Well, well, what have we here? A brave soul who dares to go against the current!
But seriously, how that saying goes:
"Opinions are like arseholes - everybody has one, and they all stink."What does it hurt you if people stan Astarion or Shadowheart? Sure, it might be annoying to read through, heck I've seen some insane takes on all of BG3 characters. But again, what does it hurt you if some people over there adore a character you personally find boring? Like geez, I am a woman and I adore Astarion as a character and I don't get why other women adore Gale or Halsin, do you see me complaining about that on these forums?
Also, according to steam I am at 2,1k hours, had 600h in at release (thanks to EA) and I'm close to having finished the game 3 times. Full runs, including the awkwardly paced act 3. 2 of these runs are on tactician difficulty, too. I don't rush, I discover all there is to do in each act (as much as I can anyway). Next run will very likely be a solo, as Astarion origin (cause of his beneficially broken abilities) and also to romance Karlach (for that stupid achievement), I am one of these people who will very likely romance the same character over and over if given an option. And as Astarion you can't romance Astarion.
Look, I do try most of the options in the game, some I detest like romancing Halsin or Gale. Heck, I have been doing this in every single game I've ever played? Mass Effect? 9/10 times I will go for Garrus (1/10 being Kaidan INTO Garrus, for drama), DAO? 9/10 times I will go for Alistair and 1/10 either Zevran or Morrigan. BG2? Ugh, I hate Beamdog's characters and I hate Annoyman even more, so nobody. If Haer'Dalis was an option (I know there are mods, but it ain't the same)... And so on and so forth.
Now, you wanna know, why I, someone who's spent so much damn time on this game has not recruited Minthara even once? Well, I am not abandoning the Grove to be ravaged by gobbos and I am not slaughtering a bunch of innocents just to recruit one (amazingly written by all accounts) drow lady, yes I realize those are just pixels, it still fucking stings watching that, y'know? Just like that movie, 'Schindler's list',I watched it once and it HURT. It'll be a damn long while before I build up enough courage to rewatch it.
Not to mention, you lose out on a bunch of companions who will hate this choice so much they will abandon the group (rightfully so, have some standards). One day I will play a murderhobo Durge run and that is when I will recruit Minthara (unless Larian makes to possible to recruit her on 'good' runs too, take Halsin, I don't care for him). And yes yes yes, there are glitchy workarounds to recruit her on good runs as well, like the infamous Sheeptara, maybe one day I will try to get her that way on a good run I dunno. But like people have stated in this thread, there are reasons other than hate that's driving driving people away from recruiting Minthara.
You have your freedom of expression and as do I. And let me tell you, insulting your average Astarion's enjoyers IQ lvls is not a good look.
Just sayin'.
