I am sure I will receive a ton of flak by Larian fanboys for this and that's fine, I haven't played the full game only early access but I am hoping the characters actually have some degree of character development.
As it stands, I hate all of them they are all full of themselves to a narcissistic degree, some of them are outright the most unrelatable abrasive lunatics I have ever had the misfortune of encountering, other than her strength and her saving you (more for herself than you) Lae' Zel is utterly unlikeable.
She fights you on everything, is never satisfied and even when you do something that pleases her she tells you in the most condescending, arrogant, annoying way possible, the only way I know she liked my action is because it says "approves" in the top left hand corner, otherwise half the time I would have guessed I screwed up.
All of the characters are hyper defensive and you aren't allowed to even ask questions of the people that are laying close enough to you to kill you in your sleep, lest they start insulting you and becoming verbally abusive.
All of the women save Karlach are utter bitches who seem like they are actively putting in effort to make sure you never use them with how much they berate and verbally abuse you, and all of the men save Halsin are clowns I don't take seriously at all.
I have played table top many times, I have played all of the previous D&D games, I don't remember hating everyone I partied with.
I thoroughly enjoyed romancing Viconia from BG I-II, even evil you saw a lot of character development with her, could even turn her around to being a good guy, if you played your cards right.
I enjoyed all of the characters from DOS 1 like Madora and Bairdotr, and I don't know if there was a character from DOS 2 I didn't like, they were all fascinating, my favorites being Lohse and Ifan.
I am sure I am being theatrical and there will be plenty of development for these characters and they will grow, but if they don't I hope I can make a build that can solo the game so I never have to use them, because they are annoying and abusive.
Before anyone would say "the characters are complex you can't just say the right things and they like you."
No they aren't complex at all, I can't get anything out of Minthara, Lae' Zel or Shadowheart but utter bitch no matter how high my approval is, they always talk to me like I am garbage or their slave
The males I can't get anything but jokes and deflections, I barely know who they really are because they don't want me to, since all of the females are probably evil aligned I guess I get it, but there isn't a soul on earth that likes being treated like shit in a friendship or relationship so they can go die by themselves for all I care.
This isn't a massive complaint, I love the game, I love the story so far, and Larian is one of my top rpg companies, I love how you can choose if you want to go evil or good, and it really has serious consequences, I have a Lolth Drow and Seldarine Drow just to play the comparisons, but I am not a masochist, I don't enjoy constantly being condescended to even when I do the right thing.
All of the characters have an ego so loud I want to throw up talking to them, with as I said the exception of Karlach, and Halsin, who Ironically I cannot currently get to know well.
To be clear, anyone who wants to reply with things like "you are stupid you don't know what you are talking about."
Yeah I hope so, I am praying so, please come correct me, please come tell me how dumb I am, and that I am wrong, I desperately want to be.
I don't want the reality of my playthrough to be alone because all of the characters are the rudest most narcissistic scumbags on earth, I am not saying they have to love everyone, I am not saying they have to love me, I would settle for things like "good job" pretty neutral and an intelligent way of handling things if you are talking to someone you need to be amicable with as they are the only one making sure you aren't run through in a fight.
If all they have for me is to tell me "You did it but you could have done better and also you are stupid for not doing better!" when I even go to the lengths of looking up the best options to avoid screwing up.
Well then they can journey alone or stay at camp, I don't bend over backwards and jump through hoops like a dog to please my closest friends or family, and they don't treat me like shit for helping them, I am certainly not even going to use fictional characters in a video game that do.
Here's what you can do:
1. Grab Karlach
2. Grab Halsin
2. Grab one temporary companion to ignore (Maybe reworked Wyll? He's quite bland).
3. Eventually acquire Minsc and Jaheira
4. Profit?
You'll need a party to get to Karlach and Halsin, but after that you can say goodbye. Watch their arcs on YouTube, maybe. I'd suggest starting with two Tavs if it weren't for the fact that it will lock you out of every single ! post encounter scene with companions.
