I feel like the best resolution for this would to make a swath of interesting characters that you could build a relationship with from scratch. We get our dating sim and our companion NPCs, AND it won't jeopardise MSQ characters or plot lines. Plus, it's totally optional.

Even though I would date Estinien in a minute, I feel taking this route would also allow the devs to show more details about certain aspects of lore that otherwise don't get much attention, specifically racial traits and histories on environments.