I feel absolutely insane, but I can’t do it. I genuinely despise the background pairing system and it’s making it impossible for me to play a new run. I want to try for a different ending and a better romance, but I’m preemptively annoyed and can’t. I made a new character and can’t get more than 10 minutes past the title card.

Lucanis was my first run’s romance, and it was disappointing. So disappointing that I dread seeing Lucanis and Neve at the Lighthouse, or taking them out in a pair, knowing I’ll have to hear their relationship organically develop in a way that Rook isn’t capable of doing. I don’t want to see Lucanis doing more for and talking about his relationship with Neve more, and all with an initiative/openness that he never had with Rook. I hate knowing that when I lock in my romance with Emmerich, I’ll be subjected to watching Rook’s commitment scene with Lucanis play out, but for Neve instead, as if Rook/Neve are entirely interchangeable. It’s so immersion-breaking I want to physically cringe. Add in the flirt lines they’re both given in Lucanis’ quests, along with the “no time for romance with you” warning, and I’m struggling to give this new run a chance.

I don’t know if anything can be done about it, but I’ve heard similar complaints about Taash/Harding’s banter making players feel bitter about the relationship building they’re allowed that Rook isn’t. It seems like such a small issue, I know, but it’s literally the only thing stopping me from playing again.

Can we get clarification on if there’s a way to prevent it besides just…ignoring the big exclamation point? Does that even work? Has anyone successfully had an intended pairing remain platonic through a run, or do they always hook up if you talk to them?