Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Can we stop talking about the sexual orientation of the companions please?

I might be majorly overstepping my bounds here, so call me out if I'm out of line, but this talk about companions' orientations has been genuinely upsetting. I might just be sensitive, (and I am, my outer shell is easily crackable like that of an egg), but it's kinda getting to the point where it's feeling really unsafe and not very fun. I am all for more camaraderie/friendliness options with companions/advocation for that, and even agree that some of the dialogue prompts can be a little misleading at times, but what does adding those options have to do with sexual orientation?

Allowing people to voice unpopular opinions is one thing, and I don't want to silence real discussion, but a lot of it doesn't feel like that. It feels more like a witchhunt to remove the "obvious gays" from your camp with just enough plausible deniability as to be semi-untouchable.

Sorry if this is too much, but I just want to see people's ideas and experiences with the game, to enjoy bg3, without being smacked in the face with irl discourse about how you feel about gay people.

I actually do agree though that the game should have options to terminate the romance' stuff per npc, BG2 had this - if you told a romanceable npc to stfu they would and romance options would stop.

I did enjoy the competition and jealousy between aerie / viconia / jaheira a lot in BG2, mostly always went with aerie cos she was the nicest, and apparently the cannon choice as in the lore the bhaalspawn and aerie eventually have a child.

One thing I hated about BG2 was all the romanceable male companions were ick and terrible.

RIght, and I can totally get behind that. I don't think romance should be shoved down anyone's throat. However, at least to me, that is more an issue with the general way romance works and not whatever people feel the sexual orientation of the characters is/should be.

I'm more uncomfortable with the advocacy for Larian to "say who's gay and who's not" on the basis of the feeling that seems to be behind that sort of rhetoric.

And yet exactly this kind of deterministic sexuality is one part of the reason why imo the Kingmaker and even Wrath companions are much better than the BG3 ones.

I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure what to do with this thread. It is valid for the OP to feel that the conversation about companion sexuality in some other threads was making them uncomfortable, but I had also already asked people to stop talking about it in those threads so I'm not entirely sure of the point of creating a separate thread to say that. Plus it opens up the debate that I'd asked to be closed in a different place, given that whenever you make a point you are effectively prompting responses and disagreement.

The OP has made their feelings clear and I will leave this post here, but I'm going to lock the thread on the basis that it's talking about something in other threads that I'd already asked people to stop. If anyone continues in those threads, or says anything else that appears to contravene forum rules on making these forums a safe, friendly space for everyone regardless of sexuality, then please report to me and I will delete offending posts and consider timing out users not complying with moderator requests.

On the other hand, it is valid to discuss the approach to companion sexuality in the game, though given it is a potentially sensitive topic that touches on people's real lives it is a difficult one and will likely require very active moderation. That is why I have asked for it to be kept separate and said that if anyone wants to start a new thread on that topic it should be thoughtful and constructive.