Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Halsin Romance, Expectations and Obligatory Poly

You know, with all this focus on sex in every romance, I sort of feel discriminated against (demi/asexual). Halsin's romance more or less boils down to: If sex isn't the most important part of a romantic connection then it doesn't have worth.

Karlach and Wyll's romances have less focus on it. In fact you're not required to sleep with them at all, IIRC (though neither seems to be asexual).

The first thing Karlach says is that she wants to ride you until you see stars and talks about how sexually pent up and touch starved she is.

Wyll's banter with Laezel for example is also very much sexual.

Let's be honest, things like this rarely happen in games, that's why it's so popular.
In real life we ??wouldn't do something like that, even if it were possible.

As an asexual myself, I agree. Now, I'm actually aromatic in real life too, but I'm quite the romantic when it comes to fiction, and I want more. I want less focus on boring sex and naked people, and more emotional connection and intimate (non-naked) moments.

And the weird thing is that I liked Halsin best because I found him to be emotionally caring, he expressed that there was something between him and Tav, but that he wanted to wait until he could give himself fully to Tav, to a time when his mind wasn't occupied elsewhere. For me, all of that were signs that this was a man that would care for Tav on a deeper lever, emotionally, that wanted to be there for Tav properly and not just in body. He didn't seem like he wanted to be with Tav in ACT 2 because he wanted something more than just a mindless f**k. So, guess my surprise and disappointment when the day finally arrived and that was exactly what he wanted and nothing more.

Still can't make it make sense how that's how it ended up to be honest.

This exactly. It gave me comeplete and utter whiplash.

Making Halsin an Act 3 companion was a mistake. They just didn't have time to write him into Act 3 in a way that flowed well with the story. It was fan service which you shouldn't allow to compromise your art. He sticks out in Act 3 and doesn't really have a purpose - where he should be in the former Shadow-cursed lands helping to heal them. His writing, and responses are super limited compared to any other character.

I think it would have made a lot more sense to have him stay in Light's Hope and then maybe join you for the final battle - and occasionally you get a message from him if you romanced him. They could have saved SO much time and he would have been less disappointing. It takes so fucking long to properly develop a character to the standard people expect - if you haven't done any professional writing it can be hard to understand how much work is involved in something like this when it wasn't planned from the beginning.

Halsin is the classic "tacked-on" character that doesn't work.

The way he is now: Completely agree. And I adore him. But you're especially right when all they did was to make him a fling. They could have added so much good content and given him relevance, but they dropped the ball on it.

But seeing the state the rest of act 3 is in, hopefully Definitive edition will add a lot more to it.

When he is finally free from the responsibilites weighing on his conscience and able to be his true self, it turns out that his true self is a 16 year old, horny gamerdude?? Got to be honest, did not see that one coming!

In an absurd way it sort of makes sense? If you assume he has been going from crisis to crisis and not actually *dealt* with the trauma, but just pushed it aside - that trauma would just burst to the surface, and he would regress to a very young man with no means of actually dealing with any of that.

In that case, him not wanting a relationship is probably the best thing, because clearly he is not ready for it.

He should take pointers from Astarion, who is a badass! Dealing with trauma and overcoming it - I have so much respect for him.

He doesn't make it clear from the start. He makes it clear from the start of act 3. That's 67% into the game. And for some companions, 95%, because act 3 focuses on the last 5% of their story and everything else is about Jaheira and Minsc. 5% of dialogue for origin companions are in act 3 (numbers pulled out of my behind, but that's what it feels like).

You also wrote down part of the problem yourself. Halsin is written to be the only poly character. So why are Astarion and Shadowheart retconned to be fine with him? Not with anyone else, not even each other; just Halsin. Two of the most vulnerable companions (at that point in their romance) who have shown no interest in going poly suddenly thirst for him. And you can bully others like Gale into it as well, apparently. Because writing a character as poly and having him be the only one isn't what they did.

There are so many negative romance and non-romance outcomes for origin companions that in my opinion this should've been one too, if they so desperately wanted him in this state. You even consider the idea of going poly, the others (any of them) break up with you. That's by far the most realistic outcome, considering they're all rather vulnerable by the time you get to act 3 and you've already gone through 95% of their story and romance. But they catered to thirsty fanboys/girls, so retconning it is.

Nothing happens in Act 1 and 2, so he says it from the beginning, before the romance.
SH and Astarion are ok with that, because Halsin doesn't want any commitment, the other companions want one.
He is like that and he can be like that.

Have you even played the game? Over half of his dialogue is flirting during the party. He gets a fair amount of dialogue during those acts as well, where you can ask about his past and hint toward a future together.

Astarion will break up with you for way less. Shadowheart will break up with you if you do anything with the other companions in act 2 and that's when she's way less vulnerable (pre-Nightsong). In Wyll's case it's literally just a kiss. At no point, at all, do you get to tell her it's non-committal. Neither with the origin companions, or with Halsin. In fact, in Shadowheart's case, you get the Halsin romance scene before you even get hers. She's not okay with the drow twins - literal prostitutes, you can't get more non-committal than that - before you had hers, but she's okay with Halsin? Again, forced retcon for the sake of Halsin's romance plot.

Yes, I have, over 1.000 hours.
Flirting is nothing, he has never shown what he wants. His romance is in Act 3, when he is free.
SH is ok, they share the same author, I think it fits well. SH was also free when it came to sex, even before Tav.

I don't understand the surprise, people were thirsty for Halsin, especially physically.
Before the game came out, you saw him and Astarion, the bear scene.
I already knew, ok, he would be very free... and Larian gave us ALL Halsin, even NPCs, I'm ok with that.

That's the issue, jesus christ. You are so fucking dense it's unreal. The fact that she won't share with ANYONE else except the person who she shares an author with is 90% of the issue with it and is why Halsin comes off as some creepy self-insert and not an actual character. And no, I don't buy into this fact that Shadowheart is free when it comes to sex especially in her Selune route. You have to spend 2 acts of a slow burn romance until she invites you to the beach and when you do it feels like a special moment for your relationship and then suddenly she's okay with you sleeping with Mizora and the whole drow twins scene if Halsin invites himself against your will is a debacle it's so inconsistent with her romance up to that point.

And I know this is a Halsin thread but I'm voicing my distaste for this here because Halsin is huge part of why her romance feels inconsistent and borders on ruining it entirely.

No personal insults, please.

I’m also going to encourage everyone to reflect on whether they’ve made their position clear, and whether they’re just repeating themselves. We’re never going to all see this the same way and that’s fine. It’s okay to agree to disagree and move on.

That's not nice and SH is not Tav's property, then she likes Halsin too and?

Are you really so incapable of understanding anybody else's feelings that you can't wrap your head around on why somebody would be upset that the heavily implied monogamous relationship is suddenly poly because the author wanted his two characters to hook up together? If Shadowheart was meant to be poly it should have been made 10000% clear from the start because everything about her relationship until Halsin tries to jump in points to her being poly.

And who said anything about being property? You realize you are in the minority here right? Most people don't want a poly relationship and the fact that it can get forced upon you through no input of your own when again you thought you were getting something monogamous is just awful.

Precisely this. She claims casual relationships were common among Sharrans, however that's all she remembers. She's been brainwashed every time she questioned it, meaning it's not what she actually wanted. Throughout the game you - and she - come to realize that's not what she wants as she falls in love with you, but without the brainwashing this time. Then she breaks free of Shar, leaving that abusive side of her past life behind, and needs your full support. Yet suddenly, she's open to inviting it back in? That's bad writing.

The Mizora situation is brilliant in a revolting way. Kissing nice guy Wyll? Hell no! Fucking his abusive slavemaster? All good.