ok, so i finished evil playthrough all the way to TOB with dorn, viconia, hexxat, korgan and edwin.
first let me say, i'm now officially disappointed. dorn is an interesting character with lot of potential but:
romance track is WAY too short.
in those 10 lovetalks or so, that take about four clicks to go through, there are one-two that perhaps offer some substantial information. dorn reveals no background (let's ignore the bg:ee since it is a separate game), no layers to his character (ironically, he even warns about this in one of his lovetalks) and almost no worthwhile thought beside his power obsessions.
this is also the greatest weakness i see: he is so very one-dimensional with his desires and seems incapable of thinking beyond acquisition of power (as opposed to possible applications, meanings and forms of power, if that simply must be all he thinks about) and slaughter (since there is no other stuff to talk about in their uneventful journeys, is there).
it almost looks like somebody has cut out additional content that should have been there and left only stuff that concern this side of his character. like it or not, evil or not, time and casual fillers are necessary to make something feel believable, as original romances in bg2 have shown. i also find the talk with fighting a bit odd- nothing to lead to it and there is no conclusion to it (not necessarily apology).
after having sex, there is no morning after-comment, which also seems very artificial.
in short, all the important details that signify intimacy or evolution of relationship are simply non-present. i understand dorn is evil and is intended for evil charnames, but if those two are to be THE dark couple there has to be some measure of trust, intimacy and character development or adaptation (again, not toward good alignment). i imagine such twisted couple with all their nuances would be a real treat for a writer.
like i mentioned before, because of the described lack of the motivation and characterization i do not see why those two are lovers beyond occasional sex or where the final proclamation of love even comes from.
i understand if you wanted to avoid therapy sessions and wanted to pronounce the confidence and his focused character but the problem is that you offered nothing in return. TOB has TWO love-talks for crying out loud, it simply ridiculous (not counting the gromnir warning and final talk).
next point-where are interjections? i counted a comment here or there in SOA,, still substantially less than original NPC's, many missed opportunities (like kangaxx, underdark kuo-toa altar and many more evil or otherwise themed encounters) but only two or three in TOB. He didn't notice a single thing in watchers keep, really disappointing. i will spare the rant how interjections make characters feel alive and such :/
in the end epilogues- non romanced version seems fine i think, romanced version and bhaalspawn is not a god is sad and bitter-tasting, i was hoping they could be rulers somewhere but it is what it is. what it bothers me is that there is no third epilogue for romanced dorn and ascension to goodhood, where some hint or mention of him becoming your proxy or something to that extent, since that such an overarching point those two times he actually talks in tob. (btw, the last talk before mellisan is really good, i wish for more things like that). epilogues also completely ignore his fallen or patronage status :/
i find more than occasional lack of voiced first line in lovetalks disturbing since first line is ALWAYS voiced, so integrations is not completely seamless.
so in terms of character interaction if he had more content than original paper thin npc's in bg, he now has comparable less than original bg2 npc's. unfortunatly it doesn't "even out" in my opinion. these are separate games with separate interaction mechanics.
on the other hand, quests are very well done, the one in TOB seems a bit simplistic (although saemon part is GREAT. i only wish there was a way to watch him get killed and knowing it was bhaalspawn who set him up. excellent addition). it was nice to see him obedient to ur-gothoz and plotting to get out of the deal.
it actually is nice to have some evil quests to do, and i understand the quests are a part of character content, although they cannot be considered a compensation for lack of the lovetalks.
dorn has a GREAT voice actor and some great lines. those few times that he is good, he shows a lot of potential as a really interesting, charismatic, focused character. i liked how serious and passionate he seemed at times, i really wish that was explored and played with. PC responses are at times simply great i really, really appreciate the humor there. great writing.
EDIT: just to mention i really wanted to enjoy it and i really did a lot in some places, but there is not enough to make it a completely satisfying experience.
so yeah, i'm complaining because in this state, dorn remains a very good, promising sketch for a character with nice quests and nice evil addition to the party. if you look for another party member he is all well and good, but as a romance interest... not so much, he is simply not up to existing romances. i suspect i hold unpopular opinion and am in the minority, but i needed to voice my thoughts on this since i invested so much mental energy into the forums and the game over this year and half. i had expectations so maybe it's my own fault for getting dissapointed in the end.
on the other hand, does anybody plan to do a mod with additional romance content and flirt packs for the new characters? maybe even add some of the talks from bg:ee to bg2:ee to make characters feel more realized? have developers thought to release character expansions?