Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Fextralive on Companions and Romances - Spoiler

I remember BG 1 & 2 good enough to know what is was about and if I liked it. I definitely don't remember it good enough to judge the writing in detail (mind you I also didn't play it in English back then). Also perceptions of me as a teen were way different than now, especially with experience working in the industry. That's why I'm careful. I've started playing BG1 again 3 years ago, but I stopped without finishing it. The impression was good, but again, before reviewing it in detail I would really need to sit down and play it.


As I mentioned before - while I as a player know that Shadowheart will have a story that explains it and that a part of the money I've spent on the game was invested in making her a key part of the game (not story), my character doesn't and except for the reason of being horny or very invested in everyone the character actually has no reason to listen to Shadowheart snap about until she is willing to tell it. Its the writers job to make me care about their creations and engage with them not mine as a player to find reasons to do so - its questionable/bad writing if its the second.

With Morrighan and Yen you don't need to like them. They are crucial to the plot and actively do something. Which gives you a chance to be exposed to more of their motives and story. You can love them or hate them, they still move something in the plot and have a reason to be there. Shadowheart is objectively useless to the plot beyond the artifact. You can even let her die in the prologue. In this case as a writer you better do a really good job of manipulating the player into giving a damn beyond just trusting the custom skin and marketing have done their part of the job to make the player curious.