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

Ok, I want to start my rambling with a preface. I don't take issue with polyamory as a sexual practice, I'm not judging anybody's real-life relationship. What 3, 4, 5, or however many consenting Adults do in the privacy of their multiple homes is none of my business. furthermore, if you're lucky enough to find a relationship dynamic that feels comfortable and emotionally healthy, good for you! nobody should try to take that away from you.

Many others have voiced this concern already, notably through the official forums and discord. I want to add my incoherent rantings to the mix now. Larian bragged about having a poly option in this game. After finishing the game and reading pages on pages of discussion threads, I can confidently say that this is an offensive depiction of polyamory. Now I'm no expert on this topic, but as far as I know, healthy poly(multiple)amory(love) comes with emotional investment. Everyone in the relationship is equal and emotional connection is shared between everyone involved. what we have in the game is not this, not poly, it's more like open monogamy with at times, questionable consent.

I am referring to Halsin's role in the romance between Tav and Shadowheart. Halsin's role in this relationship is more like a (for lack of a better word) fuck buddy only for SH, with no real emotional investment ever reflected in SH, where Tav is the main romantic interest. As others have said, SH is a bad candidate for this sort of relationship. The "poly" idea was clearly implemented very late in development along with Halsin. Her being poly contradicts a lot of the writing in the 1st and 2nd act that clearly give the impression that she is CRAZY about the practice of monogamy. On 5 different occasions, she turns down poly with the different origin characters. This is what she has to say every time you offer poly with any character "In truth, I don't think I'd want to be your spare lover. I'd always want more of you than you'd have to spare. Better perhaps to bow out with dignity." Then suddenly 2 days later, she's okay with a poly relationship?

And now I turn to the controversial, contradictory, buggy mess that is the Drow twins. since bestiality seems to have been a major selling point for this game, why not add incest while you're at it. For the sake of this post not being several pages long; I'm gonna focus on this interaction, it's a microcosm of the problems with this dynamic as implemented in the game. This scene was spoiled to me in the middle of Act 2 during my first run, as any spoiler would, it definitely messed with my immersion. (never reading YouTube comments again) I did not initiate it myself. This is how I found out about poly in this game and probably the reason I'm writing this book rn. I'm going to assume this mess was a result of Larian being really bad with flags. Judging by how many dialogue bugs there are in this game, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing was a miscommunication. triple-A games of this magnitude are worked on by many, many people.

I'll start off by saying that this is either a bugged interaction (still in bad taste if that's the case imo) or a bad prank on the player from the writer. judging by past characterization and history of sexual abuse, SH would never agree to the foursome in the first place (Halsin too!) or at least should be hesitant, but let's ignore that. We're assuming that you have a mono relationship with SH, and turned down Halsin's advances multiple times. If you go to the Drow twins, he will be quick to insert himself into the foursome (sketchy, again, we already turned him down before), Shadowheart not only agrees but actually comments that she has dreamt about this exact same scenario MANY times. She arguably pressures the player character to allow Halsin in, this implies questionable consent, which is not consent.

To add to this theory, both Halsin and SH DISAPPROVE when you deny Halsin his entry. To add insult to injury, the fade-to-black scene itself pretty much implies that you and the drow are just WATCHING while Halsin (you know what) in front of you. So in the case that this was only supposed to happen with a poly relationship between the three, it still contradicts the established characterization and previous dialogue from the two of them. and again, if this is a poly relationship, I get it's an orgy but why doesn't this scene include the player character doing anything? This especially looks awkward if you're doing mono only with SH. From a storytelling perspective, It's such a bizarre thing to have in interactive media lmao. I admit I was confused and upset when I learned this. looking at it detached from the game though, I'm laughing as I write this. How did this make it past the review process lol. if all I knew about this game, was this interaction, I would've thought this was a comedy bit lmao. No wonder some people think this game is just fancy softcore porn. The funniest part is, that neither of them ever show interest in each other if you don't romance SH. SH doesn't even want to join the orgy if you're either only romancing Halsin or not romancing either of them! (that alone is good enough evidence to disprove that she's just into casual sex, as stated by some) if this is all on purpose, I really have to laugh! it has to be a bad joke on the player Lmao.

It's worth mentioning, that if one is in a lesbian relationship with SH, Halsin straight-up unintentionally looks like a sexual predator in this scenario, he muscles in on sex with your partner after denying his advances (little creepy). If I had my way, the Drows wouldn't even be in the game in the first place. but then again, if I had my way, this game would just be a static jpeg of Shadowheart with 100 hours of Jennifer English speaking into the mic tbh. Shadowheart is the most vulnerable person in the party and has a past history of physical and sexual abuse from a cult she was in for the last 30 years. Halsin was a sex slave for THREE YEARS. I don't think they would be so eager to engage in an ORGY after all their recent trauma. I mean I didn't play this game expecting naughty dog/rockstar tier writing. I understand it's supposed to be a lighthearted game, but Jesus Christ This scenario sounds like it was written by a hormonal 14-year-old boy who can't even keep his story consistent. Worth mentioning that Halsin and SH have the same writer, and ONLY wrote those two characters. Besides some serious inconsistency in certain Act 3 scene(s), it's my opinion that he did a great job writing a very engaging story through SH, actually one of the few good ones lmao.

While this situation is completely avoidable, it's still written into their characters. What if: going against previous writing, SH randomly reveals in a piece of avoidable side content that, no joke, she is actually the human incarnation of Shar and has been manipulating us the whole time? Never to be mentioned again, would that not also merit rewriting as well? Though This is clearly the writer having fun at the expense of established content he himself wrote and should not be considered canon. Maybe it was something that was supposed to be more hidden but someone fucked up the flags. They should fix this and several other things that have already been outlined in the forums relating to poly. I think either properly develop the polyamory (doubt, considering how much time, effort, and rewrites that would cost) or remove all the problematic poly in the game as it is.

Halsin himself has some very undercooked Act 3 content and the drows are directly related to that, he was a late addition in development after all. he doesn't really have any use past ACT 2 because he was never supposed to be in the third act! People clearly like him and want more from him! But because of this so-called polyamory, he ditches you (or you and SH/Astarion) at the end of the game. On to his next mark, all that after you commit to him. you can't even have a happy ending by properly romancing him! I've seen even more people upset with this. Larian should prioritize him, as when you fix Halsin, you fix most of the grievances related to SH as well.

Anyway, I wrote too much, thank you for reading the ravings of a concerned individual. This depiction of polyamory serves only to further reinforce negative ideas and myths surrounding poly, portraying it as a fetish. I feel it important to mention this is all coming from the point of view of a CIS Mono straight male (I can barely handle one lady, really). Please Feel free to clown on me for devoting so much time and effort to analyzing fictional videogame romance, I had fun. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. #JusticeForHalsin

TL;DR: (see first paragraph) The Game has a very problematic depiction of polyamory, which only serves to reinforce negative ideas surrounding the practice. SH is a bad candidate for polyamory given the previous characterization that contradicts any will for anything besides a monogamous relationship with pc. Halsin can muscle himself into sex with your partner even after previously denying his advances (likely bug). The Drow twin scene is either bugged or very badly thought out, likely both.