As I mentioned last week, I’ve recently picked up Baldur’s Gate 3, and it’s sort of been my obsession ever since. A big part of it is the tactical gameplay and how you can stumble across interesting quests in the weirdest places, but it’s also due to the writing.

I’m not going to pretend that Baldur’s Gate 3’s writing is revolutionary compared to other RPGs or anything, but it is nonetheless quite good. The writing for the companion characters is done particularly well, so much that I’m actually finding myself forming very strong, very real opinions about most of them. I don’t think I’ve experienced that since Mass Effect/ Dragon Age (over 10 years ago)!

You have the option to recruit several characters during Baldur’s Gate 3’s opening hours. All of them are powerful in their own right, but may not necessarily be desirable companions depending on the kind of character you’re playing.

There’s Shadowheart the mysterious cleric of Shar, Lae’zel of the ruthless Githyanki race, Wyll the frontier hero, Gale the very personable wizard, Karlach the free-spirited infernal warrior, and Astarion, a jerk who thinks he’s better than every-, I mean, uh, a dangerous rogue who’s definitely more than meets the eye. Each has a personality as strong as their unique set of skills, and all of them strong enough to be either endearing or borderline unbearable.

For my character, a half-elf fighter, pragmatism usually carries the day, so he can usually tolerate useful people even if he doesn’t like them. He’s the sort that, while he’ll always choose words first, has absolutely no problem “eliminating” a problem if necessary. For that reason, he gets along great with the likes of Shadowheart, Karlach, Wyll and Gale…even though each can be bothersome at times.

Shadowheart gets touchy when dealing with anything to do with other deities, Karlach is a bit too eager for brawling and heroics, Wyll is very much a “goody-two-shoes” sort, and Gale is sometimes a bit too glib given the situation. As for Lae’zel, she’s a great warrior and he respects her skills, but boy does she look down on any action that doesn’t show overt strength and/or aggression. As for Astarion…we’ll come back to him in a bit.

As a player, I can’t really remember the last time that I actually paid enough attention to the side characters enough to form any real opinion about them. I suppose the last time might have been in Persona 5 wherein I definitely disliked Ryuji and Ryusuke, but it was more them just generally being annoying as characters rather than any quirk of their personalities. Like I couldn’t really tell you what they like, what sets them off, or anything like that. Actually, I guess I really do have to go back to Dragon Age/ Mass Effect for that kind of lasting character impact.

For all the characters listed above, I could probably tell you a lot about their personalities and who they come across as people, which honestly is kind of crazy since it’s not something I can say I’m going out of my way to pay attention to. Yet here we are; I quite like Karlach and Shadowheart; respect Gale, Wyll and Lae’zel even if I don’t like them as people, and I think I can say I genuinely hate Astarion. For real, he’s a very well-written character, but his personality seems tailor-made to rub me the wrong way.

From the word “go” the dude is arrogant as all get out. I mean, he introduces himself in a way that very nearly got himself killed, yet still had the gall to speak as if he hadn’t done anything wrong. In every interaction, he has the air of somebody who’s absolutely convinced that his presence is a gift to the rest of the party, that everybody wants him (in every possible way) and that you should be grateful that he’s even looking in your direction.

Everything from his clothes to his voice/affected accent to his choice of words and reactions just screams it! (Even when some things happen later down the line, he still handles it in the most pompously self-assured way possible). The reasons for all this come out later, but understanding him doesn’t make him better.

In other words, Astarion is a very well-written character with the power to bug you to no end if you let him (lol). I definitely don’t like him, but I’m glad he’s in the game. He and the other characters like him are a big reason why Baldur’s Gate 3 has been so much fun to play! I don’t know if my character will tolerate many more antics from him, but we’ll see I guess.

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Are there any characters that’ve made an impact on you lately? What are some of your favorites? What games are they from?

Image from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam page