What I want out of romance in games is to have it take you by surprise, which often means it’s not a “romance option”. Some of the best character scenes I’ve seen wrapped some other major plot point into the fact that one person cares a bit too deeply about another, and processes it all very suddenly.
So I’m fine with this removal. All those romance choices in RPGs like Fallout and Skyrim felt ultra shallow to me. Even BG3 just seems like raw wish fulfillment from a horny cast.
Thus far, Obsidian has been very good at creating games within reasonable constraints, which means they're typically not overscoped relative to the size of the game's actual audience. And they do all of this while being a multi project studio that's allegedly good to its employees.
Yes, I really like them as well. And I bet the game will be good too. I just worry about the game not selling good enough and with Microsoft's current track record of shutting studios down, Obsidian being shut down as well.