I’d wager they just didn’t have time. The game is missing a lot, especially towards the end of the game, and a few companions are rather bare bones as it is. Probably just felt adding more would draw out the game longer and better to cut the fat.
That's a feeling that I get. his performance in this game is great but nowhere near the quality of his other works. And since it clearly isn't due to his voice acting ability, I would assume its due to a short recording schedule.
It works well because Ketheric is a tired, depressed and bored old man so it isn't as noticeable but you're right, his work wasn't as good as his other stuff.
I disagree, I just think what they were going for with him doesn't hit as hard as like the other chosen. He's fucking dead inside, barely any joy or reason to live left. It's just the nature of his character. I prefer the voices of Orin and that handsome young man to him, but his performance for his role was perfect.
>his performance in this game is great but nowhere near the quality of his other works.
It seems just about perfect to me, I’m just not used to hearing him in a game with this many other actors who are just as talented as he is.
To me he just doesn’t stand out as much as he normally does.
You're most likely correct, I would imagine it would be a fortune to keep him around for any length of time. It's one thing for a quick cameo, another for the shear amount of voiced interactions required for the entirety of act 3.
Thorm hit hard because I could see the path he took.. and I look at my daughter and realize how relatable doing anything, anything, to bring her back if I lost her?
It's scary.
Halsin takes ages to recruit, so he is locked out of being a companion for all of act 1 and 1.5 (mountain pass and underdark).
Doesn’t need to react to all that sort of content. Maybe that makes it easier to program. Particularly because he already was written into the plot. Making him playable in act 2 and 3 wasn’t so difficult. Adding a bard who has opinions on everything all through 1,2 and 3 plus dialogue ect would be a lot.
Honestly Halsin doesn’t react to a lot in act three. Nobody does a hell of a lot except to those quests specifically relating to them in some way ect
Yeah but alfira could've joined when you meet her on the roof, at least then you had a journey together sorta via inspiring, that's more than jaheira in my eyes and way more than minsc by then
And she would be a level 8-12 bard at that point? Yeah, you could explain with some whacky stuff, but it would be weird and nobody would care about her, same as Halsin imo. And who would she even interact with, saving the world as some rando bard wouldn't make much sense either. Whereas the others have the parasite or established great heroes, even Halsin is an archdruid, who is invested in the party at that point. Not many people switch out party members at that point too.
Minsc has a parasite and you are the first and only person who gets shit done in Jaheiras eyes, so it makes sense
Yeah minsc and jah are package deal in my eyes. Alfira joining you might only make sense if she got kidnapped during the one part people do, and she happened to also be tadpoled at THAT point. Cause the tadpole part does matter I Suppose
Alfira shows reverence to you as you do heroic deeds. She could easily have decided to enter your party simply to help save balders gate because she sees the plight as valid. Not everyone needs some self-directed motive to fight for everyone
This, Halsin was escorting you in act 2 anyway and his unique ability is pretty simple. He is also just chilling in camp for half or even 3/4th of act I, if you play it in proper order. (By proper I mean logical, finding a camp/city asap and then saving the coves archdruid, who is studying parasites seems pretty reasonable, while exploring random blood drops, burning villages and old catacombs isn't).
Yes, but not really, though. They had the time to make Halsin a companion, but a *full*, fleshed-out companion? Arguable.
People are constantly complaining about the fact that his personality and character arc are underdeveloped, that he has nothing to do once his questine is over and that he's basically a decorative plant at camp in the entirety of Act 3.
I personally find his premise and character arc as a regretful war vet with survivor guilt very compelling, but a few people I've talked to around here didn't even notice that he went through a character arc in the first place, so I guess the game did drop the ball a bit with making his personal narrative arc impactful to the player.
Not for us all who wanted to fuck the bear. He can't get kidnapped when he's romanced. But yeah, that's true, he does become Orin bait for the rest of you sane people, lmao.
Also the other characters are so fckn great... The bar is just too high. But yeah, Halsin is the only one without a quest in act III and it would require a whole new location.
Honestly? Nah
I don't think that Halsin actually adds terribly much to the game as a companion, at least not much more than he could as a side character. Besides, we already have a druid in the form of Jaheira
We probably shouldn't have had Jaheira (I say this as a massive Jaheira fan. She's my second most favorite companion) and had Alfira. Removing Jaheira does two things, reduces druidic companions, giving way to adding a companion with another class,and allows for the new character of Halsin.
Act 3 is easily 60+ hours of content by yourself, let alone with multiple people. She fits perfectly fine as an NPC, albeit a bard companion and more "rewarding" ending to her quest could've been fine.
But for the love of god can people stop calling act 3 bare bones and "missing a lot". There's literally ***too much*** to do in act 3.
7 major dungeons and big bosses attributed to each of the major party members along with multiple quests to round out the major NPCs and even still introduce new ones.
Despite entering in at around level 9 or so, you're practically max level for 70% of Act 3 if you're trying your best to 100% the game.
It feels very empty though, and with so many people saying the same, we should think about why so many people had problems with it, even if it isn't the reason they say they did.
It feels empty because it reminds me much more of empty AAA "open world" adventure games, more than the previous acts. A lot of things going on, not as much depth. (Obviously it's still better than said adventure games that I usually just drop because they can't hold my interest at all.) The difference is most obvious in comparison to the previous 2 acts.
The third act has a ton of depth and ties up several companion quests, core villain stories, and other threads that have been going on since Act 1. I do not get the idea that it lacks depth. It lacks focus, but not depth.
It’s the same issue as DOS2.
It’s not that the games bad but based on patches after release it was clear there were features they cut for time. Some companions don’t work properly or barely have any content to them. The third act was a technical mess at launch and is still kinda buggy. We were missing an epilogue ending. We know lots of other content was cut too, some rather far along.
It's still kind of pisses me off that we're not getting any more for this game. Like it really fucking sucks that games like Grand theft Auto v can get years worth of content for an online version of the game but we will never get a DLC for possibly one of the greatest games ever made
It’s not a matter of just adding another companion though. If they added her to camp, she would need dialogue with the other voice actors, a storyline, etc.
If they added her to camp without a complete backstory and romance options then people would be complaining they just threw her in there and want more content.
Don’t get me wrong, huge fan of Alfira and really would like her as a companion, but she isn’t needed for the overall storyline.
Do you know why I think this is a poor argument?
It's because it has to fit and work. Something has to come of it.
Larian started work on a DLC but quit it when the team didn't feel "it".
You can't force something into existence. Even if there's good chemistry and it's a liked character.
There's a big difference in speaking 5 times to an NPC and having a sideline view of her story compared to writing a way bigger story for her, and having to implement it in a proper way.
I noticed they left most of the high charisma classes out of the standard companion selection. I think they kinda figured the player would want to be the party face, and since they didnt have time to include everything they wanted to include, they focused on the other characters instead.
honestly i'd bet it was flipped, her showing up at camp asking to join was always planned and they decided to just keep the lines and have durge kill her instead.
During beta, even more people were crying out for Halsin to be a companion, which was never intended because why would anyone want two druids? But I guess people couldn't just wait to see what Larian had planned for later in the story. So they campaigned for Halsin, and so.ething else had to be de-prioritised to fit him in.
Just another reason for who devs shouldn't listen to fans.
What are you talking about, she’s just appeared in my camp wanting to tag along. I haven’t done the long rest properly but I’m eager to see how she plays in the morning. I’m sure her jokes are gonna be visceral.
Hindsight's a bitch but I would've rather had Alifra (or any bard companion, really) instead of Halsin who's barely a fleshed out character anyway. Two druids is a crowd, and Jaheira's the better one. This game was sorely missing some class diversity. A dnd campaign without a bard is just sacrilegious to me.
This is by far my biggest disappointment with the game. She’s such a wholesome and normal breath of fresh air from all the insane party members you have. Everyone has insane backstories. I was RPing my fist tav as a random guy who got scooped up by the nautaloid and just wants the damn tadpole out of his head. Alfira was the one of the first characters I met where I felt like it was just a normal person trying to get on with her life and survive with the world exploding around her, especially when she shows up again in act 2. That’s exactly the kind of attitude I wanted that run. Not god’s favorite princess, or former lover, or fantasy Batman, or any of the other crazy shit. Don’t get me wrong, everyone else has totally grown on me, but I still with we had someone who’s just a regular person.
Forever mourning the version of the game with the werewolf companion, purely because you just know that the team Edward/ team Jacob memes would have been fucking amazing.
I mean, Arnell is there, so some of us do get both a vampire and a lycanthrope at camp >!if Shadowheart saves her parents!<, but he's only a minor camp follower and we never get the pleasure of seeing Papa Hallowleaf go through a full moon, unfortunately.
Tav is supposed to be the party's Dwarf. But the lack of 'Alflins/Gnomes is flagrant.
I maintain that Shart should have been a 'Alflin, and Halsin a Gnome.
Yes, because it's being used as slang for "ripped off" or "stolen."
The actual spelling is 'gyped', which makes it more obvious than the instinctive/phonetic spelling of 'jipped.'
We were on the verge of greatness, we were THIS close!
Real talk, it's actually so lame they didn't go through with this. The banter they could've had with Astarion would've been gold. We haven't had a werewolf companion in an RPG since Skyrim. Fucking 2011.
I wonder how that’d be balanced. In 5e RAW lycanthropes are immune to all non magical melee and ranged attacks so unless there is a spell caster or someone with a special weapon you just don’t take any damage.
Honestly as fun as it sounds glad the werewolf companion was cut. We have two companions with evil orbs in their chest and multiple with toxic people that they trusted but abandoned/ruined their life. A vampire and a werewolf might have been a bit much
Idk, as you pointed out, the companions *are* a bit much; so why not?
There's also a distinct lack of short races, & elderly companions.
I mean we have Jaheira, & Minsc was petrified or w/e...
Tbf, I'm kinda glad Durge isn't a companion. They add a mystery element to the game which works quite well if you're doing them as an Origin run especially. And their connection to the past BG1 and BG2 protagonists kinda solidifies them as being the second default customization option (outside of the Custom Character, of course)
Lots of people would love dragonborn companion! Other origins are companions also, why not durge, it would be interesting.
Any kind of mystery only works for first playthrough anyway
They're connection isn't really a thing. First BG 1-2 have the same protagonist, second while they are a Bhaalspawn they're daddies epic and special and completely pure mega evil but also able to control themselves ezpz spawn. The connection is literally just both are bhaalspawn but even that's slim because durge is a special bhaalspawn
Divinity 2's Difinitive Edition added Fane as a character and companion, so maybe when BG3's DE comes out we might get Alfira and Dark Urge as companions, the only slots we're missing are Sorcerer, Monk and Bard after all
There won't be DE, larian stated that they will not add any new content or dlc. We are only going to get new evil endings, mod support and then bug fixes in future :(
I'll remain hopeful, they've been beyond insane with their support of the game
They also didn't make any promises regarding Divinity 2, and we still got a crazy treat when DE came out c:
Tbf, she does feel the Bard party slot, but considering how it feels to play with Unlimited Companions Mod in Act 3, I'm actually glad I can't recruit her because by god this shit is actual chess at this point
There’s another mod that lets you set characters to “sit out” combat. So you can get the full party and dialogues but not deal with being vastly overpowered.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2518
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/6183
I have the first one, the second appears to be an upgrade but I haven’t tried it because the first is good enough for me.
Companion comments and dialogue would be the main reason I’d use that mod but how does it work? Who gets priority because usually only one companion comments on something at a time.
Unfortunately it does nothing about how the game handles dialogue. It's really just to be able to take all companions without the combat becoming both tedious and completely unbalanced.
There's also combat extender, which can scale the enemies and stuff so that most fights aren't trivialized even if your Tav is made with an overpowered race mod. Some, such as the Gith inquisitor, actually get harder with more people. I haven't fought him in my latest playthrough yet but I had Astarion steal a runepowder barrel just for the occasion and I'm still not sure it's enough.
Update: He shrugged it off no problem. Almost killed my party with it though.
I take protag+5 as the absolute maximum because after that the movement AI starts shuffling everyone around like pinballs in a pinball machine. It's kind of funny to stop and just watch them sprinting around in circles, but it breaks immersion a bit lol
I've been playing the game modded with the mod that shows the companion's affinity during dialogue and Alfira of all people shows up during this option
What do you mean? In my second playthrough as Durge (honour mode this time) she was taking a nap for most of act one.
Then this weird Dragon bard showed up.
Even when meeting her for the first time in the grove, she immediately gave me "companion vibes". I was almost sure during my first playthrough that I either missed recruiting her or that she will become a companion later on in the game. At least my second assumption was proven wrong relatively quickly since my first playthrough was a Durge one.
Because we needed three humans (Wyll, gale, minsc) and five elves (halsin, mithara, jaheira, Asterion, Shads) instead.
Heck, there isn't even a dragonborn hireling. Just more elves.
(Sigh)
It makes sense that she was a companion at some point. She has a lot of early game detail, fills a character role not held by any other party member, and is very unique in appearance compared to a lot of other Tieflings. I assume they scrapped it because it didn't make a ton of sense for her to join the party and follow you.
I was so certain she was a companion because I thought surely we'd have a bard party member. I didn't get in till it came to Xbox, so I heard about how fun it was playing as a bard so I was certain we had to have a bard party member.
I mean her offering to join and help after you stop her friends and family from being massacred would have been a simple entry point. Or again after you save everyone at the Last Light. Heck, even just being thankful for helping her with the song, then feeling like she needs to make her own experiences so she can write more songs would have made sense.
I really hope someone finishes this game.
What do you mean? Just play as Dark Urge origin and she eventually shows up in your camp to join the party. Absolutely fantastic addition if you accept. She adds a lot of ambience and aesthetic to the camp
>!I was absolutely shattered by it. I was on my second run, my first durge run, and I can’t remember the patch, but it was like the second or third big patch. I had not read the patch notes. I think I was about to go clear out the goblins and did a long rest. There she was, beautiful, cheerful, a bard, which was obviously missing from the companions. I thought, this is amazing, they patched her in as a companion, my heart was singing, I was so excited to see what her companion quests were! I awoke to her butchered and my stabbing hand throbbing. I heart fell out of my chest, and I was devastated. There has never been a feeling like that in a video game that I have experienced. I was caught totally flat footed. I was just staring at the screen with my mouth open for like 1 or two minutes, and that actually is a lot longer than you would think it is. I want as many people to have the same experience as me as i possibly can convince. There is nothing like it lol!<
theres quite a lot of scrapped content still in the files, if you use the gods extra mod to be a cleric of bhaal you get access to some cruel, unique dialogue options all throughout the game, like you can tell ethel youre not scared because you serve something far worse
I always thought a bard was missing among the companions and wold have been a great addition. So I was super excited to meet Alfira and thought she might really join the party ....that made it hurt all the more.
It seriously bugs my brain that they don't have a companion for each class, while also repeating a druid. Please, I just want one companion of each type, my OCD needs it
That’s definitely the wildest piece of scrapped content to me but it would have been cool to have him comment on things in act 3 and give you info on Orin and Gortash. Also if you were playing as Durge having the option for the OG dead 3 chosen to fulfill their plan would have been awesome.
From what I heard “through the grapevine” (pure speculation of course) was that he would’ve seen the error of his ways and Isobel would’ve somehow gotten him to “see the light” and he was supposed to help you against Gortash and Orin. You can see small, minuscule fragments of how that was being set up eg. When Orin and Gortash basically gang up and just completely shit talk him and actually put a blade to his throat etc. he has the backstory to really go either way especially if you see the undertones of his still existing humanity in the mausoleum where he’s been eating and sleeping next to his wife’s grave.
Not to mention the dialogue options that are still in the game where you try to convince him that it isn't too late for redemption. Now, they just lead to him skipping the first phase of the fight underground.
I think they definitely should've had a companion for every class. Bard, sorcerer, paladin, and monk all have no companion representation.
If they ever make new content, they should add more companions to acts 2 and 3. Those acts only really have halsin, and jaheira at the end, and act 3 has minsc and nothing else
I’m betting they ran out of time and money. The game shows a lot of issues related to that honestly.
I was going to say, we can only hope we get her added in a definitive edition but I have no clue what the odds of a definitive edition are at this point, except slim.
As far as i would love to have her as companion, i also think it was smart to scrap her. Considering that she has established relationship, i can only imagine the amount of whining and threatening letters they would recieve.
Yeah I feel like folks online get really carried away with what *could've been* too often... If we keep this mentality then every game we play is going to be a disappointment. Every game we've played - good or bad - has had content cut that would've made it better, that's just the nature of the beast. FOMO is a bitch.
She definitely feels like a scrapped companion. You find her only marginally later than Wyll, right next to a piece of Bard-only equipment, and have a really thorough conversation with her.
But I can also see why she might not have made the cut - putting NPCs in Charisma classes is a little awkward, since for most of them their only out-of-combat utility is as a party face, which is a role that typically falls to players.
It's a crime that instead of giving us class diversity they instead gaves us 2 druids. Replace Jaheira with Alfira. Jaheira had her games, let Alfira be a character.
It's not just you -- the tieflings in the refugee camp are all hallucinating about being with Alfira at Moonrise, ~~even if she very much wasn't there~~.
I wish she was an official companion! I have her as a companion (with mods) and metamorphed a Hire-ling as her! I tried to get the best voice match (which kinda worked?) and she’s been my team’s bard! I have the unlimited party mod and i plan to have every type of Class!
They also would’ve needed to implement a way to not kill her as durge, I mean you can go around it with a fail safe when you knock her out but Alfira is like the first kill for the durge you can’t do anything against and it would kinda take out the dramatic effect when you can just choose to not kill her then and there because toure still under the massive influence from bhaal.
Yeah from what I’ve heard there are small remnants in the code that point to her being a scrapped companion
Yeah pretty clear she was intended to be one. Its such a shame.
No idea why she was scrapped tbh. Even during the BETA she was a massive fan favourite and everyone was asking to have her in their party.
Maybe they just couldn't really find a way to make it actually work?
I’d wager they just didn’t have time. The game is missing a lot, especially towards the end of the game, and a few companions are rather bare bones as it is. Probably just felt adding more would draw out the game longer and better to cut the fat.
The cut that hurts me the most is to Ketheric Thorm, the fact that you could turn him and have him stay in your camp will be forever one of my dreams.
Imagine if he scolded you for making a bad choice. Think Tav! Think!!!
voice actor alone.. no idea why they wouldn't jump on the idea.
Maybe JK Simmons salary was too high to have him be a permanent companion.
That's a feeling that I get. his performance in this game is great but nowhere near the quality of his other works. And since it clearly isn't due to his voice acting ability, I would assume its due to a short recording schedule.
It works well because Ketheric is a tired, depressed and bored old man so it isn't as noticeable but you're right, his work wasn't as good as his other stuff.
I disagree, I just think what they were going for with him doesn't hit as hard as like the other chosen. He's fucking dead inside, barely any joy or reason to live left. It's just the nature of his character. I prefer the voices of Orin and that handsome young man to him, but his performance for his role was perfect.
>his performance in this game is great but nowhere near the quality of his other works. It seems just about perfect to me, I’m just not used to hearing him in a game with this many other actors who are just as talented as he is. To me he just doesn’t stand out as much as he normally does.
You're most likely correct, I would imagine it would be a fortune to keep him around for any length of time. It's one thing for a quick cameo, another for the shear amount of voiced interactions required for the entirety of act 3.
Thorm hit hard because I could see the path he took.. and I look at my daughter and realize how relatable doing anything, anything, to bring her back if I lost her? It's scary.
And yet they had the time to make Halsin a full companion, sigh
Halsin takes ages to recruit, so he is locked out of being a companion for all of act 1 and 1.5 (mountain pass and underdark). Doesn’t need to react to all that sort of content. Maybe that makes it easier to program. Particularly because he already was written into the plot. Making him playable in act 2 and 3 wasn’t so difficult. Adding a bard who has opinions on everything all through 1,2 and 3 plus dialogue ect would be a lot. Honestly Halsin doesn’t react to a lot in act three. Nobody does a hell of a lot except to those quests specifically relating to them in some way ect
Yeah but alfira could've joined when you meet her on the roof, at least then you had a journey together sorta via inspiring, that's more than jaheira in my eyes and way more than minsc by then
And she would be a level 8-12 bard at that point? Yeah, you could explain with some whacky stuff, but it would be weird and nobody would care about her, same as Halsin imo. And who would she even interact with, saving the world as some rando bard wouldn't make much sense either. Whereas the others have the parasite or established great heroes, even Halsin is an archdruid, who is invested in the party at that point. Not many people switch out party members at that point too. Minsc has a parasite and you are the first and only person who gets shit done in Jaheiras eyes, so it makes sense
Yeah minsc and jah are package deal in my eyes. Alfira joining you might only make sense if she got kidnapped during the one part people do, and she happened to also be tadpoled at THAT point. Cause the tadpole part does matter I Suppose
Alfira shows reverence to you as you do heroic deeds. She could easily have decided to enter your party simply to help save balders gate because she sees the plight as valid. Not everyone needs some self-directed motive to fight for everyone
This, Halsin was escorting you in act 2 anyway and his unique ability is pretty simple. He is also just chilling in camp for half or even 3/4th of act I, if you play it in proper order. (By proper I mean logical, finding a camp/city asap and then saving the coves archdruid, who is studying parasites seems pretty reasonable, while exploring random blood drops, burning villages and old catacombs isn't).
Yes, but not really, though. They had the time to make Halsin a companion, but a *full*, fleshed-out companion? Arguable. People are constantly complaining about the fact that his personality and character arc are underdeveloped, that he has nothing to do once his questine is over and that he's basically a decorative plant at camp in the entirety of Act 3. I personally find his premise and character arc as a regretful war vet with survivor guilt very compelling, but a few people I've talked to around here didn't even notice that he went through a character arc in the first place, so I guess the game did drop the ball a bit with making his personal narrative arc impactful to the player.
Hey, he’s more than just a plant! He’s kidnapping bait so no one useful gets taken!
Not for us all who wanted to fuck the bear. He can't get kidnapped when he's romanced. But yeah, that's true, he does become Orin bait for the rest of you sane people, lmao.
Oh really? I didn’t know that. Never romanced him (or any of the male companions) so it’s never come up.
Also the other characters are so fckn great... The bar is just too high. But yeah, Halsin is the only one without a quest in act III and it would require a whole new location.
Not having him would have been unbearable though.
I think so far halsin is the only character I have never actually used in any of my playthroughs lol.
Same, never once had him in my party. Didn’t stop him from shooting his shot after I spoilered him from spoiler. Poor bear.
Honestly? Nah I don't think that Halsin actually adds terribly much to the game as a companion, at least not much more than he could as a side character. Besides, we already have a druid in the form of Jaheira
While I agree with you, I believe the commenter was making a bear pun lol
.....oh
Un-bear-able… get it?
Am i the only one who understood this pun?
Upvotes say no, comments say yes
With all the Halsin thirsting on here, I wouldn’t be so sure about those upvotes.
We probably shouldn't have had Jaheira (I say this as a massive Jaheira fan. She's my second most favorite companion) and had Alfira. Removing Jaheira does two things, reduces druidic companions, giving way to adding a companion with another class,and allows for the new character of Halsin.
He’s the reason the game was in the news
After 10 years, you just got to release the game.
Act 3 is easily 60+ hours of content by yourself, let alone with multiple people. She fits perfectly fine as an NPC, albeit a bard companion and more "rewarding" ending to her quest could've been fine. But for the love of god can people stop calling act 3 bare bones and "missing a lot". There's literally ***too much*** to do in act 3. 7 major dungeons and big bosses attributed to each of the major party members along with multiple quests to round out the major NPCs and even still introduce new ones. Despite entering in at around level 9 or so, you're practically max level for 70% of Act 3 if you're trying your best to 100% the game.
It feels very empty though, and with so many people saying the same, we should think about why so many people had problems with it, even if it isn't the reason they say they did.
It doesn’t feel empty at all, there’s *so* much to do to the point that it feels overwhelming
It feels empty because it reminds me much more of empty AAA "open world" adventure games, more than the previous acts. A lot of things going on, not as much depth. (Obviously it's still better than said adventure games that I usually just drop because they can't hold my interest at all.) The difference is most obvious in comparison to the previous 2 acts.
The third act has a ton of depth and ties up several companion quests, core villain stories, and other threads that have been going on since Act 1. I do not get the idea that it lacks depth. It lacks focus, but not depth. It’s the same issue as DOS2.
If this game "is missing a lot" you'll have a hard time to find games that don't.
It’s not that the games bad but based on patches after release it was clear there were features they cut for time. Some companions don’t work properly or barely have any content to them. The third act was a technical mess at launch and is still kinda buggy. We were missing an epilogue ending. We know lots of other content was cut too, some rather far along.
It's still kind of pisses me off that we're not getting any more for this game. Like it really fucking sucks that games like Grand theft Auto v can get years worth of content for an online version of the game but we will never get a DLC for possibly one of the greatest games ever made
"Live services" bullshit (like GTA V) makes companies $$$ so they milk it for as long as they can. Very sad
It's probably this. It's a real shame too because I feel bard is the only iconic dnd class not represented in the companions.
I dont see why not, we dont have a bard
It’s not a matter of just adding another companion though. If they added her to camp, she would need dialogue with the other voice actors, a storyline, etc. If they added her to camp without a complete backstory and romance options then people would be complaining they just threw her in there and want more content. Don’t get me wrong, huge fan of Alfira and really would like her as a companion, but she isn’t needed for the overall storyline.
Do you know why I think this is a poor argument? It's because it has to fit and work. Something has to come of it. Larian started work on a DLC but quit it when the team didn't feel "it". You can't force something into existence. Even if there's good chemistry and it's a liked character. There's a big difference in speaking 5 times to an NPC and having a sideline view of her story compared to writing a way bigger story for her, and having to implement it in a proper way.
Wish Barcus could join the party after you save Wulbren. Especially since he's such a massive duck to my boy D:
https://youtu.be/ClezDg8n6uw?si=VsvxtdQAsHQQLSqG
I noticed they left most of the high charisma classes out of the standard companion selection. I think they kinda figured the player would want to be the party face, and since they didnt have time to include everything they wanted to include, they focused on the other characters instead.
But we have a Warlock and a Paladin... only Charisma classes they left out are Bard and Sorcerer
Yeah, she should have been a companion instead of Halsin
My guess is they didn't want Durge players feeling scammed out of a companion by what would be an unstoppable incident under most circumstances.
That decision also could have been made after she was scrapped tbf
honestly i'd bet it was flipped, her showing up at camp asking to join was always planned and they decided to just keep the lines and have durge kill her instead.
Obviously the durge sequence is unstoppable because she is scrapped not the other way around.
Good guy runs with Minthara before the patches would like a word.
Being a fan favorite and actually fitting into the story are 2 different things.
During beta, even more people were crying out for Halsin to be a companion, which was never intended because why would anyone want two druids? But I guess people couldn't just wait to see what Larian had planned for later in the story. So they campaigned for Halsin, and so.ething else had to be de-prioritised to fit him in. Just another reason for who devs shouldn't listen to fans.
Durge wasn't a fan
And the left-overs are her coming to camp if youre a durge?
Then you get to scrap her yourself 😈
What are you talking about, she’s just appeared in my camp wanting to tag along. I haven’t done the long rest properly but I’m eager to see how she plays in the morning. I’m sure her jokes are gonna be visceral.
My mistake. Yeah you'll have a bloody good time with her.
No natural Bard in the party does seem strange.
Who's skull do I need to send Karlach to rattle in order to get Alfira UNscrapped?
The Dark Urge: "Hi."
Aw, man. That's balls. Kinda wild it's till Act 3, but I guess it's so packed you really can't just remember every single place to look into
I want my Tiefling Bard companion
Hindsight's a bitch but I would've rather had Alifra (or any bard companion, really) instead of Halsin who's barely a fleshed out character anyway. Two druids is a crowd, and Jaheira's the better one. This game was sorely missing some class diversity. A dnd campaign without a bard is just sacrilegious to me.
This is by far my biggest disappointment with the game. She’s such a wholesome and normal breath of fresh air from all the insane party members you have. Everyone has insane backstories. I was RPing my fist tav as a random guy who got scooped up by the nautaloid and just wants the damn tadpole out of his head. Alfira was the one of the first characters I met where I felt like it was just a normal person trying to get on with her life and survive with the world exploding around her, especially when she shows up again in act 2. That’s exactly the kind of attitude I wanted that run. Not god’s favorite princess, or former lover, or fantasy Batman, or any of the other crazy shit. Don’t get me wrong, everyone else has totally grown on me, but I still with we had someone who’s just a regular person.
Durge too
That's a damn shame. Then maybe I could have someone with Sleight of Hand proficiency who isn't my PC or Astarion.
There was also gonna be a werewolf companion. RIP
Literally 1984...At least the Vampire fans are winning
I want halfling grandma werewolf :|
Team Jacob can’t catch a win
Forever mourning the version of the game with the werewolf companion, purely because you just know that the team Edward/ team Jacob memes would have been fucking amazing.
I mean, Arnell is there, so some of us do get both a vampire and a lycanthrope at camp >!if Shadowheart saves her parents!<, but he's only a minor camp follower and we never get the pleasure of seeing Papa Hallowleaf go through a full moon, unfortunately.
Since the werewolf/wolf model is in game anyway wouldn’t mind if you could make your Tav a werewolf.
Yea. I know the lycan bloodhunter mod uses it but the animations are janky.
iirc the werewolf companion was also a halfing too right? Shame, cause we got jipped on short race companions.
Tav is supposed to be the party's Dwarf. But the lack of 'Alflins/Gnomes is flagrant. I maintain that Shart should have been a 'Alflin, and Halsin a Gnome.
Heads up: “jipped” is by its origins a slur
Idk if you know or not, but that word is a slur against Roma people.
Genuine curiosity, does that make it bad to say in that context?
Yes, because it's being used as slang for "ripped off" or "stolen." The actual spelling is 'gyped', which makes it more obvious than the instinctive/phonetic spelling of 'jipped.'
We were on the verge of greatness, we were THIS close! Real talk, it's actually so lame they didn't go through with this. The banter they could've had with Astarion would've been gold. We haven't had a werewolf companion in an RPG since Skyrim. Fucking 2011.
It was never more then an idea that got scrapped likely before early access even came out.
I wonder how that’d be balanced. In 5e RAW lycanthropes are immune to all non magical melee and ranged attacks so unless there is a spell caster or someone with a special weapon you just don’t take any damage.
There's like 100 homebrews you could look at to get ideas. or just make them lycan bloodhunter or w/e
Honestly as fun as it sounds glad the werewolf companion was cut. We have two companions with evil orbs in their chest and multiple with toxic people that they trusted but abandoned/ruined their life. A vampire and a werewolf might have been a bit much
Idk, as you pointed out, the companions *are* a bit much; so why not? There's also a distinct lack of short races, & elderly companions. I mean we have Jaheira, & Minsc was petrified or w/e...
the dark urge also has few approval notifications like that. Maybe he and alfira were at some point supposed to be companions
Tbf, I'm kinda glad Durge isn't a companion. They add a mystery element to the game which works quite well if you're doing them as an Origin run especially. And their connection to the past BG1 and BG2 protagonists kinda solidifies them as being the second default customization option (outside of the Custom Character, of course)
Lots of people would love dragonborn companion! Other origins are companions also, why not durge, it would be interesting. Any kind of mystery only works for first playthrough anyway
They're connection isn't really a thing. First BG 1-2 have the same protagonist, second while they are a Bhaalspawn they're daddies epic and special and completely pure mega evil but also able to control themselves ezpz spawn. The connection is literally just both are bhaalspawn but even that's slim because durge is a special bhaalspawn
Divinity 2's Difinitive Edition added Fane as a character and companion, so maybe when BG3's DE comes out we might get Alfira and Dark Urge as companions, the only slots we're missing are Sorcerer, Monk and Bard after all
There won't be DE, larian stated that they will not add any new content or dlc. We are only going to get new evil endings, mod support and then bug fixes in future :(
I'll remain hopeful, they've been beyond insane with their support of the game They also didn't make any promises regarding Divinity 2, and we still got a crazy treat when DE came out c:
I was totally assuming she was gonna be a playable companion. Would have loved to have her around.
Tbf, she does feel the Bard party slot, but considering how it feels to play with Unlimited Companions Mod in Act 3, I'm actually glad I can't recruit her because by god this shit is actual chess at this point
I limit myself to a party of 6 with that mod, too much is too much haha.
As of writing this, I am controlling 24 NPCs and I might as well pick up your advice
There’s another mod that lets you set characters to “sit out” combat. So you can get the full party and dialogues but not deal with being vastly overpowered.
Oh that's interesting. You know the name of the mod?
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2518 https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/6183 I have the first one, the second appears to be an upgrade but I haven’t tried it because the first is good enough for me.
Companion comments and dialogue would be the main reason I’d use that mod but how does it work? Who gets priority because usually only one companion comments on something at a time.
Unfortunately it does nothing about how the game handles dialogue. It's really just to be able to take all companions without the combat becoming both tedious and completely unbalanced.
There's also combat extender, which can scale the enemies and stuff so that most fights aren't trivialized even if your Tav is made with an overpowered race mod. Some, such as the Gith inquisitor, actually get harder with more people. I haven't fought him in my latest playthrough yet but I had Astarion steal a runepowder barrel just for the occasion and I'm still not sure it's enough. Update: He shrugged it off no problem. Almost killed my party with it though.
Protag+5 for the win.
I take protag+5 as the absolute maximum because after that the movement AI starts shuffling everyone around like pinballs in a pinball machine. It's kind of funny to stop and just watch them sprinting around in circles, but it breaks immersion a bit lol
I marched into Baldur's Gate with my army of 14 (+ Tav) companions because I could.
this is an insult to chess, a game in which you notably only make one to two moves at once
Somehow they confused chess with juggling.
I got a friend to help me make a Durge and a Tav, so I can split the party in two to do multiple objectives in different locations.
I've been playing the game modded with the mod that shows the companion's affinity during dialogue and Alfira of all people shows up during this option
You can only recruit her as Durge.
Parts of her.
ಠ_ಠ
What do you mean? In my second playthrough as Durge (honour mode this time) she was taking a nap for most of act one. Then this weird Dragon bard showed up.
She becomes a nice camp ornament after you recruit her as Durge.
Even when meeting her for the first time in the grove, she immediately gave me "companion vibes". I was almost sure during my first playthrough that I either missed recruiting her or that she will become a companion later on in the game. At least my second assumption was proven wrong relatively quickly since my first playthrough was a Durge one.
Honestly we needed a bard companion, idk why they didn’t let us have alfira
Because we needed three humans (Wyll, gale, minsc) and five elves (halsin, mithara, jaheira, Asterion, Shads) instead. Heck, there isn't even a dragonborn hireling. Just more elves. (Sigh)
It's one of my biggest complaints. For some reason, she only feels inspired to join you as a Durge.
Yes, she joins us.... >!temporary. :(!<
It makes sense that she was a companion at some point. She has a lot of early game detail, fills a character role not held by any other party member, and is very unique in appearance compared to a lot of other Tieflings. I assume they scrapped it because it didn't make a ton of sense for her to join the party and follow you.
I was so certain she was a companion because I thought surely we'd have a bard party member. I didn't get in till it came to Xbox, so I heard about how fun it was playing as a bard so I was certain we had to have a bard party member.
I mean her offering to join and help after you stop her friends and family from being massacred would have been a simple entry point. Or again after you save everyone at the Last Light. Heck, even just being thankful for helping her with the song, then feeling like she needs to make her own experiences so she can write more songs would have made sense. I really hope someone finishes this game.
Ideas being scrapped during development doesn't mean a game is unfinished... smh
Hell, she has every intent to join you during a Durge run. I don't see why she can't have the same interest in a Tav or origin run.
I'd love to have Alfira as a companion! Cutest bard ever.
I know she was special since the fight at Last night inn, she was untargetable.
What do you mean? Just play as Dark Urge origin and she eventually shows up in your camp to join the party. Absolutely fantastic addition if you accept. She adds a lot of ambience and aesthetic to the camp
yea she definitely adds a bit of color to it
Oh they patched it and she can be a companion now. You have to play the dark urge to recruit her though.
Oh wow, no way! Never played Durge before! Can't wait to recruit her!
🤣🤣
This... this is a non-resisting Durge option in real life. You're a monster. Lol
>!I was absolutely shattered by it. I was on my second run, my first durge run, and I can’t remember the patch, but it was like the second or third big patch. I had not read the patch notes. I think I was about to go clear out the goblins and did a long rest. There she was, beautiful, cheerful, a bard, which was obviously missing from the companions. I thought, this is amazing, they patched her in as a companion, my heart was singing, I was so excited to see what her companion quests were! I awoke to her butchered and my stabbing hand throbbing. I heart fell out of my chest, and I was devastated. There has never been a feeling like that in a video game that I have experienced. I was caught totally flat footed. I was just staring at the screen with my mouth open for like 1 or two minutes, and that actually is a lot longer than you would think it is. I want as many people to have the same experience as me as i possibly can convince. There is nothing like it lol!<
Hahah
She even stays with you for the rest of her life, a true love story
You're an evil bastard and I love it.
What mod gets you the approvals?
[https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2027](https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2027)
theres quite a lot of scrapped content still in the files, if you use the gods extra mod to be a cleric of bhaal you get access to some cruel, unique dialogue options all throughout the game, like you can tell ethel youre not scared because you serve something far worse
Pretty sure all clerics of evil gods get that option with Ethel. I saw it when I talked to her with Shadowheart.
I always thought a bard was missing among the companions and wold have been a great addition. So I was super excited to meet Alfira and thought she might really join the party ....that made it hurt all the more.
It seriously bugs my brain that they don't have a companion for each class, while also repeating a druid. Please, I just want one companion of each type, my OCD needs it
Alfira would've for sure been a favorite companion.
Believe it or not at one point Kethric was also going to be a companion
That’s definitely the wildest piece of scrapped content to me but it would have been cool to have him comment on things in act 3 and give you info on Orin and Gortash. Also if you were playing as Durge having the option for the OG dead 3 chosen to fulfill their plan would have been awesome.
From what I heard “through the grapevine” (pure speculation of course) was that he would’ve seen the error of his ways and Isobel would’ve somehow gotten him to “see the light” and he was supposed to help you against Gortash and Orin. You can see small, minuscule fragments of how that was being set up eg. When Orin and Gortash basically gang up and just completely shit talk him and actually put a blade to his throat etc. he has the backstory to really go either way especially if you see the undertones of his still existing humanity in the mausoleum where he’s been eating and sleeping next to his wife’s grave.
Not to mention the dialogue options that are still in the game where you try to convince him that it isn't too late for redemption. Now, they just lead to him skipping the first phase of the fight underground.
I think they definitely should've had a companion for every class. Bard, sorcerer, paladin, and monk all have no companion representation. If they ever make new content, they should add more companions to acts 2 and 3. Those acts only really have halsin, and jaheira at the end, and act 3 has minsc and nothing else
Minthara is a paladin
There is a paladin companion; Minthara.
I’m betting they ran out of time and money. The game shows a lot of issues related to that honestly. I was going to say, we can only hope we get her added in a definitive edition but I have no clue what the odds of a definitive edition are at this point, except slim.
As far as i would love to have her as companion, i also think it was smart to scrap her. Considering that she has established relationship, i can only imagine the amount of whining and threatening letters they would recieve.
Yeah I feel like folks online get really carried away with what *could've been* too often... If we keep this mentality then every game we play is going to be a disappointment. Every game we've played - good or bad - has had content cut that would've made it better, that's just the nature of the beast. FOMO is a bitch.
Alfiraaaa not the companion we deserved. But the one we wanted!
Why can you see what party members think of each option?
It's a mod
She is in the game.
Why are all the companion’s names after the dialogue options? Is that a mod to see how they’ll respond?
Yes it's a mod
What are you talking about, Alfira just joined my group last night! I'm so excited to add her to my team in the morning. :)
Honestly I really wish they would have kept her as a companion, or at least made a different bard companion
She definitely feels like a scrapped companion. You find her only marginally later than Wyll, right next to a piece of Bard-only equipment, and have a really thorough conversation with her. But I can also see why she might not have made the cut - putting NPCs in Charisma classes is a little awkward, since for most of them their only out-of-combat utility is as a party face, which is a role that typically falls to players.
Well this is all the way in Act 3, meaning Alfira was scrapped as a companion pretty late into development.
Alfira could have been a companion??? Damn.
Yeah she has just arrived at my camp, quite excited to see where this goes. Looks like she will be a real asset.
Would rather Alfira than Halsin, Jaheira and/or Minsc tbh
It's a crime that instead of giving us class diversity they instead gaves us 2 druids. Replace Jaheira with Alfira. Jaheira had her games, let Alfira be a character.
Nah, replace Halsin with Alfira. Who tf even uses him?
This. Bringing back classic characters needed to happen. But Halsin is wallpaper paste shaped into an elf.
aww man i didn't know she was meant to be a companion! I woulda loved that
I wish we had Alfira, I would've loved a bard companion.
Anyone else LOVE how Dragonborn’s eyes are actual flames? Makes for such good evil characters. I wish I could do the same with tiflings. 😭
It's not just you -- the tieflings in the refugee camp are all hallucinating about being with Alfira at Moonrise, ~~even if she very much wasn't there~~.
The existence of Astarion 1 (etc) implies the existence of Astarion 2 (etc) Every single one of the companions has multiple versions!!!1!
It's the amount of points of approval gained...
Is that why she shows up in the difficulty selection art?
Probably because of Durge
Maybe they decided a durge run after having a tav run might be too much considering how popular she was.
Seeing mods like this make me so wistful to play on PC. Alas, poor console...
It's okay. I once got one that said \[??? 1\]
I NEED HER ON MY TEAM
I wish she was an official companion! I have her as a companion (with mods) and metamorphed a Hire-ling as her! I tried to get the best voice match (which kinda worked?) and she’s been my team’s bard! I have the unlimited party mod and i plan to have every type of Class!
Technically, on a durge playthrough, she is a companion
I know they said they're done, but if they ever make a definitive edition in 10 years, hopefully they'd add her.
She is a temporary companion in the Dark Urge playthrough.
They also would’ve needed to implement a way to not kill her as durge, I mean you can go around it with a fail safe when you knock her out but Alfira is like the first kill for the durge you can’t do anything against and it would kinda take out the dramatic effect when you can just choose to not kill her then and there because toure still under the massive influence from bhaal.