Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion There must be more true friend companions in the game who support you no matter what

I moved from a narrow generalization to a broader one. You did the opposite - broad to narrow.

From what I can remember, this is the first time I see you bring up that the issue is that she is the only human female companion you can have (she's a Half-Elf, but I understand she looks the most human). I haven't seen that being the subject surrounding the female companions before until just now, it was always about behavior, "twitch streamer", contemporary character, etc. So that's a new one to me and I don't understand why this is a problem in a fantasy game with so many different races.


I mentioned the first part because recommending learning what inductive generalization is, would mean that it would apply there and it didn't. Selectively finding a thousand people for one side and a thousand for another also wouldn't, that's not how you get proper, representative sample sizes. Garnered statistics and public awards are a more acceptable metric to use for sample sizes, which is what I brought up.

The far more important concerning that though, is that personal opinions were being put down as facts, or along the terms of "everyone/many think this", when in a conversation that's just making your own personal opinion far bigger than it is. Taril gives some really good advice on how to phrase personal opinions around facts about a character to be able to frame it in such a way that a more constructive back and forth for sharing opinions becomes possible. Leading with a demand of Larian in the title, presenting a personal opinion as a fact and ending with an ultimatum towards Larian, will lead others to disputing the "facts" you stated because they're opinions and subjective. That's why there are discussions on the characterization, background and personality of several companions and poking holes through stated "facts" by you, rather than others just giving insight in their personal experience with these characters and giving their own opinions.

That ain't me brochacho.

Also, you have moved from a broad generalization to a narrow one. "Waifu" in its common meaning and usage and the one that it was specifically created around, is broad. Vastly so. As it is simply "I am attracted to this character" that is it. No conditionals at all besides some level of attraction, be it sexual or romantic.

You have then condensed it down into "Someone who loves you unconditionally" which, is a niche and uncommon meaning of the term. Heck, I cannot find a single prominent usage of the term that actually deals with the character itself having influence on the usage of the term, let alone this specific one regarding "Unconditional love". The closest I can find is when it's being used more like "Wife Material" wherein it is still based on "They have traits I find to be romantically attractive" and has nothing to do with the character itself liking the person using the term.

This lack of character feeling in the term, is very appropriate for its origin. That being anime characters, whom have no interaction with the viewer at all. Even in terms of video game "Waifus" most of the time these don't even have any romantic content with the player character at all, much less the actual player. (For example, popular waifus are the level up characters in From Software titles; Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls, Emerald Herald from Dark Souls 2, the Doll from Bloodborne, Firekeeper from Dark Souls 3 and Melina from Elden Ring. These characters only interact with the player character by offering a few bits of dialogue explaining the lore and asking if they would like to level up. That is it.)

Again, with video game romances, the term more frequently used is "Wife Material" as a result. Tali'zorah vas Normandy from the Mass Effect series is a popular "Wife Material" character as she has traits that people find romantically attractive (Meanwhile Garrus Vakarian is a popular "Husband Material" character from the same series). It is not predicated on these characters being romantically involved with the character (In Mass Effect 2, Garrus wasn't romanceable. But people still called him "Husband Material" due to his overall character) and most definitely not anything to do with "Unconditional love" of which neither character provides (Both characters can and will leave you if you make decisions that upset them greatly, even if you have romanced them fully)

Aren't all the blorbos pookies in BG3 fandom?


As everyone else here said multiple times, it's fine if Shadowbae isn't to your liking, it was the statement that she doesn't fit into the world that I contested.

And you still haven't managed to write what you want from a video game romance but a submissive, pretty human girl that may or may not get spicy in the bedroom and who sees you as the lighthouse of her life.

Anyway ...


She joins you in camp during your first Long Rest to make sure Gale is alright and bring him an artefact for when the Orb gets hangry (and to get her pets) Good timing too, because for Avatar-Gale the orb requires its first item the morning after, forcing you to either endure or feed it your new evasion ring - or the Everburn Blade in my case. Tara stays in camp until you reach Rivington, when she goes adventuring on her own. You have some dialogue variations with her on the temple roof and if you find her thrice in the Lower City, she will return to camp to join you for the quest finale.

And thank you for sharing so much about your Durge-experience. I am not sure if I can force me to give it another go, but it's great to read what other players think and like about it. The detail that your character basically forms from your decisions against Bhaal's plan is lovely.

Oh wow, that's a huge addition in that case, an entirely new camp character basically! Makes me wonder how much additional things are added in other Origin companion playthroughs. I know Shadowheart gets Shar stuck in her head for the entirety of the temple at least, and I know Astarion has a nightmare of sorts about Cazador early on, but no idea beyond that. I guess what I'd miss most when playing an Origin campaign is that I wouldn't have them as a companion like with a Tav/Durge playthrough and I'd be missing out on a lot of spoken dialogue because of that. I love the whole Astarion-Shadowheart dynamic when undergoing Loviatar's trial for example, or bringing Gale when I decide to lick a spider.

When you play as an Origin like Gale, do you get to do his own romance scenes with your chosen romance partner as well as theirs? Or do you only get to see those when you're playing as someone else romancing him?

And you're welcome! If you ever get the itch to start a new good-aligned Tav playthrough, I'd definitely recommend giving a resisting Durge another go for a bit of added spice and variety. It also offers nice parallel dialogues with some companions that can relate to certain things, like with a Selunite Shadowheart defying Shar and especially an Unascended Astarion defying Cazador. Comparing my Tav to my Durge playthrough, especially in Act 3 when you show fear about your heritage, those are probably the most genuine and selfless moments I've seen for a platonic Astarion in both my playthroughs. And I've never explored his romance but that has even more of that in there I believe.

It varies. I would have to check but I feel Gale has several big things but not too much dialogue variation thrown in throughout the game (I am slow, it always takes me a few months to finish a playthrough), while Shadowheart has her wound and the Cleric of Shar tag, Astarion has his own variation of bite-night (which is when the Cazador scene happens) and they all get their little scenes to reveal their secret to one of the gang. I feel for Avatar-Astarion and Gale someone went out of their way here, because in all the variations of the vampire reveal there are just so many ways to piss Gale off through trying (and failing) to play dumb or be obnoxious. Astarion has a lot of small things along the way too, for example Granny recognises him as undead and he can offer Wyll to be his attorney because he was a magistrate once ... 200 years ago ... possibly corrupt. XD Honestly I love this option because it is so chaotic and at the same time makes Wyll's lack choice in the end more palatable. Companion-Gale has personalised variations for each Origin of how they would picture harmony during his magic lesson and a way to compare them to Tara during his party dialogue, and also pretty deep epilogue variations for Origins who romanced him, not just for Origin-Karlach.



You always get the romance of the character you are romancing. Avatar-Karlach seems to have gotten a lot of attention here. She has her own variation of Astarion's act 1 scene and some special first kiss scene with him in act 2 - and the most spectacular break up with Ascended Astarion. She can also be accompanied by her romance (but Halsin) to Avernus.

Of course this is tricky in so far as a lot of character development for each character is hidden in their romance scenes and you have to get those plot-beats elsewhere, when you play the character. I romanced Astarion and Gale with each other because their romances deal essentially with the same themes and their key moments roughly align, which was great. Absolutely loved it. With Avatar-Shart I romanced Lae'zel and while I thought Bae'zel and her romance are great, it didn't work so well for Shadowheart's story - at least not for me. I'll start that again and probably go for Karlach instead (or maybe Gale, but I was pretty happy with him as a best friend character, he's such a good friend to her)

Unfortunately, I am out of time, so the rest of my reply will have to wait until later. Great day to you all.

I was going to take a short break from this topic, but this part I absolutely must comment on before I leave. No. Under any circumstances - bold, solid NO. Submissiveness is not loyalty. I don't want a submissive partner, neither in fantasy nor in real life. I want an equal and loyal partner. Not inferior, not superior. Lae'zel failed to show her loyalty when she regretted not killing me in the camp, and Shadowheart failed to show equality when she dismissed me as an inferior partner. They both failed the "loyalty and equality" test.

Prettiness is a spice, not the main ingredient - especially with such modding potential. If I have to choose between "pretty" Shadowheart and ugly Karlach, I will always choose Karlach.

maybe you failed their test? You clearly dont care about equality since youre not caring about meeting their standards or being loyal to them, you want them to be loyal like pets, like dogs. You want a fundamentally unequal relationship stacked in your favour only, a doll.

Also your opinion on Karlach is also an unpopular opinion, she is not ugly.

So if I refuse to kill a cop to save my wife's fugitive brother - that somehow means I
??????

I'm done arguing with idiots in this thread. Admins, ban me if you want - I'm out.

Whats funny is your lack of self-awareness, people were far more charitable to you in this thread than you deserved.

It's a shame to end the thread on name calling, it could have died a nobler death. If there's nothing else to be added, it's fine to let it be.