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I'm sure it's been addressed already, but the writer did a horrendous job of applying forethought into the matter. In case it hasn't been brought up, several factors inevitably lead up to a nasty surprise at the brothel.


Shadowheart says she is alright with an orgy at the brothel and has been fantasizing about Halsin, while you have been in a relationship. The argument that you can avoid this scenario by not going to see the drow twins in the first place is idiotic because every GOOD roleplaying gamer is going to explore every feasible possibility and see if there are any other rewards available from them besides sex. Shadowheart is of course going to be in my party because I never remove my romantic partner. And as far as Halsin is concerned, his character was introduced late, so he was in the party because I was trying develop his approval.

This lead to a situation where I ended up seeing a dialog that I am unable to UN-see. Now Shadowheart will always be guilty of fantasizing about Halsin while being in a relationship with me, regarldless of whether or not I reload to a save prior to entering the brothel.

I almost rage quit this game, and that would have been a shame because it does justice to Bioware's releases in every which way and is a phenomenal game in its own right as well. To your writer's credit, I discovered after breaking up with Shadowheart that she laments my loss and says she will likely never find another person like me again. This was just enough to get me to forgive her and go back to playing, after I gratuitously killed the bisexual bear mascot a few dozen times.

I've tolerated
the male characters incessantly hitting on my male PC one after another. I've tolerated Halsin's constant ogling. I've tolerated the hot chick you made me create as my "protector" at the start of the game turning out to be male and going through its "transition" into the Emperor, after I gave him a hug.
This is the world we live in, and we have to learn to tolerate and laugh. But in the case of this particular dialog, your writer has crossed the threshold of depravity. Whether homosexual or heterosexual, partners expect fidelity from one another. If you will not rectify the matter because the final version has been released, make the toolset available and I'm sure modders will be delighted correct the issue for you.

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Lol, you realize you’re getting jealous over a fictional relationship right? Having fantasies about other people is not infidelity. It’s perfectly normal in a healthy relationship.

PS: Nocturne, Shadowheart’s previous lover, might be a better target if you’re gonna try to work in transphobia into your comments about the emperor.

Last edited by Yharmeru; 03/12/23 06:02 AM.
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I agree that I don’t like the dynamic between her and Halsin. I think there was a huge long thread about this in the forums? “Shadowheart and the Hidden Fetish” was the thread name

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IMHO Halsin was a big mistake, easily the worst character in the game for me. But... you are kinda overinvested in the game, relax and enjoy the ride hehe

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Player: Creates a woman to hang around with.
Woman: LOlz, I'm actually slimy alien mind-controlling dude with tentacles on my face. Wanna bang?
Player: Ew, no.

Another player: That's transphobic! Shame on you!


Fear my wrath, for it is great indeed.
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Originally Posted by rodeolifant
Player: Creates a woman to hang around with.
Woman: LOlz, I'm actually slimy alien mind-controlling dude with tentacles on my face. Wanna bang?
Player: Ew, no.

Another player: That's transphobic! Shame on you!
Gale-Origin: Why does the lot of you keep propositioning me? I am most obviously well and truly taken by someone with whom my soul has joined, why would I be interested in all this ... rutting? With too many limbs or tentacles ...

With Gale it just feels like the game enjoys teasing him as much as the players do. On that note, I thought this thread might be about a real problem, like that you can't check in on Spawnstarion and Gale after the tryst with the Drow. They both clearly have a horrible experience and it feels cold that you can't in any way address it afterwards.

Last edited by Anska; 03/12/23 08:05 AM.
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Does she still disapprove if you refuse to let Halsin join?

That scene is trashy with both SH and Astarion, but it's also just a cheap horny bit not connected to the rest of the game.

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I don't really know, I'm not too big on romances and in fact, rather annoyed at the game for assuming I want to at all. The tiefling party and onward make the game really awkward if you just want to save the world without buggering everything in it.


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Originally Posted by rodeolifant
Player: Creates a woman to hang around with.
Woman: LOlz, I'm actually slimy alien mind-controlling dude with tentacles on my face. Wanna bang?
Player: Ew, no.

Another player: That's transphobic! Shame on you!

Your reading comprehension is shit if that’s what you think I was saying.

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It was discussed many times before...

But yes, this thing is a annoying. At the very least Larian should remove disapproval there if you decline him and lock their post skinny-dip scene banter behind active doubleromance(instead of being deleted).

Edit: Don't forget this : , if you want to see changes.

Last edited by Netav; 03/12/23 11:20 AM.
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Originally Posted by Anska
Originally Posted by rodeolifant
Player: Creates a woman to hang around with.
Woman: LOlz, I'm actually slimy alien mind-controlling dude with tentacles on my face. Wanna bang?
Player: Ew, no.

Another player: That's transphobic! Shame on you!
Gale-Origin: Why does the lot of you keep propositioning me? I am most obviously well and truly taken by someone with whom my soul has joined, why would I be interested in all this ... rutting? With too many limbs or tentacles ...

With Gale it just feels like the game enjoys teasing him as much as the players do. On that note, I thought this thread might be about a real problem, like that you can't check in on Spawnstarion and Gale after the tryst with the Drow. They both clearly have a horrible experience and it feels cold that you can't in any way address it afterwards.
You can even bully Gale into being a voyeur. That's how bad it is for him. But in any case, to say it as nice as possible, the Halsin orgy thing was an extremely questionable choice on the part of Larian.

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Should be able to at least get angry with them in dialogue. The way it works now, you either suck it up with a smile, or commit some horrendous revenge crime. Both stupid responses.

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Originally Posted by FreeTheSlaves
Should be able to at least get angry with them in dialogue. The way it works now, you either suck it up with a smile, or commit some horrendous revenge crime. Both stupid responses.
Uno reverso card, hit SH with 20 disapproval instead, lets see how she grinds that approval back haha

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Originally Posted by Netav
Originally Posted by FreeTheSlaves
Should be able to at least get angry with them in dialogue. The way it works now, you either suck it up with a smile, or commit some horrendous revenge crime. Both stupid responses.
Uno reverso card, hit SH with 20 disapproval instead, lets see how she grinds that approval back haha
There ain't no save scumming for her either lmao

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The two of you just aren't meant for each other. You should see other people. It's not you, it's her.

I don't really know the details, as I dislike romances in RPGs and don't really pursue them, but from the little I gathered, Shadowheart is very open about sexuality in general, so trying to form her into your personal ideal was doomed from the start.

I guess that whole Shar subplot complicates matters, but that stuff is simply whack anyway. And I hate it because it's just interesting enough to make me really annoyed at some of the stupid narrative choices.

Last edited by Gottfried; 03/12/23 07:02 PM.
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There's lots of Schrodinger's cat in BG3. All of the character states can't be true. There are many versions of say SH, depending on people's play through events.

In my full play through, SH never suggested any of that stuff because Halsin benched himself beforehand (being unlikeable + redundent). Plus I didn't care much for minor fetch-quests after facing Kethric, so the brothel was sidelined. Not to mention, I could just foresee compromising encounters taking place there. It is after all a den of vice.

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Originally Posted by Gottfried
The two of you just aren't meant for each other. You should see other people. It's not you, it's her.

Shadowheart is very open about sexuality in general, so trying to form her into your personal ideal was doomed from the start..
Her ending is like the most tradwife fantasy imaginable where you both retire to a farm alone together and all her dialogue is about how genuinely happy she is to do so. So I cannot agree that you're shaping her into anything when it's literally what she wants.

Last edited by portionbeans; 03/12/23 07:49 PM.
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Originally Posted by portionbeans
Her ending is like the most tradwife fantasy imaginable where you both retire to a farm together and all her dialogue is about how genuinely happy she is to do so. So I cannot agree that you're shaping her into anything when it's literally what she wants.

People can change, I don't know. There's that idle dialogue (with Astarion and/or Wyll) where she basically states that she prefers flings to commited relationships, but maybe she just hasn't met the right person yet. I think there are other similar parts too, but I can't quite recall them right now. As I said, I haven't done her romance subplot, and this is just how she seems to me as just a companion. Maybe it's a facade. Or that Shar thing.

Anyway, I haven't seen that ending, but if that's correct, there's little point getting upset about the person she is/was rather than appreciating the person she becomes, if that's someone's thing.

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Originally Posted by Gottfried
Originally Posted by portionbeans
Her ending is like the most tradwife fantasy imaginable where you both retire to a farm together and all her dialogue is about how genuinely happy she is to do so. So I cannot agree that you're shaping her into anything when it's literally what she wants.

People can change, I don't know. There's that idle dialogue (with Astarion and/or Wyll) where she basically states that she prefers flings to commited relationships, but maybe she just hasn't met the right person yet. I think there are other similar parts too, but I can't quite recall them right now. As I said, I haven't done her romance subplot, and this is just how she seems to me as just a companion. Maybe it's a facade. Or that Shar thing.

Anyway, I haven't seen that ending, but if that's correct, there's little point getting upset about the person she is/was rather than appreciating the person she becomes, if that's someone's thing.
She says that very early and it explained why she "prefers" that(because Shar forbids shit, she has no choice). She is not like that in her selune path, everything about her selune path romance suggests love and commitment. I guess DJ Shadowheart breaks up with you no matter what on Shar's demand. It's is reflected in her epilogue pretty well.

Originally Posted by Gottfried
The two of you just aren't meant for each other. You should see other people. It's not you, it's her.

I don't really know the details, as I dislike romances in RPGs and don't really pursue them, but from the little I gathered, Shadowheart is very open about sexuality in general, so trying to form her into your personal ideal was doomed from the start.

I guess that whole Shar subplot complicates matters, but that stuff is simply whack anyway. And I hate it because it's just interesting enough to make me really annoyed at some of the stupid narrative choices.

Poor argument, why not just let talk about this in the game? Why if you ask to do poly with Wyll/Gale etc. they just do not accept. Why not make it reverse for her if that is the case?(Hell let her break up on you if she is not fine with being not open/poly)

Last edited by Netav; 04/12/23 01:33 AM.
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Originally Posted by Netav
She says that very early and it explained why she "prefers" that(because Shar forbids shit, she has no choice). She is not liek that in her selune path, everything about her selune path romance suggests love and commitment. I guess DJ Shadowheart breaks up with you ne matter what on Shar's demand. It's is reflected in her epilogue pretty well.

"What can change the nature of a woman?"

See, this is one of the parts where that whole Shar subplot starts loosing me, and it never gets addressed. It's very much a failing of "Bioware writing", and seemingly also of what Larian does (or strives to imitate). Intriguing concepts don't exist to be explored, but just as a curiosity in a story that does not truly care. Shar is evil, Shadowheart was brainwashed, let's move on. Nature vs. nurture ... you want to talk about this game? Nope, Shadowheart was brainwashed, let's move on. Okay, but is she still into whipping me? Game? Game? She killed and tortured people!

The point of this slight tirade being: Who is Shadowheart really? She is very kinky throughout most of the game. Are we to believe that this was the result of Shar's brainwashing as well? Should we just arbitrarily group all her pre-revelation traits into the "Shar" and "Selunite" baskets, depending on what we consider "good" or "bad". Did her whole personality suddenly change? How does that even work?

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