There's a lot to say about how romances play out in RPGs too. The formula of gradually leveling up companions, unlocking ever more dialogue and eventually, as the "big price", pardon me, banging them, has always been juvenile to the max. But then that's probably the gaming industry for you, which is comparably still in its infancy.
A cRPGs is a story-telling tool amongst other things, and I would be disappointed not to have the opportunity to make romance and/or sex part of my characters’ stories when I want to. I also understand that there are resource constraints on the amount and complexity of content that can be created and so, while I do hope for memorable moments, I don’t expect the whole relationship to be there on screen but see what is presented as being hooks or triggers for my imagination.
That said, I would be all for presenting different patterns of romance/sexual relationships. I don’t know any great examples, but I liked the “rivalmance” idea in Dragon Age 2, even though the approval system worked poorly in practice. Mass Effect Andromeda made some attempts to have its relationships developing with different beats, with some following the tried and tested route but, eg, one that could start with a one-night stand that could then either be let go with good will on both sides or else you could take a step back and build a longer term relationship.
At the very least, I do hope Larian will do more in the final release to disguise the fact that they’re limited in how they can progress romances in a game like this to help suspension of disbelief. As lots of folk have mentioned, all the propositioning at the party at the moment can be farcical.
But apologies, I think this thread is more about the actual sex scenes rather than the relationship that brackets them so I’m probably off topic.
I do agree that showing some intimate interaction is really important to bring the relationships to life, I just think a lot can be done with a few well chosen establishing scenes. I actually liked the start of the Minthara scene for example. The fact that it could start with a bit of a dominance struggle suited the character I was playing, and showing a bit of how that played out in the sex made it feel consequential and I wouldn’t have minded a few edited highlights. But the sex scene went on … and on … and on. Obviously everyone’s mileage will differ but I was in stitches laughing by the end, I found it so absurd to be watching it, which is not the right mood at all!
And despite the good points made in this thread about the benefits of including sex scenes, I still don’t want Larian to show me in detail how my character has sex. The more they show, the greater the chance that what is shown will clash with my head canon of who the character is and how they would behave with their sexual partner.
I’m sure that Larian will indeed get around this by having different options. I just hope that it’s possible to skip any extended sprite porn marathons without losing all the intimate scenes that will help add flavour to developing relationships (or indeed relationships that aren’t going to develop beyond that single encounter).
Oh, and while it’s not the whole of my objection I do admit that at least part of my concern is that, based on what I’ve seen so far, I don’t yet trust that Larian can pull off polished, convincing animation of sex. Those who have said that they still have time and we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility are of course right. I would love to have my suspicion on this point proved baseless.
