You are always free to say, "no" or to pick other dialogue choices making clear your intent to keep things on the 'friend' level instead of romantic.
Some want more, some want less, some want none. Can't keep everyone happy - personally I think they got it just right for the vast majority of those that will play the game.
You are of course free to hold your own opinions, but calling this game-breaking is a bit overstating the issue. You can always say, "no".
I think outside of a small minority, no one thinks it's game-breaking. But, as you can see on this and other threads some of us think it's not that well done. Some of the points the devs have addressed already, but basically it comes down to:
- Romance/sex giving you a lot of extra content in terms of scenes and dialogue you can't get otherwise. Friendship, group camaraderie, even banter is fa less well developed. - At the start of the game it often feels forced/immersion breaking that literally everyone is hitting on you (you can decline, but it's still a bit weird). Personally for me -
even the Emperor
hitting on you half undressed was almost comically, cringe writing. It had to laugh. A real WTF moment.
It still love the game, I think it's great. I'm on my third playthrough (one Tav, one resisting Durge, and one evil Durge so far), but in my view it would have been better if they focused a bit less on romance and a bit more on other personal relationship types and group interactions. There is not telling if they got it just right for the vast majority of those that will play the game. It could be, but as long as we don't have data on that, it's hard to say either way.
