Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Adult content in BG3

Im through with the early access version by now, but I must ask, where is the adult content? BG3 is an inspiring game, which really could be the next big rpg. I love it already and I'm very much looking forward to the next updates, it's well done. But I really miss things which happen or don't happen depending on your actions like in Witcher 3. Witcher 3 was quite open concerning nudity and adult content, which is part of the explanation for its popularity. Of course Witcher had a lot more qualities than that, but nevertheless I really would hope that BG3 offers no less. After all Larian is no prude US company, where gore is fine but sex not. We Europeans are no prudes and Larian is located in Belgium, Europe. CD Projekt Red from Poland has set a quite high benchmark. What's your stance on this Larian? The early access version unfortunately is quite disappointing concerning adult content so far. Are you planing to add much more or are your chickening out and leave it to modders? This is an honest question, I'm really a fan of your game so far, you did a very good job, but BG3 could be much more in the rpg genre in general. It's in your hands to at least reach the standards Witcher 3 has set. There isn't much adult content so far in the game apart from the Minthara quest, which is only for very few players, who chose the "evil" path.

First, blood and murder - this is already adult content. For images of blood, organs (the brain from the first scene), the game already increases rating. Secondly, if you are talking about sex, then Lae and Astarion scene still being worked on, I assume that they will have cutscenes similar to Minthara scene. Does that seem to be enough? This is not a porn game, you don't have to wait for a porn scene every few minutes or rude expressions like in Cyberpunk.

To be honest this is why I don't really like CD Projekt works. It is not necessary to make everything vulgar.

You are talking about gore mainly, not sex. Sex isn't vulgar, it's part of everyone's life and quite beautiful (or not if you belong to the approximately 2 % of asexuals). I don't want a sex scene on every corner, Witcher wasn't like that at all and I'm clearly not talking about silly porn games. Let's be reasonable here. CD Projekt did an excellent job on Witcher 3, they messed up with Cyberpunk. Check the sales of Witcher 3. You simply can't debate the overwhelming success. I very much enjoyed Witcher 3 and so did Millions! Nudity and adult content made up a significant part of this success story. There isn't a single scene in Witcher, which I consider to be vulgar except for the whore scenes. That's just low, but it's ok that these are in the game for those, who want it.

1 explicit sex scene per companion + Minthara's is already too much honestly. Especially for a game that's built to be played co-op...if I play with a friend, are we expected to both watch while one of our characters gets it on with Lae'zel??

The game has a lot of Adult content and themes.
Just off the top of my head there is Blood, violence, murder, slaughter, slavery, racism, torture, sex (Not just with companions but there is a 'romance' between an unlikely pairing you can interrupt), drugs, the using of souls as currency, cannibalism (if you count vampirism as such), mutilation, and sex scenes with companions, and in general content that many parents would not consider suitable for their children. When you move away from some of the larianisms, a lot of this game is dark and very adult in nature. It has its... silly moments, but overall it is mature with a lot of its themes. And you could easily analyze some of them like going into the fear of the loss of self inherent with the parasite, who is also in an adult way trying to seduce you.

Good god, are Europeans talking right now? It's not too much in my opinion. The ea version for the time being offers a kissing scene with Shadowheart and a sex scene with Minthara. I was asking if this is going to be expanded or not. Simple as that.
Playing as a male straight character, my charcater will never ever have sex with any of the male companions, which are the majority unfortunately. Antarion is a cool npc, no doubt, interesting character, I like him, but I don't share his ideals and I have sympathies for Gale, who approves me and my character's actions the most, but still I'm not gay. The rest of the cast doesn't interest me. So nothing like that will happen in my game.
Lae definitively isn't attractive for me, being a Gith, so nothing will happen there, too. Minthara is only for those, who choose the "evil" path, which I refuse. Shadowheart is the only one my character could romance and there was just a kiss. As a sidenote Shadowheart usually isn't my type, having dark hair and no curves at all. This npc is just the only option so far.

And let's be honest the barn scene between the female Ogre and the Hobgoblin, or whatever it was, was more on the humoric side, than anything else. I had a good laugh at least, when I encountered it, sacrificing a point of Shadowheart's approval of course.

One sex scene is already in the game (Minthara's), the rest are still "under construction".

As for playing co-op, currently the "leader" hosting the game appears to get dibs on the scene. Yes your friend could watch if they clicked on the "ear" icon. :P
There are reputation markers in the character sheets already for the different companions to have different approval of more than one player character, but they currently appear not to be working correctly, and particular reputation-boosting scenes for second player characters are not working. (My husband and I tested this on our "evil" playthrough - the plan was he would have Minthara while I ran off with Astarion, but I had to watch his Minthara scene as I didn't get any reputation updates for my character and Astarion didn't want me! :P )

A game doesn't need titties to be adult.

Not European but I don't know why it would matter if Europeans were giving input instead of Americans? And we are not arguing against adding more content, the overall statement is there is a lot of adult content and there will likely be more on its way.

Also in terms of romance, it is very likely more romanceable females will be added. It is possible Minthara will be expanded because of her popularity, and may be available for less evil players somehow. There is the datamined Halfling Werewolf in the code if you are willing to like something short and potentially furry. If you like Tiefling's, Karlach likely will be able to be romanced. Alfira and other NPCs have had a large amount of popularity and there has been requests to make them romanceable and/or addable to the party. Overall, I doubt you will be starved for options as a straight guy when EA is said and done, unless no characters vibe with you.

Edit: And you can romance the tadpole which can be designed to look however you want, so there is that, though I don't think there is a sex scene yet cause its, well, in your character's head.

All the 'Under Construction" signs point to yes, it will. Also there are more companions that we haven't seen yet.



Haha, have you seen Lae'zel's response when you don't choose her? It sounds like you'd be missing out. :P
As for Shadowheart not being your type, well that sounds like your problem and not the game's problem, really. (I don't say this to be mean, just that the companions won't appeal to 100% of all players. Gale doesn't appeal to me, for example)

I'm guessing her scene will come later in the game. For Astarion and Lae'zel, I get the feeling that sex is just the beginning of their romance stories. Shadowheart not jumping into bed with the player straight away just means you'd have to wait a bit longer for your special scene, that's all. Her "first date" kiss scene as it is right now, is very sweet.

It makes sense not to have everyone's romance scenes happen at the same time but occur at different points in the game, depending on the characters involved. Not to mention we don't meet all of the companions right away, either - if none of the existing ones are your cup of tea, maybe one of the others will be.

Waiting often can be good for the writing of something, and for Shadowheart I think the kiss is way more symbolic than a full nights sex. Cause sex for her is for flings, while a kiss may be way more.
Heck, it actually might be cool for there to be a sexless romance in the game. (Obviously not with Shadowheart cause she does mention having lovers...) Like something that is clearly a romance, with all the love and character/relationship development, but for whatever reason there isn't any actual sex. Perhaps because there can't be. I just think it could be an interesting thing from a story perspective, like a romanceable Warforged or something like that.

Exactly! She strikes me as a character that will be worth waiting for, I think.

I can't wait to see how all of the companions' personal quests/stories unfold.

Oh good, the "Americans are prudes, Euros are all about the sexy sexy" thread

Actually it matters, because Europeans tend to be a lot less prude than Americans. Gore is ok, but sex isn't, that's what US gaming companies and even movies are like in general and it tells us a lot about American mentality. I don't want to sound anti-american here, because I'm not, although this sentiment exists in Europe. And postings of Americans in this very thread, seem to corroborate the usual "gore = ok, sex = no-go" prejudice, us Europeans have about Americans. Just saying... In Europe it's usually different and pretty much contrary, gore isn't considered to be ok, but sex between adults is no problem at all.


Hopefully!


That's a problem actually because the npc you've created during character creation is just an illusion by Illithids. It's nothing more than a cruel mindfuck trick. It's very much unfortunate, because the player knows this and therefore this isn't a real option, although you can create your dream girl. Personally I created a stunning human blonde woman, although I'm missing different body options in BG3 so far. But it's just a dream, nothing real and will only put your character on a downwards spiral into becoming an Illithid yourself. I hoped that she would appear as a real npc later on, not just as a mind flayer illusion.


Lae isn't attractive at all for me. Therefore I didn't miss out anything. She even seems to be cringe clingy by trying to make the player jealous by telling him, that she will spent the night with Antarion, since he [the player] already promised the night to the elven woman [Shadowheart]. From a roleplaying perspective it’s cool and funny, but it makes Lae even less attractive, than she already is.
Most players will only consider a human, elven or half-elven woman to be attractive and Larian surely knows this, having complained already about the fact, that most players created a character which looks like working in a bank institute. But still then so be it, most players don't want to play freaks despite the options the game is offering during character creation, but a handsome hero. Work with it!
Sure, there won't be a character which is appealing to everyone, except for the dream girl during character creation, but she isn't a real option, if you don't want to succumb into becoming an illithid yourself.
A lot of people complain about Shadowheart's personality by the way, which excludes her for many to be a viable romance option. It's not just me, although I don't consider her to be attractive on top of her personality, which I have problems with. She is just the only option so far, the lesser evil if you want to put it that way, but not a really appealing one, which of course is due to my personal optical taste in women. It would be very sad if she stayed the only half-way viable option. But I'm also sure, that I'm not the only one, not being into dark haired non-curvy women. Witcher 3 offered us options every man could dream about, so far BG3 just offers Shadowheart, which is just mediocre at best.
Tieflings don't interest me, too. I'm not into horns growing out of one's head and tails out of their bottoms. I like those races being in the game of course, it's part of the DD universe, but I don't consider them as viable romance options for my character. If Larian only offers us freaks as romance options, so be it, but then romance won't happen in my game and it will be a big disappointment, not only for me, but for many. (Again keep in mind that most players play a handsome character themselves, the bank employee type, as Larian called it). Why there can't be at least one "normal" option, where most men would say: "yay!"


Maybe it’s expanded in the future and gets more interesting. Right now it’s just like some silly teenager’s romance.


You didn't prove to be the exception to the rule... ;-)

Technically speaking, while female players have three attractive male romance options to choose from (Astarion, Gale and Wyll), the straight men do have Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Minthara, so the playing field is actually pretty even!

If people want to limit their play style to only what they normally play, that's fine if that's how you want to play your game. But it's not really fair to then say "there aren't enough options" when THERE ARE, in fact all of the companions so far are romanceable in whatever way/gender/sexuality you wish to play. (general "you" here.) If you wish to limit your experience of the game then that is a choice you make, that's not because the game hasn't provided enough attractive choices.

For example, I normally play a neutral-good character, and that was what my first play-through started off as - then my Tiefling Druid saw Astarion and her choices in the story (to raise his approval, of course) leaned to the darker/chaotic side, which was also fun to roleplay. I still went through the game as a mostly-good-but-snarky persona, and didn't miss any of the quests while romancing Astarion because his occasional disapproval doesn't mean too much if he approves of me overall. You don't have to become a slave to your choice of companion romance and do EVERYTHING to please them - that's not how real life works, either.

My second attempt at a playthrough was to romance Gale - for science, since I don't personally find him attractive, but I wanted to try experiencing this other romance in the story. Unfortunately, the Weave scene completely failed to trigger for me, so I gave up (for now). I'll probably try that playthrough again in a future patch once they fix the conversation triggers a bit.

Another playthrough I had on the side was an "evil path" playthrough in multiplayer with my husband (2 original characters, 2 companions), which we both felt was so wrong in so many ways (especially after playing a Tiefling Druid!!!), but again it was just to EXPERIENCE the game from this other perspective. (Also some of the interactions with the companions were a bit eye-opening, going through the "evil path" after playing "good", as they turned to the dark side along with us.)

Well, shadow is kinda silly teenager ...
I believe its only right that some companions are a bit more reserved than others, it makes them more believable. :-/

Actually the only area in the game that seems relatively dark is the first couple rooms in the intro. The rest of the game came off as PG13 (haven't fully done swamp or touched underdark).

I was actually thinking the game would be more of how that was before I picked it up.

To me the game is not dark or adult. Their are some society themes, but I don't by default consider them mature. The quality in writing has more to do with maturity than anything.

A kid can bleed and fight in school from bullies and will always find porn around puberty whether you like it or not. Not to mention, at least when I was in school, biology classes start early and are mandatory. Its how things are handled that marks maturity. I think the same concept can be applied to stories. It's not the theme, but how an individual handles the theme.

As for sex, lets not pretend Laezel and especially Minthara are options for normal straight dudes. They are both specific niche fetish's. So let's not go there. Only Shadowheart so far is an option and she is not a swiss army knive of romance. Lol. Not that I'd want her to be.

In highschool I use to tutor at a couple of schools. The elementary schools kids were nastier and more knowledge-able than most adults, but lacked understanding in how to handle most things. Oftentimes I find older people the same way. Only difference is school is now Company or Firm and people are a lot less brave.

You didnt visited Goblin camp yet, did you?

Exactly, thank you!