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

Maybe YOUR MC isn't special. MINE is an old sock who was polymorphed into a person by a powerful wizard. That's far more interesting than any of the companions.

I dunno ...
If you use Speak with dead on that noble (i think) in first "room", on fallen Nautiloid ... he specificly tels you that they were taking everyone and anyone. It was also seen in the cinematic intro, when those tentacles take litteraly everyone. :-/

But maybe there are those who will be simply turned into another mind flayer ... and there are those who will be indoctrinated as True souls ... to control and dismantle society from within, it sounds like good plan for conquering.

I don't know you can argue that makes it good writing though. You're still making a cake entirely out of icing. One Mary Sue stretches the bounds of fantasy I'm not sure how a story can handle 8+ of them.

If they will skillfully turn the oddity of companion characters into narrative thread like that, I would be... impressed.

Most of my negative attitude toward BG3 doesn't really come from EA itslef, but from my experience with D:OS2 and seeing similar things happening in BG3. If Larian really is one step ahead, that would be something. It wouldn't be a first time a good RPG would turn a narrative contrivance into a solid reveal. I remember thinking how idiotic it was when our PC in KOTOR became a Jedi overnight, until... you know, the "whoa" moment.

No wonder they were disappointed when the most played main character turned out to be a white dude with short hair. I will have to try very hard to compete with incoming werewolves, hell war chiefs, giant space hamsters and who knows what else. Pity there’re currently very little tools to make my main char stand out except perhaps some visual extravaganza, which let’s be honest of very limited use when it comes to distinguishing two in-game human creatures from each other.

Yeah, rolling a Drow seems to be about the only thing right now if you want to feel 'special' since the custom MC doesn't have any special quirks or story plots unique to them. Even Gith and Tieflings don't feel that unique since Lae'Zel is already one (funnily enough, probably the most 'normal' out of all the party members), and she, unlike the custom MC gets a bunch of unique dialogues and reactions etc thanks to her storyline of tracking down the creche. And there are dozens of Tieflings in the game, it seems, so being a demon/devilspawn doesn't exactly feel that unique....plus we'll be competing with 'spits in Baphomet's eye' Karlach when she's playable.

Some of the party members definitely could stand with a toning down of their more outlandish feats. Gale could have been an arrogant wizard who overstepped and is paying the price rather than this archmage he's made out to be. The Karlach going toe-to-toe with demon lords stuff specifically is just way too out there for me. I can pass off Wyll's stuff as being self-promotion/braggadocio, and I think Shadowheart and Lae'zel work fine. Not sure about Asterion. 'vampire spawn who gets infected with a magical mind flayer parasite that protects him from the sun' is a bit...convenient. At least he wasn't made a full vampire, but it's still not a concept I would have gone with.

I'm hoping we get to see some non-origins party members in the full game that aren't as extreme, or that some of the OTT stuff gets toned down a bit down the line.

When I was thinking about the Illithids having maybe an overarching aim with their targets, I was mostly thinking Doppelgangers plot in BG, they wanted nobles dukes etc but they're not being too discriminate...poor Phydia. I think the machinations of the Absolute and the Mind-Flayers aren't the same, so some people are for them and some are for the cult.

I'm not too upset by our parties, 'specialness' because at this stage I'm reading into a lot of their backstories and looking for ways they might be related to our main storyline. Lae'zel is easy, Shadowheart too, I might be spoiled on who Cazador is, and as for the others, we'll see.

As for Tav, well I've had thoughts on it already, basically I'd like to be given tools that allow me to incorporate a MC better into the world. A prologue for every character being my best case scenario.

for another good thread on this

I totally agree! The party looks like it was put together by a bunch of 12 years old playing D&D for the first time.
They managed to make a Githyanki warrior in the Forgotten Realms look like the only normal character.
Karlach would have been so much interesting if she had been just cannon fodder from the Blood War, that would have been a chance for a fresh point of view but no, of course she had to be Zariel's chosen.

I too liked BG 1's down to earth approach to companions including 2 Zhentarims, a Drow cleric and ranger from Rashaman who talks to his pet hamster. BG 2 as well, with Jan Jansen.

Forgive me my sarcasm but the companions in the original BG games also had their problems. Whilst I don't think the companions in BG 3 are great, I don't think BG 1 is an example of a game with good, down to earth, non "comic relief" companions either. If I was to use an example of a game with "down to earth" companions, I would have gone with Dragon Age 1.

Funnily enough, most of the companions in BG1 were actual characters some of the devs used in their DnD sessions way before the game was even in plans. Minsk for example is character which was invented precisely for these sessions as a half joke, but for genuine roleplay.

That actually may be why many of those characters are more beloved other than nostalgia, because despite any wildness happening, they were grounded in the Dungeons and Dragons the developers themselves had played. The current companions all seem to be completely custom for this game, so while they can compare with the crazier end of BG1 and 2 companions, they lack that grounded quality people remember.
That said I like most of the BG3 companions so far, I just want Non-Origin Companions to also be added, which could deliver on the less complex and out there characters.

Certainly. They are a byproduct of a process you can’t just simulate by hiring someone competent enough to end up with an entertaining writing.

I know the characters backstories. I know that the reason minsc had a pet hamster for example, was because the person who played him kept getting knocked out and rping the hamster gave him something to do while everyone else continued combat. That doesn't change the fact that I still have an immense dislike for him and the first thing I do on any BG replay is kill him on sight. Minsc is, for me, the worst part of the BG games. I am not much of a fan of the Zhents either, nor of Jan Jansen. Viconia is a decent companion, but that doesn't change the fact that she is still "themeparkesque."

BG 1 and 2 had a fair share of what I consider to be awful companions, but fortunately it did balance those out with others who were not so bad, simply because of the sheer volume of companions there were. I still would not cite it as an example of a game with grounded companions though, its companions are nowhere near as grounded as those in other RPGs.

What makes this even more annoying is contrary to the BOAT LOAD of AMAZING extra playable characters npc MODS in BG2 (all with banters, romance, quests, dialogues tied to the main story etc...), we will never see NPC mods like this in BG3 due simply because of the cinematic dialogues system which is tied to the story. Unless Larian makes them of course.

Well, BGs had fairly basic and one note companions, but it’s understandable considering how companions were made at that time - in BG1 they are little more then pre-made NPC. Having simple personality that can be conveyed through barks was a must.

Planescape brought companions to another level when it comes to integration into narrative, depth and interactivity and BG2 seemed to want a bit of that. I like Minsc very much, but in BG2 is far more limited then other companions who got more development.

The challenge with more complex characters is that they need to be more complex. I seem to be one of he few who disliked Dragon Age Origins for that - while there was a lot of companion dialogues, companions themselves were rather basic. It also didn’t help that companions seemed to over stress what they approve of and what they like to accommodate “the relationship” mechanic. Take a drink every time Morigan said how much she wants “powerrr” and you will end up hospitalised.

To a lesser degree I felt that with BG3 characters - they are still designed to be “understood” within seconds of meeting them. And by design - afterall as origins we need to be able to skim through them and get what each one of them is about. But that’s makes talking to them less interesting. While there are backstories to discover, we more or less know what each one is about from the get go. Still, I must say I didn’t have a bad time with them (aside from vampire douche), though it is unlikely any of them will end up particularly memorable.

I brought this up, but its actually even weirder...

Because not only does every Companion have something strange going on, but they all have a significant outside force effecting them... which is weird, considering the main story is about the mind flayer tadpole, and the absolute, doing that to the players.

I think one way they could mitigate this a bit, is to say people like this were intentionally gathered for some reason or another, that the fact they are all a bunch of weirdos is not a coincidence.

Minsc’s only fault is that his popularity made him a victim of fanfetishism.

Or maybe mindflayers are just considerate and only kidnap those that no one will miss?

Christ, I do not even want to imagine what Astarion will become then.

I never had Minsc in my party in BG1 or 2 and would have gladly played BG3 without giant space hamsters. But this is Larian and they're not passing by an opportunity to add something silly for the memes. They thrive on the badger memes after the Druid patch. I love humor, but unfortunately not this kind.

Dragon Age does have good companions. They're believable and more relatable and not just memes with crazy stories. And when there IS a crazy epic story in DA (Morrigan's mother), they take their time telling that story properly even over several different games instead of just unload everything at once the first chance they get (Gale, Karlach).