Hello there,

this will be about Minthara, and the general issues of how Larian is approaching and responding to concerns raised about her character because it's been 4 months and I need Larian to stop sweeping her broken state under the rug, especially now with the new recruitment, she deserves to work properly and be fleshed out as a fully functional companion, which she flat out isn't at the moment.

--------------------------------------------------

1. she is still bugged, she has been bugged for 4 months at this point. there was not a single patch or hotfix in which she was in a fully fixed state since release, please let that sink in, i cannot stress it enough. this shows a serious lack of care for her character from sides of the people in charge of these decisions at Larian, intentional or not.

2. the recently released IGN interview (https://www.ign.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-final-interview-game-of-the-year-2023-characters-endings) underlines the lack of understanding and care for the character too. there are other points to be raised about the interview, but this is about Minthara so I'll be focusing on that. they mention a dialogue that happens after the new recruitment where she judges the player for their choice of knocking her out and is distrustful, which is a straight up lie as this content doesn't currently exist in the game.

further, the lead writer goes on to say that he is happy with bg3 as is and would like to move on, and only give Minthara a few more lines with Orin, ignoring that her current writing leaves plot holes and direct contradictions in her character, such as her saying Bhaal ain't shit and Durge shouldn't follow him, but then disapproving of turning your back on Bhaal as Durge. or her lines after her act 1 scene where she says she decided the PC must die, but then as a response the PC can ask why the Absolute wanted them dead, while it was HER that wanted that. this combined with the 4 months of bugged state shows a lack of playtesting and making sure her current story and content is coherent, working and makes sense in and of itself. Larian, we aren't in EA, please stop using your players as playtesters, we shouldn't have to report these basic, easy to catch things.

3. I want to draw attention to the fact that:
- Karlach got a whole new ending cutscene and ending choice after popular player demand
- Astarion had his kisses and "thrusties" fixed after more popular player demand
- Minthara never actually got fixed, let alone had her content reviewed or tested by the team itself it seems, DESPITE fan demand
In case the bias wasn't clear yet.

4. what fans of Minthara have been demanding, is simply making her current content work and make sense narratively within her personality and thought processes as well as within her story. and then on top of that giving her a personal quest, working romance and overall fleshing out her content, as she is one of it not THE most lacking character in terms of her personal story, let me explain what I mean. when I compare her to Halsin, who is another "sidekick" and sideline character on a similar content level to Minthara, his story arc revolves around lifting the curse in act 2, this plotline doesn't happen or exist if he isn't recruited, it is mentioned but you're unable to play or complete it without having him there. now compare that to Minthara, whose story arc revolves around her revenge on Ketheric and Orin, two bosses you kill either way, whether she is present or not.

another person I can think of that is tied to getting back at a boss is Karlach who wants to fight Gortash, however Karlach has a whole other storyline outside of that related to her engine, which is also unique to her, Minthara is lacking this unique story content, which is why fans have been saying she seems incomplete and her being in a constantly bugged state definitely isn't helping this. tying new content to Orin as said in the previously mentioned IGN interview wouldn't really solve this problem or answer the demands of her fans - I really hope Larian can see that after some further consideration. she needs content outside of Orin or Ketheric and outside of the main plotline that happens anyway, she needs something that's unique to her like the others have. plus her romance is still broken, by the way.

--------------------------------------------------

I hope the length of this post shows the love I have for the character, it's entirely prompted by feeling like Larian isn't giving her the attention and love I would like to see and is kind of pushing her to the side compared to the other companions. I know there are other characters with similar problems but I'm putting in my effort for Minthy since I personally care about her the most out of the companions. I also hope other people can add on things they can think of! or just share the love for her character, let me know what you think and report her bugs and lack of content to Larian!



[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]