One thing for sure, sales seems to have EXPLODED after Larian Reveals Salacious Romance Scene. Sex sells way better than trying to be faithful to D&D. Nicely played. The game needed at the bear minimum some hard PR push. Still surprised Larian went that far in. And please, lets just not called it "romance" in BG3. Its downright kinky odd porn written by young "adults".
Love the studio in their ability to make great games. Big shout out to the programmers and designers. But not a fan on the content planning design/decision makers and editing staff. These scenes should of been cut out of the game asap. Or made more tasteful/shorter. They need better directing.
Cinematography 101 : With good directing, camera work and writing, a single look and silent moment can be 1000x more powerful than a sultry sex scene.
Yes, sex does sell. Having said that, as someone with over forty years experience playing D&D I wouldn't actually argue that the Astarion/Halsin scene isn't faithful to D&D. Faithful to D&D encompasses a wide variety of different things, and that includes LGBTQ+ content. There's even a way to change a character's gender in the AD&D 1e DMG. It may not be something everyone wants to see in their own personal D&D games or BG3 play-throughs, but it is definitely part of how at least some of the fandom plays the game.
