Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General romance in game - a doubt???

I'm sorry Darth if I've upset you (judging by your swearing). And I in no way meant to imply that you define romance as sexual by nature (this was the opposite of my intention). That comment was simply my effort to shed some light on how people's perceptions of what the artwork, title and definition of romance itself means will vary, and thus their implications are not some indisputable fact. It was also meant to raise the question of just what it is that people are expecting when they say 'romance' has been advertised. It was not a personal comment directed at you though I see how it could be interpreted that way, I could have been clearer in that regard.

And granted my last post was pretty circular in that it was more just asserting my point of view than substantiating it. I did say the art or title doesn't imply romance to ME, and had hoped that my mere disagreement would be pause for thought about what may be actually implied.

I don't believe the artwork or title necessarily implies romance at all.

Holding hands does not have to be a romantic gesture as it could be indicative of friendship, a familial bond, a begrudging cooperation to achieve a certain goal or some other example of complex human relationships. As Swen says in the RPS article, "..the holding hands has nothing to do with romance. You'll have to figure that out for yourself when you're playing the game."

I also don't think that red lipstick or showing skin on the female protagonist has to have anything to do with a romantic relationship with her male counterpart. Scarlett may enjoy wearing them, or may be trying to make herself attractive for other reasons than to appeal to Roderick. Or the artist may have just thought it looked hot/good. Are you really arguing that her lipstick and exposed skin show that she is in, or desires a romantic relationship?

The title, as previously discussed ITT, may mean something very different to the biblical and cultural interpretations of humanity's original sin, regardless of how strongly one associates defying god with adam and eve's subsequent change in relationship. It would be presumptuous to assume that the title implies romance in the game, considering the many story directions it could be taken that are only limited by our imagination. The title is interesting to me precisely because of the complexity of the cultural associations and because I doubt the writers are aiming for something so trite as to make the game correlate exactly to common interpretations of its cultural meaning.


I think they are deliberately playing with perceptions and cultural associations for narrative purposes, which is a very different thing and a common literary device. Of course we will understand their full intent better once we have played the game.




*Edited for punctuation translating from a word doc.