Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Kinda dissapointed with Halsin.

I was so hyped when they said Halsin would be added ngl. He could have easily been up there, contending with Astarion for a lot of fangirls(and guys) attention. But sadly, t'was not to be. I liked his character as a whole, but it does really feel like he was just shoehorned in at the last minute (which is actually probably the case). It takes us ages to get him into our camp crew to begin with, and then he just sits there for a while not getting involved or joining you on your adventures, for whatever reason. At this point in the game, they could have at least included more interactions with him, so that players could further bond with him, and therefore didn't make it feel so abrupt when he suddenly starts to hit on you - as it does seem to come out of nowhere.

When he does eventually decided to join you, he kinda becomes a moaning myrtle and anything he has to say is just him complaining about the city and wanting to go back to nature/the grove. The romantic relationship in itself is somewhat fleeting and he even decides to leave you at the end - which is disheartening if you chose him. It would have been nice to somehow make solid plans with him or even get invited to return to the grove, just so that it wasn't so much of a 'thanks for the fun times, seeya'.

I agree with some comments above that he needed more purchase in the story (or should I say act 3), but not necessarily having to be linked to the plot. It would have been nice to see some scenes where maybe he's in bear form or he meets an old grove friend from years gone by, maybe even an previous lover ( as he says hes had many). There were so many chances where his character could have come out more and it never happened.

Halsin should recruit into the party right after the camp celebration. At that point in the game he'd be more interesting both mechanically for party composition and for the story delivery. All his lines foreshadowing the Moonrise material and the Thaniel subplot could be delivered in Grymforge or along the Risen Road paths.

By the time you arrive at the Last Light he is instantly upstaged by Jaheira, and so for him not to accompany us during the Shadowlands interlude means he totally misses his chance in the spotlight.

I think Kagha would have been a more interesting companion, because then you would have had the Evil Shadowdruid foil to Jaheira's Harper Druid, similar to Faldorn in BG1. Instead they sorta just redid Cernd from BG2, but without the Native flare there. Like he's pretty much the werebear to Cernd's werewolf right? But you don't get anything there beyond what Jaheira is bringing to the table in terms of druid stuff, like you might if we had some Shadowdruid sub plots.

It should be possible to side with Kagha and get a similar amount of content in the Shadowlands. Maybe she's haunted by Arabella or her parents or whatever. Honestly would have the same amount of buy in there for a Thaniel subplot, where the dark half is like him messing with Kagha's head the whole time. Obviously you'd need some way for the Rite of Thorns not to crack off, but that could have been handled with Halsin banishing her and then she recruits into the party. She also has an interesting Animal companion, similar to Faldorn's wolf, whereas Halsin is just sorta his papa bear self. Doing the Mushroom spore circle with Kagha could have been interesting too, like where siding with zombie mushrooms maybe she could try to twist them to the shadow druid side with Glut.

But in any case, having one of those druids (Halsin or Kagha) in the party for the entirety of Act 2 would give them more of a sense of purpose. The cut character for me is meh, cause I don't have anything to go on for her really. Having a Werewolf might have been cool, who can say, but the Viper would have been relatively easy to plug in. I honestly think any character in the first act could have been a bit player sidekick/B team style Companion, even if they didn't have a ton of VA to go off there. Most of them already got a hook in from the first act material. They probably would only need a few more lines to round em out, and then slot em in to an Act 2/3 questline that acknowledges their existence at various points afterwards.

Its kinda funny when you think about it ...

Bcs Larian made same misstake with Wyll during EA ... we met him so far in game (and it was still lot sooner than Halsin) that most people (acording to data that were shared) didnt even bothered with him.

Then they "learned their lesson" ... and reworked Wyll, to make him more apealing ...
But also imediately "forgot their lesson" ... and did exactly same misstake with Halsin ...

And most likely also Minthara, Jaheira and Minsc ... wich so far i didnt get even option to recruit (some of them died tho, so ... thats probably partialy on me ) ... but no matter how much nostalgic or classical they really are, i cant really see any reason to want to rip my party just for them. :-/

You know what i mean right?
We have ben trough a lot with all the others ... am i really supposed to throw all that away, just bcs this dude with purple head and really weird speach pattern sudently want to go with us? :-/ Not gonna happen, sory.

I never felt like Wyll came into the party late. He feels like a reasonably early edition to me, if anything Karlach comes in really late, though I see your point. I feel the same about Halsin and to a lesser degree Minsc, but I have thoroughly fallen in love with Karlach, and I speak as someone without nostalgia for the original games. She's just super fun and pretty quickly cemented myself as part of the party in my regular rotation.

I recently realised one of the reasons that I dislike Halsin - his voice sounds like Blackwall from DA:I. They are different voice actors though.

You can tell how much thought Larian put into things by looking at Khaga who ends up just standing in the Hollow doing nothing and with nothing to say. IMO she would have made a more logical companion than Halsin.

Does Khaga have any reason to fight against the absolute?

Exactly! I think Kagha should have been our next companion there, instead of Halsin ditching his responsibilities to the grove and then just sitting in our camp for most of Act 2. It would've been so much cooler if he had but ordered Kagha to join our party to help us find the cure for the parasite (or at least try) and also help cleanse the Shadowed Lands as her penance for the whole Rite of Thorns debacle.

EDIT: Sorry I necro'ed such an old thread.. this popped up when I was searching for something else and I started reading... and here we are. Didn't notice the date of the previous posts until after replying.

Another Halsimp here!

I think his inclusion as a companion makes complete sense, and I will copy and paste mybposy in a other thread it here:

Im gonna disagree here. Halsin can and does make sense as a companion, Larian just did it badly and sloppy.

There is an uptick in goblin activity near the grove due to the cult. He goes to investigate and gets captured. When you rescue Halsin he senses youre infected. Hes been held captive by the cult and learns there is traffic to and from moonrise, therefore moonrise is a hub of cult activity. Moonrise is also in his homeland, which is affected by a shadow curse. He concludes the two are related somehow and decides to join you. He helps you with the cult and your tadpole, you try to help him with the curse. After fighting ketheric he realizes whats going on has become much bigger than expected, as it did for everyone. Theres a bjgger threat now and it threatens the world as a whole, and he stays with you because youve become lovers/allies and he is also a good alligned hero character.

Its a decent and simple enough story and it makes sense as to why he would become a companion.

The only thing that doesnt make sense is why he isnt playable after the tiefling party.

That being said, inspite of his lack of romantic content in the forst 2 acts, I still fell hard for him. The little things he does have, the little hints dropped after rescuing thaniel in act 2, drove me bonkers. He lured me in with what he says when you ask him for a drink, he locked me in whem he talked about people in positions of power. I really wish they had outnin a Ranger option when he talks about you rescuing a bear and either being a friend of nature or a lunatic, "Oh the answer is both, I can assure you." That little moment of play was really really great.

I wanted so desperately to support him in his insecurities, his doubts. I wanted to be a source of strength for him. When he talked about playing with Thaniel as a boy, it hit me hard. Oh my god. This place was his *home*, thats why he was so quick to come with us. And thats why there is an ever present somberness in his eyes. I wanted nothing more than to tell him "As long as the ceremorphosis can be kept at bay, I *will* help you with the curse."

He has writing issues, most of us agree on that. But was is there and works works so freaking good.