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Joshua Eric "Josh" Sawyer, best known for his work on RPG gems like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, explains why Obsidian Entertainment doesn't always favour including romance in its games.
Put simply, as Sawyer says in a new interview with SIFTER on YouTube (below), "the time involved" is a major factor. "It's a lot of work," admits the legendary developer. "Even asking the studios where that is sort of their focus – I think they would say it's an enormous amount of work on top of all the other stuff that the companions do."
I can certainly see how that'd be the case, as a player myself, especially when looking at big RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3. Sure, there's a lot of good dialogue and romance options with the Baldur's Gate 3 companions and all, but how much work did that take? A lot, I'm guessing.
Sawyer continues, describing how, with Obsidian in particular, "sometimes we budget out how much time it's going to take, and we don't think we can do a good job at it… Also, depending on the tone and the style of game, sometimes I personally will feel like I don't think we can make good romances."
That makes sense – and Sawyer clarifies that this isn't because he's not a fan of romance in a game, but rather pickier about when it actually belongs. "It's not like an opposition to their existence. It's just that I don't know if we're going to be able to do it."
The dev uses examples like Pentiment, which includes "love and relationships and romances," but not "RPG-style romances." He also looks to other Obsidian gems, like Pillars of Eternity.
As they don't include romance – along with other recent Obsidian titles, like Avowed – he states a lot of folks believe, "Obsidian hates romance or Obsidian doesn't want to do romance." That's not the case, however. "It's more that it is not typically the wheelhouse we have operated in," as Sawyer concludes. I suppose that checks out. I think we've become a bit too accustomed to expecting extensive romance systems in RPGs, honestly.
Sure, Baldur's Gate 3 lets you rizz up your fave companion – but plenty of other big genre names like Skyrim don't feature as detailed or rich romance mechanics, and they're still very fun. So are Obsidian's games, and they don't need a touch of love to make that true.
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