Yes, it would be a shame but I feel that's the way it is. In my current run I pretty much forgot about him until his quest became relevant, took him along and sure enough, his affections stirred. But, on a positive note, his dialogue now registers if you didn't ask about his love life and you can politely reject him without any awkwardness. Seems banishing shadows just is his love language. (If any dev reads this: thank you for the fix!)
I'm reading you all and...I never had any problem with Halsin on patch 7.
I never ask about his love (because it's obviously a romance trigger) and as you wrote Anska, I never had any problem rejecting him kindly in act 3 (I was at max approval too, I think). This is super weird to read that many of you got weird reactions from him, I'm wondering why it happens to some players and not to others.
