I also appreciate the fact that this game is designed for both male and female gazes - which is super rare. Watching Felicia Day play this she got very excited about being able to design the person who attracts her and she gushed over the attention that went into the hairstyles.
There is also the fact that armor on women looks like proper armor and not a metal or leather bikini. BG3 breaks a lot of standard tropes.
Is the game really designed for both male and female gazes, though, or is it just for female gaze? There's only one female companion that possibly qualifies as male gaze content, and that's Shadowheart. For female gaze content, there're Astarion, Gale and Wyll. Some are even clamouring for Halsin to be added to their list.
Looking ahead, Karlach is not male gaze material, and neither is the werewolf halfing, based on datamined information.
So it's not equal, and a there's a clear bias.
I am 100% for games providing different options and daring to use different character designs - but I am just as much for having the vanilla cookie cutter options for those who likes that. Variety, folks! Both in character design and personality!
So - that said, I am gonna side with Passerby on this one.
Having 3 good looking guys (by meta standard) that are all available for pretty much any alignment (save for Wyll refusing to side with goblins), while having Minthara (evil only) and Shadowheart (any alignment) as "meta" beauties for those who want female romances is not being equal or fair - by definition...And it is so weird to see people argue that it is great that ladies get eye candy but at the same time argue that men shouldn't be "drooling over stereotypes"... :[ That is not how equality works. Ex. I don't want male characters to wear bikini armor just because some games do that for female characters. But at the same time, I won't say no to having the OPTION available for male and female characters.
Regardless of how one look at things. There is no way I'd be convinced that there are as many male people finding Lae attractive as Shadowheart unless you provide me with solid proof saying otherwise. Not saying SH is a solid 10/10 (she most certainly is not my cup of tea) - but I'll agree with many earlier posts... She is quite the only option for those who want a more human-looking lady, and that is not fair. (and I do not buy the "eyes of the beholder"-thing in this particular situation, there are clear scientific markers of beauty and whilst of course everybody has their personal taste and all, there definitely are some global beauty markers - this has been easily proven by data collected from dating apps for those interested, for both men and women.)
AAAANYWAY, staying on topic, before despairing I'd like to remind the community of that we're getting more companions that are good alignment later on. I'll hope that the dissatisfied lads (and ladies) here gets to see a female companion more to their liking when those arrive. I mean, I would really see why Larian would withhold a more standard female cookie cutter option (like Lohse <3 ) from EA as they want to see the player data from romance with SH, Lae and Minth - so do not despair just yet.
Last edited by Dez; 21/05/2109:47 AM.
Hoot hoot, stranger! Fairly new to CRPGs, but I tried my best to provide some feedback regardless! <3 Read it here: My Open Letter to Larian
