Having played through Act 1's Underdark section again for Patch 4 and once again ending up at the same relationship levels with everyone in my party, I began to wonder how Larian intends to balance companion relationship management in the parts of Act 1 that are not in Early Access. DoS2 EA veterans have told me that their Act 1 was hugely over-tested and the rest of the game was not player-tested at all, which led to a discrepancy you still notice when playing through Fort Joy to the Reaper's Coast today.
Lae'Zel's relationship with the PC in particular is what made me post this thread. You really have to gimp yourself to get her to like you in the confines of Act 1-A (including defending child murder) which is, as far as a I can tell, a consequence of the bulk of her content being in Act 1-B's Gith Creche section. We may very well never get to see this until the game releases in full. For all we know, Karlach, Helia and Minsc have the same problems.
There may even be more content that is unbalanced due to the absence of the side paths in Act 1. I really wonder how Larian intends to playtest this stuff.
