Agemaki

I understand why romance was not implemented in poe since they already had a lot of work to do and didn't want to make something sub-par. I am a little concerned at the assertion that it was in part because they don't like writing romance, thereby suggesting that we should not expect to see it in sequels. Perhaps the creators are rebelling against and distinguishing themselves from the current trend of romance in games? That seems plausible though I hope that at some point obsidian decides to approach romance on their own terms rather than avoiding the topic altogether. To me it seems unrealistic that in a group of adults who spend a lot of time together and who rely on each other for survival there would be only platonic feelings. It feels artificial for sexuality to play no role in their lives. I get that "maturity" means more than sex but I also think that at some point it involves taking a mature approach to sexuality which--like it or not--is a fundamental aspect of life. It seems odd for a series that aims for a realistic approach to fantasy to paint its characters with the brush of celibacy. Oh and I also thought Aloth was super hot. And I'm married and can have sex whenever I want.

I respect the decision to not implement romance in poe1 since it is easy to do romance badly. But I think that what makes a romance good is complex, well-written characters and in my opinion the characters of poe1 are very well-written and interesting. I hope that this is something that poe2 implements. There are some very good romance mods for bg2 that illustrate what you can do with text-based romantic interactions. I think that a good romance allows for deeper character development as you get to see a side of a companion that you otherwise might not. Though it is generally better when romances are integrated into the rest of the game so that romances feels less like tacked-on mini games. That really breaks immersion in my opinion. Also, over-dramatizing the sex and making it only happen before the final battle is kind of cheesy. I think a good romance takes a more mature approach to exploring the elements of a relationship--including love, lust, and companionship. Also, please no fade-to-black scenes to indicate sex.

I just installed the 2.01 patch and the game seems to be having trouble loading my old save games. I can load them if I start a new game but if I try to load an old save from the main menu the game freezes up. I tried making a new save with the old character but I have the same problem when trying to load from the main menu. Anyone else had this problem?