Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Problems with Halsin's character, advances, LI and general character interactions, etc.

You are correct: there is no problem with drow twins in general. After all, there are many brothels in many games and we all know what brothels are made for. People find questionable reactions of some companions which look like OOC.

Hmm, if quite a bit of people don't like it and a thread is made whenever someone new finds out, maybe it's a problem no?

It was in context of Halsin/drow twins interactions overall. Halsin self insertion is 1. Disapproval triggers is 2. Companion reactions is 3.
So overall yes, it is all connected to Halsin. Drow-twins themselves are fine imo, so are companion's reaction to them alone(except Gale, of course, these are whack).
Also funny thing about "no" for an answer, every time you go to Sharess caress, he proposes himself, he doesn't give a shit if you rejected him before with his romance, if you declined his offer in Sharess caress before. He keeps on trying.


Consider reading Ehhhh123 post before to understand. Maybe your 18 years old son can read this too to understand.

What I find so disturbing about the way Halsin is written is that he feels very reminiscent of the classic text book groomer. He's a wise older man who offers you his counsel, his compassion and empathy, he's deeply passionate about protecting others and nature, banishing all darkness and evil from the world, and he's this tall beefy handsome man. A lot of people get swept off their feet with that, and feel safe to be vulnerable to share about themselves with such a person. You develop a rapport with them, and out of nowhere, you're suddenly blindsided by this whole other side to them you never saw. Just like suddenly discovering at the start of act 3, that Halsin underneath all that, is in fact a massive objectifying creep, with severe commitment issues, who cares far more about his sexual wants / needs than the well-being of others.

I totally get how the "gentle dom" vibe is attractive, and I very much respect polyamory, and it could have worked out beautifully had it been done mindfully. But instead, the writing for Halsin has his dialogue and presence bordering on predator behavior, and the subtlety of it makes it feel a little too tangible. The writer was either profoundly tone-deaf and thoughtless, or just completely disregarded how triggering Halsin can be for a fair amount of people in real life. In my opinion, it is really messed up how the player is suddenly blindsided by Halsin's severe commitment issues, and the entire situation with the drow twins, to Halsin not taking no for an answer, to his own experience and perspective of SA. You don't unearth this whole side of Halsin until act 3, until after who've invested a lot of energy on either romancing him or SH. It's very understandably quite the shock and potential trigger.

Some think that they will not change his dialogue, but I don't think it's out of the question considering how many are complaining about all this. *Spoilers* In patch 5, they added additional dialogue for Halsin talking about his experience of SA at Sharess' Caress which improved some of what it was originally. So, why not fix the disapproval you get from him and SH, and flag some things so that he respects Tav not wanting to sleep with him. I really hope they continue to listen to us and fix this as they already have started to.

Lastly, the whole attitude some have about this just being a video game and to not take it seriously isn't helpful. When you're engaged in a story, no matter what form of media you're getting it from, and you're suddenly blindsided by something that is potentially triggering your real life trauma, it is real and valid. The writer did not handle Halsin's dialogue mindfully and sensitively — I'm not speaking only of the scene at Sharess' Caress — it is Halsin's entire presence when you look at the whole picture from start to end.

When you decide to brush upon SA in a story, you have to be mindful about how you do so. And when you create a polyamorous / gentle dom character, and get it so profoundly wrong that you inadvertently turn them into a predator, it's an insult to those who are genuinely good people who are polyamorous and / or Doms IRL.

My son will still read it, but he already knows that some people take it too seriously, as we can see from the comments so far.
I give feedback.

I'm not exactly sure why you feel the need to bring up your son, but okay

100% agree, Syraxfyre.

I also don't like how Larian or the writer always try to push Halsin's status of very sexual driven person who no one can't deny and such. I think, at the point when Larian decided for Halsin to be a fully companion, they decided to have a good guy for marketing (and it works, even guys like the VA is posting some sexual Halsin stuff on X).
I bet, if Halsin would have just been a main story character, most problems would never have occured. But it's wrong to force players to kill him or have Orin take him to get rid of him. Might be really OOC for some Tavs. Halsin just feels like a mod in act 3, written by some teenagers.
They should've added him in a later stage of the game, written by a better writer and with less marketing in mind or if then wanted him to be a marketing bear gag, they could at least have added more depth to the char beside his horny side or whining about the city.
Larian listening to the feedback about Halsin becoming a companion is really nice but it seems they needed more time (and more time to develop something is positive) to make a good companion.

I know there are several people saying "then just romance another companion, what's the problem?". To some extend, this is like saying "Oh your pet died? Why don't you buy a new one?". I mean, you made a decision for that companion (maybe because he/she was the most attractive to you or you felt a connection) not to go for another one if the game forces a complete change of mind of your LI on you.
Like it has been said in this thread before, it's not about removing all the scenes, it's about giving the player the decision.

Let's hope Larian will do better in their next game - whatever it may be.

Nah, I don't think so. Looks like you still refuse to understand what problems people have with Halsin's writing. Oh well, happens.

P.S. My cat reads your posts and can't fathom how you can miss the point so hard.

He's got the vibe of that older professor/coworker who starts coming on to you the moment you do one nice or helpful thing for him.

Exactly 100%!

@Filia — Totally spot on!

Gale himself is fine, as far as I remeber. He is coerced into an absolutely shitty situation and gets himself out of it eventually, by the usual method he employs when he cannot deal with a situation himself. It's the player character - and Halsin - who are the problem. I think Gale should simply break up with the pc afterwards, just like Astarion does when you do the whole "you should learn to enjoy sex for your own sake" spiel to him. And some of the player dialogue in the selection screen of doom should be modified to allow the pc to be a loving partner to him, currently all the options are cruel and stupid.

In general there has to be a way to get out of the selection screen of doom should you unwittingly end up in it. Without any disapprovals or the like.


I second that.

I understand what's going on here, and I'm sure Larian sees it too.
It came from you, don't worry, it will come.

I think consequences should be more dire for some act 3 scenarios for sure. Like some actions just have 0 impact and feel like fanservice.

Also it is incredibly funny how you can reject Halsin's poly proposal(go even for mean line about sleeping with deep rothe, which indicates that you have 0 interest in any sexual connection with him) and this guys still proposes himself into drow-twins and after you decline him there again, he will still try to propose himself next time you go to drow twins, nothing changes. You can do it infinitely. Also you can count SH/Halsin banter after swimming scene there.

So yes, very respectful to the player indeed, takes "no" for an answer for sure.

Nah, you ignore reasonable posts. Like Ehhhh123 post or Syraxfyre.

When you watch a movie, read a book, listen to a piece of music, listen to a story that somebody else shares with you, does it ever move you and stir your emotions? This is literally no different from that. This is very complex story writing and it stirs real emotions in people. If you cannot relate to that experience, there's nothing wrong with that. But to tell people who are moved by a story, or triggered or disturbed very unexpectedly by a story, that they are taking it too seriously is profoundly insensitive and rude. Also, your reaction is an insult to the writers who have spent years working on these characters and their story arcs. The whole point of story-telling is to inspire and move people, allowing them to feel they can relate, to feel heard, and to feel understood.

I personally have hinderance with how Astrarion’s evil romance is handled because of my own world experiences and personal issues, it physically and mentally repulses me. But again, like this dialogue between Halsin and SH, it is entirely, totally avoidable and is on the player character if they continue to interact with it. I literally reloaded to a previous save state to avoid the romance scene after Astarion became ascended because it made me uncomfortable. I had no idea what was going to happen, encountered it once and then decided that I never wanted to interact with it again. Should I go around telling people who do enjoy this specific side of his romance that is ‘problematic’? No, because fiction and media is designed to explore this stuff.


Now, for Halsin himself, I could be paraphrasing here as my memory of interacting with him is a little fuzzy because I haven’t played in a while (so correct me if I am wrong), but the only unavoidable dialogue I can genuinely think of with him is Halsin confessing that he has physical feelings for you once back at camp, which you are free to turn down. I don’t recall him ever bringing it up again, and I avoided the whole SH and Halsin debacle because I never interacted with the drow twins bar once and then never again (again, avoiding content I don’t want to interact with). Does my option of SH and Halsin tank for this scene even existing? No.


Could Halsin have been handled more adeptly with his specific background and subject matter that it is attempting to explore? Yes (I think EA Halsin was miles better than what we got on release). Is him making advances towards Tav, even if unwarranted and completely out of left field, odd? I would argue that no, it’s not, because you have the agency to turn him down. Just as people have the agency to avoid this specific dialogue that seems to be a weird mix of folks having problems with Halsin’s character and then another crowd who take issue with the fact that SH can have the hots for someone else when they themselves are attempting to initiate intimacy with two drow.

The point of SH being into Halsin in the background even if you don’t trigger the brothel dialogue is a level of mental gymnastics that I myself could apply to Astarion’s evil romance (or evil route in general) again as an example of an action a companion would like to take but wont unless initiated by the player. Is this out of character for Shadowheart? Again I would argue no simply because of her Sharran background and her being upfront about being appreciative of other companions (Karlach for example).

I feel we are approaching Bioware levels of discourse over this topic.

You can stumble across this SH/Halsin brothel thing unsuspecting(like I did as example), in rpg you usually explore the world. Swimming banter is unavoidable.
I have more problem with how Halsin is handled. As I said before, you can decline his "offer" in camp, after this you get swimming banter anyway(which he initates and hits on both SH an Tav, proposing a... threesome, after being rejected by Tav. In all of my playthroughs his "confession" occurs earlier than SH's act 3 scene). After that he can infinitely propose himself in brothel despite being put down(you can infinitely reject him there and he will continue to try anyway). You might be interested in drows, but not in that druid, or is this option out of consideration?(Again, I am talking about Halsin and his attempts to join sexual activities with Tav despite being put down over and over again, not SH attraction or w/e).

If so, then it comes from the other side, particularly against the authors. The repetitions are tiring, goodbye.

So we are back in "The author wanted it this way, so it's ok" route. Ok.
Then you should have no problem with other people criticizing Halsin and his writing and demanding changes. Afterall Larian tend to listen to feedback

I wish, they's just make the whole Halsin thing depend on whether or not you ever ask him about his past lovers or not. I am currently romancing Astarion (again) and Halsin decided to make his proposition right after we came back from the meeting at the flophouse. He literally picked the most vulnerable moment possible to try and worm his way into the relationship. It's so creepy if you see it in the larger context.