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: at first I was mildly annoyed by how mean he was all the time, but now he is one of my favorites. His arc with Cazador was beautiful.

Lae'zel: same as above. I do still get annoyed at her pushiness in act 1 (IE telling me she wants to taste my sweat within ten minutes of meeting me and then condescends when I say no... how the hell is Halsin the one that got labeled a creep by half the fanbase when Lae'zel does THIS?) but if I ignore that part I love her.

Gale: annoyed the shit out of me from early on, and this hasn't changed. His constant condescension is a bit too much for me and I tend to kind of ignore him once I've served up his last plate of shoes.

Karlach: loved her from the very start, and continue to do so. Her storyline is one of the most compelling, I just wish she got a happier ending.

Wyll: ditto, though I also wish in his case that he had more agency. He feels like he takes a back seat in his own story more than any of the other companions.

Shadowheart: eh on her at first, but once she became nicer and turned away from Shar I started to love her. I love how awkward she is underneath the goth exterior- the night orchid exchange is what really did it and made me adore her.

Minthara: I still kill her every time. I did watch some videos of her and she's kind of funny sometimes, I guess, so she has more redeeming qualities than I initially anticipated. I might recruit her in a future playthrough to be Orin bait since i'm tired of Gale and Lae'zel's scenes.

Halsin: was the first character I heard about, so I knew I'd love him before I started playing. First playthrough I fell in love with his respect for consent and healthy communication, his love for the defenseless like animals and children, and him being the literal only companion who doesn't guilt trip me for making party adjustments, and I've only loved him more every playthrough. My real only complaint is that he should have been recruitable right after the goblin party.

Jaheira: liked her sass at first. I do still love her, though I kind of soured on her a bit after 100 too many posts that complain excessively about Halsin being a Druid when she's there. I don't get the "too many Druids" complaint- if it's that annoying, isn't that what Withers is for? Jaheira being a Druid isn't relevant to the story at all, if you asked me to guess what class she was without knowing anything I would have guessed ranger or fighter (which makes sense given BG2/BG2). She can be reclassed without changing anything.

Minsc: eh. He's alright. I feel like his recruitment is far more trouble than he's worth (I guess I might feel differently if I was a big BG1/BG2 fan) especially for where it is in act 3, which makes it hard for me to get invested in him too much. I do love Boo, though, and some of his lines crack me up. I wish we could have recruited him at the end of act 2, but then I guess there are already too many recruitments happening and it might feel overwhelming.