Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
8 
Report this post
Don't worry, I might have misphrased.
I was actually wondering if it was possible to marry Julia Calida. Not for romance but to help her. I remember that there was that option in (I think) Act 2 during her personal quest but I don't know how she reacts to that cause I didn't pick it.
In my first game, the sister was alive and married to the brother of Luco, having kids with him and all but this time the brother is dead (I do try to do things at least a little bit different this time...)
Hmm... I'm not sure. Can't remember unfortunately if that's an option. Julia's main problem was confronting her brother, to not be pressured into a contract marriage according to her family's wishes and possibly needing a legal defense if the confrontation became physical. I remember having helped her as a friend and as a romantic partner, also remember something about requesting Cato's assistance in the legal defense department.
The great thing about Expedition Romes is that there's so many possibilities. The possibilities seem endless. Great replay value.
Yeah that was exactly during that issue. I remember too that I got her a legal defense but I also remember that there was some dialogue option where you could offer to marry her. Might be that she will decline or will say that her brother won't accept it but I think I will just try this game and see what happens.
And yeah! Which is why I dusted the game off again and totally told myself I do things different aaaaaaand it's Caeso romance again. Oops. :D Though I decided some thing different in Greece and was already fascinated how different the stuff in Rome went because of it. :)
But back to topic. I am surprised I can flirt the hell out of Cleopatra but it seems the other companions are "off the table" now. What does actually happen if you flirt with everyone possible? Can you get all events and do the naughty but have to make a decision?
Yeah, I've been somewhat absent from the game as well but I regularly assist if I can and honestly, now I'm just itching to play again. Rome is a game I doubt I'll ever tire of.
From what I remember, Julia Calida isn't overly concerned with getting her brother's approval or not. After all she protested being married off, abandoned her family and chose a career in the military. Overall, Julia is unlike many other women and did not find the prospect of marrying appealing in the slightest. It definitely seems like she prefers marrying for love, after some gentle nudging, reassurance and persistence.
But hah, I completely understand. Caeso is just too damn lovable to resist. Flirting with Cleopatra should in no way prevent you from romancing any of the other companions, as long as you've romanced them enough. As to your other questions, I have picked the romance options with more than one companion simultaneously but you won't cement a relationship with them until they confess their feelings for you during a random travel event and you confess it back in acceptance. After that, you'll be locked out from pursuing romance with the other companions with no kickback. It's worse if you reject them. Then at least during the random travel event, they are kind of heartbroken, but once it's over it's like it never happened. So let's say you're romancing both Julia and Deianeira, and Julia's random travel event pops up but you desire Deianeira more as an end-game romance. Then you have to reject Julia, and then wait for Deianeira's event to pop up, which it will, granted you've romanced her enough.
But I can't say for sure about Cato, if you take him up on a political marriage. It certainly suggests that you can marry Cato and still pursue a romantic relationship with a companion. I only did Cato once, for the achievement. Didn't want to take any chances with the achievement so I went with a real marriage. Am not about to do it again.
Make sure you don't mess up your date when Cleo comes to visit you though. The Cleo romance is quite complex. We take pretty much everything you say to her into consideration so it's difficult to point you towards one surefire path. But basically she likes a man who can stand up to her but not too much. If you try to disregard her or humiliate her she will dislike you. But worshipping her as if she's a goddess or generally subserviant is also not sexy to her. In short she wants to strong man who also respects her.
That's the problem! Too charming! Irresistable! I hope I picked the right perk this time. In my first game, I had Logic I think and couldn't resolve his quest. :( Because I only could kill the dude who bought the serva but then Caeso suddenly acted like we were never in a romance and was all family-man with that woman and her child and even my character acted like he and Caeso were never a thing and just... wtf? So I reloaded and did not free her at all which kept the relationship intact but did not resolve Caeso's personal quest. I hope it goes better now.
I was keen to try it, glad I didn't. I hate to break hearts like that, haha. At least it sounds like you can just have a "night of fun" with Cleo and then go on.
Honestly the Cato romance strikes me as interesting, is there romance too, actual romance or is it only a political thing when you're female so you can keep your family? I mean I only met the guy as a, well, guy, and I have a hard time to see where they put any romance with him.
Haha thanks for the info. Maybe I do for real then if they don't interfere. But we'll see, I know myself, I might not be able to be unfaithful to Caeso even if he doesn't care, lol.
Not to mention his voice actor, excellent choice. Caeso despite being a typical bachelor and living the hedonistic lifestyle, he's a man of honor and is honest to a fault. So you kind of have to be better. Someone he can idolize and relate to.
Caeso definitely prefers convincing the men to hand over the serva at Vispanius' Villa, but if you don't have the Pathos perk. He eventually does kind of forgive you for it. He'll take over the Villa and if you're not romancing him, he'll eventually settle down with the Serva & his child. Not sure about the same scenario where you kill them while are romancing him. Can't recall if I was in that situation. There's just so many possibilities, it often blends together. First time I romanced Caeso, I remember being worried he would do the noble thing and choose the Serva because of the child, but fortunately he will listen to his heart - be with you. Maybe Fasih will be willing to offer more insight into Caeso.
Yeah same, even though these are just video characters. I can't help but feel pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and down right guilty when I have to hurt their non-existent feelings. I hadn't completely planned what type of person my protagonist was in my first playthroughs or what companion would make the best fit as end-game romance, so mistakes were made. Made sure it wouldn't happen again after that though.
Damn man, a lot these games give me so much anxiety. Like in Fallout 4. I pick an option that seems innocent enough, but ends up making you feel like you're the absolute worst human being there is.
Unlike with the companions, you won't get much face time with Cato to use romance options or develop your relationship in the same manner. He'll ask you which option you prefer and basically that he won't pressure you into anything but lets you know that you did catch his attention. If you pick having a real marriage with him, he'll be really pleased. And he is willing to help you in almost any way, either way. Picking a real marriage affects how the ending will unfold. So basically 'they lived happily ever after' thing. There are also other factors which affect the Cato ending and that is if you choose to retire and just living the good life, OR if you choose to delve into politics, it's stated that he helps you learn the ins- and outs- of the senate and you kind of become like a power-couple. No idea if you become a dictator. Can't remember if I tried it or not. Also as I've admitted before, I don't know how the political marriage ending will unfold. I imagine Cato helps you with everything and then that you two live separately, with separate lives, being married only on paper and on good terms.
Perhaps Fasih is willing to filling into the gap.
Don't get me started on the VA. Melts me every time. And yes it's nice that he has this hedonistic side with chicks and dudes and wine and I think when you get drunk with him first time in Rome and he's for once a bit flirty there, it's probably a good thing the Serva interrupted or you might have ended up "just" being one of his flings that night. But since she did and he's sober eventually you can actually slow-burn with him, like you said, show him that you're someone he can idolize. Which is why this romance is so nice, I can't help myself...
I couldn't do that in my first play through since I picked Logic perk and yeah, I encountered that bug (?) and even mentioned it back then in the Steam hub but got no satisfying answer, not even from the devs. It was super weird, really. I killed Vispanius since I couldn't convince him and freed the slaves. Caeso wasn't super happy that we had to kill a man but was happy the serva and the kid were free but told me that he will explain the situation between us to her and that he won't leave my side. Then the timeskip came, we met in Caeso's bar - and suddenly he was a family man, in a relationship with her and was all happy pater families and daddy etc and there was suddenly no more romance interactionship between our characters at all. It's like they broke up or even worse, forgot they were together at all because they both acted all chipper and just BFF-style. I found it super odd so I reloaded and decided not to free the Serva and after the time skip he remained my lover.
So... yeah... hope it goes better this time, otherwise, screw the serva, lol.
Don't get me started. I can't be mean to NPCs I like, not even if I want to play "evil" or whatever (looking at you, Gale from BG3....)
Thanks for the insight!
Good point. Hard to say what the consequences would be had the Serva not interrupted, but the Romans did have the phrase "In vino veritas" (in wine there is truth) so a drunken hookup might not have ruined our prospects. After all there is a preexisting relationship and trust already established through service in the Legion. I also love how Caeso doesn't think he is the one that's not good enough for you and especially so towards a so much younger female protagonist. Couldn't even consider perusing you. That lovable idiot can't see what you see in him. So cute.
Hmm interesting, can't remember experiencing such conflicting progression in the story. With a game with such complex pathways, it might have been a glitch or you could have picked the wrong option at some point. It's really hard to say. I'd have to experiment sometime with that.
Yeah it's just bad for the soul. And folks say video games make people violent. Pff. Though admittedly, there are exceptions for me where I can go the evil route but that's only if there isn't much NPC interaction to speak of and that the targets themselves are super evil. A real Punisher-like situation I guess. Like Dishonored.
Anytime!
Oh that's also another thing. I was really really thinking I might make a female character this time but nope, it's a dude again, lol. (can't help myself :/ ) Does the romance differ? I had the impression it's always written in a way that it works for both genders. It's funny though how the first flirt attempts with him (except the one where he's under influence of wine) totally go over his head, haha.
Certainly felt like a bug. I went back and tried all options to save the serva but I didn't have many. Even if it's intended that he drops you and lives with the Serva instead, there should/would've been a dialogue about this. I suppose. I reported it as bug, no clue if something ever happened about it.
Team "I reload a quick or autosave when I made an NPC sad" (except when I really dislike the NPC) xD had a reeeeeeally hard time to play Renegade Shepard in Mass Effect, haha.
Basically if you do the things he likes he does respect the player even if the marriage is one of convenience. He does genuinely love you.
On Caeso...
There's a lot to say about him. Caeso was literally the first companion we designed. He's supposed to be a Roman's Roman. The platonic ideal of the roman legionary, kind of how Asleifr was filling the role for the ideal viking in Expeditions: Viking (note... singular. VIKING... not vikingS!!) If it weren't for the player Caeso would have been the logical hero of the story. So for his character we leaned in on that.
A deeply conflicted character Caeso grew up with stories of mythical heroes. He firmly believes he's going to be one of those. A larger than life character devoid of any responsibility and problems, sailing from port to port and saving the world on a daily basis. It's therefore that he has enormous amounts of confidence (even more so than Bestia maybe) and an unshakable belief in the system that is the Roman Republic.
Still around the time the game's story starts he's starting to have his doubts. Deep down he believes he's not good enough. That's why he wants to prove himself by saving you and your family but still thinks he's not good enough for you. He has a fantasy about who Caeso really is and then there's the reality. You are real... So Caeso prefers hanging out with women who don't really matter that much in his opinion.
That's why his quest is designed to challenge that. What happens there is that an inconsequential woman from his past suddenly becomes a person who genuinely needs help. (and not a fantastic damsel in distress) It is deeply inconvenient for Caeso especially because the obvious way of helping her goes against his Roman values but also is the morally good, heroic choice. It is easy to be a hero when everything's fine.
So Caeso stays if we solve his problem. He settles down and becomes a father. It is only if we don't do this he leaves with us. As to how his relationship ends up is a little bit vague if we romance Caeso. (we left a lot of things open for interpretation)
The million dollar question is of course... Is the child really Caeso's? Or is he being tricked?
And the definitive answer I can give to that as the guy who wrote that quest is...
I have no idea...
My follow up question would be... Does it matter?
If the child is his by saving the child he does the right thing.
If the child isn't his, it is by saving them he finally becomes a fraction of a hero he imagines he is.
This decision would be soooo easy to make for me if I wasn't in a romance with him haha. I would absolutely give him the chance to be the good man and the hero he wants to be but I am a selfish ♥♥♥♥ and I won't share my man with some serva who might just trick him.
Because he DOES get to be the hero again, serva or not. It is him who wants to "sacrifice" himself at the end (though in my run Deianeira took the hit because she said that he shouldn't lose me and I shouldn't lose him and dammit Deianeira you beautiful cup cake, you brought me to tears there).
As far as I'm concerned, he does not have to play Daddy for a child that might or might not be his to be a hero. He becomes one in the very end any way.
That being said I am STILL convinced it was a bug I had. Still have to see this run if it will be any different if not then... well, sorry serva.
Several people mentioned how they like the way we treated female characters. I guess that's because basically we don't think of them as "female characters". In my mind if you the gender of a character is the first thing you write on a paper than that character's story MUST BE about that; that first thing must be the thing that defines the character. We never thought of Julia as "The Female one". She was always just a character who happened to be female. THEN we started thinking about how her story could evolve.
On Bestia:
We consciously did something very risky in Expeditions: Rome. All of our companions initially sound and behave like stereotypes of themselves. Syneros is the old wise man, Caeso is the noble knight and Bestia is the bloodthirsty, dumb barbarian. And then we tried to show there's more to them than meets the eye. Some reviewers still think they're simple cardboard characters unfortunately. But if you pay attention, even at the beginning of the story, the things Bestia says make more sense than they initially seem to. He's often right about things.
The Sacrfice:
One of the cruelest things we have done. The person who sacrifices themselves at the end is determined by your relationships. We always kill of the character who likes you most. So if you and Caeso like each other a lot, then you have pretty much guaranteed that he will sacrifice himself for you when it comes to that.
That's the right way to do it. Unfortunately I see still too many games that start the character like this: okay it is a woman now let's see what we do with it. Biggest problem is, when they want to do a "strong female character" and end up with a character with Panam-syndrome aka one that constantly yells at you, is irrational asf and allover an annoying being, but hey, she got booty or somethingsomething.
... and then you go and break these stereotypes. Bestia wants to learn and becomes a student of Syneros, Caeso - while being noble knight on one side - literally has Hedonism as a "flaw", Deianeira is not only "strong woman that beats you up", no, she wants to wear a pink dress, too etc pp. People that complain about that saying they are simply cardboard characters obviously never bothered to talk to them or do their quests, I suppose.
One of my favourite Bestia moments (and where I fell in love with him too) was when I send him and Caeso to do that infiltration in Egypt in the library of Alexandria. Glorious. CATS.
That was cruel and I shall never forgive you! Is it always Deianeira though who then instead of your LI takes the sacrifice?
Honestly I do not remember what the default we have set was, or what happens in case of a tie. I just remember Jonas and I, giggling in the design room and going "Oooh that's cruel! Let's do this!!"
On Cats and Alexandria:
I think at this point it's no secret that both Jonas and I love cats. The whole cat thing is a running gag in Expeditions: Rome that's why whenever you say good things about cats you get some extra (but ultimately inconsequential XP). That quest was one of the hardest to implement. It's the ONLY main quest that does not have any combat so we thought we'd have multiple, multi step solutions akin to an adventure game (using a toolset that is not designed for adventure games). It's partly Jonas' fault for he came up with the bright idea of having one quest without any combat and partly my fault because I love adventure games.
Despite the fact that we ended up cutting probably half of the content we had for that quest (there were so many combinations of characters and permutations of consequences that we almost went mad figuring it out) it's probably still our favorite quest in the game. And "Go forth my feline fighters!" is up there in my top ten lines.
On Deianeira:
I can't really take much credit for. It was Jonas who mostly wrote her parts. She's unique in that she genuinely cares for you. You may have noticed when Lucullus dies everyone talks about their own feelings and she's the only character who asks YOU how you feel. Just like Jonas, Deianeira is caring soul.
I think the date with Bestia and the pink dress bit is one of the few bits I wrote for her. She certainly IS a strong female character but in my mind being strong and being a woman are not mutually exclusive. So I thought what if she likes cute, and traditionally girly things but still kicks ass when it comes to that. Hence the pink dress. :)