I don't see a romantic relationship as something you should get just because you want it, this argument that player-sexual NPCs are a way of maximizing content for the maximum number of players is not valid to me,
In a world where the only rules of preference that exist are made by those who are crating to product with the specific intention of appealing to, and being enjoyed by, as many people as possible, why do you feel that it is NOT a fair expectation that anyone who wants to pursue romance with a fictional character they like the characterisation of, should not be ale to do so? I can't see any reason at all to justify that stance, so I'd welcome you explaining it to me.
I want to stay up all night drinking wine and having arcane discourse scattered with dry humour with a well-educated and well-spoken wizard, and then retire for an exchange of a more bodily pursuit afterwards... Why, exactly, do you feel that I should *Not* be free to expect that I can pursue that, simply because that's my want in this game? Give me a reason why I shouldn't.
it gets at what I meant by diminishing the characterization of a player sexual NPC, they're written to be everything so they are kept from being more distinct individuals i.e. one who is gay or straight or bi-sexual or only interested romantically in medium-sized races etc.
No, this is a fallacy. A person's specific genital preference for intimate bed activity is not, and should never, EVER be the primary defining feature of their character and characterisation. The argument that it waters down their characters or undermines their characterisation is completely false, unjustified and without merit. Justify to me - explain to me - How a character is incapable of being a fully fleshed out, engaging interesting and consistent character, without explicit description of what they like to do with their genitals in the company of others. Justify that, because that is what you need to be claiming, to say that player-sexual characters are inherently weaker or lacking characters.
((To put it another way as I've seen quoted elsewhere: "Exactly what Astarion chooses to put his dick in is not, and should never be teated like it is, an important part of his character."))
I agree with you that player sexual NPCs are not just bisexual NPCs but I consider the 'multiverse of sexuality' head canon, the kind of mental gymnastics that is problematic for me. If the game is making me build a head canon around their indecisive writing, it lessens the experience for me. From my perspective, every thing in the world before I make my first decision is set in stone, these people existed and the narrative is now changing around the choices we make during the game.
Now, this bit I can appreciate to a certain extent - if you personally do not like accepting an "Undefined" in your world space, for even the smallest of things, then it's understandable that having an "Undefined" within each and every major companion might feel a bit wearing on you. That, I can understand and appreciate. I'd still comment that that's on you, though - in an individual play though, there are no undefineds. Each character *IS* and has *Always Been* the way they are, at least insofar as the game reckons this. In another person's game, the world as a whole is a little bit different in mostly insignificant ways. Certain NPCs died or didn't, certain events happened or didn't, and there is no defined canon for many, many things. In worlds where we can choose our background more solidly, then there are things before the start point that will vary game game to game and player to player as well. In some game universes, every female walks around with their tits out and has done so for all history - in others, the origin companions are helped by a renegade mindflayer, and not a material plane denizen at all. In less extreme iterations of the world, some games have a world where the player character has the option of getting Shadowheart out of her pod, while other instances of the world present a world where this is simply not possible for them (people playing on different patches)... those are all other instances of the world that other people play... and you have to accept that whether you're a fan of it or not. It doesn't affect your game though, and, more importantly, it doesn't make anything in your game more fuzzy or less defined in the ways that it is. The same is true for the fact that in some other instances of the game, Lae'zel only considers pursuing physical recreation with males, while in other instances of the game, she will pursue whomever she views as the most appealing for said recreation, regardless of their genital configuration. On the scope of things, that is an infinitesimally minor difference between one world space and the next, and like all the others, does nothing whatsoever to water down, muddy or fuzz the things in your own game or how well defined they are... So I don't understand how you can feel like the lesser one is a problem for your gaming experience, while the major ones do not.
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Ragnarok's comment is an interesting example of what I feel many of us would like from the game, which is a more responsive, more differentiated interaction experience that acknowledges the more unusual situations and makes them feel justified - it would add more depth to the characters for them to do that, rather than just flipping pronouns around and calling it done, which is what I think many people are worried is all we'll get.
