Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Larian Rommance problem

That is not how it happens in the game, based my current playthrough. It was not a large amount of approval with Shadowheart that was required for her to make a good decision. I'd not even describe it as friendship at this point, it was simply a non-antagonistic relationship. It is not realistic, because in the absence of uncovering her secret (that she is a cleric of Shar), there wasn't even a dialogue with her where she questions her faith.

Someone mentioned that it depends on whether you get her memory about the smells of the city when wandering through Baldur's Gate. I am not sure if that's it though.

As for the "pushing buttons til sex" I doubt anyone does that - unless you are doing that weird sex speed run thing. In general I'd say people pick the character they like and want a deeper story connection with. Could it be better, especially in Act 3, most definitely, but that is a general problem especially of the late game, where all the character interactions and banter seem to dry out. Some more interactions with your friends/romantic partner during the late game would be nice and I have seen tons of good suggestions for those.

The marketing is overall way more thirsty than the game itself. (Poor Astarion.)

For the story purposes in this game 40 approval (which is the threshold for Shadowheart to throw away the spear on her own) is when you basically become bffs with most of the companions. I suppose the threshold might be so low because it was balanced with multiplayer in mind and you are much more limited in the amount of time you can spend with each companion in your party there.


IIRC these are the conditions for her to save her parents:

It's wild that the game wants you to blindly trust a companion with whom you have a "fair" relationship to not kill an important NPC, despite her clearly expressing the will to do so a few seconds ago.



I can't comment on the Astarion romance, but I've seen people here complain about the "painful sunlight" ending for him, where the PC boyfriend just stands there having a great time like the rest of the team. My point is that romances should matter a LOT even through the main storyline, not just in isolated cutscenes. At least there should be no incongruence between these two realms of interaction.


That's where my "dating simulator" hyperbole was aiming at. The amount of "playersexual" interactions feels weird and intrusive. Even if you go for the experience, the payoff is underwhelming. This "dating sim approach" also influences the selection of possible companions we get. They are all young, conventionally attractive looking and super horny. No ugly half-orc, or smelly old dwarf. No shorty companions whatsoever because well all know that shorties are not sexy...

I agree about the third act, it probably just hasn't been finalized in time. Hopefully they'll add content over time.


This seems very unrealistic. Approval 40 is way too low for such a big decision, considering she initially really believes in Shar and wants to become a Dark Justiciar. Perhaps then they should have made different approval thresholds for single-player and multiplayer, as well as the need for certain actions and dialogue.


Thank you!


This variant of Astarion's ending is really terrible, in my opinion it's the biggest plot failure in the game (but my opinion may be subjective, and luckily there's another option for him). I completely agree with you that the romantic relationship should have much more importance. I unfortunately just didn't fully understand your point in your previous post, and I wanted to "stand up" for romances in the game, as they do bring a lot of emotions to the players, and for me the most important thing is when a game gives me the opportunity to feel something, to immerse myself in it, and BG3 really succeeded in that. Of course, if the romance lines could be improved so that they play a role in the main storyline as well, that would be just great and would really make BG3 even better.

So, when it comes to making a decision about the fate of her PARENTS, you are welcome to chime in, but when it is about a main story related critical NPC, the game treats your most natural input in a "HOW DARE YOU!!!" fashion. This writing creates cheap drama for the sake of drama.


It's safe to assume that the bulk of meaningful romance content was supposed to dwell in act 3. There are good narrative reasons for that. Unfortunately a massive amount of content was cut, and that that probably includes a lot of companion interaction. In essence the relentless playersexual onslaught of the first act remains a broken promise.

+1, I agree, there should be option to switch romances off completely and option to choose if player wants gay/straight romances.