Hope that answered your questions. Like I said, I no longer really care about this topic. I'm only responding because you asked me to.
Much better to be honest.
But i shall react anyway, even if you dont want to continue, maybe someone else will.
And if not ... well, i just waste some time.
1. ... So it is powerful, but it is not the sum total of romance.
The only thing i can say for this is that we dont really know even whole 1/3 of the story yet.
But over and over i would agree ... asi i said it would be nice to see our character to move into our lover tent, or on his/hers mat.
2. That is why I said that two people can share very tender moments without having sex. In the game, they could have scenes with you and someone you are courting spending time alone together just enjoying one another's company. You know, actually building a relationship with the person.
I would honestly not like this ...
The main story tempo in BG3 seem quite intensive. o_O
I meam, we both know that nothing will happen, if we long-resting half year before we move from the beach ... but story-wise you dont quite have time to walk around, holding each others hands, smell flowers, enjoy wine under the stars, or simply watch the moon grow.
But i gues this feeling have mostly people who dont Long Rest often.
So if Larian would treat dialogue generator ... so we would no longer be able to miss those conversations, or at least not so easily ...
It might seem a lot better.
3. ... Right now, it is everyone on Celebration Night wanting to suddenly share a moment with you after we'd been traveling together for like a
week or more without ANY indication that ANYONE even remotely liked my MC.
Actually, if you played your cards right and let him bite you, that would have made a more perfect time for him to want to do something with you. Maybe not that same night, but maybe a following night within a day or so.
After the Githyanki scene, that would be more appropriate for Lae'zel since she would be feeling more in need of some comfort after her kin tried to kill her. She may not admit that she needs comfort, but it would make more sense to me especially if you trusted her to speak and handle it and then you backed her up.
maybe she approaches you while you are off alone by the river just trying to clear your head, or maybe she wakes you up while you were sleeping and throws herself at you
"Hi Lae'zel. How are you tonight here at Celebration Night." "I am impressed by your ability to kill goblin leaders. I want to ravage you." "Wha??? Where did that come from? Well, sorry Lae'zel, but you know Astarion and Shadowheart and Gale and Wyl all want the same thing tonight, so...hmmm... can I pencil you in maybe tomorrow? So many lovers, so little time."
I cut this one a little, to make it shorter ... but then my need of formating text in some way answered and its actualy longer. :-/
Celebration Night >
I really believe this is purely intented ... as i said before, its intense experience such battle, and when someone celebrates after ... he might loot at your character by lets say fresh eyes. Traumatic experience are often source of strong bonds, it might seem odd, but personaly i found this celebration sex perfectly fitting the situation. :-/
Same goes with "didnt notice romantic intentions ... maybe they wasnt, before.
Astarion and Lae'zel >
I have one tiny problem with both this sugestions, and its the fact that you dont like that they want to sleep with you after single event ... and then you are sugesting simple switching that single event for another single event. O_o
I would get it if you would proposing, that could start another intimate moment (and it dont have to be sex) ... but switching trigger from one quest complete to another one dont really seem to change anything. O_o
Lae'zel approaching >
I like those ideas, maybe they will use them somehow.
There is stream nearby after all, it sound perfect for some of our lovers to "ambush" us there, for example when our character want to take a bath. :P
Conversation >
As she specificly say, in that battle you simply earned her company tonight ... its just that, nothing more, nothing less.
It sounds perfectly fiting her profile, i would not change that honestly.
Seems to me like, if Larian add this option to settings, you would be totally happy about this whole topic.
5. As for more dialogues between party members, you mentioned something about why can't we have both. I'm not sure what you meant. I was basically saying that if there were more dialogue scenes with party members, more banter, more friendship and shared moments, the fact that some of the characters want to sleep with you wouldn't seem so out of place. So I'm not sure what you meant. I was just saying that they need to make it so characters connect more as a whole.
Well that is simple ... characters can connect either before, or after sex ...
So far, Shadowheart (and maybe Gale, kinda) seem to be only one who is connecting before.
But i really believe we can have both.
6. I suggested players triggering romance because frankly I don't want every character in the party to be hitting on my MC.
Wich kinda returns us (with huge detour to be honest) to the very reason this (or some simmilar?) topic was started.
The companions player-sexuality seem just odd.
I agree. Totally! They should all have some prefferences, and some boundaries in both matters of Gender, and Races.
I am personally not into the whole homosexual thing, so when Wyl hits on my guy MC, it is a bit uncomfortable for me. I don't like it. I'm a heterosexual, and I'd prefer to not have Wyl or Gale hitting on my male character. Likewise, if I'm playing a female character, I don't want Lae'zel or Shadowheart asking to do things with her. It is just not my cup of tea. I can imagine that I'm not alone with this both from a heterosexual and homosexual perspective. Besides this, some have even expressed their distaste for certain characters like Lae'zel, thinking she's ugly and repulsive. Therefore, let the player choose who they want to romance. That way, they don't have to be approached and solicited by someone they don't want to have relations with. Likewise, if a player doesn't even WANT a romance in the game, they won't have anything triggered at all because they are not triggering any romance.
Now to the real core of point 6.
Its actualy quite interesting to be honest.
Basically, i could say that you are bothered by companions exhibiting the illusion of their own will. O_o
A lot of work in trying to make companions feel more alive, would be lost by this.
As Blackheifer said, they just like to go around butchering enemies. Who cares about freaking romance? Some players are like that, so why have romance even triggered at all for them. If they don't want it, they don't need to trigger it. Now, that said, if I've triggered a romance encounter in any way, such as a single flirt with a character in particular, THEN they could approach my MC and hit on them, but it should be first initiated by the player.
I believe its in our own hands.
If some player dont care about anything but (as you said) "go around butchering enemies" ... simply dont talk with companions, and problem is solved.
If some player is bothered by sex scenes, all he need to do is either refuse all propositions for sex, or simply dont pick anyone and "go to sleep" alone, that option is there!
And of course, there is allways possbility to skip the scene ... for example i had sex with Minthara 4-6 times, since i kinda enjoy the Evil route and i was also quite curious about those changes after patch 2 (or was it 3? not sure now) ... and i watched it only twice.
So, yeah ... we do have possibilites, therefore i dont see any reason to shape the world for everyone to fit our preferences. O_o
7. And this goes along with the last thing you asked. Why don't I want Wyl hitting on me? Because in my mind, Wyl and I were becoming close friends, like brothers. It was really weird for me when he suddenly wanted to bunk with me. I was thinking we were going to share a drink and some laughs at the party, and he blindsided me with "Bunk with me." It was just not something that fit. It was weird and out of place. Maybe it wouldn't have felt so weird if I literally had not been solicited by Shadowheart, Astarion and Lae'zel right beforehand. I mean, I was literally thinking, "What? Come on! You too? I mean, seriously. I thought we were bros, and I thought at least YOU wouldn't be trying to sleep with me. The only person who hasn't asked me to sleep with him is Gale." I wanted an option, actually, to just throw back some drinks and joke and enjoy bro moments with Gale and Wyl as opposed to a sexual encounter scenario.
Honestly if you managed to have sex proposition from Lae'zel and Shadowheart in single playthrough ... i applaud you. O_o
I didnt even think that is possible.
I understand what you said about Wyll ...
I was simply not what you have expected. But that dont necesarily mean it was wrong.
And that's the main point I'm trying to make. There is literally no relationship building at all really. It is just "we're all traveling together" and then Bam! Everyone wants intimacy with you. No one wants to just enjoy the party with you and joke around and laugh and have a good time in any other way but sex or whatever. Variety! That's what I'm calling for. Variety! Let's have some characters just want to party with you and have a good time WITHOUT sex. Maybe Astarion wants to or maybe Lae'zel, but not EVERYONE.
Well, there certainly could be some dialogue option to simply enjoy the party, without any action after ...
I cant imagine it hurting anyone.
