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

I'm not against flirt between companions lol, I just despise Halsin/SH flirt banter(the way it plays out right now if you solo romance her). They just need to make it play if you romance both or rework it so she doesn't have her current response.

I have an answer for you: "Cause Reddit memes!"

Now the rose tinted glasses have come off, I see all the flaws Halsin has besides the overly sexual behaviour and issues pertaining to his romance. I'm on my 2nd playthrough, romancing Gale (so sorry for ever doubting you, Gale) and now, when the focus is not on Halsin or me eagerly awaiting his romance to finally come into play, I see what all the other players were talking about who didn't romance him.

He's really just an elaborate camp decoration. He's just... there. No new dialogue. Nothing to say, except during the Thaniel quest and the end of Act 2. We've been over this many times by now. I see why people were saying stuff like, "how did you even get the idea that Halsin is [adjective]?" and I see it now!
My poor little brain was fed so little content that I made up my own private Halsin. And then reality hit me and it was really shit. There's other gripes I have with this game that are bigger, so I'm glad that I can just ignore Halsin during my 2nd playthrough.

Still don't know why Larian hasn't addressed this at all by now. Seems odd.

If they do decide to address feedback, and I hope they do!, it will take some time to record new lines, etc. Fingers crossed!!!

Oh, I'm sure Dave would like to work with Halsin more.

As far as I know all the VA have been called back in to do voice work. As far as feedback goes Halsin is the companion with the most issues as it encompasses everything.

- his level of involvement
- his romance
- his amount of content
- his lack of people using him
- his inappropriate behaviour
- his poorly handled trauma
- poor implimentation of poly and RA

I love Halsin so much, but basically there is not a single part of his character that is an actual success despite him being added as player feedback. Most people either don't care, ignore him, find him creepy or are dissappointed with the end result. From what is seen, a very small procentage is actually happy with his implementation. And those people usually argue about things they seem to have limited knowledge of or tru to justify toxic behaviour.

If Larian really listen to players then... Ooooh, I'm hoping for the best. (please, Larian, please!)

As much as I want this Im also a bit apprehensive. I hope they make use the good stuff thats already there, thats what made us so sad after act 2 and its what made us all love him in the first place.

In truth ity could be anything. And with Halsin I am only expecting very minor adjustments.

Probably endings for now.
I'm not complaining though, I want my sweet farm Shadowheart epilogue.

Endings, hugs, more platonic and romance companion content in act 3 and some in act 2 to fill the gaps (and for Halsin, act 1 already tbh., Minthara gets it too). One can only hope.

The lack of hug option in act 3 Shadowheart post House of Grief scene is criminal tbh, especially when she is romanced.

I have found an upside to Halsin being messed up: I am learning a LOT about trauma, trauma responses and more. I have made analysis enough to soon take a degree (kidding!)

Not going to spam here, but if anyone wants to learn what I have research and discovered about his hypersexuality: https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=910404#Post910404

That's a very well done post Cowoline. It explains a lot of what Halsin seems to be going through. I just wonder why Larian couldn't do this research themselves or hire an expert like a psychologist or something? They could have avoided all this backlash.

Just saying, they probably need to remove the flirting banter between romanced Shadowheart and unromanced Halsin. I dunno if it's a bug or not but if it isn't, I don't know how to feel about that at all. Actually, you know what? I do hate it. Like if you play completely monogamous without Halsin in your party (which is what I did), your character would live without knowing that Shadowheart secretly wants to get into Halsin's pants and you're not enough to completely physically satisfy her. Some say ignorance is bliss, me personally, I don't think so. Like damn this sucks, I feel so played right now.

Thank you! <3 Honestly, all it would have taken for the writer was to actually spend 30 minutes on google, YouTube and chatGPT. That would still have been a better result than this toxic nightmare.

I know the feeling. I romanced Halsin assuming he was in love with my character. Turns out, Halsin just needed someone to warm his bedroll until he had something better to do.

The fact that Shadowheart could ever/even like the derpy fool that is Halsin... it is questionable...

Same writer too

Both SH and Halsin were retconned in act 3, or at least parts of it, to try and make the polyamory/group sex fit. What we got instead was just shallow and nonsensical.

In the SH thread, we've spent days analyzing SH's behaviors and dialogue to see if polyamory fits her in Act 3 and everything points to her wanting a monogamous relationship with the player only, without casual sex. Add on the fact that if you aren't romancing her, she shows no interest in Halsin at all, nor him with her. Plus she like hates him at the end of act 2 lol So no I don't think she is interested in him, canonically anyway. That's why the banter sticks out like a sore thumb because that isn't an optional side thing and is OOC. I don't see any other companion offering to join in with SH/Tav, because that would be weird (if you're in a monogamous relationship with SH)

And then there's Halsin, who becomes an entirely different person in like all of act 3.

I wish they would have put more thought and care into all of this, because it really shows. Seems like this game needed like 6 more months in the oven tbh.