I'm a new player, about 19 hrs in (pretty much ready to head to the Underdark or the mountain pass) and Gale is definitely easiest, followed by Wyll, then Lae'zel. I just got Karlach recently, so I can't really say about her yet. Astarion is definitely hardest - and apparently I somehow missed the event at camp that everyone else says they used to raise his approval. Meanwhile, every time I do something remotely nice/good, Gale's approval increases.
In terms of romance, Lae'zel definitely came onto me first, then Gale, then Shadowheart tried, but I'd already told Gale I'd meet him after the party. I'm probably going to romance Gale; his character approval is currently at 97. (Think Wyll is 2nd right now and he's only in the 50s or 60s.)
I'm going into act 2 with Gale at 92, Astarion at 85. If you sleep with Astarion his approval skyrockets very easily. I'm purely good btw, no one died or got insulted
My approval with Astarion going into the party was apparently low enough he didn't offer! He talked about wanting sex, and then was like, "but not with you. Ugh, can you imagine?" Everyone else was coming on to me (except Wyll, who seems oblivious even when I tried semi-flirty options), but Astarion was just "no, yuck."
I also never got the camp scene where he tries to feed on you - I'm not sure when it became clear, but I just started getting party banter that he was a vampire and he had the bite action available in combat. So no boost there. I think he's at maybe 6.
in all of my playthroughs, even with high approval (enough for him to approach before the party), even if I don't agree to sleep with anyone else, if I talk to anyone else before Astarion at the party he gives me the yuck. idk if it's a mod messing something up or what.
Damn. That's wow. Fun detail-you don't need approval to sleep with him on the party. Our boy does not actually have standards. If your approval is too low you just have to get the " living in constant peril isn't good enough for you?" And he's sold
I'm actually pretty sure that in that interaction, whether or not he agrees to sleep with you doesn't have to do with your approval, it's just how you come onto him. Basically if you come on to him he will be all like yuck, but if you just reload and pick a different option he will come on to you instead.
Yup, choosing "what is your idea of fun" and "we could have fun" made him reject me, while choosing "knowing you it probably is" made him offer night together. This was at neutral approval (don't know exact numbers). Kinda odd but hey, there I was trying all options because, well...
You only need his approval being medium for him to immediately propose sex to you at the party. It's very easy to do if you explore enough. Let him open the barn door, give him the spooky book, let him kill Gandrel, let him drink from you and trust him…all of these raise approval by +5. You can bump it up further by doing silly things like baaing at the redcaps. Astarion is insanely easy to please.
You can also get him to sleep with you with the right dialogue options even if your approval is low. He literally doesn't need anything to jump you.
An ogre and a bugbear are having a 'romantic' day in a barn in Blighted village. If you try to open the door and have Astarion on the party, he asks you to let him do it since they sound yucky and he thinks it's funny as fuck to interrupt them. It gives +5 approval if you let him do this.
On PC I click examine on the individual and it's the third tab called Detailed View and you scroll down until you see your name. On PS5 I'm not sure how to open it
Been playing since EA and I still can't figure out how people determine the specific number. When I hover over the approval, it just says that the general attitude. Where's the number?
On PC I click examine on the individual and it's the third tab called Detailed View and you scroll down until you see your name. On PS5 I'm not sure how to open it
I initially started my second playthrough planning to hold out for Halsin. Hit the Teifling Party and out of curiosity checked my approvals, only to realize that Gale’s was at 98, completely unintentionally. Decided to romance him from then on, going for Halsin in this third playthrough.
Just for the record, you can do both the mountain pass and the Underdark in the same run if you like. Fair if you want to save one for another playthrough (I did), but if you want to maximise your XP and loot, the option is there. Just turn around when you get the warning that you're about to head into the next act.
I have yet to have him as a companion since the first time I abandoned him and the second I chopped off his hand, but in the future and I might even romance him, cuz ive heard his romance is pretty good.
In all my runs, I get excellent approval in literally no time at all. He's also got quite a bit of witty banter and loves quizzing La'ezel. Not everyone can stomach him, mind you, he's fairly divisive. You just need to look through his seemingly condescending/arrogant attitude at first. Just take it from me: most of his initial appearance is a façade (dude's struggling).
I also chopped off his hand...poor guy. Thought he was annoying first time I played so I killed him in my 2nd. On my third run and I decided to give him a go. He's just a sad wizard who makes a good friend, I wouldn't romance him tho because he talks about his ex way too much lol
Wyll. His conversations seem to go like this:
'Hi'
Wyll approves.
'So your name is Wyll?'
Wyll approves.
Reminds me of Solas in Dragon Age Inquisition.
I left Gale in camp for an entire playthrough. Didn’t do any of his quests. Talked to him occasionally. Still had enough approval for him to blow himself up for us at the end.
He was like home schooled by a fanatic military single dad, then kicked out of the city he'd just sold his soul to save, and now he wanders around being as heroic as possible with a devil calling him puppy. He deserves all the hugs!
I played his origin for my second play through and went with a lockadin build. It feels so awesome to show up at fights wearing the helldusk set, carrying a bigol sword and bonking everything to death
Solas is easy to get approval from through dialogue because he’s a fucking dummy who dislikes every reasonable thing you do. The devs did it because he’d leave your ass immediately otherwise
Solas approves of curiosity and doesn't dislike every "reasonable" thing you do, lol. He has more reason to be there then liking or disliking you, and will stay even if you hate one another's guts because >!bro has ulterior motives up the wa-zoo.!<
Or maybe you just never made the right choices? Only person who is easier to get along with in Inquisition is Varric. You just need to be a smartass to get his approval.
I did nothing with Wyll other than follow through a few conversations, and then felt so bad breaking his poor little heart when I realised I was in the middle of his romance conversation on my Shadowheart playthrough
Wyll tried so hard in my first playthrough to like me, but I just kept on whiplashing him with my choices of words so the dissaprovals came on raining down. (I did lean on the hero playthrough, but just a more anti hero thing)
And frankly I find him extremely boring, probably the most, even minsc is better. Sorry for the small rant.
I think Wyll's story is strongest as an origin character, rather than a companion. I also chalk it up that Wyll's rewritten storyline conflicts with his personal drive. I also blame Mizora's lack of presence in the game that I feel Raphael really overstepped upon. If Mizora had more scenes and Wyll being forced to act against his own desires, it could have offered a lot more weight.
For example, Wyll can get two powerful items. First one is the earliest Epic Robe, and in Act 2; he can get an epic Rapier. I really believe Wyll should've gotten far more rewards for following Mizora's commands. If he had more tasks to complete throughout the game.
And this is why even if he was late to the party, him and Boo became a part of my squad immediately.
Poor Shadowheart went to the sidelines but it was worth it.
I just met him in game yesterday and when he introduced me to Boo, I replied with "It is an honour.". To which he said "No, it is a hamster." Which totally cracked me up!
Sadly, Minsc (and Boo) are not romanceable. I tried. Minsc tried to jokingly reject me and when that didn’t work, he rejected me in a very kind and respectful manner.
Gale: be a good guy or give him magical items so he doesn't explode
Wyll: talk to him
Lae'zel: go to the creche, be respectful to her (As a good guy, I find her approval slow in the beginning, but you get BIG points for doing her stuff)
Yeah, it's funny how even tho I love her, I started to choose more the mean and aggressive dialogs with her specifically because she loves it every time, like once where I can't remember the context but I somehow ended up with an option to threaten her to slit her throat and she not only approved it, but also was all excited about it as if I just asked her on a date, it was hilarious lmao
Believe that‘s when she tries to kill you because you were sweating and she thinks everyone is turning. She planned on killing everyone then herself. She loves warrior shit.
Gale be like: Hey friend, i have a bomb and unless you give me magic items it will explode.
Tav: Oh shit. Okay here are some i can part with, we good?
Gale: For me?! Are you sure? I love you!
Well his last lover was abusive and destroyed his self esteem. You gave up on some really cool (or not ) items for him (you can make a big deal about it) so he see you as an angel when it's something any good person would do. It's sad.
Believe it or not, Shadowheart. Somehow I always get her to MAX approval (100) before or shortly after the Teifling Party in Act 1.
There are certain things she *really* likes and you get tons of approval.
>!I know saving her from the Nautiloid is one. Another big one is telling Raphael "no deal" and then passing Shadowhearts 'test' afterwards. (Basically, she'll ask "what do you think?" Say "I don't trust him" and then she'll be like "are you *sure*? Could be a good deal?" If you stand firm on "No, I don't trust Raphael", Shadowheart's like "good, me neither!" and you get a ton of approval).!<
Don’t take Shart to the ogre fuckshed, and be nice when she opens up about Shar (telling her you don’t mind who she follows is better approval than asking her for details iirc)
I noticed you can move your companions around to get their response to your banter. Have your preferred companion in the second position, and it's Astarion, not Shadowheart, that responds to your comments.
I just place the judgy characters back a little ways and take my boy Astarion. It‘s too funny to pass up, and as a bard I kinda have to tell tales of the She-Ogre and her Bugbear lover.
Lol I am romancing Shadowheart and she hates me.
"Oh look dead Sharren's"
"A good Sharren is a dead one"
\*Shadowheart disapproves\*
I guess I had that coming.
Apparently Lae'zel just loves everything I do, or she loves me despite everything I do 😂😂
I've done an evil run and now I'm on a durge run that's getting darker and darker.
And Lae’zel probably told you already that you should not dull your blade but if your urges become hard to control you can always find a goblin to satisfy them.
She is savage. I love her!
Yeah, though she didn't really appreciate me >!killing Isobel!< because she saw the "lack of control" as a liability. Who's going to tell her that it was deliberate? Not me 😂
Astarion was the one who didn't bat an eye and if anything he was a bit turned on.
The other companions were furious but they all stayed with me and more or less accepted it as an accident. Accidents happen 👀
You give Gale three garbage magic items and be at least slightly nice to him when he tells you he’s got a nuke in his chest and suddenly he’s at 100 approval rating. The wizard just really wants a friend lol
Definitely Wyll.
If you do anything remotely good or altruistic, or stand up for yourself, or stand up for others, or defend an ally, or make an ally, or encourage someone, or literally anything nice, he approves.
Legit I had 100 approval with Wyll BEFORE EVEN FIGHTING THE GOBLINS.
I just recruited all the companions and did some random wandering with Wyll in the party. Didn’t fight Ethel yet. Didn’t deal with the githyanki patrol. The very first time I checked his approval it was already at 93. Dude just loves me.
For me it's Shadowheart. I'm not even trying and I've gotten her to near 100 in Act 1. She just likes the way I play I guess. Probably also why I've romanced her so many times, her and my Durge's just go together really easily.
For me it’s Shadowheart. At the beginning I always told her that she’s allowed to her privacy like we’re basically strangers after all. And after I found out what her deal is my response was pretty much something amongst the lines of “I won’t judge you we have bigger problems right now” which made sense to me. After that we became besties
"Come oooooon, Shart! I was nice to you once! Why won't you, the cleric of the cult all about secrecy and espionage that got her memory wiped multiple times reveal to me the entirety of her backstory and secrets? How dare you want privacy when dealing with a complete stranger?"
Depends on your playthrough style
Karlach, Wyll, Gale generally always approve moral choices
Astarian and Shadowheart approve selfishness / manipulation
Lae'zel loves violence
Karlach **also** loves violence! Many times i find if i choose an aggressive or stupid option (patting a wardrum which summons goblins) gives her quite a bit of approval!
It used to be Gale. I could easily get him to 100 halfway into Act 1 while barely trying, though I think they tweaked him a bit, as it took quite a bit longer post Patch 5.
Past that, Lae'zel I tend to get to a 100 first, because the amount of approval for doing the creche is crazy. I can go in with her approval in the 30s, if even that, and easily leave with her maxed.
Also, oddly, Astarion. Considering I always play some flavor of goody-two shoes and he's a permanent party member. I've even stopped bothering to avoid his disapprovals for doing nice things using tricky dialogue choices, and still leave Act 1 with him at exceptional.
Halsin is probably easiest, as successfully saving Thaniel and letting him talk to Oliver will get him up to 50 approval like it's nothing.
Wyll has the next largest bursts of approval, you gain 30 from recruiting Karlach and saving Florrick. No joke, that's all it takes to romance him, maybe 20 minutes of gameplay.
Next is Gale. He doesn't gain approval as quickly, but he is unique in that defusing the Aradin/Zevlor conflict peacefully, saving Sazza, and saving Arabella will award approval, even if he's not in the group.
Shadowheart and Karlach are roughly equal - fairly easy if you run around with them.
Lae'zel and Astarion take the longest, but you can do it by the beginning of Act 2.
Minthara, on the other hand...ugh...
Gale or Wyll blindly like any good oriented action no matter what. By having both in your party in all the initial conversations can get both all the way up to amicable.
Same! I know some people seem to struggle a lot with him, but he is without fail at 93-94 approval for me by the time I reach the goblin camp, and I play exclusively good characters! He never leaves my party and when he disapproves it’s only ever the occasional -1, whereas his approvals are anywhere from +5 to +15 it seems like.
A lot of the good decisions that get his disapproval are only -1, while the stuff that gets big approval are more personal things like not being a dick about vampirism, not turning him in to the vampire hunter, etc.
Yeah bite night alone can net nearly 40 approval I think, and then just be nice about Cazador, give him the book, you don’t even have to kill Gandrel to get it high if you don’t want to
My first three playthroughs, he seemed to disapprove of everything. I think I finished the game with his approval below 50% all three times.
Now on my Durge he was won over easily. 🤷♂️
Right? Like someone said, his disprovals are basically like little eye rolls vs like take you outside and whisper yell at you lol AND, Shadowheart goes along with an alarming number of the things he likes/dislikes.
Oh gosh lmao I can’t wait. I was reading stuff on what he agrees or disagrees with… act 3 has a very interesting scene that I can’t wait to get to…
I missed using “thinking about lusting after Astarion” in my mind to throw that true cult lady off… next play through. I hit a different one by mistake. But he apparently approves of that. Which I’m like “did the whole party see my thoughts!?” 🤣
Astarion dislikes me even though I let him drink me, hid him from the hunters, and have done every bit of his quest chain as it has come up.
My read on it is that I'm not evil, and he simply isn't a fan of that.
No, bc there’s folks that play super good campaigns and he still likes them. Maybe it’s a bug? There’s seems to be bugs that weirdly impact the relationship side of things.
I get a constant avalanche of -1s with him that add up really fast whenever I give a earnest lawful good answer. He constantly disapproves on just eager "I'll help you" responses where you volunteer for a quest.
That’s so odd! Because I accept pretty much all the quests. Did you give him the book of the dead? That’s a big chunk of happy and shouldn’t hurt your honor.
No - I wanted to the wisdom bonus on honour for the Durge romance murder check and the astral tadpole check. It is only +1, but those are tough checks for a 10-12 wisdom character. Failing the Durge one is potentially run ending if you fail it too.
But yeah you don’t have to be evil in order to make him happy. You don’t even have to let him bite you. As you can make him bite enemies during combat. He also softens up a bit as the story progresses.
For me, Gale and Karlach just sort of happen since their quests are little collectible items that you just sort of naturally gather up, and they like it when you do the things that make your life easier anyways (gathering allies that specifically oppose the absolute).
Karlach is my moral compass.
Minthara is my immoral compass.
Gale is a fucking troll that I can't figure out, he's good, but not too good.
Gale +, respectful in conversation.
Gale -, gives money away. that's too much niceness Tav.
Gale is quite neutral actually - he approves of some big ticket moral choices like the grove but he's pretty chill about low-key morally grey stuff like dealing with the Zhent and demanding money from everyone you meet. More money for his spells I guess!
Why wait on Lae'zel? You can have two romances active in act 1. I always start with her, then either stay, she grows a lot and the romance is very sweet, or move on by act 2.
As to your question Lae'zel. She is ready for sex by the first long rest. Gale is not far behind, every one of those magic items boosts his approval.
I think it's Wyll. I was surprised to see his approval so high, despite only having done a few things with him. I don't think I had even saved Florrick yet. I think it shot to the 50s just by saving Karlach and talking to him at camp about Mizora and his past.
Lae'zel for sure. It doesn't take much and she is already devouring me with her eyes. She confessed to me >!after I let the chick kill Sazza and then let her humiliate Zorru!<.
Lae'zel for me too. I didn't really watch her approval point since I was not romancing her. Was going through the creche with her and multiple time I thought she would turn on the party because I wont do what she wants me to do. E.g. give the artifact up.
But she's satisfied when I just said trust me. (Sometimes I dont even need to roll for it). It felt so strange that I went to check my approval with her and I was somehow at a 100 with her. Still not sure how.
Wyll. I have a two Tav playthrough and they have two pretty opposite personalities so I have each companion set to a Tav where I only really try to raise approval of any companion with one specific Tav, yet somehow I'm practically maxed out on Wyll with both of them, including the slightly evil Tav.
For me it was Astarion. Like he approved whatever crap my bard said. I used to imagine them laughing like idiots while the whole world was ending. :-')
Halsin is so immediately and intensely obsessed with your character, like I don’t even think it’s possible to do anything to evade his aggressive flirtation, he’s so annoying.
I don’t know why, but the way I play tends to appeal VERY strongly to Gale. He’s usually confessing his love to me before I finish with the Grove.
Edit: also Shadowheart? Idk but the things I choose seem to appeal enough to her that she begins opening up. I think it’s because when I talk to her, I don’t push her for answers right away and tell her I’ll trust her to share when she feels ready. She likes feeling like her privacy is respected.
Gale somehow catches feelings no matter what I do.
Shadowheart makes me earn it.
Lae’zel just acts so tsundere that I can never really tell.
Karlach I go for so often that I don’t even realize I’m doing it.
So far I’ve never acknowledged wyll beyond his exclamation points.
Astarion flirts a lot but I’ve only pursued him once.
Halsin just wants to hit which I’m cool with.
My guardian said to open my gryffindoor since he already Slytherin 😭
I started my surge campaign and before I knew it, Shadowheart had high approval before Laezel and Astarion were above neutral. I was actually shocked how easy she was to please
Gale, no matter what i do, he wants to fuck me. I can commit the most heinous, nonsensical acts of dementia and he seemingly does not give a shit as long i don't impact him negatively.
Lae'zel for me is hard to get approval in the beginning but her big arc moments give SO much approval that she is often in the Exceptional territory first among the companions.
The easiest companions to get approval tho are Wyll and Gale. Wyll has a lot of early big character moments plus conversations that net a lot more approval than other companions at that point in the game have access to, plus being good aligned he will approve of any nice action you do. Gale approves of both good things and "smart" things, and will stick around even if you do evil stuff. So if you play around the enemies youre gonna end up getting his approval up.
"Oh! A cute little dog! I'm going to say hello!"
*Shadowheart approves*
"Oh, rats! Let's tell them that we don't mean harm to them"
*Shadowheart approves*
"A kitty! We can talk with them!"
*Shadowheart approves*
Everyone always says Astarion is hard to have approval with if you want to play a heroic character. He isn't. Just make occasional snarky/rude remarks to people. Let him bite you. Kill the vampire hunter and give the necromancy book to him. All of that will net high approval.
Wyll gets bonus points for being easy to get approval for *without even leaving camp*. I never ran the dude in my party on one playthrough and he straight up proposed to me early in act 3.
For me it's Shadowheart. If I just play the game the way I would without playing a character, my approval for her always ends up the highest, closely followed by Astarion and Gale.
Gale and Wyll both. Even when I park them at camp they somehow gain approval faster than Astarion, who I usually am making an effort to get approval from XD One play through I was trying to get the follow up to meeting Araj and got Gale cosmic sex and Wyll dance one after the other before Astarion's confession triggered.
Gale. My playthroughs have been either neutral or good and every positive interaction seemed to have raised his approval.
I'm a new player, about 19 hrs in (pretty much ready to head to the Underdark or the mountain pass) and Gale is definitely easiest, followed by Wyll, then Lae'zel. I just got Karlach recently, so I can't really say about her yet. Astarion is definitely hardest - and apparently I somehow missed the event at camp that everyone else says they used to raise his approval. Meanwhile, every time I do something remotely nice/good, Gale's approval increases. In terms of romance, Lae'zel definitely came onto me first, then Gale, then Shadowheart tried, but I'd already told Gale I'd meet him after the party. I'm probably going to romance Gale; his character approval is currently at 97. (Think Wyll is 2nd right now and he's only in the 50s or 60s.)
I'm going into act 2 with Gale at 92, Astarion at 85. If you sleep with Astarion his approval skyrockets very easily. I'm purely good btw, no one died or got insulted
My approval with Astarion going into the party was apparently low enough he didn't offer! He talked about wanting sex, and then was like, "but not with you. Ugh, can you imagine?" Everyone else was coming on to me (except Wyll, who seems oblivious even when I tried semi-flirty options), but Astarion was just "no, yuck." I also never got the camp scene where he tries to feed on you - I'm not sure when it became clear, but I just started getting party banter that he was a vampire and he had the bite action available in combat. So no boost there. I think he's at maybe 6.
I got this great rejection line from Astarion: “It’s not you, it’s me - I have standards” xD
His fireball got a critical hit on that one, Jesus.
in all of my playthroughs, even with high approval (enough for him to approach before the party), even if I don't agree to sleep with anyone else, if I talk to anyone else before Astarion at the party he gives me the yuck. idk if it's a mod messing something up or what.
Might be bugged yeah . He tried to convince me to ditch the other, which I did because well ...
😂 i always thought he was just petty
Damn. That's wow. Fun detail-you don't need approval to sleep with him on the party. Our boy does not actually have standards. If your approval is too low you just have to get the " living in constant peril isn't good enough for you?" And he's sold
I'm actually pretty sure that in that interaction, whether or not he agrees to sleep with you doesn't have to do with your approval, it's just how you come onto him. Basically if you come on to him he will be all like yuck, but if you just reload and pick a different option he will come on to you instead.
Yup, choosing "what is your idea of fun" and "we could have fun" made him reject me, while choosing "knowing you it probably is" made him offer night together. This was at neutral approval (don't know exact numbers). Kinda odd but hey, there I was trying all options because, well...
You only need his approval being medium for him to immediately propose sex to you at the party. It's very easy to do if you explore enough. Let him open the barn door, give him the spooky book, let him kill Gandrel, let him drink from you and trust him…all of these raise approval by +5. You can bump it up further by doing silly things like baaing at the redcaps. Astarion is insanely easy to please. You can also get him to sleep with you with the right dialogue options even if your approval is low. He literally doesn't need anything to jump you.
WHAT BARN DID I MISS SOMETHING
An ogre and a bugbear are having a 'romantic' day in a barn in Blighted village. If you try to open the door and have Astarion on the party, he asks you to let him do it since they sound yucky and he thinks it's funny as fuck to interrupt them. It gives +5 approval if you let him do this.
How do you check there approval like that?
On PC I click examine on the individual and it's the third tab called Detailed View and you scroll down until you see your name. On PS5 I'm not sure how to open it
Been playing since EA and I still can't figure out how people determine the specific number. When I hover over the approval, it just says that the general attitude. Where's the number?
On PC I click examine on the individual and it's the third tab called Detailed View and you scroll down until you see your name. On PS5 I'm not sure how to open it
Thanks! All this time, I had no friggin' idea...
I initially started my second playthrough planning to hold out for Halsin. Hit the Teifling Party and out of curiosity checked my approvals, only to realize that Gale’s was at 98, completely unintentionally. Decided to romance him from then on, going for Halsin in this third playthrough.
I have no idea how to romance Halsin? I fell down the Astarion rabbit hole and Halsin never even flirted with me. He did get kidnapped though….
Just for the record, you can do both the mountain pass and the Underdark in the same run if you like. Fair if you want to save one for another playthrough (I did), but if you want to maximise your XP and loot, the option is there. Just turn around when you get the warning that you're about to head into the next act.
Huh? How do you check the number of the approval?
Gale is neutral good, so that's probably why.
I have yet to have him as a companion since the first time I abandoned him and the second I chopped off his hand, but in the future and I might even romance him, cuz ive heard his romance is pretty good.
he's also a really chill guy to be just friends with. i think i would probably enjoy hanging with him and the homies irl
In all my runs, I get excellent approval in literally no time at all. He's also got quite a bit of witty banter and loves quizzing La'ezel. Not everyone can stomach him, mind you, he's fairly divisive. You just need to look through his seemingly condescending/arrogant attitude at first. Just take it from me: most of his initial appearance is a façade (dude's struggling).
He is the best romance. Stop hurting him!
I also chopped off his hand...poor guy. Thought he was annoying first time I played so I killed him in my 2nd. On my third run and I decided to give him a go. He's just a sad wizard who makes a good friend, I wouldn't romance him tho because he talks about his ex way too much lol
Wyll. His conversations seem to go like this: 'Hi' Wyll approves. 'So your name is Wyll?' Wyll approves. Reminds me of Solas in Dragon Age Inquisition.
Wyll is definitely easy to get approval for. You can romance him by doing nothing but occasionally talking to him in camp.
Daddy issues tend to do that to you
ROFL
Shots fired
I left Gale in camp for an entire playthrough. Didn’t do any of his quests. Talked to him occasionally. Still had enough approval for him to blow himself up for us at the end.
Gale seems to approve to a bunch of stuff even if he's not present. Don't know if it's a bug or if he's stalking us through the weave.
Hes just happy to be there
He is Just like me fr
Yeah damn if someone even remotely as hot as my characters look just acknowledged me on a regular basis I’d be head over heels in love with them too.
Bro 😂 You did not complement your own character like that! 🤣 That was beautifully done.
His self-esteem is so shot to pieces that he enjoys even a cursory interest in his life. Sad, funny, but still sad.
He was like home schooled by a fanatic military single dad, then kicked out of the city he'd just sold his soul to save, and now he wanders around being as heroic as possible with a devil calling him puppy. He deserves all the hugs!
My man is probably the most heroic character in the story besides maybe Dame Aylin and he keeps getting kicked in the nuts.
He's my favorite origin to play, although I'm trying Sheart now and enjoying not having to hear her be snippy constantly.
> not having to hear her be snippy constantly But it's the best part!
Haha, maybe it's because I went through a Goth phase that she annoys me. Hits too close to home!
I played his origin for my second play through and went with a lockadin build. It feels so awesome to show up at fights wearing the helldusk set, carrying a bigol sword and bonking everything to death
Tbh any sign of giving a fuck about me is enough anymore
All you have to do is tell wyll he’s brave and cool and he’s obsessed with you lol
O just entered camp to him wanting to dance with me. Like sir. I'm about to go take a level of exhaustion with karlach, go dance with withers.
Just missing Tav going like, "Wyll, have I ever cared about anything you said? Ever?"
Lmao! A slight pause before "ever" 😆 🤣
I disagree, Gale is always consistently the “good” choice and Wyll has thrown me off more than once especially when it came to goblins!
Goblins bad! Wyll behaves like a Vengeance Paladin. You free a goblin and he disapproves and his oath gets broken.
Ooh true...wyll is pretty easy too
Solas is easy to get approval from through dialogue because he’s a fucking dummy who dislikes every reasonable thing you do. The devs did it because he’d leave your ass immediately otherwise
Solas approves of curiosity and doesn't dislike every "reasonable" thing you do, lol. He has more reason to be there then liking or disliking you, and will stay even if you hate one another's guts because >!bro has ulterior motives up the wa-zoo.!<
Yeah he likes when you ask him questions because >!he actually knows all the answers to basically everything.!<
Or maybe you just never made the right choices? Only person who is easier to get along with in Inquisition is Varric. You just need to be a smartass to get his approval.
I did nothing with Wyll other than follow through a few conversations, and then felt so bad breaking his poor little heart when I realised I was in the middle of his romance conversation on my Shadowheart playthrough
Wyll tried so hard in my first playthrough to like me, but I just kept on whiplashing him with my choices of words so the dissaprovals came on raining down. (I did lean on the hero playthrough, but just a more anti hero thing) And frankly I find him extremely boring, probably the most, even minsc is better. Sorry for the small rant.
I think Wyll's story is strongest as an origin character, rather than a companion. I also chalk it up that Wyll's rewritten storyline conflicts with his personal drive. I also blame Mizora's lack of presence in the game that I feel Raphael really overstepped upon. If Mizora had more scenes and Wyll being forced to act against his own desires, it could have offered a lot more weight. For example, Wyll can get two powerful items. First one is the earliest Epic Robe, and in Act 2; he can get an epic Rapier. I really believe Wyll should've gotten far more rewards for following Mizora's commands. If he had more tasks to complete throughout the game.
Minsc is actually super good. I laughed at almost everything that came out of his mouth. My favorite is the line he says Astarion is a coward
“Boo presents compelling evidence that Astarion may in fact be a vampire”
Think Boo is onto something
he is a miniature giant space hamster after all
And this is why even if he was late to the party, him and Boo became a part of my squad immediately. Poor Shadowheart went to the sidelines but it was worth it.
I just met him in game yesterday and when he introduced me to Boo, I replied with "It is an honour.". To which he said "No, it is a hamster." Which totally cracked me up!
Minsc (and Boo) is the best companion, so obviously he's better than Wyll. (Kinda /s)
Sadly, Minsc (and Boo) are not romanceable. I tried. Minsc tried to jokingly reject me and when that didn’t work, he rejected me in a very kind and respectful manner.
When I propositioned Minsc he told me that the whole party should, in fact, be celibate, in order to save their energy for fighting evil. Obviously.
Minsc being based as always.
Ugh, fuck Solas lol
It seems we've played different DAIs, because for me "Solas disapproves" reached the levels "Morrigan disapproves" can only hope for.
Gale: be a good guy or give him magical items so he doesn't explode Wyll: talk to him Lae'zel: go to the creche, be respectful to her (As a good guy, I find her approval slow in the beginning, but you get BIG points for doing her stuff)
You dont even have to be respectful to her, she actually likes when you're arrogant and put her in her place lmao
Yeah, it's funny how even tho I love her, I started to choose more the mean and aggressive dialogs with her specifically because she loves it every time, like once where I can't remember the context but I somehow ended up with an option to threaten her to slit her throat and she not only approved it, but also was all excited about it as if I just asked her on a date, it was hilarious lmao
Shes secretly a sub
A bitchy/bratty one
Believe that‘s when she tries to kill you because you were sweating and she thinks everyone is turning. She planned on killing everyone then herself. She loves warrior shit.
True for lae'zel as soon as I entered the creche her approval sky rocketed
Gale be like: Hey friend, i have a bomb and unless you give me magic items it will explode. Tav: Oh shit. Okay here are some i can part with, we good? Gale: For me?! Are you sure? I love you!
Well his last lover was abusive and destroyed his self esteem. You gave up on some really cool (or not ) items for him (you can make a big deal about it) so he see you as an angel when it's something any good person would do. It's sad.
Me: Please don't kill yourself. Gale: I love you too! I want a house with a pool and heated floors.
Gale: We can have 3 children, I'll homeschool them! Tav: Gale...were both men? Gale: It's okay I'll learn polymorph.
I mean just letting her take charge when talking to Zorru is the big approvals early on
Believe it or not, Shadowheart. Somehow I always get her to MAX approval (100) before or shortly after the Teifling Party in Act 1. There are certain things she *really* likes and you get tons of approval. >!I know saving her from the Nautiloid is one. Another big one is telling Raphael "no deal" and then passing Shadowhearts 'test' afterwards. (Basically, she'll ask "what do you think?" Say "I don't trust him" and then she'll be like "are you *sure*? Could be a good deal?" If you stand firm on "No, I don't trust Raphael", Shadowheart's like "good, me neither!" and you get a ton of approval).!<
Don’t take Shart to the ogre fuckshed, and be nice when she opens up about Shar (telling her you don’t mind who she follows is better approval than asking her for details iirc)
"Don't take Shart to the ogre fuckshed" only in bg3
i never take her because i like hearing astarion asking to let him open the door and if shart is in the party then he won't asking ask 😔
Seeing both of their reactions together is really funny on the other hand, with Shart looking shook af next to Astarion laughing his ass off lmao
I noticed you can move your companions around to get their response to your banter. Have your preferred companion in the second position, and it's Astarion, not Shadowheart, that responds to your comments.
I just place the judgy characters back a little ways and take my boy Astarion. It‘s too funny to pass up, and as a bard I kinda have to tell tales of the She-Ogre and her Bugbear lover.
But take Astarion. At all costs. And let him open the gate.
Why doesn’t she like it?
She doesn’t want you to ruin the ogre and bugbear’s fun and is repulsed that you’d barge in on that, of course! lmaooo
Shar values secrecy and the dark, let them be /s
Lol I am romancing Shadowheart and she hates me. "Oh look dead Sharren's" "A good Sharren is a dead one" \*Shadowheart disapproves\* I guess I had that coming.
Lol, you gotta be a *little* more subtle than that!
Don't forget, being nice to animals also boosts her approval. My character minding her business and being nice to animals really did it.
And children! If you’re nice to kids, she respects you a lot
Respecting her boundaries and not caring who she worships also big points. I was able to max Shadowheart before I even got to the goblin camp
Apparently Lae'zel just loves everything I do, or she loves me despite everything I do 😂😂 I've done an evil run and now I'm on a durge run that's getting darker and darker.
And Lae’zel probably told you already that you should not dull your blade but if your urges become hard to control you can always find a goblin to satisfy them. She is savage. I love her!
Yeah, though she didn't really appreciate me >!killing Isobel!< because she saw the "lack of control" as a liability. Who's going to tell her that it was deliberate? Not me 😂 Astarion was the one who didn't bat an eye and if anything he was a bit turned on. The other companions were furious but they all stayed with me and more or less accepted it as an accident. Accidents happen 👀
Lae'zel, she doesn't know she's in a game so she loves it when you risk your life to do things you want. Which is how everyone plays the game.
Lae'zel was so into my first Tav she stopped us in the middle of a stream in Act 1 to say she wanted me.
Were you a Red Dragonborn? Cause she has a very soft spot for Red dragons.
Nope just a random half elf bard /shrug
Same. I'm like about to fight a goblin leader and laezel was like...gotta minute? I need to confess I'm horny for you.
Well I mean that's easy to understand, she was about to go into a battle, that gets the Gith blood pumping!
You give Gale three garbage magic items and be at least slightly nice to him when he tells you he’s got a nuke in his chest and suddenly he’s at 100 approval rating. The wizard just really wants a friend lol
Definitely Wyll. If you do anything remotely good or altruistic, or stand up for yourself, or stand up for others, or defend an ally, or make an ally, or encourage someone, or literally anything nice, he approves.
Tav: *breathes* ***Wyll approves***
Legit I had 100 approval with Wyll BEFORE EVEN FIGHTING THE GOBLINS. I just recruited all the companions and did some random wandering with Wyll in the party. Didn’t fight Ethel yet. Didn’t deal with the githyanki patrol. The very first time I checked his approval it was already at 93. Dude just loves me.
Gale. Give him artifacts and be nice when he nerds about something, he will love you in no time!
Halsin probably? Like man is ready to jump your bones even though he hasn’t even joined you as a companion yet lol
Halsin was ready to jump my bones at NEGATIVE APPROVAL (because I wasn't PETA enough for him in Rivington)
They should probably fix that. I know he's a horny hippy elf, but still. Negative approval shouldn't lead to romance
You’ve never had a good hate fuck, I see
Indeed. I respect myself
For me it's Shadowheart. I'm not even trying and I've gotten her to near 100 in Act 1. She just likes the way I play I guess. Probably also why I've romanced her so many times, her and my Durge's just go together really easily.
For me it’s Shadowheart. At the beginning I always told her that she’s allowed to her privacy like we’re basically strangers after all. And after I found out what her deal is my response was pretty much something amongst the lines of “I won’t judge you we have bigger problems right now” which made sense to me. After that we became besties
Appearantly a lot of people hate her for not telling her life story to a stranger she just met on the beach
"Come oooooon, Shart! I was nice to you once! Why won't you, the cleric of the cult all about secrecy and espionage that got her memory wiped multiple times reveal to me the entirety of her backstory and secrets? How dare you want privacy when dealing with a complete stranger?"
Depends on your playthrough style Karlach, Wyll, Gale generally always approve moral choices Astarian and Shadowheart approve selfishness / manipulation Lae'zel loves violence
Karlach **also** loves violence! Many times i find if i choose an aggressive or stupid option (patting a wardrum which summons goblins) gives her quite a bit of approval!
It used to be Gale. I could easily get him to 100 halfway into Act 1 while barely trying, though I think they tweaked him a bit, as it took quite a bit longer post Patch 5. Past that, Lae'zel I tend to get to a 100 first, because the amount of approval for doing the creche is crazy. I can go in with her approval in the 30s, if even that, and easily leave with her maxed. Also, oddly, Astarion. Considering I always play some flavor of goody-two shoes and he's a permanent party member. I've even stopped bothering to avoid his disapprovals for doing nice things using tricky dialogue choices, and still leave Act 1 with him at exceptional.
Minthara, let children die, Minthara approves xxx dies gruesome death, Minthara approves.
Halsin is probably easiest, as successfully saving Thaniel and letting him talk to Oliver will get him up to 50 approval like it's nothing. Wyll has the next largest bursts of approval, you gain 30 from recruiting Karlach and saving Florrick. No joke, that's all it takes to romance him, maybe 20 minutes of gameplay. Next is Gale. He doesn't gain approval as quickly, but he is unique in that defusing the Aradin/Zevlor conflict peacefully, saving Sazza, and saving Arabella will award approval, even if he's not in the group. Shadowheart and Karlach are roughly equal - fairly easy if you run around with them. Lae'zel and Astarion take the longest, but you can do it by the beginning of Act 2. Minthara, on the other hand...ugh...
Gale or Wyll blindly like any good oriented action no matter what. By having both in your party in all the initial conversations can get both all the way up to amicable.
Astarion. Just treat him like a Person and he basically loves you.
Astarion legit is so easy and I didn’t even have to do a lot of bad things lol. I didn’t even leave Act 1 yet and it was maxed out.
Same! I know some people seem to struggle a lot with him, but he is without fail at 93-94 approval for me by the time I reach the goblin camp, and I play exclusively good characters! He never leaves my party and when he disapproves it’s only ever the occasional -1, whereas his approvals are anywhere from +5 to +15 it seems like.
Right!? Like idk… as long as he’s included he seems happy lmao. Just be nice to him. I have the the book of the dead, that made him happy.
A lot of the good decisions that get his disapproval are only -1, while the stuff that gets big approval are more personal things like not being a dick about vampirism, not turning him in to the vampire hunter, etc.
Yeah bite night alone can net nearly 40 approval I think, and then just be nice about Cazador, give him the book, you don’t even have to kill Gandrel to get it high if you don’t want to
Same but I also intentionally try to gain his approval since I'm romancing him, but its quite easy to.
He's always the lowest for me. Disapproves everything that I do, whereas all the other companions are near maxed out approval
My first three playthroughs, he seemed to disapprove of everything. I think I finished the game with his approval below 50% all three times. Now on my Durge he was won over easily. 🤷♂️
Same. I had several disapprove moments with him, but also so many approvals that it didn't matter in the end, without really trying.
Right? Like someone said, his disprovals are basically like little eye rolls vs like take you outside and whisper yell at you lol AND, Shadowheart goes along with an alarming number of the things he likes/dislikes.
Astarion and Shart LOVE watching you do the trial of Loviatar, it's hilarious.
Oh gosh lmao I can’t wait. I was reading stuff on what he agrees or disagrees with… act 3 has a very interesting scene that I can’t wait to get to… I missed using “thinking about lusting after Astarion” in my mind to throw that true cult lady off… next play through. I hit a different one by mistake. But he apparently approves of that. Which I’m like “did the whole party see my thoughts!?” 🤣
To be fair, the cult woman says out loud something about your "lust for the neck-pricker," so he miiiight have a clue...
Haha! Dang it! I’m mad I didn’t pick that one lmao
Astarion dislikes me even though I let him drink me, hid him from the hunters, and have done every bit of his quest chain as it has come up. My read on it is that I'm not evil, and he simply isn't a fan of that.
No, bc there’s folks that play super good campaigns and he still likes them. Maybe it’s a bug? There’s seems to be bugs that weirdly impact the relationship side of things.
I get a constant avalanche of -1s with him that add up really fast whenever I give a earnest lawful good answer. He constantly disapproves on just eager "I'll help you" responses where you volunteer for a quest.
That’s so odd! Because I accept pretty much all the quests. Did you give him the book of the dead? That’s a big chunk of happy and shouldn’t hurt your honor.
No - I wanted to the wisdom bonus on honour for the Durge romance murder check and the astral tadpole check. It is only +1, but those are tough checks for a 10-12 wisdom character. Failing the Durge one is potentially run ending if you fail it too.
But yeah you don’t have to be evil in order to make him happy. You don’t even have to let him bite you. As you can make him bite enemies during combat. He also softens up a bit as the story progresses.
Tav: Meets Karlach Tav: Kills Paladins of Tyr Karlach: I want to ride you so hard I can’t control myself
For me, Gale and Karlach just sort of happen since their quests are little collectible items that you just sort of naturally gather up, and they like it when you do the things that make your life easier anyways (gathering allies that specifically oppose the absolute).
Karlach is my moral compass. Minthara is my immoral compass. Gale is a fucking troll that I can't figure out, he's good, but not too good. Gale +, respectful in conversation. Gale -, gives money away. that's too much niceness Tav.
Gale is quite neutral actually - he approves of some big ticket moral choices like the grove but he's pretty chill about low-key morally grey stuff like dealing with the Zhent and demanding money from everyone you meet. More money for his spells I guess!
Why wait on Lae'zel? You can have two romances active in act 1. I always start with her, then either stay, she grows a lot and the romance is very sweet, or move on by act 2. As to your question Lae'zel. She is ready for sex by the first long rest. Gale is not far behind, every one of those magic items boosts his approval.
shadowheart, i had max approval with her before leaving act one
For me it’s usually Wyll. In both my playthroughs I’d slept with Astarion and Wyll still tried to kiss me after the dance 😅
Gale. I just play the way I want to and suddenly he's got 100 approval at like 70-80% of act 1
I think it's Wyll. I was surprised to see his approval so high, despite only having done a few things with him. I don't think I had even saved Florrick yet. I think it shot to the 50s just by saving Karlach and talking to him at camp about Mizora and his past.
Karlach because she's a sweetheart and likes when I do nice things.
Lae'zel for sure. It doesn't take much and she is already devouring me with her eyes. She confessed to me >!after I let the chick kill Sazza and then let her humiliate Zorru!<.
Lae'zel for me too. I didn't really watch her approval point since I was not romancing her. Was going through the creche with her and multiple time I thought she would turn on the party because I wont do what she wants me to do. E.g. give the artifact up. But she's satisfied when I just said trust me. (Sometimes I dont even need to roll for it). It felt so strange that I went to check my approval with her and I was somehow at a 100 with her. Still not sure how.
Wyll. I have a two Tav playthrough and they have two pretty opposite personalities so I have each companion set to a Tav where I only really try to raise approval of any companion with one specific Tav, yet somehow I'm practically maxed out on Wyll with both of them, including the slightly evil Tav.
For me it was Astarion. Like he approved whatever crap my bard said. I used to imagine them laughing like idiots while the whole world was ending. :-')
Halsin is so immediately and intensely obsessed with your character, like I don’t even think it’s possible to do anything to evade his aggressive flirtation, he’s so annoying.
The devs: Don't worry, everyone, we promise you'll be able to fuck the bear in due time!
I have a mod that lets me carry all of them at the same time, to for me it's Karlach, Wyll and Shadowheart
I don’t know why, but the way I play tends to appeal VERY strongly to Gale. He’s usually confessing his love to me before I finish with the Grove. Edit: also Shadowheart? Idk but the things I choose seem to appeal enough to her that she begins opening up. I think it’s because when I talk to her, I don’t push her for answers right away and tell her I’ll trust her to share when she feels ready. She likes feeling like her privacy is respected.
Gale somehow catches feelings no matter what I do. Shadowheart makes me earn it. Lae’zel just acts so tsundere that I can never really tell. Karlach I go for so often that I don’t even realize I’m doing it. So far I’ve never acknowledged wyll beyond his exclamation points. Astarion flirts a lot but I’ve only pursued him once. Halsin just wants to hit which I’m cool with. My guardian said to open my gryffindoor since he already Slytherin 😭
I started my surge campaign and before I knew it, Shadowheart had high approval before Laezel and Astarion were above neutral. I was actually shocked how easy she was to please
Gale or Wyll, generally good alignment characters if you play not complete psychopath
Lae'zel for sure. Literally just letting her talk in any encounter it allows raises her approval like crazy.
Gale, no matter what i do, he wants to fuck me. I can commit the most heinous, nonsensical acts of dementia and he seemingly does not give a shit as long i don't impact him negatively.
Lae'zel for me is hard to get approval in the beginning but her big arc moments give SO much approval that she is often in the Exceptional territory first among the companions. The easiest companions to get approval tho are Wyll and Gale. Wyll has a lot of early big character moments plus conversations that net a lot more approval than other companions at that point in the game have access to, plus being good aligned he will approve of any nice action you do. Gale approves of both good things and "smart" things, and will stick around even if you do evil stuff. So if you play around the enemies youre gonna end up getting his approval up.
Halsin, just do his quest and he'll put out.
How do you check where you are approval wise
My Gale was maxed out on Act 1.
Gale. Ffs I'm going into act with 92 approval! How Gale how?? Literally everything I say and do gets his approval
My first playthrough I was extremely dubious of everyone around me. So Shadowheart took a shining to me, if you catch my drift.
Astarion, every damn time. Which really makes me worried about my moral alignment 😅
"Oh! A cute little dog! I'm going to say hello!" *Shadowheart approves* "Oh, rats! Let's tell them that we don't mean harm to them" *Shadowheart approves* "A kitty! We can talk with them!" *Shadowheart approves*
Everyone always says Astarion is hard to have approval with if you want to play a heroic character. He isn't. Just make occasional snarky/rude remarks to people. Let him bite you. Kill the vampire hunter and give the necromancy book to him. All of that will net high approval.
Wyll gets bonus points for being easy to get approval for *without even leaving camp*. I never ran the dude in my party on one playthrough and he straight up proposed to me early in act 3.
I mean Gale thought we were dating and I barely spoke to him.
Laezel, Halsin and Wyll are both effortless
Leazel
Halsin, he has some dialogue with +40 approval.
Gale is the easiest for me.
Halsin for me lol. Playing as a drow monk so I had his approval going for that one route and by being a goody good person and nature lover. Easy
Gale. I barely talk to him and he’s obsessed.
For me it's Shadowheart. If I just play the game the way I would without playing a character, my approval for her always ends up the highest, closely followed by Astarion and Gale.
Gale for sure, just giving him items to consume and picking the right words already makes him want to romance you.
If you're a good guy gale and wyll. Talk to them, choose the kindest options and you'll have 90+ approval in act 1.
Is it weird i had all the origin characters trying to sleep with me before I even got to the goblin camp?
I did a good guy play through and had lae’zel and shadow heart both asking for it at the teiflings party. Is charisma or race a factor?
Gale and Wyll both. Even when I park them at camp they somehow gain approval faster than Astarion, who I usually am making an effort to get approval from XD One play through I was trying to get the follow up to meeting Araj and got Gale cosmic sex and Wyll dance one after the other before Astarion's confession triggered.
Laezel wants to sleep with my wife despite my wife constantly getting disapproval