3) To get back to a positive, I actually enjoy the way BG3 presents its companions. I’m aware that I’m playing a version where they adjusted most of the earlier interactions, and it’s a fairly contentious situation, but I think far too often companions come along solely because ‘you are the PC, therefor we must submit to you’. Having characters grumble about being there, or needing convincing, and not simply bowing to your every whim because you’re the PC… well, I actually enjoy that quite a bit! It adds to that sense of them being people!
I don't know how there were any points in BG3's favor when it comes to this. BG3 is the most extreme culprit of ‘you are the PC, therefore we must submit to you’ I have ever seen.
Lae'zel is given strong motives to find her creche. Not only is it her duty to her Queen, but from her perspective, it is her only hope of getting the tadpole out and not turning into a mind flayer. And then a Tiefling tells her that Githyanki were spotted not a five-minute walk from where we are standing. She should be making a beeline for that bridge no matter what you say. But if Tav the Guild Artisan decides to just head into the Underdark and fight some minotaurs instead, she will abandon her duty to her Queen and accept the almost absolute certainty of turning into a mind flayer because ‘you are the PC, therefore we must submit to you.’
Gale needs to eat magic items in order to survive. But his obedience to Tav the Guild Artisan is so extreme that he will beg for Tav to let him eat a magic staff that HE picked up and has in HIS inventory. Why in the world would he not just eat the staff that he picked up from Ethel's lair? Why is everything anyone finds on their journey automatically the property of Tav? If Tav's ownership of all the party's property is going to be a plot point, shouldn't there be some explanation of how that ownership was established? Gale knows that if he doesn't eat magic items he will die, as will countless others... but he won't do it without permission from Tav the Guild Artisan because ‘you are the PC, therefore we must submit to you.’
The legendary Blade of Frontiers has taken it upon himself to help the Tieflings in their hour of need, and enlists Tav to help him. But as soon as he joins the party, he is an obedient little sycophant, living in the shadow of Tav the Guild Artisan. He is literally so obedient that he won't settle a score with the goblin who took his eye unless he can get permission from Tav first because ‘you are the PC, therefore we must submit to you.’
Having characters grumble about being there, but ultimately submit to the character's choices because they were cleverly outmaneuvered and left with no alternative would be great. In BG3 they grumble about being there, but then stick around precisely because ‘you are the PC, therefore we must submit to you.’
