I think the issue at the heart of talking about rewrites vs artistic integrity (and I say this as someone who always prefers author’s intent) is that the creepy Halsin companion of the game was not the original vision for the character. It was fanservice to horny fan requests.

I don’t know what the solution now is, because writing by committee and “listening to fans” usually backfires (the current state of Halsin is a testament to this) but the problem was created by the fans to begin with…

What’s looking to be the next “Act 3 Halsin” is the amount of people who are convinced that Minthara is actually a good guy and therefore she should be recruitable on a good path, even though if anything she is even more evil than an Absolute follower, lol.

Listen to the fans when it comes to gameplay balance, tech issues, etc–do not let them write the game!