Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Please take this critique in regards to relationships kindly

I am pretty sure this is new to patch 4. Also, I wasn't saying make them all available at the party. I was mentioning how offsetting it is, that you can have all bad influence on the 3 male companions and they are still ready to sleep with my male PC, but I hit the positive influence on SH on all but one conversation, and she is a no. That says the balancing is off. I actually even thought that maybe Larian did a cool little thing with SH and make her slightly against a tiefling, but then tried with 2 other characters, a half elf and a Drow, and same thing.

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.

That's sad. I am COMPLETELY in love with Shadowheart and so far things seem to be going very well with her. Unfortunately my OCD means that in 90+ hours of play I've remade my character so many times I haven't even seen the Goblin Camp yet. If I got all that way flirting like Hells with her and getting flirted back at only to have her leave me cold it'd be crushing...

not to be insensitive and please tell me if I'm out of line, but do you mean actual OCD, or just "wanting things to be perfect" "OCD (not really)"? I've wondered how it is to play a video game with actual OCD. From what I've seen of it, it can be a really debilitating disorder.

I keep hearing wildly inconsistent reports about how Gale, Astarion and Lae'zel behave at the party, and I wonder if it's not so much bugged as that the dialogue there is really confusing. Gale sounds like he's coming on to you even when you're actually in his friendzone. When you pick somebody, everyone else acts disappointed even if they would've turned you down. Astarion used to be all sorts of weird (apparently this was indeed a bug and has been fixed in the last patch).

Shadowheart is the only companion who hasn't left at least one of my PCs completely confused - she's consistently disinterested, as am I in her, so we match! Yay!

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.

Agreed. People cant seem to grasp that its ok to talk and even...(gasp)... disagree...and its ok. Respect others and talk. I get riled anytime someone starts restricting speech. History has taught us the folly of that many times already.

That was much of my point, but you definitely simplified it. Thank you.

+1

In case of BG2, people were modding the game so they could e.g. have a romance as half-orcs or dwarves (or elves for Viconia). In BG3, I guess (some) people will be modding romance out of the game. Progress!

To be fair, SH's romance has some potential. But all romances should really be reimplemented: Decoupled from approval (that's the most important thing) and important scenes/choices should not occur at the exact same place/time for every romance option (maybe it's done that way so Reddit teens can save/load and easily see all the softporn scenes?).

I've played a male character like 5 times and have always been able to romance Shadowheart so I have no idea what he's talking about.

You say "all positive ones with SH" and only 1 negative but you didn't answer my question what level of approval you were at. You may feel you did everything you could, but the game literally tracks it. If it's not medium, she will turn you down.

I'm not trying to be condescending at all, but what you're describing doesn't add up. If you were playing good, but willfully getting disapprovals for Gale and Wyll, I can already tell you that's not enough. You can skyrocket to Very High approval with Gale by doing every heroic action in the Grove, and just being an ass to him in conversation - when he knows your actions display you are a noble person, isn't going to offset the approval. And on that same note, doing a few of those actions will incur disapproval from Shadowheart.

Also since SH approves of Scratch petting she is one of the easiest to always be able to have a relationship with by far.

Well it's something that means different things to different people certainly, and no I don't mind.

Imagine having to redo a playthrough (and I mean HAVING to) because you don't the way light in a certain instance makes your character look and you think a different skin tone would be better.

Or switching back and forth between a Thief that ought to be agile and have stealth and movement like a Wood Elf, but then you get to the Grove and think "is a longbow practical for a thief to conceal?" then going back and re-running as a Drow who doesn't have longbow proficiency because it feels more comfortable knowing you CAN'T use one rather than you just choose not to.

Or wanting to play as a character whose mother was a Drow and father was a Wood Elf, was rejected by both cultures and left by a roadside to be taken to the city by traders and grow up on the streets as an Urchin and being SO TOTALLY INTO THAT and wanting to basically be a Wood Elf who lived in the city but like the lore says has some physical feature of a Drow (say skin tone) and planning it all out in your head and getting to the Blighted Village where the guards who you KNOW from a previous character will think you look like a Drow and are therefore Absolute BUT YOU ARE A WOOD ELF SO THE DIALOGUE OPTION ISN'T THERE EVEN THOUGH YOU LOOK LIKE A DROW.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a perfectionist too; which is an issue in BG3 character creation because for the first time in RPG history I'm not just forced to take the hairstyle I hate least. The ones here are all SO GOOD it hurts! But then instead of being overjoyed at the good hairstyle options I instantly migrate to being annoyed that most of the make-up looks like I smeared it over my face during a drunken rampage the night before, and I can't do my lipstick at all. I can't get no satisfaction... :P

On the plus side I'm NOT the type that has to have toolbars and inventories a certain way, so there's that! But we digress, Shadowheart is a BFFNENENENENE and every PC should be able to spend the night with her; as part of a mutually agreeable consensual non-binding social contract of course!

You know they fixed the endless petting for approval right? That only works once now. Since patch 4 I have been regularly petting scratch, and the only time he gave approval was the first time.

Have you done it since patch 4?

Her approval is medium at camp before I hit the bedroll to set off the event. Also, the only time in the grove you have to watch out for for SH is a conversation where you have to choose the response of they can take care of themselves. If you just jump to protect them in that conversation, she gives disapproval. I mean I know the conversations pretty much by heart. I have romanced her numerous times in the past in patch 3. That is why I am saying, this is a patch 4 issue possibly.

Exactly.
Basically PG13 sex. Cringy romance for kids.
1998 BIOWARE/BlackISle "kids play our game, shouldn't we tone down romances and violence....." WHO THE XXXX CARES ABOUT KIDS!! <makes them kill-able in-game>.
2021 LARIAN "kids play our game, shouldn't we tone down romances and violeance...etc..." ABSOLUTELY YES!! COMPLETELY AGREE!! BTW CHECK THIS OUT, DIPPING! BARRELS!

Aaah, different times.

I feel I'm alone in not bothering at all with this.

I just want to play a game, and play through a story?

You are fabulously right. I want to play a story too. Larian is doing an amazing job. Weekly updates, EA feedback to the players, incredible respect to the BG franchise, roadmap to make BG3 an even better game...
Its so great to be living in 2021, Baldurs gate 3! Can you believe it! The name is SO PERFECT! Everything is so perfect. I just don't understand all the critiques and negativity. What could go wrong in 2021 when you have masterpieces like Cyberpunk, next gen consoles like the PS5... look at all the amazing ORIGINAL games!!!!
Then you have Stadia, OMG the FUTURE OF GAMING, which believe it or not, BG3 is part of! Doesn't get any better than this.
The gaming world is at its top game.

OCD doesn't mean different things to different people. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is clearly defined in the DSM V. That symptoms manifest differently for different individuals who suffer from the disorder doesn't mean that "OCD means different things".

It's not a subjective opinion.