Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback The new "nicer" companion dialog seems out of place

This is the product of listening to consumers who are convinced that they know best and giving into silly demands to placate them.

There were way too many young entitled guys who were salty that their only female romance options were pragmatic, dutiful, and not "traditionally attractive" Lae'zel and standoffish snarky Shadowheart.
They attacked the forums in droves because it messed with their fantasy that all women should act vulnerable and do everything within their power to be as appealing to men as possible.
What we have now are watered down and confused followers who constantly feel like they're holding something back and pitying you because they're doing their best to be kind.
It comes off as condescending and inconsistent. Shadowheart in particular went from being stoic to acting like middle school girls in the 90's who modeled themselves after the witches in "The Craft."

But hey, at least a pile of young adult males who have 4 Charisma in real life can now romance the more-tolerant woman of their dreams!

Why isnt it okay for a few of the companions to be less agreeable than the rest? Laelzel maybe was a bit too much but there was no reason to change shadowheart.

This is the product of listening to consumers who are convinced that they know best and giving into silly demands to placate them.

There were way too many young entitled guys who were salty that their only female romance options were pragmatic, dutiful, and not "traditionally attractive" Lae'zel and standoffish snarky Shadowheart.
They attacked the forums in droves because it messed with their fantasy that all women should act vulnerable and do everything within their power to be as appealing to men as possible.
What we have now are watered down and confused followers who constantly feel like they're holding something back and pitying you because they're doing their best to be kind.
It comes off as condescending and inconsistent. Shadowheart in particular went from being stoic to acting like middle school girls in the 90's who modeled themselves after the witches in "The Craft."

But hey, at least a pile of young adult males who have 4 Charisma in real life can now romance the more-tolerant woman of their dreams!

I disagree, I'm pretty sure that it was mostly female gamers complaining about Shadowheart.
Male players were very happy with how standoffish and secretive Shadowheart is (she is obviously this way because she IS vulnerable). Also she has a bit of a goth aesthetic going and we guys really like that, but way to condemn half of humanity to make yourself feel better. I mean obviously Larian should listen to you and condemn the vast majority of it's own playerbase (males with 4 charisma who love videogames).
Oh and her instant dislike of Laezel was great, I wish more characters refused to entertain each other, or even duke it out and fight to the death (BG2 style)

It's not about listening to anyone. It's about being faithful to the character you created. If they want to change shadowheart because she is a bad character they should change her. But don't do these half assed changes that perhaps make some players happy but make the character inconsistent and worse writing wise.

Is it fair to say we're just swapping one fetish for another? Hard to get goth girl vs. compliant trad wife. Difficult to avoid that in a voyeuristic game with animated sex "rewards," I suppose.

I definitely agree with the first sentence - I wish it were otherwise, but it's rarely ever the case that implementing a client's/public's feedback on something complicated like a character will fix that nagging sense that it isn't quite good enough. But as has been mentioned, committing to VO too early makes it costly to make anything but surface changes. I'm hoping it's one of those things that matters less and less as the game becomes more polished. It's the only real way "out," imo, that doesn't include new writers coming in.

I disagree, I'm pretty sure that it was mostly female gamers complaining about Shadowheart.
Male players were very happy with how standoffish and secretive Shadowheart is (she is obviously this way because she IS vulnerable). Also she has a bit of a goth aesthetic going and we guys really like that, but way to condemn half of humanity to make yourself feel better. I mean obviously Larian should listen to you and condemn the vast majority of it's own playerbase (males with 4 charisma who love videogames).
Oh and her instant dislike of Laezel was great, I wish more characters refused to entertain each other, or even duke it out and fight to the death (BG2 style)

I don't mind much that the companions are unpleasant and reserved at the start, as long as they potentially evolve to open up and be more favorable to you (based on your actions and Approval). Realistic and durable character evolution is always one of the most satisfying aspects of companions in RPGs, and few of them get it right. I hope Larian does!

I'm not playing the EA myself, but from what I got out of the Update and Swen's presentation the main thing they toned down was the companions constantly having a (mostly negative) reaction to EVERYTHING the PC says/does, including even when they're not physically there when the PC said/did something. Seems eminently reasonable. Someone can be as dour or sullen as they want to be and yet make a choice that they're not going to respond to every single thing the leader of their group says/does that they dislike. This is what is actually normal behavior.

I feel as though Larian had it right before the patch, with Shadowheart anyway. She starts off as a wall and then eventually opens up, but never really loses that edge.
Now it feels like she's gritting her teeth through her smile and pitying you instead of being genuinely open about her reservations.

I feel as though Larian had it right before the patch, with Shadowheart anyway. She starts off as a wall and then eventually opens up, but never really loses that edge.
Now it feels like she's gritting her teeth through her smile and pitying you instead of being genuinely open about her reservations.

I appreciate that they added better dialog between characters and the followers arent as snarky anymore.

But this came at a cost you can VERY EASILY see which dialog is from the "last patch" and this "new patch"

Because the dialog wasnt all recorded at the same time you can tell that the actors just forgot how they were acting during the first set of takes. Its so jarring. Maybe on the first take they were feeling a certain way but now on second take it totally feels like a new recording session.

Not sure what the fix here is but at the moment it all feels like a patch work of different recording sessions put together and it feels all over the place.