From the Arthurian romance of Guinevere and Lancelot which was based in the concept of courtly love...gone too far, all the way to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the bittersweet love of Arwen and Aragorn. Romance played an important part of the original Baldur's Gate series and led to some of the more intriguing party interactions that has become a genre staple. A magic sauce in which a game springs to life. It's an aspect that can add an alternative motivation and provide a respite from endless combat and shallow loot focus.
I dont't disagree that well implimented romance can be greatly beneficial to the adventure, and defining of your character - interactions with companions (and that includes romance and all the drama that follows) are things which draw me in when I played BG2 back in the day.
Oddly enough, I am most fond of those early Infinity Engine romances. While, ekhm, range of available romance might have been heavily limiting roleplaying options, I did feel that BG2 and Planescape did give enough space for their dating moments to feel genuine and engaging. As games gave more control to players over how relationships progres and made more and more companions romancable, thing took a turn into artificial and absurd. Late Bioware adventures turned into weird soap operas where every creature you meet wants the piece of PC.
Deadfire has some neat concepts, tying romances into players reputation and relationship system, but it didn't quite work. Especially on launch.
What I don't need is an awkward token sex scene. Which I am not worried about getting. Whatever worries I have about Larian, I am sure they will come up with something creative. I want more of "winning Shani over" from Heart of Stone, and less "gratitious boat sex with Shani" from Heart of Stone.
