Originally Posted by AvatarOfSHODAN
Originally Posted by Pandemonica
If you are going to make all of the single sex romance options like that, make it so all of them are. A player should not be refused to romance whatever companion they want. Also what is weirder is when I played 4 playthroughs as a female character, pretty much all the male companions are open for the romance scene, no matter the number of disapproval I got. So it just seems that right now, as the game plays out, if your a CIS male character, your odds of missing out on the romance (which I understand is seriously limited for companions with a good alignment) are pretty high.

All of the companions are actually "like that" (open to romance) because once you pick one, they all make comments that you can interpret as jealousy - if you so choose. The male characters were interested in your male PC because you made good aligned decisions and they lean good in some way. Astarion being the exception of the three as he is always lowkey interested if as long as you haven't gain too much disapproval with him.

I was able to romance Shadowheart in my Patch 4 run and I wasn't even aiming for her, but I was playing more neutral/pragmatic. I think there's a learning curve in figuring out how these characters tick, and with Shadowheart in particular (who is neutral evil) it's not a bug but a feature that she might approve of saving people one minute and disapprove the next because of different context. And I can see that creating a situation where you have gained approval with her, but just not enough. Typically you need a little over Medium approval to get with a companion on celebration night. What was your approval at?

Limited romance options have always been a thing - where I've had to roll a specific sex or race contrary to what I'd otherwise have wanted in order to play a romance at all (that often times I read a certain way, but the writers clearly did not intend). Playersexual characters are intended to open up that aspect of limited options and perceptions, although with BG3 alignment is somewhat the limiting factor, but only at first glance. I do think that Shadowheart will be a rewarding romance for a good aligned character in the long run.

Did you miss the part where I said that I had all the negative interactions in convos for the male characters and all the positive ones with SH? Believe me I am quite aware of romance options in RPGs lol. I am simply stating there is a misbalance atm with SH, actually in patch 3 I had romanced her a couple of times. Now with patch 4, the same exact play through, where I intentionally choose decisions with negative approval for gayle and wyn (which I understand is actual positive approval for Astarion) and they still initiate the conversation for a romance at the party, while I hit every approval conversation but one with SH, which means 1 time in my choices I got a disapproval from her, the rest were all positive, and she was not available. Not to mention I saved before the party, then I went further and got 3 more approvals then tried to close out the party (added to the previous approval conversation ratio) and it was still the same.

I am quite aware of approval ratings and relationships, since I have been doing it since DA:O. I am simply stating it does not make any sense at all, to have complete negative approval for 2 characters, that then want to initiate the romance option simply because they are the same sex, and have the SH option, with all positive approval not. There is a bug or balance issue there.