“They Come to Fight, Not to Flirt”: The Baldur’s Gate 2 Author Didn’t Believe Players Needed Romances

David Gaider, a writer on Baldur’s Gate II and a long-time Dragon Age veteran, recalls that the notion of introducing romance arcs during development felt risky and uncommon.

In an interview, Gaider recounted the development of Baldur’s Gate II and shared a humorous anecdote about lead designer James Ohlen.

“The whole romance angle was an experiment. James really had no idea whether anyone would take to it. We were crafting long, engaging narratives — they were solid — but romance? We assumed players weren’t coming for love stories; they were there to hack through enemies and slay dragons.”

He describes himself as “not the most romantic person” and initially didn’t want to handle companions’ love plots, yet he ended up responsible for Anomen’s arc and portions of other characters’ dialogue that were later cut due to complications with Jaheira’s romance.

Designer Lucas Kristjánsson, who worked on Jaheira’s quest, said there were so many technical issues that “by the end of the project James had a sign on his door: ‘If it’s about Jaheira — do not knock.’”

Today Gaider is wary of the “player-sexual” trend — where nearly every companion in an RPG can be romanced by the player. He argues it can strip characters of autonomy. He favors companions with their own desires and boundaries — characters for whom a romance with the player is one possible outcome, not an automatic expectation.

Source: iXBT.games