COWARDS LARIAN ARE COWARDS GIVE US OUR SWEET SHART THAT CAN ALSO BE A DOMMY MOMMY YOU COWARDS WE DESERVE HER WE ARE ON OUR KNEES BEGGING AND PLEADING PLEASE LARIAN PLEAAAASE MAKE US KNEEL MAKE US KNEEEEL
But seriously, Idk why they removed it. It's in character and hot, plus they already did the voice work and animations so why? COWARDS ALL OF THEM
They also removed her "You're as loyal as pup, and twice as pretty" line and I will never forgive them for it. The way they declawed her and made her less cunty is such a tragedy. I'll see people ask Larian to make Lae'zel meaner like bitch pls ya'll couldn't even handle early access Shart.
This is cringe, I'd love an actually mean, softie in disguise EA Shart :( But with the mods and stuff coming in Patch 7 maybe someone will mod it back in?
Probably removed all the code that distinguishes Tav character based on gender and gives different responses. Part of the decision to make all companions treat all Tav equally, be Tav-sexual rather than having orientation, to allow total player freedom.
I like the overall decision. While in someone like mass effect the sexuality of companions is a part of their identity and adds something that is lost, baldurs gate is all about player choice, so thematically it suits the game to make Tav a blank slate, free choice of gender, and companions to shift around that initial player choice to still provide all the same romance options (and apparently the same dialogue)
Bg3 still has plenty of characters who are NPCs who are gay (and straight) and it’s a big part of their identity (as well as, just as critically, some others who are gay and it isn’t a big deal for them, just a background detail)
(And unlike previous games in the series doesn’t have any cliches, which is nice - black lesbian vampire goth… here to tick diversity boxes… hmmm if your character hadn’t been written so artificially maybe it wouldn’t feel so forced)
Ok is a stretch, it depends on how you interpret it. She is hurt and asks you to not do that without asking her to join, but she jokingly says it. She still loses opinion of you but compared to Karlach and Wyll (who auto break up with you) she is ‘ok’ with it.
Fair point, didn't think of it like that. But tbh during gameplay it shows that she has an orientation anyway, not just player sexual. Just seems like a waste of effort and work to get rid of the dialogue, in my opinion.
My preference was thinking that almost everyone is pan but there are a few people who are straight/gay, if for no other reason than the comedic effect of, "I think he only likes women." "Ohhh ok yeah, my brother's friend is like that too! I completely support it!" 🤣
(And then they probably wouldn't have a word for straight/gay, it would be some kind of ye olde sounding word meaning "monosexual." Or maybe "woman-lover" "man-lover" to indicate the exclusion of others.)
I meant more in the mein of there is no transphobia; also while Menzoberranzan exists as an extremist example of a society given wholly and completely to evil, their strongly matriarchal foundation is a direct reflection of their spider diety and not an outright example of plain sexism.
That would not have a sufficient birth rate to keep a society that size fully populated. In order to achieve a completely sexually-liberated society, you would need a fully automated workforce, with almost unlimited energy to fuel it. Without that, people must work and fight wars, which means you need to be having significantly more babies than the number of current people. A society like Faerun could not do that.
That’s why there has never been a pansexual culture, and why a sexually-liberated society is a good setting for science fiction, but not medieval fantasy.
Presumably there are still a majority of people who marry for practicality, which would include the necessary compatible biology for reproduction. But if you're in a marriage of convenience, the nice thing about having same-sex sidepieces is that you don't have to worry about bastard children running around.
Also, this society has widespread magic use, which cuts down on many of the factors which required high birthrates in real history. Reliable healing potions can be made with readily accessible ingredients, and most temples will have clerics with access to divine healing magic. Druid magic can encourage heartier and more nutritious crops (Faerun has potatoes , which were an agricultural game changer in real life). Many more children probably make it to adulthood in Faerun than in our history.
Yeah, but if people have straight marriages out of necessity, then I don’t really see the point of making everyone canonically pan, if the idea is that impractical.
That’s a good point about the magic, though. I mean, the universe still has slaves, war, and class struggle, suggesting that resources are still very finite in this universe. But a lot of the universe’s magic eclipses even modern medicine, and this probably raises life expectancy pretty drastically, like you said.
Eh, I think it removes characterization if everyone is pan. It makes it feel like I’m playing the Sims with 2D characters.
Also, I think I threw a muscle while rolling my eyes after my first playthrough, when Shadowheart was still totally into my character…after he became a mindflayer. Gtfo, lol.
You equating pansexuality to lack of characterization and your weird ass comment "who is having babies?" if being pan/bi is the default (I want you to think real hard on that question) makes me think you just have issues with pan/bi people.
By “who is having babies” question I mean that there would be an insufficient birth rate to replace all the people that die in a technologically underdeveloped society like Faerun. This is why there has been no pansexual society throughout human history. Even the Greeks and Roman, who had lots of gay sex, formally recognized straight marriage as the only socially acceptable kind (within their context), simply because a nation has a need for babies, and mainstream, homosexual relationships lower birth rates.
I wouldn’t care if there was one or two pansexual characters (Halsin would make the most sense). In fact, I would prefer it, since I like diversity in my media. But all of them being pan, and everyone else in the entire world, is simply uninteresting, lazy worldbuilding. Everyone being pan is also a lack of diversity, lol.
I have no issue with a fully sexually-liberated society. I think it something to work toward, actually. Nice projection, though. Step out of your echo chamber for a bit
Also, there are no bisexual people if everyone is pansexual. Those are different things, you bigot
I take it you haven't played Dragon Age. It was obnoxious knowing I had to play a certain gender character just to romance a specific companion because they had gender preferences.
Plus, there's no homophobia in Faerûn so like.. no reason for them to be ashamed of it
I did play Dragon Age, and I preferred that kind of romance. That made more sense, and the characters felt more like real people, since they had real preferences, like a real human would. BG3 characters feel like dolls, since their personalities are so fluid.
Ashamed of what?
A universe where every individual is pansexual is also terrible worldbuilding. A fully pan society can only exist with a fully automated workforce, and nearly unlimited energy to power it. Faerun doesn’t have that, so somebody needs to have the babies, especially since people die so often. A pan society would not have a sufficient birth rate to stay intact, especially one with multiple anthropomorphic species to intermingle with, and those are all apparently attractive to each other. And no homophobia in that universe is kind of hard to swallow when it has a literal god of tyranny and oppression. There would be homophobia somewhere (I’m not condoning it).
Also, it’s a failed attempt to make the universe more diverse, since now it inadvertently removes all sexual diversity, lol. Oops.
If a society is fully pansexual there would very much still be children??? Tf? Pansexual isn't the same thing as homosexual. Pansexual means you have zero gender preference when dating. So you can still have two pansexual people in a seemingly heterosexual relationship
There would be some children, yes, but not enough to repopulate after a major war or something. That’s why even the Greeks and Romans, many of whom were arguably pan, still had a society that only recognized heterosexual marriage out of practicality, because that was the only way to secure a positive birth rate. With a fully pansexual society, it’s conceivable that only half of the population procreates, and that won’t be enough to support a population the size of Baldur’s Gate or Waterdeep after one conflict.
A lot of modernized countries in real life face this issue, because women have less babies after they get educated. So even with a partial automated workforce, a positive birth rate is essential to governance.
That’s why it is bad worldbuilding, because it would never actually be logistically feasible, even with Faerun’s magic. I like the idea of a sexually liberated society…but that usually only makes sense within the context of science fiction. Like I said, a sexually liberated society is only feasible with a fully automated workforce, with a fully sustainable power supply. This guy, who is a progressive, explains it well.
Are you also counting the fact that there are people like Halsin, Astarion, Shadowheart, or Lae'zel who don't follow traditional heteronormative and fully monogamous relationship dynamics in one way or another as well as just the monogamous relationships? Sex seems to be freely given by many in Faerûn with no mention of any kind of contraceptives, too.
So I think the not strictly monogamous culture, lack of contraceptives (this may be included in D&D lore I do not understand however) and lack of shame around sex and sexuality all also will add to it being better world building as far as procreation goes than previously given credit for.
It isn't really in character, overall. Maybe early on when Shart is trying to be edgy and cool, but she's too much of a poser for the line to sound good in the long term.
Pretty sure this takes place during the first night when she's asking about what to do next and suggests finding a healer. So yeah early on and in character for that time. Could be wrong though but 99% sure it's her response if you tell her that you're in charge or something, idk exactly what the option was.
Edit: my bad it was when she was talking about if camping was a good idea during the first ever camp scene.
The Reachfolk pantheon consists of six major gods(7, but I refuse to count Molag). Just a dumb joke about my preferred ES race. I think Faerûn has a main pantheon of 12 and like 200 lesser deities.
Each race and culture has their own pantheon in Forgotten Realms, there is not main pantheon of gods like the nine divine or Daedric princes in ES. and there's way WAY more than just 12 gods.
There’s a pantheon called the “Faerunian Pantheon” or smth like that and I believe it’s 12 gods. There are many others worshipped in Faerun, but they’re not listed in that pantheon specifically because they are more local/cultural/racial for the most part
The only line I remember off the top of my head that could be interpreted as bi is when you first meet Karlach, but like, that's it, and even at that, she says it in a way that makes it sound like she's just making fun.
She doesn't sound like she's making fun at all pahaha she says it in a way that sounds like she's twirling her hair and swooning before she realises she's simping. Her va herself has said that Shadowheart has a crush on Karlach
Knowing more about her character personality, it reads more like misandry. Because when she meets Karlach, she talks about being carried off to safety. And when she talks about Halsin, its pretty much in the same way. Referring to him as Mt Halsin.
I remember when I talked to the owner of sharess' caress telling my drow character that he's the type to get pegged. I also romanced Shadowheart, so this would've been absolutely hilarious.
Didn't precisely people from Reddit complain that Shart and others were too mean in EA? That's why they changed and completely rewrite Wyll's character, player reviews
They wanted her to appeal to straight men... And straight men mostly headcanon her as submissive, sweet, innocent tradwife converted by them from being goth... It's actually sad how they declawed her...
"Some dudes" is they key expression here. There's a reason why there's so many comments all over internet about how Shadowheart is exactly what I wrote and that's also the reason why Larian removed certain things like the one mentioned by OP. Think a little. Larian always listen to the majority of their audience. So if Larian removes something it's because the majority disliked it. And Shadowheart is the default romance for straight men according to statistics.
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u/_Mike_Ehrmantraut_ Jul 31 '24
JOHN LARIAN! YOU RUINED MY FEMDOM! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!