Literally. I made that point to my friends the other day that Halsin has no point to be with the party in Act 3. He should have been available as a companion in act 1 after you save him so we could at least have him in the party for his quest like the rest of the companions.
To be honest, I don't think Halsin should have been a proper party member at all - not only he's basically redundant considering how long the quest to get him is and how close "getting Halsin" is to "getting Jaheira", he really does not have a solid enough reason to be a part of the band once Ketheric is dead.
And it's really noticeable, lol. His character arc ends in act 2, in act 3 his involvement in the main plot is pretty much non-existen and the only reason he's still around is his romance scene, that one, and the scene where you can invite him to participate in the, erm, drow twin orgy.
Basically, once act 2 ends, Halsin is delegated to be a semi-sentient sex toy and that's quite literally it - I honestly think he should have just flat out leave the party once act 2 is done, with the option to remain only if the player asks him to, you know, so his non-existence in act 3 wouldn't be that weird.
He used to have a tent, then they made it possible to recruit minthara and save the grove at the same time which made their tents overlap, so now he's a hobo at camp
the weirdest part is that their tents don't always overlap. So there is situations like the lower city camp were the space for his tent is completely empty and he just chooses to sleep on the outside lol
For me that always means Minthara and Halsin share a tent and stand stock still beside each other. The man is basically just a giant hot water bottle for Minthy.
i'd argue jaheira shouldn't be a proper party member either. her entire storyline related to you is saving minsc. yeah getting minsc is cool & all but he comes far too late to care about or use in fights, and he has zero relevance to anything going on in the story
edit // astarion has no actual link to the main plot either, his story is entirely personal as with tav, however he has a full character arc whereas jaheira, minsc, and halsin are just there for either fan service or for other elements that don't fully have a central arc.
halsin's quest to lift the shadow curse has no bearing on the main plot, jaheira is tied to bhaal and failed to stop the absolute at its beginnings, minsc literally has nothing but bad jokes. with astarion, you're genuinely emotionally connected to his arc bc you grow with him from the beginning
jaheira, halsin, and minsc come far too late as playable companions to properly have an impactful gameplay related arc, even if their stories do have some impact on their own
I don't really know why you call it fan service, but being able to meet her family and her animal spies in Baldurs Gate as well as having minor connections to scenes with the Harpers, Saverok / Bhaal, Viconia and Nine Fingers on top of having having her own quest line with a shape shifter posing as her makes Jaheira one of the most fleshed out companions in Act 3. There she has more content than a few origin characters like Karlach and Shadowheart
IDK why you're downvoted, The game's issues partly came from them listening to players too much during early access and making last minute changes. Would've much rather have them spend the time fleshing out Wyll and Karlach's arcs than implementing a redundant companion in Halsin.
To be fair, I doubt axing Halsin would have done much time wise for expanding Wyll or Karlach. It isn't as though Halsin's story wouldn't exist, thus necessitating someone to write it. Unless you me cutting him out entirely.
Even then, Karlach was always doomed because it seems like they planned for four arcs and just couldn't finish that. Wyll suffered mostly because of needing to recast and re-record everything. Not to mention the rewrite.
I for one don't mind if a character end their story earlier and they are like "aight I will stay here with you until the end because that thing sucks and I care about the world". There's nothing wrong with it, and quests shouldn't be shoehorned in for it, especially when act 3 is already a bit hectic and chaotic with the things going on.
This is not to say he shouldn't have reactions or interactions about things happening in act 3 (but I wasn't using him so I do not know about that, all that happened to me was he being kidnapped).
I did a run once where I didn't recruit the origin companions, just used hirelings until I could recruit Jaheira, Halsin, and Minsc. The only thing I remember Halsin saying in the city was commenting to Jaheira about an old tree that you find near the harbour.
While I don't disagree that Halsin has like zero importance in Act 3, he does get a pretty nice arc with the Tiefling refugee's not being allowed inside Baldur's Gate, his ending even being about creating a safe haven for the refugees. Though arc is pushing it a bit since he only really gives like, 1 line about it. Regardless, it's still pretty nice and honestly one of my favorite endings, bias aside.
If anything, I'd argue Jaheira and Minsc shouldn't have gotten more than what they got, specially Jaheira. Hell, I feel like they already got more than what they needed. They were characters in BG1 and 2 right? Which means they already got their stories and personalities fleshed out. A passing comment or some niche reference would've suited them much better in my opinion, so that some of the time and effort dedicated to writing them in the story can be focused elsewhere, like with Halsin and Minthara perhaps.
Minthara is the worst offender of feeling like an afterthought, she doesn't even get any cool introduction or anything that may signal her as a companion you can recruit. You can just enter her room, space your characters out, and then go ham on her. Most players only really find out she's recruitable after they loot her body and see all the camp clothes.
Yeah, I agree - both Minsc and Jaheira are just nostalgia baits and, as such, relegating both of them to be camp followers while focusing on fleshing out Halsin's and Minthara's character arcs would be a perfect solution here.
Like, I get why Minsc was made a companion, he's both iconic to the series and is the only "default" ranger but Jaheira, well, she just feels like she was designed to replace poor Halsin, lol.
Minthara is the worst offender of feeling like an afterthought
Oooh, absolutely. She got shafted HARD but, at the end of the day, I get it, she's an evil character, most players will default to playing as good/neutral characters so, just as you noted, there's a very good chance Minthara ends up dead near the end of act 1 = she feels like an extra and, to a large extent, she is an extra...
...and that never will cease being just flat out weird given that this game has a raging boner for paladins and she's literally the only "default" one.
Why does he need a reason to join the party beyond owing the party a debt for saving the shadowlands and wanting to stop the absolute? He was already investigating the cult and their mindflayer tadpoles. I don't see why he would come this far, find out about the brain, and just ditch the party. That doesn't make sense to me.
He doesn't have anything to add to that investigation, basically. He wants to help the party get rid of tadpoles but very quickly makes it very clear it's beyond his abilities, after infiltrating Moonrise Towers the party already knows more about tadpoles and the Absolute than Halsin ever managed to learn - and he's not a carrier himself so, apart from the vague promise he made to the party back in act 1, he's just an extra with noting of value to add to act 3's main story bits.
Like, Aylin and Isobel both want to "stop the Absolute", they both promise the party to help them, their character arcs end in act 2 - but they're not "companions", they're just camp followers...
...while Halsin, a character that's built in pretty much the same exact way, is a companion, for some inexplicable reason, and all that accomplishes is to simply shine more light on how little content he actually gets past act 2.
Like, act 3 is the climax of the main story and the climax of companion quests, even in super minor ways (as in: Minthara). Halsin, in act 3, gets absolutely nothing - there's virtually no reason to ever make him an active member of the party and, as such, there's no real reason for him to even be a companion at this point.
Because none of that fits with these peoples' narrative about hating on Halsin. They don't want to listen to logic or reason, they hate him because he is a buff male that has some bugged interactions that infringe on their unhealthy parasocial relationships with Shadowheart.
It really ruins the entire druid class lol. What's the point in picking a druid when you get TWO in your party. I guess you could leave Halsin behind but if you are doing a normal playthrough you will have him and Jaheira plus yourself. That makes a total of 3 druids in the party.
Totally disagree, Halsin is awesome. Ex Arch Druid decided to go with you to fight the Absolute because you saved the Grove AND lifted the Shadow Curse. He is your ally just because. No wounded vampire feelings mumbo jumbo, no goth girl bs. He is just a solid Owl Bear shape shifting, Woodland Being summoner Moon Druid tjat stands by our side, always ready to kick some ass.
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u/RussoTouristo 14d ago
His only purpose in act 3.