Originally Posted by autistichalsin
It was never once said that EA Halsin had a wife and child, and I find it weird that that's being touted as what it takes to be a "normal dude."

It's been said. In the thread about sexualizing the game.

Originally Posted by Brainer
Unholy father-mother of an inexplicable eldritch deity.

It actually made me recall a datamined tidbit from EA about how Halsin was supposed to have a spouse and child originally. From what could have been a wholesome sage mentor with a feral side to him (albeit with a lore-breaking physique for an elf, but that's another story) he was literally reduced to bad fanfic-tier horny bait, and they're gloating about it. Though, to be fair, with how the romance is handled, it more or less applies to every romanceable character, but Halsin is particularly egregious.

Given what other traits Halsin was given in the full game by his actual writer, it seems like deliberate character assassination? Viconia and Sarevok and Minsc and Jaheira may have been knackered by "virtue" of incompetence/overconfidence rather than malice, but with Halsin it seems like he was purposefully sent on a downward spiral once the pre-release rewrites and stitchings began. Makes once imagine how tired the team was with the game around a 2 year EA mark given its release state. The lack of a definitive edition / expansions might be partially attributed to that as well, I guess, and not only to the Hasbro/WotC dumbbuggery which would have also hampered the game alongside its development path, depending on their level of involvement.

Well, that would be a much more “normal dude” for those who don't romance him. Just like they could make it so that he only shows “attention” to those who want it, not everyone else, so that players wouldn't be forced to try to do everything they can just to avoid his presence.

Originally Posted by Bobby678
They basically force the guy on you every chance they get.

I didn’t start Hating Halsin until act2 when he accused me of treating him like a lover when all I did was try to get know him.

Classic “nice guy” behaviour and no you don’t want to be known as the “nice guy”.

When a woman says “nice guy” it really means the creep we are scared of and whenever we are nice to them they think we want to fuck them but the reality is we don’t.

“Nice guy” keeps hitting on you when you tell him you’re uncomfortable with his advances he will respond with the exact same accusation Halsin does.

This happened to me in all play thrus on

Xbox X v4.1.1.5022896

Yeah, likewise. I related to him well up until the second act too. Moreover, when you immediately turn him down because it's impossible to say normally that you're already in a relationship without the extremely unpleasant implication of that line, which implies that despite that, you kind of might as likely to agree, afterwards he actually accuses you: “Why did you ask me about love then?”. In my case, it's even a bug (or a response not accounted for by the game) because I specifically did NOT ask him that, ignoring the relevant question in my dialog with him. I wanted to avoid any hint of flirting, so as not to provoke him, even at the cost of skipping some piece of plot and telling about his past lovers. The game doesn't even take that into account, and Halsin rebukes me for something I didn't do in the first place.

Honestly, I would respond to such a “nice guy” with such “nice words” with a hint of possible “nice consequences” if he doesn't back off, that he would have a real reason to blame and take offense. But the game thinks that we all, as “discord shitposters”, just love this kind of “attention” to ourselves and enjoy it. It's a very sad situation with Shadowheart, as you described, it's not just unpleasant as in the case of heterosexual women, it really hurts.

Originally Posted by fylimar
Totally agree with both. I mean, I'm glad Halsin is Orin bait, so that I don't have to be afraid to loose an important companion or an innocent kid and her cat. Thanks,Halsin, for taking one for the team - that is my stance.

And let's face it: what did people expect would happen after all the Halsin thirst threads? Of course he is only a sex object, because that was the spirit of those threads. And I know, some wanted him "for his character", but to be honest, there wasn't much about his character to work with to begin with. He was supposed to be a quest tool and ally and that was it. You can't make something out of nothing.

Yes, there is such a thing, but it also cheapens the quest with Orin a lot. If all companions evoked friendly feelings, this quest would be tense, I would like to free the companion as soon as possible, to tear them out of her clutches, the fight with Orin would be for sure more difficult than in the final, before the battle with the brain. Even if this companion was so not particularly interesting, just an ally in the quests, well, more boring than the others, well, would sit in the camp mostly, but still it would be a pity for him, still would like to free him, even if not to run headlong, but certainly not to postpone on purpose until the last. And so - snap!, a bear-shaped plug for Orin was inserted, and ran away satisfied to do interesting things. And all this building up of tension, “there's a doppelganger among us”, etc. turns out to be nonsense as a result, “a way to get rid of Halsin so that he doesn't strain you in the camp”. It seems to me that in quests like this, the game, on the contrary, should make the player fear for the kidnapped companion.

One life, one love - until the world falls down.