Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Sex and BG3

So the Over Sexualized thread has created some solid conversation but I feel like I gets off point and people are even not quite sure what the point is. Lets reframe the question and see what we get...

If BG3 had been made with no "advertising" of sexual components, reduced number of potential sexual partners, slower relationships that do exist (none could reach sex before the end of act 3 to give time for the relationship to develop) and then only the most mundane cutaway sexual references during the scenes; Would you still think it was a great game? Would you have even bought it?

Someone has already PMed me about why post this... With Larian about to move on to it's next project I want Larian to see what the public thinks before making choices in design in this aspect.

BG3 with less Sex single choice
	Bought Yes; Great yes
	Bought Yes; Great No
	Bought No
	Great No
	Who Cares
Votes accepted starting: 17/12/23 12:25 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I bought the game when Hunter's Mark looked different and I was a little disappointed when the romance turned out the way it did. I believe I would have bought the game without the last Panel From Hell because I'm always on the lookout for a good rpg. They should have just followed the Bioware formula when it came to romance, if romance even needed to be included at all.

I feel this his highly restrictive to story telling. The two romances I have experienced are Astarion's and Gale's and I like them both the way they are. For Astarion's story it is important that it starts physically and develops into a sincere relationship - at least in his Spawn ending. The Act1 sex scene you get with him is staged as a scene from a cheesy romance novel, the dialogue, the lighting, the way he presents himself to the PC. It is so delightfully over the top fake. I love it. It perfectly gets the point across that this is a performance. By contrast the romance scene on the graveyard is much sweeter and much more sincere. In Gale's case the funky Astral Tantra in Act2 looks odd, but I do love what it represents, a joining of souls. The whole illusionary forrest scene is about giving this seriously depressed guy a connection with another person both in the friendly and the romanced version, so it makes most sense to have his big romance scene here. In his case the physical sex scene with the bed fades to black quickly, while the more elaborate one is more representative of a deep emotional connection and has the dialogue to accompany this.

Saying no sex before Act 3, until you know each other very well, is leaning very heavily into a conservative "no sex before marriage" thought pattern and only allows for very normal relationships to happen.

That said, I could do without Halsin, the Drow and I guess without Minthara - but I don't know "the woman who wears Astarion's armour" well.

The thing with the emperor though, I actually like, because it is one more step on his grand plan of manipulation. It's deliciously vile and creepy.

Personally I don't care at all about that when it comes to buying games, so chose "Who Cares".

It's a nice bonus to have (if done right) though.

Your take on the Emperor is solid, using sex as a manipulation tactic is as old as any of the races I am sure. The waiting for development for sex is two fold. These are companions you have to trust with your life. Has every sexual encounter you ever experienced ended well? Would you risk with no real relationship putting your life or the life of the party in jeopardy because a lover that feel betrayed?

Perhaps they should add that to the game, a chance to piss off a lover and have them half way through a fight turn on you and go psycho

The game is great, and I still would have bought it! I bought it in EA because it looked like a great rpg with cinematic dialogue!

I do like romances in games, however! I definitely wouldn’t want to go back to the days of having only 1 option: Anomen!

I also don’t think waiting until Act 3 helps, as that is what they did with Halsin. I think it is more how it is written than which act it is in. In general for future male romances I would like them to have less strange things like bear memes and Gale staring at the head of his ex at the start of the romance!

I thought the rest of the game was outstanding and would like to see improvements rather than cuts for their male romances in the next game!

I didn't buy it because of the sex scenes. Heck, I didn't even see any advertisements for it before I bought it.

I simply bought it because it was a new Larian game and as I enjoyed DOS1 and DOS2 I figured this game would also be decent.

Finding out that it had sex scenes and depictions of nudity was a welcome surprise because, in my opinion, we could do with such topics being addressed more in video games. To hell with these awkward censorships designed to lower the age rating of the game at the cost of having poorly presented sexuality (Such as "Sex scenes" where both actors are just awkwardly grinding on each other while clothed or worse, like the older GTA titles where picking up a prostitute the characters will just be sat there in their seats with the car rocking)

Without sex scenes, the game would still be good. The underlying game is mechanically solid and there are some well written characters (With a few poorly written ones too *Cough*Emperor*Cough*). I simply like the more recent trend in games not treating sex as some taboo that can never be directly addressed.

Games like Witcher, Cyberpunk and now BG3 offering nudity are slowly helping get over the whole "Scandalous" nature of including sex and nudity. Where they've received fanfare/criticism from its inclusion now because it's considered quirky and different, but eventually this sort of thing can be normalized and it won't be as shocking for it to appear in a game. At which point there will be more focus on how it is used narratively and how it tackles related topics (Like human trafficking, sexual assault, sexualized minors etc) allowing for a more in depth look at a reflection of some of the darker points of a society creating a grittier and emotionally impactful story.

In much the same way that violence has been normalized, so we can easily have games use topics like murder, terrorism, torture, killing of civilians etc. (Killing children still seems to be taboo though... Ironically, BG3 does in fact involve child murder and no-one bats an eye)

I mean, I bought it in early Early Access, before we knew almost anything, so yes. And most of the changes since then, sex-wise, have been improvements IMHO.

Thanks for providing a means to properly express my deeply felt opinion on the whole topic of sex in bg3 (who cares, that's right, he he.)

I did choose 'Who cares' because I bought the game for story, DnD and adventure and not sex. I'm not against romances, but they shouldn't be a main focus in a DnD game.

I bought the game in EA, because it was announced as turn based DND. In none of the announcements, I saw anything about romancing or sex.
In EA there was no nudity, but you could strip to underwear, and only after playing I discovered there was an option to romance. So that was certainly not a motivation to buy this game.

If there had been no sex and romance in the game, I wouldn't miss it, as I wouldn't know about it. But having experienced it, I do believe it is a plus for the game. Even though it could be implemented much better.

I only tried to woo Shadowheart and Minthara, and so I am a bit puzzlded by all the comments about promiscuity, orgies and sex all over the place, because with these two partners together, intimate scenes (not even talking about sex) can be counted on one hand.
1.Shadow at the grove party (some kissing and talking, implied but not explicitly shown sex)
2.Shadow at the beach. No nudity, (all in underwear) no sex shown.
3.Kissing shadowheart in camp.
4.Minthara at the grove party. (Explicit Sex and nudity, wow )
5.A convestation with Minthara who is nude after defeating the netherbrain, no sex.
6.Minthara at the final victory party : you may kiss her.

OK. It's one hand + 1 extra finger.

I was also interested to see what was going on in Shares Caress, and the answer is a disappointing "nothing". If you get the chance to go with the drow, you just get a black screen.

I did get to do the hanky panky with Mizora and with Haarlep in female form though.

So basically in 2 PT's I have seen 3 cinematic scenes that could be called "sex". Minthara after the grove masscre, Misora and Haarlep.
And somehow it seems to be a big deal for so many people (at least on this board) . I don't understand it.
It's nice to have this romance option, but it's not very developed. With Shadowheart, you can kiss her only from Act 2, I think. Or was it Act 3 ? And you can also ask her every time how she feels about you, which always gives the same answer.

With Minthara, nothing even hints to the possibility that she likes you until the game has ended. After the defeat of the netherbrain, you can form a couple with her, and in Withers afterparty you can kiss her. That's it.

A game that could create the feeling of a good old sword&sorcery pulp magazine or peplum movie with sexy looking heroes getting enamoured, that would be nice to have. But BG3 is still far away from that. It's even still far away from something like "Xena warrior princess" in this department .

I'll never get the problem with Gale contemplating the image of Mystra. He is not intending to start a romantic relationship with the player character in that scene. He is contemplating his situation and takes it as a chance to show the PC why he cares about magic so much, which the PC can turn into a romance by picking the obviously romantic options.

In general I find the slower romances - Karlach, Shadowheart and Wyll - way more uncomfortable because they have a very fixed vision of wanting a romance, what this romance is supposed to look like and simply cast the PC as the romantic lead out of convenience. If you don't kiss Shart after the nice night you spent chatting, she disapproves. If you do kiss her, she instantly goes "I wanted to become a Dark Justiciar but now that I have you, I might not need it anymore." which is so creepy, especially since it can happen fairly early in Act1.

Sex sex sex sex, I love orgies, I love Halsin, we need more sex

In this day and age, young people have sex much, much earlier than when I grew up. Why would Larian not reflect that in the game? Early sex, and I mean really early, with Astarion is essential to his story. I would have ignored romance in the game if there wasn't an Astarion or another equally interesting character.

Okay. Well. The synopsis of what I have to say on this, again, then.

- I bought the game firstly because of the title. It is a sequel to my favorite game series ever. If it were Divinity 3, I probably wouldn't have bought it.
- I thoroughly enjoy this game. Primarily because of its exploration and dungeon delving, I love the mechanics and the freedom in approaching situations.
- The 'everyone is hot for Tav in Act 1' feels rather silly and forced, but otherwise:
- I have no issues with the romances, the sex in it, or nudity at all.
- I also have no issue with violence and gore, for that matter. In case that comes up again. Robocop is my favorite movie. Or Goodfellas.
- I think they oversold the romances, I think they're actually not that big of an impact on the game at all, and they're entirely linear. Everyone has a scene, maybe two, per chapter.
- I think they went a little overboard with the selling of sexualized content.
- I think the game is a bit heavy on the gay stuff too. I don't mind inclusion, but celebrating it is another matter to me. I'm just not the target audience for that.

My real problem with the romance is that sometimes it feels like something a teen wrote on Wattpad

My response for both the current game and this theoretical 'sex lite' version is the same: Bought Yes; Great No.

I wasn't aware of the degree to which companion romances and sexual encounters factored into the current game when I bought it, so scaling that back would not have changed my attitude much as a prospective player.

Honestly? Who cares, I bought it in EA because I liked the story and Astarion's hair. Now the story is kinda shit. I also didn't watch any of the advertising.

Even more honestly? I'd like romances to have more. Now they feel like side stories separate from everything else most of the time. I'd even like Halsin being the way he is if I could kick him out of my camp for it. What irks me is Haarlep and the drow twins existing while a lot of Act 3 is rushed.


Some relationships start with sex, it's fine if it makes sense for a character. Forcing them all into the same kind of progression wouldn't make them better.

OP, ‘would you still think it’s a great game’ assumes anyone actually thinks it’s a ‘great game’ to begin with.

Act 1 is an impressively-devised if aimless playground. The antagonists are not introduced until Act 2, so it’s all a load of fluff around super tadpoles and ‘The Absolute’. I would consider that very, very weak storytelling, to the point of the writerly effort being almost non-existent.

Act 2 then is a rushed mess about a generic ‘epic’ attack on a fantasy city. One of the 3 main antagonists is killed off before Act 3 even begins, leaving the 2 blandest antagonists to take over.

While I can’t place my finger on the exact problem, this game simply does not have the ‘magic’ that BG1 and BG2 had. I’m talking as someone who was mightily impressed by the world-building of those games, as an ‘outsider’ who had no interest in DnD, and still does not have an interest in it.

Even Icewind Dale 1 and 2 had this ‘spark’ of brilliant strangeness that made you get lost in the wonderland of this once-impressive universe.

Chiefly, I see BG3 as the lowbrow hipster version of those games I genuinely loved ‘back in the day’: tries to be ‘modern’, hip, ‘sexy’, cool etc.

I think their writers are uniquely talentless: even the woke is tame.

The romances are tacky, weird, disturbing. But they were always that, in all video games I’ve played. So nothing new there.

The main issue with BG3 romance is how it mutates the companions. They can’t just be friends. Any positive banter could trigger some bizarre ‘romance’ scene.

To those who want this, they should have it, if they consider it ‘entertainment’. To those who want friends for companions who will see a ‘high five’ as a ‘bro moment’, or whatever you want to call it, and not a ‘want to ride you moment’, we’re kind of at a loss with the approach taken here.

I didn't think that the game was great to begin with, but also if sex were de-emphasized I still would have bought it. I'd be disappointed if there were fewer romance ompanions, I'd have been disappointed if there was no romance at all. I like romancein my rpgs, they're fun and engaging in them with my character is a good, compelling time for me. Larian didn't do the best job of it, but they didn't do a bad job in my opinion.