Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Companion Silhouettes

Agreed, Traycor! It'd be great for those companions to have at least a few visual changes.

Then I hope we'll have something between those origins characters and mercenaries because I don't want to play with uninterresting mercenaries nor with the very limited characters options they offer (6-7-8 is also very limited and I already hate 2 of them).
This is a BG game.

Thanks!


While I would love tons of companions as well, these being fully voiced characters make them exceedingly expensive and TONS of work. I was slightly shocked when Swen said we could choose our own character voice. That's a lot of time/money. It wouldn't surprise me if we only see 2 more origins characters, though I could be wrong.

These criticisms have zero to do with personal preferences. I'm fairly confident that any concept artist would agree that characters should be memorable and easy to distinguish from one another. The design should be strong enough that if a 12 year old drew your character, people can still tell who it is supposed to be. These are industry standard basics that have nothing to do with what an individual does/doesn't like.

For instance, I don't like Astarion. But he is well designed. It would be silly and pointless to critique that.

again, where was that the case in BG1 or 2?
Most of your possible companions looked like random adventurers
here you got two characters (astarion and lisel) that stand out already.
Id personally go with another normal looking character, just a little less... low T like gale.

Why this convulsive need to judge a book by it's cover? Seems to me the OP feel like the companions should be immediately recognizable caricatures rather than characters with their own personalities and agency, lest they be deemed generic.

Let's stop putting the original series on such a pedestal; it was a great game for it's time and we were much less jaded and easily impressed back when we initially played those games. There's little doubt in my mind that the OP would have deemed Khalid and Jaheira as not only generic, but mind-numbingly unimaginative and boring at first glance. Yet their contrasting personalities played off of each other and the dynamic character progression over two games made them/her endearing. The same can be said for Aerie; beyond being a rare form of elf with a tragic background, her personality was exceedingly dull. Annoying even. But she had a dynamic progression throughout the game(s) that lent her depth - at least if involved in love triangle with Jaheira and the player. Minsc filled the role of over the top comic-relief, but was otherwise a static caricature. The other characters didn't really stand out to me and have pretty much been forgotten, except Viconia - a fairly generic evil drow priestess, interesting as much because of *what* she were as *who* she was. She did have a dynamic story progression if you romanced her though. Laz'el though likewise seemingly generic for her race, has an interesting background which ties into the story judging by the opening cinematic reveal trailer. Wyll and Gale being considered interchangeable is probably based on both being human males and full casters. Yet one has a ticking super bomb for a heart (as a ticking tadpole in the brain isn't enough). The other has made a pact with a devil (Raphael anyone?) for his power and is desperate to break free. Shadowheart may seem to play the generic pretty (half) elven maiden trope; but beyond appearances she follows an evil god, and clearly is a wily character who plays her had close to her chest while uncontrollable magic courses through her. This is is anything but generic if you care to look beyond first glance.

Wow, man you just Quoted only one of my sentences out of context and answered with whatever.

You didn't critique Astarion but for you, Gale "is no mage enough" and Shadowheart "very generic, but my favourite was that the dark-skinned guy with dreadlocks and a sword, Wyll is indistinguishable of the long-haired caucasian mage with the beard Gale. I think you just throw the objectivity out of the window with that one.


Yeah, I also want the characters to be "strong" and not "bland" but my idea of a strong character maybe It´s not the same as yours.

How was that out of context? There's nothing deceptive there. You were saying that critiques about characters who could genericly be whatever (like a shoe merchant) instead of looking like a wizard (or anything distinct at all) was just a personal preference.

My response is that ANY good game has strong character design. That's basic. Main characters in games shouldn't be indistinguishable from merchants.



Astarion was mentioned in my OP. He has an over-the-top personality (ignores death, he's a vampire, wonders if he can eat people...) and he has strong visual design. He doesn't look like a random quest giver or merchant. He looks like someone. And his look fits a vampire/rogue.

Shadowheart just looks like an "elf". There's nothing unique about her appearance. By looking at the banner, it seems that the look was originally based on armor/tatoos that we haven't seen yet in the game. She also doesn't look like a cleric in game. There's lots of way you could take her look, but I would expect a trickery priests of Shar to be introduced in some way that depicts shadow powers. Similar to how such a character might be introduced in a novel. There's a lot of potential there for something interesting, but instead she's just wearing a tunic.

For Wyll, I specifically said to look at the banner at the top of the page. They look like they have the same face in the right lighting. Their basic outfit is the same. It would be very easy to mix these characters up. Look at that banner and tell me they don't look very similar. So far, Wyll looks to have stronger design than Gale, but we've hardly seen Wyll, so I reserve judgment. It seems that Wyll might at least have a missing eye (not sure), which is great for personality. Gale looks like random villager #3. It's a disservice to both characters to say a skin color swap equals character design. Each one should look compelling.

I respectfully disagree. I think we have different tastes and I have more broad ideas on how a cleric or a mage or a strong character could look so I will leave it at that.

I still think that an option to change the looks of your characters like in DoS2 or Hawke in DAI would be welcome so we could refit our character to our particular tastes.

On a general level, if you read articles on CRPGs, many games have their companions compared to BG1/2 even now. This was one of the high points for companions in these games. It's not just look, though. It's a combination of look, portrait, soundset, character introduction, and execution.

In one of the earlier posts I broke down 3 of the wizards from BG1, Dynaheir, Edwin, and Xan, which all had a strong combination of visual design, sound set, and theme to create very strong characters that were instantly memorable. Xzar is another that was obviously crazy and looked the part. While I didn't like the character, he was anything but ordinary.

Minsc was one who is nothing like a typical ranger. He had a very strong design/theme that has kept him around even into modern games.

If we look at Clerics from BG1, I think the list gets weaker. Viconia is our standout, mainly because she was a drow, which was unusual at the time. She worked for very similar reasons to why Lae'zel is working. They have a different look/culture/behavior to what we normally see in-game. Drow are far more common now, so Viconia may seem mundane, but at the time she was not. Branwen had a plain look, but she had a cool introduction as a petrified statue that you had to hunt down a scroll to save. This made for a memorable/interesting introduction to the character. Tiax was about as over the top as a character can get. Certainly he didn't feel ordinary. I'm not saying the origins characters should have personalities like Tiax or Minsc, but at least they weren't boring or generic.

Khalid is a great example. He's a fighter... but he has this heavy stutter, and he sometimes lacks confidence. The contrast made him complex and interesting. You also knew he was more than he seemed because Gorian sent you to find him if things went bad, which they did.

I really think people don't understand why BG1/2 are considered as legends ..
The characters are obviously a part of it and it looks some try to put the very forgettable Larian's characters on the same level than those we all remember after 20y.

Of course it's a matter of taste and everything ise not blacke or white, but those still /loving /playing /buying (EE i.e) /or that perpetuates the legend over the years all talks about the same kind of things...
For many players, BG1/2 are still a step higher than nearly all the other games....
That's something I notice talking with friends, on forums or reading articles.
( i.e for something "actual" https://www.pcgamer.com/back-to-baldurs-gate-revisiting-biowares-legendary-rpg/ )

I hope we'll all talk about Larian's BG3/4/5 in 20 years.

Oh yeah. Because "anoying gnome" is the 21st centuries hamlet..

So we have a mage who doesn’t look like he’s come straight from Discworld and that’s a problem?

3/5 characters so far look very distinctive to me anyway.

also we probably wont look back at BG3 in a couple of years because the sitaution is different.
No game realy arrives at that level anymore simply because of how many games there are.

Just like how there wont be another WoW, or anohter Minecraft for that matter.
you can only realy be this thing again if you invent a new genre

Why are we so many still playing BG1/2 today ? Because the situation was different and because they were less games 20 years ago ?
Only because of the easy and stupid "nostalgia" thing ? Thinking the only step missing is "nostalgia" can't explain why nearly every BG forums are still active, with new (open minded about graphics) players loving the experience they live.

WoW is a very good exemple... Why was it way more sucessfull than other great MMORPG of 2001-2006 games ?
It wasn't the first, it wasn't the last... And there were great mmorpg before it comes out (DAOC, EQ2 a few days earlier).
I don't really think he created something totally new but he had obviously something more... now it's also a legend...

How sad it is to think video games can't anymore reach that level... (and strange to think it's because they are many many games today).

I think Larian with this game called BG3 has an opportunity to do something really amazing and to get everyone to agree whatever you're a fan of D&D, of DoS, of BG, of Pathfinder and all kind of RPG games.
They just have to stay open minded and not closed to things they haven't master yet. That's the first comment I did when I learn Larian will do BG3.

Because of Nostalgia mate. its not "easy and stupid".
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Baldurs Gate, ESPECIALY baldurs gate 1 is not a game that a lot of people play. most start with Baldus Gate 2 that replay it now.

WoW isnt a great MMORPG. What WoW did is what Blizzard always did. you think Starcraft was the best RTS game?
No.
Blizzard takes stuff other people make and boils it down to something highly polished and highly accesible.
WoW was Everquest but without having to be a nerd to enjoy it while also picking a timeless artstyle that doesnt look old too fast.

What im saying is that RPGs are a heavily iterative genres and theres a lot of em.
I dont think well see an RPG that reaches this level of critical acclaim soon.
Same with games like Morrowind which broadened the horizon in other wys.

Does larian have the chacne? maybe.
but i think the only way to realy stand out is to do somehting groundbreaking like include Peresistant Worlds.

I strongly disagree and think the only way to have new unforgettable RPGs is to look back at what was done before about some things.
This is now 20 years everyone is trying new (or re-heated) things and forget some basics of old sucessful RPGs and obviously, it's not working over time for the most promising licences (Hello Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Fallout)

It doens't mean new things are all bad of course. There are many great things in this BG3... but also very bad ones, i;e time that does not exist in this world excepted when you're sleeping.
Absolutely no one would say it's a bad thing if they find solutions to manage the course of time and their gameplay mecanics.

Today DoS has it's niche and PoE/P:K has it's one.
Mix the best things of both and according to me, you have a great receipe.
(whatever TB or RTWP, one or the other, or both, that's not what I'm talking about)

Again... Who knows ?

I like all the characters they have shown so far. I must be a minority

+1. I like all the origin characters so far, especially Shadowheart.

I like all of them too.