It didn't grab me when I just heard halfling werewolf, but red riding hood bard is a different story. I think I could get into that.
Not having a shorty companion character feels off for a D&D game. There are many places in the game where I think hmmmm should probably have a dwarf or a halfling in the crew, but you look around, and nobody. Not even among the camp companions. Just feels very odd.
Even if I wanted more from the Halfling implementation specifically (smaller models, distinguishable from the gnomes by something other than ear shape etc) they still did a ton of work. But then without a companion I probably don't experience it. We never really heard about how many players made runs as Dwarves or Gnomes or Halflings, but I think it would be skewed anyway, just from the lack of voice sets and models and not having any companion to play off or introduce those races. Anyhow, yeah, seems like an easy one.
On the PC interface when you go to select an origin the visual balance of the screen is currently pretty off. Like it looks as if there is a missing character which should be there among the origins but who isn't. Leaving that space empty makes me think they might yet pull something off. If they did an update that had some more phenotype options for bodies, a voice set for dwarves, and few options for the halflings that would be cause for rejoicing, and then an extra companion would sorta spotlight all that.
For the other companions, I think framing it as a choice there is never good. I'm happy with all the companions they added because I think what the game is missing is companions for party comps and rp flavor. The more there are the better it works, at least to a certain point. Durge not being a companion doesn't exactly build out that aspect, so a cool option might be to just loop him in somewhere too. One of those empty pods. To complete the concept and really fill it out, there could potentially be a Jaheira or Minsc origin as well, and that could also be mechanically fun as a way to skip ahead to either act 2 or act 3 with those characters. We get a little preamble for them, and then start halfway into the action at whatever their earliest recruitment point would have been. Or backload them to level 1 if we want I suppose. Doesn't really matter there, I'm mostly just thinking of it in terms of having those portraits up in that launch display hehe. I might actually have an easier time exploring the Origin system with a returning fav like Jaheira or Minsc if that was an option, like a Tav but with those voice sets and dialog options. Dungeon act skipper built in would be convenient as a bonus option. But yeah, least having 1 Halfling would be something.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 04/09/23 03:44 AM.
