Originally Posted by JandK
Originally Posted by Timon
Originally Posted by FreeTheSlaves
One of the big problems is that the programmers don't account for sexual preference in straight male culture. If a male friend hits on you, it is over big time. Bridge burnt. Mandatory distance. Done. Kaput.
This is a really odd thing to insinuate. First, straight male culture is riddled with "bros" flirting, albeit jokingly. But I don't think an innocent pass from a queer or questioning male friend would devastate the average straight male as you imply. Maybe in middle school. Are you... a child? Please don't answer. I agree that the romance setup as it is in the game is a mess, but this post's take on it was... questionable to say the least.

I disagree, and I don't think it's necessary to belittle someone by calling them a child for expressing their culture in broad terms.

For what it's worth, there's quite a bit of truth in what the poster mentioned. I have zero interest in starting a male/male relationship in the game, and it makes me not want to interact with the male companions at all. Solely because I know at some point they're going to start coming on to me. Wyll's dancing scene was unbelievably out of touch with my character.

I understand that you may not like my opinion on the matter. I even understand that you may not like me because of my opinion. All of that is fine. But there are a lot of "me's" out there, and it would be nice if Larian could provide a way to avoid triggering those scenes.

1. An option in settings to turn on particular romance options, perhaps.
2. Obvious [start romance] triggers in the conversation, maybe.

For what it's worth, I've always thought the "playersexual" approach was a terrible idea. It completely strips all of the NPCs of any real sexual identity. it's not at all realistic and thus it detracts from the artistry of the whole.
The reason for me saying that was because homophobia is discriminatory, obviously, and more commonly the opinion of a younger more ignorant person, aka a child, not an acceptable aspect of culture at least not here I assume and hope...
No need to paint out like it was a baseless insult just because you might agree with such sentiments.

I appreciate your intent to focus on the point of the matter which is how it reflects player experience and gameplay matters, though. Personally, I find it unneededly and exceedingly limiting when a game takes the Dragon Age approach and assigns cemented sexual preferences to romanceable characters. What makes more sense is providing the options mentioned to properly open up or turn down the paths that the player is or isn't interested in pursuing in those regards.