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.

The way he reacts to the "accusations" is just showing how "much" he cares about the feedback in this specific case. It reads like he just rubs it off as a trivial matter.
I won't say anymore about his reaction as I know there are people among us who would defend him to the death.

As already has been said, there aren't many things that have to be changed on Halsin's romance to make it somewhat working for most of the players (ADD monogamous path, rework the brothel scene to allow Tav to invite Halsin, lock the swimming banter behind SH/Halsin polyship, less horny, more personality, SA story, maybe more content in act 3 but that would need more effort).

Some notes for that:

- Monogamous path: If the Tav doesn't even date another companion beside Halsin, you are in a somewhat monoship with Halsin, it's just never officially said, so why don't you just add some lines for the Tav to decide? Halsin doesn't even date someone else, so it's not like we're removing content. LIke Halsin could say "I've never wandered in such a garden you keep for yourself, but I'm willing to discover it together" or w/e.

- Brothel: Just have a check if Halsin is in party, add a dialogue option to invite him (better: add a short scene where you ask your LI first if they are fine with it). Remove SH going crazy for having sex with Halsin if she is in a monoship with Tav, only allow it to happen in a polyship (which would still make less sense, as she most likely already had sex with him, but we know how important the scene to someone is, who is possibly reading all of this, who likes ducks and doesn't give f***s on feedback.)

- Swimming banter: Just set flags for SH/Halsin polyship and only allow the banter to happen if flags are set (would need some rephrasing to fit a polyship but can also stay as it is)

- Less horny, more personality: Don't get me wrong, allow the man to be horny, but please add more normal scenes. I know, that's more work to do, but it's not like the game came out yesterday and people just started asking for the return of EA lines (or maybe the addition of them at later points in the story if they fit). Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Dave, the VA said, that they recorded way more lines than the ones present in the game, so there are unused ressources.

- SA story: There are still people who feel uncomfortable with this being in the game, so there are just 3 options: remove it, keep it or expand it. Personally I don't mind the way it is in the game now, but it would be nice to go a bit deeper into the matter at a later stage. And please remove the Tav's cruel jokes (like bringing him back to the Underdark), that's just plain bad, inhuman and a lack of empathy).

- As for the act 3 content, that is not gonna happen, because Halsin is supposed to be the "just present, he observes" as stated in the IGN interview. Sounds like a cheap excuse? Yep.

All of this changes (beside act 3 content and maybe some additional lines) could be done cheaper and with less effort than adding a whole Astarion scene I'd wager and yet they decided to not do so.

Just as a side note: Halsin hates Shar followers, so on the Shar SH path, he should hate her and not get her laid. Like I can't see him throwing away his values just for some p**ssy (well, he kinda does so with Drows, but let's not talk about that). If she follows the Selûne path, she should be more into monoships, saving her parents, having her own family and so on (so not simping for Halsin). Either way, their shipping makes no sense and as already being said, it's not even popular among fans.
There could've been a better female option for a polyship like Lae'zel (at least as she is a Githyanki, not talking about her actual character) or they should change the whole story of SH. As for Astarion, it has already been said how uncomfortable he feels.
Don't want to sound rude, but you can feel that the poly ideas came up pretty late into development and that's why it is executed so bad.

Speaking to Larian directly for future games: If you want to add polyships, at least add a male and a female companion to have as a side chick (if you care about straight males and lesbians, that is).