100% this. For a climatic scene to the arc of one of the biggest main characters, I was quite baffled by how underwhelming the reactions were from my companions. I'm not expecting some overly dramatic weeping, but for god's sake, their friend/lover literally just died, can we get something more emotional than a blank stare? Get real, show the shock, the
grief. Anything. It doesn't even have to be voice acted if bringing in the VAs is an issue, just a short moment where your companions stare in disbelief or a futile attempt to revive you while all the emotion is conveyed through their facial animations and body language would suffice at this point.
Really, companion reactivity for Durge in general leaves much to be desired. Like sure, we get the act 2 camp scene (which was great). But come act 3, outside of Astarion or what Jaheira and Minsc have to say, the rest of the romanceable companions have very little unique interactions with Durge. It's especially annoying how much more you get if you romance Astarion, it's like the writers only had him in mind and seemingly forgot to give the rest of the companions equal attention. This content disparity is really disappointing.
Shadowheart has just as much in common with Durge, like the memory issues/amnesia, the parallels between being asked to kill Nightsong much like Durge was asked to kill Isobel, the dichotomy of following their religion vs defying their god, being raised in an abusive cult with a parental-figure god that seeks to use them as a tool for their own agendas, etc. You'd think there'd be more moments for these two characters to bond over their shared experiences and that she'd have a bigger reaction to Durge's bravery for defying Bhaal and consequently getting killed for it, much like the way she defied Shar and got tortured for it. Lae'zel arguably has many similarities too.
What's crazy is that there IS Durge reactivity from companions, it's just not accessible. A dataminer found an
extended version of Shadowheart's new haircut scene where if you're playing as Durge, she can tell you that your defiance against your god was what inspired her to turn away from Shar. It's just a couple of lines of dialogue, but it's these little moments that matter. Why didn't we get this?
I love this game and I'm happy the Embrace!Durge fans got some new evil endings in patch 7, but the neglect for Redemption!Durge will always be disheartening.
