Our run of Baldur's Gate 3 had a moment of Gale Fail when he came in strong with nigh predatory opportunism. Astarion had an extremely well written moment in our relationship, where we tenderly determined together that what he needed was a friend and not a lover. Unprovoked, Gale comes in to proposition us that very night. There's a lot to be said about Gale as a character, unfortunately a lot of it isn't romantically compelling. I believe this is something we'll say a lot more on in the future, we've actually dedicated a playthrough to fully exploring Gale. He's one of those characters that had real potential to be loveable and interesting, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when it falls apart.
Our largest project for Subverionary is Sins of the Flesh. It's a lot of things, but at it's core it's a dating sim. We've become connoisseurs of the medium as we've been researching and playing these games, and one of the key elements I feel is missed out on is immersion. The dating element of BG3 is wildly full of ups and downs. The mechanical elements of the romance feel like an afterthought, and Gale really suffers for this. He demands your absolute and undivided attention to progress his story, otherwise he'll passively sit back and whine. The Wizard of Waterdeep comes off like that guy in high school who has a crush on a girl, doesn't make a move, and then gets angry when she finds passion with someone who made their feelings clear.
In the case of his Baldur's Gate 3 romance, the programming of Gale's interactions seems to be strictly event based. Gale's reactions to your flirtations with other party members rely heavily on if you've triggered romantic events with him first. If Gale has made a pass (and then subsequently backs out and goes silent for hours), you wonder if there's anything even going on. The only way he indicates you're in a relationship is if you've flirted with another party member and then he gets angry.
Otherwise he'll carry a torch while only hinting at this... unless you end it with another. Then he comes in like a horny hurricane. His reactions feel very stilted and mechanical, more so than any of the other characters we've romanced. It feels like if I do A then he'll do B without agency. It's a puppet with thick strings and it ruins the magic. It's a good lesson to keep in mind as we move forward with our own game.
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