Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My Romances - Part 2

My Computer Game Romances, Part 2: He has horns...
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
Valen Shadowbreath

Valen and I have been to hell and back together--literally. We met in the depths of the Underdark, where I was bound by a geas to kill the evil drow ruler, the Valsharess. As an ally of the Seer, whose goal was also to defeat the Valsharess, Valen joined me as I attempted to gather an army to face off against the Valsharess's forces. But it turned out that the Valsharess was not the worst of our enemies; the she had summoned the archdevil Mephistopheles, foolishly thinking that she could control him, but he killed her, banished Valen and me to a plane in Hell, and began carrying out his plans to demolish our world Toril. However, through perseverance and a lot of luck, we were able to escape from Hell and defeat Mephistopheles.

Being half tanar'ri, Valen was once conscripted to battle on the side of the demons in their never-ending Blood War against the devils. In the Blood War, he witnessed unspeakable horrors and saw the darkest side of himself; he doesn't just have demons--he is one. Though those memories will never go away or become untrue, he has reached a new chapter in his life, where he spurns his demonic urges and fights for good. With me.
Like many tieflings, Valen has horns and a long pointed tail, but I can't complain, since as a Red Dragon Disciple, I have two leathery wings! Besides, the horns and the tail are kind of a turn-on. And he sure is a master at using that flail of his. Hot!

Give me a moment to regain a modicum of self-respect.
...
...
Okay.

In my first play through NWN: HotU, I did not pursue the Valen romance. Unlike my previous romantic experience in BG2, the HotU romance didn't pop up on its own. To get the Valen romance, I had to initiate the conversations with Valen myself, and there were no reminders that I should do this (in some games, you'll get a "[NPC] has seemed a little distant lately, maybe you should try talking to him" message). So this first playthrough, I was totally oblivious to the Valen romance, and the Knower of Names towards the end of the game told me that my one true love was the Sleeping Man. The bald green guy snoozing in Hell until his true love (apparently me) comes along to wake him. Now, granted, he does have pretty, fluffy white wings, and at the end of the game he took my character off to his heavenly home plane to live in pure bliss for all eternity. But there was no build up to that "romance", so it hardly counts.

My second playthrough, I did get the Valen romance. And I gotta say, I was a little put off by it. But it was an "it's not you, it's me" kind of situation; Valen's dialogue as things started to get romantic between him and my character uncomfortably mirrored the words of a friend of mine (in real life; "Broken Heart #2" in my Romances - Real Life post) who had recently asked me out and I had turned down (that's another story for another day). Silly real life tainting the in-game experience. What's with that?

Read about my favorite computer game romance in my next post.

6 comments:

Vanessita said...

Im loving the list! :)
Most of them I already played or have the game stored, waiting to play when I have the time, so I can relate to your point here!
The one I'm playing now is HotU (Valen romance, of course!), but I can't wait to get my hands on Dragon Age. Can't find it available, should have bought it before, but I was broke and now I can't seem to find it anywhere! :(
Have you ever played this NWN module called "A Dance With Rogues"?
If not yet I tottally recommend it to you! Beware though, better to start playing on your vacation, for it will be difficult to leave the computer screen after you start! The storyline is amazing and, believe me, the roleplaying is taken to a whole new level! It will be no surprise in the end if you feel compelled to add one, two, maybe even more characters to your list here! ;)
Since I became a passionate fan of it myself and you seem to like the same kind of games I do, thought I'd share it with you. I'll go look for the links...

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=58820&id=4869
(for part one)

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=58820&id=4869
(for part two)

Hope you like it! :)

Vanessa

Eleni said...

Hi Vanessa! Thanks for the recommendation and the links. I'll give it a look when I have time sometime.

You can't find Dragon Age: Origins? I think I just bought if off Amazon. The price has probably come down a bunch since it first came out. I highly recommend it, and it has a couple interesting romances to choose from that I could have added to my list :)

Vanessita said...

Hi, Heleni! You're not gonna regret trying ADwR, it's a great module, you'll see! (Play it, play it!!!) :)

I know it seems weird that I can't buy it, but I've tried Amazon already! :( It's because I'm from Brazil, and some items like games and even music, they don't sell to us here, I think it's cause they (the companies) have representatives/branches here who pay to sell them to us, so that would interfere on their politics, I really don't know... I guess they can only sell us books and other stuff which have not yet officially been released here.

Their explanations: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=524836&pop-up=1

Last time I checked, the prices here were the same (the standard version about 50 dollars, expensive!), but i think with the release of the expansion another (hopefully cheaper) supply is on the way. But so you have an idea, Mass Effect, the first one, the older... it's 50 dollars here... :( (7 dollars at Amazon, geez)

I noticed the second link for part two of ADwR is wrong! The right one:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=modules.Detail&id=4870

Eleni said...

Oh, I see. That's really frustrating that you can't get it. I assume they have ways of blocking you from buying the downloaded version as well? I don't know much about those things or how to get around them.

Well, hopefully you'll find some way to get it before long :)

Vanessita said...

Yes, they are selling it as download here, I found the page! But it's the same price, 50 dollars... gosh, I feel like a really sad, poor person complaining, but is it too much to expect a discount? There's no media, just the file! They don't even have the trouble to translate it, it's exactly the same product here and there, and yet, more expensive. Not to mention how easy it is to download it for free, so why do they make it so hard to be honest?
Anyway, one of the online shops I contacted received a new supply and I expect to be playing it by the next monday... (still mumbling about how amazon.uk sells mass effect for 7 dollars and here it's still 50...)
But thanks for the help! :)

Eleni said...

Glad you found it somewhere. A shame it costs so much. Hope you enjoy it!