Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Companions: how have your views on them changed from first impressions?

Astarion: I still like the old Gremlin a lot, but like Fylimar, I think he is overrated. Overall, I got the impression that his writing is far more concerned with portraying a character than giving the player a companion to interact with. Choosing him as my Avatar, however, has become my favourite way to play the game. Especially stepping away from the ritual is such a good scene in his origin because all of the other companions (apart from Minth and DJ Shart) do a much better job in talking him down than Tav.

Gale: Besti! He had me at “a helping hand” and I have only grown to love him better since. I like how he wants to be good, but is often distracted by his insecurities and so his greatest enemy is within himself. I love the banter he has with the other companions (especially the girls) and I think he is overall the best written companion in the game. His player-dialogue is always excellent. You can easily read it aloud or imagine in another character’s voice to create a cinematic scene, and I love how you are given great flexibility about in which direction you want to take a conversation. Again like Fylimar, I have come to appreciate how his writing uses dice-rolls too. In matters which relate to his decision making and mental health, no rolls are used, only what you say to him counts. It is so refreshing. I also discovered how many dialogue variations he has for Avatar-Origins and player classes, interacting with him as cleric-Shadowheart was quite different from rogue (or rogue/bard) Astarion in some places. 

Halsin: I like him as an NPC but think he is pretty lame and somewhat creepy as a companion. I do like that he was given a platonic route, which is nice, but otherwise my opinion hasn’t changed much: He stays in camp - or at the temple. 

Jaheira: Camp-Granny, I love her and I do really enjoy her quest and the interaction with her family. I maybe love her a little more since discovering her secret room.

Karlach: She is a bit of an up and down for me. I like her well enough, especially her banter with Gale is a delight, but when I noticed how badly the game wants me to like her and how much she derails some other quests, I got a bit resentful towards her. The resentment has simmered down again, so I enjoy her once more but still, there are a few things I am salty about.

Lae’zel: She’s a good one and her romance is funny. I liked her right from the moment when she offered to teach Gale secret fighting styles and not much has changed since then.

Minsc: I didn’t expect to like him but he and Boo are surprisingly good to be around. He may tag along some time. 

Minthara: I am so glad you can take her along now on a “good” run and was delighted to get to know her. I hope that her goodish recruitment gets smoothed out more, because I really don’t want to leave her behind anymore. 

Scratch & Cub: Such good boys, not much has changed.

Shadowheart: I initially hated how she was all sweet to my character and bitchy towards the rest, now I simply recruit her late and she is equally awful to all of us in act 1. Problem solved. Plus, I do like her low approval dialogue during the tiefling party. Apart from all this, she is fairly inoffensive as a character and has a bit of main character syndrome because of how often you have to drag her around for her quest. This makes her a very fun origin to play as avatar though. 

Tara: Always a delight! I wish her act 3 interactions for Avatar-Gale weren’t so easy to miss as they are quite essential. 

Wyll: I initially thought he was moralising and boring. Now I still think he is moralising but that saving Karlach completely derails his quest and the lack of content does the rest. I do like him much better when I allow him to kill Karlach than when he saves her and is basically reduced to being her sidekick.