idk, I'm just not seeing how any of the companions and their relationships/dialogue/etc are any better than something like Mass Effect's companions. Sure, there is higher graphical fidelity and the motion capture is better, but other than that, and the good voice acting, the writing itself isn't anything to write home about, and the "reactivity" that has become the buzzword of the year doesn't seem to be anything special. They don't react in the slightest to big events, they react only at very specific moments in their own quest line, or when their quest line crosses with the main story.
Maybe I'm missing something, but if I think about Joker, Garrus, Thane, Shepard themselves, I don't see how BG3 has surpassed that in any sense. Unless you're simply saying that they're the strong point of the game, not necessarily superior to all other games, in that case, fair enough.
That's my take on BG3 companions as well.
My biggest issue with them, apart from the scarcity of content, is the fact that there's rarely any nuance to the relationships between themselves and TAV aside from romance.
Either the game simply pronounces you as friends, or... It doesn't, and they're just there. Not to mention they barely interact with each other and there's no illusion of them having any relation to each other outside of player interactions, with small exceptions.
Also, I don't know if it's due to poor design choices or bugs, but as everything seems to be tied to the approval bar, unlocking the interactions and stacking them - playing them one per camp rest - the order often either gets messed up, or does not take into account how often the player even visits the camp, resulting in conversatons and situations that do not feel organic and natural at all, but are simply forced by the implemented systems. Hence the Shadowheart telling me how much we've been through together first time we talk in the camp. I appreciate it darling, but I barely know you and a moment ago you were complaining that I'm asking too much questions.
Things like that often pulled me out of the experience and prevented me from having any meaningful emotional resonance with the companions.
Don't get me wrong - I found their storylines interesting and I wanted to pursue them, but I don't feel I developed *a* relationship with them. I simply followed the quest.
