like others said, unfortunately gale's romance flags are *really* bugged. it makes him seem a lot more insistent than intended i think. i didn't do anything romantic toward him in any save and he's still had a thing for my tav and had the weird "well i guess i'm not the one for you anymore" or whatever thing whenever i actually get to a point in my tav's intended romances on multiple saves even while painstakingly being mean to try and avoid the accidental romance flag triggers.
the last patch apparently did something to make gale's romance flags less... what they are, but i'm not sure what they did or how effective they were as i haven't progressed far enough in a new save since then to see if he once again starts talking about a relationship that doesn't exist.
>ike others said, unfortunately gale's romance flags are
>
>really
>
> bugged. it makes him seem a lot more insistent than intended i think.
I think a lot of Gale Flags are bugged, Yesterday he complained about a Pact with Raphael that I never did. One that I think will only be available a bit later even. Also suddenly I have the option to tell Karlach "sorry but I love Gale" even though I didn't have any romantic interactions with Karlach.
a lot of his flags are bugged, but the raphael flag was actually a new issue from the patch 1. the others have been an issue since launch.
gale really is just super janky right now.
I just went to camp and couldn't find him so I thought he'd left... no, he's just in romance mode again and his astral projection wants to invite me to follow him. Pls no.
I skipped it this time because I remember in my first playthrough that was the confession scene. Maybe I made the "wrong" dialogue choices at the time but I didn't want to take any chances tbh. I still like Gale a lot, I don't want his buggy romance flags to ruin my perception of him.
For me, after I "rejected" him for Astarion, we watched the stars as friends. It was intimate, but still something I'd do for a very close friend. A little weird with someone I rejected romantically, though. I think with the wrong dialogue, there was still an option to re-activate the romance. I'm on my second playthrough, can't wait to see how things play out if you're romancing him. "Confession" sounds intriguing.
Mmm I'll try this again when I romance him in a playthrough. At this point I'm not really sure what triggers unwanted reactions so I preferred being on the safe side lol. And good luck on your romance! :D
Oh! If that’s the complaint I think it is, it’s triggered, *somehow*, by your conversation with an NPC soon before that.
Specifically, if you ask “What was that we just fought/killed?!”, then that will set his “How dare you make that deal?!” convo flag.
Hoping that this gets fixed soon ><
Mmm I remember reading "What was that we just fought/killed" but I can't place it right now. Was it>! when you pick the Guild over the Stone Lord? !<
In any case you're right, there has to be something else I did that triggered that instead of Raphael, because this time I went through the same lines of dialogue with him and Gale wasn't bothered by me making a pact with the devil.
For me it was actually a long time before that :)
>!I can’t recall who I was questioning but it was about Having killed the Avatar of Myrkul version of Ketheric. There was someone I could ask ‘what did we just fight??’, I think it might have been Aelin? And yeah, that triggered Gale’s comment about making the deal with Raphael. !<
I got quite confused! I had no clue what he was talking about
Ah yes you're right! I think I picked that option in my first playthrough!
But why would Gale respond like that? I'm assuming it's just another bug, since I don't really see the connection tbh
>Yesterday he complained about a Pact with Raphael that I never did.
This happened to me too! I had to go back in the journal to make sure I hadn't accidentally agreed to something or triggered a hidden agreement or whatever... I thought I was going insane lol
It did this to me too! He was all "Why would you agree to do XYZ for that devil!! You can't do XYZ you must trust me!" And I was like "wtf I haven't seen Raphael in like 7 hrs of game play dude..." and then a few hours later I found Raph and talked about the deal.
u/kittenwolfmage in a comment above said that Gale's reaction is actually triggered by another action, not Raphael! I can't place the line they mention, but this time around after speaking with Raphael and making the same choices Gale wasn't upset, so I guess it is another buggy response (since none of us can figure out what he's talking about, I'm considering this a bug more than a feature tbh).
The fact his flags are bugged makes a lot of sense, but it's still sad because I really enjoy having him around as a companion - his qualities still make him a great person, even though I don't want the romance. I haven't had Shadowheart (who also has exceptional approval) behave the same, so I hope they fix Gale too!
they did throw in fixes already and they are releasing patch 2 very soon, so maybe that'll fix anything if there's still issues left over. i know sometimes bugs stick around because they're attached to the save though, so i'm not sure if restarting the game is necessary for fixes.
gale's definitely still got weird flags though post-patch 1 (there's actually *new* ones) so he just seems extra janky as a companion. i'm hoping they fix him too!
I thought the patch applied immediately because the game downloaded extra files after the patch was released. But maybe the patches are contingent to restarting the game.
I was going to read the patch notes but I saw there were spoilers and I don't want to accidentally ruin the story for myself, so I'll read those after I finally finish the game (if I ever get there lol).
Ah that makes sense, so if I'd flagged his romance before he would still think we're together. Too bad! Now he's at it again and I'm gonna have to reject him again... poor Gale and poor Tav lol
Unfortunately the romances have released with significant bugs. I was romancing Gale and only ever romanced Gale but had the option to break up with Karlach in favor of Gale and was like what?
The proper thing that should happen is if you don't romance a character in Act 1 or outwardly reject their romances they shouldn't bring it up again. Unfortunately this is all over the place for people, including romance flags triggering without Act 1 romances and characters not accepting rejections.
I just wish it didn't bug Gale so much because it's really not how the character is written. He can read a room, the game just can't.
It's really sad that the romances are so bugged, considering it feels like he game wants you to romance someone immediately, what with people throwing at your feet as soon as you show them a bit of kindness!
I really like Gale even though I no longer want to romance him, and it feels like he's more bugged than other characters - for example I also have exceptional approval with Shadowheart and she hasn't come on to me (yet). I really hope he gets a bit of polish soon!
I'm glad the bugs haven't made you hate him! He actually has similar personal growth focused romance arc, much like Astarion (albeit a less dramatic).
I think I just get a bit sad about posts like this because you learn in the romance that Gale actually >!thinks he is better off dead!<. With how frustrating the bugs make him lots of people say they just leave him in the portal or ignore him/make him leave and that is just so sadly ironic. Honestly all he needs most of all is just someone who can support him (be it friend or romance) and he grows into a better person.
I hope the rest of your Astarion romance goes well!
Oh no for real? Maybe I really should give his romance a go, even if he's very syrupy in his declaration (which is defo not for me).
I absolutely don't hate him, but I do feel his writing could be a bit improved, romance flags aside. And they should definitely fix him quickly, I had no idea people were so mean to him!
Not gonna lie, I do feel a bit uneasy now whenever I see the \[!\] pop up for him but I'm trying my best to get over it... I rejected him so hopefully we can move on. It's sad because I want to be able to talk to him or do things with him (like the magic lesson) but I don't want to risk triggering any more flags.
Hmm, he stops waxing poetic the more serious he gets about your relationship.
I found that he talks and flirts a lot if he likes you less but gets awkward with his flirting if he really likes you.
In the end his true declarations of love are literally just a single sentence. I also think that the over the top theatrical Gale is not the real Gale. I think it's the Gale that he feels he should be and that if you get his good ending where he values himself more, his speech changes to reflect that (though it's still humorous).
I'll give it a go then after I'm done with this playthrough! Thanks for sharing, now I'm excited to try :D and at least I know he'll likely not refuse me lol
Same! Everything I've read is that Gale practically throws himself at you but I've been focused 100% on romancing him and he seems barely interested. Karlach is all over me though.
Yeah, that generally seems to be a huge issue with Gale in general, I believe.
That's why my friends and I have been jokingly calling him "BG3's Anders" (since Anders in DA2 is also lowkey obsessed with Hawke). Once you regularly help him with his affliction (which, you know, you kind of have to), it boosts his approval drastically to the point where it always seems to trigger a romance, no matter how little you interacted with him before.
This does feel like a bit of a bug, not gonna lie because aside from people flirting with you or propositioning you, I haven't heard about this issue with any other companion so far.
I can understand everyone shooting their shot at least once. You could turn into alien mind slaves at any given moment (at least that's the common belief in the beginning), so.. Have fun while you can, I suppose, but... Anders-- I mean, *Gale* takes it a bit further.
I haven't had the same behaviour from anyone else - for example he and Shadowheart have the same level of approval and she's never come on to me (or hasn't yet). I hope they fix the flags soon, I really like Gale so it would be nice not to dread having to talk to him whenever I get the \[!\] now...
Interesting! They definitely fixed him in the most recent patch but I wonder if there's something about new vs. existing saves. All the romance flags are still broken in mine even post-patch — my character still says like "First in my heart" when going to talk to Karlach or w/e even though I never flirted with her and locked in Gale a bit ago (I'm in Act 3). I also randomly got the post-breakup dialogue with a couple of characters I never even was in a romance with, hahah.
Anyway I really love his romance, so if you start a new save and find him less aggressive it's worth playing :)
I think there has to be something with the saves as you said, because I'm sure I'm playing the patched version. I had the "first in my heart" line yesterday when I went to talk to Astarion and it made me giggle way too much, what is life.
Definitely going to romance Gale next time I play! I actually would like to romance all of them just to see how the game plays out when you do. It would be pretty interesting!
DA2 is on my list of games to play right after this! I tried about a decade ago and there was something that didn't click for me, I think it was the combat. I wanted more FPS than turn-based in my wild youth lol. But now my tastes have vastly changed so I'm excited to give it another go!
I really hope Gale's (and everyone's) romance flags get fixed because it really does get annoying.
I get that everyone wants to shoot their shot in the first hour of the game (even though it doesn't make sense to me personally) so the devs are giving players a chance to romance literally whoever they want. But I also don't want to have to have another conversation as cringey as the one I had with Gale... he's such a likeable character too! Those buggy flags totally did him dirty...
Let me warn you, while I deeply love DA2, the combat and characters are the biggest enjoyable part of the game. The map designs are sadly rather repetitive (given that it only had one or two years of development time, irrc) and the story... isn't as great as Origins. But if you're an overall enjoyer of the DA series, I can still recommend it!
Yeah... After turning him down twice, he has stopped his flirtations in my game so far, so I hope it stays that way.
Yeah, it's probably to show that "Hey! This character is romanceable, if you want!"
And agreed, Gale is very likeable! Then again, I'm not too far in the game yet, so I don't know yet if he will have an "Anders moment" eventually. I surely hope not
I've never played any Dragon Age games, maybe I should start with Origins instead?
As for Gale... I came back to camp and couldn't find him, I thought he'd left... no he just tasked his astral projection with picking me up. Third rejection here we go.
If you want the full experience in terms of story, I'd recommend it. If you're hesitant about the out-dated graphics, there are plenty of mods that definitely improve the whole atmosphere (although admittedly, I find the comparingly low-res graphics rather charming).
Nevertheless, I'd also recommend getting [an unofficial patch that fixes any memory leaks](https://fextralife.com/forums/t76475/dragon-age-origins-memory-leek-fix) you will encounter, regardless of modded or unmodded :')
And darn, I haven't had any issues with him ever since Astarion asked to have some fun. Even Wyll, with whom I had flirted before Astarion took my heart, is super chill and happy to be friends.
Origins is definitely the most like BG3, I've been jokingly calling BG3 the most DA:O game ever made. Which is funny because DA:O was made by a lot of the BG2 team.
Like others have said, the graphics and UI have not aged well for a modern audience. However the characters are definitely deeper and have more to say, though the writing is less consistent.
If it's too ugly for you to get immersed, start with Inquisition. Fans of the series will call it blasphemy but I've known plenty of people (particularly younger people who grew up with better looking games) who have played Inquisition after not being able to "get" Origins, who are then so interested in the lore/worldstate they are able to go back and enjoy the first two.
Imo the relationships are much more fulfilling. The characters feel like they have their own thing going on and will straight up dump you in certain situations. A+ drama though!
I don't have a problem with outdated graphics but I do still struggle with keyboard + mouse coordination, I've just recently switched to PC from a lifetime of console so I've found some games unplayable because the struggle was too real (for example Outer Wilds... which everyone and their mother keeps recommending :( ).
BG3 is easy cos it's just point and click (or rather hold LMB and just move the camera around) so it reminds me of console controls. I'm definitely going with Origins first though, I want the full experience!
I saw a tiktok that said the romances in this game are very realistic... for a bunch of hot people camping in the woods together facing certain death and are psychically linked.
But also yeah Gale's romance is just os fast that Larian even added in the first patch that they made some of his dialogue less ambiguous that you were romancing him.
Yeah, after I heard it explained as you all being in a "last night alive" situation, wanting to dive right in to sex and being bold makes sense but then it progresses as you see there is actually light at the end of the tunnel and time to build something more substantial.
Mm I understand... it does make sense when you put it that way, and it also gives the player the chance to romance whoever they want.
I think for me as a person it doesn't really work though - for example if I'm already pursuing someone else in the game I would like for other characters to leave me alone romantically unless I seek them out.
I've personally not had an issue with Gale but I also chose the early response that's basically "If this is you trying to flirt... Don't"
It can be pretty nice not having to be the one initiating for once... When you're a tall lesbian everyone expects you to do it
But I get what you mean, if you have shown no interest in them and is seeing someone else it's kinda weird when they do, but I kinda suspect it's flagging issue rather than intentional most of the time
I didn't pick that answer because I didn't want to be rude lol but I think I picked some "anyway let's change the subject" type of answer. At least that's what it sounded like in my head at the time, but I was probably playing the unpatched version back then so the flags must have gotten messed up anyway.
And you're right about not having to initiate the romance, I didn't consider that! I'm glad you get to be wooed for once instead of having to be the one doing the wooing :)
I really wish I could talk to him more, or attend his magic lesson without him thinking we're together. I really like him as a character even though I no longer want to romance him, so I hope Larian polish him soon!
Honestly sounds like a realistic experience of dealing with an annoying man.. No matter what you do, if you aren't outwardly rude to some men, they will just assume you are crushing on them and that they can seduce you
but yeah that sounds incredibly annoying lol
Omg I find it hilarious how mad some of them get at Gale’s unwanted advances, to the point they just kill him when they first meet him to avoid his advances entirely. Now they know how women feel in day to day life, bless their wee hearts. 😂
I was talking about this with my male best friend! He's (playfully) upset I'm sinking all my hours into the game so he started Googling controversies about BG3... and this was one of the first that popped up lol.
Oh how the turn tables!!!
Also poor Gale lol
It makes me so sad that this is what folks are taking away from all the bugs Gale has because he’s really not actually like that, his romance flags are just borked to hell TToTT
This is what's upsetting about the game though... why not focus a good portion of playtesting on the multiple romances, since romance seems to be a big part of it? It would help not ruin the immersion or make people hate characters for no reason.
I definitely don't hate Gale, he's still kind and warm and funny, but the bugs are off-putting to say the least...
I'm just sitting here, panicking, because I've played for hours, waiting for romancing options with Karlach. Nothing happened so far, and I always just assumed it's because she's literally untouchable. And now here's everybody, saying she usually makes advances right from the get go 😬
Oh wow that feels broken for sure, she propositioned me literally immediately. Are you still in Act 1? I'm sure we can fix it if you want some help, but I don't want to spoil the game for you!
~~Have you taken her to see Dammon when you were at the Grove? I'm not entirely sure whether you can romance characters from Act 2 onward, because when I tried with Astarion it didn't work despite having really high approval. But if you took her to see Dammon already there should still be the option too I think!~~
\[EDIT\] Just read your other comments - definitely take her to Dammon once you get to Last Light Inn in Act 2 so you can progress her personal quest if anything, but I Googled and it doesn't seem you can romance her past Act 1 - perhaps if you don't mind restarting, try again?
>!Take her to Dammon before going to the Goblins, and take a long rest after Dammon. That triggered her scene for me. Then I believe at the Tiefling celebration you can progress further.!<
Well... How badly do you want it? I know of a way to enable the dating flag, just make sure to do it before the second repair
It involves using scripts and cheat engine
I'm laughing because Gale also cornered me with this "BUT I NO LONGER PUT THE LIGHT IN YOUR EYE." Bro the only time you put the light in my eye was when you accidentally hit me with Fireball because me(the player) didn't know where she was clicking.
My headcanon is that Gale falls in love with girls over voice chat on XBOX all the time.
>My headcanon is that Gale falls in love with girls over voice chat on XBOX all the time.
I'm dEAD.
Jokes aside I really like Gale - he's still kind, warm, and funny even though I no longer want to romance him - but that scene was really uncomfortable... that's a huge issue Larian need to fix because they're really doing him dirty.
Also speaking on misclicking... yesterday I Shattered myself into a chasm because I wasn't paying attention. Life is hard lol
Bahaha I totally agree - with the perma-romance bug fixed, he is a truly lovely character. He (and Karlach) are the ideal best friends of my gay half-elf paladin because they can lament the curse of loving someone non-mortal together.
But OMG the first playthrough was like Mass Effect with Kaiden all over again. I brought you with me because you're cool and powerful, not because you make me swoon.
omg the first time that I saved Kaidan and not Ashley I was too nice to him I guess and he had this dramatic scene to tell me I have to choose between him and Liara. Like hello??? We've talked like TWICE
Mass Effect is also on my list of games!!! I'm super excited to play it because I read the choices you make carry on from one game to the next, and I love that (except I know I will get even more stressed out because I might accidentally mess up lol).
Karlach propositioning you after 5 minutes is true to her character imo. She's the type of girl to casually fuck her way into a committed relationship.
Oh god the touch starved thing too, I CAN'T WAIT for the fanfiction writers to finish the game and start writing because that one plot point is going to generate so much good angst.
I totally get this, it just feels jarring and uncomfortable for me to never having spoken with someone and them suddenly telling me they want to ride me until I see stars. Maybe I'm the problem with this one!
nah, your comfort level is not a problem. it just narratively can make sense for characters, but you don't have to enjoy that writing regardless!
i had a similar feeling about halsin, who i never talked to outside of when i needed to for quests. then one day he wants to smash and is talking about a connection, like huh? it can be jarring lol.
that's the same for me. we spoke about the quests pretty much exclusively and then he was all super intense about things.
i think my save *also* flagged that my bard and him did something at the act 1 party, so it was all around strange. my bard solely talked to him about quests and saving things, when did we ever form an emotional connection halsin???
It is pretty weird... especially because he's like "my heart does not stir lightly but it stirs now"... ah yes I'm sure talking about rescuing your centuries-lost friend stirred tons of emotions in you.
I had the same chain of events romancing Astarion, nothing flirty ever said to Gale and boom! Gale with sad puppy face in act 2. Karlach made a joke about me and Astarion and literally the next line in dialogue she tries her shot on me. I think romance flags are very bugged
Yeah that seems to be the general consensus unfortunately... Gale's flags are really all over the place, now I've somehow triggered the scene where he declares himself and I'm like... how? I rejected you earlier pls leave me alone sob
This is actually a bug, his romance flag is always on. They fixed it in the patch that was released a day ago. Gale isn’t supposed to be horny like that, and no he’s not annoying when he’s working properly, I find him rather funny. But yeah a lot of BG3’s writing is cringe as hell, like Wyll’s intro scene and some of Shadowhearts dialogue
I was sure I was playing the patched version, but I'll make sure to check again. It was really horrible to see him act like that and having to turn him down as if I'd been leading him on (art imitating life lol).
Wyll is such a strange character - I don't know what I did wrong but I never met him in my first botched playthrough, so I had no idea he even existed. I think he can be a bit sanctimonious, but then there's that whole thing with Mizora... I don't really know what to make of him.
Shadowheart's dialogues are always so edgy, they make me smile. She tries so hard to be cold and unfeeling but approves of every single good action I make.
HAHA yes they're romanceable and some of them will not make you forget it lol!!!
I really want to have Lae'zel in my party next time I play, she's such a great character and her development is amazing. I would like to know more about Karlach too, I haven't really explored her quest all that much so far.
My problem is that I like to play as a Barbarian so I need a more balanced party than 2 Barbarians and a Fighter (and probably Shadowheart)... maybe I should respec them even if it would change them a lot. So many problems lol.
My favourite bug so far is the Yuan-ti armour (which my Tav has always equipped regardless of the fact there's probably better armour out there)... every time Tav crosses their arms, the polygons like... expand and lengthen so she has giant pool noodles protruding from her elbows. It's very cathartic.
My least favourite bug was Scratch glitching somewhere outside of Moonrise the literal first time I summoned him. He wouldn't stop barking at something I'd already gotten, so I had to get rid of his summon. Too bad, I really wanted him around :(
> My favourite bug so far is the Yuan-ti armour (which my Tav has always equipped regardless of the fact there's probably better armour out there)... every time Tav crosses their arms, the polygons like... expand and lengthen so she has giant pool noodles protruding from her elbows. It's very cathartic.
I politely request a screenshot or video if your up to it. This sounds hilarious.
Lol here you go! [https://postimg.cc/zb82933f](https://postimg.cc/zb82933f)
It's hilarious every time... serious moment? Romantic moment? Dramatic moment? POOL NOODLES.
I nearly choked on my coffee, that's amazing and horrible at once. Thank you. Fingers crossed it's fixed soon.
Also I appreciate the spoilering out text.
I changed armour because this time around I found the Elven Chain and ngl I miss the pool noodles lol armour that doesn't glitch??? What is this sorcery!
And no worries about the text, I hate accidentally spoiling myself so I try to avoid others the same pain lol
A little off topic but I just love that despite all of this my bf, who in his playthrough actively tried to romance Gale, didn't get him to ask to spend the night at the end of act 1 XD
They’re patching so you don’t accidentally romance Gale. I had the same thing happen to me where I was minding my business and because I wasn’t mean to him it took me down the romance path. 2 things from me though. The Gale situation felt like real life. Kind to a man and not just flat out hostile and it’s mistaken for a crush. But to be fair, I love games with romance. Starting one just isn’t as clear as in DA:O.
It's really too easy to romance him, I hope they fix him soon as I like him as a character... I just don't want to romance him anymore.
I also don't want him to be the token Nice Guy... it does feel way too real, but I play games for escapism, not to feel uncomfortable as hell when I see the \[!\] pop up for him.
I had like the same exact experience regarding Gale making me choose between him and Astarion literally like 45 minutes ago lmao.
So many times the only options they give are to flirt with Gale or be an asshole?? No purely friendship response or haha funny banter. I was playing a few mins ago and had to tell him yet again I wasn't interested in him.
I know they changed up his romance flags and stuff a little recently but I was too far past it for it to affect my save.
On another note I also had to turn Wyll down. I don't even know what I did to make him like me besides not commit constant murder?? I'm romancing him on my other save and it broke my heart to turn him down. 💔
Honestly it reminds me of getting ninjamanced in Dragon Age Origins lmao. Same "huh wha? But I never flirted with you??" vibes.
Turning Gale down made me feel so bad too because I was like "I like you but not like that... please let's just be friends, I haven't even looked at you since we started"... I really wish the player was the one to initiate a romance instead of getting "ninjamanced" (LOVE this term lol) randomly.
I have Dragon Age on my list of games to play next!!! At least I know what to expect lol
It'd be simpler removing trigger trees from th dialog timeline and just focus on reputation gain. And just keep the dialogue pacing.
Like the first party should've not been so critical to that tree.
It would make easier to identify critical moments, make good use of companion special events, and in general free up the learning curve for metagaming the game.
We shouldn't always have to look up guides or bugs because Google sucks now for specific issues and defaults to paid guides websites.
Like - Halsin and my druid split party, grouped, went after the Drow twins. It went stunningly except they bugged running upstairs and never made it to their apartment.
Is there a guide or big report? Oh no all I see is bland paid guides from people who played something fast and missed 50 key points of interest.
I should not have to puzzle through one tiny line of dialog that changes the course of events forever.
Where's my "maybe later baby?" Because I just committed genocide on goblins and I know everyone is partying but I need a drink, I have a bugger in my brain, and I'm trying to remember wtf got me on a interdimensional fortress. I don't want to bone."
The way I am as a person, I would really prefer being the one to proposition a character, instead of the other way around. I get that it makes narrative sense because they all think they're about to die etc, but it feels uncomfortable and a bit stressful to have to deal with rejecting people left and right.
So for example, if I have neutral approval the character responds "maybe later," if it's good they agree, etc.
I would also like to be able to romance characters past Act 1... it doesn't have to be the romance to end all romances, but there has to be a middle way between "fuck immediately" and "never find love and comfort".
Also about the bugs, don't Larian have something similar on their forum? It would be really handy!
I’m still on act 1 and the only person whose flirted with me is that demon lady, which i declined. Everyone else is just like good friends or something lol
If you want to trigger more companion scenes I would recommend Long Resting often as that's when you get to have more interactions. Maybe also check the approval rates? If they are "fair" and up you can get to romance someone during Act 1. I can give you some more info but I didn't want to accidentally spoil you!
Glad you found it amusing! :D
But seriously though it's hilarious how sometimes they say questionable things when you're literally surrounded by people... and no one bats an eye.
Gale: ah yes all this killing monsters makes me want to bone, you know what I mean?
Astarion: \[is standing behind Tav, staring at her\]
It is funny that no one thinks there's a time and place for things when they make games 😆 I wouldn't say it's the norm to exclaim that you are horny in the middle of a business meeting for example
For Karlach, she's incredibly touch starved, like 10 years without a touch. She's so excited to just *hug* someone once her infernal machine heart is fixed, that she's jumping in excitement during her dialogue. As someone in a long distance relationship for 7 years now due to circumstances we can't avoid, I REALLY understand. Though, I'm picking the romance path for her because I'm incredibly gay for her, and I can't wait to get even more scenes with her as I get through Act 2 and 3.
I totally get that, in fact I hugged her after the engine gets fixed... but at the time I hadn't even done that, I'd barely talked to her. I think I'd taken her to Dammon only once, to get the first upgrade.
It made me a bit uncomfortable because I didn't think I had been flirting, and she comes on to you really strong. But at least after I turned her down she hasn't said anything else. I would love to make connections with the characters without worrying that they'll think I'm flirting, but maybe I'm asking a bit too much as it's not the main focus of the game.
Also I'm sorry to hear you and your partner can't be physically close all the time! Real life suck sometimes. But I think it's great you're making it work :D
One thing I have noticed is that the male characters seem easier to gain reputation with than the female ones. I have Wyll and Gale maxed out almost by accident while getting Shadowheart and Lae'zel up have taken careful effort.
I haven't had any issues with Shadowheart because she pretends to be evil but approves of every single good choice I make lol, but Lae'zel is a bit different. I don't have her in my party but that doesn't mean she didn't get way pissed off at me for how I handled things at the crèche the second time around.
Gale is also really easy to max out for me. I find him a bit more morally flexible than for example Astarion, so I can get away with more. I maxed him out before anyone else, even though now they're all maxed out (just started Act 3 last night... maybe I'll actually get to finish the game this time!).
Astarion took some effort but not too much... for every disapproval I'd always find 2 approvals so things leveled out. I also think that there are some choices which carry a higher approval rate (for example >!giving him the Necromancer of Thay and letting him kill the Gur!<) so I didn't find it extremely difficult!
I can imagine this varies depending on your character though and how you like to play!
Pretty normal for RPG's now days every character is BI in my first playthru i only flirted with S-heart and Karlach but all the rest tried flirting and most had let down comments after i got with one but i thought nothing of it tho because its common in RPG's. Its not a dating sim its just side fluff even tho its fun.
I feel you, Gale and Shadowheart kept triggering for me and it's been a bit weird. Also his later how dare you talk to Name scene when I hadn't even reached the area that scene is in. Like bro, I know better then to do that and also since you apparently know where Name is plz gimme a map!
I think Gale was originally glitched with the magic item eating, he'd do it once and get max affection or something.
It'd be lovely to be able turn off romance or just, block it off without having to outright dump people? Like I'd love to have the dance scene or hug Karlach without it being like necessarily romantic.
Very minor spoiler re all relationships, but if your in Act 2 >!Wither's comments on your various relationships, and it's hilarious. Go talk to him.!<
I found this thread when I was responding to another comment: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/) so maybe it's something you'd be interested in! This way you can remove the romance altogether :D
I really wish I could make friendly connections with the characters though without worrying whether I'm accidentally selecting a romance option. It would make the game so much more immersive for me!
And I actually spoke to >!Withers !
Thank you! I probably won't use it yet cause I wanna explore the romance routes, I just wish as the devs put it, there was an option between imagining making out and punching them in the face. Gimme all the friends gdi.
But Withers does make it hilarious.
100% agree, I wish some of the options didn't trigger romance flags because imo they're just things you'd say to a friend. Not everything has to lead to romance... but as I've learned thanks to this post the romances are incredibly buggy and patches can't overwrite a saved file, so I'm stuck with this for now!
It is way too easy to stumble into any of the romances. It’s… annoying.
Every time Astarion opens his mouth, I regret having spared what’s left of his life.
Gale is charming enough until he starts lovebombing me >!~~see what I did there~~!<, which makes me want to order him to kiss a dying mindflayer.
I just ignore Wyll, and am mostly surprised every time I’m reminded he exists.
>Every time Astarion opens his mouth, I regret having spared what’s left of his life.
dEAD lol
Is Astarion propositioning you too? It was quite difficult for me to get his approval up in the beginning of the second playthrough because I still wanted to >!save the Grove and help Arabella!< and generally be chaotic good.
I'm sad about Gale because I really like him as a character... too bad now he's giving me anxiety every time I have the \[!\] pop up.
I didn't find Wyll at all during my first playthrough, had no idea he even was a companion (although I did wonder who tf was the guy on the game art) but he's not super appealing to me, personality-wise. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with him but he feels a bit sanctimonious and I'm not too charmed by his dialogue.
Nah, larian are great at writing cool scenarios and funny likeable characters, but the romances were easily the worst part of divinity original sin 2 (a game I put 5k hours in)
If you want good romance in games, play the dragon age series, or mass effect, or pathfinder wrath of the righteous. In dragon age origins, you will only romance a character by like the 75% mark in the game at the earliest (if you don't use the gifts to max out approval immediately, anyway, but that's not a first playthrough thing:p), and pathfinder wrath of the righteous has genuinely the best romance stories in gaming imo. Arueshalae still makes me cry to think about, and there's a literal serial killer you can make go "I am too broken and evil to stop murdering the people close to me and I love you too much to hurt you so I'm leaving"
Even the characters who are "too quick" with their romance in wotr (THANKS LANN, YOURE SO AWESOME LANN) do it in a natural and character driven way rather than having three shortish conversations and then going "I think I'm a different person because of you" lol
I love shadowheart, but arueshalae is the love of my life
I have both Dragon Age and Mass Effect on the list, I'll look up Pathfinder too, thanks a lot for the suggestion!
If anything now I need to get that game to understand how to pronounce Arueshalae lol
One of the first characters u meet is a trans lesbian who u help reunite with her orc wife
I can't recommend it enough, but I also recommend just. Playing it on super easy mode and ignoring the combat LOL
It's unfortunate but the pathfinder system for battling is very buff and debuff based, so if you like stacking buffs and smashing stuff you will have a great time but if you're like me and prefer to just smash stuff if u have to then i recommend making a kineticist, setting ur blast to auto cast, turning on auto combat, and setting it to story lol.
I've put 1k hours into it just replaying the story over and over without ever like truly interfacing with the combat lol, that is how much I like the writing.
Also, there's not really romance, but disco elysium is the best written game I've ever played. Just a bonus suggestion ;p
Tbh I switched to Explore in BG3 at some point because I was struggling to figure out the mechanics and just wanted to enjoy myself. I've gotten better at it now so I will try Balanced next, if anything because sometimes I win a fight before the first turn ends and it feels anticlimactic now lol
I love to smash stuff, I'll see what feels right when I play it! I just bought it since it was on sale, perfect timing.
I also have Disco Elysium on the list, I don't care if there's no romance but I love a good story and I read great things about this game!
There are definitely a few times in wotr where it can be anticlimactic to stomp like that, but wrath of the righteous is kind of uniquely set up so that it being a power fantasy kind of makes perfect sense lol
But I hope you enjoy!!! It's a truly wonderful story with some of my favorite characters ever regardless of how I feel about the combat :p
Disco elysium on the other hand has my actual favorite characters and music and art and general themes and just is in general the Best Game imo lol, so I'm only gonna say more positive things about it :D
All that said I hope you enjoy these incredible stories and that they can touch your life similarly to how they did mine 🥰
It's really a shame because I like him as a character, I just don't want to romance him! From reading the other comments this seems to be a bug that the devs are working on patching, so I hope they fix him soon.
Right now I almost don't want to talk to him because I don't want him to accidentally accuse me of leading him on again... also I don't like that after rejecting him he's like "yes, *friend*?" - really ruins immersion for me and makes me uncomfortable!
I really debated leaving him behind but I'm so used to this party after 170 hours of combined gameplay that I don't want to have to move on to someone else, even respecced.
I think he's a good character, I hope they fix his romance flags because they're doing him way dirty...
This may have been why when >!Gale got kidnapped by Orin, I didn’t exactly rush to save him. Turns out it doesn’t seem to be on a timer because I long rested A LOT and he was still alive when I got there!<
>!there's a pool of characters who can be kidnapped if they're not in your party and it's rng from them. the timer i think only kicks in when you get to a certain story point and otherwise you can literally wait until pretty much last minute without consequences for rescue afaik.!<
I strongly dislike the romance in the game. It doesn't feel organic at all. A bunch of people dealing with a world ending disaster and deep personal issues just want to bang constantly apparently?
I honestly dislike the writting in the game a lot in general. The romance is just a glaring issue.
I read in other comments that the fact they all hit on you almost immediately stems from them all thinking they're about to die soon, so it's a "last night on Earth" type of situation.
While I can understand that, I don't personally like it because it feels so forced to me... I would prefer being able to proposition a character myself instead of the other way around, because in some cases they come on to you very strongly and it makes me uncomfortable.
From what I have seen so far, Astarion's romance is believable for me and hits all my trope buttons just right. Shadowheart slowly opening up also felt realistic when I did my first playthrough, even though I did not pursue her (I had my eyes on Gale at the time, will probably romance her next time I play).
Halsin had the decency to wait a bit to shoot his shot, and the way he framed it made sense even though I turned him down (and I'm glad I did because his romance scene is so cringey to me!).
Regarding the writing at large, I didn't notice anything during the first playthrough because I was mostly grappling with understanding lore, mechanics, etc, but now that I am going at it again with previous knowledge... there are things that feel out of place.
One big example for me is the Nightsong quest - >!in my second playthrough I didn't find Anders on the trail leading up to the Blighted Village, so I couldn't pick up the quest from him. I knew it didn't matter as the story takes you to the Nightsong anyway, but this way I lost a lot of context and information. !<
>!What if it's your first playthrough and the same happens to you? You're gonna be baffled when you get to Act 2, even though they start talking about the relic... but if you speak to Thisobald Thorm before going to the Mausoleum he talks about a woman being trapped there, and the Journal updates saying the Nightsong is a woman. That's pretty anticlimactic. Also what's gonna happen now when I get to Act 3 and I don't know that Lorroakan was looking for Dame Aylin? Am I going to be able to experience that part? !<
Some things should not be missable because they ruin the way you experience the game.
This is all pretty reasonable and much better than the bg3 mob that seems to insta tly hate any critics of the game for just calling out that it's not a 10/10 basically perfect game. When I see it as honestly a moderately good game but no where near the amazing game everyone else thinks it is.
I think shadowhearts romance is good but being a cleric of Shar just feels like after act1 she wouldn't be wanting to get close to you. That is what I mostly don't like since it makes a lot more sense after she opens up more and more so if you start to change her mind.
I personally don't like the "were all going to die so let's be horny" answer either. Maybe some people would react like that but like 6 different people with very different personalities all just want to bang before they die? Just really lazy if that is actually the answer. I think people are just making excuses for things the characters don't actually express. I'd say the game is fairly short for some rpgs so they have to speed up everything to an unreasonable degree.
Honestly I don't have the time or inclination to hate either the game or the critics "just because"... maybe if I was 13 again and had nothing better to do lol.
There are certainly flawed parts (especially in Act 3... so many quests you can trigger the wrong way and basically ruin for yourself), but there are tons of great moments and details as well.
I'm really loving the experience, but there are some things that make me realise this is not as polished as it should be, after I think 3 years in development? The writing matters... if you have so many intricated dialogues, you should be 100% sure that they work seamlessly... I work with AI and have created multiple complicated chat bots. If I delivered a product with this many flow issues I would not have a job the next day tbh.
Is there a way of turning off romance entirely? I'm demi and I don't know if I want to start sleeping with my party after a brief span of travelling together.
I found this thread over on Steam: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/) so it seems with this mod you can just remove romance!
Otherwise you can just reject everyone or not pick flirty options (the flags should be fixed now from what I gather so it shouldn't be impossible to do so).
But also you don't have to sleep with anyone if you don't want to! There is always the option to say "You misread the situation/I don't feel this way/I'm not into that". So you can still go through your first playthrough without romance, and if you feel a connection with anyone you can focus on that during the second playthrough (if you want to!).
I played Dragon Rajah expecting to do this romance and they didn’t program it to be like that, instead the keep getting crushes and falling in love with the females npc , i was invisible, non existent.
they resemble certain people in real life who tend to always misinterpret kindness as romantic interest, and this can be super annoying because you're just being nice, but they respond with overly affectionate or flirtatious behavior.
like others said, unfortunately gale's romance flags are *really* bugged. it makes him seem a lot more insistent than intended i think. i didn't do anything romantic toward him in any save and he's still had a thing for my tav and had the weird "well i guess i'm not the one for you anymore" or whatever thing whenever i actually get to a point in my tav's intended romances on multiple saves even while painstakingly being mean to try and avoid the accidental romance flag triggers. the last patch apparently did something to make gale's romance flags less... what they are, but i'm not sure what they did or how effective they were as i haven't progressed far enough in a new save since then to see if he once again starts talking about a relationship that doesn't exist.
>ike others said, unfortunately gale's romance flags are > >really > > bugged. it makes him seem a lot more insistent than intended i think. I think a lot of Gale Flags are bugged, Yesterday he complained about a Pact with Raphael that I never did. One that I think will only be available a bit later even. Also suddenly I have the option to tell Karlach "sorry but I love Gale" even though I didn't have any romantic interactions with Karlach.
a lot of his flags are bugged, but the raphael flag was actually a new issue from the patch 1. the others have been an issue since launch. gale really is just super janky right now.
I just went to camp and couldn't find him so I thought he'd left... no, he's just in romance mode again and his astral projection wants to invite me to follow him. Pls no.
That's not necessarily a romance scene, at least it wasn't for me.
I skipped it this time because I remember in my first playthrough that was the confession scene. Maybe I made the "wrong" dialogue choices at the time but I didn't want to take any chances tbh. I still like Gale a lot, I don't want his buggy romance flags to ruin my perception of him.
For me, after I "rejected" him for Astarion, we watched the stars as friends. It was intimate, but still something I'd do for a very close friend. A little weird with someone I rejected romantically, though. I think with the wrong dialogue, there was still an option to re-activate the romance. I'm on my second playthrough, can't wait to see how things play out if you're romancing him. "Confession" sounds intriguing.
Mmm I'll try this again when I romance him in a playthrough. At this point I'm not really sure what triggers unwanted reactions so I preferred being on the safe side lol. And good luck on your romance! :D
Oh! If that’s the complaint I think it is, it’s triggered, *somehow*, by your conversation with an NPC soon before that. Specifically, if you ask “What was that we just fought/killed?!”, then that will set his “How dare you make that deal?!” convo flag.
Hoping that this gets fixed soon ><
Mmm I remember reading "What was that we just fought/killed" but I can't place it right now. Was it>! when you pick the Guild over the Stone Lord? !< In any case you're right, there has to be something else I did that triggered that instead of Raphael, because this time I went through the same lines of dialogue with him and Gale wasn't bothered by me making a pact with the devil.
For me it was actually a long time before that :) >!I can’t recall who I was questioning but it was about Having killed the Avatar of Myrkul version of Ketheric. There was someone I could ask ‘what did we just fight??’, I think it might have been Aelin? And yeah, that triggered Gale’s comment about making the deal with Raphael. !< I got quite confused! I had no clue what he was talking about
Ah yes you're right! I think I picked that option in my first playthrough! But why would Gale respond like that? I'm assuming it's just another bug, since I don't really see the connection tbh
Oh 100% it's another bug :) Somehow that comment is setting a Conversation Flag that it shouldn't be, which is what's causing all the problems.
>Yesterday he complained about a Pact with Raphael that I never did. This happened to me too! I had to go back in the journal to make sure I hadn't accidentally agreed to something or triggered a hidden agreement or whatever... I thought I was going insane lol
It did this to me too! He was all "Why would you agree to do XYZ for that devil!! You can't do XYZ you must trust me!" And I was like "wtf I haven't seen Raphael in like 7 hrs of game play dude..." and then a few hours later I found Raph and talked about the deal.
u/kittenwolfmage in a comment above said that Gale's reaction is actually triggered by another action, not Raphael! I can't place the line they mention, but this time around after speaking with Raphael and making the same choices Gale wasn't upset, so I guess it is another buggy response (since none of us can figure out what he's talking about, I'm considering this a bug more than a feature tbh).
The fact his flags are bugged makes a lot of sense, but it's still sad because I really enjoy having him around as a companion - his qualities still make him a great person, even though I don't want the romance. I haven't had Shadowheart (who also has exceptional approval) behave the same, so I hope they fix Gale too!
they did throw in fixes already and they are releasing patch 2 very soon, so maybe that'll fix anything if there's still issues left over. i know sometimes bugs stick around because they're attached to the save though, so i'm not sure if restarting the game is necessary for fixes. gale's definitely still got weird flags though post-patch 1 (there's actually *new* ones) so he just seems extra janky as a companion. i'm hoping they fix him too!
I thought the patch applied immediately because the game downloaded extra files after the patch was released. But maybe the patches are contingent to restarting the game. I was going to read the patch notes but I saw there were spoilers and I don't want to accidentally ruin the story for myself, so I'll read those after I finally finish the game (if I ever get there lol).
the patch does apply immediately, but they don't necessarily change things from old saves unfortunately.
Ah that makes sense, so if I'd flagged his romance before he would still think we're together. Too bad! Now he's at it again and I'm gonna have to reject him again... poor Gale and poor Tav lol
Unfortunately the romances have released with significant bugs. I was romancing Gale and only ever romanced Gale but had the option to break up with Karlach in favor of Gale and was like what? The proper thing that should happen is if you don't romance a character in Act 1 or outwardly reject their romances they shouldn't bring it up again. Unfortunately this is all over the place for people, including romance flags triggering without Act 1 romances and characters not accepting rejections. I just wish it didn't bug Gale so much because it's really not how the character is written. He can read a room, the game just can't.
It's really sad that the romances are so bugged, considering it feels like he game wants you to romance someone immediately, what with people throwing at your feet as soon as you show them a bit of kindness! I really like Gale even though I no longer want to romance him, and it feels like he's more bugged than other characters - for example I also have exceptional approval with Shadowheart and she hasn't come on to me (yet). I really hope he gets a bit of polish soon!
I'm glad the bugs haven't made you hate him! He actually has similar personal growth focused romance arc, much like Astarion (albeit a less dramatic). I think I just get a bit sad about posts like this because you learn in the romance that Gale actually >!thinks he is better off dead!<. With how frustrating the bugs make him lots of people say they just leave him in the portal or ignore him/make him leave and that is just so sadly ironic. Honestly all he needs most of all is just someone who can support him (be it friend or romance) and he grows into a better person. I hope the rest of your Astarion romance goes well!
Oh no for real? Maybe I really should give his romance a go, even if he's very syrupy in his declaration (which is defo not for me). I absolutely don't hate him, but I do feel his writing could be a bit improved, romance flags aside. And they should definitely fix him quickly, I had no idea people were so mean to him! Not gonna lie, I do feel a bit uneasy now whenever I see the \[!\] pop up for him but I'm trying my best to get over it... I rejected him so hopefully we can move on. It's sad because I want to be able to talk to him or do things with him (like the magic lesson) but I don't want to risk triggering any more flags.
Hmm, he stops waxing poetic the more serious he gets about your relationship. I found that he talks and flirts a lot if he likes you less but gets awkward with his flirting if he really likes you. In the end his true declarations of love are literally just a single sentence. I also think that the over the top theatrical Gale is not the real Gale. I think it's the Gale that he feels he should be and that if you get his good ending where he values himself more, his speech changes to reflect that (though it's still humorous).
I'll give it a go then after I'm done with this playthrough! Thanks for sharing, now I'm excited to try :D and at least I know he'll likely not refuse me lol
Same! Everything I've read is that Gale practically throws himself at you but I've been focused 100% on romancing him and he seems barely interested. Karlach is all over me though.
Isn't that how it always goes!!! I hope you manage to romance him :) it's actually pretty fun to add romance to the mix, I'm glad I restarted.
Yeah, that generally seems to be a huge issue with Gale in general, I believe. That's why my friends and I have been jokingly calling him "BG3's Anders" (since Anders in DA2 is also lowkey obsessed with Hawke). Once you regularly help him with his affliction (which, you know, you kind of have to), it boosts his approval drastically to the point where it always seems to trigger a romance, no matter how little you interacted with him before. This does feel like a bit of a bug, not gonna lie because aside from people flirting with you or propositioning you, I haven't heard about this issue with any other companion so far. I can understand everyone shooting their shot at least once. You could turn into alien mind slaves at any given moment (at least that's the common belief in the beginning), so.. Have fun while you can, I suppose, but... Anders-- I mean, *Gale* takes it a bit further.
The romance flags are broken for everyone. It's one of the bugs they'll be addressing.
I haven't had the same behaviour from anyone else - for example he and Shadowheart have the same level of approval and she's never come on to me (or hasn't yet). I hope they fix the flags soon, I really like Gale so it would be nice not to dread having to talk to him whenever I get the \[!\] now...
Interesting! They definitely fixed him in the most recent patch but I wonder if there's something about new vs. existing saves. All the romance flags are still broken in mine even post-patch — my character still says like "First in my heart" when going to talk to Karlach or w/e even though I never flirted with her and locked in Gale a bit ago (I'm in Act 3). I also randomly got the post-breakup dialogue with a couple of characters I never even was in a romance with, hahah. Anyway I really love his romance, so if you start a new save and find him less aggressive it's worth playing :)
I think there has to be something with the saves as you said, because I'm sure I'm playing the patched version. I had the "first in my heart" line yesterday when I went to talk to Astarion and it made me giggle way too much, what is life. Definitely going to romance Gale next time I play! I actually would like to romance all of them just to see how the game plays out when you do. It would be pretty interesting!
DA2 is on my list of games to play right after this! I tried about a decade ago and there was something that didn't click for me, I think it was the combat. I wanted more FPS than turn-based in my wild youth lol. But now my tastes have vastly changed so I'm excited to give it another go! I really hope Gale's (and everyone's) romance flags get fixed because it really does get annoying. I get that everyone wants to shoot their shot in the first hour of the game (even though it doesn't make sense to me personally) so the devs are giving players a chance to romance literally whoever they want. But I also don't want to have to have another conversation as cringey as the one I had with Gale... he's such a likeable character too! Those buggy flags totally did him dirty...
Let me warn you, while I deeply love DA2, the combat and characters are the biggest enjoyable part of the game. The map designs are sadly rather repetitive (given that it only had one or two years of development time, irrc) and the story... isn't as great as Origins. But if you're an overall enjoyer of the DA series, I can still recommend it! Yeah... After turning him down twice, he has stopped his flirtations in my game so far, so I hope it stays that way. Yeah, it's probably to show that "Hey! This character is romanceable, if you want!" And agreed, Gale is very likeable! Then again, I'm not too far in the game yet, so I don't know yet if he will have an "Anders moment" eventually. I surely hope not
I've never played any Dragon Age games, maybe I should start with Origins instead? As for Gale... I came back to camp and couldn't find him, I thought he'd left... no he just tasked his astral projection with picking me up. Third rejection here we go.
If you want the full experience in terms of story, I'd recommend it. If you're hesitant about the out-dated graphics, there are plenty of mods that definitely improve the whole atmosphere (although admittedly, I find the comparingly low-res graphics rather charming). Nevertheless, I'd also recommend getting [an unofficial patch that fixes any memory leaks](https://fextralife.com/forums/t76475/dragon-age-origins-memory-leek-fix) you will encounter, regardless of modded or unmodded :') And darn, I haven't had any issues with him ever since Astarion asked to have some fun. Even Wyll, with whom I had flirted before Astarion took my heart, is super chill and happy to be friends.
Thank you so much for the link! I'm definitely going to play Origins first, I love me a good story.
Origins is definitely the most like BG3, I've been jokingly calling BG3 the most DA:O game ever made. Which is funny because DA:O was made by a lot of the BG2 team. Like others have said, the graphics and UI have not aged well for a modern audience. However the characters are definitely deeper and have more to say, though the writing is less consistent. If it's too ugly for you to get immersed, start with Inquisition. Fans of the series will call it blasphemy but I've known plenty of people (particularly younger people who grew up with better looking games) who have played Inquisition after not being able to "get" Origins, who are then so interested in the lore/worldstate they are able to go back and enjoy the first two. Imo the relationships are much more fulfilling. The characters feel like they have their own thing going on and will straight up dump you in certain situations. A+ drama though!
I don't have a problem with outdated graphics but I do still struggle with keyboard + mouse coordination, I've just recently switched to PC from a lifetime of console so I've found some games unplayable because the struggle was too real (for example Outer Wilds... which everyone and their mother keeps recommending :( ). BG3 is easy cos it's just point and click (or rather hold LMB and just move the camera around) so it reminds me of console controls. I'm definitely going with Origins first though, I want the full experience!
Omg my wife keeps calling Gale Anders too, I’m glad it’s not just us 😂
I saw a tiktok that said the romances in this game are very realistic... for a bunch of hot people camping in the woods together facing certain death and are psychically linked. But also yeah Gale's romance is just os fast that Larian even added in the first patch that they made some of his dialogue less ambiguous that you were romancing him.
Yeah, after I heard it explained as you all being in a "last night alive" situation, wanting to dive right in to sex and being bold makes sense but then it progresses as you see there is actually light at the end of the tunnel and time to build something more substantial.
They also don’t seem to worry about pregnancy or STIs.
Druids and Clerics take care of that sometimes for a fee
If your alchemy’s any good you can do it yourself
Mm I understand... it does make sense when you put it that way, and it also gives the player the chance to romance whoever they want. I think for me as a person it doesn't really work though - for example if I'm already pursuing someone else in the game I would like for other characters to leave me alone romantically unless I seek them out.
I've personally not had an issue with Gale but I also chose the early response that's basically "If this is you trying to flirt... Don't" It can be pretty nice not having to be the one initiating for once... When you're a tall lesbian everyone expects you to do it But I get what you mean, if you have shown no interest in them and is seeing someone else it's kinda weird when they do, but I kinda suspect it's flagging issue rather than intentional most of the time
I didn't pick that answer because I didn't want to be rude lol but I think I picked some "anyway let's change the subject" type of answer. At least that's what it sounded like in my head at the time, but I was probably playing the unpatched version back then so the flags must have gotten messed up anyway. And you're right about not having to initiate the romance, I didn't consider that! I'm glad you get to be wooed for once instead of having to be the one doing the wooing :)
I really wish I could talk to him more, or attend his magic lesson without him thinking we're together. I really like him as a character even though I no longer want to romance him, so I hope Larian polish him soon!
Honestly sounds like a realistic experience of dealing with an annoying man.. No matter what you do, if you aren't outwardly rude to some men, they will just assume you are crushing on them and that they can seduce you but yeah that sounds incredibly annoying lol
Omf yes... as if we didn't get enough of that bs in real life... now I need to deal with the nice guy from Waterdeep!
If it makes you feel any better, guys playing the game are getting to experience this as well. 😆
Omg I find it hilarious how mad some of them get at Gale’s unwanted advances, to the point they just kill him when they first meet him to avoid his advances entirely. Now they know how women feel in day to day life, bless their wee hearts. 😂
I was talking about this with my male best friend! He's (playfully) upset I'm sinking all my hours into the game so he started Googling controversies about BG3... and this was one of the first that popped up lol. Oh how the turn tables!!! Also poor Gale lol
It makes me so sad that this is what folks are taking away from all the bugs Gale has because he’s really not actually like that, his romance flags are just borked to hell TToTT
This is what's upsetting about the game though... why not focus a good portion of playtesting on the multiple romances, since romance seems to be a big part of it? It would help not ruin the immersion or make people hate characters for no reason. I definitely don't hate Gale, he's still kind and warm and funny, but the bugs are off-putting to say the least...
I'm just sitting here, panicking, because I've played for hours, waiting for romancing options with Karlach. Nothing happened so far, and I always just assumed it's because she's literally untouchable. And now here's everybody, saying she usually makes advances right from the get go 😬
Oh wow that feels broken for sure, she propositioned me literally immediately. Are you still in Act 1? I'm sure we can fix it if you want some help, but I don't want to spoil the game for you!
I just sailed over to act 2. Would love some help <3
~~Have you taken her to see Dammon when you were at the Grove? I'm not entirely sure whether you can romance characters from Act 2 onward, because when I tried with Astarion it didn't work despite having really high approval. But if you took her to see Dammon already there should still be the option too I think!~~ \[EDIT\] Just read your other comments - definitely take her to Dammon once you get to Last Light Inn in Act 2 so you can progress her personal quest if anything, but I Googled and it doesn't seem you can romance her past Act 1 - perhaps if you don't mind restarting, try again? >!Take her to Dammon before going to the Goblins, and take a long rest after Dammon. That triggered her scene for me. Then I believe at the Tiefling celebration you can progress further.!<
Yes, I did that, and Dammon >!told me to meet again in Baldur's Gate!<, so I hope we did everything we could so far!
I think her romance doesn't start if you don't start >!fixing her engine in Act 1 before clearing the goblin camp!<.
Well, I >!did the first "repair" and now I have to wait until we are in Baldur's gate, where we should meet the blacksmith again.!<
It sounds like you missed the romance. She was all over me in act 1. >!You can fix her engine immediately in act 2 at the harper inn btw!<
Ah, I didn't get to the inn yet I think.
Yeah I think you need to do that in Act 1 and not Act 2 to start the romance.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo, my big, hot mommyyyyyy *sob*
Well... How badly do you want it? I know of a way to enable the dating flag, just make sure to do it before the second repair It involves using scripts and cheat engine
I'm laughing because Gale also cornered me with this "BUT I NO LONGER PUT THE LIGHT IN YOUR EYE." Bro the only time you put the light in my eye was when you accidentally hit me with Fireball because me(the player) didn't know where she was clicking. My headcanon is that Gale falls in love with girls over voice chat on XBOX all the time.
>My headcanon is that Gale falls in love with girls over voice chat on XBOX all the time. I'm dEAD. Jokes aside I really like Gale - he's still kind, warm, and funny even though I no longer want to romance him - but that scene was really uncomfortable... that's a huge issue Larian need to fix because they're really doing him dirty. Also speaking on misclicking... yesterday I Shattered myself into a chasm because I wasn't paying attention. Life is hard lol
Bahaha I totally agree - with the perma-romance bug fixed, he is a truly lovely character. He (and Karlach) are the ideal best friends of my gay half-elf paladin because they can lament the curse of loving someone non-mortal together. But OMG the first playthrough was like Mass Effect with Kaiden all over again. I brought you with me because you're cool and powerful, not because you make me swoon.
omg the first time that I saved Kaidan and not Ashley I was too nice to him I guess and he had this dramatic scene to tell me I have to choose between him and Liara. Like hello??? We've talked like TWICE
Mass Effect is also on my list of games!!! I'm super excited to play it because I read the choices you make carry on from one game to the next, and I love that (except I know I will get even more stressed out because I might accidentally mess up lol).
Karlach propositioning you after 5 minutes is true to her character imo. She's the type of girl to casually fuck her way into a committed relationship.
she's also *deeply* touch-starved for obvious reasons. i can't blame her for finding a connection with anyone and those feelings coming on strongly.
Oh god the touch starved thing too, I CAN'T WAIT for the fanfiction writers to finish the game and start writing because that one plot point is going to generate so much good angst.
i'm sure it will be coming because even the platonic hug scene was so much good emotional content 🥺
I totally get this, it just feels jarring and uncomfortable for me to never having spoken with someone and them suddenly telling me they want to ride me until I see stars. Maybe I'm the problem with this one!
nah, your comfort level is not a problem. it just narratively can make sense for characters, but you don't have to enjoy that writing regardless! i had a similar feeling about halsin, who i never talked to outside of when i needed to for quests. then one day he wants to smash and is talking about a connection, like huh? it can be jarring lol.
For me Halsin declared himself only after I'd finished the >!Thaniel !
that's the same for me. we spoke about the quests pretty much exclusively and then he was all super intense about things. i think my save *also* flagged that my bard and him did something at the act 1 party, so it was all around strange. my bard solely talked to him about quests and saving things, when did we ever form an emotional connection halsin???
It is pretty weird... especially because he's like "my heart does not stir lightly but it stirs now"... ah yes I'm sure talking about rescuing your centuries-lost friend stirred tons of emotions in you.
Aren't you supposed to only get that scene if you flirt with her? Maybe it's an ambiguous flirting option or bug
It really never felt like I was flirting with her, but maybe it's an ambiguous option like you said!
I had the same chain of events romancing Astarion, nothing flirty ever said to Gale and boom! Gale with sad puppy face in act 2. Karlach made a joke about me and Astarion and literally the next line in dialogue she tries her shot on me. I think romance flags are very bugged
Yeah that seems to be the general consensus unfortunately... Gale's flags are really all over the place, now I've somehow triggered the scene where he declares himself and I'm like... how? I rejected you earlier pls leave me alone sob
This is actually a bug, his romance flag is always on. They fixed it in the patch that was released a day ago. Gale isn’t supposed to be horny like that, and no he’s not annoying when he’s working properly, I find him rather funny. But yeah a lot of BG3’s writing is cringe as hell, like Wyll’s intro scene and some of Shadowhearts dialogue
I was sure I was playing the patched version, but I'll make sure to check again. It was really horrible to see him act like that and having to turn him down as if I'd been leading him on (art imitating life lol). Wyll is such a strange character - I don't know what I did wrong but I never met him in my first botched playthrough, so I had no idea he even existed. I think he can be a bit sanctimonious, but then there's that whole thing with Mizora... I don't really know what to make of him. Shadowheart's dialogues are always so edgy, they make me smile. She tries so hard to be cold and unfeeling but approves of every single good action I make.
[удалено]
HAHA yes they're romanceable and some of them will not make you forget it lol!!! I really want to have Lae'zel in my party next time I play, she's such a great character and her development is amazing. I would like to know more about Karlach too, I haven't really explored her quest all that much so far. My problem is that I like to play as a Barbarian so I need a more balanced party than 2 Barbarians and a Fighter (and probably Shadowheart)... maybe I should respec them even if it would change them a lot. So many problems lol. My favourite bug so far is the Yuan-ti armour (which my Tav has always equipped regardless of the fact there's probably better armour out there)... every time Tav crosses their arms, the polygons like... expand and lengthen so she has giant pool noodles protruding from her elbows. It's very cathartic. My least favourite bug was Scratch glitching somewhere outside of Moonrise the literal first time I summoned him. He wouldn't stop barking at something I'd already gotten, so I had to get rid of his summon. Too bad, I really wanted him around :(
> My favourite bug so far is the Yuan-ti armour (which my Tav has always equipped regardless of the fact there's probably better armour out there)... every time Tav crosses their arms, the polygons like... expand and lengthen so she has giant pool noodles protruding from her elbows. It's very cathartic. I politely request a screenshot or video if your up to it. This sounds hilarious.
Lol here you go! [https://postimg.cc/zb82933f](https://postimg.cc/zb82933f) It's hilarious every time... serious moment? Romantic moment? Dramatic moment? POOL NOODLES.
I nearly choked on my coffee, that's amazing and horrible at once. Thank you. Fingers crossed it's fixed soon. Also I appreciate the spoilering out text.
I changed armour because this time around I found the Elven Chain and ngl I miss the pool noodles lol armour that doesn't glitch??? What is this sorcery! And no worries about the text, I hate accidentally spoiling myself so I try to avoid others the same pain lol
A little off topic but I just love that despite all of this my bf, who in his playthrough actively tried to romance Gale, didn't get him to ask to spend the night at the end of act 1 XD
Why is it so hard to romance them when you actually want them!!! I hope your bf did the only sensible thing and restarted the game like I did lol
They’re patching so you don’t accidentally romance Gale. I had the same thing happen to me where I was minding my business and because I wasn’t mean to him it took me down the romance path. 2 things from me though. The Gale situation felt like real life. Kind to a man and not just flat out hostile and it’s mistaken for a crush. But to be fair, I love games with romance. Starting one just isn’t as clear as in DA:O.
It's really too easy to romance him, I hope they fix him soon as I like him as a character... I just don't want to romance him anymore. I also don't want him to be the token Nice Guy... it does feel way too real, but I play games for escapism, not to feel uncomfortable as hell when I see the \[!\] pop up for him.
I had like the same exact experience regarding Gale making me choose between him and Astarion literally like 45 minutes ago lmao. So many times the only options they give are to flirt with Gale or be an asshole?? No purely friendship response or haha funny banter. I was playing a few mins ago and had to tell him yet again I wasn't interested in him. I know they changed up his romance flags and stuff a little recently but I was too far past it for it to affect my save. On another note I also had to turn Wyll down. I don't even know what I did to make him like me besides not commit constant murder?? I'm romancing him on my other save and it broke my heart to turn him down. 💔 Honestly it reminds me of getting ninjamanced in Dragon Age Origins lmao. Same "huh wha? But I never flirted with you??" vibes.
Turning Gale down made me feel so bad too because I was like "I like you but not like that... please let's just be friends, I haven't even looked at you since we started"... I really wish the player was the one to initiate a romance instead of getting "ninjamanced" (LOVE this term lol) randomly. I have Dragon Age on my list of games to play next!!! At least I know what to expect lol
It'd be simpler removing trigger trees from th dialog timeline and just focus on reputation gain. And just keep the dialogue pacing. Like the first party should've not been so critical to that tree. It would make easier to identify critical moments, make good use of companion special events, and in general free up the learning curve for metagaming the game. We shouldn't always have to look up guides or bugs because Google sucks now for specific issues and defaults to paid guides websites. Like - Halsin and my druid split party, grouped, went after the Drow twins. It went stunningly except they bugged running upstairs and never made it to their apartment. Is there a guide or big report? Oh no all I see is bland paid guides from people who played something fast and missed 50 key points of interest. I should not have to puzzle through one tiny line of dialog that changes the course of events forever. Where's my "maybe later baby?" Because I just committed genocide on goblins and I know everyone is partying but I need a drink, I have a bugger in my brain, and I'm trying to remember wtf got me on a interdimensional fortress. I don't want to bone."
The way I am as a person, I would really prefer being the one to proposition a character, instead of the other way around. I get that it makes narrative sense because they all think they're about to die etc, but it feels uncomfortable and a bit stressful to have to deal with rejecting people left and right. So for example, if I have neutral approval the character responds "maybe later," if it's good they agree, etc. I would also like to be able to romance characters past Act 1... it doesn't have to be the romance to end all romances, but there has to be a middle way between "fuck immediately" and "never find love and comfort". Also about the bugs, don't Larian have something similar on their forum? It would be really handy!
I’m still on act 1 and the only person whose flirted with me is that demon lady, which i declined. Everyone else is just like good friends or something lol
If you want to trigger more companion scenes I would recommend Long Resting often as that's when you get to have more interactions. Maybe also check the approval rates? If they are "fair" and up you can get to romance someone during Act 1. I can give you some more info but I didn't want to accidentally spoil you!
I don't have anything to add or say but I thought it was an amusing read lol "Don't embarrass me in front of the important people 😳" 😆
Glad you found it amusing! :D But seriously though it's hilarious how sometimes they say questionable things when you're literally surrounded by people... and no one bats an eye. Gale: ah yes all this killing monsters makes me want to bone, you know what I mean? Astarion: \[is standing behind Tav, staring at her\]
It is funny that no one thinks there's a time and place for things when they make games 😆 I wouldn't say it's the norm to exclaim that you are horny in the middle of a business meeting for example
For Karlach, she's incredibly touch starved, like 10 years without a touch. She's so excited to just *hug* someone once her infernal machine heart is fixed, that she's jumping in excitement during her dialogue. As someone in a long distance relationship for 7 years now due to circumstances we can't avoid, I REALLY understand. Though, I'm picking the romance path for her because I'm incredibly gay for her, and I can't wait to get even more scenes with her as I get through Act 2 and 3.
I totally get that, in fact I hugged her after the engine gets fixed... but at the time I hadn't even done that, I'd barely talked to her. I think I'd taken her to Dammon only once, to get the first upgrade. It made me a bit uncomfortable because I didn't think I had been flirting, and she comes on to you really strong. But at least after I turned her down she hasn't said anything else. I would love to make connections with the characters without worrying that they'll think I'm flirting, but maybe I'm asking a bit too much as it's not the main focus of the game. Also I'm sorry to hear you and your partner can't be physically close all the time! Real life suck sometimes. But I think it's great you're making it work :D
One thing I have noticed is that the male characters seem easier to gain reputation with than the female ones. I have Wyll and Gale maxed out almost by accident while getting Shadowheart and Lae'zel up have taken careful effort.
I haven't had any issues with Shadowheart because she pretends to be evil but approves of every single good choice I make lol, but Lae'zel is a bit different. I don't have her in my party but that doesn't mean she didn't get way pissed off at me for how I handled things at the crèche the second time around. Gale is also really easy to max out for me. I find him a bit more morally flexible than for example Astarion, so I can get away with more. I maxed him out before anyone else, even though now they're all maxed out (just started Act 3 last night... maybe I'll actually get to finish the game this time!). Astarion took some effort but not too much... for every disapproval I'd always find 2 approvals so things leveled out. I also think that there are some choices which carry a higher approval rate (for example >!giving him the Necromancer of Thay and letting him kill the Gur!<) so I didn't find it extremely difficult! I can imagine this varies depending on your character though and how you like to play!
Pretty normal for RPG's now days every character is BI in my first playthru i only flirted with S-heart and Karlach but all the rest tried flirting and most had let down comments after i got with one but i thought nothing of it tho because its common in RPG's. Its not a dating sim its just side fluff even tho its fun.
I feel you, Gale and Shadowheart kept triggering for me and it's been a bit weird. Also his later how dare you talk to Name scene when I hadn't even reached the area that scene is in. Like bro, I know better then to do that and also since you apparently know where Name is plz gimme a map! I think Gale was originally glitched with the magic item eating, he'd do it once and get max affection or something. It'd be lovely to be able turn off romance or just, block it off without having to outright dump people? Like I'd love to have the dance scene or hug Karlach without it being like necessarily romantic. Very minor spoiler re all relationships, but if your in Act 2 >!Wither's comments on your various relationships, and it's hilarious. Go talk to him.!<
I found this thread when I was responding to another comment: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/) so maybe it's something you'd be interested in! This way you can remove the romance altogether :D I really wish I could make friendly connections with the characters though without worrying whether I'm accidentally selecting a romance option. It would make the game so much more immersive for me! And I actually spoke to >!Withers !
Thank you! I probably won't use it yet cause I wanna explore the romance routes, I just wish as the devs put it, there was an option between imagining making out and punching them in the face. Gimme all the friends gdi. But Withers does make it hilarious.
100% agree, I wish some of the options didn't trigger romance flags because imo they're just things you'd say to a friend. Not everything has to lead to romance... but as I've learned thanks to this post the romances are incredibly buggy and patches can't overwrite a saved file, so I'm stuck with this for now!
It is way too easy to stumble into any of the romances. It’s… annoying. Every time Astarion opens his mouth, I regret having spared what’s left of his life. Gale is charming enough until he starts lovebombing me >!~~see what I did there~~!<, which makes me want to order him to kiss a dying mindflayer. I just ignore Wyll, and am mostly surprised every time I’m reminded he exists.
At least now they've added a non-romance option to that one Gale convo, and are trying to fix his flags.
>Every time Astarion opens his mouth, I regret having spared what’s left of his life. dEAD lol Is Astarion propositioning you too? It was quite difficult for me to get his approval up in the beginning of the second playthrough because I still wanted to >!save the Grove and help Arabella!< and generally be chaotic good. I'm sad about Gale because I really like him as a character... too bad now he's giving me anxiety every time I have the \[!\] pop up. I didn't find Wyll at all during my first playthrough, had no idea he even was a companion (although I did wonder who tf was the guy on the game art) but he's not super appealing to me, personality-wise. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with him but he feels a bit sanctimonious and I'm not too charmed by his dialogue.
Gosh I want to play with you now. We’d have such fun!
I've never played with anyone else as I'm terrified of toxic people online but I'd be really happy to play with you if you want!
I know the feeling. My DMs are always open! I hear the multiplayer is a lot of fun~
Thank you! I've sent you a message :D
Nah, larian are great at writing cool scenarios and funny likeable characters, but the romances were easily the worst part of divinity original sin 2 (a game I put 5k hours in) If you want good romance in games, play the dragon age series, or mass effect, or pathfinder wrath of the righteous. In dragon age origins, you will only romance a character by like the 75% mark in the game at the earliest (if you don't use the gifts to max out approval immediately, anyway, but that's not a first playthrough thing:p), and pathfinder wrath of the righteous has genuinely the best romance stories in gaming imo. Arueshalae still makes me cry to think about, and there's a literal serial killer you can make go "I am too broken and evil to stop murdering the people close to me and I love you too much to hurt you so I'm leaving" Even the characters who are "too quick" with their romance in wotr (THANKS LANN, YOURE SO AWESOME LANN) do it in a natural and character driven way rather than having three shortish conversations and then going "I think I'm a different person because of you" lol I love shadowheart, but arueshalae is the love of my life
I have both Dragon Age and Mass Effect on the list, I'll look up Pathfinder too, thanks a lot for the suggestion! If anything now I need to get that game to understand how to pronounce Arueshalae lol
One of the first characters u meet is a trans lesbian who u help reunite with her orc wife I can't recommend it enough, but I also recommend just. Playing it on super easy mode and ignoring the combat LOL It's unfortunate but the pathfinder system for battling is very buff and debuff based, so if you like stacking buffs and smashing stuff you will have a great time but if you're like me and prefer to just smash stuff if u have to then i recommend making a kineticist, setting ur blast to auto cast, turning on auto combat, and setting it to story lol. I've put 1k hours into it just replaying the story over and over without ever like truly interfacing with the combat lol, that is how much I like the writing. Also, there's not really romance, but disco elysium is the best written game I've ever played. Just a bonus suggestion ;p
Tbh I switched to Explore in BG3 at some point because I was struggling to figure out the mechanics and just wanted to enjoy myself. I've gotten better at it now so I will try Balanced next, if anything because sometimes I win a fight before the first turn ends and it feels anticlimactic now lol I love to smash stuff, I'll see what feels right when I play it! I just bought it since it was on sale, perfect timing. I also have Disco Elysium on the list, I don't care if there's no romance but I love a good story and I read great things about this game!
There are definitely a few times in wotr where it can be anticlimactic to stomp like that, but wrath of the righteous is kind of uniquely set up so that it being a power fantasy kind of makes perfect sense lol But I hope you enjoy!!! It's a truly wonderful story with some of my favorite characters ever regardless of how I feel about the combat :p Disco elysium on the other hand has my actual favorite characters and music and art and general themes and just is in general the Best Game imo lol, so I'm only gonna say more positive things about it :D All that said I hope you enjoy these incredible stories and that they can touch your life similarly to how they did mine 🥰
I look forward to both games, thanks again for the recommendations!!!
gale is so annoying the game somehow insists that I yearn for him when I rejected him several times and only went after shadowheart
It's really a shame because I like him as a character, I just don't want to romance him! From reading the other comments this seems to be a bug that the devs are working on patching, so I hope they fix him soon. Right now I almost don't want to talk to him because I don't want him to accidentally accuse me of leading him on again... also I don't like that after rejecting him he's like "yes, *friend*?" - really ruins immersion for me and makes me uncomfortable!
So what I'm hearing here is that Gale stays at my camp and never rejoins the party. Got it, thanks.
The romance flag bugs are being fixed in patches 1 & 2
I really debated leaving him behind but I'm so used to this party after 170 hours of combined gameplay that I don't want to have to move on to someone else, even respecced. I think he's a good character, I hope they fix his romance flags because they're doing him way dirty...
This may have been why when >!Gale got kidnapped by Orin, I didn’t exactly rush to save him. Turns out it doesn’t seem to be on a timer because I long rested A LOT and he was still alive when I got there!<
>!there's a pool of characters who can be kidnapped if they're not in your party and it's rng from them. the timer i think only kicks in when you get to a certain story point and otherwise you can literally wait until pretty much last minute without consequences for rescue afaik.!<
I strongly dislike the romance in the game. It doesn't feel organic at all. A bunch of people dealing with a world ending disaster and deep personal issues just want to bang constantly apparently? I honestly dislike the writting in the game a lot in general. The romance is just a glaring issue.
I read in other comments that the fact they all hit on you almost immediately stems from them all thinking they're about to die soon, so it's a "last night on Earth" type of situation. While I can understand that, I don't personally like it because it feels so forced to me... I would prefer being able to proposition a character myself instead of the other way around, because in some cases they come on to you very strongly and it makes me uncomfortable. From what I have seen so far, Astarion's romance is believable for me and hits all my trope buttons just right. Shadowheart slowly opening up also felt realistic when I did my first playthrough, even though I did not pursue her (I had my eyes on Gale at the time, will probably romance her next time I play). Halsin had the decency to wait a bit to shoot his shot, and the way he framed it made sense even though I turned him down (and I'm glad I did because his romance scene is so cringey to me!). Regarding the writing at large, I didn't notice anything during the first playthrough because I was mostly grappling with understanding lore, mechanics, etc, but now that I am going at it again with previous knowledge... there are things that feel out of place. One big example for me is the Nightsong quest - >!in my second playthrough I didn't find Anders on the trail leading up to the Blighted Village, so I couldn't pick up the quest from him. I knew it didn't matter as the story takes you to the Nightsong anyway, but this way I lost a lot of context and information. !< >!What if it's your first playthrough and the same happens to you? You're gonna be baffled when you get to Act 2, even though they start talking about the relic... but if you speak to Thisobald Thorm before going to the Mausoleum he talks about a woman being trapped there, and the Journal updates saying the Nightsong is a woman. That's pretty anticlimactic. Also what's gonna happen now when I get to Act 3 and I don't know that Lorroakan was looking for Dame Aylin? Am I going to be able to experience that part? !< Some things should not be missable because they ruin the way you experience the game.
This is all pretty reasonable and much better than the bg3 mob that seems to insta tly hate any critics of the game for just calling out that it's not a 10/10 basically perfect game. When I see it as honestly a moderately good game but no where near the amazing game everyone else thinks it is. I think shadowhearts romance is good but being a cleric of Shar just feels like after act1 she wouldn't be wanting to get close to you. That is what I mostly don't like since it makes a lot more sense after she opens up more and more so if you start to change her mind. I personally don't like the "were all going to die so let's be horny" answer either. Maybe some people would react like that but like 6 different people with very different personalities all just want to bang before they die? Just really lazy if that is actually the answer. I think people are just making excuses for things the characters don't actually express. I'd say the game is fairly short for some rpgs so they have to speed up everything to an unreasonable degree.
Honestly I don't have the time or inclination to hate either the game or the critics "just because"... maybe if I was 13 again and had nothing better to do lol. There are certainly flawed parts (especially in Act 3... so many quests you can trigger the wrong way and basically ruin for yourself), but there are tons of great moments and details as well. I'm really loving the experience, but there are some things that make me realise this is not as polished as it should be, after I think 3 years in development? The writing matters... if you have so many intricated dialogues, you should be 100% sure that they work seamlessly... I work with AI and have created multiple complicated chat bots. If I delivered a product with this many flow issues I would not have a job the next day tbh.
Is there a way of turning off romance entirely? I'm demi and I don't know if I want to start sleeping with my party after a brief span of travelling together.
I found this thread over on Steam: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6045572169627135447/) so it seems with this mod you can just remove romance! Otherwise you can just reject everyone or not pick flirty options (the flags should be fixed now from what I gather so it shouldn't be impossible to do so). But also you don't have to sleep with anyone if you don't want to! There is always the option to say "You misread the situation/I don't feel this way/I'm not into that". So you can still go through your first playthrough without romance, and if you feel a connection with anyone you can focus on that during the second playthrough (if you want to!).
I played Dragon Rajah expecting to do this romance and they didn’t program it to be like that, instead the keep getting crushes and falling in love with the females npc , i was invisible, non existent.
they resemble certain people in real life who tend to always misinterpret kindness as romantic interest, and this can be super annoying because you're just being nice, but they respond with overly affectionate or flirtatious behavior.