So since I already have this thread going, I figure I might as well keep using it whenever I have thoughts on BG1, especially compared to BG3. And I'll say for starters, while I find the process of swapping companions out to be pretty tedious, in that they only stay where you leave them, no matter how out of the way that may be, I actually am liking the game's approach to them. At this stage, (I've just finished the Nishkel mines) the story is still mostly just me being an adventurer and trying to find my way (which I really enjoy structurally) so I do like that the companions seem to mainly just be...around, folks who have their own stuff they're doing and are coming with me just...well, because teamwork makes the dream work. It makes me think of Dragon Age 2 which, for all its flaws, I feel has the strongest companion group and companion dynamic of the series.
This is mostly unrelated but is a thought that came to me about Wyll. He's supposed to be a big-time adventurer, a fairly well-known hero by the time we meet him. But I think that falls flat given the fact that when we meet him, it's the first time we the players have heard of him. Sure, if we're Baldurian we can say we've heard of him, but it doesn't really carry the right feel, it doesn't feel like we're meeting a living legend since most of what we as the player know about him just comes from him. Sure, the tieflings seem to know about him but they don't treat him with the kind of awe or shock his supposed reputation would seemingly warrant. The counsellor from the inn is aware of him, but that comes too late to really make the right impression. And this is all a problem because his story is clearly meant to evoke a sort of fallen hero/feet of clay sort of feel, but if we don't feel that reputation, it just rings hollow. I don't think there's a way to really fix this given how act one is structured, but it would have been better narratively if we'd been given the opportunity to hear people talk about the Blade of Frontiers first before actually meeting Wyll.
