Originally Posted by Rack
It's more that approval = romance. It's fine that they have to approve you to like you, it's weird that's the only metric. There's no such thing as flirtation, just "I know you exist and you have exhibited traits I approve of ergo you are attracted to me"

As has been mentioned in this topic, while from all the feedback here it's clear that there are issues with the romance triggers, it's not always the case that if a companion has high approval they'll hit on you. For example, Gale, Shadowheart and Karlach haven't propositioned my player character despite having high approval early on and exploring most conversation options with them. It clearly matters what you say to them as well as approval, though which options lead to romance any which don't in many cases seems to be a mystery.

I'm not sure if Gale is better since the advertised patch 1 fix to make which options lead to romance with him clearer, as I'm just carrying on with my existing playthrough. In general I've had more issues with dialogue triggers than before the patch, though nothing related to romance yet.

I do agree, though, that companion approval can rise way too fast. Totally independently from any romance content, Gale had already decided he trusted me enough to share his troubles within a day of meeting me which just didn't feel natural or earned.

"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"