So I've been scourging through the Creation Kit and noticed that from the very beginning Serana has two sets of dialogue - normal and those that come only when she likes you. I've only been getting the first ones. For example, when you go to Volkihar for the first time she says:

"I know your friends would probably want to kill everything in here. I'm hoping you can show some more control than that. Once we're inside, just keep quiet for a bit. Let me take the lead."

That's the normal line you get. Pretty cold and all with no developer notes. But then there's this one:

"I just need to be alone. For a while. There's a lot of feelings wrapped up in this old place, and I don't think you're quite ready for them. So let me take the lead in there."

With the developer note:

like the early phase of a relationship where you don't want to show all your crazy to the other person yet

And when you respond to her innuendo later on during the Moth priest quest, you typically get this line:

Serana: "Turns out you don't learn much from just sleeping with something."

Player: "Are you saying you want to learn more about me?"

Serana: "Not at this rate, no."

But with high disposition you would get this line:

Player: "Are you saying you want to learn more about me?"

Serana: "I guess you'll never get to find out."

With the developer comment: this is flirty, not dismissive

So how do you gotta treat her to get these lines? I'm rather curious if it's even possible to get these lines so early on since I sure have never seen them in-game, even in some Lets Plays that I've watched. I went for all the positive lines ("Are you alright?" and such) but I still get the neutral responses.

Given that I plan on having Serana as a main follower for this playthrough I find myself obsessing over small details like these. I had to reload an earlier save and put my character on hold until I resolve this

Use console commands to set her disposition higher.

But I want to do it through legit ways. I abused console commands so much back in the day that it killed my interest in the whole game for months and now I feel awfully guilty every time I hit § (that's ~ for Anglos).

You have played this game more than the rest of us combined. Have you managed to get these "better" dialogues?

Probably should belong in the spoiler section, but I have gotten both "you want to learn about me" versions before. I think it is how you treat her in the first encounter, just after leaving Dimhollow, just before entering Castle Volkihar, and the encounter at Fort Dawnguard: treat her harshly, you get the dismissive response and vice versa for treating her kindly.

I never got the one with the "I want to be left alone part" before entering .

*in some way ways, she reminds me of Dean Domino where you have to be careful with your characters choice of words; otherwise he reacts negatively towards the end of DM.

Nope.
Maybe they cut quite a bit of Dawnguard content.


Try dropping armour and see if she asks for it. I think that makes NPCs become friends with the player character.

I've never had that dialogue before. Maybe it was never implemented correctly?

I have always chosen the sympathetic dialogue with Serana and have always gotten the same, neutral responses. Does my speechcraft have to be higher (as it has always been relatively low when I began the DG MQ)?

Or perhaps the dialogue was never recorded by the voice actress and thus was never included in the game? I don't have the PC version, so I can't see for myself.

NPCs will ask for armor if you drop it?

They will sometimes even kill each other over it

I do know both version of "you want to learn more about me" is available. Unfortunately I do not remember the proper sequence of getting the flirty response from her, other than where ever you are with her, you do need to keep talking it seems.

It's like the "marriage proposal" dialogue; if you do not keep talking to her, you'll miss that option.

I think I have heard the "I geuss You'll never get to find out" line before, but I have never heard the other dialogue option for Volikhar Castle. I have tried to get all of the extra dialogue options that I know exist with Serana

EDIT I hate to admit that I find Her an annoyance anymore when I play, but when Dawngaurd was Shiny and New

I have GOT to see that.

Huh. Is that how you get the marriage dialogue to appear? By just talking a lot?

She is a very talkative gal. Talk to her before and after going into places/encounters. I'm still finding new ones, the latest in the Soul Cairn (after talking with Valerica the first time, but before fighting Durnehvir (sp?).

Huh. I have talked lots to her in previous saves, but never got marriage dialogue. I guess I have to be more chatty with the little cutie, even though I will just get shot down.

So no one ever got the good option when coming to Volkihar? Sounds like I got to get off my ass and start modding. I have no idea how to mod such things but I'm a quick learner.

I can see that people get the innuendo dialogue right, but seems that the Volkihar bit comes too early so you won't be able to gather enough points to trigger it. I'll need to lower the conditions a bit.

EDIT: Now I know what it's about. You need to be a vampire! Lame. I'm going to be a vampire anyway in two minutes why did Beth insist on such a silly condition. Who even becomes a normal vampire before doing Dawnguard?

I'm gonna state the obvious. Just treat her nicely..

if im looking to join volkihar i would prefer to become a vampire first but then thats my POV. becoming vampire after that quest doesnt feel right to me

Not at all. You need to realize that Skyrim had been out for nine months by the time Dawnguard was released. A great many players had been playing vampire characters by then. I would guess that this dialogue was meant to take these players into account.

I suppose so. Perhaps I'm going to reload my game to even before I started Dawnguard so I can become a Vampire before rescuing Serana. I take my RP to absurd lengths at times but it keeps me connected to my characters.

My last Volkihar vampire was already a vampire. Harkon says I caught a disease.

Gotcha. Ask her when she mentions being lonely when we get there? Did'na realize that...

Yeah I reloaded 2 hours away and made my character a vampire. My soul will finally find peace.

Me. One of my characters goes straight for the nearest vampire cave and gets bitten

It's a super power in Skyrim, why wouldn't you become one ASAP?

I honestly think it's a race thing. With my Nord and Imperial she was seriously flirty while with my Altmer and Orc she was a total cow. Haven't done DG with a Redguard yet.

She'll probably be scared of your Redguard's 'Curved Sword' after what happened to her all those years ago.