Originally Posted by Gandalfthefool
I understand that there have been people who have been taking it way to far, but I hope that this thread doesn't get deleted, because of those few people, because I support the argument/suggestion. I hope we can let this be a normal conversation with no threats or insults to anyone. To be clear I have no problems with poly, just the way it's handle.

This is my first post in this thread, but I have been wanting to post here for a while.

In my opinion that it is really out of character for selune shadowheart to be ok in a poly relationship, it would for Shar Shadowheart but not selune Shadowheart. She doesn't have sex with you until act 3 it is a build up, of love and trust, she is not okay with being in a poly with the other companions, but then Halsin comes around and everything changes. I also think the same thing Karlach, astarion, Gale and if you ask to be in a poly with them with Halsin, even when you asked them there not okay with it, but they say yes just to not lose Tav. I just don't like the writing with Halsin's poly because it was poorly done.

The problem is that it feels force, the poly option doesn't feel natural or mature,it feels like they wanted Halsin poly at last minute but didn't really cared if it made sense or not. It felt like last minute because it didn't feel set up by any of the other companions except Halsin. I think they saw that people were thirsty for Halsin, and wanted to hop on that, but the writers took it too far to the point where sex is the only thing Halsin has in act 3. From what I read (and correct me if i am wrong) you can only talk about Halsin life as a slave if you did the drow foursome with him, (or if you are a drow yourself). That's just really weird and unnecessary, why do I need to have foursome with him and the drow twins to learn about his backstory. It just doesn't feel mature at all none of it does.

Same thing with drow twins, Lae'zel, wyll, gale is not okay with you cheating on them with Mizora (they breaks up with you). With the drow twins they refuse foursome/threesome (Wyll, laezel, and initially gale but you can talk him into it), but they don't say anything if you by yourself have sex with the drow twins. Why? Wouldn't they also be breaking up with you then, because they break up with you if you have sex with Mizora.

Speaking of Mizora, it really makes no sense for Shadowheart (selune or shar) be okay with sex with Mizora, even if she was okay with one night stands. Think about it, Mizora puts wyll through hell, and works for the person that tortured Karlach, no way Shadowheart would have respect for you after having sex with her. Once again no maturity or logic in these scenes at all.

sex, love, relationships are mature and great in the companion personal stories, when you finally get to shadowheart sex scene it feels mature and done respectfully, when you get to astarion act 3 sex scene, it is also feel mature, despite the fact it takes place in a weird location to have sex in, it all feels more real. However outside of that, like MIzora, drow twins, Halsin, there is no maturity, there is no respect for poly or any of the characters including Halsin in the writing, and feels force with the way they wrote poly into the game. Again I am fine with poly, but this is a terrible execution.

It all feels they just wanted more sex in act 3, but they did it badly. In the end I just want them to respect all of the characters and relationships whether it's poly or mono.

I agree with your comment and it's exactly how I feel about this forced situation with Halsin. I can imagine the conversation among the people in charge going something like this:
Person 1: Well, we've finished Act 3, but we still need to decide what to do with Halsin. Any ideas?
Person 2: How about we make him poly? With all that nature stuff and living life like a wild bear, it could work!
Person 3: That’s brilliant!! And that way we can also be inclusive of poly people.
Person 4: But if Halsin is poly, who can we pair him with? We had already established that all origin characters are monogamous.
Person 2: How about Astarion and Shadowheart? They are the most attractive characters in the game, people will surely accept it and it’ll be fine.
Person 4: But Astarion has a background story of sexual trauma, how do we address that?
Person 2: We'll think of something.

I want to clarify that I wrote this parody not to mock or anything, but just to illustrate when something wasn’t planned or was done in a rush. And it's evident that this whole situation with Halsin and his poly offer doesn’t make sense and was handled incorrectly. When something isn’t planned in advance, people notice it (just look at how the Disney Star Wars trilogy ended).

For me, the Selunite Shadowheart scene is one of the most beautiful I've seen in a video game. I didn’t even see it as lewd or an explicit sex scene (more explicit are the scenes of Minthara, Lae'zel, even Karlach). The Shadowheart scene seems more romantic (like Astarion's), she even tells you to turn around so she can undress, like wtf??

I'm not against Selunite Shadowheart joining the infamous brothel scene. In fact, there are two interactions with her that I actually like:

The first is when she refuses to participate in the brothel, which is when Tav hasn't slept with her.
The second is when she agrees and tells you, "If you're comfortable sharing, so am I."
Everything gets ruined again when Halsin enters. If Shadowheart had said something like, "I don’t mind Halsin joining us, as long as you're not against it," to me, this dialogue, THIS INSIGNIFICANT DIALOGUE, would have solved 95% of the problem.

I'm no expert in poly relationships, I don't like them and I won't pretend to understand them, but as far as I know, aren’t these relationships supposed to involve mutual agreement from all parties? But when you put disapproval from Shadowheart, Astarion, and Halsin when you refuse, doesn’t that go against all this?