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paranoodlei'll probably revisit this later once i've sat on it a bit more but i wanted to jot down some of my thoughts on the origin characters in bg3, and especially how my thoughts on them changed throughout the game. i didn't know much about any of them before starting, so my first impressions were basically just meeting them in-game.
this won't contain any major spoilers (for either the main story or character quests), but obviously, don't read if you want to go in completely blind.
gonna go in order of when i picked them up, so i have something mostly arbitrary to sort by.
final impression: she's mean and there's something really wrong with her but she's funny.
lae'zel was a bit weird for me. there's a lot i enjoy about her character, and especially her interactions with the others are really fun, and she is SO weird in ways that are clearly due to both nature and nurture. so, loved those parts.
but unfortunately i never really clicked with a lot of the githyanki-related lore, and while some of their conflicts were interesting especially conceptually, i didn't really feel the need to dig into them, which meant leaving lae'zel behind a little bit in terms of how much time i spent on her compared to the other companions. this also made it feel like she peaked early in terms of her best content, with a lot of her best stuff in act 1 and then quite a bit less in acts 2-3 (especially given my choices).
her interactions with other companions are a+ though, she's always saying the most unhinged shit completely straight-faced, and it's never clear whether it's because it's a gith thing or an autism thing or a third, weirder thing. i love how many times she's threatened me, my friends, or small children.
overall i still like her, and maybe i'll do more stuff with the gith on a future playthrough.
final impression: i like her i want to see her grow big and strong minmo
shadowheart basically went the opposite of lae'zel for me - i never outright disliked her or anything, but i had a hard time clicking with her at first. i think part of it was that when she was super secretive there wasn't much for me to have an opinion on. but then for some reason i got her approval to shoot up really fast really early on, so it took less than an hour for her to start spilling about a bunch of personal stuff i didn't really have lore context on, or any build-up to. especially when the game expected me to have opinions about a diety i (the player) didn't know anything about.
so most of act 1 was her telling me how much i meant to her and me awkwardly smiling and saying "i like you too" and not really meaning it.
thankfully though, once her quest picked up a bit more in act 2 things started slotting into place for me, and i started liking her a lot more. and act 3 kept that trend going. so, basically the opposite of lae'zel for me, she peaked really late into the game but it was a good peak, even though the early game was a bit rough.
final impression: mostly fun to have around but oh god dude please keep your megalomania in check
i flip-flopped on gale a LOT during the game. i think part of it is that he toes the line between "funny annoying" and "unpleasant annoying" and sometimes landed on the wrong side for me. when he's fun he's a lot of fun, but he's probably the companion who spent the longest in time-out in camp. it probably also didn't help that a lot of the lore surrounding his backstory was a bit dense and not really the topics i'm most interested in. that and he's obsessed with his ex.
the orb thing is a really neat concept though, and in general i found his personal quest interesting, especially in how it compares/contrasts with karlach's, and the differences in how they both deal with it. though like i mentioned, it feels a bit weird playing around the megalomania thing because while it completely makes sense for the character, the rp options for reacting to it felt a bit too limited.
final impression: *holding my head in my hands*
i was genuinely not sure whether i'd like him or not at the start, since i'm pretty picky with shithead characters and especially early-game he goes out of his way to make a bad impression. but couple the fact that he's usually a funny shithead with his dogshit handling of ptsd and the result is unfortunately pretty relatable. it's also helped by him potentially having the best voice acting work of the lot, which is a high bar given how good everyone else's already is.
but anyway, a lot of the trauma-related parts of his questline (so, most of them) hit pretty hard, especially the ones that got into discussions of personhood. a lot of it and a lot of his handling of it is really raw in a way that i found pretty cathartic even if i could see it tip the wrong way for some people. the friendship/romance with him also felt like one of the more rewarding ones of the lot, since there's a much bigger gap between how he acts (if he likes you vs if he doesn't) compared to most other companions.
it's also again really interesting to contrast his situation with karlach's, since they have some throughlines in common but both handle it in completely different ways (and on very different time scales).
final impression: i like his style and i'm glad he's sticking to it
wyll probably had one of the most consistent impressions on me through the game. he's pleasant to hang around with, has fun banter, and the general optimism is a nice contrast to have to the rest of the group (excluding karlach). i like how he's kind of playing a role instead of just being himself, but the role is just a Bigger version of himself, really. and being able to talk to him when the mask falls off and he's a little more vulnerable is nice.
i didn't always like his personal quest because of how unfair a lot of the choices are, but... that's kind of the point, so really it was just successful at what it set out to do. i think part of it was also just that i didn't especially like mizora or find her all that interesting, and she's a bit of a package deal. still really liked wyll despite that though, and out of the group he's probably one of the only ones i'd actually want to hang out with in real life.
final impression: she's hot and i would die for her i care her SO much
i didn't know about karlach at all before starting the game, and i barely paid attention to the origin character list in the character creation, so i didn't realize she was a companion until actually meeting her during wyll's quest. i liked her immediately and it was all up from there honestly.
she's a really fun character and great to be bros with, but she did surprise me by how into her personal quest i got too. the serious parts landed really well and i got really really invested. i'm not sure what else to add because i don't want to spoil, but a couple bits had me tearing up. she's a good egg i like her a lot. really good vibes, real good intensity, really fun interactions with the other companions. i wanna do her romance on my next playthrough i wanna pair her up with another meathead girl.
anyway, i'm still thinking on these so i might add/adjust bits later, and i might write more in general later. but i wanted to get some thoughts out into text already.
this won't contain any major spoilers (for either the main story or character quests), but obviously, don't read if you want to go in completely blind.
gonna go in order of when i picked them up, so i have something mostly arbitrary to sort by.
lae'zel
first impression: she's mean and there's something really wrong with her but she's funny.final impression: she's mean and there's something really wrong with her but she's funny.
lae'zel was a bit weird for me. there's a lot i enjoy about her character, and especially her interactions with the others are really fun, and she is SO weird in ways that are clearly due to both nature and nurture. so, loved those parts.
but unfortunately i never really clicked with a lot of the githyanki-related lore, and while some of their conflicts were interesting especially conceptually, i didn't really feel the need to dig into them, which meant leaving lae'zel behind a little bit in terms of how much time i spent on her compared to the other companions. this also made it feel like she peaked early in terms of her best content, with a lot of her best stuff in act 1 and then quite a bit less in acts 2-3 (especially given my choices).
her interactions with other companions are a+ though, she's always saying the most unhinged shit completely straight-faced, and it's never clear whether it's because it's a gith thing or an autism thing or a third, weirder thing. i love how many times she's threatened me, my friends, or small children.
overall i still like her, and maybe i'll do more stuff with the gith on a future playthrough.
shadowheart
first impression: she seems neat i guess?final impression: i like her i want to see her grow big and strong minmo
shadowheart basically went the opposite of lae'zel for me - i never outright disliked her or anything, but i had a hard time clicking with her at first. i think part of it was that when she was super secretive there wasn't much for me to have an opinion on. but then for some reason i got her approval to shoot up really fast really early on, so it took less than an hour for her to start spilling about a bunch of personal stuff i didn't really have lore context on, or any build-up to. especially when the game expected me to have opinions about a diety i (the player) didn't know anything about.
so most of act 1 was her telling me how much i meant to her and me awkwardly smiling and saying "i like you too" and not really meaning it.
thankfully though, once her quest picked up a bit more in act 2 things started slotting into place for me, and i started liking her a lot more. and act 3 kept that trend going. so, basically the opposite of lae'zel for me, she peaked really late into the game but it was a good peak, even though the early game was a bit rough.
gale
first impression: anders dragonagefinal impression: mostly fun to have around but oh god dude please keep your megalomania in check
i flip-flopped on gale a LOT during the game. i think part of it is that he toes the line between "funny annoying" and "unpleasant annoying" and sometimes landed on the wrong side for me. when he's fun he's a lot of fun, but he's probably the companion who spent the longest in time-out in camp. it probably also didn't help that a lot of the lore surrounding his backstory was a bit dense and not really the topics i'm most interested in. that and he's obsessed with his ex.
the orb thing is a really neat concept though, and in general i found his personal quest interesting, especially in how it compares/contrasts with karlach's, and the differences in how they both deal with it. though like i mentioned, it feels a bit weird playing around the megalomania thing because while it completely makes sense for the character, the rp options for reacting to it felt a bit too limited.
astarion
first impression: unsure whether too much of a shithead for me to enjoyfinal impression: *holding my head in my hands*
i was genuinely not sure whether i'd like him or not at the start, since i'm pretty picky with shithead characters and especially early-game he goes out of his way to make a bad impression. but couple the fact that he's usually a funny shithead with his dogshit handling of ptsd and the result is unfortunately pretty relatable. it's also helped by him potentially having the best voice acting work of the lot, which is a high bar given how good everyone else's already is.
but anyway, a lot of the trauma-related parts of his questline (so, most of them) hit pretty hard, especially the ones that got into discussions of personhood. a lot of it and a lot of his handling of it is really raw in a way that i found pretty cathartic even if i could see it tip the wrong way for some people. the friendship/romance with him also felt like one of the more rewarding ones of the lot, since there's a much bigger gap between how he acts (if he likes you vs if he doesn't) compared to most other companions.
it's also again really interesting to contrast his situation with karlach's, since they have some throughlines in common but both handle it in completely different ways (and on very different time scales).
wyll
first impression: i like his style and his enthusiasm is refreshingfinal impression: i like his style and i'm glad he's sticking to it
wyll probably had one of the most consistent impressions on me through the game. he's pleasant to hang around with, has fun banter, and the general optimism is a nice contrast to have to the rest of the group (excluding karlach). i like how he's kind of playing a role instead of just being himself, but the role is just a Bigger version of himself, really. and being able to talk to him when the mask falls off and he's a little more vulnerable is nice.
i didn't always like his personal quest because of how unfair a lot of the choices are, but... that's kind of the point, so really it was just successful at what it set out to do. i think part of it was also just that i didn't especially like mizora or find her all that interesting, and she's a bit of a package deal. still really liked wyll despite that though, and out of the group he's probably one of the only ones i'd actually want to hang out with in real life.
karlach
first impression: she's hot and she seems funfinal impression: she's hot and i would die for her i care her SO much
i didn't know about karlach at all before starting the game, and i barely paid attention to the origin character list in the character creation, so i didn't realize she was a companion until actually meeting her during wyll's quest. i liked her immediately and it was all up from there honestly.
she's a really fun character and great to be bros with, but she did surprise me by how into her personal quest i got too. the serious parts landed really well and i got really really invested. i'm not sure what else to add because i don't want to spoil, but a couple bits had me tearing up. she's a good egg i like her a lot. really good vibes, real good intensity, really fun interactions with the other companions. i wanna do her romance on my next playthrough i wanna pair her up with another meathead girl.
anyway, i'm still thinking on these so i might add/adjust bits later, and i might write more in general later. but i wanted to get some thoughts out into text already.
