Haha I'm also glad ! But I'm really glad for you too as you are talking about it over and over since day 1 😁

I admire your stiff upper lipped constraint! Jolly good show!

No confetti?!
People, Icelyn was kidnapped!

I must admit that I've been expecting bear emojis, but this is even better! 😄 I am glad for you, too!

Happy for you. And congrats, I have to believe your posts played a role in their decision.

The first thought, when I read, that Halsin will be a romanceable companion was, that Icelyn will be so Happy 😁

Happy for you, @Icelyn!!

Now, once you have him, what are you going to do with him??

Have as many babies as humanly possible.

+ 5 million to this. Came back to the forums just to celebrate.


It's amazing how great minds think alike.

yes definitely good call..

I would have thought that from a logical standpoint Kagha would have been the better option. Halsin should be OP compared to the party level plus he has a druid grove and other responsibilities. Kagha is about the same level as the party and is looking for ways to redeem herself.

Good points.
Although Halsin tells you that he is passing on management of the Grove to a new hire from outside the corporation.

I thought Kagha had already tried that with Shadow Druid Inc.

[Is there a way to get an alert when some one replies to one of your posts?]

I think Nettie would have been a better hoice than Khaga, since Khaga is more likely to just be evil. Plus she'd give us a dwarf companion instead of another half/elf.

Normally I would agree, but...


Besides, making Halsin a companion made a lot of people very happy and I can't help but be happy for them

this! While he's *clearly* an obvious choice for a companion on account of him wanting to travel together, I'm completely Halsin-neutral myself. But seeing the unbridled joy that announcement brought people really made my day.

She was abusing her temporary position to support an boardroom intrigue aiming to confer a controlling stake to a minority shareholder.

And that is a problem why?
Also - Nettie pulled a knife on me when we were talking - she so evul! 2!

Yup. There is a knife ear infestation!

I thought about Nettie but I see her as more of a healer (an ophthalmologist not so much). Druids don't do it for me whatever the game.

I'm more of a heightist than a racist. Every one looking up and down does my head in. In Solasta I play elves or half-elves for the darkvision though I've currently got a half-orc paladin (also darkvisioned).

I think Khaga as an evil character is too hostile to really fit. Her whole plan is to isolate herself from outsiders. It takes at least one dice roll to turn her good, otherwise she probably dies. Nettie meanwhile, is more likely to live if you're playing a good character, and her intentions are genuinely good from the start.

The way things are now Kagha just ends up standing around doing nothing.

Unbelievable. She should have lots of sweeping to do after being demoted to acolyte

In all seriousness, though - what more is there for her do do, story wise? As far as EA goes her story is over.

Maybe there will be more on full release, you never know.

I think she's done and her story is over save for maybe showing up at the end with the other druids. There's nothing else she needs to have done

Quite possibly but it's where she stands that puzzles me. Why not just leave her in the main druid room where her story plays out?

This thread needs more Halsin!🐻🐻🐻

Indeed. You know, I feel the need to ask how much interaction we actually have with halsin. In my playthroughs we have some exchanges when he's rescued, one at the party, there's him admonishing Khaga and maybe one or two more exchanges of dialogue after that, then nothing. Have I missed something? I feel like I must have given how popular he is and how much so many people seem to love him. He doesn't even have a love scene in EA like Minthara does. I wanna know the source of all this love because I don’t feel like I've interacted with him enough to form any kind of opinion on him. Certainly not enough to want him as a companion.

The dude is brilliant at being a chad and politely insulting the MC in an extremely patronising manner! Halsin origin, please? So I could patronise the sh** out of the edgy supporting cast???

Okay, that's a start! Keep the Halsin love coming! I wanna know what people love about him! Beyond the rather thorough education that picture provides. Because yeah, that picture Icelyn shared really does convey a lot. If Halsin really was propelled to companion status by pure player horniness, I wouldn't even be mad. I totally get it.

Also, I wonder at what point in the story will we be able to recruit the guy? It seems unlikely to me that we are getting him right after the Tieflings quest. An Archdruid directly joining to curl in the dirt with some wannabe posers? Not likely... I feel like we'd have to grind the daddy all the way up to some big quest in the Moonrise area, then finish it, and only theeen we'd get him.

I love elves and casters, and he is both! He is also one of the few good characters in the game so far (and he will likely be the only good male romance option). He helps people and is kind to everyone, even Kagha, but isn’t a pushover. I also love animals and environmental themes. With him being a Druid, it is likely these will be part of his quest(s)! He is also superbuff!😊 So basically he has everything!😜🐻

Hopefully he will be a companion once he joins your camp! Otherwise he is just sitting around at camp!😜

I call it - the chad druid's privilege.

A hot elf who you rescue from a dungeon, then go on to save what is most precious to them? That's a set-up for romance if I ever saw one. Plus there's the fact that all the other romanceable males are... sketchy... in one way or another. Having a non-sketchy option is great.

Well, he's level 5 in EA so if that's the same in the full release then it doesn't seem unreasonable to have him join after the party as chances are our party will be level 4 or 5 by then. And he's hanging round our camp from that point anyway, as has been said, so he may as well do something useful!

That’s my suspicion as well - I think that might apply to all companions.

Halsin has been a companion. So has Minthara. But they are not origin characters. Even in Larian's email, they make that distinction. I believe the distinction is that the companions will join our groups for certain missions where we may need them (clearing the goblin camp or attacking the druids), and as long as we have aligned ourselves with them. But they won't be like origin characters where we can swap them out for any and all questing.

They haven't been in early access, no. They have been camp followers. What makes origins origins is that we can play as them. They are both origins (pickable as a playable character), and companions (NPCs whom we can recruit to our party).

Companions have been a feature in RPG for a long time, so I find it unlikely Larian would just reuse the term while providing a fraction of what one expect the companion to be. Marian has announced Helsin and Minthara as companions - something we knew about Minsc and Jaheira but those two were a new info.

I am a sucker for complicated relationships in video games, but I do agree it will be a nice change of pace. Variety is the spice of life as they say

Halsin does seem very straighforward and firm in what he does, I wonder what type of conflict Larian will introduce here. Every good story arc has conflict after all!

Being diminished into a low level companion ruins Halsin as a character for me, unfortunately. I won't be able to take him in my party.

Nettie would have made much more sense as a companion as Halsin should be at least level 9 to reflect his status as First Druid and "powerful healer". The world needs powerful NPCs to be complete. Larian are telling us no NPC can be more powerful than your party, ever.

The complete disconnect between game mechanics (levels) and storytelling in BG3 is appalling and unnecessary. Level 1 and level 5 characters are consistently being portrayed as powerful and amazing. When everything is "powerful and amazing", nothing is.

They could draw inspiration from their own titles, I don't know if you've played DOS1, but there were several NPCs there who were god-tier yet appeared in the game early. I mean ZixZax and Arhu, they were both level 20+ and you needed to grind your way through the whole story to take them out. They could demolish you in a single turn therefore cementing their status as 'powerful characters' any day, unless you approached with like 100% resistances or 100 initiative. Unfortunately when it comes to companions, Larian sometimes fell short, just look at Jahan from the same DOS1, who had an 'almighty-immortal-king-demon hunter' backstory yet was level 1... Same story could happen with Halsin, however they could pleasantly surprise us as well.

True, but Larian was already setting Halsin up for some kind of drama involving Moonrise Towers, way before they announced he would be either romanceable or a companion. Personally I think my characters have enough conflict to deal with already, I'd prefer at least one relationship which is mostly sweet and supportive. There are plenty of drama-laden options already (who I may get to in later playthroughs).

A non-sketchy female romance option would be nice too <sigh>.

Yeah that would be nice.

I don't understand how the word 'sketchy' is being used here. Where I come* from the word implies lacking in detail as in a pencil sketch or "He has a plan but the details seem a little sketchy".

*A world where words derive their meaning from their etymological roots.

In this context it just means questionable. Same synonym can be applied to your 'plan' example.

I got ravished by a Drow cougar ...

But yeah, male-attracted people sure seem to be eating good this time around. And that was even before including Halsin on that list, now it's a flat out feast I hear

Well, both Gale and Wyll have, shall we say, prior commitments. And much as I love Astarion, he's not everyone's (or every player character's) cup of tea. So while we're certainly a long way away from the days when Anomen was the only male LI in BG2, another option is always welcome

There's still one Origin character to be announced; I'm rooting for folks like you to get such an option as well. Though Karlach might fit that bill - maybe - hard to know at this point.

I was using "sketchy" in senses 4-6 over at Wiktionary. I do draw some distinction between sketchiness in general and sketchiness specifically as a romantic partner, but I think Astarion, Gale and Wyll have all cleverly managed to fall on both sides of that line.

🤣! That should go in Steam (or equivalent elsewhere) review!

[quote=Tarlonniel]

I was using "sketchy" in senses 4-6 over at Wiktionary.

That would be 'dodgy'. For example - "he's a bit of a dodgy character" (not to be trusted). "He has a dodgy ticker" is a reference to a heart defect. "Shady" would also work for the first example.

Those are very nice synonyms, and they're both in the list of synonyms on that page. I decided to use "sketchy", and when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.[/HumptyDumpty]

To return to the point of this thread - Halsin! Huzzah!

Probably just a difference in usage between UK and US.😊 Not sure if people would know what I meant if I said “He has a dodgy ticker.”

Now that your victory is won, have you settled on what kind of character you're going to hug the bear with, Icelyn?

An elf or half-elf sorcerer! How about you?

I threw all my original, pre-Halsin plans out the window and have decided on a Seldarine drow druid. This is going to be so much fun.

That's not quite how language works. Use of meaningless neologisms and slang makes it more difficult for non-native English speakers. I could use my local slang and idiom and few in North America would know what I was trying to convey. Have you ever eaten a Ruby or a Lilian and a portion of jockey's or had a pint of Tex down the battle-cruiser?



To get somewhat back on topic, I keep wondering why there seems to be quite a bit of druidy stuff thus far - the grove and the shadow druids; Halsin the companion and Jahiera the companion. Wasn't there also a note or at least some sort of reference to the Harpers in EA?

More than the note. They have a tidy stash in Grymforge

Druids, Shadow Druids, Druid Groves, Druidic intrigues and backstabbing, drama e.g. "will Halsin Senpai finally notice Icelyn Chan?" etc. are a staple of the Baldur's Gate setting.

Continuing the grand tradition of Faldorn and Cernd.

Yeah, I'm hoping too, because right now my count for an acceptable female romance option (not interested in male options) is precisely zero.

This is great news. You know, between Halsin, Jaheira, and the player character you can almost have a full druid party. Just need a druid Hireling to fill out the last spot!

Also dang. I wasn't expecting Halsin to go bearback like that on Astarion. I could bearly pull my eyes away. No wonder that squirrel could hardly bear to watch it.

The only thing i need to know now, is if our Tav-Druid can do the same and have some Bear-Bear action.

I'm happy for the fans and I think he could a cool character. Being level 5 and in a very short list of companions being a 2nd druid... that's another matter... fan service maybe isn't always the best thing to prioritise things that should be added to the game.

😊

Icelyn and OneManArmy on top of the world right now

I always knew he was Beorn to be Wild...

Funny. But it becomes clear the deep grief of one of the bears about the loss of Halsin. In the grove. Apparently he generally prefers to have sex in the form of an animal. But it would be logical then to limit the possibility of an affair with him only for druid characters who can turn into a bear themselves. It would look much more logical. For everyone else, limit it to the good old friendship.

Halsin appreciation post! (wanted to post a pic, not sure how...lol)

I feel a bit sorry for you Halsin fans, that he became a bad internet meme all of a sudden.

On the other hand, it was a great way to make people aware of a non-Origin, non-returning companion character. Maybe Larian will release a Halsin edition version of the game now!

We are living in 21st century ...

Either you die hero, or you become meme.
Sometimes both.

Yes, I wish they had left that part out!!! I am still otherwise very happy he is a companion, though!

In the trailer I saw a displacer cat in a cage (maybe at the carnival?). I was thinking that Tav, Halsin, and Jaheira might be able to sneak in and let any trapped animals out!😊🐈‍⬛

Well seeing how much it is talked about on reddit, how many videos popped up about the bear sex on youtube (I was searching for the PfH, since I hadn't time to watch it and youtube suggested me Panel from Hell bear sex - so that was probably a very popular search the last days.
So maybe it was a clever markteng move. Not my cup of tea, but I guess a lot of people are at least curious about it.

Yeah, I'm not happy about that scene being so public either because it makes it difficult for me to recommend the game to my irl friends if they google the game.
However, I am very happy about the resulting sales from media coverage of the game, especially for a CRPG, which is still a decidedly niche genre.

This would be so awesome! I'd totally drag Minsc along, he's a ranger, he'd be up for it, right?

I agree. Whether intended or not, it's going to be a good sales boost for Larian because the people who would be interested in a cRPG are also going to be the same people who won't care about this/like this/feel some sort of values compulsion to take a stand against the critics, whereas people who are offended would likely be people who were never going to buy the game anyway.

pretty much the only topic on the Steam discussion since the PFH. Personally I don't get the fuss but it seems to have motivated the axe grinders.

You mean on top of the bear.

I just need to know if I can marry Halsin and have little Druid babies lol

I thought it was a brilliant marketing tactic, and I bet the knew exactly what they were doing. Any publicity is good publicity as people that have not heard or were on the fence about this game will go and research more and find all the other cool things they've added. Plus if the company is willing to go that far with the player choices, what other things have they implemented?
It very much reminds me of all the FoxNews outrage about Mass Effect having a side-boob scene.

You and me both. Though there's probably no chance, "babies ever after" is not very popular as an ending trope any more.

Same here.

Cubs.

He does an amazing job with Halsin’s voice acting!!! I am so happy that Larian listened to feedback and made Halsin a companion! It has been a great EA!

I jumped on this BG3 train quite late (2 weeks ago). And I didn’t read any news about this game, I even didn't know that this game even exist. It's just my new boyfriend persuaded me to play this game and I immediately liked Halsin, and after that I went to look for information whether he would be a companion or not. I'm glad that he will be.

The VA definitely deserves part of the credit for making him such a great character - I'm really looking forward to (literally) hearing more from him!

I agree - and I think all the voice actors did an amazing job! Even after hundreds of hours of playtime, I still love to listen to the dialogues, even though I know them by heart.
And we will have two more acts - I can't wait to hear more of them.

The EA has been great, and I am very glad that I bought this game so early. Now I hope that I will be able to play the full game on my gaming laptop. I have to buy a PC anyway, but I hope this can wait for another few months. Otherwise I'll have to occupy my partner's PC

New story in the Baldur's Gate Times: "Breaking news! True cause of expanding Anauroch desert discovered! Local archdruid is confused, but apologizes!"

😂

😂 Glad they are having fun with it! He even wore a bear shirt!

This is so amazing! I can't even... formulating coherent words around this much love going around this game is amazing. People love the actors behind their favorite characters, those actors love their jobs more becuase of this, they love the people back, love the company and the company loving it's work and...aaaah, so much love and goodwill

I love it. I love it. Those two are pulling off my favorite performances in this game so far (and the standard is a high one!). I hope they're thoroughly enjoying the hype and that they realize how much we appreciate their efforts!

Yep, thats him. Can't wait till full release.

Quite a thing to put on your resume.

Still no word on what can happen if you're also a druid... only two more weeks...

Yep, a real force of nature. Can't wait till full release when Halsin will be a companion.

Aww, this is all so nice and heartwarming. It's true, the writer absolutely deserves kudos as well, and it would be cool if - someday, somewhere - he posted more details about his original direction for the character and how that changed, both based on the performance and the fan reception. But I'm nerdy about such things, who knows if anyone else would be interested.

I can't shake a small amount of worry that expanding Halsin is going to screw up all the things I loved about him, but I'll put my faith in Larian (and say a few prayers to the Oak Father ).

Yes, thanks to both Halsin’s voice actor and writer! They did amazing work!💕

Can't wait to see his tender side.

Oh Astarion got to see his tender side alright.

Love the cute bird on his arm.😊

Awww. But their estimate of when I'll finally get to see his tender side... boy, that is probably way, way off, especially if his romance content doesn't kick in until Act II. It might be weeks for me.

SOS! Message to the other Halsin lovers in this thread! When you finally finish his romance, please consider making a post here detailing how - in your opinion - it went! I don't mind spoilers, I need to know. I'll catch up... eventually...

Would be happy to do so, but I am pretty sure it will take me longer than you to complete the game.😜 I always take a long time to finish games, and I will be splitting my play time between a multiplayer and a single player run. For my single player game I am going to recruit him asap!🎉

I was thinking the romance might start in Act 1 and that the bear scene might be after the party.😊

I doubt it, because on Panel from Hell they said that he went with us to the city even if he does not like cities and as was shown on Panel that scene is in the city.

Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to be a slow burn. Even on top of the several years it's already been a slow burn.

Yeah, I think it will starts just before ACT 3.

😢

Hopefully they have something after the party at least!

Puts on tinfoil hat

Maybe this is part of the reason for Halsin being a poly option - so you can romance someone else while waiting for his romance to kick off, without locking yourself out of the latter.

Soon will see. Can't wait.

And than dump the first one for a Halsin?

Depends on whether the first one is also up for some polyamory. We still don't really know how this multi-romance system is going to work.

From 50:00 Swen is talking about bear scene, Halsin and romance scenes.
[video:youtube][/video]

No intimacy coordinator for the bear scene because there was no bear!😂😂😂

Quote from new CU

It all sounds really interesting. For other people. I'm so boring, I just pick one love interest per character and stick with them the whole way through any game. All these choices sound great, though, I'm always for more choices and more ways to play out a story.

Same!

I admire your consistency in this. I have to say. Also : RELEASE IN 2 DAYS!! LET'S GOOO!

Yeah. Only two days till daddy Halsin.

It seams not for all it is so easy.

I just want to know if Halsin will bottom in bear form. Instant romance choice, if so.

ALL OF YOU IN THIS THREAD

As Amelia Tyler (the narrator) recently said in her most recent outtake video, we live in horny jail--we have the keys.

The Halsin+Astarion combo seems to be beary popular. (sorry, sorry)

So I have come to learn
And respect 🫡

You still have to stay there though… even though you arrested yourself.

Well let's just say I'm glad there is a male counterpart Jaheira now as well and I really look forward to having a 3 druid party, with Minsc of course.

There are going to be lots of conversations about nature, balance, animals and mentions of Silvanus.

Wait until they find out that Cernd's child is the final boss.

I almost made a unflattering reference to Cernd earlier, but he gets enough of it as it is.

Well I don't want to derail since this is Icelyn's celebration thread but I have wondered if Halsin and Cernd are members of the same order. Because Halsin's size and the fact that he prefers the bear form to any other suggests that he's a werebear and, like Cernd, is using his Druidic power to keep lycanthropy at bay.

Okay, speculation over. Back to the party.

🎉🎉🥂🎉🎉

Well, I've gotten past the party scene, and if I hadn't already known that Halsin was a potential love interest, I probably would've assumed he wasn't available. Still playing and hoping for good things in the future.

I swear that one of his lines at the party is the writer(s) laughing at our thirstiness.

This thread is a summary of "oh sweet summer child"

Larian fix what you broke and next time do better research.