I’ve seen various comments poking around other threads about liking one or the other and I just started wondering who’s more popular. So which one do you prefer, de Mendosa or de Vega?
I fall on the side of de Mendosa, myself, but I actually really like both of them and have played plenty of de Vega-centric games, too. Even though they’re polar opposites in some respects, they’re both (in my opinion) intelligent and interesting people. It makes me a little sad that there isn’t any real way to even just stay friends with both of them, even staying neutral on the whole wand debate. (Though I think I did have a neutral game where I turned down de Vega as a lover and then ran to de Mendosa’s room for protection during the assassin attack just because I could. But that’s the only interaction I had with de Mendosa after the wand mess. Apparently he still liked me enough to jump in and save me from assassins?)
Also, is anyone here bothered that de Vega is always male? It doesn’t really bother me since that suits the character and I don’t particularly mind if my character ends up with a man after initially pursuing women (at least in the context of this world, where nobody seems to find that odd at all), but it seems odd when every other potential love interest changes gender based on what you said you like. My guess is that the writers hadn’t gotten as far as considering that possibility when they wrote the first part, so by the time they got to the third part there wasn’t any way to make it match whatever you’d said your preference was.
I haven’t been on these forums in forever…I’ve recently started playing Affairs of the Court again. It was the first one I downloaded.
I have always loved de Vega. I’m not 100% sure why, because the first time I played it I wanted to end up with de Mendosa. But I always end up fangirling over de Vega. I recently discovered you can end up with de Vega even if you hate each other, and had a field day.
I hate both fondly . Romance with them is pure fan service . And the fact that the game try to oblidge to go bed with one of them is cheap , they try to force my bedroom door 4 times! Could i enter no, Let me in! no I would enter NO No No go to a whore lol. The worst of the game by far De vega was ultra in love her wife well 2 days later was trying bang me without care my sexual orientation at all. Mendoza i never romance him in first game doesnt matter he acts like i was in love since forever i send messages like shut up and dont heart him lately he doesnt care at all … X( They are both pure stalkers old and creppy.
@ErinRosado: I know what you mean, actually. Playing as myself, I loved de Mendosa immediately and never even discovered that de Vega was romanceable. But on other runs I had a lot more interaction with him and I kind of just keep coming back to him on like every game aside from my first one and the one where I was trying to stay very, very loyal to the King. The option where you’ve been enemies is kind of weird, though, IMO. Though I laughed at it in one game I had where my character was a total jerk and picked the “I’m just doing this because sleeping with him will make him less of a problem for me” option and got an achievement for controlling de Vega with sex. A sad, sad kind of laugh where I was just like “Oh… Luis… this is so horrible, I am sorry. (But I’m not sure why you like this guy in the first place…)”
@MarvelousMatty: Just don’t support de Mendosa on the rod thing. If you decide to support de Vega, you’ll get a scene where he comes to you after his wife dies and is upset, or if you don’t, you’ll get one where he’s mad at you for being neutral on the issue and then accidentally implies he’s into you. Worth playing through both just to see them, though the latter makes far less sense to me.
@MaraJade: Depends on how you play the game as to whether I’d call them fanservice or not. I’ve definitely run games where romancing them made perfect sense. I can agree that it’s weird how much they both stick like glue even if you spend the entire time failing to encourage them, though. de Mendosa seems to fall in love with you at the drop of a hat and stay that way even if you repeatedly piss him off (up until the wand thing, where if you don’t agree with him on that issue, he suddenly will just never come back again). de Vega… I will just agree that the version where he’s mad at you doesn’t make any sense to me considering how much he loved his wife, and particularly if you and he have been enemies from the beginning of the game. The other version at least gives it a two month gap and then the confession comes out when he’s drunk and lonely and it really still seems like he just realized how much of a connection you actually have. That one, in my opinion, seems perfectly understandable.
I’ve played the game through a few times but I never really identify myself with the MC much, so which path I choose is mostly just based on which sort of character I happen to be playing. That said, my headcanon MC is more of a scheming, politicking sort than an idealist, so it fits her character to get involved with de Vega, either as a friend or rival. Also, I actually like romances in games better when the character doesn’t seem like they’re introduced for the sole purpose of being a romance (hence no gender-swapping) - just makes for a better story, to me.
It might seem like the game kind of pushes the romance content on you, but I think that’s because having one of them pursue the MC is a key plot device. Whether or not the MC chooses to start an affair, the scene introduces the idea that he/she needs to be concerned about his/her reputation, and sets the stage for rumors to pop up later in the game. Whichever he/she chooses, it seems to be presented as a dilemma the MC has to carefully navigate rather than a reward for picking the right options - sort of like Torres/Mendosa courting the MC in Part I.
I guess it really is a valid point that the option has to be presented at some point. I do kind of wish that there was some variation in how it’s presented based on whether or not you’ve encouraged anything up until then, though. I mean, if you’ve sent signals from the beginning that you don’t have any real feelings for de Mendosa and you’re mostly humoring him/her in the third game because you happen to like the death rod idea, then that little speech about “Think about how rare it is for two people to have a connection like this” really doesn’t sound right in context. Though I’m also pretty sure that most of the choices about how exactly you reacted to the poem or how you feel about talking to him/her all the time and the like don’t actually mean anything in terms of actual game mechanics.
And I can understand the bit about liking it better when they aren’t introduced explicitly as a romance option. de Vega popping out of the woodwork in that regard in the third game definitely surprised me and on some level I do like that plot line because of it.
Yeah, it’s not quite as well established for de Mendosa’s path exactly what his motivations are if the MC hasn’t been encouraging him. I think what the writers want you to infer is that he’s a head-in-the-clouds romantic kind of person and is just oblivious to the MC’s hints. Still, a bit more dialogue or explanation accounting for that would be good, especially in the case where the MC was engaged to him in Part I but also tried to have an affair with the King/Queen (which leads to a really bad breakup).
I did take a peek at the game code and found that there is a variable for de Vega’s first name, although it doesn’t look like it’s actually used anywhere - which suggests that at some point there were plans to make him a gender-swappable character as well. I guess it would have been a lot of work to go back and add all that into the previous two parts, though! I probably would have cut it too
@weijiangling - I know, it didn’t make much sense for you to go from hating each other to suddenly falling in love. I’ve never picked the option to control him through sex, I was just like, “Oh Luis…I couldn’t do that to you!”. The only slight qualm I have, which was mentioned, is that Luis completely loved his wife, then when he comes to you to grieve for her, you begin an affair (even though it is a two month gap). Really, Luis? It doesn’t make me like him any less though!
@MaraJade - I am going to check this out. I’ve never really gone down the de Mendosa route…I didn’t realise they would try it on with you four times. That’s kind of weird.
the last attempt is when you achieve rule a choice you could have lovers or acept mendoza proposal or just alone. if you choose Other lovers game ask again for 6 time if you want bang him . Nope To achieve 6 asking you have to say nope other 5 and bring democracy to Iberia. I was Wtf i would put in constitution art.1 Mendoza i hate you go f* with a monkey. If you ask me again i would poison you X(
@ErinRosado: The short time didn’t strike me as weird so much as maybe a conscious attempt to make the romance less, well, romantic. Sounds contradictory, but I think the moral ambiguity there fits with the tone of the game. After all, by this point in the story it’s clear that neither de Vega nor the MC are exactly saints (to even get out of Part I, you have to be playing a character who’s at least been willing to have an affair with someone already married, and most characters will have engaged in at least some skulduggery in order to survive). And, the game repeatedly offers the option to characterize the MC themselves as someone who can genuinely care for two people at once, even while actively doing one or both of them wrong.
Actually that’s the main reason why I would have liked the MC’s relationship with de Mendosa in Part III to have had better continuity with Part I - if you go along with the entire romance plot, it reads as kind of a redemption story for the MC, where he/she is able to undo some of the personal cost of his/her rise to power. Accounting for what happened between the two of them in Part I would have made that more coherent.
@aetheria: “Redemption” is a good way to put it, and an angle I hadn’t really thought about. On my first run, I did the thing where I ran after de Mendosa and then was like. …sorry, I just had to tell you in person that we can’t get married. Because with the family setup, I couldn’t in all good conscience just abandon the family. But I always got the sense that my character was really, really sad about that, so when he showed up again at the end of part 2, I was super happy about it. And with the King being increasingly distant and also increasingly nuts… well. So for that character, the affair was more about finally being true to herself after having tried very hard to put her family first for so long. She did care about the King, but she never quite succeeded in convincing herself to actually love him.
@ErinRosado: I guess the bit with Luis really is a little sudden no matter what haha. On the other hand, when I’m not playing a character who’s terrible, I’ve always gone with the one where I turn him away because he’s drunk and then bring it up again a few days later, which I think gives him some time to think that through and also gives him some credibility for the “Um. Really. It was the alcohol. >.>” Because it wasn’t, but in a way, it probably was. With the way the dialogue works in that, I get the sense that the idea of pursuing a relationship with you hadn’t really occurred to him until he was drunk and lonely and realizing that at this point you’re the only person in the world he can get away with speaking that freely around. And I honestly think the drunk probably had something to do with that realization. It absolutely had something to do with him saying it out loud.
This, again, not accounting for previously mentioned problems where there are plenty of character models where your character is not actually that trustworthy and he probably shouldn’t speak quite so freely around him/her, and he’s plenty good enough at reading people to be able to figure that out. But assuming your character actually is a good friend to him, I really can’t hold this one against him.
@MaraJade: I’m not sure what 4 or 6 times you’re talking about. He/she is pretty persistent about coming into the room, but that’s also partially being excited about the death rods being successful. If you get him/her to leave you alone until the next morning, he/she doesn’t ever actually bring up the affair idea, if I’m recalling correctly. And I’ve never gotten to an ending where I was on his path and not already involved with him, but I think it always gives you a chance to decide to be with whichever love interest is more relevant after you overthrow the Monarch, in case the Monarch is actually the only reason you were avoiding it (which I think is very plausible).
@weijiangling No has zero sense due game asking at least two times why you dont want go bed with? I already write i dont like him .
I would explain what has zero sense.
First game i even dont talk to him her and i called tiresome than never stop talk. No kiss no anything.
Second game cold like ice no smile .
If i help him i go for good iberia not i wanna you. I get angry with poem and reply each why you want Mendoza? all times the most nasty responses. Well game doesnt care he still tried bang me each playthrough No, no no to each question. then another question, then another more Why you dont romance him? the game is harass me badly . Think if that happen that in real life … he is a stalker. the worse is if i go other rute i go the Vega like stalker, but him has the decency of stop after 4 Let me in. Maybe is because he is in his 80 lol.
The game is amazing , but lost all replay value due that annoying way to pressure me to cheat in my marriage. Worse if author wants i cheat put me a youngster like they put Agustin@. Nope, they put old ugly guys i dont care , and try to obliged me to go bed with them more than 3 times.
In ZE Heather could try to enter your bed, you say nope and That’s it, she NEVER try again. Is a easily thing to track in stats.
@aetheria - I actually played it through yesterday, with the de Mendosa thing, and it was odd because to me, it made no sense. I played from Part 1 having a relationship with de Mendosa, then not getting married to him. It was only then that I went off with the King (That’s about as squeaky-clean as you can get) I made sure I stayed faithful to the King, even though I was happy to see Mendosa again (but that was it!). I didn’t really like his persistency, though, because how clear can you make it? Poor Violeta, I was feeling a bit harassed! xD
The bit that didn’t make any sense, though, was that the King was presented with ‘evidence’ of an affair between me and de Mendosa, when nothing had happened. When I went to the King and told him the truth - de Mendosa pursued me and I told him where to go - he got all tearful, and said he knew I had betrayed him. Mendosa died, the King died of natural causes, then Juanita killed me. Lol
@weijiangling - I do think, whenever I go down the de Vega route, that my character does genuinely care for them both. I can’t remember how it goes, when you turn him away. I’ll have to do that. I do think it’s super-sweet, though, how Luis goes to you, to grieve, because you’re the only one he can do that in front of. Again, I haven’t done this in a while, but I like it when I become Regent, and then de Vega comes to see me, and I propose, and then everything is nice.
@MaraJade - I see where you’re coming from, but remember in Part 1 you did cheat, because obviously the King is/was married, so I suppose the game thinks you can’t change your ways.
Overall I tend to prefer romanceable characters with fixed genders, BUT, Vega being fixed to male does bother me because:
1) Vega is the only romanceable character with a fixed gender in the entire trilogy.
2) Vega is fixed male, and there is no equivalent fixed female romanceable character.
3) In part 3, whatever appeal Augustina may have had has been lost along with her mind, and Mendosa just plain rubbed me the wrong way, coming across as an immature prick when she tried to get into my character’s pants. Had a female Vega-like character been available, the last game in the trilogy would have been A LOT more fun for me.
As a result, the lack of a romanceable female Vega-like character in Part 3 contributes to the lack of connection I feel to the characters, and the emotional disconnect I feel from the game. It is one of several reasons why the final part of this trilogy is my least favorite.
de Mendosa is way to rash and idealistic and eager for a change but he doesn’t really think things through and the implications his actions will have. Change can’t come so fast and still benefit the entire country. Also, whenever you try to tell him of a compromise solution that might be better than his, he always brushes off your attempts by saying that his opinion is the only correct one and therefore better than yours.
I liked de Vega because he always wanted to do what was best for the kingdom (he wants to avoid war at all costs so there will be no needless casualties, he thinks about peace treaties and even takes your opinion into consideration if you explain that in the long term they will benefit Iberia more, and he wants to keep the social order so that the country will not fall into anarchy), even if it meant standing up to Augustin on a few occasions and risking his own neck.
@Fiama I like how de Vega looks into the Life Mage spell for you as well, even though he doesn’t think it’s the best thing to do. I found de Mendosa a little too immature for my liking, because of his reaction if you don’t agree with him in the Death rod mess.
Totally Team de Vega. I wanted to romance him from the very first game, and there was much squeeing when I found out he was romanceable in the third game. The PC I played ended up getting in so far over her head, and de Vega was the only guy who consistently had her back. How could she not fall for him?
Wooh late to the party but have had this question for awhile. Playing through all options and I did a few playthroughs where I’m basically not hiding my romance with a former enemy de Vega (Team Luis for the win). The king drops several large hints he knows I’ve been sneaking around on him. Is there any way for him to catch you with your lover or confront you directly or is it just the I know your secret and I’ll watch you squirm kind of deal until the Tomas ring debacle?
Sorry for the long thing I’ve had this in for a long time.
