Okay, first, no personal comments or throwing shade on folk who did want Halsin as a companion (that's for Ixal, for avoidance of confusion).
Second, I agree Jaheira is cool as f**k and (while admittedly I'm still relatively early in Act 3) it looks Larian have done her proud. She's not a regular party member in my first playthrough, but I'm looking forward to having her around more in a future one.
Third, I'm reserving judgement on Halsin for now but can see where folk are coming from. I would have been happy for Halsin to return to the grove once the curse was lifted, and I'm not entirely convinced yet by him as a character. For one thing, he seems a lot needier and more insecure than I expected, though I guess it shouldn't be a surprise in some ways that he seems to be a big softie
At least he hasn't actually hit on my character uninvited (though I am starting to feel in the minority there). I can definitely see why people might view the way he has been implemented in the game as fan service and the poorer for it, but I'll see how the rest of the story goes. And I'm definitely not going to put the responsibility on fans for what is entirely Larian's creative choice.
Fourth, I'd definitely echo the sentiment here that given Larian have made that choice, they need to make it work as well as possible, so if that involves further fleshing out and changes then I hope they'll invest in it. And I agree with Ragnarok that should include letting him join as a companion as soon as he comes to the camp, or at most after a couple of nights' rest to recover from his goblin ordeal.
