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You’re not that hot: Baldur’s Gate 3 bug made romance too easy

karlach hug baldur's gate 3

The developers of Baldur’s Gate 3 broke some unfortunate news to players; they’re not actually that attractive, a bug just made characters easier to romance than they should’ve been. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 lets players woo in-game characters, but fans soon discovered that certain party members were too eager to get into a romantic relationship. Resident wizard Gale in particular had a severe case of being “down bad” for player characters. While that was partly chalked up to an awkward dialog choice, there was apparently an actual coding issue to go alongside the writing.

It wasn’t the player’s short-statured bard that got everyone wrapped around their figure. It was actually a bug. Members of Larian Studios discussed this at an event, but it’s unclear how thorough they intend to be about fixing it.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 romance was bugged 

Larian Studios game director Swen Vincke admitted that romances in Baldur’s Gate 3 were bugged at launch.

“So it was a bug…It wasn’t supposed to be that way,” Vincke said at a panel at PAX West.

Vincke further added that the approval thresholds were too low when the game shipped. While many fans enjoyed the expressway to romance, Vincke elaborated that the game wasn’t meant to have players landing in a relationship as quickly as they have been.

That doesn’t mean every character will keep players at arm’s length during Baldur’s Gate 3. The team has made some characters a bit more frosty, while others are still crushing hard on the player. Gale is reportedly fixed as he was affected by the bug the most, with Vincke noting that Gale wasn’t supposed to be as romantically aggressive as what players have encountered.

baldur's gate 3 astarion kiss romance

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 romance fixed on PS5?

Players with early access to the PlayStation 5 version of Baldur’s Gate 3 report that it’s still easy to romance characters. Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently available via early access for Digital Deluxe Edition owners on PlayStation 5. 

While Larian Studios has released several big patches for the game, it’s unclear if the “love bug” is still going strong in the latest release. Some players on social media do claim their NPCs are less aggressive, suggesting that some bugs might’ve been squished, but others say differently.

Despite issues with characters coming on too strong, the epic RPG has enjoyed overwhelming commercial and critical success. Baldur’s Gate 3 comes out on September 6, 2023, on PlayStation 5 with an Xbox release coming later this year.

Written by Bilawal Bashir

Bilawal is a software engineer who loves video games, comic books, and anime. But he will never love pineapple on pizza. In over two decades of gaming, he has only broken two controllers. His work has also been featured by TheGamer and WhatIfGaming.

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