Arkthuris

Same, though I haven't tried it with manually saving and reloading (only quicksave).

Good observation. Yes I can see how that's unsettling, particularly when you hear the music out of context in this way. It is, as you point out, to allow the environment sounds to have an opportunity to be heard in between musical phrases. I wanted this music to breath in a calm and relaxed sort of way, and to interact with all the other sounds you're going to hear as well. I kind of figured that would be the case as the mix does sound extremely dry (in terms of the mix, not the pitch content). Would probably sound much more fitting with the ambient sounds and reverberations behind it. The piece does lag a bit for me during the sections with only strings though as I guess after years of listening to classical, sampled orchestras stick out like a sore thumb to me. The melodies are great but I feel like it could really use a bit more attack and release to fill out the space. There are a few times when the strings just kind of pop-in that feel a bit unnatural. Again, haven't heard it with the actual game's ambiance and it might be altered before it makes it into the game so I could be way off. I definitely enjoyed the piece for the most part though. If I could recommend something for your morning commute though: Austin Wintory's Banner Saga OST. The game itself was pretty great considering its Kickstarter budget but the soundtrack was beyond belief. The man has a real gift for restating themes and using soloists to their full potential. He's still fairly new in terms of big orchestral scores like this but right now I love him even more than I love Soule. https://austinwintory.bandcamp.com/album/the-banner-saga

Now I'll never be able to make a party where two male fighters can build a good ol' fashioned Spartan bond that flowers into a loving relationship after they retire from adventuring. Headcannon it is. I'm kind of fine with this decision to be honest. I liked some of the romance options in Baldur's Gate 2 as it made sense with how fleshed-out the NPCs were, but I can completely see why the overarching plot of a campaign could overshadow something like romance. Depending on just how world-endy the situation is, I don't think "this mage who saved my life is pretty attractive and seems like good relationship material" would be the first thing to pop into people's heads. Too much in the way of sexual tension and romance is part of what ruined Mass Effect for me. It was nice to see a more relaxed side of certain characters but sometimes I was like "holy **** can this wait, the fate of the galaxy is on the line." It can work in some scenarios but I don't really think Eternity will be worse off without it.

One game that I thought approached gender issues in a pretty mature and straightforward way was Mount and Blade. Women and men were given no inherent stat bonuses but the game warns you that it is a medieval society and that the treatment of women is very much reflected in that. Until you get significantly more renown as a female character, you have absolutely no chance of a lord given you a fief (they even say that other lords will think that he's been "bewitched" regardless of your prowess in combat). Even when trying to court a lord, female characters have to find one who is more open-minded than his peers. Women after all, weren't usually mercenary captains or adventurers in the time period and that lifestyle is seen as "too wild" for men in the game. Hell there are two female claimants in the game who you can side with. In spite of how these things limit female characters, it's what actually paints Warband as a fairly progressive game. It features a sexist society while still having female characters equal to males in terms of stats and thus illustrates the irrationality of such a society. Then again though, Pillars of Eternity may not take place in a traditional medieval society. Considering the role that magic may have in society (the forces of which I'm pretty sure don't care about your race/gender), traditional gender roles might simply not apply.