Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Was BG3 overly sexualized?

I'm glad that you and Lae'zel turned out to have such a great relationship, and that no one tried to use your beloved companion for the purpose of "moral lessons" by inflicting psychological damage on the player through the addition of traumatic sexualized scenes. I know the romance with Lae'zel is great and many people like it. My experience with the game, unfortunately, was quite different. In the case of the romance with Astarion, the player's punishment for "making the wrong choice" comes not in the form of any plot consequences that could somehow be logically justified, but in the form of three added scenes of sexualized violence that were called "kisses" and presented as a "Valentine's Day gift." "A gift" that ruined the love of this game for many players who choose to play this walkthrough, and instead of which additional dialogue could very well have been added and improved the game for all players. The romance with Astarion (with Ascension) is a deep monogamous relationship, symbolizing marriage in many ways. Astarion calls Tav "consort," "Aeterna Amantes. Lovers forever, until the world falls down." sounds like the marriage vow "Till death do us part," and even the meaning of the expression that Tav is now wearing a kind of "collar" regularly used by opponents of this romance became clear to me only after I learned that a "collar" happens to be what anti-marriage activists call a wedding ring. For Tav in some scenes of this romance there are not even adequate and dignified lines, but there are many lines for scolding, for the sake of preserving the romance in one of the scenes you have to kind of sign that "you like to degrade yourself", there is no possibility to explain or say something different, because it is a "rail" scene with only one possible choice. Fixing the lines in the scene and giving the player the option to roleplay instead of sexualized content would be much more useful for an RPG game in my opinion.

Another example is Minthara vs. Halsin. Minthara is a smart, interesting, monogamous character. Halsin is not clever, rather vapid, polyamorous, tries to meddle in your relationship, making attempts not only on you, which is quite usual in this game, but also on the most precious one - your partner. Minthara is much harder to get as a companion (they've simplified it now), but when I went through the game the first time without spoilers, the only way to at least think that this was a possible companion and not a regular "boss" in the game was to see the camp clothes on her when searching her after a fight. She is positioned as a companion for the "evil" player who wants to destroy the grove and enter the cult, Halsin is for the "good" one, he is much easier to get, especially while the player has no preconceptions about him, doesn't know Minthara's character, and has no idea how he and Minthara will behave later on.

There is also quite a bit of content in the game dealing with cheating, the "choice between the two", and the breakup of relationships. Lots of lines and reactions from the romantic companion to the various choices of cheating, but not a single line, reaction or approval in response to true fidelity. For example, the fact that Astarion notices Halsin's feelings and worries about it, I only found out after reading about it from other players, because to get this dialog you have to agree to Halsin's proposal, when you refuse Halsin right away, there will be no dialog. If the player has been avoiding any situation where there is even a hint of infidelity (funny, but because of the regular advances from companions, a slight paranoia develops about any, even innocent scenes, I was even afraid to hug Karlach in the scene where she regains the ability to touch, for fear of "what she might think", although in any other game I would have taken it as a friendly scene), in this case there will be no plot, lines and approvals. I don't know the details regarding how other romances play out, maybe Lae'zel or someone else has some sort of reaction to fidelity. In the case of Astarion, who is deeply in need of love, fidelity could add to his confidence and affect the relationship, but that would be a plot part of the romance rather than a sexual one, which is perhaps not as interesting to the "mass audience", so it's not spelled out or added. But you can hurt him in a "threesome with Halsin", drag him into a brothel, which is much worse than the manipulative remarks in the same brothel towards Gale, given that Gale (as written about him) doesn't become a victim, but finds a nice way out of the situation, leaving his projection in his place. Of Astarion is allowed to be made a "sex toy" despite everything he's been through, no "moral sanctions" for that, "sanctions" only for helping him in his plot quest, for "evil choices". Why an "evil choice" has to be associated with sexualization, and even in this format, is incomprehensible to me. And before BG3, there were polyamorous characters and polyamorous relationship options in games that didn't elicit any negative reaction; I myself had a romance with Daeran in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which was intended to be a pansexual polyamorous character, and other players have written about how I can't remember which of the other companions he might have a joint romance with anymore, but it wasn't enforced in any way, he didn't drag Tav to a brothel, the relationship was good, no cruelty despite his NE alignment, no over-sexualization, just a story. I think this is the way to show different variants of relationships between people in games - calmly, as a normal part of life, without imposing anything, and if there are romances in the game, then give the opportunity for communication, mutual affection and devotion, give the player the opportunity to roleplay, the opportunity to love, care and please a companion, not " thirsty romantic animations".