Baldur's Gate 3 is the horniest RPG I've ever played and honestly it's a bit much

I've only had a couple of characters, one's I would expect to flirt with me, try to flirt with me on their own. Everyone else you have to seek it out in my experience. This really smacks of the "it's because of your search history dude" trope. Stop choosing flirty dialogue and getting fauxfended when they flirt back. I agree it seems a little easy to pursue some of the romance trees, but it really isn't in your face as much as these stupid articles would make it seem.

It reeks of immaturity in general, or maybe more cynically, the perception of a bunch of nerds that have never had a sex life. There are so few games that handle sexual and romantic relationships realistically, and now that we have one nobody knows what to make of it.

Some characters take things slow. Opening up gradually, sharing some wine, holding hands and enjoying a single kiss on a night alone together. Eventually this ramps up naturally.

Some characters on the other hand are like, "you ready to fuck? I'm ready. Love? Never heard of it."

Both of these are normal and it's cool to see both represented in the same world.

I'm gonna be honest, from what I've played, it honestly seems like the people complaining about the party members hitting on them too much have just been clicking options without fully reading them. It kinda sounds like the writer here inadvertently started romances with every single party member.

Yes, if you get their opinion of you up high enough, they will open up the possibility of romance- but you can tell them that you're not interested in them in that way, and the topic will never be brought up again. And yeah, the game is considerably more sexual than a lot of other RPGs. I don't think there's any denying that. But the author does make a good point in that it disrupts the usual structure of sex in video games. To me at least, in a way, sex in BG3 feels like it's part of the world; rather than something that just exists for some late-game cutscenes.

Seriously. Gale started hitting on my friend because he would interact with him regularly. And my friend just picked the "you misunderstood, we're just friends" option. Gale was like "sorry pal, let's keep being good friends" - hasn't brought up wanting to take things to the next level since.

I love how this game handles sex and romance, it's unashamed with a sex-positive mindset, something that just seems natural to me but I guess I'm just weird.

Weirdos of the world unite! I'm all for equal-opportunity horniness lol.

I guess it's unnatural for a large group of people, since a lot of people aren't sex positive due to upbringing or some other factors.

I'm personally mostly okay with how the game handles sex and romance, and I also have friends who are completely okay with the game's nudity as well (heck we even have a multiplayer character running around naked in camp lol). But I do have some other friends who were taken aback when character customization came up and genital customization was a thing.
- Yeah! Glad to see so many people agree with our point of view as well. Religion and other factors have done so much damage to so many people, it'll be a slow process I'm sure but maybe games like these will help fix our culture are reverse those puritanical and prudish views.

"I'm no prude" and then rant at how too horny BG3 supposedly is... Yes you are very prude fellow.

Nah. I'm a prude: I prolly won't play BG3 now. I'm big on sci-fi and I've never liked overtly horny interactions. The Culture novels handle it well and it didn't annoy me. Vernor Vinge had problems deciding if he was writing scifi or rape fantasies.

I'm here for motherfucking space lasers.
- You can turn off nudity in BG3, but it won't push your buttons if you exclusively get off on space lasers.

They posted a counterpoint, too

https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-is-the-horniest-rpg-ive-ever-played-and-i-love-it/

I do think it should be a bit harder to romance in this game. Because you don't need to even try and to me that's kind of a problem. Like I got people just sitting at camp who haven't been in any quest with me or you just met and they're already down for the dirty. Ready for the horizontal cha-cha. A little of the devil's dance, a little campsite rodeo... I think a little effort isn't asking too much. But they all acting like the Absolute is in my pants and they're ready to get blessed!

I think the problem here is thinking that sex == romance.
- There is also no way to just be friends. The friendly option are also the fuck options so if approval gets too high you need to actively be an asshole to them.
My first playthrough I sent lae'zel straight to camp, never spoke to her again. At some random point before even act 1 ended, her romance dialogue came up.

My theory is the tadpoles ramp up sex drive to absurd levels, unless you're shadowheart apparently. Illithid orgies must be incredible.
- Toxoplasmosis
- Unless you're shadowheart? I told her I didn't hate her god and the next day she was hitting me with the "I've never had a confidant quite like you... You're very special to me..."
- Aaah, so it's a homage to Cronenberg's 1975 movie Shivers
  
  Hobbes had developed a parasite that was "a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will, hopefully, turn the world into one beautiful mindless orgy."
I like it. It's like college
- We had very different college experiences.
I have a bit conflicting thoughts about this. On one hand yes, the "let's fuck" option comes a bit too easily: simply talk to them a few times, ask about their day, don't be an ass and you'll get laid on day 3.

But on the other hand, the game is also filled with situations where you make a single wrong comment and the conversation instantly turns to a fight, which ends up in a bloodbath.

I guess these balance each other out. The game is just generally fast with getting to a (quite extreme) conclusion in both ways, and I don't really have a problem with it.
- Lol, I mean you're not wrong.
  
  I just feel like... idk, maybe at night we use the weave... put on some music and see where the night goes.
I find the writing for each more or less appreciable, but I do think they need to slow their damn roll, definitely. Not only do all but two of them want me, somehow I ended up reaching this point at the exact same time with all of them and we might as well have solved the whole thing by massive camp orgy and called it a day.

I'm quite sure some of this can be gated behind specific plot points so the progression makes sense. I'm over here completely ignoring the plot for the side quests in Act 1.

Asterion says he "knows a place," which is predictable because Asterion would bang a tree if it weren't for the cock splinters. But he also very specifically said that same day that he's never been to the underdark before, and he literally can't know a place. We just passed an NPC that told us not to make the slightest perceptible noise or we'd attract ravenous monsters and we're going to be murdered.

Maybe we should wait to offend god until after we get outside, perhaps?
- Asterion would bang a tree if it weren’t for the cock splinters
  
  Oh please, I get the feeling Astarion could make a Cenobite blush...

When you swap underwear with another character they don't even mention it, no options to seduce NPC's for fun or profit, sex doesn't go into a turn based mode with various special traits and action options based on class and alignment...

I'm just saying if I made it then it'd be far hornier.

I want to roll dice to determine how good the sex was
- Multiple skills to use there, Acrobatics, Performance, Survival, and Religion.

How am I supposed to identify as my character and get immersed in being them if people want to have sex with them?

I had to choose penis type for my character, it would be a waste not to use it

Is there hydra?

Horniest RPG? The armors in this game are the least sexy I’ve encountered in years.

I guess it makes for a better "dividing" of the experiences. For instance, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 took it all the very wrong way. It might have a very compelling storyline and great character moments, but I'll never know because 90% of my time spent playing would involve a subservient girl dressed in micro-shorts whose breasts are each the size of her head. Plus, it has a ton of pervy scenes that are pretty much mandated for the story.

At least in BG3, the nudity/sex/lingerie seems to be somewhat optional to focus on, and doesn't generally distract from the experience.
- Yes, I like the way they did it. They could also (maybe they already have) add some more underwear options.

crazy how we went from Mass Effect to No Sex Please, We're Gamers.

We'll hang, okay?

This is so cringe.

I was thinking that it was the horniest game I've ever played, but I didn't see it as a problem. Also, a bit of topic, but the steam reviews from mad players who "accidentally" did the nasty with the unintended persons is hilarious. They should have selected the nohomo dialog option.

I think the relationship threshold for the sex stuff needs to be higher. In my playthrough, I was propositioned by at least 3 different characters, and I was literally roleplaying a serial killer. I made no attempt at all to get them to like me. I think that stuff should only happen if the player has been seeking it out. And I don't just mean the sex scenes themselves, horny dialogue and thinly veiled suggestions should happen less often and later in the story (like at least halfway through, certainly not in act 1). It especially stands out since the rest of the writing is pretty good, so an obvious "hey Player, wanna see a sex scene" moment is very out of place.

I've been playing the game with my characters completely naked so far. Hide the armor and take off their underwear and they'll just run around in their birthday suits in battle, in the open world, and in cutscenes.

I think it's really fun especially when you have shitty lvl 1/2 armor that looks stupid anyway. Maybe I'll unhide their armor once I get some nicer looking gear. For now it's tits and dicks everywhere.

Sexuality? In my fiction?? I'd rather not

Yeah, I particularly like the part in lord of the rings where Gandalf randomly tries to fuck Frodo because there was a small approve notification earlier when Frodo helped him open the door to moria.

Well, I guess this helps me decide if I want to play the game. I really don't enjoy games with "romance" plots for reasons I can't explain. IRL I'm a romantic fool but I don't like it in my games. Can anyone elaborate on the OP? Is it just nudity (I don't care about nudity) or is it really focused on romantic side plots?

Not really, if characters start to like you, they will sort of ask you out (invite you to a dance etc.), you can decline and it's over. If you accept you can get a bit of romantic bonus content, but you're not missing out on anything essential.
I'm not trying to romance anyone, but generally being friendly with my teammates. I'm about to move to act 2 and only one of the seven companions I'm with has done the video gamey "you were nice to me in the dialogue options and now you're... So special to me... Do you think... 🥺" routine. I turned the character down but still spent a night drinking wine with her at a party, the way I would if a friend I wasn't interested in came onto me IRL, and since then she's shut up about the whole thing as long as I don't open that particular dialogue tree.

the option to be horny is present in a lot of dialogue trees, but so is the option to be murderous or sarcastic or threatening. just don't click the options, it's the core of role-playing.

To an extent I sometimes agree with the complaints about playersexual, but in this instance it feels like they're just grasping for a reason to not be called a prude.

I haven't played this game, but I'm glad to hear it. Honestly video games aren't horny enough.

Oh nooooooooooeeeessdssssss. Ss ss sss sss SEX! OH MY PEARL NECKLACES!

Is there already a mod to add that?