Aridea

The only thing I'd change is lock the progression behind major plot events. But at the same time the main plot is so painfully short you will still think they are jumping on to you too fast. My favorite romances from Obsidian were KOTORII and Mask of the Betrayer, because they went through the entire game following the plot progression and revealing details about characters, ending up at the game climax. As for example Safiya is a piece of someone's soul, self-absorbed Gann deciding to stay with the MC regardless of the path you choose (even serving Kelemvor in the afterlife), Atton turning darkside if you make wrong choices etc, Handmaiden having a mystery of her origins, Visas being connected to Nihilus, etc. I think Deadfire suffered not because they jump onto you too fast, but because there is really no mystery about the characters and no changes to their personalities. We pretty much know all about them, so there is very little to discover and very little to talk about. Xoti is probably the only one who can go darkside, but she is still her old righteous self. I understand its probably a design choice to make the ending as open as possible, since there will be further installments, but I feel it does very much limit how interesting the characters end up, and coupled with the short plot, how much drama they can bring to the table.

I kinda view it like real life. If you assault someone and take their stuff the payoff will be high, doesn't mean its legal and you should do it. Granted ofc the rules of the game are not as harsh as reality - you are not sent to jail and/or given death sentence, you don't stand trial. Still the feature is there and you have a choice whether to make use of it or not. Plus, as have been mentioned before, you are given freedom to make yourself whatever you want - pirate, privateer, bounty hunter, pacifist captain etc.

I... don't even want to ask what was seen as pervy there...

Speaking of... I am surprised we can't enchant clothes in Deadfire, since we were able to do so back in POE1. I would have certainly wanted to use Principi clothing on my more morally-questionable Cipher.

I thought Miscreant's Leathers that you get from Benweth were pretty fancy. Not obnoxiously fancy like frock coats, but not shabby either. Also, Legendary versions of leather armors generally make them look even more stylish. Barring that if I recall correctly Vailian, Aedyran and Principi clothing items were pretty nice looking too, esp Principi. Or you could always go with Dancer's outfit

Oh for sure I'd like to fully beat them too, with wits instead of raw power. Power wise the Watcher is an ant in comparison to them, which I am completely fine with. That said I would not be too heart-broken if there was no way to completely destroy them, even if all you did was just convince them to stop meddling in mortal affairs. I wouldn't mind these options too, but I think the reason they don't attack the watcher is purely political, as we are still extremely important and present potential to be utilized in the future. Adding those options would mean greatest politicians and schemers that did this for years would lose it in front of some schmuck. Not to say that it would add an additional layer of choices/consequences to an already complicated web. Idk, its a fine balance...

Same. It was refreshing to feel like a loser for a change instead of another power fantasy.

Except that the Warden, Chosen One, Vault Dweller and the Courier dealt with far smaller fractions of the world. Yes the quests seemed semi-epic, but they were still dealing with antagonists which were relatively "grounded". The Watcher has to somehow manage literal Gods - immortal constructs that can affect forces of nature, make volcanoes explode, absorb souls en-masse, and insta-kill our sorry butt. There is so much that one puny human/elf/dwarf/aumaua/orlan can do against them. And we are not playing a demi-god like the Child of Bhaal was in Baldur's Gate. As much as I like DA2 I admit Hawke on the other hand messed up everything they touched, so I'd say its a bit different to what we experience in Deadfire.

Pallegina is an interesting case. I've read somewhere (wiki i think) that godlikes are considered genderless, due to their sterility. I feel like right now as of 2 games, sexuality isn't applicable to her all, so you can't really call her by any definitions. Her only love is for Republics, nothing else. She may have a preference somewhere deep inside, being in the male-only order and all, but I feel like you never see it. And I am too afraid to flirt with her to find out :D As for the OP question. I believe I saw some characters that I thought were gay, but I don't remember 100%. The Innkeep Gyntel (Wild Mare) gets kinda flustered with Tekehu when you bring him for the first time and have a conversation about his shenanigans. But again I haven't encountered other situations with him to be sure.

Nope, I double-crossed the Principi and killed both their leaders, Serafen didn't bat an eyelid. I think he only cares about slavers.

I named mine Heart of Winter, or Winter's Heart, don't remember. My character is a pale elf with frosty exterior, so it kinda fit. Also IWD reference.

Well they are goody-two-shoes for their respective factions. I'd assume doing something evil for the opposing faction will not tick them off. Serafen only hates slavery, but he will happily help Principi and do evil stuff for them. Maia is a cold assassin, and Xoti can be turned murder hobo. I think the only genuinely good companions are Tekehu and Eder. I think the key would be to rotate the team according to what sort of acts you do towards which faction.

True. I remembered this concept by Obsidian (which was i think posted in other threads as well) The first one looks like sun/Eothas godlike, but this was an early concept in 2013. We certainly kinda got water, so who knows...

I seem to recall Eothas godlikes were supposed to have glowing heads. There is some concept art with them. But I don't remember how they are called.

Ohh I see. I don't remember, it was a while ago. Maybe I did get a messenger when I entered the district, but I don't think I got any notification in my journal. Probably a bug then, you are right.