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[6.4] DANCING
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OVERVIEW
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This is considered by most players to be the most difficult minigame, and in
many ways it is. It requires more reflexes than sword fighting, that's for
sure. However, unlike sword fighting, dance sequences aren't entirely random.
There are set patterns in each dance and the real trick to getting good at
dancing is to learn them. The better you know the patterns, the less you have
to rely on reflexes to get through, and the better you will perform as a
result.

In a dance, you watch the hand signals the governor's daughter gives you to
know which move to make next. Do it in time and you will perform the move with
some degree of grace; if you time it perfectly you will add a flourish and
look particulary elegant. Don't press anything in time or press the wrong
button, and you'll stumble and get everybody's attention for all the wrong
reasons. During the dance, a heart symbol at the top of the screen symbolizes
how charmed the daughter is; this is determined directly by your performance
on the dance floor. At the end, there are three possible outcomes based on how
well you did:

- If you danced poorly, the daughter will be annoyed and turn her back on you.
No reward.
- If you danced moderately well, the daughter will let you kiss her hand and
you get a reward based on her beauty.
- If you danced very well, you will sweep the daughter up in an embrace, and
get a better reward (but still based on her beauty).

It goes without saying (or does it?) that beautiful daughters are harder to
please. Their dances are more complicated, and they're also less forgiving of
mistakes. The difficulty level also factors into the complexity of each dance,
and in how difficult the timing is. Practice with plain looking daughters on
Apprentice while you're getting the hang of it, then gradually set your sights
higher.

You have six different dance steps available to you, under the 8, 2, 4, 6, 1
and 3 keys. The governor's daughter will show you in advance every time which
you have to press; on lower difficulty levels, the right icon will also flash
in the bottom right of the screen. The right time to press the button is just
after the daughter finishes her hand gesture, or exactly when the icon flashes.
If you'd rather work with the music, the right time to press the button is
exactly on the beat after the daughter gestures. If you get the timing right,
you will do a flourish; if you're off, you will still do the move correctly but
without a flourish.

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PATTERNS
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Each dance is built up from a number of different patterns. Which ones appear
and in which order is random, but once a pattern starts it will be finished.
Thus, by learning the patterns, you can often predict which moves will come
next. And when only the first one or two steps of each pattern is dependent
on your reflexes and you reproduce the rest from memory, you will be able to
dance well even if your timing isn't all that. The patterns are as follows:

BASIC SIDE-TO-SIDE
4-6-4-6, or 6-4-6-4. The two often follow each other, so you get things like
4-6-4-6-6-4-6-4. Not guaranteed, but on especially on Apprentice that is a very
common one. Timing on these is standard and easy to get right.

BASIC PIROUETTE
1-1-1-1 or 3-3-3-3. Always four in a row, with standard timing. Once a pattern
starts with a pirouette it is guaranteed to be this pattern; there aren't any
others that start this way.

ADVANCED PIROUETTE
This one mixes the two previous patterns, and is either 4-3-4-3-4-3-4-3 or the
opposite, 6-1-6-1-6-1-6-1. You can recognize this pattern by the fact that it
runs faster than the basic side-to-side. If you just came out of another
pattern and you immediately get a cue to do a 4 or a 6 without any pause, it'll
be this one, not the basic side-to-side. The pattern runs twice as fast as the
previous two.

BASIC MARCHE
8-1-1-8-1-1, guaranteed. There is no mirrored variant of this one. You
recognize this, of course, by the fact that it starts with an 8. It starts
after a brief pause just like the other patterns (barring the advanced
pirouette), but it runs at double speed. There is another pause halfway, so it
is more like P-8-1-1-P-8-1-1.

ADVANCED MARCHE
8-2-1-1-2-8-3-3. The most complicated pattern you'll be getting, and
annoyingly, you can't tell it apart from the basic one until the second step,
which will be 2 instead of the 1 you expect. The whole pattern is at double
speed, so you need to go through it quickly. This one *will* trip you up the
first few times, but once you've gotten it memorized, you will be able to get
a good number of flourishes out of it.

This is all the patterns you'll be seeing on Apprentice and Journeyman. I
think I saw some different ones on higher levels, but they were rare and I
might just have been confused. More info on those as I get it.

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MORE HELP
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If you just can't get the patterns right, there are a few things you can do
to make dancing easier:

- If you press the wrong button and you know it, immediately press the right
one after. Your character will correct; you lose the chance at a flourish no
matter how good your timing is, but you will not stumble. In fact, it appears
that if you just mash several keys and the right one is among them, often the
game will accept the move as correct. This isn't a good way to learn to dance,
but it's nice to know the catchnet is there.

- Pick the Wit and Charm "skill" at the start of the game. This skill will
increase the time you get to make each move. You'll still stumble if you do it
wrong, but you can get away with sloppier timing. Flourishes still require
perfect timing, however.

- The Calfskin Boots item, or even better the Dancing Slippers, give you a set
% chance to make a correct move even if you press the wrong button or take too
long to press one. They'll help reduce the number of mistakes you make. Get
them from mysterious travellers or as a bribe from criminals.

- Some people have reported good results from pausing the game (shift-P) every
time the governor's daughter gives her cue, watching what she's indicating,
then unpausing and immediately doing the movie. They even manage to get a lot
of flourishes with this approach. It's not entirely fair, but you could try
this if you really can't get it right otherwise, and perhaps you'll find it
useful as a learning aid when you're still getting used to the dancing.

Most of all, though, practice makes perfect. All of us struggled with this when
we started, and many of us have gotten very good at it just by doing it over
and over. Never pass up a chance to dance with a governor's daughter, and
you will learn before you know it.

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OUTCOME
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Dancing properly with a daughter will initiate or advance your romance subplot
with her, and comes with various rewards as well. Refer to paragraph 7.7 on
romance for the whole story.