I fully understand your frustrations though. I haven't been there since EA, but look at it this way: why do we think Minthara is being neglected? I always remind myself the majority of the playerbase don't exactly recruit Minthara. Most people like to play good and the knockout method is too much of a hassle for casual players. Less people playing with her means less bug reports, and Larian's modus operandi seem to be popular demand. What better way to encourage them to prioritize her more, if not by sending in more bug reports and suggestions? Also, this forum has been almost completely inaccessible so I'm not too optimistic they will see your posts here, which is a huge shame.
You are correct that majority do not try to see her side of the story, but it's important to also take into account that lots of players do not want to see it precisely because Larian never bothered to flesh it out and improve it. Hell even I did not care about her side of the story up until Honour Mode came out - my excuse to fully immerse myself with the immoral route.
So I played through Minthara's story four times total (twice in Early Access and twice with Update #5), they just barely patched it together and left it alone once it was "playable enough" as all the focus and effort went into the intended heroic narrative.
Between Early Access and full release; the one universally reached consensus by the community remains that Minthara as a character is awfully lackluster and that her side of the story just plain sucks because it does not have anything unique of its own and only deletes content. It's been pointed out for over 2 years now and keeps being brought up all the time because every single choice that one makes in the game contrary to the intended heroic narrative leads to removed or deleted content without any long-term payoff.
- Sided with Minthara? All the goblins pack up and leave, never to be seen again.
- Sided with Nere? He ends up zombified.
- Sided with the Duergar? They just pack up and leave, never to be seen again.
- Sided with Marcus? He's either a glorified statue at Moonrise or a corpse in Balthazar's study.
- Saved Sazza? She just leaves, never to be seen again.
- Sided with Balthazar? Leads to exact same path as the rest, except zombified Ragzlin makes an appearance.
Every single choice done on Minthara's side leads to extremely short-lived linear narrative with no long-term branching and reactions because Larian didn't want to bother with it, while the intended "good" narrative has story choices branching out throughout all three ACTs reacting to it. And to put even more salt to the wound Larian gave two more good-aligned companions (Jaheira and Minsc) because all of the effort went into the heroic narrative.
Larian could have had Sazza, Nere, Marcus or even Viconia join the group as compensation for losing 5 companions from the other side, but obviously immoral narrative is not their intended narrative so we get nothing. We don't even get the one and only Minthara properly integrated and as you've seen yourself Minthara despite having stuff at the Mountain Pass, was cut off from it too because who cares. What reason is there to cut her off from it... literally no reason.
So it's Larian's fault that people are not interested in trying out Minthara and her side of the story because they made it impossible to enjoy it. Who wants to waste time playing a clearly rushed, unfinished, buggy mess of a story that leads nowhere with a companion that is broken 7 months in a row with non-existent romance, while content just keeps getting deleted with every choice made. I certainly don't and never will again, hell my ending for an evil Dark Urge did not even have an epilogue, just a stupid disappointing one liner and fade-to-black.
I also
wrote feedback about it too, but who cares... Larian certainly doesn't care
As for the "Nightwarden" prefix, I can confirm this disappears after she joins your party, and only then. By that I mean literally joining your party of 4, not recruitment. I long rested a few times after recruiting her and the prefix stays. So, if you go the entire game without ever asking her to join your party, it is very likely the title will never be removed. I personally don't take much issue with this, but it does make me wonder why they decided this should be the trigger. Frankly, I've also wondered why "Nightwarden" was ever added to Minthara at all when she doesn't even serve Lolth during the entire course of the game XD
Well that's weird, because I tested it yesterday and she loses the prefix the moment she steps into camp. So not sure what's going on, but I'll try to keep an eye out on it once I feel ready to suffer through an Update #6 playthrough.
Impressive stubbornness. There are some points about Minthara in your messages which I personally can't be agree with. Like ACT 1 " literally making the whole event being no different than having sex with someone who's vulnerably drunk/drugged and completely unaware of themself and their surroundings, which is precisely what's happening to Minthara during that entire scene." but it's okay. We all have our opinions. Thank you for your work.
Probably meant persistence. Since I'm not actually stubbornly discussing stuff here, merely persistently pointing out issues
But about that point I made;
Unlike all the other companions who are completely themselves during their own romance scenes, Minthara's one and only scene is unfortunately not even a romance scene, but just pure pleasure available only by deceiving her
while she's a dominated victim with an abused mind and stolen body. Her domination being no different than;
- Chop in the Illithid Oubliette being forced to chop people's brains out while mentally begging to be killed so he can be free.
- Gortash's parents being imprisoned within their own bodies while desperately crying and begging to be saved behind the barriers of domination.
- Duke Ravenguard being imprisoned inside of his own body and going against the very city he swore to protect while listening to Gortash's every command.
- And any other dominated person in the game... etc...
The only reason why Minthara wants to have sex in ACT I in the first place is because her blood is running hot from the slaughter of infidels, believing both her and the player are united in a singular purpose of carrying out the Absolute's will, basking in Her glory and elevating themselves in it.
That's her only reason.
Because no matter what the player says or does while she is sexually attracted or having sex, any sort of implication that any of our choices or sexual advances are not fully orchestrated and driven by the Absolute will end up with her harshly reprimanding us and getting angry. That's why no matter what the player says or does in ACT I has no real effect on her in ACT II because that's not her in ACT I, that's just her stolen body as her mind is being abused.
Due to these reasons her romance does not start until ACT II's finale because she does not remember the vast majority of the things she did while dominated. She does not consider us a love interest at all until she is truly free and allowed to look inside our own mind to see how we truly see her, since the core of her romance is honesty and getting to truly know her heart. Not the pitiful husk from ACT I who she herself rejects and considers her greatest failure ever.
Simply imagine if;
- Astarion's one and only love scene was available while he is being directly controlled by Cazador.
- Shadowheart's one and only love scene was available as she is having her mind messed with by Shar.
- Wyll's one and only romance scene was available while Mizora is influencing and forcing him to do things he doesn't want to (like Harleep makes someone an eternally mindless sex slave)
Minthara pretty much falls into all of these scenarios unfortunately, as her body is stolen while her mind is being actively abused. Therefore it is no different from having sex with an erased Minthara from ACT II and no different than the point that I originally made.
But that is not the issue nor is truly relevant; the issue is that she does not have any love/romance scene
after she is truly free and fully herself in ACT II. That's the real problem, the fact that Larian did not make any for the actual Minthara.
