I haven't read through all 48 pages of the thread, but I am just chiming in to say that I appreciate the OP's detailed and well-worded issues regarding Halsin's "romance" (honestly, feels like it's a stretch to call it that at this point). It's saving me the disappointment and time I would've otherwise felt and put in on a save specifically for him. Somehow, even the Dream Visitor "romance" sounds and plays out better than it seems to with Halsin.

Very monkey's paw feeling, honestly - and the OP's general rundown of how Halsin's romance goes rings eerily familiar to me, as someone who dealt with a similar disgust and disappointment in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, with regards to Regongar/Octavia's "monogamous" romance option (Reg, specifically, but I imagine it was little better with Octavia). The "polygamy", and the characters themselves, were handled so poorly - and your avatar having little to no input or ability to have an adult discussion on boundaries and expectations, while just dragged along into the mess - was enough to make me quit the game for a while and abandon the save where I'd been romancing him.

I'm disappointed to hear Halsin got a similar treatment, to the point of it being incredibly out of character to how he'd been depicted as well.

But, ah well; saves me a playthrough, I guess. astariondisapprove

I'm well and truly convinced that monogamy-inclined writers need to stay far away from even attempting to write a poly character or relationship, though. It always seems to end up as this sort of gross, stereotyped, harmful, or out of character mess of a thing.

Last edited by MarbleNest; 08/10/23 07:40 PM.