bloom chapter)
-first tavern talk (season of Bloom chapter)
-second tavern talk (if approval is high enough should happen after her anger management quest, after the Season of Bloom ends)
-gift talk (after camp rest, depending on approval somewhere after the coronation)
-Irovetti talk (Rushlight tournament, War of the River Kings chapter)
-sword talk (Rushlight tournament, War of the River Kings chapter)
-king's favorite talk (after camp rest, somewhere around War of the River Kings chapter)
-proposal talk (the last talk that automatically triggers after you enter your capital's main square)

[Crenge]

Hey, thanks for the detailed reply.

Few things:

I had the 59 approval naturally, I raised it further hoping it would trigger the scene, it hadn't.

I didn't know I needed to raise her approval "soon enough", as far as I can tell I hit 59 when I banished the councilor-priestess NPC.

Most importantly however - what are the CORRECT phrases in her dialogues then? I've seen posts claiming one way, then there was a youtube video showing different choices...

For example the Regongar one - do I stand up for her? Or do I let them go at it? The suitors talk - do I go with the gallant dame (as I did), or the sweetheart? Both options seem OK-ish, but if one of them fails the whole thing and the other lets me continue, I'd like which is which...

[aramintai]

Originally posted by mateusz.szejba:

For example the Regongar one - do I stand up for her? Or do I let them go at it? The suitors talk - do I go with the gallant dame (as I did), or the sweetheart? Both options seem OK-ish, but if one of them fails the whole thing and the other lets me continue, I'd like which is which...

Yea, you stand up for her. And later do the same during Irovetti talk. In the suitors talk both options are ok.
If you want to keep track of the counter the best way to do this is to use the Bag of Tricks mod - there is an option below to see the current counters or modify them. You can save the game before any incoming dialogue, see what the current counter is, go through the dialogue and see how the counter changes after it.

[Pink Eye]

Idk how I managed to get my Val romance, but it was by blind dumb luck.

[aramintai]

Also, btw, max counter goes to 99 with thresholds, after each threshold there is a development in romance, i.e. new talk. So if you're modifying the counter do it in small steps.

[Crenge]

Thanks for the advice everyone, i decided to delete all my save games, give it a day or 2 and start over.
If anyone finds a nice, long and detailed guide, don't hesitate to reply with a link :)

[Dixon Sider]

I love how complicated it is to bang the women in this game. Its so realistic. Best RPG romances ever

[Pink Eye]

Originally posted by Dixon Sider:

I love how complicated it is to bang the women in this game. Its so realistic. Best RPG romances ever

Ahaahahah.

[Rellek]

I can't even get the buckle scene. Despite maxing out relations with her, saying all the right things and even completed the duel. I checked the files and it said I was at the threshold to trigger her relationship upgrade but no scenes, no events, either camping or in the city/tavern/wherever. I'm convinced its bugged at this point after starting over deliberately to follow a step by step guide to romance Valerie and still not even her first scene triggers.