Let's all be real here. The bear is an excuse people are still mad is not real time with pause.
For some, maybe. But for me, I find it stupid and bad writing.
The bear scene felt like it was written by GPT-3. Where did the player pick up a bear fetish exactly? Where did the druid get the idea that sticking his
literal bone up someone's ass while in bear form would be a great idea?
I remember when I first played the game and did the Jeheira romance (default romance lol), there was that once scene where you could get a
locket with your two likenesses in it from a seller in the market. That, to me, is more in line with what I expect from a romance dialog in a fantasy game. Simple, a bit understated, and it makes you feel like you're part of the game world.
No references to dating, no stupid sex jokes about "orifices", no gay bear sex.
I would even say that Anomen's romance was superior. I never expected that such a douchebag of a character would have a corruption romance of sorts. Your female character can transform him from a proud, noble knight, arrogant in both his righteousness and ability, and into a pessimistic shell of a man, capable of even murder. (Just like a woman can do to a man in real life.)
The only thing that was negative about the Anomen romance is that your female character can't continue the romance with the far more likeable version of Anomen after he's done being butthurt over not becoming a knight, but in a way, I give the developer credit for committing to a bad end. (Even though it was probably a budgetary decision.)
I kind of hoped to see a similar sort of romance with Shadowheart, but all this lame news about the game this past year makes me doubt it will be very interesting.