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Companion approval systems track how a character responds to the player; loyalty systems, where a game has them, describe a separate or game-specific relationship state. These mechanics can shape dialogue, quests, romance, or even whether someone stays in the party—but there is no single RPG-wide formula. The useful question is what a particular game tracks, what changes it, and what consequences follow.
What approval and loyalty mean—and why the distinction matters
Approval is a modeled relationship state between a companion and another character, usually the player. It can register whether a companion likes or disapproves of particular choices, and game logic can use that state to decide what happens next. It is not a standard genre-wide feature with one scale, one name, or one set of consequences.
Loyalty is not automatically another word for approval. A game might use that term for a companion’s commitment, willingness to support the player, or a specific story outcome, but the label alone does not tell you whether it is a number, a quest result, a status, or the same variable as approval. The examples here demonstrate different relationship designs; they do not establish a universal loyalty meter. Read each game’s own terminology and treat friendship, romance, approval, and loyalty as separate until the game shows otherwise.
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How an approval system can work under the hood
One documented implementation appears in Baldur’s Gate 3’s official modding reference. It describes an approval rating between a rating owner—typically the companion—and a rated character—typically the player. The rating is an integer, and game logic can query it. One example checks whether approval is above 30 before attempting a camp relationship dialogue. A companion-specific event reference describes an approval-change event that reports the new total.
That example illustrates a common design pattern: the game records a relationship state, then checks that state when deciding whether to offer a line, scene, or other content. It does not establish how every approval change is calculated, whether the value is visible to players, or what scale other games use. Nor should BG3’s documented threshold be read as a genre convention: it is a specific example of a game querying a rating.
The number may be only one part of the implementation. A companion’s response can depend on what happened, who was involved, and the character’s outlook. Some consequences may be attached to discrete story events or relationship stages rather than to a single score. The sources for these examples do not provide a complete account of every game’s internal variables, so it is safer to focus on the observable design: which actions prompt reactions, what relationship state the game exposes, and what content follows.
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What can change a companion’s response?
Dialogue is only one input
In a dialogue-heavy game, it is tempting to treat approval as a tally of conversation choices. Baldur’s Gate 3’s developer, Larian Studios, describes a broader field of inputs: choices in combat, exploration, and conversation can all contribute to playthrough-specific situations. Companions may have opinions about the player, one another, and factions, while camp conversations can respond to the day’s events. That makes party relationships part of the wider adventure rather than a separate conversation menu.
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Dragon Age: Origins provides a clear example of beliefs shaping a response. In a 2014 GDC narrative review, Zachary Truesdell explains that Morrigan disapproves of charitable actions because she believes in survival of the fittest, while Wynne approves of charity. The same action can therefore communicate different things to characters with different values. Approval is not necessarily a judgment that the game presents as morally correct; it can be a way of expressing an individual companion’s perspective.
Quests, alliances, and gifts can also matter
EA’s Veilguard guide identifies several ways to build a bond: flirtation, participating in a companion’s quest, siding with a companion, and giving gifts. These actions do not all carry the same narrative meaning. A personal quest can show investment in that character’s concerns; siding with someone can signal support in a conflict; flirtation expresses romantic interest; and a gift may be a more direct relationship-building action.
The existence of several inputs does not mean each action simply adds points to one shared meter. A game might record an event, change a visible status, unlock a conversation, or update a numeric rating. Unless its documentation explains the implementation, players should avoid assuming that every positive response is a point on the same scale.
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Dialogue and scenes
Relationship state can act as a gate for additional content. BG3’s modding documentation shows a specific example of checking an approval threshold before attempting camp relationship dialogue. The important point is not the threshold itself, but the connection between a stored relationship value and a possible scene. In another game, the relevant condition might be a quest decision, a status label, or a companion’s response to a prior event.
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Party membership
Approval can carry a more serious consequence in Dragon Age: Origins. Truesdell’s GDC review says approval that falls too low and cannot be repaired may cause a companion to leave the party for the rest of the game. This is a title-specific historical example, not a general rule. It shows why the practical stakes of disagreement depend on the game: a disapproving comment may be flavor in one situation, while accumulated relationship strain may eventually affect party membership in another.
Romance and commitment
Romance is not necessarily a direct reward for reaching a high approval number. EA’s Veilguard guide describes a staged path: flirtation and other relationship-building actions can lead to romanced status, but that status is not yet permanent. A companion may later ask the player to commit. Declining returns the status to Friend or Ally, while committing blocks romance with other companions.
Larian’s developer-authored discussion of BG3 presents a different design emphasis. Larian says relationships have distinct arcs that can change over time, and describes the game as encouraging players to argue with or challenge a partner rather than treating sex as a trophy for completing a companion quest. That is the developer’s stated design intent, not a guarantee that every player will experience every relationship in the same way. Together, these examples show why a romance flag, approval rating, friendship status, and commitment choice should not be presumed to be one thing.
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How the examples differ
The following comparison is limited to what the cited game materials establish. It is not a survey of every RPG or a claim that the games use equivalent systems.
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| Game or source | What can shape the relationship | What the relationship can affect | What is established about its form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | Choices in combat, exploration, and conversation; opinions about the player, party members, and factions; camp interactions. | Documented approval checks can gate relationship dialogue at camp. | The modding reference describes an integer rating and an example threshold above 30; it does not establish that players always see the number. |
| Dragon Age: Origins | Actions interpreted through each companion’s beliefs; the GDC review uses charitable behavior to contrast Morrigan and Wynne. | The 2014 review says approval that becomes very low and cannot be repaired may lead to a companion leaving. | The review describes approval in narrative terms; it does not provide a comparable scale or cross-game standard. |
| Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Flirtation, companion quests, siding with companions, and gifts, according to EA’s guide. | Relationship development can reach a romance stage and then a separate commitment decision; commitment blocks romance with other companions. | EA’s guide identifies visible relationship-status icons, but the cited material does not give a numeric scale comparable to BG3’s technical reference. |
How to read a relationship system as you play
When a game’s rules are not fully visible, use reactions and outcomes as evidence rather than assuming every choice has a predictable point value. These checks help distinguish a character’s immediate opinion from a longer-term relationship gate:
- Look for the game’s own labels. Note whether it calls a state approval, friendship, romance, loyalty, or commitment. Do not collapse separate labels into one relationship score without an explicit explanation.
- Watch who reacts and why. A companion’s disapproval may reflect that character’s values, as Morrigan’s and Wynne’s contrasting responses to charity illustrate. It does not necessarily mean the player made a universally “wrong” choice.
- Notice which kinds of events matter. Dialogue, combat, exploration, factions, companion quests, party interactions, and gifts can all play a role in the examples above. A quiet conversation at camp may be responding to a much earlier event.
- Separate a reaction from a consequence. A disapproving line is not by itself proof that the companion is about to leave, that a quest is locked, or that a romance is unavailable. Look for an explicit status change or later story consequence.
- Pay attention to milestones. A romance becoming possible is different from a companion asking for commitment. A dialogue threshold is different from a lasting relationship outcome. Identify the actual decision point before treating the path as settled.
- Check whether a state can be repaired or reversed. Some games may allow relationships to recover; others can make a consequence lasting. The examples do not establish a universal recovery rule, so use the game’s own dialogue and quest feedback rather than presuming either outcome.
Why designers use approval—and the trade-offs
A relationship model can make companions feel responsive to the player’s behavior and give character values a role in the party’s story. When reactions draw on several kinds of events, the same playthrough can produce a different pattern of camp conversations or companion dynamics from another. Larian describes BG3’s aim as creating an “authentic, reactive relationship system where characters act and react like people.” That quotation expresses the developer’s goal, not an objective measure of how successfully every player experiences it.
Approval can also make disagreement meaningful. If every companion rewards the same choices, their personalities become harder to distinguish. The contrast between Morrigan and Wynne illustrates the alternative: a choice can align with one character’s beliefs and conflict with another’s. Yet visible disapproval can feel like a warning that the player is being punished for a choice, especially if the game does not clarify whether it affects dialogue, party membership, or romance.
Gifts highlight a related design trade-off. Truesdell’s GDC review praises a character-specific gift that prompts a unique conversation, while criticizing generic gifts that merely raise approval because they can weaken the narrative significance of giving something. A gift feels more integrated when its meaning connects to the companion and their story; a generic meter increase can make the action feel transactional. The distinction is not that gifts are inherently shallow, but whether the game gives them context beyond a numerical reward.
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Finally, one approval score can be an imperfect shorthand for a changing relationship. Larian’s developer post says, “No two relationships follow the same formula.” The statement reflects BG3’s design framing: different companions can have different arcs, and a relationship can evolve rather than simply rise toward a single reward. It is a useful reminder to evaluate the events and stages a particular game actually presents, not to assume that all companions respond to the same recipe.
What these examples do—and do not—tell you about RPGs
These three examples establish that approval and related relationship mechanics can be implemented in substantially different ways: as a technical rating with threshold checks, as a character’s belief-driven response with possible party consequences, or as a staged bond with separate romance and commitment states. They do not show how common such systems are across the RPG genre, and they do not support a genre-wide statistic or one standard interface.
For players, the most reliable guide is the game’s own vocabulary and feedback. Treat a companion’s opinion as characterization first, and infer mechanical stakes only when the game signals them. For designers and critics, the central questions are whether reactions reflect the character, whether relationship changes connect to story events, and whether the consequence of a choice is legible. A relationship system works not because a meter is visible, but because the tracked state has a clear narrative purpose.
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