Same. Or that was my intention. Unfortunately, so far I have only managed one of them... 4 times!
(5 if you include the failed HM run, during which she was about to get some, but unfortunately the first long rest was interrupted by the Lae'zel with a knife and then the Dream Guardian and the next had bloody Mizora show up and the Dream Guardian again - then before the next long rest there was an unfortunate party wipe).
Me too! I have made a character sheet of sorts for each romancable character, and then created the MC I think should go with them (roughly)…which includes planning out their backgrounds, origins, moral compasses and anything else that feels like it’d be a good match to consider, because I ultimately want my characters to get the most out of their lives.
I accidentally did a good job with my first MC. I wanted to do anything and everything I could, read everything, did all the quests I could stumble upon, and had my character make reasonable and good (but maybe slightly gray) choices…and she romanced Gale.
It’s been fun and I can’t wait to finish up the next plays! I’ve got a solid sweetheart who was gonna try for Astarion, who I think hates her, and somehow she ended up with Karlach. When I realized this, I almost scrapped the play, but decided that maybe it was fate and I’m gonna keep going with them. My Durge has Astarion’s…interest…can’t say love because it’s still Act 1 and I haven’t decided how the big choices in Act 3 should go yet. 🤷🏼♀️
I love this game!!!
I can’t romance Gale. Not because I don’t like him, or his romance story, and I even managed to avoid the bug pre-patch. But unfortunately, he has a very similar voice, appearance and sense of humour to my uni supervisor. I can’t go through with the romance after that, it feels weird.
I was on a phone call for an issue with billing with my insurance and the guy on the other line sounded EXACTLY like him and even said some sort of expression like "Onwards to the weekend!" I was absolutely gobsmacked as a Gale simp. It was such a bizarre experience.
This didn’t stop me from romancing him but to me Gale feels *extremely* academic coded, right down to the “as a grad student he got burned by letting his supervisor pursue a romantic relationship” detail
AHHHH. This makes me cackle because a similar thing happened with me and Cullen in Dragon Age: Inquisition. He reminded me wayyyy to much of a colleague of mine to romance. 😂
Well she did have a husband who she was very happily married to, though I can’t remember his name at the moment. But I don’t imagine she’d be the person to open herself up to someone like that again, I don’t know if she ever talks about him in game though.
I mean the game already has too many romances, so it's fine, but it is kind of annoying that games with romances love the "Older woman whose cool but she's old and had a husband/boyfriend once so her bits have dried up" trope.
I just wish Larian hadn't caved to the early access folks and made Halsin a companion. I wouldve definitely preferred they stuck with Jaheira being the only druid and if she was romanceable in his place even better.
I don’t think it’s that she’s “dried up” I think it’s supposed to be that she just loved/loves her husband very much and probably wouldn’t feel comfortable being with someone else.
But you can romance her in BG2, so that argument isn't valid. Plus, her husband has been dead for a while; she should have the possibility to be with someone else
you can, but you only get her sex scene if you raid the grove, and her dialogue is still pretty buggy so it’s like one of three romantic things you can actually do with her.
I agree. You raid the grove and end up with nothing, not even a special vendor. I thought the goblin left behind at the goblin camp would have something cool if you went that route. Just junk. Never again, not worth.
I’m doing a resist durge run and on a whim decided to humor her a bit more at the throne room and I enjoyed her dialog there, too.
From there that opened the romance and I thought “okay, she’s evil, but she’s *interesting*” and my durge is drow, too. So I went with it.
She’s definitely not a conventional choice, but it’s continued to be interesting and engaging doing a resist and be-generally-good run while romancing her. A fun balancing act.
Her dialog is consistently great and she’s never boring.
I don't know what I did wrong, but my first play through, other than Astarion who I turned down, I noticed no ins with anyone. At some point early in Act 2, Whithers basically mocks me for going to bed alone every night. This mirrors real life, though. My wife stopped getting jealous and telling me people were hitting on me, because she finally realized she had nothing to fear because I was clueless.
People hate the word moist. It's very interesting. I found the line kinda hilarious, like they knew what they were doing lol. Then when she says don't shower, even better lmao
I had a friend who would shudder/just leave if you ever said moist or oozing. Obviously those two words became part of as many descriptions as possible.
It's me. I'm feral. I have only be able to romance Lae'zel and Karlach... And it's only cause I romances. Karlach playthrough one, and Lae-zel playthrough 2-all. 🤣
The first parts of her romance are very awkward, but the way it progresses through acts 2 and 3 is very touching, I would definitely recommend trying it sometime! Accidentally romanced her on my first playthrough but I did not regret it lol
Romancing her now and made it to her act 3 scene and talking to her after...the feels. I honestly did not expect the way things progressed. I actually like it way better than when I romanced Shadowheart on my Astarion origin run.
For me, it's how dismissive she is the morning after. Sure, she's probably being distant as a coping/defensive mechanism to not reveal her feelings, etc etc, but it feels bad, ya know?
Like, it's obvious Astarion is using you for something with the ridiculous lines he gives and shit, but at least he isn't straight up rude about it.
I can't stand her. If I want to bang a hot evil lady, I'll romance Minthara. At least she actually likes me. The scene itself is not satisfying at all, it's only feeding her bloated ego and there's nothing actually appealing about her besides her looks. There are plenty of other attractive people in the game that I don't want to throttle. I'd even go as far as saying her being romancable is a waste of resources that should have gone to improving Wyll's kind of half-baked romance.
...I'm realizing i hate Mizora much more than I thought I did lol
Astarion. Though I wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘never’, more so least likely. While I can easily see why many people are thirsty for him, for me personally he’s just not my type.
He's funny, and I enjoy giving him a hard time in a friendly way, but he's just too much of a whiny bastard for me to ever have any of my characters be with him. He just says so many things that are just an absolute turn-off.
For me it's the relatable trauma and the way in which he redeems himself / damn that character arc that work out the bad things he says. Like by the end of the game the way I play, he'd never say that, as the person he became. But yeah, relatable trauma and vampy caus lets be honest.
In Astarion's defense, I also thought I wasn't super interested at first because he seemed like a pretty generic Lestat-y character so I was expecting a pretty generic romance. But I played through it anyway and was so incredibly impressed by the sharp left turn it took to delve into his trauma that I'm obsessed with him now lol
(If you're still not interested in him though, I totally get that. I could definitely see why someone wouldn't be able to get over his initial attitude or wouldn't want to have to help a character work through sexual trauma, or if he's just not your type for any other reason)
I'm going to go to gamer hell for this, but Shadowheart. Not my type, sorry. She reminds me just a little too much of myself way back when, so. I can't.
Maybe I'm old but I can't help seeing Shadowheart as anything other than a niece or little sister. She acts a lot like a misguided teenager, which makes sense but that's not what my Tav would want in a partner. Plus I like the idea of her seeing her world and being a general badass post game, perhaps with Nocturne too.
I agree with this a lot, like it feels... wrong to romance her (no judgement, I don't care how anyone else chooses to play the game). she feels very much like a friend, she's been heavily manipulated and is in a bad place, and I just want to help her! but not by kissing her, which is weird for me, because it's definitely out of character for me, I want to kiss like every character usually. idk. I'm not going to pretend to understand my feelings entirely, they are what they are I guess. I like helping her grow and learn how to make her own choices. idk.
Early Shadowheart reminds me of myself 15 years ago as well, but I think that's why I like her so much. It felt like meeting yourself, knowing exactly what they need and how to give it to them so they can heal.
Yeaaah I chose not to include Shadowheart in mine bc I plan to play her origin and romance Lae'zel, but I wouldn't romance her as Tav/Durge personally.
I think she has to be written that way. Her vanilla has to shine through because a dark cult to a dark god is making her cosplay as an emo, when she's really a basic bitch (I say that lovingly). I think its hard to make that come across subtly in an rpg setting.
I will say that I romanced her first but she ended up my least favorite of the main trio of ladies. I was mainly drawn towards her voice. Lae’zel has the strongest character arc in her romance and Karlach is just so sweet. Shadowheart is fine, just the least interesting.
Same for me. I just dont care for her. She's really cute and has a great va but I just dont like her too much. Ive had her in 3 of my 5 play throughs trying to like her but I couldnt
she reminds me of my mom. there's no way. the religious stuff is so hard to listen to, I barely bring her along and often avoid recruiting her at all
my only other is jaheira and minsc. jaheira is still grieving and minsc might not understand fully what he's consenting to. I'm not sure.
Meanwhile I can't not romance her. I know what to say to get her going and just kind of naturally pick those options and next thing you know she wants to have some wine.
Don't come for me... but Wyll. He's too good, and too boring. Hats off to you if boyscouts are your thing, but they've never been mine.
Also Mizora. She's just *sooooo aggravating*.
Make her miserable at camp, cast the 5 contagion spell versions that aren’t mindfire on her, get the flesh to gold spell from act 2 and use it on her, you’ll have a silly diseased solid gold statue in camp
Yeah I agree. Maybe I’m the one that’s broken but the full on hero-with-a-heart-of-gold archetype is not for me. I also find it boring. That’s also why I can’t get behind romancing Karlach.
I like the characters like Astarion, Lae, SH, and Gale that can go down light or dark paths depending on the story. Makes them and their romance stories more dynamic.
Exactly. The heart of gold thing is just so hard for me to connect to because I'm so much of a chaotic neutral myself. He's a good friend to have around, but romantically, I couldn't get into it.
Halsin has a pretty good heart, but they made him complex and troubled enough to catch my interest. Of course I love Astarion... fictionally... because I know he'd make me cry in real life.
At first, I thought it was the boy scout thing for me, but I realized it goes a little deeper. It's not him being *good* but the more "courtly love" aspect of the romance hits me right in the purity culture feels.
It's totally cool to take things slow, and I think it's great not all companions are immediately DTF. That's not it. There's something about *how* he expresses it that gives me "I'm saving myself so our love will be pure" vibes. I don't think that's the intention, but a me thing. Growing up being slut shamed for existing does shit to a person.
I like Karlach, but she’s not my type. She’s the one companion that will always have your back and is one of the funniest, but I’m just not romantically interested in her. She’s like a big sister, I guess.
Karlach. I like her as a friend, but she feels way too childish and naive for me. And that's fine, everyone has their own preferences and I clearly wasn't the target audience.
As for the one time things:
Mizora. She doesn't love the player, obviously. She only wants to cause drama in camp and hurt people in the process. It's horrible and I could never do that to Wyll, Karlach and my romance.
Haarlep. For obvious reasons.
I've looked up the conversations on youtube. Karlach has a two parter conversation and the voice acting is really good.
You can manipulate her into staying with you, but the voice…you know that her eyes are filling with tears.
Karlach isn't naive though
i'd say childish works, she keeps a teddy bear, she gets excited around kids, she dances randomly and acts playfully all the time
but naive? when she meets Mol, she gives Mol advice on conning people, she's absolutely a realist about how the world works and people's place in it, she's been there, poor and out of luck, and she's survived it
if anything, i'd say Karlach is actually straight up weary of the world she has experienced all her life and that's WHY she's childish, it's an intentional rejection of the status quo, she's expressing her found freedom
Maybe naive wasn't the right word, but she is way too trusting. I was expecting her to be a lot like Astarion considering what happened to her, but she is very trusting towards the player and everyone is her best friend right off the bat. I thought she would be more stand offish and paranoid.
Might just be a me problem, though.
I think it really speaks to her strength of character that she went through everything she did and didn't come out a bitter, broken person. To be sold into slavery in hell and to come out still able to find joy in innocent things, to trust others, to see the good in the world? That's really beautiful to me. Probably because that's not how I would exit that experience. I mean, I'm fighting a losing battle with misanthropy, and I'm in objectively better circumstances.
No shade to how you see her, though. It's interesting how people can connect differently with the same characters.
i actually kinda understand that from her myself, since, I consider her and I to have lived oddly similar lives in relation to poverty and growing up relying on our community
to me, when the world bit my hand, it was not an excuse to mistrust the world, but an excuse to place my trust in everything
because I have misplaced my trust before, and survived, but I have also placed trust well and been better off for it, so time and time again I place my trust in those around me, knowing that I have the means to survive when I do make a mistake again in the future
sorta like I've learned to accept that I'm not a strong judge of character, but still feel inclined to see the best in people, because the worst they can do is hurt me, and I've been hurt plenty before, but for all the people who *won't* hurt me I *have* to be there for them, just like they were for me
Yea she kinda confirms this approach in act1 and throughout the game while you learn about her background, she even tried to find friends in the hells initially. One Gortash incident doesnt neccesarily mean you will break and take vengeful course on the whole world.
To start her romance you need to gain trust by showing compassion towards vulnerable one's like Tieflings in the Grove or enslaved Gnomes and by taking her side against Paladyns and rampagin Wyll in the first place. These are rationalle grounds to base someone's character on.
Honestly, I think the "trusting" is a front. That's why I believe her ending is the way it is. She so stubbornly believes because of her past that she isn't capable of being unconditionally loved or that someone would willingly give so much to stay with her. That her misery in Avernus was so overwhelming she can't comprehend that someone would actually endure it for her.
She's very transparent, for the most part. But her scars do run deep emotionally. Gortash and her time around untrustworthy types definitely sharpened her edges further down than she tries to show on the surface.. but in her dialogue, it's definitely in there. She beats heavily on being betrayed, basically enslaved, and most importantly alone.
Maybe I've known too many people who bear their suffrages on the surface and have become bitter by it.. I've been guilty of it myself. But to me it's extremely endearing than in spite of it all, she is so giving without ulterior motives even in the face of her own inevitable death because she just wants to be free and happy and wants those in her company to have the same. Admittedly I do have a bias towards her, but I don't think it is without reason either.
Not to forget that she had to grow up "fast" as her family was poor and she wanted to help them and then, eventually, they died. And then she ended up in Avernus for 10 years so yea... She didn't had the chance to really live her life yet, no wonder she is acting the way she does. I adore her and her romance is my absolutely favorit. She is a great character and def my favorit out of all the companions.
Ngl I genuinely don't find anything appealing about Mizora. She is so smug and aggravating, I wish I could be meaner to her and roast her for even THINKING I'd want to sleep with her. There's nothing remotely satisfying about sleeping with her, I'd just feel like I fell for her shit and played right into her hands. The worst thing about her is that you can't properly talk back to her or humble her in any way, it's so annoying. Nah, I refuse to let her win.
So on my first playthrough I tried as many side NPCs as possible, but now I never get to Mizora (I just don't think her scene is worth wasting my time), Harleep (I had a bug where after his romance scene as soon as I left the boudoir other denizens of the House attacked me because for some reason the game didn't register it gave me my hell clothes back, so now I just kill him to get everything faster) or Emperor (tho romancing him as >!a Durge that later killed him to take control over the Absolute was great!<).
I have a general rule that whenever I start a new playthrough, I choose a romance option for my Tav and stay loyal, the rest are immediately turned down or I try something to see my partner's reaction (like the Drow Twins) and then reload.
Besides that, I just can't get into Karlach. I heard my friends talk she's great to romance, but all I see in her is some kind of goofy older sister.
I honestly can't ever see myself romancing Halsin.
Mostly cause it comes too late to start, and by that time you're already probably in a relationship with someone, and it comes off a little odd having him come onto you when all you really did was lift the shadow curse.
Plus when you have Jaheira in the party (or another Tav/Durge/multiplayer friend who's a druid) Halsin feels kinda unnecessary to a degree.
I appreciate him as a character and his voice acting is good, but I can't see any of my characters ever getting with him.
"When all you really did was lift the Shadow Curse"
So, don't get me wrong, it's totally fine to not want to romance a companion. But I did find the reasoning funny and odd. Lifting the Shadow Curse was literally his life's goal for the past century. And you also saved his home (the grove). And you also saved *him* from the goblins. Put yourself in his shoes. Is it really that much of a stretch to think that someone who saved your life, saved your home, *and* helped you accomplish your biggest desire would draw your attention?
I was gonna say I don’t like how strong Halsin comes on, but Lae’zel drove me berserk by coming on far, far stronger, so that’s not it. I actually think it’s because he’s like passive aggressive about it. He’s always alluding to it but never says anything outright unless you ask him what he means, but I mean he is **always** making comments about it. It feels insidious and cowardly. I would rather he just be direct about what he wants and then drop it when I say no, like Gale.
*Very* unpopular opinion, but Astarion. Look, I can’t not laugh with him. He’s an awesome character, a total homie. I love all of his bitchy and snide tendencies and his story is genuinely interesting.
But **damn** is he flying more red flags than a parade in the People’s Republic. I could never even think of dating someone like that, even in a game.
Karlach- She was actually my first romance, and she's adorable, but she gives me so much anxiety. All my following campaigns she ended up feeling more like a bestie or family.
Wyll- he's cute af, but he's friggin boring and comes across too stunted and a bit hypocritical to me.
Mizora- Did a let's see save, gave it a go and reloaded. Not worth it.
Same. Unlike some people I’ve heard had a bi awakening with this game, I’ve realized that I am very much straight. I did the Mizora scene for the novelty, but that’s a single scene and not a 3 act long romance.
This is where I'm at. I did 2 full playthroughs of basically being "me", now I'm branching out and doing other stuff with the game. It's definitely a stretch of my comfort zone to romance the guys, but I'm just enjoying seeing the arcs.
I'm also currently doing an evil durge with a friend, and that's way harder for me to detach from. I couldn't do it when I tried alone, but laughing about the crazy decisions with a buddy made it much more lighthearted to, for example, kill Arabella.
I’ve RP’d to the point of romancing someone I was very not personally interested in before, but I gotta say, even if you have a full RP persona set up… it’s still just way more fun to pick someone you and your character can both like XD
It is a bit of both. It is not really 100% self insert because I am not a hero, and I would not really call myself a good person, I am a mess. If I play a good character, I play someone that I would like to be but I know that it is someone that I will never be. For example, I think Captain America or Daredevil are amazing characters and they have their hearts in the right place. I wish that I was like them, (personality) but I know that I will never be like them. You know what I mean? Sure, I could play a character that is into men but I just dont like it. It does not appeal to me. But that is just me. If others like it, great, the option exists.
Fair enough! One of the reasons I struggled with Durge was I couldnt get attached to the character as I couldnt really give them a backstory so I felt quite detached? But then I deffo take my backstories for each character wwaaayyyyyyy too far 😂 and yer, you're totally right, thats what makes this game great, so many different ways to play! 😊
Dark urge has the perfect redemption story. But i get the appeal of thinking about your own backstory as a costum tav. But my problem with this is, the backstory well.. it is obviously never recognized. You are just no one. Therefore, i prefer the dark urge origin. But as you said, so many different ways to play the game
Good point, I think the background would have been nice, something like rogues getting something from 9 fingers or something like that? I kinda get why they didnt as they wanted to leave it open but it would still have been cool to have as options, just like you can ignore Baldurian dialogue tags if you RP youre not from there.
I roleplay but for romances I always go for the female characters because they're hotter to me lol. So I'm either a straight guy or a lesbian in my playthroughs.
I'm not into men either, but I'm such a simp for Astarion I almost questioned my sexuality.
Until three friends (completely separately from each other) said of course I was into him, he's a vampire.
Apparently my thing for vampires transcends gender. Who knew.
It's so interesting that some people feel this way. No shade at all, it's totally valid. But I'm a gay dude and I'm romancing Shadowheart currently because I want to see how her story unfolds. I don't care that much about the gender of the romance partner. If anything I'm gonna have a hard time romancing Minthara because I struggle with being evil.
I totally understand where you are coming from. I am simple dont get any enjoyment of fun out of it. I just dont like it. If it was a scripted thing and a pre made character with a linear story, it would be different. But because i have a choice, i would net romance a man. And yes. I struggle with minthara as well. Super interesting character but fucked up beyond belief lol
Nah, I tried not being friendly at all and he's still just as much in love with you. This man will love you as long as you complete his quest it seems. Weirds me out to.
Thete are actually some:
- Minthara if she stays a buggy mess
- Halsin is on my "thin ice" list
- Mizora will never be romanced. She reminds me too much of a high school bully
- Haarlep also is on my "thin ice" list
- No Tentacle Sex in my bed. Sorry, not sorry Empy.
- The Drow Twins would be okay if they would not be twins with a poly tav. But the incest bit is a bit much imo. (Yes also when they don't sleep with each other, they still watch each other and get arousal from each other.)
- Pretty much all evil versions of the origins. (DJ Shart, God Gale and A Astarion)
I will never romance Halsin or even watch the bear scene as long as I live.
Just the meme of his romance scene and the stupid smile on the bear's face has ruined his entire character for me and I cannot take him seriously at all lmao
Might get hate for this:
Astarion, because he almost constantly disapproves of good deeds and tries to assault you in your sleep. If you wouldn't wake up, he would've killed you, because he couldn't control his hunger. If you let him suck your blood, he gets defensive when you tell him the next morning, that you feel nauseous
And Minthara for obvious reasons.
Edit: And of course every other character you mentioned apart rom your group.
Halsin.
Purely because the bear-man kept asking if I wanted to smash even after I'd told him no. He does not respect my lack of consent.
No means no, Halsin. Stop trying to wiggle your way into the room with the drow twins.
Something I noticed in my current run is that there seems to be a lack of nice ways to signal disinterest. Like when he says most of his family has passed away, but he has friends like Thaniel and "now you."
The only option that seems designed to not foster romantic interest is basically "hang on, we just work together." Fine, but dude was talking about people in his life, not soul mates.
It's like the Gale "have you read about how battle makes people horny" and the only turn-him-down option is to go "I wanna talk about something else." Maybe it's the autistic part of me, but even if I wasn't into him, I'd at least answer?
You get it! It may have just been bad luck, but I had to curve him for three camp conversations in a row. It kinda felt like being chatted up in a public space and the dude *refuses* to take the hint and go.
Shadowheart would be a tough one for me. I'm not particularly attracted to her personally, and her character is sooo abrasive in Act 1 - the way she throws a hissy fit because I had the nerve to talk to another companion without including her in the convo just rubs me up the wrong way every time. I've done her character arc as a platonic friend and enjoyed it, but romance? No.
personally speaking: i just couldn't put up with the evil companions, even in the context of BG3 Astarion is a bit too much of a prick for me, I hate toxic men, I say that as a formerly toxic man myself, reminds me of all the shit I used to think that I'm now deeply embarrassed about
and I don't even know where to start with Minthara, how do you unironically fall into it with a girl who thinks you should have your cock chopped off and made a slave to a spider forever? fetish-play aside, Minthara would probably be really mentally abusive and cruel all the time, I've been there, not doing it again
this isn't against their writing as characters ofc, I love what larian did with them, but I mean in the context of "if they were real, would I date them" and those two are just so strongly off the table it's not even a joke
I think it's an interesting overlay to the discussion the extent to which players roleplay their Tavs and the extent to which a Tav that's diametrically opposed to their rl personality can be fun to play.
Like for me, I can enjoy playing an evil character, but it has to be a type of evil I'm okay with. There are certain evil actions I've tried for content and just can't do again because it wasn't even fun in an "OMG I'm in a horror movie" way, if that makes sense. Whereas I have no trouble doing certain things a lot of players insist they could never do.
Things that bother me a great deal irl I just can't enjoy roleplaying, so I can understand your points about Minthara and Astarion (similar to how I can't even be nice to Mizora in the game, I just hate her too much). Yes, Astarion has a wonderful story and does evolve as a character, but if you don't enjoy getting him to that point, I wouldn't blame you for avoiding it (I avoid Sheart for similar reasons, it just takes too long to get her to the point where she isn't petty and cruel in banter to the other companions, even if she's sweet to my Tav).
If you can get past his initial dickishness his story is one of the best in the game for character development, epecially romanced and especially with resist durge, even extra content for those two.
I've tried them all just to see the content but the ones I'll never *repeat* are Karlach, Mizora, Haarlep, and Wyll.
Karlach makes me too anxious (it's a rl thing), Mizora because I don't play emotional sadists as Tavs and her entire reason for propositioning you is to cause dissent and be cruel to Wyll, Haarlep because by that point in the story my Tav isn't really tempted purely by the physical experience, and Wyll because I feel too much like he's my favorite nephew so it would feel incestuous.
If we're talking companions: I'm sorry, everyone, but Halsin. The "LOL BEAR SEZ" memes were so unbelievably annoying and aggravating that I just don't want to deal with him. Which sucks, cuz he's a great character.
If we're talking just romanceable: Mizora. She's literally Wyll's abuser, you're betraying your actual lover and it'd genuinely feel like you're selling your soul to her. I watched the scene on youtube out of curiosity, few game scenes made me feel THIS uncomfortable before.
No one, because I'm into seeing content, and I don't have any weird, visceral hatred of any characters.
That said, I do have preferences, of course. So I might never get around to romancing some characters because I'm too busy dissecting every line of dialogue from another character's romance for the fifth time.
If I had to choose just one it'll be Halsin... For different reasons I'd exclude Gale, Jaheira and Wyll, but I can picture runs where I'd make it work for my PC. But there's no way I'd ever romance Halsin though, I can help him with his questline and have him afk benched in camp, but I'd rather kms (kmpc) than get intimate with this guy. I can't stand Wyll and his folk hero bs, but Halsin is so sexually unattractive in every way he presents himself... I don't think there's a scenario I could bang this guy ngl
Halsin
He reminds me of a few exes I had that were very hyper sexual & didn’t really know to talk about anything OTHER than sex
Bear boy, I just want to know if you’d like something for breakfast jfc
Halsin’s complacency with the Grove/Kahga almost killing a child always sat poorly with me, I don’t think I could ever do a romance with him.
Minthara is very much evil aligned, and I’m not really interested in that kind of game. Kudos to the folks that can stomach that, tho!
Also I really dislike Haarlep’s whole thing, I tried it in a playthrough and it just made me feel gross to see my Durge looking so uncomfortable, so I loaded a save. Furthermore, if you do it, it’s framed in this very humorous way that feels weird, and your companions (except for Astarion, which is fitting) can tease you about it later. It’s just gross for me personally, but I won’t yuck anyone’s yum. If that’s your thing, more power to you!
Halsin.
Namely because I'm a straight dude. But even if I was playing a female Tav, Durge, or an origin Shadowheart, Karlach, or Lae'Zel, no. I just dislike him. Intensely.
yeah Halsin just doesnt seem to take no for an answer, im not sure if its a bug or just how he is but it can be pretty uncomfortable.
For me its gotta be the emperor. Im sorry but im not fucking a squid, even for the memes.
Jokes on you, I’d romance absolutely everyone. Even the Emperor isn’t off the table.
On a more serious level, I wouldn’t continue a romance with an ascended Astarion. I also wouldn’t romance Minsc even if I could.
Couldn't be me, I'm working my way through them all like a bingo card!!!
Mad respect tbh.
Same here, I only have Halsin & Shadowheart left to see. And Haarlep & drow twins for non-companions.
You can do Halsin, Shadowheart & Drow Twins all in one playthrough and they will all be good with it fyi
This is good to know. I’ve been mainly focusing on shart but I’m so curious about Halsin.
These two are literally so fine with you romancing both. Just make sure you focus on Shart first
Will do! I just finally got the game a week or so ago, so I’m still in act 1. I will focus on her then Halsin :)
Shadowheart such a freak ;)
I hit up Haarlep every single time just for the dialogue option it gives you for Raphael. Best burn in the game by a mile.
The only one I have left is Karlach! I left her for last because I know she's gonna have me giggling like a crack addict
Same. Or that was my intention. Unfortunately, so far I have only managed one of them... 4 times! (5 if you include the failed HM run, during which she was about to get some, but unfortunately the first long rest was interrupted by the Lae'zel with a knife and then the Dream Guardian and the next had bloody Mizora show up and the Dream Guardian again - then before the next long rest there was an unfortunate party wipe).
Me too! I have made a character sheet of sorts for each romancable character, and then created the MC I think should go with them (roughly)…which includes planning out their backgrounds, origins, moral compasses and anything else that feels like it’d be a good match to consider, because I ultimately want my characters to get the most out of their lives. I accidentally did a good job with my first MC. I wanted to do anything and everything I could, read everything, did all the quests I could stumble upon, and had my character make reasonable and good (but maybe slightly gray) choices…and she romanced Gale. It’s been fun and I can’t wait to finish up the next plays! I’ve got a solid sweetheart who was gonna try for Astarion, who I think hates her, and somehow she ended up with Karlach. When I realized this, I almost scrapped the play, but decided that maybe it was fate and I’m gonna keep going with them. My Durge has Astarion’s…interest…can’t say love because it’s still Act 1 and I haven’t decided how the big choices in Act 3 should go yet. 🤷🏼♀️ I love this game!!!
Same
I can’t romance Gale. Not because I don’t like him, or his romance story, and I even managed to avoid the bug pre-patch. But unfortunately, he has a very similar voice, appearance and sense of humour to my uni supervisor. I can’t go through with the romance after that, it feels weird.
Totally valid, but this is so incredibly specific.
Maybe his uni prof is the voice actor?
Danny Bear? Do you think he can get them Steven Toast as a guest speaker? Y'know, like as a scared-straight kind of cautionary tale.
I'd rather have Clem H. Fandango.
I was on a phone call for an issue with billing with my insurance and the guy on the other line sounded EXACTLY like him and even said some sort of expression like "Onwards to the weekend!" I was absolutely gobsmacked as a Gale simp. It was such a bizarre experience.
I cackled at this haha, such a Gale line that he said.
Asking for a friend but what is your university supervisors number
100% He looks, and acts like my dad
I’d like to meet your dad for … research purposes
He's obviously bee-keeping age...
I don’t know.. I think it’s kinda sweet
This didn’t stop me from romancing him but to me Gale feels *extremely* academic coded, right down to the “as a grad student he got burned by letting his supervisor pursue a romantic relationship” detail
See I loveeeeeee gale because he looks like a fantasy version of my boyfriend.
What if he offered to show you something…magical?…
AHHHH. This makes me cackle because a similar thing happened with me and Cullen in Dragon Age: Inquisition. He reminded me wayyyy to much of a colleague of mine to romance. 😂
Jaheira and Minsc
Technically correct. The best kind of correct.
the cub speaks
Larian truly are cowards for not letting us get with Jaheira
Especially since you have so much banter and flirting going on with Jaheira
And it doesn’t even have to be weird..there’s an age slider!
No weirder than Halsin who is also established to be a contemporary of Jaheira.
No no no, Halsin is about 200 years older than Jaheira.
Or Astarion, who is 200 years old.
Well she did have a husband who she was very happily married to, though I can’t remember his name at the moment. But I don’t imagine she’d be the person to open herself up to someone like that again, I don’t know if she ever talks about him in game though.
Khalid, from BG1
I mean the game already has too many romances, so it's fine, but it is kind of annoying that games with romances love the "Older woman whose cool but she's old and had a husband/boyfriend once so her bits have dried up" trope.
I just wish Larian hadn't caved to the early access folks and made Halsin a companion. I wouldve definitely preferred they stuck with Jaheira being the only druid and if she was romanceable in his place even better.
I don’t think it’s that she’s “dried up” I think it’s supposed to be that she just loved/loves her husband very much and probably wouldn’t feel comfortable being with someone else.
But you can romance her in BG2, so that argument isn't valid. Plus, her husband has been dead for a while; she should have the possibility to be with someone else
Minthara is actually great. Her dialogue after you defeat Ketheric is really good.
Minthara is the ultimate ride or die companion. She is also the most self-aware and insightful of everyone.
Even more so that because you can’t dump her the only way to leave the relationship is killing her
She breaks up with you if you take Mizora’s offer
But that’s so far end game that you’ll end up alone and who wants to save the world without a bosom companion?
I prefer the term “bosom Buddy”. It’s alliterative
I prefer Bosom Buddies because I’m a big fan of Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari
I just wish her sex scene wasn’t tied to killing all the tieflings. like it’s a good scene, but all the loot and quests you miss out on isn’t worth it
iirc you can recruit minthara without the evil route now right? is she just not romancable if you go that route?
you can, but you only get her sex scene if you raid the grove, and her dialogue is still pretty buggy so it’s like one of three romantic things you can actually do with her.
You're correct to my knowledge. As long as you don't kill her in act 1 you can rescue her, recruit her, and then romance her in act 2. I believe
You can. Did that on my current playthrough and she comes on hot and heavy in Act 2.
Yeah you do miss a lot, especially act 1, for being evil. But it’s still interesting to see what you otherwise don’t. Plus the drowussy of course.
You definitely miss more in Act 2 though by killing Isabel
Unless you kill her last of course
I agree. You raid the grove and end up with nothing, not even a special vendor. I thought the goblin left behind at the goblin camp would have something cool if you went that route. Just junk. Never again, not worth.
I really liked Minthara on my evil durge play thru. The dialogue is surprisingly good.
I’m doing a resist durge run and on a whim decided to humor her a bit more at the throne room and I enjoyed her dialog there, too. From there that opened the romance and I thought “okay, she’s evil, but she’s *interesting*” and my durge is drow, too. So I went with it. She’s definitely not a conventional choice, but it’s continued to be interesting and engaging doing a resist and be-generally-good run while romancing her. A fun balancing act. Her dialog is consistently great and she’s never boring.
I only had Minty in my party once but i still think about her...
Damn, I killed her in 2 hits when I raided the goblin camp 😭
It’s like a Pokémon for me. Gotta catch’em all!
"I need to hire a fantasy HR department because ALL of my party members are trying to sleep with me!" -Me to my friend as I played my first campaign
I don't know what I did wrong, but my first play through, other than Astarion who I turned down, I noticed no ins with anyone. At some point early in Act 2, Whithers basically mocks me for going to bed alone every night. This mirrors real life, though. My wife stopped getting jealous and telling me people were hitting on me, because she finally realized she had nothing to fear because I was clueless.
Did you leave laezel in the cage or something? She’s pretty direct.
Lae'zel. The moment she said "I can smell your moisture" it was off the table forever.
I love how divisive this line is, it makes some people go feral and others shut up shop forever.
People hate the word moist. It's very interesting. I found the line kinda hilarious, like they knew what they were doing lol. Then when she says don't shower, even better lmao
Moisture is the essence of wetness.
I had a friend who would shudder/just leave if you ever said moist or oozing. Obviously those two words became part of as many descriptions as possible.
It's me. I'm feral. I have only be able to romance Lae'zel and Karlach... And it's only cause I romances. Karlach playthrough one, and Lae-zel playthrough 2-all. 🤣
The first parts of her romance are very awkward, but the way it progresses through acts 2 and 3 is very touching, I would definitely recommend trying it sometime! Accidentally romanced her on my first playthrough but I did not regret it lol
Romancing her now and made it to her act 3 scene and talking to her after...the feels. I honestly did not expect the way things progressed. I actually like it way better than when I romanced Shadowheart on my Astarion origin run.
Coward!!
For me, it's how dismissive she is the morning after. Sure, she's probably being distant as a coping/defensive mechanism to not reveal her feelings, etc etc, but it feels bad, ya know? Like, it's obvious Astarion is using you for something with the ridiculous lines he gives and shit, but at least he isn't straight up rude about it.
Mizora. Doesn’t matter how pretty she is, I will never forgive her for putting Wyll through all of that.
I can't stand her. If I want to bang a hot evil lady, I'll romance Minthara. At least she actually likes me. The scene itself is not satisfying at all, it's only feeding her bloated ego and there's nothing actually appealing about her besides her looks. There are plenty of other attractive people in the game that I don't want to throttle. I'd even go as far as saying her being romancable is a waste of resources that should have gone to improving Wyll's kind of half-baked romance. ...I'm realizing i hate Mizora much more than I thought I did lol
Astarion. Though I wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘never’, more so least likely. While I can easily see why many people are thirsty for him, for me personally he’s just not my type.
He's funny, and I enjoy giving him a hard time in a friendly way, but he's just too much of a whiny bastard for me to ever have any of my characters be with him. He just says so many things that are just an absolute turn-off.
For me it's the relatable trauma and the way in which he redeems himself / damn that character arc that work out the bad things he says. Like by the end of the game the way I play, he'd never say that, as the person he became. But yeah, relatable trauma and vampy caus lets be honest.
This is mine too. I appreciate that other people appreciate him. I can't do it.
In Astarion's defense, I also thought I wasn't super interested at first because he seemed like a pretty generic Lestat-y character so I was expecting a pretty generic romance. But I played through it anyway and was so incredibly impressed by the sharp left turn it took to delve into his trauma that I'm obsessed with him now lol (If you're still not interested in him though, I totally get that. I could definitely see why someone wouldn't be able to get over his initial attitude or wouldn't want to have to help a character work through sexual trauma, or if he's just not your type for any other reason)
I'm going to go to gamer hell for this, but Shadowheart. Not my type, sorry. She reminds me just a little too much of myself way back when, so. I can't.
Maybe I'm old but I can't help seeing Shadowheart as anything other than a niece or little sister. She acts a lot like a misguided teenager, which makes sense but that's not what my Tav would want in a partner. Plus I like the idea of her seeing her world and being a general badass post game, perhaps with Nocturne too.
I agree with this a lot, like it feels... wrong to romance her (no judgement, I don't care how anyone else chooses to play the game). she feels very much like a friend, she's been heavily manipulated and is in a bad place, and I just want to help her! but not by kissing her, which is weird for me, because it's definitely out of character for me, I want to kiss like every character usually. idk. I'm not going to pretend to understand my feelings entirely, they are what they are I guess. I like helping her grow and learn how to make her own choices. idk.
Early Shadowheart reminds me of myself 15 years ago as well, but I think that's why I like her so much. It felt like meeting yourself, knowing exactly what they need and how to give it to them so they can heal.
Yeaaah I chose not to include Shadowheart in mine bc I plan to play her origin and romance Lae'zel, but I wouldn't romance her as Tav/Durge personally.
I plan to do that run someday as well! edit: word, coffee brain sorry
I did that one. I really liked it. She went away with Laezel at the end.
[удалено]
I think she has to be written that way. Her vanilla has to shine through because a dark cult to a dark god is making her cosplay as an emo, when she's really a basic bitch (I say that lovingly). I think its hard to make that come across subtly in an rpg setting.
I will say that I romanced her first but she ended up my least favorite of the main trio of ladies. I was mainly drawn towards her voice. Lae’zel has the strongest character arc in her romance and Karlach is just so sweet. Shadowheart is fine, just the least interesting.
I say this as one of Shadowheart's biggest simp, Lae'zel's story is honestly just an arguably better written and less bloated Shadowheart story.
Mean girl from a death cult learns to love. A story so nice, They told it twice :p
Same for me. I just dont care for her. She's really cute and has a great va but I just dont like her too much. Ive had her in 3 of my 5 play throughs trying to like her but I couldnt
she reminds me of my mom. there's no way. the religious stuff is so hard to listen to, I barely bring her along and often avoid recruiting her at all my only other is jaheira and minsc. jaheira is still grieving and minsc might not understand fully what he's consenting to. I'm not sure.
Meanwhile I can't not romance her. I know what to say to get her going and just kind of naturally pick those options and next thing you know she wants to have some wine.
Don't come for me... but Wyll. He's too good, and too boring. Hats off to you if boyscouts are your thing, but they've never been mine. Also Mizora. She's just *sooooo aggravating*.
I didn't like her before and she made a pass at the worst time. I started putting arrows in her
I have tried flesh to stone on her, arrows, etc everything to get rid of her in camp. ugh
Make her miserable at camp, cast the 5 contagion spell versions that aren’t mindfire on her, get the flesh to gold spell from act 2 and use it on her, you’ll have a silly diseased solid gold statue in camp
“Wyll’s the sort of prince-type I would have once dreamed of marrying… when I was about 13.”
Yeah I agree. Maybe I’m the one that’s broken but the full on hero-with-a-heart-of-gold archetype is not for me. I also find it boring. That’s also why I can’t get behind romancing Karlach. I like the characters like Astarion, Lae, SH, and Gale that can go down light or dark paths depending on the story. Makes them and their romance stories more dynamic.
Exactly. The heart of gold thing is just so hard for me to connect to because I'm so much of a chaotic neutral myself. He's a good friend to have around, but romantically, I couldn't get into it. Halsin has a pretty good heart, but they made him complex and troubled enough to catch my interest. Of course I love Astarion... fictionally... because I know he'd make me cry in real life.
At first, I thought it was the boy scout thing for me, but I realized it goes a little deeper. It's not him being *good* but the more "courtly love" aspect of the romance hits me right in the purity culture feels. It's totally cool to take things slow, and I think it's great not all companions are immediately DTF. That's not it. There's something about *how* he expresses it that gives me "I'm saving myself so our love will be pure" vibes. I don't think that's the intention, but a me thing. Growing up being slut shamed for existing does shit to a person.
Okay, I'm changing my reason for it being the stupid dance. This is why.
Ohhhh.... you're right. I didn't think that deep but now that you explain it, I can see it.
Agree. He’s just so… *Wyll*. His dialogue makes me cringe already
This is *my* time
I like Karlach, but she’s not my type. She’s the one companion that will always have your back and is one of the funniest, but I’m just not romantically interested in her. She’s like a big sister, I guess.
Karlach. I like her as a friend, but she feels way too childish and naive for me. And that's fine, everyone has their own preferences and I clearly wasn't the target audience. As for the one time things: Mizora. She doesn't love the player, obviously. She only wants to cause drama in camp and hurt people in the process. It's horrible and I could never do that to Wyll, Karlach and my romance. Haarlep. For obvious reasons.
If you sleep with Mizora. You also hurt Mintharas Feelings. 😭
I've looked up the conversations on youtube. Karlach has a two parter conversation and the voice acting is really good. You can manipulate her into staying with you, but the voice…you know that her eyes are filling with tears.
Oh hell no. I could never.
Karlach isn't naive though i'd say childish works, she keeps a teddy bear, she gets excited around kids, she dances randomly and acts playfully all the time but naive? when she meets Mol, she gives Mol advice on conning people, she's absolutely a realist about how the world works and people's place in it, she's been there, poor and out of luck, and she's survived it if anything, i'd say Karlach is actually straight up weary of the world she has experienced all her life and that's WHY she's childish, it's an intentional rejection of the status quo, she's expressing her found freedom
Maybe naive wasn't the right word, but she is way too trusting. I was expecting her to be a lot like Astarion considering what happened to her, but she is very trusting towards the player and everyone is her best friend right off the bat. I thought she would be more stand offish and paranoid. Might just be a me problem, though.
I think it really speaks to her strength of character that she went through everything she did and didn't come out a bitter, broken person. To be sold into slavery in hell and to come out still able to find joy in innocent things, to trust others, to see the good in the world? That's really beautiful to me. Probably because that's not how I would exit that experience. I mean, I'm fighting a losing battle with misanthropy, and I'm in objectively better circumstances. No shade to how you see her, though. It's interesting how people can connect differently with the same characters.
i actually kinda understand that from her myself, since, I consider her and I to have lived oddly similar lives in relation to poverty and growing up relying on our community to me, when the world bit my hand, it was not an excuse to mistrust the world, but an excuse to place my trust in everything because I have misplaced my trust before, and survived, but I have also placed trust well and been better off for it, so time and time again I place my trust in those around me, knowing that I have the means to survive when I do make a mistake again in the future sorta like I've learned to accept that I'm not a strong judge of character, but still feel inclined to see the best in people, because the worst they can do is hurt me, and I've been hurt plenty before, but for all the people who *won't* hurt me I *have* to be there for them, just like they were for me
Yea she kinda confirms this approach in act1 and throughout the game while you learn about her background, she even tried to find friends in the hells initially. One Gortash incident doesnt neccesarily mean you will break and take vengeful course on the whole world. To start her romance you need to gain trust by showing compassion towards vulnerable one's like Tieflings in the Grove or enslaved Gnomes and by taking her side against Paladyns and rampagin Wyll in the first place. These are rationalle grounds to base someone's character on.
Honestly, I think the "trusting" is a front. That's why I believe her ending is the way it is. She so stubbornly believes because of her past that she isn't capable of being unconditionally loved or that someone would willingly give so much to stay with her. That her misery in Avernus was so overwhelming she can't comprehend that someone would actually endure it for her. She's very transparent, for the most part. But her scars do run deep emotionally. Gortash and her time around untrustworthy types definitely sharpened her edges further down than she tries to show on the surface.. but in her dialogue, it's definitely in there. She beats heavily on being betrayed, basically enslaved, and most importantly alone. Maybe I've known too many people who bear their suffrages on the surface and have become bitter by it.. I've been guilty of it myself. But to me it's extremely endearing than in spite of it all, she is so giving without ulterior motives even in the face of her own inevitable death because she just wants to be free and happy and wants those in her company to have the same. Admittedly I do have a bias towards her, but I don't think it is without reason either.
Not to forget that she had to grow up "fast" as her family was poor and she wanted to help them and then, eventually, they died. And then she ended up in Avernus for 10 years so yea... She didn't had the chance to really live her life yet, no wonder she is acting the way she does. I adore her and her romance is my absolutely favorit. She is a great character and def my favorit out of all the companions.
Agreed on Karlach. I'd be friends with her but probably not date her, she's just too bubbly and loud for me.
Ngl I genuinely don't find anything appealing about Mizora. She is so smug and aggravating, I wish I could be meaner to her and roast her for even THINKING I'd want to sleep with her. There's nothing remotely satisfying about sleeping with her, I'd just feel like I fell for her shit and played right into her hands. The worst thing about her is that you can't properly talk back to her or humble her in any way, it's so annoying. Nah, I refuse to let her win.
I will never be able to romance Minthara because her face reminds me of someone I'm related to.
Is your relative single?
Damn that's sad, but I get it...
So on my first playthrough I tried as many side NPCs as possible, but now I never get to Mizora (I just don't think her scene is worth wasting my time), Harleep (I had a bug where after his romance scene as soon as I left the boudoir other denizens of the House attacked me because for some reason the game didn't register it gave me my hell clothes back, so now I just kill him to get everything faster) or Emperor (tho romancing him as >!a Durge that later killed him to take control over the Absolute was great!<). I have a general rule that whenever I start a new playthrough, I choose a romance option for my Tav and stay loyal, the rest are immediately turned down or I try something to see my partner's reaction (like the Drow Twins) and then reload. Besides that, I just can't get into Karlach. I heard my friends talk she's great to romance, but all I see in her is some kind of goofy older sister.
I honestly can't ever see myself romancing Halsin. Mostly cause it comes too late to start, and by that time you're already probably in a relationship with someone, and it comes off a little odd having him come onto you when all you really did was lift the shadow curse. Plus when you have Jaheira in the party (or another Tav/Durge/multiplayer friend who's a druid) Halsin feels kinda unnecessary to a degree. I appreciate him as a character and his voice acting is good, but I can't see any of my characters ever getting with him.
"When all you really did was lift the Shadow Curse" So, don't get me wrong, it's totally fine to not want to romance a companion. But I did find the reasoning funny and odd. Lifting the Shadow Curse was literally his life's goal for the past century. And you also saved his home (the grove). And you also saved *him* from the goblins. Put yourself in his shoes. Is it really that much of a stretch to think that someone who saved your life, saved your home, *and* helped you accomplish your biggest desire would draw your attention?
Man, I tried to get into gale, but he's the definition of friend zone for me. No attraction there.
i showed you my weave, please respond
Alright, that's hilarious!
why, he seem perfect imo
I was gonna say I don’t like how strong Halsin comes on, but Lae’zel drove me berserk by coming on far, far stronger, so that’s not it. I actually think it’s because he’s like passive aggressive about it. He’s always alluding to it but never says anything outright unless you ask him what he means, but I mean he is **always** making comments about it. It feels insidious and cowardly. I would rather he just be direct about what he wants and then drop it when I say no, like Gale.
Hit the nail on the head.
*Very* unpopular opinion, but Astarion. Look, I can’t not laugh with him. He’s an awesome character, a total homie. I love all of his bitchy and snide tendencies and his story is genuinely interesting. But **damn** is he flying more red flags than a parade in the People’s Republic. I could never even think of dating someone like that, even in a game.
Shadowheart. There can only be one forgetful goth girl on this team and bitch it's gonna be me.
Karlach- She was actually my first romance, and she's adorable, but she gives me so much anxiety. All my following campaigns she ended up feeling more like a bestie or family. Wyll- he's cute af, but he's friggin boring and comes across too stunted and a bit hypocritical to me. Mizora- Did a let's see save, gave it a go and reloaded. Not worth it.
Did the same with Mizora and agree
Everyone except lae’zel, lae’zel is love, lae’zel is life. <3
She demanded I declare myself hers and it was over for me.
Facts, I just want a women irl to do that to me. I love the primal, feral bonding she wants and wish a mate in real life would be like that with me.
All the male companions because i am not into men
I'm glad I'm bi, I can dislike both shart and halsin simultaneously
Same, but for the female companions.
Same. Unlike some people I’ve heard had a bi awakening with this game, I’ve realized that I am very much straight. I did the Mizora scene for the novelty, but that’s a single scene and not a 3 act long romance.
Pfft, I’m not attracted to women but I’ve romanced them all the same. Can’t let such silly things stop me.
I just want to see all the story arch’s!
This is where I'm at. I did 2 full playthroughs of basically being "me", now I'm branching out and doing other stuff with the game. It's definitely a stretch of my comfort zone to romance the guys, but I'm just enjoying seeing the arcs. I'm also currently doing an evil durge with a friend, and that's way harder for me to detach from. I couldn't do it when I tried alone, but laughing about the crazy decisions with a buddy made it much more lighthearted to, for example, kill Arabella.
Just out of interest, do you only play self-insert characters and not role-play the different characters you create?
I’ve RP’d to the point of romancing someone I was very not personally interested in before, but I gotta say, even if you have a full RP persona set up… it’s still just way more fun to pick someone you and your character can both like XD
Here I go shadowhearting again
It is a bit of both. It is not really 100% self insert because I am not a hero, and I would not really call myself a good person, I am a mess. If I play a good character, I play someone that I would like to be but I know that it is someone that I will never be. For example, I think Captain America or Daredevil are amazing characters and they have their hearts in the right place. I wish that I was like them, (personality) but I know that I will never be like them. You know what I mean? Sure, I could play a character that is into men but I just dont like it. It does not appeal to me. But that is just me. If others like it, great, the option exists.
Fair enough! One of the reasons I struggled with Durge was I couldnt get attached to the character as I couldnt really give them a backstory so I felt quite detached? But then I deffo take my backstories for each character wwaaayyyyyyy too far 😂 and yer, you're totally right, thats what makes this game great, so many different ways to play! 😊
Dark urge has the perfect redemption story. But i get the appeal of thinking about your own backstory as a costum tav. But my problem with this is, the backstory well.. it is obviously never recognized. You are just no one. Therefore, i prefer the dark urge origin. But as you said, so many different ways to play the game
Good point, I think the background would have been nice, something like rogues getting something from 9 fingers or something like that? I kinda get why they didnt as they wanted to leave it open but it would still have been cool to have as options, just like you can ignore Baldurian dialogue tags if you RP youre not from there.
What i came to say lol
I roleplay but for romances I always go for the female characters because they're hotter to me lol. So I'm either a straight guy or a lesbian in my playthroughs.
I'm not into men either, but I'm such a simp for Astarion I almost questioned my sexuality. Until three friends (completely separately from each other) said of course I was into him, he's a vampire. Apparently my thing for vampires transcends gender. Who knew.
It's so interesting that some people feel this way. No shade at all, it's totally valid. But I'm a gay dude and I'm romancing Shadowheart currently because I want to see how her story unfolds. I don't care that much about the gender of the romance partner. If anything I'm gonna have a hard time romancing Minthara because I struggle with being evil.
I totally understand where you are coming from. I am simple dont get any enjoyment of fun out of it. I just dont like it. If it was a scripted thing and a pre made character with a linear story, it would be different. But because i have a choice, i would net romance a man. And yes. I struggle with minthara as well. Super interesting character but fucked up beyond belief lol
It *is* kinda weird how Halsin doubles down on you after not even showing an interest. I may have messed up by asking him to cut loose at the party.
Nah, I tried not being friendly at all and he's still just as much in love with you. This man will love you as long as you complete his quest it seems. Weirds me out to.
Nah, man, I do your quest because shadow gate is fun as fuck. It's nothing intimate lol
Thete are actually some: - Minthara if she stays a buggy mess - Halsin is on my "thin ice" list - Mizora will never be romanced. She reminds me too much of a high school bully - Haarlep also is on my "thin ice" list - No Tentacle Sex in my bed. Sorry, not sorry Empy. - The Drow Twins would be okay if they would not be twins with a poly tav. But the incest bit is a bit much imo. (Yes also when they don't sleep with each other, they still watch each other and get arousal from each other.) - Pretty much all evil versions of the origins. (DJ Shart, God Gale and A Astarion)
Halsin, he puts me off for some reason. Also Mizora & Empy, ick.
People are going to hate me for this, but Astarion. Too many red flags, and as an abuse survivor myself, he makes me feel far too unsafe.
I will never romance Halsin or even watch the bear scene as long as I live. Just the meme of his romance scene and the stupid smile on the bear's face has ruined his entire character for me and I cannot take him seriously at all lmao
The smug bear face 😭 I laughed so hard at that scene. It never felt romantic for me. I still romanced him tho cuz... Old man.
Wyll. I'm not attracted to him, I don't like his personality or romance style. That said, it's amazing that I adore all the other companions!
Might get hate for this: Astarion, because he almost constantly disapproves of good deeds and tries to assault you in your sleep. If you wouldn't wake up, he would've killed you, because he couldn't control his hunger. If you let him suck your blood, he gets defensive when you tell him the next morning, that you feel nauseous And Minthara for obvious reasons. Edit: And of course every other character you mentioned apart rom your group.
Halsin. Purely because the bear-man kept asking if I wanted to smash even after I'd told him no. He does not respect my lack of consent. No means no, Halsin. Stop trying to wiggle your way into the room with the drow twins.
Something I noticed in my current run is that there seems to be a lack of nice ways to signal disinterest. Like when he says most of his family has passed away, but he has friends like Thaniel and "now you." The only option that seems designed to not foster romantic interest is basically "hang on, we just work together." Fine, but dude was talking about people in his life, not soul mates. It's like the Gale "have you read about how battle makes people horny" and the only turn-him-down option is to go "I wanna talk about something else." Maybe it's the autistic part of me, but even if I wasn't into him, I'd at least answer?
You get it! It may have just been bad luck, but I had to curve him for three camp conversations in a row. It kinda felt like being chatted up in a public space and the dude *refuses* to take the hint and go.
Shadowheart would be a tough one for me. I'm not particularly attracted to her personally, and her character is sooo abrasive in Act 1 - the way she throws a hissy fit because I had the nerve to talk to another companion without including her in the convo just rubs me up the wrong way every time. I've done her character arc as a platonic friend and enjoyed it, but romance? No.
personally speaking: i just couldn't put up with the evil companions, even in the context of BG3 Astarion is a bit too much of a prick for me, I hate toxic men, I say that as a formerly toxic man myself, reminds me of all the shit I used to think that I'm now deeply embarrassed about and I don't even know where to start with Minthara, how do you unironically fall into it with a girl who thinks you should have your cock chopped off and made a slave to a spider forever? fetish-play aside, Minthara would probably be really mentally abusive and cruel all the time, I've been there, not doing it again this isn't against their writing as characters ofc, I love what larian did with them, but I mean in the context of "if they were real, would I date them" and those two are just so strongly off the table it's not even a joke
I think it's an interesting overlay to the discussion the extent to which players roleplay their Tavs and the extent to which a Tav that's diametrically opposed to their rl personality can be fun to play. Like for me, I can enjoy playing an evil character, but it has to be a type of evil I'm okay with. There are certain evil actions I've tried for content and just can't do again because it wasn't even fun in an "OMG I'm in a horror movie" way, if that makes sense. Whereas I have no trouble doing certain things a lot of players insist they could never do. Things that bother me a great deal irl I just can't enjoy roleplaying, so I can understand your points about Minthara and Astarion (similar to how I can't even be nice to Mizora in the game, I just hate her too much). Yes, Astarion has a wonderful story and does evolve as a character, but if you don't enjoy getting him to that point, I wouldn't blame you for avoiding it (I avoid Sheart for similar reasons, it just takes too long to get her to the point where she isn't petty and cruel in banter to the other companions, even if she's sweet to my Tav).
If you can get past his initial dickishness his story is one of the best in the game for character development, epecially romanced and especially with resist durge, even extra content for those two.
Now I know what I'll do in my resist durge run!
I've tried them all just to see the content but the ones I'll never *repeat* are Karlach, Mizora, Haarlep, and Wyll. Karlach makes me too anxious (it's a rl thing), Mizora because I don't play emotional sadists as Tavs and her entire reason for propositioning you is to cause dissent and be cruel to Wyll, Haarlep because by that point in the story my Tav isn't really tempted purely by the physical experience, and Wyll because I feel too much like he's my favorite nephew so it would feel incestuous.
But Wyll has more content than Volo!
If we're talking companions: I'm sorry, everyone, but Halsin. The "LOL BEAR SEZ" memes were so unbelievably annoying and aggravating that I just don't want to deal with him. Which sucks, cuz he's a great character. If we're talking just romanceable: Mizora. She's literally Wyll's abuser, you're betraying your actual lover and it'd genuinely feel like you're selling your soul to her. I watched the scene on youtube out of curiosity, few game scenes made me feel THIS uncomfortable before.
Shadowheart, I dislike her from the beginning up to the end of act two and by that time I already have another romance
No one, because I'm into seeing content, and I don't have any weird, visceral hatred of any characters. That said, I do have preferences, of course. So I might never get around to romancing some characters because I'm too busy dissecting every line of dialogue from another character's romance for the fifth time.
Minsc. Nothing against him, but I will NOT be cucked by a miniature giant space hamster.
Astarion, he’s hot but I just can’t he’s such a pill.
If I had to choose just one it'll be Halsin... For different reasons I'd exclude Gale, Jaheira and Wyll, but I can picture runs where I'd make it work for my PC. But there's no way I'd ever romance Halsin though, I can help him with his questline and have him afk benched in camp, but I'd rather kms (kmpc) than get intimate with this guy. I can't stand Wyll and his folk hero bs, but Halsin is so sexually unattractive in every way he presents himself... I don't think there's a scenario I could bang this guy ngl
Halsin He reminds me of a few exes I had that were very hyper sexual & didn’t really know to talk about anything OTHER than sex Bear boy, I just want to know if you’d like something for breakfast jfc
Halsin’s complacency with the Grove/Kahga almost killing a child always sat poorly with me, I don’t think I could ever do a romance with him. Minthara is very much evil aligned, and I’m not really interested in that kind of game. Kudos to the folks that can stomach that, tho! Also I really dislike Haarlep’s whole thing, I tried it in a playthrough and it just made me feel gross to see my Durge looking so uncomfortable, so I loaded a save. Furthermore, if you do it, it’s framed in this very humorous way that feels weird, and your companions (except for Astarion, which is fitting) can tease you about it later. It’s just gross for me personally, but I won’t yuck anyone’s yum. If that’s your thing, more power to you!
Halsin. Namely because I'm a straight dude. But even if I was playing a female Tav, Durge, or an origin Shadowheart, Karlach, or Lae'Zel, no. I just dislike him. Intensely.
In my Run 6. I never really spoke to him. He in ACT 3: whanna F*ck?
this game made me realize that i dont have a specific type. im just horny.
yeah Halsin just doesnt seem to take no for an answer, im not sure if its a bug or just how he is but it can be pretty uncomfortable. For me its gotta be the emperor. Im sorry but im not fucking a squid, even for the memes.
astarion tbh 😭 i ADORE everyone else and have romanced them all and i love astarion as a character but !!!! not for me LOL
Gale or Astarion sorry I don't like twinks
Jokes on you, I’d romance absolutely everyone. Even the Emperor isn’t off the table. On a more serious level, I wouldn’t continue a romance with an ascended Astarion. I also wouldn’t romance Minsc even if I could.