I understand people are shocked by the twist in the plot as to who the Emporer actually is. Many players customized their own Dream Guardian to be an version of an attractive character for their plot and fell for it, only to be shocked and horrified at the truth (which was the point). To me, that is great storytelling. It hit the players in a 4th wall way, and is masterfully written manipulation. That said, I hope that the player push pushback from their reactions to the skillful plot twist and misdirection manipulation does not make Larian shy away from the Emporer. The outrage and revolted reactions are a sign of a well-done twist.
I also feel like the whole 'Daisy' bit was a fake cover to avoid spoilers for such a huge plot point. Something to keep players off the trail of what the game designers had in store.
There are countless damsels in distress stories, pretty faces looking for love, himbos, and bad boys/girls among the countless games out there. Baldur's Gate 3 currently has many great options to sate the desires who desire something more...mortal. The Emperor however is something utterly else, and its a bold step in writing that I want to see more of when it comes to romance writing.
1. You seem to forget you can literally ask the guardian in the first conversation you have with them "Are you a mindflayer"? My thought process when I saw this was: "meh, that would be a really lame twist, I'll choose something else"
So the only shocking thing here is the bad writing. In fact even before I started this game I thought to myself that I hope they don't try to push a benevolent mindflayer plot.. Just.. Meh.
2. There isn't really any scene that pushes this "attractive" feature you speak of.
3. Why would you ever care about creating your guardian in subsequent playthroughs? The character you create simply does not exist. This feels like bad game design.
All in all I just feel like people who want to romance I mindflayer are strange as hell. In fact this entire thread feels way too strange for me.
