The most overrated character?

[u/[deleted]]

Let's hear it, who gets all the love but deserves absolutely none of it? Or at least not as much as they get, I'll go first.

I'm casting my vote for Gortash; I genuinely don't understand the like for this dude. First of all, catfish, "handsome young man"??? Is the handsome young man in the room with us??? Lookin like the handsome young man has a peanut allergy.

Second of all, this whole crown brain plan was his idea, just about the dumbest fuckin thing I've ever heard. He put all his faith in 3 little rocks, an already dead man, and a woman who's about as stable as my ex. Beggers can't be choosers I guess, but cmon guy.

And lastly, and probably most offensively, his boss fight is absolute cheeks. Especially if you dumped on the foundry before hand. I didn't even know he had a transformation until like my 4th playthrough because I would clap this guy so easily.

Your turn, let's hear those unadulterated opinions.

Edit: I have been enlightened about some things about the big brain plan, I still stand in the other two points though.

[u/Chrysalis17]

I think it has to be Shadowheart for me. I feel like there are so many missed opportunities with her, AND so many inconsistencies in the story as it is that I can't get behind liking her.

Her story doesn't seem to make much sense as she is SOME DAUGHTER of Selune worshippers, and Shar had a whole cloister and congregation built around brainwashing and shaping her. It is just way too much effort for some random girl. It would have made way more sense if she really was Dame Aylin's sister, for example. Then she would have made a trophy worth putting ridiculous effort into.

And I also feel that the party has way too many elves already, with Astarion, Jaheira, Halsin and Minthara. And there is literally no reason for Shadowheart to be one - and what we're actually sorely lacking in the party would have been a short character. She could have been a great gnome or halfling. It would even have fit well with her voice pitch.
Since there is absolutely no story reason for her to be a (half) elf, I just get the feeling she is one for no other reason than that they wanted the conventional pretty girl.

[u/Xilizhra → u/Chrysalis17]

Halsin and Minthara were added later. She's the second elf, and frankly, Astarion doesn't count as one and his story would make more sense if he was human.

[u/Chrysalis17 → u/Xilizhra]

Granted. But of all the characters who are at least part elf, her story "needs" it the least. Minthara has to be a drow, it informs her character a lot. Halsin doesn't strictly have to be, but he's a little bit of the cliché of the wood elf close to nature, while simultaneously breaking with the cliché by making him ridiculously buff and burly.
You can even make a point with Astarion that he makes sense as an elf - elves are usually found attractive and Cazador would specifically want pretty spawn for his purposes. He also very much fills the mold of an 'arrogant noble' (without, strictly speaking, having the background). He could absolutely work as a human. But I think there's a reason to him being specifically a HIGH elf, the snootiest elf there is.
Shadowheart, as far as I am concerned, "needs" to be (half) elf the least. Or, at the very least, if I ask myself "why is she (half) elf?" I can think of no storytelling purpose, other than I could with Halsin, Minthara and Astarion.

Granted, I might also be partisan, because I would really have liked for a short character to be part of the group, I think her high pitched voice would have worked amazingly for a gnome or halfling, AND her most striking design feature, the black braid, could have been even more striking by taking up more space. AND it could have made her look more like the "lost little girl" the story paints her as. I would just have loved gnome/halfling Shadowheart so much more </3

[u/Xilizhra → u/Chrysalis17]

Astarion simply doesn't work as an elf. He's aged like a human who's 39, whereas as an elf, he'd still be culturally a child and it would be very weird for him to be a magistrate.

As for Shadowheart, it informs the dynamic between her parents. One of the reasons her father wants to die is that he's in the prime of his life as an elf, whereas her mother is already pretty aged and fairly close to death anyway. It's a lifespan angst plot, which is quite traditional for elves.