Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Minthara romance broken & Shadowheart issues

Let me start by saying that early in Act 1 I had used an external program to modify my romance flags, because I realized that I was already locked in a romance (and excluded from all others) very early on. This was some time ago, I don't remember the details but I think the lock-in might have been a bug in itself. In any case, I had no issues since I did that. I could be in multiple romances and they proceeded just fine.

In Act 1 I romanced Lae'zel, then broke it off with her and romanced Shadowheart. Not much happened in Act 2, but the whole situation wasn't exactly conductive to romances - not to mention Shadowheart's more pressing concerns. I had decided to break it off and romance Minthara to the end. Here is what happened at the start of Act 3 (first long rest, very soon after starting):

- At first, Minthara wanted to talk to me at the camp (presumably after raising her approval of me), and we basically full-out proclaimed our love.
- I went to talk to Shadowheart after that, intending to break it off. Instead, Shadowheart did the breaking up on her own.
- Minthara had promised me that this night there would be nothing else but us, extremely strongly hinting at a romance scene. But of course other events, and other scenes, played out that night.
- Because of that, I long rested again very shortly to see if I was going to get something now that the story scene was out of the way. Instead, Minthara accused me of cheating on her and I was now locked out of any romance.

After reloading the start of Act 3:

- I long rested to get the story scenes out of the way.
- I broke it off with Shadowheart.
- Only then I talked to Minthara.
- Still didn't get any scene with her at night.
- I kept playing. Shadowheart made it clear that she was still hung up on me - which must suck for her, but I thought was a nice detail making her character more real.
- All was going well, then at another long rest Minthara once again accused me of cheating.

I read that other players have this issue too, and that it is a recent bug that happens when you raise Minthara's approval. I still don't know if there should have been a romance scene that night.
At some point during all this, don't remember exactly when but it was after I had reloaded the first time, Shadowheart said a line from the Act 1 scene, something about the wine.

Right now I am not sure if I am with Minthara or not (it sure feels like not), and I'd rather not play several more hours if something is broken, as this is my first playthrough of the game. In fact I started Act3 determined to reload as little as possible and read nothing at all about it, but since this felt immediately wrong and important, here we are.

Appreciate any help or any statements from Larian about the situation, please no Act 3 spoilers (except the very early events, if necessary).

Oh man, that’s rough. It’s why I beeline very specifically for one person during an entire playthrough. Because I’m afraid that the game will get confused (or lock off the romance option that I really want), because it so easily can. I don’t have any suggestions, other than restarting the game (or restarting from an earlier save) and taking the beeline approach.

It’s kind of weird that, with as much flirting as you can do, the game gets confused so easily about what romance you do ultimately settle on. It kind of discourages you from engaging in flirting except with one person. The nice thing about starting over or starting from an earlier save is that, at least for me, the game has so much content to explore that you’re always discovering new stuff and it’s not tedious to replay it.

That is pretty much what happened in Act 1 for me, yes. It did feel like a glitch, because the lock-in point wasn't obvious at all, and it was way too early in the game. I don't think it would be intended to work this way.

But the thing with Minthara acting like I had cheated came out of nowhere, I wasn't in any romance nor did I have any such interactions with anyone. Others say it is a bug, too.

I’m sure it is a bug. I’m not familiar with romancing Minthara, but I think that in Shadowheart’s case, engaging with any other companion romantically removes the dialogue option that would initiate a romance with her. (This happened when I kissed Karlach, for example, in act 1. The Shadowheart option was no longer available. Like literally the dialogue option that was there to initiate her romance disappeared.) Which isn’t clear at all, if you’re just going through the game. So yeah, there’s simultaneously the encouragement to flirt with everyone but also the unpredictable game reactions to that locking you out of certain things.

I think that’s a problem on par with the game discouraging long rests due to a sense of urgency, but simultaneously needing to have a lot of long rests to see cutscenes that flesh out the characters. For example, I can very easily take five long rests before even going to the Grove (and doing its initial battle) and see unique content every time. In the same way that that is counterintuitive, the romance system is a bit counterintuitive. It seems like it’s better to do the opposite of what the game is encouraging or discouraging you to do, weirdly. I don’t know if others will agree, that’s just my opinion.

I think it’s worth reporting the Minthara thing as a bug and yeah, honestly, the only thing to do might be to “clean slate” it because it’s hard to say where exactly it went wrong. You could try killing all of the companions who she thinks you might have cheated on her with, but I have no idea if that would fix the problem. Just the fact that you previously had romantic interactions with others, even though you don’t have those right now, may have bugged things.

I think I will take a break from the game for a few days, but I might actually start another playthrough waiting for this to be resolved. It sucks to want to play while knowing that the game will only get better as time passes lol.

Let's not take this off topic, but good point about the long rests. I am used to it by now, but early on in the game taking rests felt 'out of sync', so to speak, with how events played out in the world. With very few exceptions, attrition is the main reason for your party to rest, not story, and this often ends up being (or at least feeling) necessary at times that don't feel appropriate. Spending finite resources, abundant as supplies may be, sends the message that long rests should be conserved as well. But the game really needs you to to long rest quite often in order to experience the story properly. Especially throughout Act 1.

Hello OP! I've seen the cheating issue brought up several times today and I can confirm it is a Minthara-specific bug, but it seems to only happen for some. If you have the time, would you mind sending a bug report to Larian through the site or the launcher and attach your save file? I'm very disappointed to see that Minthara has never been truly fixed since release and your report could encourage them to fix this. Taking a break from the game is wise btw, the issues this game has can really take you out of the immersion sometimes.

Yup I mean there’s so many problems with the game right now that I think it’s smart to take a break. That’s what I’m doing. I’m just going to brainstorm for a new playthrough until they fix all of the broken kiss animations and add hugs for Shadowheart (which are apparently coming down the pipe based on new material added but not activated in the latest patch). I hope they give Minthara some more love and care as well, and fix the obvious bugs in her romance arc, soon!