Lae'zel
It was love at first sight, to such a degree that I played my entire first playthrough with two pure fighters. I just couldn't bring myself to put her on the sideline since my Tav was a fighter. I started courting Shadowheart, but her being all mysterious and secretive made it all too easy to fall into Laezel's arms when she showed interest. The rest is history... My opinion has not changed, I love Laezel and it is only with great effort of will that I let her rest any playthrough.

Shadowheart
First impression was that of an annoying emo with phoney secrecy, first playthrough I was mostly annoyed and did not interact a lot with her at all after Laezel swept me off my feet. Subsequent playthroughs I have gotten to know her better and I really appreciate her character arc. Probably the companion my of whom my impression has changed the most.

Astarion
First impression was "oh darn, this one is going to stab me in the back eventually" and I kept interactions as brief as possible. Him being a vampire didn't make me trust him any more... Since my fighter Tav had Urchin background I took care of the rogue role myself and Astarion stood loitering in camp the entire playthrough. Later on I have come to appreciate him more, he has a truly tragic, heart-wrenching story that makes me empathise with him despite his clearly selfish tendencies.

Gale
I've never liked him, from the first time I pulled him out of the rock to my current playthrough I just can't empathise with him. The fact that he started eating magic objects right off the bat didn't help of course, but I believe it's mostly a personality clash. I don't like too much talking - and he talks A LOT.

Wyll
Thought him a one-dimensional bore at first, left him in the Grove first playthrough... Next time I was so annoyed with Gale that I decided to use Wyll as the primary spellslinger and I got to see that he has a lot more depth than I thought at first. I like him a lot.

Karlach
My girl <3 Loved her from the first interaction and her ending broke my heart in a way I never thought a computer game could. Still love her, so my opinion has not changed much from the first impression.

Minthara
My encounter with Minthara at the gobbo camp has never ended in any other way than me killing her. She's an arrogant villain and the mission is to take her out, so how could it end any differently? Anyway I could never side with the gobbos, and knocking her uncon just to pick her up later is a little too meta for me. From what I've seen on youtube it seems like a fun character, but knowing myself I'd probably end up fighting her later on if I recruited her, she's just too evil...

Jaheira
I've had a crush on Jaheira since BG1 so when she appeared in Act 2 I was delighted - then she kamikaze'd into a throng of absolutists and was torn to bits before I could react. I was like wtf have they done to Jaheira?!?! Next run I managed to keep her alive and could recruit her. Love her, although the exaggerated body language in dialogues can be a bit annoying.

Halsin
Don't like him. Comes across as a self-important poser. I've never interacted with him more than to get the Act 2 quests to progress.

Minsc
Bro Minsc, loved this guy ever since BG1 and I think he was introduced to BG3 in a great manner. Not much of an arc to him since he is introduced so late though. They just buggered his game stats up royally - Minsc does NOT have 12 strength. In BG1 he was a brutal berserker, in BG3 he is defaulted to an archer. If you want to make him seem more like himself in play you need to respec him, that's a huge miss on Larian's part.

Last edited by Waez; 15/01/25 11:41 AM.