I loved the way Divinity Original Sin 2 had its romances tied behind acts. It felt properly paced, it felt properly built up, beautifully intimate and connected. The party starts as complete strangers who can barely stand each other, slowly forming mutual respect which eventually creates a friendship by completing their actual quests and then progressing into an intimate moment which then forms an actual fully romantic relationship by ACT 3, with incredibly satisfying endings.
BG3's romances are all beautifully made... BUT have none of that build up. They're way too rushed, way too easily started without any effort (even prostitutes in the Witcher 3 required more work than any BG3 romance) and way too shallow by starting without any actual good reasons at all, which makes having just natural respectful friendships impossible in the game.
The companions are just throwing themselves at the player for no particular story reasons at all;
- Shadowheart is tipsy and confused
- Gale is lonely
- Lae'zel is horny
- Astarion is a fuckboy
- Wyll is depressed
- Karlach's entire story is just her wanting to get physical.
This playthrough I never flirted with Wyll WHATSOEVER by trying to just be respectful friends, yet he triggered his dancing scene in ACT 2. Why can't I just be friends? Why can't I also just dance with Wyll without him making the most depressing puppy face imaginable because I just want to dance and not f***?The approval system was a mistake in my opinion; it should not have been used to trigger romances, but instead to switch the companion's behavior towards the player from neutral to respectful to friendly. Similarly to how Lae'zel greets the player with either "
More chatter already?!" to "
Greetings" or "
Go ahead, I'm listening".
Actual romances should build-up and only start when the player accomplishes a notable moment in the companion's story. Such as Shadowheart's ACT 2 desicision, Lae'zel's ACT 1.5 decision, Gale's ACT 2 decision, Wyll's ACT 2 decision... etc...
Unfortunately currently BG3's relationships just feel like casual hookups.
And DOS2's intimate scenes are leagues above any from BG3's because they actually had us interact with our lover during the moment, unlike BG3's which are just cutscenes to watch.
