This is the product of listening to consumers who are convinced that they know best and giving into silly demands to placate them.
There were way too many young entitled guys who were salty that their only female romance options were pragmatic, dutiful, and not "traditionally attractive" Lae'zel and standoffish snarky Shadowheart.
They attacked the forums in droves because it messed with their fantasy that all women should act vulnerable and do everything within their power to be as appealing to men as possible.
What we have now are watered down and confused followers who constantly feel like they're holding something back and pitying you because they're doing their best to be kind.
It comes off as condescending and inconsistent. Shadowheart in particular went from being stoic to acting like middle school girls in the 90's who modeled themselves after the witches in "The Craft."
But hey, at least a pile of young adult males who have 4 Charisma in real life can now romance the more-tolerant woman of their dreams!
Well that escalated quickly
It's still EA so i'm not judging too hard, but if they take this road is more on Larian than anyone else tbh. People can criticize whatever they want, at the end of the day if their plan was to release the 'evil' companions first to encourage us to take the (very bad) evil path they should have just buckled up and stuck to it, especially when it came to narratives that very much missed some pieces.
