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Board Index » Loren The Amazon Princess » Who is the best Love Interest?
krisslanza Nov 28, 2012
Yes they're cool indeed. Maybe will be able to do some tattoo-story also on some female character :)

The future will tell!
SpectralTime Nov 28, 2012
Honestly? From the boring, industry-standard, straight male perspective?



I liked Loren best.



There's nothing really WRONG with Myrth, though her voice acting occasionally grated, I just found her romance arc a little... rushed. And, although I didn't really mind Chambara's arc, the ending was a little... meh.



But, really, I liked Loren's best. It seemed to gel best with the overall plot, and it seemed believable in both the cultural constraints on both participants and their reactions to a slowly-developing relationship.



I just wish she were actually noticeably taller and bigger like the game script says she should be, because, to be uncomfortably frank, I've rather a thing for the woman being taller than the man.
jack1974 Nov 29, 2012
Well the problem with 2d games is that is hard to represent in every scene correctly each character dimension, since you could have some zoom-in effect and so on :)
SpectralTime Nov 29, 2012
It's coo, man.



...But we have no trouble telling that the dwarves areSHUT UP, NO TALKING BACK.
gino Dec 01, 2012
Ahh strong women 8)

That's what I liked most of WW games and in particular the two RPGs, Planet Stronghold and Loren. In PS we have Rebecca and of course Shiler (I like to consider her a woman). On Loren, I love Loren and Karen. Is quite refreshing from the classic stereotypes often seen in manga games of the "mary sue" female characters. Props to WW and their writers for bringing such awesome characters to life!
okiness Dec 15, 2012
oh nooo its that girl from hanako's forum get her out of here before she starts talking about the demon guy



My favorite is Rei! His feels the most natural out of everyone.
Dizzard Dec 25, 2012
I just got this game today.



As much as I do find romances in these type of games interesting, I tend to shy away from romantic actions in games these days because I can't be bothered dealing with characters feeling betrayed and having hissy fits. Is there a certain heart ranking (on the top right of camp screen) where characters start taking offence to you flirting with other people?



I'm tempted to go down the Karen or Rei routes for Elenor though....but that's only a thought. Mainly because I haven't met this Rei character yet (although I've seen a picture of him) and I kinda feel like I might have missed the boat with Loren already.



Do you have to do every romantic interaction with a character for them to get involved? If you miss a few is that alright?
jack1974 Dec 25, 2012
No you don't need to do every romantic interaction! But check this exhaustive romance guide that Aleema wrote for more info: http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2329
Xylina Dec 26, 2012
Rei is my favorite out of all the romances I've tried with Elenor, (I just need to finish Loren's and Karen's romances). Forceful Harem Spy Elenor with him is simply delicious.
dyaebl Jan 04, 2013
I have just finished this game once again, this time with Castle of N'Mar expansion and Mesphit romance. I must say, when I played Loren for the first time, I was suprised that I couldn't romance this demon dark elf, so yah, through my last gameplay I had really enjoy being able to get my Elenor close to him. :D

But I didn't expect how this all romance thing turned out. I'm still shocked and deep inside I have feeling that I didn't have a chance to see the true side of Mesphit. It's kinda disappointing, but hey, it's still a good stuff to write about in a sequel, eh? :D

That's why I chose Rei in this poll. Even if it's been months passed after I finished this game with Elenor&Rei romance, I'm still coming back to the Achievments menu and I'm keeping to enjoy "The Oath" scene. <3

But Mesphit is second on my list, and if I'll be able to romance both of them in a sequel, I'll do so. :D Maybe even Mesphit as a first character to romance, because I'm so looking forward to see his "true self". :D
P_Tigras Jan 05, 2013
My 2 cents on the romances available in the game from my straight male perspective:



B-G



Myrth - The elder druid's unending apologies during battle got annoying very quickly. She came across as a fragile hothouse flower who quickly wilts when exposed to the real world. I really wanted to like her, and at times I did, for a little while. Then she'd start whining or fainting again and I'd start wondering why we brought her along again. Her bleeding heart naivete,


like with the baby demon at the end,

 didn't help any either. It made it hard to get into the romance. I tended to think of her as more of a child than a woman.



Chambara - This bad girl on the outside, gooey good girl on the inside was rather intriguing. The B-G version of the ending however was rather frustrating. Wasting decades chasing endlessly after a game-playing witch who can't make up her mind is not my idea of a happy ending. Speaking for myself only, I'd have eventually gotten tired of her unwillingness to commit and parted ways. Thanks for the magic lessons though!



Loren - As has been commented upon previously, the tall man-hating lesbian amazon who is somewhat tamed over time by the right man is a bit of a cliche. Nevertheless I don't think amazons are as much of a cliche as countless others that run rampant in fantasy literature. It's just that Amazons get extra attention because they flip the gender equity imbalance. Of the boy-girl romances, Loren came across as my favorite. Despite the initial rocky start, the relationship had a definite arc to it as Loren's views evolved and both characters grew closer together. The Loren-Saren ending was also my favorite in the game.



G-G



Chambara's commitment issues disappear if your character is female. Instead of continually running away she invites you to live with her. That's a big plus. Nevertheless the G-G Chambara CG scene is also the most eye-popping of them all. I don't personally have an issue with BDSM however, and Chambara didn't seem to abuse her power in what was otherwise a loving relationship so I was fine with it. And no, I don't consider that sort of consentual love-play between two adults in the privacy of the bedroom abusive if it's safe and turns them both on. This ended up being my favorite of the G-G relationships simply because it was so deliciously wicked.



Loren - G-G Loren begins more smoothly than B-G Loren since she doesn't start out contemptuous of women the way she does with men. Otherwise the relationship progresses similarly, except with a little more tenderness and significantly less resistance on the part of Loren. The ending where


Loren gets killed in a challenge

 is a bit of a downer however. You don't get that with the B-G Loren or with Karen as the queen. So I went with the happy kinky couple above over this bittersweet ending for my favorite G-G relationship.



Karen was the main reason why I decided to play G-G. I was sad I couldn't romance her as Saren. She was an interesting character with an interesting story, and an interesting ending. I liked her a lot, but she didn't impact me as significantly as Chambara or Loren. Nevertheless, she certainly did a better job of getting over her issues than Myrth did, despite starting out at rock bottom. Like Mesphit, she's something of a reclamation project, but far less hopeless. Her relationship with Elenor was touching.



G-B



These I've only played into Chapter 4. I haven't gotten around to the CG scenes or the endings yet, so my opinions on these are preliminary.



Mesphit - The brooding, somewhat broken, angst-filled male is a romance novel staple, and I recognize that that many gals seem to have a strong attraction to this sort. Mesphit's commanding lead in the poll bears that out. As a male myself however, I have no patience for other men like that. Even when he's not murdering innocent Cyclopses, he still comes across as too high maintenance to me. Mesphit, call me once you've gotten your emotions straightened out. Until then I'm not going to trust you and your demonic urges anywhere near my little Elenor.



Rei - I like Rei. Yeah, he's annoyingly arrogant and aloof in the beginning, but it's pretty obvious to me as a fellow male that it's all an act to hide his own angst, which he graciously doesn't try to inflict on Elenor. I'll take his male bravado over Mesphit's issues any day. Once he started treating Elenor better and helping her to learn elven culture, I started warming up to him. So he's my favorite G-B relationship.



Amukiki - The honorable barbarian slave gladiator champion is another cliche. It's far more overused than amazons, but it doesn't up-end the patriarchy so it doesn't get commented on as heavily. I never really could get into this one, or the way Elenor kept inexplicably going all wounded doe so he could appear so manly. She's a gifted magical healer and she couldn't heal her own twisted ankle? Uhuh. I rolled my eyes when he came back, picked her up and started carrying her.



B-B



Not my cup of tea. I'll leave commenting on these relationships to those who are interested enough to pursue them.
vexingaura Jan 07, 2013
My 2 cents on the romances available in the game from my straight male perspective:





G-B



These I've only played into Chapter 4. I haven't gotten around to the CG scenes or the endings yet, so my opinions on these are preliminary.



Mesphit - The brooding, somewhat broken, angst-filled male is a romance novel staple, and I recognize that that many gals seem to have a strong attraction to this sort. Mesphit's commanding lead in the poll bears that out. As a male myself however, I have no patience for other men like that. Even when he's not murdering innocent Cyclopses, he still comes across as too high maintenance to me. Mesphit, call me once you've gotten your emotions straightened out. Until then I'm not going to trust you and your demonic urges anywhere near my little Elenor.



Rei - I like Rei. Yeah, he's annoyingly arrogant and aloof in the beginning, but it's pretty obvious to me as a fellow male that it's all an act to hide his own angst, which he graciously doesn't try to inflict on Elenor. I'll take his male bravado over Mesphit's issues any day. Once he started treating Elenor better and helping her to learn elven culture, I started warming up to him. So he's my favorite G-B relationship.


I apologise for the quote but Tigras said everything I wanted to see myself however I don't think the amazon cliché is overused in terms of the games industry but Mesphit despite the love you poured into his character I just couldn't bring myself to feel the same way as I try to imagine it from Elenor's point of view I just felt he is a little too much. The man for my Elenor was Rei everytime I think you do the bad boy characters really well also love how in Heileen 3 that Morgan is number one though to be fair he was a little too awesome for his competition. Not to say the others are bad I like all your characters for what they are but in Heileen 3 Morgan is the man! Anyway back to Loren there were only two characters I just couldn't like as unfortunately I had seen their kind too much before so I couldn't appreciate them as much, these are just personal feeling and not criticism and it was Draco and Mesphit. I can't say I am not disappointed he has become number one but I guess we will be seeing much more of him now he is the favourite but what I love most about you as game developers is your commitment to your fans so I can’t complain.



However in the end my personal favourite romance might be Karen I felt her romance was the most unique and had the most impact I have never really seen that kind of romance personally before and I have yet to meet one as unique. Favourite character was easily Loren by a long way and I love her to bits and she made a lot of impact for me as I am not sure if other posters are aware but sexism was a big issue in the gaming industry last year. The argument is there are barely any strong female characters in games and I think Loren is a very strong character as she does what she can and truly has the most development of all the characters. I also loved how she had moments of doubt as her world view changed and wasn’t afraid to rely on others when she needed help it allowed the players of the game to interact with her more easily as a character. If I had more power in the gaming industry I would actually suggest Loren as a text book example of how a strong female lead should be.



Also on a final note I hope you don't over extent yourselves with the 24 planned romances in the sequel, I am not doubting your capabilities of course its just it will be damn hard having to do that many to the same level of quality of the romances in this game. Anyway thank you so much for the game and keep up the superb work. :)
jack1974 Jan 08, 2013
Favourite character was easily Loren by a long way and I love her to bits and she made a lot of impact for me as I am not sure if other posters are aware but sexism was a big issue in the gaming industry last year. The argument is there are barely any strong female characters in games and I think Loren is a very strong character as she does what she can and truly has the most development of all the characters. I also loved how she had moments of doubt as her world view changed and wasn’t afraid to rely on others when she needed help it allowed the players of the game to interact with her more easily as a character. If I had more power in the gaming industry I would actually suggest Loren as a text book example of how a strong female lead should be.

In my games I always try to put strong female characters (of course NOT all of them, otherwise would be a bit unrealistic). Fun thing is that because of the risquè art the game was labeled as sexist by some people (who of course didn't even play it for 30 seconds and only judged from screenshots).

Also on a final note I hope you don't over extent yourselves with the 24 planned romances in the sequel, I am not doubting your capabilities of course its just it will be damn hard having to do that many to the same level of quality of the romances in this game. Anyway thank you so much for the game and keep up the superb work. :)

Well remember that 24 includes both parts, the sequel will be divided into two parts :) first one will have 16, the second 8. Also for bisex romances many scenes can be reused luckily!
P_Tigras Jan 09, 2013

I apologise for the quote but Tigras said everything I wanted to see myself




Great minds think alike. :wink:


however I don't think the amazon cliché is overused in terms of the games industry


Oh I agree. For something that is sometimes called a cliche, it isn't used often at all. I think the two biggest issues people have with amazon stories are:



1) Amazons tend to be most often present in campy tv series or D-grade films, often depicted in unrealistic, but titillating ways. So people tend to think think camp when they see the word Amazon.

2) Fictional Amazons tend to follow the same formula, tall warrior lesbian brunettes who start out despising men but get somewhat "tamed" by events in the story.


but Mesphit despite the love you poured into his character I just couldn't bring myself to feel the same way as I try to imagine it from Elenor's point of view I just felt he is a little too much. The man for my Elenor was Rei everytime I think you do the bad boy characters really well also love how in Heileen 3 that Morgan is number one though to be fair he was a little too awesome for his competition. Not to say the others are bad I like all your characters for what they are but in Heileen 3 Morgan is the man! Anyway back to Loren there were only two characters I just couldn't like as unfortunately I had seen their kind too much before so I couldn't appreciate them as much, these are just personal feeling and not criticism and it was Draco and Mesphit. I can't say I am not disappointed he has become number one but I guess we will be seeing much more of him now he is the favourite but what I love most about you as game developers is your commitment to your fans so I can’t complain.


I'll second that.


However in the end my personal favourite romance might be Karen I felt her romance was the most unique and had the most impact I have never really seen that kind of romance personally before and I have yet to meet one as unique.


I liked the Karen romance a lot too. Had I arrived earlier in the development process for Loren 2, I might well have lobbied to make her a possible B-G romance option as well since we know she likes men too.



As a group, I thought the G-G romances were the most interesting. All three of them were rather intriguing in very different ways.


Favourite character was easily Loren by a long way and I love her to bits and she made a lot of impact for me as I am not sure if other posters are aware but sexism was a big issue in the gaming industry last year. The argument is there are barely any strong female characters in games and I think Loren is a very strong character as she does what she can and truly has the most development of all the characters. I also loved how she had moments of doubt as her world view changed and wasn’t afraid to rely on others when she needed help it allowed the players of the game to interact with her more easily as a character. If I had more power in the gaming industry I would actually suggest Loren as a text book example of how a strong female lead should be.


Loren vs Elenor/Saren made for a very interesting dynamic. If Loren was a bit too quick to resort to violence, Elenor/Saren was a bit too much of a bleeding heart. They complimented each other very, very well.


Also on a final note I hope you don't over extent yourselves with the 24 planned romances in the sequel, I am not doubting your capabilities of course its just it will be damn hard having to do that many to the same level of quality of the romances in this game. Anyway thank you so much for the game and keep up the superb work. :)


Agreed. On the plus side, 24 different planned romances give the authors room to cater to a variety of interests, not just the most popular ones. So there will likely be something for almost everyone.
jack1974 Jan 09, 2013

I liked the Karen romance a lot too. Had I arrived earlier in the development process for Loren 2, I might well have lobbied to make her a possible B-G romance option as well since we know she likes men too.

Well but later in the story she sees that as a weakness, a mistake. While it wouldn't be impossible that she fell in love again with a man, I think would be very difficult.
P_Tigras Jan 09, 2013

I liked the Karen romance a lot too. Had I arrived earlier in the development process for Loren 2, I might well have lobbied to make her a possible B-G romance option as well since we know she likes men too.

Well but later in the story she sees that as a weakness, a mistake. While it wouldn't be impossible that she fell in love again with a man, I think would be very difficult.


Not in the original tale, she'd been too recently burned. Nevertheless in the sequel her daughter has taken charge, freed the men, and changed the laws has she not? Furthermore the epilogue to the original states that Karen becomes an ambassador of sorts if both she and Loren survive. That means she'd continually be exposed to very different cultures whose customs would challenge her own views, just as they challenged Loren's. She'd get to see strong hetero couples in both the empire and among the elves, and those relationships would no doubt make her reassess the conclusion she drew. Finally sexual attraction is a powerful force in most peoples' lives, and Karen is wired to like men too. Her big mistake was trying to first hide, and then run away from her peoples' customs instead of using the power that she had as Queen to change them the way Loren did. Yes she displayed weakness, but it had nothing to do with the gender of her partner, and she seems level-headed enough to recognize that given ample time. She's never come across as rigid in her views.



From the diversity angle, being able to romance Karen affords an opportunity to have a relationship with an attractive older person.
SpectralTime Jan 12, 2013
The sense I got from the Romance response was that, rather than just thinking of it as a "weakness" or something, Karen didn't want to date Saren since the pain of her lover's death is just a bit too deep, and starting ANOTHER forbidden relationship with Saren would have been too much too fast, and too easily remind her of her lost love. With Elenor, there's a little more distance.



Also, the sequel already has WAAAAAY too many romances. What do you want to do, break Adjatha?



I think I liked the Loren romance BECAUSE it wasn't really about "taming" Loren. Loren is a Stock Fantasy Hero, brash and prone to thinking with the foot of steel at her belt but whose flaws arise from her naivety and immaturity, and are tempered with her better nature. The way I played it anyway, their courtship was about her maturing as a person rather than learning her place as a woman or anything like that. You could have reversed her gender and there would have been very little different about the character arc.
P_Tigras Jan 13, 2013
The sense I got from the Romance response was that, rather than just thinking of it as a "weakness" or something, Karen didn't want to date Saren since the pain of her lover's death is just a bit too deep, and starting ANOTHER forbidden relationship with Saren would have been too much too fast, and too easily remind her of her lost love. With Elenor, there's a little more distance.


I tend to agree, but when both the character and the author say the character sees it as a weakness, I'm not inclined to argue that specific point. :P


Also, the sequel already has WAAAAAY too many romances. What do you want to do, break Adjatha?


While I wouldn't say that it has way too many romances, I will certainly grant that it has plenty of them. And as I stated previously, I do believe it's a bit a late in the development process to lobby for a bi Karen, which I'd have preferred over Selith, but c'est la vie. I'm willing to play Elenor to explore that particular relationship experience.


I think I liked the Loren romance BECAUSE it wasn't really about "taming" Loren. Loren is a Stock Fantasy Hero, brash and prone to thinking with the foot of steel at her belt but whose flaws arise from her naivety and immaturity, and are tempered with her better nature. The way I played it anyway, their courtship was about her maturing as a person rather than learning her place as a woman or anything like that. You could have reversed her gender and there would have been very little different about the character arc.


Old tropes adjust to fit the times. It's no longer appropriate for an Amazon like Loren to be overtly tamed by a forceful male. Instead she comes to these realizations on her own as a fully actuated adult who makes her own choices and decisions. So in effect she's still tamed by her experiences which cause her to question and then change her initial beliefs. The major distinction is that there is no dominant male who is forcing her to change for her own good. It can not be denied however that her relationship with Saren/Elenor is the catalyst for many of her changing beliefs. So it's both very similar to the old trope, and different in one very important way at the same time.
jack1974 Jan 13, 2013

I tend to agree, but when both the character and the author say the character sees it as a weakness, I'm not inclined to argue that specific point. :P

Well I said that because is a dialogue I remember, but I don't remember every single scene of the game. What Spectraltime says makes perfectly sense :)


While I wouldn't say that it has way too many romances, I will certainly grant that it has plenty of them. And as I stated previously, I do believe it's a bit a late in the development process to lobby for a bi Karen, which I'd have preferred over Selith, but c'est la vie. I'm willing to play Elenor to explore that particular relationship experience.

What! 16 + 8 romances aren't way too many ?! :shock: if Aleema (the writer) read this... :lol:
P_Tigras Jan 13, 2013

I tend to agree, but when both the character and the author say the character sees it as a weakness, I'm not inclined to argue that specific point. :P

Well I said that because is a dialogue I remember, but I don't remember every single scene of the game. What Spectraltime says makes perfectly sense :)


So it sounds like we're all in agreement that while the original game would have been too soon for Karen to develop feelings for another man, having something develop in the sequel would have been workable. It's just that there are already plenty of romances slated for the sequel and we're already fairly well into the game's development.


While I wouldn't say that it has way too many romances, I will certainly grant that it has plenty of them. And as I stated previously, I do believe it's a bit a late in the development process to lobby for a bi Karen, which I'd have preferred over Selith, but c'est la vie. I'm willing to play Elenor to explore that particular relationship experience.

What! 16 + 8 romances aren't way too many ?! :shock: if Aleema (the writer) read this... :lol:


Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't Aleema choose to both include new romances and continue to develop the old ones? I recall reading something written by her about how continuing the old ones won't require as much effort as starting the new ones. I like the decision she made. Hopefully she isn't feeling overwhelmed and having second thoughts.



As far as I myself am concerned, the romances that most interest me are a more manageable subset of the total. In the original, the ones that I enjoyed most were Loren, Chambara and Karen. In the sequel, the new ones that have caught my eye are Jul and Lydia. The jury is still out on Lydia because you've told us so little about her, but we already know quite a bit about Jul, and I like what I know. 8)