I would say this, it’s not like you’re forced into breaking up with a RO after all, you made a choice then you deal with the consequences of it, the same as any other choice in the game. Personally I’ll always stay with Tress so I’m not worried no matter what you choose to do with it
That’s something I didn’t really understand (maybe this is just because I’m a really needy and clingy girlfriend) the first thing I would have wanted to do on break is call Tress, then when I got back I’d want to go see her asap, so far being back has felt like the whole school got together and decided to keep us apart
I think it would be the most convincing thing story and character wise to not make it the one rule applied to every ex. Like i imagen if tress caught you trying to look at her computer she might end up forgiving you but never want to get back together but i imagen if you dumped dirty girl she probably wouldnt mind getting back together with you at some point. Then theres mob who i would see as not holding a grudge and you not needing to earn his forgiveness but never really wanting to get back together with someone who broke his heart. So mabey a small spectrum of character responses the one that holds a little grudge and wont get back together, the one who dosent hold a grudge but wont date you again and the one who would definetly get back together given the chance
I’ll keep the poll open another day or so (or maybe close it if/when it reaches 100 votes, so it will be easy to tabulate votes combining with FB results), but it looks like I could keep/make 90% of forum folks happy by simply keeping current romance options with Tress (14%), DG, (14%) Crook (12%), Stunner (3%), and Mob (12%), dropping Uni permanently (-2%), and adding Stoic (25%) and Hedonist (10%).
I like the sound of 90%; it’s hard to argue with trying to make 90% of people happy with a minimal amount of additional effort. Stoic is going to have a lot of scenes anyway, so just adding a few subtle hints of possible romance in the scenes she shares with MCs seeking that with her won’t be much more work. And Hedonist will be around too; so writing a few extra scenes with him would probably only be a few thousand words.
I have over 70 votes on FB, and I’'ll combine those results with these before making any final decisions. I think the FB results track these results pretty closely, but I just eyeballed them.
Et tu other readers, being satisfied with the current options and Stoic and not kicking up a stink for Smart romances … still got til the polls close, so watch out for my ten page double spaced MLA format persuasive paper on why adding them as ROs would make the game way better, ETA later today.
But, more seriously …
At the end of Book 1 if you romanced Uni, do you get an option to say you’ll wait for her or hold out hope she’ll come back or anything? I think I played through her romance once a long time ago and remember something like that–if you decide to remove her completely, you should make sure to edit out anything that suggests to the player she’ll come back later. Even if it is just 2%, it’d be massively disappointing to play through two more full games thinking you’ll be rewarded for staying loyal and then it turning out she really was gone forever
Nah, she just says her name and leave if I remember.
According to the “staying loyal” problem, she might call us and then break up with the MC? Then we could get the BFF or new LI option.
Trust me, I am alllll over this! I’ve been pouring over Part 1’s code a lot in the past month. I’ve reviewed exactly what Uni says at the end, and I was going to change it either way: either to make it more clear that the MC should “move on” OR to make it clear that things will likely be rekindled later, so either way the MC knows what to expect. I think going with the “move on” option is the better option, as I’m not even sure I want Uni to return period, and it would be sorta lame for the MC to pine over her for all of Part 2 when they only had 2 or 3 scenes together in Part 1.Plus, it frees up time to add a little extra to the Stoic scenes and (likely) open up a sure-to-be-perverted Hedonist path.
Alright, behold my final comprehensive argument in favor of an addition of the Smarts as ROs:
Opening argument: I want it. (Obviously the most compelling point.)
It’s possible more people would be interested in them than the polls indicated–as the “character who wasn’t in Part 1” was worded vaguely enough that it wasn’t entirely clear that the Smarts would be included in that. It could mean “characters who were mentioned in Part 1 but weren’t actually met” OR “entirely new characters we’ve never seen before.”
Adding in ROs associated with Savior could give players an emotional investment in the school factions similarly to Stunner giving his romance an investment in Prestige (as a less controversial alternative to Hedonist.)
They could be options for people who would be interested in a romance with a more experienced hero but don’t like Hedonist.
Adding them in Book 2 would give a really good assortment of both quick and slowburn options, for people who want to start romance quickly (as most of the Book 1 options are) or people who want the pace to be slower, adding to the reader’s ability to customize the story.
Speaking mostly to female romances, Booksmart would round out the female options a lot. As of now, having someone as a middle option between Tress and DG (who are very Betty and Veronica good girl/bad girl options) would go a long way. Stoic is that ish, but she’s also got a pretty prominent gimmick that could turn people off.
Having more romances where the primary conflict is circumstantial (such as Stunner being at a different school) rather than personal (Stoic being stoic, Tress being controlling, DG’s drug issues) would offer an opportunity for relationship development that would be really unique. Instead of the thrust being the MC helping the RO grow and move past their issues, it could be the RO helping the MC working through their own problems–concerns over their personal history regarding their father, insecurity over their ability to be a hero without powers, anxiety over the safety of the people they care about, how well they’re handling the death of Origami, etc. An RO who’s already self actualized and confidant in who they are would give more opportunity for the MC to have more personal development with the help of a supportive partner, more or less reversing the usual formula for CoG romances.
I agree. Although I’m perfectly happy with Mob, I could see myself trying another playthrough in the future, and honestly, Stunner isn’t that appealing to me (and the mere existence of a Hedonist “romance” actually makes me feel ill). So, unless a new option is added in (like Streetsmart), I’d just have to stick with Mob in any future playthroughs, too.
So out of 228 votes (many people on FB voted multiple times), the results are…
50 Stoic
39 Tress
26 Crook
25 Mob and DG (tie!)
19 Hedonist
15 Someone new!
13 Stunner
8 Uni and best friends (tie!)
So this data again supports the idea that I should drop Uni, forget about coding extra “best friends” scene, and add Stoic and Hedonist as ROs. I can’t promise I’ll do this, but I’m strongly leaning towards it.
Really the closest call, statistically speaking, is whether or not to keep Stunner as a RO. But there will be a field trip to New York in Part 2 so the MC would get an actual ‘face to face’ scene with him, so that’s far better than Uni’s situation. Plus, he serves an important plot goal and must stay in the mix. But he’s the closest to getting the axe now. Or the pistol.
If I may make a suggestion, for the Hedonist romance if you do add it in, perhaps you could limit it to those that got the Hedonist pet achievement or those who “fooled around” with him in the first game? So that those who don’t wish to romance him won’t have to deal with him (wording this was difficult for some reason).
Also, I’m sorry I haven’t gotten around to finding the typos and all that like I said I would 500 years ago. I’ve been forgetful and busy with school, but I think I have time to finally sit down and find as many as I can.
