The lead writer of Baldur’s Gate 3 said of the romance that it wasn’t about sex, it was about sex “just sex.”

“I know we made them too thirsty,” jokes Baldur’s Gate 3 lead writer Adam Smith about the RPG’s social characters. “We’re aware of it. The internet has told us this.” Smith was interviewed during a recent podcast, where he shared his thoughts on the nuances of BG3’s party interactions.

“One of the reasons I think they come across as forward is that we did want them to be the person who comes to you,” he says, describing Larian’s approach to romantic relationships between players and their party members.

“We wanted them to initiate a lot of the time rather than you saying, ‘I’m bringing you things, and that means that I want to sleep with you.'”

Romance RPGs tend to do this: they give you an approval bar, which you partially fill up by saying all the “right” things in dialogue. And partly by repeatedly giving them the one object they like. After enough correct phrases and trinkets are offered, a confession (sometimes a sex scene) pops up. Congratulations, you’ve got a romance!

BG3 has something like this: an approval meter and plenty of opportunities to influence it in dialogue with progressive “Astarion approves” and “Karlach disapproves” notifications. But as Smith describes, Larian puts less emphasis on sticking to the same formula for every character.

There are definitely different moods in the way each relationship begins: with Lae’zel, you come on strong after impressing him with your warrior skills. Karlach, on the other hand, is touch-hungry from years of literally being on fire. But Wyll is downright slow-burning by comparison, and Shadowheart is more cautious with her true feelings.

“We have a bunch of different versions of what a good romance scene is, I hope,” Smith says. “Sometimes you start with the sex and end with the hook. Because actually you’re breaking down barriers. And sex is not the goal, it’s just sex. It can be very meaningful for some people. To some people it’s not the most meaningful thing. To some people the most meaningful thing is you saying to them, ‘I will never leave you.'”

As a lover of RPG romances, it’s great to see a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 bypassing the “one size fits all” approach to party encounters.

Because yes, I might really like to have a one-night stand with Lae’z and get to know Wyll better. But even if not, there are plenty of options, each to their own taste and habitus.

Source: YouTube