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Originally Posted by fylimar
Gale is really bugged. In order to be able to romance him, you have to have a scene, where he explorers the Weave with you. This scene is nearly impossible to trigger. Especially, if you are getting approval too quickly. You basically have to rest after every approval raise, but the problem is, other companion scenes are triggered too - and I always thought, that they might overwrite the Weave scene, plus there are events like Raphael that burst into the mix.
I did at least 10 playthroughs and I only was able to trigger the Weave scene once or twice.

As for Astarion, I hope he stays evil, he is the most evil of the companions and he seems to like it that way. My prediction is, that you have to put a stake through his heart at one point as a non-evil character.

Weirdly I have gotten that scene every single playthrough so I never had issue.

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Originally Posted by ash elemental
Also, he is the only companions that has a personal interest in keeping the tadpole, so I suspect if the absolute offers him a good deal he will take it (and stab the PC in the back on the way)

I'm betting that we'll need to make a persuasion check to keep him around, with bonuses or penalties depending on how he's been treated. Maybe the check will auto-succeed or auto-fail under certain circumstances.

I foresee further checks when it's time to deal with Cazador. Those are the ones I'm really looking forward to, I hope they'll be... interesting.

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Originally Posted by ash elemental
I agree with fylimar, Astarion comes off as chaotic evil, to use the D&D alignment terms. With an evil PC is is actually quite noticeable; I guess he isn't hiding his nature then. Also, he is the only companions that has a personal interest in keeping the tadpole, so I suspect if the absolute offers him a good deal he will take it (and stab the PC in the back on the way). Same as Gale and
Raphael, that is another potential betrayal I'd expect if you don't play along with Gale's demands.

That said, I think every origin character will be written with a potential evil & good path in their origin story. Otherwise playing them would make little sense; if the player consistently makes good choices, the story needs to reflect that, regardless who they are playing as.
I agree about Gale, given by the conversation with him after that encounter.


"We are all stories in the end. Just make it a good one."

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I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

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Originally Posted by Icelyn
I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

I can trigger it on every run now, only took me... checks Steam... 343 hours of practice.

Gale takes 'playing hard to get' to a new level.

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Originally Posted by Icelyn
I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

I haven't either, although recently I've resorted to having him suicide using traps and setting fire to spider walkways to trigger the required death scene earlier in the game. It has also occurred to me that my characters would rather romance Halsin, anyway. A relationship that requires the level of micromanagement that Gale's does hardly seems worth the trouble and certainly loses its "romantic" feel.

Although, the micromanagement may only be necessary if you want him as a party date. It's possible that a more leisurely romance could blossom later in the game if you have sufficient rep with him (which I would actually prefer). Regardless, if he wants to court my characters, he's going to have to be a little more forthcoming and flexible.

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Originally Posted by Imryll
Originally Posted by Icelyn
I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

I haven't either, although recently I've resorted to having him suicide using traps and setting fire to spider walkways to trigger the required death scene earlier in the game. It has also occurred to me that my characters would rather romance Halsin, anyway. A relationship that requires the level of micromanagement that Gale's does hardly seems worth the trouble and certainly loses its "romantic" feel.

Although, the micromanagement may only be necessary if you want him as a party date. It's possible that a more leisurely romance could blossom later in the game if you have sufficient rep with him (which I would actually prefer). Regardless, if he wants to court my characters, he's going to have to be a little more forthcoming and flexible.


You need to trigger his mirror image scene also by resting before doing the intro fight by the grove gates. Then it's a game of doing enough actions per approval tier and camping then. You have to find a way to advance the story without advancing his approval, so you gotta stagger the content that gets you his approval, by doing things like killing goblins at the camp or doing the harpies without gaining approval too quick.

It's most definitely terrible half-assed design, and should change before the game releases.

I've done 4 complete playthroughs and only on the 4th after reading the forum threads here did I get enough tips to manage to trigger the scene through very calculated play, it sucks.

Especially because unless Daddy Halsin becomes available, Gale is the only sorta normal charming male romance interest. Wyll is such a weirdo with the self referral in third person to the Blade, he's too full of it for me to like. Doesn't help he talks about his devil mistress even during your sex scene and you need to roll a dice to even get a sex scene.

Last edited by Zenith; 28/03/21 07:51 AM.
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Originally Posted by Imryll
It has also occurred to me that my characters would rather romance Halsin, anyway.
Agree!

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Originally Posted by Zenith
Originally Posted by Imryll
Originally Posted by Icelyn
I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

I haven't either, although recently I've resorted to having him suicide using traps and setting fire to spider walkways to trigger the required death scene earlier in the game. It has also occurred to me that my characters would rather romance Halsin, anyway. A relationship that requires the level of micromanagement that Gale's does hardly seems worth the trouble and certainly loses its "romantic" feel.

Although, the micromanagement may only be necessary if you want him as a party date. It's possible that a more leisurely romance could blossom later in the game if you have sufficient rep with him (which I would actually prefer). Regardless, if he wants to court my characters, he's going to have to be a little more forthcoming and flexible.


You need to trigger his mirror image scene also by resting before doing the intro fight by the grove gates. Then it's a game of doing enough actions per approval tier and camping then. You have to find a way to advance the story without advancing his approval, so you gotta stagger the content that gets you his approval, by doing things like killing goblins at the camp or doing the harpies without gaining approval too quick.

Thanks for the tip, but I've been getting all but the weave scene, so I think that the issue (for me) really is that he's not been dying early enough in the game if I play normally--and that it's hard for me to feel romantically about someone I have to kill off before I can capture their interest. It begins to sound like the basis for one of the books we might find. I'm really not sure why the death sequence needs to happen so early or why achieving exceptional rep couldn't trigger a substitute scene where he explains what you'll need to do if he does die. Perhaps the dev who designed it spied on me monitoring Gatekeeper after each conversation with Anomen to make sure I hadn't "turned off" the romance and thought that a similar experience would make BG3 feel like a real BG game. wink

And, yes, before anyone expresses shock that anyone would want to romance Anomen, I am the one person who did. It's not that I was keen on the early exchanges, but basically that I can forgive those because later, when my character really needs support, he tells her that he'll follow her into hell and then does so. Knowing you can count on someone can be a real turn on.

Last edited by Imryll; 28/03/21 08:58 PM.
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Getting his death scene is not one of the requirements, though I've seen people theorize that it might trigger his "stuck" conversations. All you really need to do is raise his approval and then long rest/fast travel like crazy at each step (medium, high, etc.) until you get his corresponding camp cutscene, in the meantime avoiding any other camp cutscenes which might interfere (which is the really tricky part).

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Originally Posted by Imryll
Originally Posted by Zenith
Originally Posted by Imryll
Originally Posted by Icelyn
I have never gotten the weave scene. frown

I haven't either, although recently I've resorted to having him suicide using traps and setting fire to spider walkways to trigger the required death scene earlier in the game. It has also occurred to me that my characters would rather romance Halsin, anyway. A relationship that requires the level of micromanagement that Gale's does hardly seems worth the trouble and certainly loses its "romantic" feel.

Although, the micromanagement may only be necessary if you want him as a party date. It's possible that a more leisurely romance could blossom later in the game if you have sufficient rep with him (which I would actually prefer). Regardless, if he wants to court my characters, he's going to have to be a little more forthcoming and flexible.


You need to trigger his mirror image scene also by resting before doing the intro fight by the grove gates. Then it's a game of doing enough actions per approval tier and camping then. You have to find a way to advance the story without advancing his approval, so you gotta stagger the content that gets you his approval, by doing things like killing goblins at the camp or doing the harpies without gaining approval too quick.

Thanks for the tip, but I've been getting all but the weave scene, so I think that the issue (for me) really is that he's not been dying early enough in the game if I play normally--and that it's hard for me to feel romantically about someone I have to kill off before I can capture their interest. It begins to sound like the basis for one of the books we might find. I'm really not sure why the death sequence needs to happen so early or why achieving exceptional rep couldn't trigger a substitute scene where he explains what you'll need to do if he does die. Perhaps the dev who designed it spied on me monitoring Gatekeeper after each conversation with Anomen to make sure I hadn't "turned off" the romance and thought that a similar experience would make BG3 feel like a real BG game. wink

And, yes, before anyone expresses shock that anyone would want to romance Anomen, I am the one person who did. It's not that I was keen on the early exchanges, but basically that I can forgive those because later, when my character really needs support, he tells her that he'll follow her into hell and then does so. Knowing you can count on someone can be a real turn on.

I got his death scene via the harpies. Before engaging them, I make him jump a couple of times to take fall damage dangerously close to death, and once engaged with them I make him jump one last time off a cliff for the harpies to then kill him after death saving throws. It's very easy to 3 man the harpies if you position Lazael and Shadowheart by the very cliffs they tend to jump up to before you engage them so you can bust them up as soon as they jump over. Alternatively, you can put Shadowheart with Inflct wounds by the kid to deal with the harpy that's down and grab your character that has Thunderwave and put him up for Lazael so as soon as the harpy jumps over you can push her off the cliff.

Either way it's awful design and limited my gameplay cadence and options. Because of the careful camping, I completely missed the Aradin band after calming the encounter with Zevlor, as I camped but didn't talk to Aradin's band and the next day they were gone from the camp without giving me the hand bill for the Nightsong or triggering the scene with the stolen locket.

I'm just hoping for Daddy Halsin romance, because on my 3rd playthrough I dislike Wyll even more with his weirdo third person self reference as the blade blowing smoke all up his ass constantly, and Gale is the only OK male romance, but aesthetically leaves something to be desired.

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Originally Posted by Zenith
I'm just hoping for Daddy Halsin romance, because on my 3rd playthrough I dislike Wyll even more with his weirdo third person self reference as the blade blowing smoke all up his ass constantly, and Gale is the only OK male romance, but aesthetically leaves something to be desired.
I know! Referring to himself in the third person once might have been funny, especially if you had the option to joke back about it (to show you know he's just kidding around). But it seems like he's seriously being that cheesy about being a hero, which comes off as childish (instead of just being goofy to try to make you laugh). It's kind of a shame, because the rest of his backstory seemed interesting (although admittedly he doesn't seem like he fits a noble background).

And yes about Gale's aesthetics. His unnaturally low brow ridge makes all his facial expressions seem off, and despite the great job with head hair in the game, the facial hair still needs some work (although it's better that some games). So watching him speak is a bit odd at times. Since I seem to have missed a bunch of his dialogue, I can't say too much about his personality so far (I'm on the fence about what I've seen).

This is why it's too bad to hear Astarion is so obviously evil. Overall, his facial animations are much better and his lines are more engaging, which makes him more fun to interact with. The others all seem a bit inconsistent (from what I've seen anyway).

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Ok, I have been playing this early access for a while and its getting pretty annoying when my character as a male is getting male admirers during the party scene. There should be a toggle switch in options to remove that possibility and you only receive love interests from the opposite sex. The last time that happened I reloaded an old save and tried as i might to sway it to a female choice ( character was male), but eventually it came back to him asking to sleep with my character or kicking him out of camp permanently. I suppose I could just not meet/ remove any of the male allied characters and use configuration of the 2 female choices, but that would be both drastic and put my party on a disadvantage... but might be worth it in the long run if Larion doesn't put the option to filter out same sex allies as love interests.

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Originally Posted by soulstalker
Ok, I have been playing this early access for a while and its getting pretty annoying when my character as a male is getting male admirers during the party scene. There should be a toggle switch in options to remove that possibility and you only receive love interests from the opposite sex. The last time that happened I reloaded an old save and tried as i might to sway it to a female choice ( character was male), but eventually it came back to him asking to sleep with my character or kicking him out of camp permanently. I suppose I could just not meet/ remove any of the male allied characters and use configuration of the 2 female choices, but that would be both drastic and put my party on a disadvantage... but might be worth it in the long run if Larion doesn't put the option to filter out same sex allies as love interests.

Don't know what to tell you. If it were up to me all romance dialogue and scenes would be gated. If the player does not flirt, then it really shouldn't be brought up at all. Total strangers in an unfamiliar terrain with monstrosities around every other corner? Yeah let's talk about romance while I wash off the blood of my enemies hoping I don't sprout tentacles right out my face hole and zombieland the next mo fo I see. Not to mention some just want friendship. Some don't want romance at all. This really shouldn't be a dating sim. It should be a fantastical adventure. At times though it really does feel like a dating sim.

The gate would also mean avoiding unwanted attention.

They could have leaned into body language more instead of dialogue too. A smile and moving subtly closer. Or hand on the arm or hand on the shoulder. A casual lean. Simple but effective and more natural. Only after you initiate though so it feels like you are building something. Some of the dialogue really takes me out of whatever it is they were trying to do.

The way it is now, you get all attention and it's like you have to check people off you like a hoe in heat.

Then again I'm conservative. I like my romance private, personal, and passionate.

Last edited by Aishaddai; 01/04/21 07:06 PM.
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Originally Posted by Aishaddai
Originally Posted by soulstalker
Ok, I have been playing this early access for a while and its getting pretty annoying when my character as a male is getting male admirers during the party scene. There should be a toggle switch in options to remove that possibility and you only receive love interests from the opposite sex. The last time that happened I reloaded an old save and tried as i might to sway it to a female choice ( character was male), but eventually it came back to him asking to sleep with my character or kicking him out of camp permanently. I suppose I could just not meet/ remove any of the male allied characters and use configuration of the 2 female choices, but that would be both drastic and put my party on a disadvantage... but might be worth it in the long run if Larion doesn't put the option to filter out same sex allies as love interests.

Don't know what to tell you. If it were up to me all romance dialogue and scenes would be gated. If the player does not flirt, then it really shouldn't be brought up at all. Total strangers in an unfamiliar terrain with monstrosities around every other corner? Yeah let's talk about romance while I wash off the blood of my enemies hoping I don't sprout tentacles right out my face hole and zombieland the next mo fo I see. Not to mention some just want friendship. Some don't want romance at all. This really shouldn't be a dating sim. It should be a fantastical adventure. At times though it really does feel like a dating sim.

The gate would also mean avoiding unwanted attention.

They could have leaned into body language more instead of dialogue too. A smile and moving subtly closer. Or hand on the arm or hand on the shoulder. A casual lean. Simple but effective and more natural. Only after you initiate though so it feels like you are building something. Some of the dialogue really takes me out of whatever it is they were trying to do.

The way it is now, you get all attention and it's like you have to check people off you like a hoe in heat.

Then again I'm conservative. I like my romance private, personal, and passionate.

To me this seems realistic. People are going to flirt/hit on you whether you wanted it or not in a neutral environment; most straight men don't notice it because it's often mostly men doing it to women, and IRL they would react violently to other men doing it to them, which is what the poster above would probably do (now imagine if women were as defensive about unwanted flirting).

Faerun supposedly does not have the RL biases in our world, so sexes are uninhibited with their targets of flirtation.

Let's face it, we're all going to be annoyed one way or another. If I have my male PC romancing Gale, but he's remarking constantly about Shadowheart's features or Wyll goes on about Lazael, and when they're not it's Mizora/Mystra, I could stand to be annoyed. But it should be treated like the trivial annoyance it is.

The reasonable response to unwanted flirtation is "thanks, but no thanks". Anything else is overreaction.

There are too many romance permutations to consider to accommodate every individual's sensitivity. And yes, for some a fantastical adventure involves a passionate relationship with a partner, while others would rather just be Indiana Jones rather than Sandokhan/James Bond.

Last edited by Zenith; 01/04/21 08:20 PM.
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@Zenith I disagree entirely. There is a time and place for everything. Not everyone is appealing to everyone either. Then you have things like style, demeanor, setting. Men and women looking for rings, body language, inconsistency, etc. Cues for all sorts of info.

This false narrative of everyone flirting all the time seems quite popular.

Straight men not noticing is also false and misleading. Awareness is not mutually exclusive. Hell in some professions like engineering you can straight up lose your license if there is a witness regardless of recipication. The horny'est men I know are always looking when it comes to this. Double for women past 25.

Fantasy is fantasy. The rules are what the devs make them. Real life has no standing. The player who payed for the game should have a choice in tone of how to interact.

Its not trivial which is the point. The gate is the best solution by far. You choose the tone. None of this you get all tones and you have to sit in unwanted situations. Their is no reason not to have a gate.

The horrible fickleness, disrespectful, borderline humiliation fetish(their are other words but this is least likely to be modded) is unnecessary. The men and women i've encountered for the past 30 years always share the same behavior. If you are interested in someone, the last thing you want is to be associated with anyone else that could be seen as a rival or mood destroyer in front of the desired prospect. You are suppose to be starting a relationship not a competition. Assuming you have self worth.

I wouldn't assume over or under reactions from anyone either since I can judge for myself. Not going to trust any melo drama hivemind manipulators over my own judgement. Not saying you are one, but that they exist and are loud.

The accommodation is simple. Let people choose. Put up the gate and let the player initiate.

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Flirting can be a weird societal thing. As a gay guy I have been very very dense to flirtations from women, only realizing much later. It isn't something that I enjoy encountering but I always saw it as a mild or funny thing afterwards when I finally realize what happened. I feel the same when a female character flirts with me in a game cause I am clearly not going to pursue a romance with them, though with how direct most games are I find it actually clearer that I am being flirted with and thus I know to shut that down. Likely, I'd expect a straight guy that I did not know was straight to feel the same if I flirted with them (clearly this isn't going into completely unwanted advances cause then that'd be sexual harassment) and be willing to go "No, I am not interested."
Overall, I am fine with the characters initiating flirty conversations BUT there should also be equal opportunities for the player to initiate on their own terms, the ability to outright say no and move on, and options to tailor it like having it that other characters wont flirt if you start flirting with one or a player can set their sexuality as an optional toggle thing maybe (though I feel that last one would stir up people somehow, also I dunno if they plan at all for uh unique groupings with poly relationships or something).

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I was a bit taken aback when I was in the celebratory camp scene, and all my companions were talking about bringing me to their tent or that I didn’t make the cut. Up to that point, I had expressed no interest in any of them. Wyll was like come to my tent, and all I could think of was how did that happen. I hardly travelled with the guy. There is no buildup whatsoever. It is just straight up let’s get raunchy because we had a victory. That is not romance.

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I guess my question is why the design decision to create such an apparent emphasis on romance anyway? I thought BG games were about grand adventure with the possibility of romance an optional embellishment, not something that is shoved in your face like some sex party. *shrug*

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I feel like "romance" is just general term used that doesn't always mean actual romance. It's some kind of non-platonic interaction, which varies depending on the character and situation.

I feel that's fine. Depending on what kind of character you're role-playing, maybe they just want a night of distraction (that could turn into more later after getting to know the person later--or not) or maybe they do want an emotional connection right away. It's good to give the player options and let things play out differently depending on their choices.

Since the game basically asks you who you "dream of" at the beginning, it would be very easy to for "romances" to be open or not based on what the player selects there. That way it respects player choice for the character they are creating, but still gives everyone options.

I personally like in-depth character interactions in games, and they can exist alongside epic adventure if done well. Romances are a part of that, but sometimes they dominate over friendships. I really like how you had Aveline as a constant friend throughout DA2, and I always liked Varric across the DA games. In BG3, I'd like to be able to enjoy a bottle of wine with Shadowheart and get to know her better without it being romantic. I'd like to hear people's stories and find common ground in moments of respite, romance or not.

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