Someone like Minthara might withhold information if you refuse to sleep with her and thereby insult her pride, forcing you to accept the consequences of your choices and seek another path/clue to continue your journey, like a role-playing game might have you do. Lae'zel might not ever be interested in romance at all and is only interested in carnal fulfillment. Shadowheart clearly isn't interested in rushing into things, and wants to make you work for it.
Sure, but there's no indication that Minthara has any information for you, or that she'll only give it to you if you sleep with her. Like, a quest where you're supposed to get information from [Person] and one of your options is seducing them is fine. Great, even! But gating information behind sex scenes, information that the game doesn't tell you is even available and that you can't get otherwise? Less fine.
For the Lae'zel thing, I was using her as an example. The real issue is if all of the companions' romance can't be progressed without having explicit sex with them. Most games' romances end in sex, so you don't lose any relationship development by skipping that final sex scene. This is not so in BG3.
Originally Posted by Swagnar
You can absolutely use sex and sex scenes to meaningfully gleam into character psyche and motivation, and advance the story, and if players are titillated along the way, who cares? You can play an ace celibate paladin who will not be tempted and follow the pure path of no-fap.
Things can be both erotic and of narrative significance.
I agree. Developers can do those things. Is Larian doing those things in BG3 though, and doing them well?
