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

Well, if you look at the suggestions then the ones against the Halsin Shadowheart thing has 65 votes. Those who are pro have 14.

So I think it's a loud minority who thinks it's acceptable.

A necessary evil to ensure I was informed about the situation before discussing it at length.

It is after all not as avoidable as some would like since all it takes is a romanced Shadowheart and unromanced Halsin in the same party and this will happen.

As it stands it's unfortunately the case that Halsin is written as a person who does a nice guy act while all he actually wants is to get into the pants of you and your spouse at all costs so he can write you off his bucket list before going on to his next mark. This happens unpredictably in real life, but this is a video game. We shouldn't be hit with unpredictable scenarios of this proportion. We can read their minds, so let us, if this was so desperately what he wanted out of Halsin.

But I'll still assume this wasn't the intention.

Im going to assume it was intentional based on what people have said about the writer. His behavior at the panel for example. And lets not forget the "tHiNk Of ThE fAnArT" comment. That was the smoking gun imho.

They really should have kept it contained though. Like, I dont like the idea of just making hin RA instead because thats trying to explain the faults in his writing after the fact. Its really painful to hear him talk about how he wants to be by our side, if we will have him, just for him to turn around regardless and say he doesnt want to define anything.

What they should have done was contain the poly stuff. If you were already romancing someone and Halsin, Halsins confession can happen as normal and you can do the whole poly thing. But if you are romancing him solo, or if you break it off with another character to be with him, it needs to end there and it should be more mono normative because thats the status of the relationship the player has set up.

But it's not even RA either. Not a healthy and respectful version of it. What it is is using RA as an excuse for treating people poorly without having to worry about the emotional implications with others.

Thats why I think the whole concept just needs to be cut. Make him like all the other romance partners.

That's why it would be nice to have a conversation (or just couple if lines for dialogue) with him if player's Tav prefers mono relationships and could ask Halsin if it would be ok if Tav wants to be only with him (since, if you romance him solo, he says he only wants Tav, so probably it wouldn't be a problem for him). Right now what we have is uncertainty.
And please, dear gods, change (or cut) the first part of his lines about relashionships, its a pure disaster: "Well, relashionships is not really my thing, but yeah, I want only you". Sorry, but it's such a bullshit.

Its still wierd because why even bring it up in the first place? It still feels like a very unatural manipulative conversation. I feel like the flow would go like this

H: I want to be with you
Tav: I wanna be with you too
H: ok But Im poly tho
Tav: Oh uh, Id still like to be with you but Im not sure about the poly thing
H: Oh ok well I can just not be poly anymore if thats what you want

Its still strange and if hes just gonna agree to be mono anyway why even bring it up? I think it should just be something Halsin is open to if its what Tav wants , instead of Tav being the one open to it if its what he wants. The whole poly thing really should center around Tavs character, not Halsins. Especially since Tav brings up poly options with the other characters too. To Gale, "But I want both you and Astarion"

Which now that I think about it is a whole other can of worms because even though they made this a dialogue option for Tav, all the characters still say no. So why even put it in there as a dialogue option for Tav in the first place?

The poly thing by itself is fine. But making it a Halsin thing is a huge narrative problem for him, Tav, and the other characters. This really is much bigger than Halsin, poor guy is just the scape goat.

I guess mainly my issue is I just think the roles need to be reversed. So instead of the convo looking like this:

H: I like you but Im poly and thats how it is
Tav: I like you too and thats okay

or

H: I like you but im poly
Tav: I like you too but im not into poly
H: oh ok well I can not be poly right now for you

It SHOULD look like this:

H: I like you and want to be with you
Tav: I like you too, but Im already in a relationship. Id like to be with both of you.
H: Im open to that, make sure its ok with your partner first.
Tav: Ok I will
Tav: They said it was okay with them
H: ok great lets all be together

or

H: I like you and want to be with you
Tav: I like you too and Im interested, but Im already in a relationship. Let me go talk to my partner
Tav: I talked to them and I decided I want to be with just you.
H: ok great lets be together

or

H: I like you and want to be with you
Tav: I like you too and want to be with you
H: Ok great lets be together then

And why not bring this issue up? I think player has a right to know what their potential LI is interested in and then get two options (or maybe three): accept it, decline it, have a compromise (if you feel that you want to be with this person but something stops you). You don't force someone to change their view on relationships - you express your thoughts and then you both come to a conclution.
What I see as manipulation (maybe I am wrong, I don't know, my life experience is not that huge) is when Halsin says, again, " What we have is more fluid than relationships. I want only you but I want others to find happiness with you". So... I don't understand what he actually wants: being with Tav is not "relashionships", at the same time Halsin feels that he wants to be with them, at the same time he offers Tav to be with somebody else besides him. It's... weird. At least to me.
He is a scapegoat, yes, it breaks my heart. =(

Because it doesnt seem to be what Halsin himself would be interested in anyway based on acts 1 and 2, thats the big problem here, it was written in for the lulz by his writer. As I said, even when Halsin is not in the picture, the only character bringing up poly relationships is TAV. Tav brings up the idea of being poly long before Halsin is even an option. SO this idea that Halsin needs to talk to Tav about him being poly doesnt make sense in the first place, it was written into his character after the fact. Tav has to seek out multiple romantic relationships for this option to even trigger. Tav is theoretically the poly one. Halsin shouldnt need to have a conversation with Tav about him being poly or fluid and what it means because all the events seem to point in the opposite dorection for him, TAV needs to have the conversation with Halsin about Tav being poly and what that means. Especially if Halsin has made it clear HE only wants TAV "I want only you" but wants TAV to have whoever TAV wants "but I want others to find happiness with you". If you are playing a mono Tav, and lets be real the vast majority of people are, then Halsin being "poly", wanting only Tav, but wanting Tav to be with others doesnt make sense at all. This seems to be more of a cuckhold kink than poly.

I dont have a problem with the idea of the conversation itself, merely the flow and direction it takes.

Which is why I proposed this

Yes! This! This it what made me cringe a bit when I heard this phrase. On one hand you understand what he means (he wants Tav to be happy), on the other it sounds bad.
I like your propositions, noting extra, short and clear.

Well obviously the conversations could be a little more flowery, I was simplifying it to get my point across. Really Halsin should only be "poly" when Tav is poly.

Hi everyone. I am leaving this forum and I am have left the Larian Discord.

After the mods on the Discord ignored me asking for them to establish a helpline section and increased protection for SA victims being bullied and denied, I was disappointed.

When I was then attacked by a person from the server and expressed frustration of them not doing enough to protect such victims, they threatened to Ban me from the server unless It apologised.

So, I am done and I am leaving this community.

I hope you manage to get the Halsin you deserve. I refuse tl be a punching bag any longer.

Let me just say that the Mods on the forum have only ever been lovely, and I am certain the ones on the discord are too.

No - you were making claims that we protect sexual predators / harrassers. This is an awful allegation to make, and you were asked to apologize for such actions. Instead, have a ban on all platforms.

You do not get to spin up a story and twist its words because you want to have a tantrum, regardless of the subject at hand. Lies is just another kind of abuse, is it not?

This thread is hereby locked.

I think you've locked another thread on accident.

Uh, I think you locked the wrong thread. Or at least I hope so as I would like the other one to not be locked.

Lol, you're right. I blame it being 2:30am!

I'll have another glance before I do anything anyway at request of others. We've just been plagued by coordinated spammy efforts to push agendas on Discord a few times since launch, rather shut it down than let that get out of hand. As some, well... Take it to the extreme.

I'll leave it be for the time being - on a short leash..

Well, now's as good a time as any to say that I think it's high time we all take a few steps back and take a deep breather. This is a forum for a videogame, after all.

In my opinion, there's no use in meaningless fighting or being overly upset over a fictional character. I understand the frustration - I was pretty (negatively) surprised as well - but we gotta keep it together. Infighting like this makes us look childish and silly and our criticism (valid or not) will end up being ignored because we're acting like entitled children, and then we'll all be even more frustrated.
Behind every fictional character are real people (writers, voice actors and certainly more) and there's no use in accusing them of certain personal agendas or even insulting them personally (which has definitely happened in this thread).