I am basing my observation not just on the actual EA, but also the latest stream/panel. Anything can happen, but given the current data, general reception of the EA and especially that Panel from Hell 2, I stand behind what I've stated - ESPECIALLY regarding the combat system. They literally had Jeremy Crawford (the D&D rules guy) explain that you have to change things for a cRPG (no sh1t, Sherlock), before they went to showcase misty-stepping (different graphics, more-or-less the same effect) badger as one of Druid's forms.
4 months is a long time for some basic changes/fixes - or attempts, it's EA, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, better than not changing ANYTHING in a sucky/abusable/unbalanced combat system for 4 months. Also, it can certainly be improved and already has been - by modders.
I expected at least a hint or tiny acknowledgement that there is stuff to change regarding the combat system - but we got the opposite in the latest patch & stream, even supported by Jeremy Crawford. Not even necessarily the fixes themselves, though the most broken things like height (dis)advantage and backstab can be changed trivially by Larian if even modders can do it.
If this is the industry standard, then maybe just avoid romances altogether? Or at least don't force them onto player as much... The after-battle celebration dialogues are weird & cringy AF if you haven't interacted with the (horny?) characters at all or at least not in THAT way. At the very least, they should decouple "love interest" and "approval", it makes almost no sense to have them connected (besides maybe requiring some minimal amount of approval and/or changing some lines based on its amount). At least in the case of Shadowheart, there are some flirty lines you can choose in her dialogues, choosing enough of those should trigger something, not just the fact that you've petted Scratch many times.
For instance, at least some BG2 romances were OK. Fully optional (might not even know they are there if playing for the 1st time).
Not to mention, they have to make all the romance options varied and available. Because otherwise they would be accused of not showing representation.
No, they don't have to - they don't have to do any romances at all. But they will. Fan service, $$$, etc. I wish they either did it well or spent their time/effort elsewhere...
1. You cannot think that everything that was stated in a stupid stream is the end all be all of everything related to combat adjustment. So tired of people translating any little sentence someone says to their agenda. Of course they are going to be fine tuning combat, that is what ALPHA is! But it is a lot better to surprise players with the fixed mechanic, than to make it known you are working on it and than have to postpone or even worse fail. Not to mention, considering the attitude on this forum, they would be fools to even mention they were working on it. People started to jump their sh&t because they felt they didn't drop patch 4 soon enough after that stream. You don't bring up something your working on to the community until it is at a phase close to releasing it. They would be fools to do otherwise.
2. If you expected a hint of what they were doing, and not ready to announce, well I don't know what to tell you. No game does that. We are EA, not stockholders. Not only that, they will not release something like that until, as I stated above, it is about to go out. Another reason to do that, is to protect their intellectual property, if they let details out to early someone else will try to put it out before them.
3. I think you will find you are pretty much alone in regards to your thoughts about companion romance being left out. Yeah I think it was pretty forced to have Astarion (well hell I think all the male comps did which is annoying af) hit on my male character when I didn't show any interest in them like that. I do agree that they should only do that if you show romantic interest. But again, that is a no win situation, because they then would have the twitter reeeee squad coming down on them like a ton of bricks for not having representation.
