Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Companions in BG3 are an amusement parks

They try so hard to be entertaining it feels forced. A vampire, a guy who eat magic items, a secretive cleric with a strange artifact, a githiyanki, a... Wyll.
Really miss BG1’s down to earth approach to companions: they felt more genuine and interesting.

Yea I agree.

I really don't like the companion's story. As usual everything is special to the point that it looks totally WTF.

I hope we'll have normal companions to recruit and not only those origin characters.

I only consider Gale "special". Lae looks like an ordinary warrior, and vampire spawn doesn't seem to be anything special either, Shadow... well, yes, but on the other hand, what's so special about a cultist in a world where the Gods mean so much? But sleeping with a Goddess? Well, yes, it's weird.

There’s indeed nothing special about Laezel except she’s a githiyanki. You know those extraplanar folks who are extremely rarely seen in Faerun.
Shadow constantly teases us with some secrets going on, she’s obviously not just a cultist. And a vampire, well, vampires are also rare. And here you have it all together instantly, like watching some Marvel product about superheroes.
Companions in BG1 were quite simple comparing to all this entertainment overexposure. And I liked it, because you could believe in all those characters.

While I agree to a huge degree, the reason behind this is probably because they are primarily Origin Characters and not companions. We'll probably see more "normal" companions later on.

I really liked Gale because he seemed the only one who was normal and relatable without being undead, alien or a legendary devil commander from Nine Hells.

Then he tells his story and it's more ridiculous than the rest combined. Save for Karlachs maybe.

Some of this stuff goes so far you just have to roll your eyes and not believe any of it anymore. I wish I could believe these characters and they might get an emotional response out of me.

Especially since the game starts at level 1. Could they at least try to wait to tell the really grandiose stuff later? Even if the story has a big scope, it can start small, local and unravel as you progress. Why is BG considered the benchmark in RPGs again? Great storytelling and pacing. From humble beginnings to epic heights. Larian wants to start at epic heights and stay there. They're afraid it's not enough otherwise, and that's a mistake.

I actually dont mind them being "speacial" but it does feel like it is the case because they are meant to be the origin characters. As long as not special doesnt mean uninterresting I dont mind if they are just "ordinary" people.
I really hope that the other companions will not be origin characters also.
Do we have any info about that? I know that the characters they introduced so far were only the evil and neutral ones, with the other side companions coming out at a later date but do we know if they will also be origin characters? Because if so, so much freaking work will have gone into the origin characters that would have been better used eslewhere its going to be staggering. I will likely never even try one of them, as I simply dont want to play as them.
But more companions is always good and yea, having some of them be more down to earth wouldnt be a bad thing.

They haven't communicate about that but there are no reasons evil and neutral companions would be origins while good ones wouldn't.

They will be origins too.

We could just hope they'll add a bunch of normal companions. You know, the kind of companions that could follow you for a quest or two then just become your friend or something.

But I don't really think they will add this. They talked about "mercenaries", which usually means blanked custom characters.

I know lots of people refer to Larian stating the current companions are neutral or evil but like you said, is this true? I'm starting to think these are it except for three more. We know Minsc is coming and he's good. Karlach, is highly likely but honestly, I don't see her as good as she basically hires your group to assassinate her problem. I believe there's a halfling Helga or something like that...who might be a werewolf?

I really think, this is pretty much it.


I don't think we will see more origin characters. Maybe one more. It's because of their marketing art on their banner. There's no more space to add another character except maybe one more between Gale and Shadowheart. So basically all the origin characters are unlikeable individuals with special qualities or backgrounds.

It’s symptomatic of Larian’s penchant for overcooking everything. Subtlety and nuance are severely lacking in their rendition of a BG game. I hate to say it but the most laughable aspect is that there is apparently another companion to come who is a . Sorry to be blunt but it’s a little too teen-literature for my own appetite. Apart from Lae’zel they all have such extraordinary backstories that it stretches credulity and seems to overshadow the main protagonist’s story.

Whilst this gathering of superheroes is undoubtedly appealing to much of the playerbase, those of us who who are seeking something more down to earth are left a little frustrated at the lack of relatable companions. I would frankly dispense with the company of any of the current companions were it possible.

Yes, they are for the most part over the top as far as story line, and though Lazel seems the most "normal" in background her personality puts her at the top of my list for early elimination.

I had forgotten that one of three (?) remaining future companions is a werewolf gnome. Of course she is. How could anyone NOT be a vampire or werewolf?

Seriously, can we get an ordinary human, elf or dwarf companion with exceptionally good writing without an unbelievable outlandish background?

I would have preferred building up the team to legendary status rather than them beginning there.

From datamine I think Wyll is suprisingly grounded. All I know about Helia is that she is sweet and everything else keeps changing including race. Karlach might have a dudebro personality. I heard an infernal wizard with a tadpole and devil puzzle box. He has voice lines but not as many as the others so I think he got axed. Everyone already heard about Minsc.

Lae’zel is normal for a githyanki. But githyanki are rare in Faerun. Oddly enough, I find her one of the more tolerable companions even with her personality.

Lae'zel is pretty grounded for a BG3 companion even though she's Githyanki and that says a lot about the writing. She's quite normal among her people, if appropriately ambitious and fierce to be an adventurer. Her personality fits her background and it gives her room to develop into something more humble and understanding while traveling with the party. I like her too because I believe her character.

Gale, Karlach, Astarion and Wyll seem like something out of a fairy tale, even in Faerun. I can't take them seriously. How and why would a tadpole enter a dead brain? It's a living creature that obviously needs a living host for ceremorphosis. Clearly they just wanted a vampire because vampire. And not a cool scary Bram Stoker vampire, but a little sadistic Twilight teen at that.

Shadowheart is fine even though her name and outfit are ridiculous for a "secret" Sharran mission. She could have been so cool if she was actually hiding her faith instead of flaunting Sharran symbols everywhere and introducing herself with an ominous Sharran name.

Wait ...
If Lae'zel is "just regular Githyanki" ...
then Karlach is "just regular General from Hells"
and Astarion is "just regular Vampire Spawn"
Wyll is "just regular folkhero", that is so common that you can even have whole group of them in multiplayer. :-/

What is so extra ordinary about them?
Yes, they are not comonly met in Faerun ... but so are Githyanki. O_o

What is so unusual about Wyll? Aren't all warlocks supposed to have a powerful magical patron that grants them their powers? That is how I understood the description of this class.

I hope I have interpreted your post correctly. If so, I would answer that it's their backstories which are so remarkable and the fact that they are all Level 1. Some have started that the explanation for them being Level 1 characters is that their 'powers' were removed by the tadpole, which to my mind is an awfully trite plot line. If for example only one of the companions had an exceptional backstory amongst all the other companions, then it might not be such a stretch but when all of them do (minus Lae'zel, whose only exception is that a Githyanki be a rare sight in Faerun?), it feels like a party of super heroes. I mean, come on, a vampire and a werewolf in the same party? When everything is special, then nothing really is anymore.

Very much this.

And the fact that you need an "anchor" type down to earth character who will put all the outlandish characters in proper context. Like Edér in PoE. You need to establish some kind of scale with ordinary and outlandish as extremes.

Overall, the saturation of "special" PC's is too high in BG3. It becomes a silly competition who's the most fantastical or creatively written. Would be much better to have a mix of outlandish and ordinary heroes in the party. The ordinary heroes could subtly reference or call out the "special" ones to represent how 99% of Faerun actually is. Think of an Edér type characters going like "what do I know, I've never commanded armies of the Nine Hells or made love to the goddess of magic."

Less is more is a concept I wish Larian would grow to understand. You respond emotionally to something you can relate to - ordinary heroes and underdogs. Showering the player with over the top stories doesn't really accomplish anything except making them numb.

Speaking of the "underdogs" in BG3, the tiefling refugees. Many of them are wearing fancy decorated armor and all of them are horned half devils. The "we are no fighters, we are so desperate" narrative doesn't really get any response from me.