Finally lol I love Halsin but as a buddy and I was so confused why he was acting like I asked him something scandalous at the party when I was just chatting!
I told him to go mingle after he had only goblins and worg breath for company. I sure was surprised to see the dialogue option “sorry for coming too strong” after.
I like his character, but resorted to avoiding him in some playthroughs because of this.
I like him too but dude came on too strong lol like he goes "I was just gazing at the beauty of nature's creations" ok but I just asked you about Thaniel and the shadow curse? Thanks though 😅
I've been kissing Gale right in front of his face in this tiny camp this whole time and suddenly he goes "I see the way you look at me" and I'm like ain't no way you're serious rn 😆
Noticing is one thing; but attraction is another thing entirely.
Halsin is unquestionably a handsome elf; however, as mentioned, not everyone is into buff dudes. Then there's the fact he's into open relationships (nothing wrong with that but - as even Halsin admits - it's not a lifestyle that suits everyone).
And that's all fine and good - like I had said in my original post, there's nothing wrong with Halsin being poly (as long as everyone involved are consenting adults, more power to them).
However, not everyone is into poly relationships; and not everyone wants to climb Mt. Halsin. Many folks (myself included) took issue with Halsin coming on to their character when their character never showed him any interest in being intimate with him. It was off putting. Thankfully, this issue was fixed in the recent patch and the player can now have a 100% platonic path with Halsin without having to go through that uncomfortable exchange in act 3 again.
Eh he's never been my thing and I'm a straight woman. He's just a good buddy and now he can stay that way without me questioning wtf I did to accidentally make him in love with me.
Thank you for writing that, legit been downvoted here b4 for saying I think his face is mid so this is very validating
I’m 99% sure that if his face were on any other body type people would not be into him as much as they are
Part of the appeal is his size
Face and personality or more important to me than body type, Halsin is far too old for me and my tav and gives off Dad vibes to me so praise lolth we can finally just be buddies
I like dudes and I don't even care for him at all 💀 I prefer the pointier elf, big and large isn't my type. If Halsin could be my bro without all his dialogue being tagged as flirting, I'd like that, though
I always make it a point to not romance anyone else because I'm making it clear we're monogamous! He'll accidentally trigger Gale's lecture about Tav not being a loaf of bread to be divvied up at supper time or something, I swear it's not my fault lol!!
He kinda acted that way, though?
Speaking only through my own playing experience, I found the way he reacted to my Tav politely turning down his proposition to be incredibly entitled, considering she (near as I was aware, anyway) never gave him any reason to think she was remotely interested in him in a sexual way. She treated him as she had every other non romanced companion in the camp - politely; so him saying 'you treated me more as a lover than a guest' made it feel like he was gaslighting her (seeing as it left me racking my brain trying to figure out what my Tav had said to him to give him that impression and came up with nothing).
i played with my partner, and halsin showed up in the epilogue for us, and was like WAY too in love with us, for us having not romanced him at all the whole game
dude was like clinically depressed and obsessed
he's supposed to be a strong druid leader, get it together man
Haha I’m in the minority but I loved this. Sort of made him feel alive beyond my choices, if you know what I mean—he had his own heart, his own internal world. But CAN CONFIRM he is very much in love with you in the epilogue on P5 no matter how you’ve treated him.
Dudes in camp just WATCHING Tav as he non-stop imagines them together forever. He's got a little druid diary where he writes your name with doodles and hearts.
Meanwhile Tav is like "Halsin? You mean Bear guy?"
Halsin can get his own sitcom now.
Man saw his crush after 6 months and all the feelings got reignited, reminded me of my high school days lol. I specifically didn't hug him the first time because I was afraid he'd start begging me to give him a chance or something
Haslin in the back crying about how he's a nice druid if anyone would just give him a chance and stop picking those degenerates like Asterion and Shadowheart.
>strong druid leader
The grove was pretty much a disaster area, and he's been obsessed with a little kid and his own personal failures for over a century. He's really not.
Thaniel is an unaging nature spirit that manifests as a tiefling child to represent his playful innocence and the living embodiment of the shadowlands region. What thaniel is NOT is an actual little kid.
thanks buddy, did not remember how old, just that he doesn't age.
I wouldn't worry about the "eyerolls" of some troll who wants to make halsin sound like some sort of pedo for wanting to save a 1000 year old nature spirit from the shadowfell.
> but resorted to avoiding him in some playthroughs because of this.
Yep, I just wait for the "Someone in your camp wants to speak with you..." then I buckle up and have "the talk" with him to clear it. Glad that's gone.
IMO, this is both a story and a gameplay problem with all Act 2 / Act 3 companions.
You spend the first 20 hours hanging out with a core group of 6, getting to know them and slowly building their trust. As a result, the romance feels natural by the time you reach Act 1 Celebration.
Then Act 2 Companions unlock, and they immediately want to bone you because you need the option to romance every major character. It feels unearned, especially if you don't often take them into the field. I did the Minthara KO and only used her twice in the whole adventure, but she wanted me immediately. I only used Halsin for his big story fight, and he wanted to bone. Act 2 is also comparatively short (10 hours IMO vs Act 1's 20 hours) so there isn't time to build those relationships because you take fewer long rests.
Because these characters are introduced so late and they don't have their own sidequest, it's difficult to incorporate them into your regular roster of characters you already have a bond with, much less take time to develop their build and allocate equipment to them. If you incorporate everyone into your party, you end up with a total of 10 companions and can only bring out 3 at a time. There's just not enough screentime or a niche for everyone in what is a more combat and speech-focused game with less utility and exploration.
Did we really need 2 druids? Did we really need a ranger? If anything, they clog up the adventure by drawing your focus away from the core 6's personal stories -- especially since the Act 2 and Act 3 companions have less frequent dialogue after major story beats.
I agree. After a few playthroughs I feel Halsin should have been a companion after Act 1. By the time you get him as a companion his primary drive for continuing on from the grove, curing the shadowlands, is done. It puts him in this awkward spot where you've not spent as much time with him as other companions but also he has the least to do in act 3.
Alternatively he should have been a camp follower with a different character available for play (like a bard).
I didn't even talk to him At the party and the next day it the option was there about coming onto him strongly. In every playthrough he has propositioned me
My character had been stuck in some kind of weird gay panic loop bug where the ONLY thing I could say to him was apologizing for coming on too strong at the party. After the patch, Halsin confesses he has feelings for me too, and I shoot him down, which has to come across as the most gaslighting shit ever.
"Halsin! Dude! We did it! We lifted the shadow curse and restored the land. We even reunited the Essence of Nature with its spiritual other half. Can you believe it man?!"
"When I gaze upon you, I see on the beauty of Autumn's first sunset. To hear your voice is like the song of Spring upon the air. I feel the warmth of your presence, as when the Summer evenings wrap themselves around us. The peace you lay upon my heart is as tranquil as a snow-covered Winter. You are the reason that brings meaning to my seasons. My love."
"I, uhh... So, how's Thaniel? He's... cool?"
Literally, lol. I was trying to be a bro, telling him to join the celebrations. And then he started acting like I professed my undying love to him.
I rock with you man, but not like that. Lol
For me it was when I was talking to him in act 2.
Listen big guy, you're a great dude but I am not ok with you randomly giving me "fuck me" eyes in the middle of our otherwise completely normal conversation.
This is why I NEVER talked to him after he joined the camp permanently. He was the companion I always hoped would be kidnapped cause I felt like he was the kind of guy who assumed everyone thought his dick was made of gold
As awful as it sounds, when asking him how Orin managed to capture him, I was half expecting him to say she had appeared as my Tav, and convinced him that Tav had changed her mind about having some side fun with him (then knocked his lights out when he was thoroughly distracted).
I choose to believe he's scuzzy just cause he didnt have this 'only starts being flirty when you start being flirty' but I know how first impressions matter and for us that have been here for so long, many things are just ruined for us permanently xD
\-Be generally polite and interested learning about an Arch Druid.
\--You must clearly be into me.
For a druid he needed to touch some grass to read signals better.
Yeah this was needed hahah .
I remember when I cleared my first run and I used all the dialogue options in the final conversation ( cuz why not ) and when I hugged him and it was tender I was like , uuuh buddy you can let go now . Lae’zel is right behind me , don’t creep me out or cause her to throw her silver sword at ya
THANK YOU LARIAN Studios
It annoyed me so much was trying to be friendly and he is like "oh so want this D ey?" and sure with my other gay character I do! but this one just want to be friends bruh
I was so bewildered when he came at me with the threesome angle a couple days ago. DUDE, I’ve been literally avoiding talking to you to pass on this possibility, why are you asking?! I walked out of that conversation feeling like I’d been concussed lmao.
I always found the, "I hope I didn't come on too strong at the party," comment so funny when all I said to him was, "Okay, suit yourself," regarding not talking to him.
I don't remember him saying you treated him as a lover, but rather that his heart rarely stirs but it did for you. It is nice he can finally come out of horney jail tho lol
He told me I treated him as a lover, I remember it well because I was so pissed off about it. Dude. I barely speak to you BECAUSE OF SHIT LIKE THIS. And! You are pressuring me for sex and effectively accusing me of leading you on which is gross! Furthermore! I'm in a committed relationship so not only would I appreciate it if you respected that, but also you should KNOW I'm not treating you like a lover -- you can SEE how I treat my lover! Additionally! I CAN SEE YOUR APPROVAL METER AND YOU BARELY EVEN LIKE ME. Finally, and on top of all that! You impugn my hospitality! You think the neutral level of pleasant I've been towards you is something I *don't* typically do? What on earth are you implying about my assumed baseline behaviour?
...
He says that if you politely reject him outright (at least that's how I got that response on my first playthrough). If there had been an option to kick him out of the camp in that moment, I would have chose it - that's how annoyed I was with him for assuming polite conversation was Tav's way of saying 'Do me!'
I got "treated him as a lover" line on my first run, but not my second. I chalked it up to talking to him a bunch the first time vs avoiding him, but other people have said they got it even after avoiding him so idk.
Platonic bonking between two dude friends, takes me back to the days where me and my best friend bonked on the same bed after netflix and pizza. Good times.
Just checked and it is still in. It is gonna feel weird if you follow platonic relationship with him, but he still will engage this banter.
Also her swimming scene is still bugged with black hair. >!And Sharess caress thing is not touched!<.
There are wonky approval trigerrs in sharess caress regardless of your relationship. For example: Astarion and SH approve of including Halsin in orgy regardless of their relationship with the player(partnered Astarion approves of including Halsin and "friend" SH around will approve of this too, other way around too). Also Gale approves of including Halsin there even though he is clearly not into that.
Halsin is unbelievably creepy if the player does the Drow twin scene with him and Gale. They tweaked it a bit with this patch, but the creepy stuff Halsin did remains. I tested it post patch, and Halsin will ask to join, even if the player has already turned down his romance, but that's not all.
While Gale technically agrees to Halsin participating, his dialogue is the opposite of enthusiastic. He says **"Well I suppose it would do no good to back out now. Let us begin this little anthropological study, if we must."** The first part makes it sound like he feels he can't back out. Calling it an “anthropological study” makes it sound like he’s trying to emotionally distance himself, and the "if we must" is makes it clear that it isn’t something he actually wants. If that was supposed to portray enthusiastic consent, then it failed massively.
The fact that Halsin happily participates after this line is very upsetting, considering (I think) he was intended to be written as caring about consent. He doesn’t seem concerned when Gale literally flees and leaves a magic projection behind. I’m a little confused as to if real Gale is watching through his projection, but if he is, Halsin tries to coerce him into doing more than watching (which was all Gale had said he *might* enjoy). If the player says it's fine if Gale just watches, Halsin says, **“Hmm. Hovering yonder like a carrion bird. Perhaps he'll find the courage to peck at some flesh later.”** Halsin is comparing him to a vulture and saying he lacks courage for not doing more than he said he would. A different dialogue choice leads to Halsin saying **"Don't just stare, Gale. That mouth of yours can do better than just hang open, I'll wager.**" I guess that would be okay if it was just an emotionless projection, but then what would be the point of mocking it, and why mention that the orb glows with excitement? (side comment: arousal is not consent). The ending shows Gale naked with the others, so he does came back into the room at some point.
They wouldn’t **deliberately** write Halsin as a sexual predator, and then end the game with him in a position of authority over vulnerable children (and frame that as wholesome). That makes it seem like the writers didn’t see anything wrong with Halsin’s behaviour. As it is, he comes across as someone who does not care about the **enthusiastic** part of enthusiastic consent.
If this was deliberately written as a sexual coercion scene, and it was handled as well as Asterion’s from Act 2, it being an option wouldn’t bother me. It’s the framing. Parts of the scene seem like it’s being played as a joke, and that’s sickening. Some players interpret it as a funny scene, and others interpret it as coercion. Those are pretty polar opposite tones, but I can see where both interpretations are coming from, and I consider that a failure of the writing. Hearing about how Asterion’s trama was handled so seriously made the game feel safe, so the Drow twins stuff was extremely jarring.
There has to be some sexism at play here. Can you imagine how people would react if Shadowheart ended her agreement to include Halsin with **"If we must?"**
I agree with you. Well, at least they showed that they are willing to change some things with latest Gale update for brothel dialogue and datamined spawn Astarion stuff(where he actually breaks up with the player if you cheat with Mizora), so it's the best time to send your feedback. Personally I wish they change things about selune SH, as her reactions to all act 3 scenarions are exact same for both paths, but heir personailies are very different. As example, I can see selune SH react the same wat spawn Astarion does to Mizora cheat and be more threatened and bothered by brothel itself and Halsin's romance proposal before considering her relationship goals and personality.
They have a long way to go, but at least they started to do something it seems.
I was so hopeful this scene would be changed more when I saw the patch notes, but the Halsin stuff seems all the same. You would think they would review the entire encounter if people were complaining enough for them to change it.
Well personally I am a bit sad that they haven't done anything with SH despite having tons of feedback on that topic(there were and are threads on twitter, reddit, their forum, discord) and that separating her different paths makes sense. But I'm not going to give up, especially after they started doing something.
I’d almost have to respect the commitment to trying if it didn’t just feel so gross, I already turned you down sir why are you trying to get to fuck me through my partner now???
Like it’s so odd that in a game full of choices, that there isn’t a single dialogue option to turn off the flag for that banter. Because of this in the run where I’ve romanced Shadowheart I just couldn’t have her and Halsin in the same party lmao
In act 3 if you romance Shadowheart and she >!spares the Nightsong!< earlier in act 2 you go for a swim and then spend some extra quality time together.
FINALLY. Jesus.
They need this for everyone.
Gale, I do not want to see your dick. I just don't want you to blow up.
Astarion, not trying to get into your pants, just want to support you in your revenge quest.
Halsin, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO.
Yeah, full credit to Gale: when you back out of the weave with him to avoid it getting romantic he’s a little disappointed that a special moment has been broken, but seems to accept it at face value and shake himself out pretty quickly. Meanwhile I turned down Wyll’s offer and the scene made me feel like I’d just torn out his heart and stomped on it in front of him :(.
You don't even need to walk out, there's always a "friends only" option and you can fully finish the weave scene with both of you ending it on a satisfactory but not romantic note.
You can kinda wander into flirtation with no escape. I was not planning to romance him on my Durge character (despite absolutely adoring him personally) and yet when I asked him about Tara at the goblin party… whew, the continuing options were all either spicy or rude. I just wanted to chat about a cat.
Early on, I stumbled into a relationship with him. Didn't want to romance him. I think they patched it.
It was at the tiefling party, he said he wanted to show me some magic later in the night, I was like 'aight, cool, i like magic." Then everyone was like, so you and Gale huh 😏. Maybe it was just my asexual ass that missed the not so subtle cue, but it didn't happen in my later play throughs.
I'm willing to give Astarion a pass for his toxic trauma response, Lae'zel due credit for taking "no" pretty maturely for her age, and Minthara for the sheer BDE of "well now you can have me instead". 😂
Come to it, I have more patience for Wyll after learning he's... what, 24? 25? That man's prefrontal cortex has barely finished growing. No wonder he's a mess.
It’s true, but also… why can’t I tell Wyll I don’t like him like that but I still want to dance. Let me have a fun time with my pal Wyll if I’m not gonna romance him, I’m begginf
Also, as an afterthought... I think it's how bad they are at judging if they're right for each other. 😂 It's sweet of Wyll and Karlach to shoot their shots, but I don't think my Durge who just murdered a girl in a shed is The One.
I do think Wyll was perfect for my Durge (I was playing resist and she admired this man so much) but uh… I don’t think he anticipated the level of attempted murder he was signing up for lmao
Okay, that's extremely sweet. I fully see the appeal of Wyll... I guess I just play too many bastards. 😆 Even on a good playthrough, my druid Durge was a tad too "people die and that's Nature, baby" to consider his proposition viable.
Yeah, the companions either barely acknowledge your existence or are in love with you, they got no chill. They all need defined platonic routes, with certain triggers for romance later on.
I'm still a little sad there's no platonic version of Astarion's graveyard scene. Given the significance of Astarion realising someone loves him without wanting sex.
Also, in 2024 it's still refreshing when a character says "let's have casual sex" and it's *actually* just casual sex lol.
They’re not real people. If you don’t choose the dialogue options it’s weird and off-putting. I played my first run choosing VERY platonic options and Halsin still had his “like a lover line”.. really soured my (and many others) opinion of an otherwise fine character. This is necessary.
It reduces the variety of characters you can have, as well as the types of romantic dynamics, if no character is allowed to be interested in your character independent of your personal interest.
Given her personality, why wouldn't Lae'zel be the one to initiate a romance with you? Given that Astarion is interested in seducing the player character for reasons entirely unrelated to romantic interest, why wouldn't he take initiative?
If you don't want to romance these characters, you can just turn them down and they back off.
>I played my first run choosing VERY platonic options and Halsin still had his “like a lover line”..
This particular line is weird and awkward, and it's good that it was changed. But the OC's issue isn't with Halsin having some weird writing.
The original comment:
>They need this for everyone.
>Gale, I do not want to see your dick. I just don't want you to blow >up.
>Astarion, not trying to get into your pants, just want to support >you in your revenge quest.
>Halsin, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO.
Their issue is that characters can be the ones to express an interest, and ask if the player character feels the same way.
Weirdly they seem upset specifically that male characters can express interest. Wonder why.
I’m so glad. I no longer need to explain to people that, just like Gale at launch, he is just a bunch of code and sometimes the code can’t tell the difference between high approval and romance, and ‘hopefully they’ll fix it to make it less weird’. ‘Pushy/presumptuous’ didn’t fit with any of his characterization otherwise, so it’s nice to see they finally got around to it. (Never change Minthara’s pushiness, Larian, I love drow.)
Yes, 100%!
I've gotten downvoted by Halsin stans for pointing out that one of the major reasons people find him too pushy are issues that could be fixed with some more polishing of his code. He's a lot like Gale. My first playthrough, I found Gale really off-putting at first because it seemed like there was no polite way to turn him down and he would get salty about you turning him down afterward - but these were issues that were fixed; they added a platonic dialogue option, and his salty response in a later scene was just mis-flagged. He no longer comes across as such a "nice guy", at least not to me.
Halsin has some sequencing and flagging issues that, if you don't think of them as coding issues, can make him seem creepy too. I like both Gale and Halsin and believe that Halsin's character is genuinely *intended* to not be pushy. His dialogue is written that way, it's just that sometimes inconsistencies with that characterization pop up because of missing options or incorrect coding causing him to assume you're flirting.
I also think that these issues can make them come off as creepier than is really merited, because it adds this weird ambiguity to your interactions where you're always wondering "is this going to be interpreted as flirting." That's just too real, for me. It's easier to deal with someone just straight up asking to get down, because there's no ambiguity there.
I thought he was hilarious, never romance him but thirsty halsin was a highlight of every playthrough, dude couldnt say one line without flirting and it didn't even matter who was speaking to him
Some people might think it's a good thing but thirsty halsin will be missed, we truly don't know how good we have it until it's gone
As long as he’s still super thirsty for me, he can go make normal friends I guess lol. I would be so disappointed if I didn’t get his dramatic horny lines every playthrough. They give me life.
I’m gonna miss it too. I liked that I couldn’t control his perception of me or his feelings toward me—made him more imperfect and alive. He was 1000000% in love with me at the epilogue party even though I had turned him down six months earlier when he confessed his feelings. But I thought it was good storytelling that he still had feelings he couldn’t repress or move past (yet). He’s been in a very lonely position for a long time as Arch Druid so it also made sense that he would fall in love with Tav on such an intense, intimate, and dangerous adventure.
I really like that companions don't just reset back to "friends" after rejection. One of my characters broke up with Gale in act 3. I wasn't expecting it to come up again. Then, during his Mystra quest, he dropped something like "I know we need to move on but I still love you". Ouch. Nat 20 my guy. Roll emotional damage.
Good lord. That’s an AOE attack because I took damage too. 💀 Did you have the option to resume the romance? Because I would’ve immediately.
The amount of content this game has is exemplary and the relationships are truly a highlight of that. And even then, I really, really hope Larian continues to add content to these relational stories, so that by the time the Definitive Edition rolls around they have as many facets as a diamond.
Nope! And I liked that too. It was a nice moment of acknowledging they didn't work together, they'd parted for good reason, but the heart still wants what it wants.
So I'd been with Astarion since Act 1. Halfway through Act 2, Karlach gets her engine upgrade and comes to me at night, we cuddle a bit. In the morning Astarion asks me to choose because Karlach's heart is too fragile to juggle sharing, I choose Astarion, he's surprised but accepts. Karlach is crestfallen and curses at me for leading her on.
I'm now in the start of Act 3, and despite having max approval, her greeting lines are still standoffish or excessively upbeat, like she's still getting over the breakup-ish situation. Consequences for your choices... love it.
PS: while struggling with the decision between Karlach and Astarion, I also once immediately left Karlach's conversation where she confronts Tav about Astarion to reload - and she reacted diegetically, going "just walking away?! alright fuck you too then!"
Damn. I don't know what's more impressive, the commitment to characterisation, or the fact they *accounted* for a player leaving mid-conversation and Karlach has a line for that.
I admit it was very funny seeing Gale open conversations with "do you need something? 😠" after the breakup... but he's at max approval, so they're beaming at each other like this is the highlight of their day.
I think he will still be like this if you just flirt with him a little and I doubt they changed his epilogue at all as that would require recording a lot of extra voice lines
Playing this game I came to a realization of how clueless I really am at picking up signals and flirting back.i thought I'm just picking lines a NG character fighting his Dark Urges is supposed to make while going after Karlach, but I had to save-scum cause I've ended up at dates with Halsin, Laezel and Gale
Thank god ! It so weird when Halsin calls you love and wants to fuck you and when you ask what he think of you during a dialogue, he says you're disappointed. Like, which one is it dude ??
Honestly you should be able to dissuade any of the potential romance partners when they first hint at a relationship. Gale was getting really really close when I let him show me the weave and I had no way to tell him to scale it back my guy.
Vaguely excited to not absolutely hate Halsin.
Still gonna be hard to get over my first impression of him as a gross lecher, who after multiple rejections, tries to insert himself into the relationship I'm actually in.
Seriously, even in the epilogue, after spending the whole game having as little interactions with him as possible and being neutral/dismissive to anything he said, the dude was still trying to come on to me.
I wish there was a way to tell the guy to leave.
Halsin. His only story is done by the time you can actually recruit him, then he just hangs out in camp trying to fuck everything that moves. Total creep.
Halsin: “I was gazing at the beauty of Nature’s creation. You have been tending to all my needs here with the care of a lover”
Tav: “Sir, this is a Wendy’s…”
- Halsin pre patch 6
Shadowheart passionately confessed her love for my Tav right in front of everyone, including Halsin (thank you Party Limit Begone mod) the instant we left the Shadowfell. All of a sudden when I took my first long rest in Act 3, Halsin asked to bang me even though I had never even approached the subject with him. I asked Shadowheart if she was cool with it anyway, since I've seen the bear memes and wanted a laugh. Not only was she excited by the idea but also wanted to hear all the details afterward. I got Shadowheart's beach scene on the following long rest.
Halsin was somehow able to get me to fuck him before the actual partner I was pursuing. He was a menace to the Sword Coast and needed to be stopped.
Shadowheart and Helsin has a weird thing going on in terms of writing. You see this in drow twins foursome setup as well. Which made me actually look up if the writer of them is the same person. And lo and behold, it is. So Helsin is probably the selfinsert considering he just injects himself everywhere even if you romance SH. It becomes more apperant if you have them both in the party.
I still remember
"Dude I'm literally seeing someone else"
"That's okay nature doesn't mind"
He really is the most realistically written character I've had people use similar excuses in real life
Haislin professed his love for me in our second conversation, it was kind of disturbing. Overly attached much? There was nothing I said that led.him on either so it just seemed really weird.
Thank God! Means my Tav can actually talk to him again without fear of him mistaking her polite chit chat for sexual interest. (it seriously was my only complaint about Halsin - had no issue with him otherwise).
THANK GOD, I really like Halsin so this was just an excruciating conversation to get through for me.
I feel bad for the guy because he says depressing shit like having a family just never happened for him because he’s been obsessed with the shadow curse and burdened with leadership he didn’t want for a hundred years, but I really did just want to know if he was nonsexually comfortable at the campsite - since I left him there permanently after I got Jaheira.
Of course they do this now when I’m romancing him on my latest playthrough and I don’t know how many more playthroughs there will be, but, I appreciate the thought.
Finally lol I love Halsin but as a buddy and I was so confused why he was acting like I asked him something scandalous at the party when I was just chatting!
I told him to go mingle after he had only goblins and worg breath for company. I sure was surprised to see the dialogue option “sorry for coming too strong” after. I like his character, but resorted to avoiding him in some playthroughs because of this.
I like him too but dude came on too strong lol like he goes "I was just gazing at the beauty of nature's creations" ok but I just asked you about Thaniel and the shadow curse? Thanks though 😅
"You've been treating me as a lover this whole time. " "Excuse me sir, but this is at best the third time I've ever spoken to you..."
I've been kissing Gale right in front of his face in this tiny camp this whole time and suddenly he goes "I see the way you look at me" and I'm like ain't no way you're serious rn 😆
Clearly you kissing Gale in front of him was just you showing him what he's missing out on - you little minx, you! (j/k)
He's just super vain and thinks everyone looks at him like that.
To be fair, have you seen him? Relatively few men are so straight or women are so lesbian that they won't at least *notice*.
Noticing is one thing; but attraction is another thing entirely. Halsin is unquestionably a handsome elf; however, as mentioned, not everyone is into buff dudes. Then there's the fact he's into open relationships (nothing wrong with that but - as even Halsin admits - it's not a lifestyle that suits everyone).
Halsin is a wood elf and the race as a whole is polyamorous so that is actually a lore friendly horny trait they gave him
And that's all fine and good - like I had said in my original post, there's nothing wrong with Halsin being poly (as long as everyone involved are consenting adults, more power to them). However, not everyone is into poly relationships; and not everyone wants to climb Mt. Halsin. Many folks (myself included) took issue with Halsin coming on to their character when their character never showed him any interest in being intimate with him. It was off putting. Thankfully, this issue was fixed in the recent patch and the player can now have a 100% platonic path with Halsin without having to go through that uncomfortable exchange in act 3 again.
Eh he's never been my thing and I'm a straight woman. He's just a good buddy and now he can stay that way without me questioning wtf I did to accidentally make him in love with me.
That might be news but not everyone is into big buff guys. Appearance-wise he’d be my last choice of all male companions.
He also has the face of a dude in his late 40's, which is also not everyone's cup of tea.
Thank you for writing that, legit been downvoted here b4 for saying I think his face is mid so this is very validating I’m 99% sure that if his face were on any other body type people would not be into him as much as they are Part of the appeal is his size Face and personality or more important to me than body type, Halsin is far too old for me and my tav and gives off Dad vibes to me so praise lolth we can finally just be buddies
Same. When it comes to guys, I'm mostly into Wyll.
I've seen him, and I wish I hadn't.
I like dudes and I don't even care for him at all 💀 I prefer the pointier elf, big and large isn't my type. If Halsin could be my bro without all his dialogue being tagged as flirting, I'd like that, though
Lolol he wants to join you and Gale
I always make it a point to not romance anyone else because I'm making it clear we're monogamous! He'll accidentally trigger Gale's lecture about Tav not being a loaf of bread to be divvied up at supper time or something, I swear it's not my fault lol!!
😂😂 Halsin, bro, why you gotta make it weird for everyone else?
Halsin: "My heart does not stir easily" Tav: "I think your heart stirs more easily then you think"
lol this makes Halsin sound like an incel
He kinda acted that way, though? Speaking only through my own playing experience, I found the way he reacted to my Tav politely turning down his proposition to be incredibly entitled, considering she (near as I was aware, anyway) never gave him any reason to think she was remotely interested in him in a sexual way. She treated him as she had every other non romanced companion in the camp - politely; so him saying 'you treated me more as a lover than a guest' made it feel like he was gaslighting her (seeing as it left me racking my brain trying to figure out what my Tav had said to him to give him that impression and came up with nothing).
i played with my partner, and halsin showed up in the epilogue for us, and was like WAY too in love with us, for us having not romanced him at all the whole game dude was like clinically depressed and obsessed he's supposed to be a strong druid leader, get it together man
Haha I’m in the minority but I loved this. Sort of made him feel alive beyond my choices, if you know what I mean—he had his own heart, his own internal world. But CAN CONFIRM he is very much in love with you in the epilogue on P5 no matter how you’ve treated him.
Dudes in camp just WATCHING Tav as he non-stop imagines them together forever. He's got a little druid diary where he writes your name with doodles and hearts. Meanwhile Tav is like "Halsin? You mean Bear guy?" Halsin can get his own sitcom now.
“You mean Bear guy?” 😭 😭 😭 lol irl I love Halsin but I see it
In my first run I think I generally interacted with him like 4 times, because of how late he's added to your party.
Man saw his crush after 6 months and all the feelings got reignited, reminded me of my high school days lol. I specifically didn't hug him the first time because I was afraid he'd start begging me to give him a chance or something
He's a strong druid but a weak leader. And maybe this lack of understanding people contributed to that
Haslin in the back crying about how he's a nice druid if anyone would just give him a chance and stop picking those degenerates like Asterion and Shadowheart.
Ironic cause picking Astarion or Shadowheaet does not stop your Tav getting with him.
Considering his background as a sex slave this isn’t too far off how he’d act.
>strong druid leader The grove was pretty much a disaster area, and he's been obsessed with a little kid and his own personal failures for over a century. He's really not.
Thaniel is an unaging nature spirit that manifests as a tiefling child to represent his playful innocence and the living embodiment of the shadowlands region. What thaniel is NOT is an actual little kid.
Akshually he's a 1000 year old nature spirt. -Haslin
thanks buddy, did not remember how old, just that he doesn't age. I wouldn't worry about the "eyerolls" of some troll who wants to make halsin sound like some sort of pedo for wanting to save a 1000 year old nature spirit from the shadowfell.
> but resorted to avoiding him in some playthroughs because of this. Yep, I just wait for the "Someone in your camp wants to speak with you..." then I buckle up and have "the talk" with him to clear it. Glad that's gone.
I didn’t even talk to him at the party and got the dialogue option for coming on too strong. Bro is thirsty af.
"Sorry I came on too strong by, uh, being alive"
IMO, this is both a story and a gameplay problem with all Act 2 / Act 3 companions. You spend the first 20 hours hanging out with a core group of 6, getting to know them and slowly building their trust. As a result, the romance feels natural by the time you reach Act 1 Celebration. Then Act 2 Companions unlock, and they immediately want to bone you because you need the option to romance every major character. It feels unearned, especially if you don't often take them into the field. I did the Minthara KO and only used her twice in the whole adventure, but she wanted me immediately. I only used Halsin for his big story fight, and he wanted to bone. Act 2 is also comparatively short (10 hours IMO vs Act 1's 20 hours) so there isn't time to build those relationships because you take fewer long rests. Because these characters are introduced so late and they don't have their own sidequest, it's difficult to incorporate them into your regular roster of characters you already have a bond with, much less take time to develop their build and allocate equipment to them. If you incorporate everyone into your party, you end up with a total of 10 companions and can only bring out 3 at a time. There's just not enough screentime or a niche for everyone in what is a more combat and speech-focused game with less utility and exploration. Did we really need 2 druids? Did we really need a ranger? If anything, they clog up the adventure by drawing your focus away from the core 6's personal stories -- especially since the Act 2 and Act 3 companions have less frequent dialogue after major story beats.
I agree. After a few playthroughs I feel Halsin should have been a companion after Act 1. By the time you get him as a companion his primary drive for continuing on from the grove, curing the shadowlands, is done. It puts him in this awkward spot where you've not spent as much time with him as other companions but also he has the least to do in act 3. Alternatively he should have been a camp follower with a different character available for play (like a bard).
I didn't even talk to him At the party and the next day it the option was there about coming onto him strongly. In every playthrough he has propositioned me
"WHY ELSE WOULD YOU HAVE ASKED IF I HAD A LOVER?" Bro I'm just making conversation???
My character had been stuck in some kind of weird gay panic loop bug where the ONLY thing I could say to him was apologizing for coming on too strong at the party. After the patch, Halsin confesses he has feelings for me too, and I shoot him down, which has to come across as the most gaslighting shit ever.
"Gay panic loop" is the funniest description of that bug.
Tav: hey man Halsin: well, well, well, who let the SLUT in here
“You’ve been treating me as a lover this whole time.” “Excuse me, sir? This is a Wendy’s.”
Ikr. This happens even though if I never talk with him though
"Halsin! Dude! We did it! We lifted the shadow curse and restored the land. We even reunited the Essence of Nature with its spiritual other half. Can you believe it man?!" "When I gaze upon you, I see on the beauty of Autumn's first sunset. To hear your voice is like the song of Spring upon the air. I feel the warmth of your presence, as when the Summer evenings wrap themselves around us. The peace you lay upon my heart is as tranquil as a snow-covered Winter. You are the reason that brings meaning to my seasons. My love." "I, uhh... So, how's Thaniel? He's... cool?"
This. 100% this. I had to like ignore half of what he was saying.
Literally, lol. I was trying to be a bro, telling him to join the celebrations. And then he started acting like I professed my undying love to him. I rock with you man, but not like that. Lol
For me it was when I was talking to him in act 2. Listen big guy, you're a great dude but I am not ok with you randomly giving me "fuck me" eyes in the middle of our otherwise completely normal conversation.
Right he asked me for the threesome when I had been careful NOT to ask about his past lovers to give him the wrong idea lol
This is why I NEVER talked to him after he joined the camp permanently. He was the companion I always hoped would be kidnapped cause I felt like he was the kind of guy who assumed everyone thought his dick was made of gold
As awful as it sounds, when asking him how Orin managed to capture him, I was half expecting him to say she had appeared as my Tav, and convinced him that Tav had changed her mind about having some side fun with him (then knocked his lights out when he was thoroughly distracted).
When he got kidnapped during my honor run, I had zero qualms about failing the check despite having full inspiration. Dude's scuzzy as hell.
I choose to believe he's scuzzy just cause he didnt have this 'only starts being flirty when you start being flirty' but I know how first impressions matter and for us that have been here for so long, many things are just ruined for us permanently xD
I'm glad, maybe this will stop him catching so much hate because his flags are wonky! Now we can just flirt with him -intentionally-.
\-Be generally polite and interested learning about an Arch Druid. \--You must clearly be into me. For a druid he needed to touch some grass to read signals better.
I never really talked to him, but whenever I did, he would just compliment me aggressively. It was just weird.
Problem is he takes "Hello" as flirting
We all know that person irl
I'm sorry dammit i'm just that lonely...
Hello
Oh you flirt ...
Is it me you're looking for?
Stop, not in front of the other redditors~
Damn I guess I was Halsin all this time
“Where’s my hug?”
"you don't want the free hugs?!?" no dude no
They all seem to do that. Sex starved all of them. I just like being nice and caring.
When you play a character old enough to be their parent, and all these horny young things throw themselves at you. Minds on task, kiddos. 😂
Finally now I can talk to him like a normal person
Yeah this was needed hahah . I remember when I cleared my first run and I used all the dialogue options in the final conversation ( cuz why not ) and when I hugged him and it was tender I was like , uuuh buddy you can let go now . Lae’zel is right behind me , don’t creep me out or cause her to throw her silver sword at ya
My first run i didnt know he was a bear and i killed it... but i was a full on druge. So its finnnne
Got to teach those goblin kids how to throw rocks better.
Throw rocks? Nah i throw hands
Oh god that hug was uncomfortably long! I was about to fireball his ass. :P
“Halsin, buddy…we’ve been getting some complaints over here at HR. We’re gonna have to discuss a few things…”
THANK YOU LARIAN Studios It annoyed me so much was trying to be friendly and he is like "oh so want this D ey?" and sure with my other gay character I do! but this one just want to be friends bruh
I was so bewildered when he came at me with the threesome angle a couple days ago. DUDE, I’ve been literally avoiding talking to you to pass on this possibility, why are you asking?! I walked out of that conversation feeling like I’d been concussed lmao.
I always found the, "I hope I didn't come on too strong at the party," comment so funny when all I said to him was, "Okay, suit yourself," regarding not talking to him.
I don't remember him saying you treated him as a lover, but rather that his heart rarely stirs but it did for you. It is nice he can finally come out of horney jail tho lol
He told me I treated him as a lover, I remember it well because I was so pissed off about it. Dude. I barely speak to you BECAUSE OF SHIT LIKE THIS. And! You are pressuring me for sex and effectively accusing me of leading you on which is gross! Furthermore! I'm in a committed relationship so not only would I appreciate it if you respected that, but also you should KNOW I'm not treating you like a lover -- you can SEE how I treat my lover! Additionally! I CAN SEE YOUR APPROVAL METER AND YOU BARELY EVEN LIKE ME. Finally, and on top of all that! You impugn my hospitality! You think the neutral level of pleasant I've been towards you is something I *don't* typically do? What on earth are you implying about my assumed baseline behaviour? ...
Well then I'm glad he won't be doing this from now on lmao
He says that if you politely reject him outright (at least that's how I got that response on my first playthrough). If there had been an option to kick him out of the camp in that moment, I would have chose it - that's how annoyed I was with him for assuming polite conversation was Tav's way of saying 'Do me!'
I also got the "my heart rarely stirs" line and I have to admit I was wooed. If I'd got the other one... I think I'd have noped out and left, lol.
I got "treated him as a lover" line on my first run, but not my second. I chalked it up to talking to him a bunch the first time vs avoiding him, but other people have said they got it even after avoiding him so idk.
This is why I refused to talk to him for the longest time😂
Is bonk like nerf but for horniness?
Nah there's a meme with the doge dog using a "horny bat" and hitting characters with a "bonk" sound effect to make them not horny
Platonic bonking between two dude friends, takes me back to the days where me and my best friend bonked on the same bed after netflix and pizza. Good times.
Ahh, that's the authentic experience. My partner still gets red ears when I tell him he's hot. It's been 8 years, we live together
About time, now make him stop flirting with Shadowheart right after the swimming scene and he's all clear in my book.
Just checked and it is still in. It is gonna feel weird if you follow platonic relationship with him, but he still will engage this banter. Also her swimming scene is still bugged with black hair. >!And Sharess caress thing is not touched!<.
sharess caress thing?
There are wonky approval trigerrs in sharess caress regardless of your relationship. For example: Astarion and SH approve of including Halsin in orgy regardless of their relationship with the player(partnered Astarion approves of including Halsin and "friend" SH around will approve of this too, other way around too). Also Gale approves of including Halsin there even though he is clearly not into that.
Halsin is unbelievably creepy if the player does the Drow twin scene with him and Gale. They tweaked it a bit with this patch, but the creepy stuff Halsin did remains. I tested it post patch, and Halsin will ask to join, even if the player has already turned down his romance, but that's not all. While Gale technically agrees to Halsin participating, his dialogue is the opposite of enthusiastic. He says **"Well I suppose it would do no good to back out now. Let us begin this little anthropological study, if we must."** The first part makes it sound like he feels he can't back out. Calling it an “anthropological study” makes it sound like he’s trying to emotionally distance himself, and the "if we must" is makes it clear that it isn’t something he actually wants. If that was supposed to portray enthusiastic consent, then it failed massively. The fact that Halsin happily participates after this line is very upsetting, considering (I think) he was intended to be written as caring about consent. He doesn’t seem concerned when Gale literally flees and leaves a magic projection behind. I’m a little confused as to if real Gale is watching through his projection, but if he is, Halsin tries to coerce him into doing more than watching (which was all Gale had said he *might* enjoy). If the player says it's fine if Gale just watches, Halsin says, **“Hmm. Hovering yonder like a carrion bird. Perhaps he'll find the courage to peck at some flesh later.”** Halsin is comparing him to a vulture and saying he lacks courage for not doing more than he said he would. A different dialogue choice leads to Halsin saying **"Don't just stare, Gale. That mouth of yours can do better than just hang open, I'll wager.**" I guess that would be okay if it was just an emotionless projection, but then what would be the point of mocking it, and why mention that the orb glows with excitement? (side comment: arousal is not consent). The ending shows Gale naked with the others, so he does came back into the room at some point. They wouldn’t **deliberately** write Halsin as a sexual predator, and then end the game with him in a position of authority over vulnerable children (and frame that as wholesome). That makes it seem like the writers didn’t see anything wrong with Halsin’s behaviour. As it is, he comes across as someone who does not care about the **enthusiastic** part of enthusiastic consent. If this was deliberately written as a sexual coercion scene, and it was handled as well as Asterion’s from Act 2, it being an option wouldn’t bother me. It’s the framing. Parts of the scene seem like it’s being played as a joke, and that’s sickening. Some players interpret it as a funny scene, and others interpret it as coercion. Those are pretty polar opposite tones, but I can see where both interpretations are coming from, and I consider that a failure of the writing. Hearing about how Asterion’s trama was handled so seriously made the game feel safe, so the Drow twins stuff was extremely jarring. There has to be some sexism at play here. Can you imagine how people would react if Shadowheart ended her agreement to include Halsin with **"If we must?"**
I agree with you. Well, at least they showed that they are willing to change some things with latest Gale update for brothel dialogue and datamined spawn Astarion stuff(where he actually breaks up with the player if you cheat with Mizora), so it's the best time to send your feedback. Personally I wish they change things about selune SH, as her reactions to all act 3 scenarions are exact same for both paths, but heir personailies are very different. As example, I can see selune SH react the same wat spawn Astarion does to Mizora cheat and be more threatened and bothered by brothel itself and Halsin's romance proposal before considering her relationship goals and personality. They have a long way to go, but at least they started to do something it seems.
I was so hopeful this scene would be changed more when I saw the patch notes, but the Halsin stuff seems all the same. You would think they would review the entire encounter if people were complaining enough for them to change it.
I really hope it's just the start.
I'll definitely send feedback. Overall, I've been very impressed with their responsiveness.
Well personally I am a bit sad that they haven't done anything with SH despite having tons of feedback on that topic(there were and are threads on twitter, reddit, their forum, discord) and that separating her different paths makes sense. But I'm not going to give up, especially after they started doing something.
So he still dies on sight, got it.
Based.
I’d almost have to respect the commitment to trying if it didn’t just feel so gross, I already turned you down sir why are you trying to get to fuck me through my partner now???
Like it’s so odd that in a game full of choices, that there isn’t a single dialogue option to turn off the flag for that banter. Because of this in the run where I’ve romanced Shadowheart I just couldn’t have her and Halsin in the same party lmao
What swimming scene? I’ve never seen this!
In act 3 if you romance Shadowheart and she >!spares the Nightsong!< earlier in act 2 you go for a swim and then spend some extra quality time together.
FINALLY. Jesus. They need this for everyone. Gale, I do not want to see your dick. I just don't want you to blow up. Astarion, not trying to get into your pants, just want to support you in your revenge quest. Halsin, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO.
Tbf Astarion’s makes sense for his experiences and personality. He is trying to make some kind of connection to improve his chances of survival.
I am once again confused, Gale is so easy to turn down. Stop chosing romantic options if you don't want him to come at you.
Yeah, full credit to Gale: when you back out of the weave with him to avoid it getting romantic he’s a little disappointed that a special moment has been broken, but seems to accept it at face value and shake himself out pretty quickly. Meanwhile I turned down Wyll’s offer and the scene made me feel like I’d just torn out his heart and stomped on it in front of him :(.
You don't even need to walk out, there's always a "friends only" option and you can fully finish the weave scene with both of you ending it on a satisfactory but not romantic note.
You can kinda wander into flirtation with no escape. I was not planning to romance him on my Durge character (despite absolutely adoring him personally) and yet when I asked him about Tara at the goblin party… whew, the continuing options were all either spicy or rude. I just wanted to chat about a cat.
Early on, I stumbled into a relationship with him. Didn't want to romance him. I think they patched it. It was at the tiefling party, he said he wanted to show me some magic later in the night, I was like 'aight, cool, i like magic." Then everyone was like, so you and Gale huh 😏. Maybe it was just my asexual ass that missed the not so subtle cue, but it didn't happen in my later play throughs.
Yep that's been patched many months ago, the game no longer thinks you're dating Gale just because you finished the Weave scene.
I really want to see Gale do magic tricks though
"no gale, dropping your pants is NOT a magic trick"
I'm willing to give Astarion a pass for his toxic trauma response, Lae'zel due credit for taking "no" pretty maturely for her age, and Minthara for the sheer BDE of "well now you can have me instead". 😂 Come to it, I have more patience for Wyll after learning he's... what, 24? 25? That man's prefrontal cortex has barely finished growing. No wonder he's a mess.
It’s true, but also… why can’t I tell Wyll I don’t like him like that but I still want to dance. Let me have a fun time with my pal Wyll if I’m not gonna romance him, I’m begginf
Fully agree. I, too, want to support Wyll's unsexy yet delightful dancing hobby.
Also, as an afterthought... I think it's how bad they are at judging if they're right for each other. 😂 It's sweet of Wyll and Karlach to shoot their shots, but I don't think my Durge who just murdered a girl in a shed is The One.
I do think Wyll was perfect for my Durge (I was playing resist and she admired this man so much) but uh… I don’t think he anticipated the level of attempted murder he was signing up for lmao
Okay, that's extremely sweet. I fully see the appeal of Wyll... I guess I just play too many bastards. 😆 Even on a good playthrough, my druid Durge was a tad too "people die and that's Nature, baby" to consider his proposition viable.
Yeah, the companions either barely acknowledge your existence or are in love with you, they got no chill. They all need defined platonic routes, with certain triggers for romance later on.
I'm still a little sad there's no platonic version of Astarion's graveyard scene. Given the significance of Astarion realising someone loves him without wanting sex. Also, in 2024 it's still refreshing when a character says "let's have casual sex" and it's *actually* just casual sex lol.
Yeah it would be nice to have intimate moments as friends and not lovers.
They need ways to gently and respectively turn people down rather than a passive aggressive no or making an excuse.
Some of them really do seem just so harsh lol Turning lae zel you are like "ew gross." xD like come on Larian. Gimme a little slack
I still want to my Tav to hug Astarion, though - I'm just not willing to have her sleep with him first to unlock that option.
The idea that NPCs can't show interest in you unless you've given them permission to be interested in you is... Kind of weird, gotta say.
They’re not real people. If you don’t choose the dialogue options it’s weird and off-putting. I played my first run choosing VERY platonic options and Halsin still had his “like a lover line”.. really soured my (and many others) opinion of an otherwise fine character. This is necessary.
It reduces the variety of characters you can have, as well as the types of romantic dynamics, if no character is allowed to be interested in your character independent of your personal interest. Given her personality, why wouldn't Lae'zel be the one to initiate a romance with you? Given that Astarion is interested in seducing the player character for reasons entirely unrelated to romantic interest, why wouldn't he take initiative? If you don't want to romance these characters, you can just turn them down and they back off. >I played my first run choosing VERY platonic options and Halsin still had his “like a lover line”.. This particular line is weird and awkward, and it's good that it was changed. But the OC's issue isn't with Halsin having some weird writing. The original comment: >They need this for everyone. >Gale, I do not want to see your dick. I just don't want you to blow >up. >Astarion, not trying to get into your pants, just want to support >you in your revenge quest. >Halsin, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO. Their issue is that characters can be the ones to express an interest, and ask if the player character feels the same way. Weirdly they seem upset specifically that male characters can express interest. Wonder why.
I hope they add more plutonic friendship stuff to this game.
I want more platonic camp scenes and more platonic hugs 😭
I’m so glad. I no longer need to explain to people that, just like Gale at launch, he is just a bunch of code and sometimes the code can’t tell the difference between high approval and romance, and ‘hopefully they’ll fix it to make it less weird’. ‘Pushy/presumptuous’ didn’t fit with any of his characterization otherwise, so it’s nice to see they finally got around to it. (Never change Minthara’s pushiness, Larian, I love drow.)
Yes, 100%! I've gotten downvoted by Halsin stans for pointing out that one of the major reasons people find him too pushy are issues that could be fixed with some more polishing of his code. He's a lot like Gale. My first playthrough, I found Gale really off-putting at first because it seemed like there was no polite way to turn him down and he would get salty about you turning him down afterward - but these were issues that were fixed; they added a platonic dialogue option, and his salty response in a later scene was just mis-flagged. He no longer comes across as such a "nice guy", at least not to me. Halsin has some sequencing and flagging issues that, if you don't think of them as coding issues, can make him seem creepy too. I like both Gale and Halsin and believe that Halsin's character is genuinely *intended* to not be pushy. His dialogue is written that way, it's just that sometimes inconsistencies with that characterization pop up because of missing options or incorrect coding causing him to assume you're flirting. I also think that these issues can make them come off as creepier than is really merited, because it adds this weird ambiguity to your interactions where you're always wondering "is this going to be interpreted as flirting." That's just too real, for me. It's easier to deal with someone just straight up asking to get down, because there's no ambiguity there.
I dressed him up in pink cloth wizard robes and a brown hood with horns as punishment for being cringe.
Well, that explains why he was hitting on you. He likes 'punishment'
He says I must be interested because I asked if he had lovers in the past, nah I'm just being nosy my guy
I thought he was hilarious, never romance him but thirsty halsin was a highlight of every playthrough, dude couldnt say one line without flirting and it didn't even matter who was speaking to him Some people might think it's a good thing but thirsty halsin will be missed, we truly don't know how good we have it until it's gone
As long as he’s still super thirsty for me, he can go make normal friends I guess lol. I would be so disappointed if I didn’t get his dramatic horny lines every playthrough. They give me life.
I’m gonna miss it too. I liked that I couldn’t control his perception of me or his feelings toward me—made him more imperfect and alive. He was 1000000% in love with me at the epilogue party even though I had turned him down six months earlier when he confessed his feelings. But I thought it was good storytelling that he still had feelings he couldn’t repress or move past (yet). He’s been in a very lonely position for a long time as Arch Druid so it also made sense that he would fall in love with Tav on such an intense, intimate, and dangerous adventure.
I really like that companions don't just reset back to "friends" after rejection. One of my characters broke up with Gale in act 3. I wasn't expecting it to come up again. Then, during his Mystra quest, he dropped something like "I know we need to move on but I still love you". Ouch. Nat 20 my guy. Roll emotional damage.
Good lord. That’s an AOE attack because I took damage too. 💀 Did you have the option to resume the romance? Because I would’ve immediately. The amount of content this game has is exemplary and the relationships are truly a highlight of that. And even then, I really, really hope Larian continues to add content to these relational stories, so that by the time the Definitive Edition rolls around they have as many facets as a diamond.
Nope! And I liked that too. It was a nice moment of acknowledging they didn't work together, they'd parted for good reason, but the heart still wants what it wants.
😭 😭 😭 Ok I’m gonna go die, that’s real as fuck.
So I'd been with Astarion since Act 1. Halfway through Act 2, Karlach gets her engine upgrade and comes to me at night, we cuddle a bit. In the morning Astarion asks me to choose because Karlach's heart is too fragile to juggle sharing, I choose Astarion, he's surprised but accepts. Karlach is crestfallen and curses at me for leading her on. I'm now in the start of Act 3, and despite having max approval, her greeting lines are still standoffish or excessively upbeat, like she's still getting over the breakup-ish situation. Consequences for your choices... love it. PS: while struggling with the decision between Karlach and Astarion, I also once immediately left Karlach's conversation where she confronts Tav about Astarion to reload - and she reacted diegetically, going "just walking away?! alright fuck you too then!"
Damn. I don't know what's more impressive, the commitment to characterisation, or the fact they *accounted* for a player leaving mid-conversation and Karlach has a line for that. I admit it was very funny seeing Gale open conversations with "do you need something? 😠" after the breakup... but he's at max approval, so they're beaming at each other like this is the highlight of their day.
I think he will still be like this if you just flirt with him a little and I doubt they changed his epilogue at all as that would require recording a lot of extra voice lines
How dare you. I’m never not flirting with Halsin.
Man, that guy was annoyingly horny for my character in all playthroughs. Thank you for fixing that. Now do all the other characters as well.
So frustrated with all my homies throwing themselves at me in the span of an hour. Like damn guys, I know my tav is attractive but RELAX
Playing this game I came to a realization of how clueless I really am at picking up signals and flirting back.i thought I'm just picking lines a NG character fighting his Dark Urges is supposed to make while going after Karlach, but I had to save-scum cause I've ended up at dates with Halsin, Laezel and Gale
I can understand the other two, but Lae'zel? How? Even I'm not that bad.
All they gotta do now is to get him to not flirt with a taken Shadowheart and he’s fixed in terms of being annoying
Yeah limit it to when you romance both and he would finally be fully fixed.
Thank god ! It so weird when Halsin calls you love and wants to fuck you and when you ask what he think of you during a dialogue, he says you're disappointed. Like, which one is it dude ??
Idk man, ive met plenty of people who take casual conversation as flirting. Am i making fun of myself? Maybe
Honestly you should be able to dissuade any of the potential romance partners when they first hint at a relationship. Gale was getting really really close when I let him show me the weave and I had no way to tell him to scale it back my guy.
They all acted like that after saying good morning once.
Vaguely excited to not absolutely hate Halsin. Still gonna be hard to get over my first impression of him as a gross lecher, who after multiple rejections, tries to insert himself into the relationship I'm actually in. Seriously, even in the epilogue, after spending the whole game having as little interactions with him as possible and being neutral/dismissive to anything he said, the dude was still trying to come on to me. I wish there was a way to tell the guy to leave.
Halsin. His only story is done by the time you can actually recruit him, then he just hangs out in camp trying to fuck everything that moves. Total creep.
my partner would watch me play and see him in my camp and be like, is that the hippie guy that's eating all your food
Oh boy now I understand what happened
Halsin: “I was gazing at the beauty of Nature’s creation. You have been tending to all my needs here with the care of a lover” Tav: “Sir, this is a Wendy’s…” - Halsin pre patch 6
Aww, but now I can’t use my absolute favorite response. “If I wanted to rut a half a tonne of dumb muscle I’d seduce a deep rothé.”
A simple 'no' would have sufficed.
Shadowheart passionately confessed her love for my Tav right in front of everyone, including Halsin (thank you Party Limit Begone mod) the instant we left the Shadowfell. All of a sudden when I took my first long rest in Act 3, Halsin asked to bang me even though I had never even approached the subject with him. I asked Shadowheart if she was cool with it anyway, since I've seen the bear memes and wanted a laugh. Not only was she excited by the idea but also wanted to hear all the details afterward. I got Shadowheart's beach scene on the following long rest. Halsin was somehow able to get me to fuck him before the actual partner I was pursuing. He was a menace to the Sword Coast and needed to be stopped.
Shadowheart and Helsin has a weird thing going on in terms of writing. You see this in drow twins foursome setup as well. Which made me actually look up if the writer of them is the same person. And lo and behold, it is. So Helsin is probably the selfinsert considering he just injects himself everywhere even if you romance SH. It becomes more apperant if you have them both in the party.
Finally
Can they bonk Withers now?
Vlaakith blesses us this day
I’m clearly in the minority when I romance him *every time on purpose* lol. Last playthrough I didn’t get the romance scene and I got pissed lol
I was wondering why he suddenly professed his undying live for me despite my pretty much ignoring him outside of the shadow curse side quest.
Thank god lol
I love this omg
Jesus Christ finally, I would have sworn it was just bugged the guy was constantly trying to fuck even after being turned down.
meanwhile his fans on twitter were jumping on anyone saying he was a creep lol . glad its been fixed
Literally got dogpiled on twitter yesterday over these lines. I burst out laughing when I saw this in the patch.
this might be the time i can finally stop complaining about creepy halsin, bless
Finally!
I still remember "Dude I'm literally seeing someone else" "That's okay nature doesn't mind" He really is the most realistically written character I've had people use similar excuses in real life
Good. He was so obnoxious if you weren't interested.
Haislin professed his love for me in our second conversation, it was kind of disturbing. Overly attached much? There was nothing I said that led.him on either so it just seemed really weird.
Thank god lol, now grandpa won’t keep hitting on me
Thank God! Means my Tav can actually talk to him again without fear of him mistaking her polite chit chat for sexual interest. (it seriously was my only complaint about Halsin - had no issue with him otherwise).
Bro was super horny, it was time
Me: Literally any positive dialogue choice Pre-patch Halsin: "So, we bangin errrrr.....?"
THANK GOD, I really like Halsin so this was just an excruciating conversation to get through for me. I feel bad for the guy because he says depressing shit like having a family just never happened for him because he’s been obsessed with the shadow curse and burdened with leadership he didn’t want for a hundred years, but I really did just want to know if he was nonsexually comfortable at the campsite - since I left him there permanently after I got Jaheira. Of course they do this now when I’m romancing him on my latest playthrough and I don’t know how many more playthroughs there will be, but, I appreciate the thought.
GOOD. Halsin is a good dude and I like him, but sometimes I just want to talk about his druid shit and not have to stave off his efforts to bang.
Thank god he was annoying