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!
Is it fair to say we're just swapping one fetish for another? Hard to get goth girl vs. compliant trad wife. Difficult to avoid that in a voyeuristic game with animated sex "rewards," I suppose.
I definitely agree with the first sentence - I wish it were otherwise, but it's rarely ever the case that implementing a client's/public's feedback on something complicated like a character will fix that nagging sense that it isn't quite good enough. But as has been mentioned, committing to VO too early makes it costly to make anything but surface changes. I'm hoping it's one of those things that matters less and less as the game becomes more polished. It's the only real way "out," imo, that doesn't include new writers coming in.
