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.

I think the brothel, Mizora, emperor encounters have no hidden meaning. It's just animated sex scenes, so that player can have a threesome, or sex with a demon. Similar to how some of the dark urge scenes are slasher horror gore, just for shock value (e.g. Alfira).

In Astarion's case it at least is a honest mistake. It is horrible, but no harm was meant. For me the biggest issue is, that there is no way to react to it. It's treated seriously elsewhere in the game but in this case, they just let it slide which makes it extremely creepy.

If you take Gale along, you force him into it, fully aware of how much hates it and he "dissociates" by sending his projection in and leaving. It probably wasn't the intent of the scene that I feel a bit proud of Gale and literally hate everyone else - apart from the Drow. They are ok, it's their job.

Thats the thing, it feels extremely OOC if you think about it more(for Shadowheart) and can be justfied only by writers "fun" or bugged something.
Selunite Shadowheart:

Sharran Shadowheart

Don't you see difference in personalities and goals for these paths? Like I don't understand why Larian haven't separated it when it makes perfect sense for 1 path to be into this things and 0 sense for the other path.

I read your post about Halsin, and yes, I understand that Halsin himself is not guilty of anything, it's just hard not to react to the video of your favorite character being dragged into this "open relationship". The problem is that someone had the "great idea" to ruin the game with these very "open relationships" (in reality there are other, more accurate words to describe this "act", but in the forum, of course, we should call it that). I just imagined what would happen if these "open relationships" were not in the game. Is there any other reason to feel any negativity towards Halsin? No. Not a single one. He really could have been a "good bear" with his good romance for those who like him. The rest of us would just be friends with him, some would like him more, some would be more indifferent, but it's unlikely that Halsin by himself could cause anyone to even want to kill him.

It's the same with brothels - we've seen brothels in many games (in The Witcher, every brothel worker has her own cutscene). Some are happy to go to brothels, some are not interested, but the idea of dragging your partner into a brothel, hurting him, or getting a "proposal" of this kind from your partner is... It's wrong. It's not about the 21+ rating anymore, it's about something else, much worse. Who needs that in the game? If there are such people, they can't be the majority of players, there are tons of genre specific videos for such people, there are all sorts of "erotic novels" and other products of this kind, why is it needed here?

And you can also imagine how great it would be if all the resources spent on "open relationships" the developers instead spent on other things in the game. Yes, the game is great, but there are a certain number of plot points that could have been improved. They could have, after all, made the existing romances in the game even deeper and more interesting, added an extra cutscene for each companion for their romance, for example. Everyone would be happy, there would be no resentment and aggression from players, and it certainly wouldn't affect sales badly, rather the opposite. Sometimes "new" is not always successful, and sometimes "old and proven", like "beautiful romance between a man and a woman", if you do it competently and interestingly (and in BG 3 it's done, there are amazing romances that don't need any threesomes) - it works great, players really like it.

It's hard for me to understand how Astarion could be induced to do this, knowing his history, his trauma. He allows Tav to do this to himself because of his love for Tav, himself thinking, I guess, that "there's no harm in it", putting on a mask as if everything is fine, "playing the seducer". I wish at least the Ascended Astarion would have behaved harshly with a Tav like the one in this video, ended the relationship and not allowed himself to be tortured...
A big respect to Gale! At least he's doing the right thing. Decent way out of the situation.

Absolutely right! Selune's path and Shar's path should be separated, Shadowheart can't behave the same way, her choice of path affects her personality a lot, and Shadowheart's reactions should differ depending on that. Otherwise it breaks the plot and logic.

In the romanced version of Astarion, he flat out says that he doesn't want to join Pre-Cazador and that's it. However, Post-Cazador Spawn-Astarion says that he wants to find out what he likes. So he is exploring and it backfires, that is ok. It's not great but it happens. That you can't help him out of a very bad situation which your character is completely aware of, though, is absolutely not ok. (Discussing how stupid it is to drag Astarion back to the brothel in the first place, would be a different can of worms.) Friend-Astarion never had his Araj-moment, I guess? I don't know. Or Tav is just callous in that case too. ^^;

Astarion does what he wants and it's too soon and the result in this case is only to be expected. He's a big boy, he can deal with it. My problem with that scene is like, every other part of it.

Everyone goes on about how perfect he is, the pc has no say in what's happening, and in the end it's like "oh yeah and Astarion dissociated, the end." Wasn't I supposed to see this guy as more than a sex object? No?

The approach to sex in this game presents a worldview tainted by a crumbling morality. Hedonism is not rejected, but rather appreciated, if not outright celebrated.

I have a different idea of a hero.

I still thoroughly enjoy the game. There are enough similarities between my tastes and that of the writers that I'm able to really get into the characters and story. But I'm also very cognizant of where our tastes differ. These moments aren't little mistakes throughout the storytelling process. They are fundamental differences of opinion in regards to what makes a respectable character.

Ok, I'm honestly glad to see Ihatestrangethings banned. Again: threads against devs are not cool, no matter how much you hate a character.

I'm not the biggest Astarion fan, but I always wonder, how he gets reduced to a mere sex symbol everywhere with his SA backstory, that actually is handled pretty well. He and Shadowheart make the least sense for a polyarmoury plot, he'll, Astarion should even decline, if Tav wants the drow foursome with his backstory. I read, that he at least have proper reaction afterwards.

On my honour run I'm currently doing Halsins questline in act 2 with Thaniel and the Shadowcurse. And while it is a nice quest, his first signs of trouble start showing. He says to my gnome girl in a very seductive voice, that she can have him, if she wishes. The first times I thought, he meant ' You have my help', but knowing his development in act 3, it sounds wrong.

Idk since when cheating and c*cking became normal and makes for "respectable" character. Or being a creep.


I can see Shar SH being fine with polyamory(or even encourage this). Selune SH has way different relationship goals and personality(she is literally torn from that cult and finally she is free), makes no sense for polyamory(at least make her more threatened? Maybe some persuasion required too, she should be bothered).

Again, it's a crumbling morality, often defined as "sex positive." Right and wrong get shifted to grey. The nature of sex and identity gets complicated for the "hero." It all becomes a core trait of the hero's journey.

I honestly identify with Wyll when it comes to romance and such. Shame he's considered boring.

The scene with Ascendant plays out differently - he's getting attention instead of giving it like Spawn Astarion, they also both feed on the twins. Tav notices something is wrong after the whole thing and not during it. Either he was better at acting, he enjoyed it to some extent but still feels shit afterwards, or Tav just wasn't paying enough attention. You can see it in the spoiler if you feel like it.


The drow scene is crappy on it's own but what might be even worse is that there is no conversation about the whole encounter afterwards. He cannot be comforted in any way.

I think a true friend would never let Astarion bite that vile Oblodra. I will always kill her simply for her boorish attitude towards Astarion, that's reason enough for me. But I will admit something that I take the game too seriously - to me the characters are alive, I don't get to "test" the game, I can only pick and choose even within the test what would be acceptable in reality. I don't think this approach is right, of course, and I'm often overly emotional about Astarion. Of course, a different approach to the game doesn't make anyone heartless.

Maybe he doesn't want to show his weakness. Hiding his vulnerable side, he's a Lord. I wish I could burn this brothel down... Although it's better to sit in the lotus position and recite the mantra "This has never happened in my game and will never happen. My Astarion has nothing to do with it." That's the only thing that helps with scenes like this

I wish I could do this, but I cannot anymore. Knowledge of some things is a burden indeed. Talking about some very questionable SH/Halsin interactions of course.

This.

Because he's designed that way. Geez.

But while we might skill into Evocation so Astarion's hair doesn't get in disarray when we thunderwave the enemies around him, he is more than his coiffure - at least I hope most people like him because they really like him.