Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Qu: Are all the PC and NPCs a-holes in BG3?

I think snowram misinterpreted me. I meant relationship as in its more broad definition , not romance.
I was saying that aside from banter, there is currently no meaningful interaction between characters, and they only exist to have meaningful interactions with the PC.

Even Wrath's character that's closest to the BG3 "hidden background" trope, Camellia, is more interesting than almost all of the BG3 companions.

I find BG3 companions to be interesting. In our daily lives we tend to surround ourselves by people we generally like, thats why a-holes stick with a-holes and good souls stick with good souls. What makes this game's dynamic interesting is that different personalities happen to group with other people not because of their general temper match but because of their common condition. Parties where there are internal personal conflicts are much more interesting to develop into something beautiful later, at least for me.

(I hope we will meet the cute tiefling couple we've met at the Druid Grove again in Baldur's Gate. And I wonder if she's working as a teacher, a baker or a butcher 😄)

I thought the "blood excites me!" teen was their daughter?

I was thinking about the two who were also at the party later, Bex and Danis, the couple we can eavesdrop on when they make plans for their life in Baldur's Gate and talk about having a cat and a house with a little cat door. I can understand Danis' surprised and slightly bewildered reaction when Bex states that she could work as a butcher, because blood excites her.
SNIP
I think the game is full of likeable and interesting NPCs.

And with even more NPCs in the city itself, I guess I'll spend hours and hours talking to everyone. And then use a spell or potion to speak with every last animal 😂

I really don't like it because frankly, it makes them feel more two-dimensional. To me the lack of interaction with each other makes them feel even more like they only exist for the main character. In DAO we got so many varied relationships within the party. Alistair's mistrust of Morrigan, his surrogate mother/son relationship with Wynn, Leliana's curiosity about Sten, Oghren's buddy-buddy relationship with Zevran, that made them feel so deep and real. They were people capable of existing when they weren't talking to us. DA2 took that to a whole other level. Fenris and Anders' seething hate for each other, Anders and Merill's contention relationship because of her blood magic. Merill and Isabella's fondness for each other, with Merill's admiration and Isabella's protectiveness. Varric being friends with everyone of course. Their party banter was even able to show off deeper layers of their relationships with one another and by extension, themselves. Pathfinder: Kingmaker? I can point you to Tristian and Regongar's unexpectedgood relationship, or Harrim's understandingand tolerance for everyone around him in spite of his doom and gloom attitude.

The BG3 companions have none of this. They're not people, they're stories for you to interact with. Their party banter is entirely predictable. I think that the fact our Tav is the only one they end up clashing with makes their abrasive personalities worse on reflection, because we end up feeling like their sounding board. They don't exist as mirrors for us, but they exist just to tell us about themselves. This is amplified by the factthey're all very self-involved and selfish in their quests. Even Wyll, who I do think is good at his core, his quest is a selfish one. So there's the disconnect where they exist only to interact with us, and get reactions out of us, but at the same time they're all entirely self-involved. And I think for some people that leads to a wrong balance, where it feels not like they exist to give us their stories, but that we, our Tavs exist to recieve their stories. That they're the most important things and we're just there to interact with them.

This is further exacerbated by the situation where, in my opinion, our Tavs aren't really able to exert a lot of personality in response to them. If we don't want to be rude jerks to them then our only option is to be kind of meek and passive and to sit there while they give us their stories. And I think that is without question the worst thing this game does, and as far as I'm concerned, that lack of flexible player personality - especially compared to other rpgs - is why this game kind of fails as a roleplay experience and is in my eyes, a middling experience overall.