Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Alfira would make a nice bard companion

Just sayin'.

Yes, but I don't think she is "cool" enough to make it as an origin for Larian. If she was the best bard in the world, who also wielded power to destroy the universe that would be another matter. A down to earth character with a potential for growth - not so much. That would require character development.

LoL I can feel the sarcasm lol

Alfira blows ass.

Well done. You passed an insight check

Its true that Alfira cannot be Origin character ...
Mostly bcs she do not carry a parasite, and i cant quite imagine how to give her one without breaking what was allready written. :-/

Question there is why would Companion need to be Origin character? :-/

Because that would make coop less seemless - the very poing o Origins is that you can smoothly transisiton from single-to coop - from 2 coop to 3-4 coop. You are playing a game and your buddies pop up - they join your game and take over companions, with content all being there because they are all designed to be playable. And all the playable characters are all hero (all sourcerers in D:OS2, all with super-unique parasite in BG3).

Of course, personally I would take dedicated companions, over origins, but it is, what it is.

Interesting point ...
Never thought about this this way. O_o

So ...
In order to make Alfira our companion we would need to tadpolize her in our camp.

Honestly... we don't "need" any of the origin characters. I would just as soon play without those trashy individuals. Actually I want bonus XP for killing them all off to be completely candid.

I too wish that we could have companions that feels appropriate as *companions.* Like Alfira.

However, Wormerine is right - as far as I can tell. Larian seem really dedicated to having all party members as playable characters (which includes the companion options as they are A) playable for multiplayer B) origin characters ). I am not a huge fan of this origin design, but I am not sure that stepping from this philosophy now would give us a positive experience with "companion companions" now, as the game has been developed for origin companions up to this point.

I just hope that in the end we get really well-written companions with loads of possible outcomes for their personal development / story. If Larian are gonna stick to having few of them (like in DoS2), but manage to keep their promises regarding the depths of the characters then I'll probably be alright either way. I mean - Pathfinder could do a range of companion-changes (voice lines, general mood, endings etc) depending on the outcome with much less dedication to the companions story (as they were not playable characters with a PC story, after all), so I am hesitantly hoping some really amazing possibilities regarding the group chemistry, companion stories, general quest outcomes and companion interactions...

Basically, I just want Larian to focus MORE on companions than they did in DoS:2. I loved the bits where our companions had a chance to take the lead (if we allowed them to), and I very, very, very, very much hope that Larian will do more of that in BG3. Unfortunately, I have not seen anything in that direction yet - which has me slightly worried and kinda sad too. :< But this is only a EA that is even based upon an old build if I remember correctly, so I am trying to keep my hopes up.

While on the topic, I am trying really hard to not judge our companions too harshly based on act 1 alone (although I am nowhere near as displeased as many others on these forums are). I remember straight off killing Sebille the first time I met her as I do not respond well to being threatened - but she turned out to be my second favorite of all, in the end (after my second play-through). c:

I agree that Alfira would make an interesting companion. My assumption during my playthrough was that she might be a companion that we can recruit in Chapter 2 (or whenever we reach the city of Baldur's Gate). One of those situations like "Once my fellow tieflings are safe, I can be recruited (assuming you don't murder all the tieflings)." Similar to Karlach who is clearly being setup as someone whose will have a quest we can join in Baldur's Gate and then she will join our camp as a companion. Having a bard companion would add a bit more diversity in the team roster with an extra person for support role.

So are you saying that they would sacrifice the story/coherence quality just for the sake of "smooth coop"?...

Is it really a good move? I mean I don't know what percentage of players actually play this in COOP, but I bet it can't be even near 10%.

That's an unfair dichotomy, and I can see that despite agreeing with you that companions should not have to be origins. Having the origin characters fully implemented in this way would improve story and coherence for people who play coop.

Personaly i hope we get both ...
1) At least one Origin character per class (im still not sure how do i feel about subclasses ... i mean Wyll make no sence as GOO ... but make another Warlock Origin character just so it fits to alternative subclass seems ridiculous)
2) Option to recruit non-Origin companions ... at least after Act 1, that would make sence storywise to me (presuming i presume right what will happen at Moonrise Towers ofc. ) ...

Just put a tadpole in her head and spin a story how her music once shattered mountains and had literal gods on their knees begging to have children with her and voilá! We have another level one companion ready to fight some goblins!

Of course she would have to be connected to the main story so perhaps she's secretly the leader of Harpers who is giving orders to Jaheira. Level is just a number, and one is as good as any, right?

She would make a great companion, and who knows, maybe she will be, after Act 1. I have to laugh at the lack of imagination from people complaining about narrative.

Baldur's Gate is a big city. How many companions could be added after Act 1, that would have zero connection to the ship? Hell, it could be that some of them could be connected, but just landed in different locations. The possibility exists, it's too bad that it's ignored. To each their own though. Maybe they have seen Acts 2 and 3, and just can't share their insight, because they don't want to get in trouble or something? Or, they lack the imagination to realize that, once we get out of the limited zone provided by EA, things can, and likely will be, different. The initial party has the tadpole in common, not just because "Origin", but because there needs to be a mechanic to incentivize a wildly varying cast of characters to work together. I picked up on this on Day 1 of EA, and yet, reading through the forums, and even just this topic, it's clear that some still haven't picked up on that, despite all the obvious clues, some of which almost literally slap you in the face.*

I always love the "but everyone's level one" thing. On the one hand, it's a very obvious trope, and while I'd like to avoid that as much as possible, if everyone was at their peak power, these forums would be burning down with "but there's no advancement, so no reason to play". Yeah, some of the stories could be toned down, maybe. However, and this is something that occurred to me as well really early on, it could be even simpler, they're lying. SH could have been chosen for her mission because she wasn't more than an initiate. Wyll's story has some very obvious flaws, when you meet that particular set of goblins. Would a wizard with the Earth Shattering powers that Gale claims to have really have fallen victim to what he fell victim to? A simple playthrough paying attention to Astarion tells a lot, when one steps away from "origin", and pays attention to what's presented, instead of what's assumed.

*

I believe you are slightly off here ... not necesarily wrong tho ...

Anyway, feel free to corect me, but "Origin" in this context means "playable as Main character" and that would mean (read as: I would expect) that we will experience exactly the same story through eyes of someone else ...
Therefore logicaly all "Origin" character is tadpoled exactly because "Origin".

I really wonder how Tutorial for Shadowheart will looklike ... im really curiousl about this.

I think Alfira is an interesting NPC and singer, but I don't see the reason to make her a companion or an adventurer. She's an artist first and foremost who seems pretty dedicated to her craft.

What would be her motivation for adventuring? Being an adventurer isn't for everyone. Not only is it very dangerous, you also have to be capable of violence and killing (which can be pretty traumatic for most civilians). I honestly don't think that fits the character we've met so far. Also remember, 5e adventurer Bards aren't just singers - they are full blown Arcane casters (capable of bending reality at the highest level) that can manifest even more of their deadly magic through artistic expressions.

If you find her an interesting NPCs that you want to know better and would love for more screentime, that's totally fine, a good RPG SHOULD have that, but it doesn't mean they need to be actually adventuring with the party. Think about the NPCs in Witcher 3 (i.e. Dandelion or Priscilla). They might not travel with Geralt, but they get tons of involvement and screen time as civilians. I would love to get more of her and have her story develop like that, but as of now, she really doesn't fit the mold of the companion.

I can imagine any scenario ...
The most cliché would be meeting her later ... surounded by slaughtered Tieflings, hiding behind some crates or something ... with attackers looting/eating (depending on creature) corpses ... after the fight, you start conversation with her, and once she stop sobing, she will swear on her dead friends memory that she will never ever again loose anyone else, that she will become stronger and learn how to defend not just herself, but anyone who cant defend themselves, that she will make sure that nobody ever again will have to suffer losses as she just did.

Voila!
Adventurer created.

I mean it would be great to have someone who would be horrified with your adventures ... someone that will every evening give you some shaken comentary about what you did during the day.
So far everyone is like: "Yawn, just another boring Goblin horde to slay".

Alfira would bring different perspective to this game. :P

No, I believe she plucks lute