Talk:Beloved/@comment-37586770-20181122043817

I've played through this game a dozen times and aside from the second time when I got Aelinore (I didn't give anyone the Bond, so it apparently chose her), I've always gotten who I want.

Of course, I'm a woman, playing a female Arisen, and despite the fact that I'm bi, I always, always choose male Beloveds. Usually Valmiro, because he's adorable and I love his story, and the scene on the beach is literally the sweetest thing ever.

Also, the animation with the goblins sort of fits his character better than most of the other male Beloved choices. It wouldn't surprise me if his entire character was created for women players who wanted to be "the hero," but are so tired of the overdone "helpless damsel in distress" trope you see in Aelinore.

And he's way more interesting than she is, anyway. She's a pampered little brat, while he's intelligent, curious, and ambitious. He's the male version of the helpless damsel in distress without being annoyingly stereotypical.

So he's my favorite, and who I choose most often.

But every time I've wanted a different guy, I've gotten him without a problem.

I'm wondering if there's a hidden metric for male Arisens, that makes it harder to override the "default" female characters and makes it too random to work. But for a female Arisen and male Beloved, it's always been super consistent. No rules about being the last one with max affinity, nothing.

Just do the character's quest if he has one, max out his affinity, and give him the Bond. I did this with Valmiro, Reynard, a random guard who looked mildly attractive, and Mason. Despite having maxed affinity with Quina, Mercedes, and a few other characters, the one I gave the Bond to was always the Beloved, no matter how "early" in the game I gave it to him.