If this is the reason then it’s definitely not a good one. One thing that many developers should is not to take choices away from players. It doesn’t matter if it’s of a different nature, in Persona 5 you can tell them you just want to be friends and they still gladly follow you as a follower who s your kingship. Taking away options from a player has no good excuse except if it just literally bugs out the game or they didn’t have enough time to put it in. But to blame it on it being political alliances makes me think you didn’t play the game at all. There are many instances where it’s clearly friendship not just a political alliance. And if it was just a political alliance then he’d have to watch his back constantly. But it’s because yes like you said he’s proven his ideology and who he is as a person is someone they want to follow but it’s more than political for sure. I think if they didn’t have enough time then fine. But otherwise there is no reason to take away a key mechanic such as ROs when people loved it in previous games.