Judging by what the datamined files say... there was no reason to
and make Halsin this good-looking (and younger) if he wasnt planned for something more than just hanging around your camp. I'd say he looks like a potential romance. But I might be grossly wrong.
As someone who grew up on old Baldur's Gate, I hope they don't touch
Minsc and make his romanceable. He was always a kind-hearted and loyal ranger buddy to my Charname, and I sincerely hope he stays that way. Making him anything more would go into the cringe territory really fast for me. I always felt he had a brain of a child.
So yeah +10 to Halsin romance, he is perfect.
+1 to starting a massive romance thread, or even better, Ladies of Faerun guild.
I don't know if you played NWN2 Mask of Betrayer, but Astarion is indeed somewhat influenced by Zevran, without a doubt, but also by Gannayev of Dreams (yes his full name is freaking ridiculous) who's a ''handsome'' hagspawn. Add some Haer'dalis to the mix, sprinkle some Spike (from Buffy) and you've got yourself Astarion. At least that's my opinion.
YES! Lets do the Ladies of Faerun guild, I am totally up for that.
Heh, Gann is one of my top favorite romances out there - awesome character, the entire expansion was amazing and really gave me the Baldur's Gate feeling. I don't really see many similarities between Gann and Astarion though, aside from being self-absorbed... but maybe I haven't gotten far enough...
I went ahead and made a Romances of Faerun thread in General Discussions if anyone wants to continue the discussion there:
https://forums.larian.com//ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=724755&#Post724755 (I figured Astarion doesn't discriminate by gender so neither will I) Alternatively, if you guys are interested we could make a discord.
Anyway, yeah. I feel like Larian would have known people were going to find Halsin attractive. And he just seems like a nice guy! He has his baggage like everyone does but he seems like he would add some nice contrast against the other characters we already have. I'd probably still prefer Astarion, but say, if Halsin does become a romance and you can have something long term and stable with him and that isn't an option for Astarion, I'd probably go Halsin.
Ofc, Vamp boy is sexy as hell and that *voice* gets me.
@ Nicottia
When I said Astarion lies, I wasn't referring to his references to Cazador. That's been confirmed to be true and, even before then, his remarks about him always seemed genuine. What I mean is there seems to be a level of deception regarding how he treats the PC. Most of the time he's charming and uses language that's more familiar than your actual relationship level. Most likely, to me, he wants to endear himself to the PC because he views PC as a useful ally. So, for example, after the camp romance, he uses very forward endearments (My love, lover, etc.). The deception is that I don't believe he feels that strongly for the PC (yet, at least) but he doesn't want to alienate the PC/wants to keep them close for their usefulness/so that PC is less likely to betray him. He may also be used to speaking people that way to lure them to Cazador. In essence, I think he's using his Astarion wiles on the player (and it works).
I think this could go in a really interesting direction though if/when he begins developing real feelings for the player.
Halsin is a beefcake, interested to see what more of his personality comes out in the rest of the game before putting him in probably gonna try in a playthrough category. If it's just " I must right my mistakes in the shadowlands" might remind me too much of how I beat myself up for things at times.
I would like Halsin if he wasn't a beefcake. But... I do appreciate a good cake. But yeah, I very much hope we get to know him better.
