I think the biggest misconception is that a race or class determines whether something is boring or not. Good writing being coherent, consistent, and engaging, etc make a good character. People think mashing a bunch of stuff makes characters exotic or special. Using Astarion as a brief example. People think he is good character when, at least so far he is so inconsistent that he sticks out like a soar thumb. A variety of complaints ranging from story, to lore, to gameplay. Now look at Laezel. I'm not sure but I think she is the least complained about companion. I think its because, again at least so far, she is consistent.
When you go to far to mash things together you just end up hurting the story. For some its hard to ignore. I personally don't care since he won't be in my party. So I could care less. If his fans don't care then screw it.
First I think having Helia around will normalize Astarion a bit assuming she is not crazy changed or axed. Second I think in another topic someone suggested an origin tutorial instead of a squid ship tutorial and I 100 percent believe that would make game better.
The personality, choices, resilience, willpower, wisdom(not the stat), etc are what make good characters. Not class or race or bs background mashup. In my opinion.
Not always but often, special or exotic characters are a hallmark of lazy writing. The character lacks any personality so the author has to create all sorts of special traits to make the character unique. It’s why people dislike Mary Sues. Take away their perfect talent and face, they have no personality.
The irony is, Astarion may have been more interesting just being a low level snobbish noble elf caught up in all this mess. He could still be whiny and annoying but it would fit his character. Even his sarcasm and sadistic curiosity would work since an inexperienced pampered noble wouldn’t know how to deal with all that’s happening.
I agree Lae’zel is the most consistent companion.
