#this scene has like an insane number of variables so hope this makes sense LOL

[northern-passage]

hello!

is it possible to accidentally lock out the potential for a romance by being too much of a dick??? i love lea but i also love the ability to be super antagonistic and bitter and only Slowly getting better, and also my hunter was. kinda a bitch after the wraith fight bc yknow OUCH and needing to lash out, but im a lil worried that lea hates her now even though i know it's still really early. but i also love this kind of really messy antagonistic slowburn dynamic, i'd just wanna know if it's possible to fuck it up too badly this early on and not be able to romance him? (in my game lea is a he that is)

i apologize if this is a question you get a lot, im just worried about trying to dig too deep for an answer in your blog and risk spoilers haha

thank you in advance! i'm already super hooked on this game <333

so at the end of the chapter you'll get a chance to talk to lea one on one, and it's a pretty big scene variation wise (it's the one i'm working on now and it's taking a while) and it will essentially be the final chance to keep yourself from being locked out of the romance, if you've been particularly aggressive.

i'll put this under a break for light spoilers, i'll just explain the current paths that will lock you out but be as vague as possible...

so like i said there are a lot of different versions of this scene - right now though the only way to lock out of lea's romance (at this point) is in the two Most Hostile scenes.

if you go with lea in blackwater, the way you will get it is:

reject their partner offer -> choose the "fuck lea" option at the bakery, which will then lock you out of the flirts in the temple

you won't get to talk about the fight until after lord duncan's intro, and then you'll be presented with a few options of how you want to move forward...

you can tell them you want to talk later

[redacted] (you will not be locked out... yet... but you are at the breaking point)

tell them to fuck off (you WILL be locked out if you choose this option)

say nothing

i'm still writing this scene but this is the outline. as for other variations of the scene (the versions where you went with lea to blackwater), they will vary in hostility depending on your previous choices, but again you can only be locked out in the hostile version. even if you have lashed out a few times, the game otherwise is going to assume you have been making some kind of effort (even if it's flimsy)

if you did not go with lea in blackwater, this scene will be slightly different, and take this with a grain of salt because i haven't outlined this variation yet but to get the lock out choice here you:

fight with lea in camp about going to blackwater -> decline their partner offer -> you will then get a more aggressive choice along with the others, that will essentially be the same as the other lock out choice in the other scene: fuck you, lea

so basically avoid any future choices that have the hunter saying "fuck you, lea" lmfao

all of the ROs have their breaking points, and i'm trying to make it obvious for each of them. there is more than one for most of them, so there is still a chance later down the line you may end up on bad terms, but again i'm doing my best to differentiate them from the rival options and make those choices obnoxiously hostile and cruel.... 😈