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

That's it, Larian seems to want it that way. We only pay attention to it when it is our romance.
Otherwise nothing happens, doesn't seem to be a mistake but intentional.

As an RA myself, yes, yes it does. That's the worst thing. He tells us that he is fluid, the game tells us he is loyal. How does he act?

Uncompromising ultimatum, with emotional blackmail implications.

And this sounds rough, but if this was their intention, then screw them for promoting toxic behaviour under the guise of openness, understanding and concent.

That's actually an interesting thought, I remember (yeah, BioWare, again) in Mass Effect series if you dont romance Tali or Garrus they end up romancing each other. Plus we know that Lae'zel tried to have something with Wyll but it failed (still we know about the fact of their interaction).

Astarion also finds him annoying and lets you know after Orin does her thing.

And like SH he also knows what you're gonna say before you say it because apparently Halsin "walks around the camp talking about nature's gifts and would outlaw clothes if he could."

Ehm... that's extreme and a fairly rigid attitude towards relationships.

But I hope we get a monogamous option as well, so everyone has content they enjoy <3

Not to mention that Shadowheart and Halsin bicker constantly in the Temple of Sharr.

Shadowheart even calls him out for his inability to actually stay committed to things.

This poly thing was shoehorned in, in the worst possible way.

If they were fine with poly, then any combination of Shadowheart/Astarion/Karlach should work, and it doesn't."

Which ironically fits her writing better, since when Yenna shows up, she says it's completely fine as Yenna won't take up a lot of rations.

Halsin in act 3 meanwhile does literally nothing but eat your food, complain about the city and try to get into your (and your romance partner's, if you have one) pants.

Yenna has more relevance to the crew in act 3 than Halsin does. At least she makes soup.

If everyone is everything, then everyone gets everything they wanted, so please.
If they break it, then all the companions.

Nope. No, they really really don't. Try to play through all of it again and truly pay attention, because I think you're only seeing what you want to see, which is a very limited picture of his identity.

For all you tell people to take everything into account, there is no one here that has as limited a view and understanding as you do.

Yes!

My proposal would be; Give Halsin additional relaship choices that truly fits being fluid (which also includes monogamy btw)

My Karlach, Shadowheart and Astarion TRULY poly, so you can start a polycule early on and date 2/3 of them at once.

This would also give options for the people who are only attracted to women, who got screwed over in this poly chat.

No, no matter what Halsin says about relationships, he makes it more than clear what he wants and what he is.
That's exactly what he is when it comes to relationships.
And other players also want poly with mono companions, but this is not possible, so not all players get what they want.

With the amount of rewriting they would need in act 1 and 2 for these companions to make sense poly, I don't think that's an option, and I'd prefer they didn't anyway. Only Karlach would currently actually fit as a poly companion, since she has fuck all time to live and she knows it, so you could argue she's okay with whatever so long as she gets something.

Your suggestion was good without really changing it. Nothing more is needed.

Actually, all you need to do is repurpose the discussions from act 3 when it's Halsin related and then have the romances as they are.now run in parallel.

As things go, this is a rather simple change.

I will say that Astarion was a shit choice for it.

Keep flowing, drift away, don't stay in one place, it's good that he said that, right? That's how it is with interpretations. And of course ignore everything else he says about relationships.

I am done feeding this troll.

Sorry, guys. I'm out. Seeing this one toxic and uncompromising individual control this discussion for nearly 20 pages now is fucking sickening, because it entirely obstructs the purpose of it.

You got what you wanted, Seho. Make as many people misery as possible with pure ignorance, hypocrisy and entire unwillingness to understand complex issues.

Have fun with your meme sex toy, because if people like you keep disrupting the conversation like this, no one will get anything.

The amount of pure selfishness you have shown in this chat, is probably why the current ideation of Halsin appeals to you so much: Uncompromising and toxic whiplash debates based on hypocrisy

That's the point. They can literally make any of the companions poly if they wanted to, all they'd have to do is change romance triggers and have their dialogue when you ask them to share swap from "no" to "yes".

But that doesn't mean that it makes sense. The whole complaint regarding Shadowheart and Astarion in act 3 with Halsin IS that it doesn't make sense for them. By then you spent up to 100 hours of gametime with them, and all their romance conversations hint at a mono relationship with a person that is emotionally damaged and needs your support. That needs to be completely rewritten if their poly, no matter whom else with, were to make sense.

For Astarion, it will never make sense past act 1. It'd require a complete retcon since he opens up in act 2 already, by which point it's over for any idea of poly with him because he needs your support and poly by default tends to require both parties to be confident. For Shadowheart, she'd need to have a sex scene in act 1 already. She's still Sharran by then, so it makes more sense, and wouldn't give off the expectation as much that she's actually a more closed, unsure person, like it does now. They'd also need to change a lot of her dialogue in general, such as her being embarrassed by being attracted to you; that's not the feelings of a confident woman that's open for poly. By the time you reach act 3 and 'converted' her, any poly option should be out of the window, because she's lost all confidence. Sharran Shadowheart, where you kill the Nightsong, would make sense to be open for poly, but again only if you get an early sex scene. Who would want poly without even being together in the first place?

You don't have to exaggerate and be insulting, I use your arguments.
I defend what's in the game, I am against drastic changes. Something like this shouldn't happen just because of expectations.

The suggestion is good, let's stick with it. No reason to argue.

What is so complicated with this idea?

Two different players play the game.

Player 1 says and does certain things and Halsin's story and personality changes to adapt to this.

Player 2 says and does other things and Halsin's story and personality changes to adapt to this instead.

Player 1 and player 2 are never in the same game, they literally have nothing to do with one another.

How is player 1 in any way negatively affected by the options and choices available to player 2? And Halsin cannot feel either way about it, because he is not a real person.