Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General The Inevitable Romance Poll

Do you know the kind of $$$ H games on steam pull.

We are generally horny people yo.

Okay folks, just checking in and hope we’re good again here, and there’ll be no more implied dissing of folk’s enjoyment of romance content.

Don't be facetious. They are not a huge thing for the game and I don't think anyone treats them as a huge deal either but let's not act like this is the romance of the game and the devs are dumb for thinking this is romance and so on when that's clearly not what the devs think nor what they intended these scenes to display.

Okay, let's steer this conversation in a positive direction.
What makes a romance in a game constructive to the overall experience?

It let's people with congential conditions, like me, who don't want to pass them on, fantasize about a happy ending we'll never get irl.

There are very few games that do this well, but for me, the best game romances are in the forefront of the narrative, driving the character’s motivations or actions.

The best examples of this I believe are Final Fantasy 8, 9 and 10.

I just replayed all of these very recently (partly because I hated FF16 and wanted to make sure my love of the older ones wasn’t just nostalgic delusion, it wasn’t, they are masterpieces) and each of these use compelling romances as thematic pillars in the narrative.

You can’t do that sort of thing in a CRPG like BG, though. This game is all about choice, and if we can choose our actions and motivations, romance is always optional. It therefore can’t be woven too deeply into the narrative.

The only romance I am interested in is Wyll and Karlach. Because of the way these two character’s stories intertwine together, I hope a romance plot between them reflects that. We Wyll See.

Fine it is not romance, I agree.
Glad we have alternative to non-romantic, non-story essential content that everyone can enjoy.

Would of rather have the effort put into those go towards day/night or more gameplay options. IMHO.

Sex scenes only add something to me if they are well done, no weird animations and/or porn style of filming, and most importantly if they come after a real connection moment. Cyberpunk 2077 isn't a perfect game by any standard really, but there is a romance with a character that builds over a long period of time. They start out not trusting you, to blaming you for something bad, finally starting to be friends, and eventually there is a day where the two of you spend together, having fun, and finally there is a sex scene at the end of the day. It's tastefully done (imo), doesn't just focus on the genitals, but seems more realistic. I'm no sex scene expert, but it was good for me, and didn't feel like it was designed to titillate, but rather show the connection these two people had made.

That romance/relationship really gave me a stronger connection to parts of the world/plot. Without any sort of relationship building (romance is part of this), you're simply walking along with random people, who might as well be hirelings for all the connection you make with them. Romance gives a stronger connection, so it's a positive thing imo.

Yep, it's about building deeper connections between my character and the other characters inhabiting the world, and also about the chance to make my character a more well-rounded, realistic creation.

Sex scenes in and of themselves do nothing for me, to be honest.

I'm more about the dialogue than any sex-scenes too. I plan to skip the very first opportunity to bed anyone. Every since Mass Effect it started overdoing it in the third part it's been spiralling out of control. Leave something to the imagination!


The one I want to romance is Jaheira (even at 300 years old) since that was my first one in BGII, too. I hope it's possible. Failing that Minthara rises to the top, she really stands out among the rest with her strong personality and amazing looks.


It's amusing to see Shadowheart and Karlach in the lead for this poll, since those are the only two I do NOT consider romancing, because of their VAs.

Honestly I don't mind the sex scenes in act 1 at all...they are tastefully done, at least the ones we've seen in game...the one with the bear is off though, that one just felt like it was purely done for the publicity stunt. But Minthara's scene I found touching and it had little to do with the sex scene itself but to how she reacts to which emotion you focus on...if you focus on her desire she develops this massive crush on your character and just melts before you while if you focus on her fear she really freaks out, she's lived her whole life always hiding any and all signs of weakness that when someone sees that in her for the first time she freaks out and probably really does want to kill you in that moment because her weakness is now known to you. It will be very fascinating to continue pulling on those threads as the story continues and see where her story goes. But beneath the the hard face behind the blades is a big softie.

When it adds to the story and depth of the characters, and the overall role-playing experience of the game with your player character. A well done video game romance is not just a "be nice so your avatar gets laid" but a deeper development of the NPC and your own player character's interactions with them, seeing how that changes and grows over the course of the game. That's personally what I find interesting about video game romances, I usually skip the actual sex scenes. I'm hopeful about the ones in BG3 because it seems like the devs understand what makes them interesting beyond 'fan service.'

Yea, I can watch amateur/professional porn if I want realistic (well, real people at least) porn, so I'm not exactly excited (oh..the puns make themselves) about the idea of full on penetration, erect ding dongs, and weirdly animated tongues. I'll probably skip them if that's what I have to look forward to.

We'll see what they do though, Larian is pushing the line for sure, but I'm not convinced that they'll go past the porn line. I assume if they show certain things, it's defines the product as adult entertainment, which would hurt their rating.

Welcome back, I thought of you, Ok .. where were you???

Oh haha I meant the romances, it seems like from what they said in the last panel they want to move beyond the "pick the nice dialogue options and get laid, ends the romance" and actually develop it character wise. I have negative interest in video game sex scenes, always skipped those cause it felt awkward.

You left out "none of the above."

Seeing Minthara in 4th place very close to 3rd out of 8 makes me happy. I feared she'd be way more underappreciated given the amount of people saying "I'd never to the evil path, I can't go destroy the Tiefling camp".

She is one of the most interesting characters for sure, glad to see she is getting some appreciation.

In the most recent community update it says the following:

To offer further clarity on exactly who can romance who in Baldur’s Gate 3, we’ve laid it out in the least romantic way possible, below:

- A played Origin can romance an NPC Origin
- An NPC Origin cannot romance an NPC Origin
- Played Origins cannot romance other player Origins

Seems pretty clear that (a) only the Origin companions can be romanced, and (b) only by another played Origin. This would imply that custom PCs cannot engage in romances. Is this correct?

No.
All PC character, Origin or Custom, can romance an NPC character. There are no romances except for these.

That was just an answer to the question, if NPCs will romance each other, if pc character doesn't choose to romance them.