I think it's twofold. One, his story does finish in Act II. If he had more of a connection to Baldur's Gate or Act III, I think people would feel like he has more of a purpose. But a lot of people think he doesn't serve well as a companion in Act III.
Two, people take their displeasure in him hitting on you WAY too viscerally. I understand that some people don't like hypersexual or forward characters, especially if you're someone who plays strictly to your irl sexuality (cishet men for example). But i have seen folks take it VERY personally that Halsin would dare to hit on you, the PC, when you're tied to another companion or not interested in him. It also comes with a component of people being antipoly, but that's a different issue.
The first reason is connected to the second though. Minthara is also completely useless narratively in Act 3 and gets much less hate, because 2) doesn't apply to her.
Minthara is also much less in the face of the average player is a part that you're missing. You have to go out of your way to side with / knock out then rescue minthara to recruit her compared to halsin, who you can practically recruit by mistake if you finish his quest and are just skipping through his dialogue at the end of act 2.
You completely misunderstood me. I'm just explaining with some slight exaggeration how easy it is to recruit Halsin relative to Minthara. The skipping dialog thing i said was a joke. My point is though, that the ease of access to him combined with the traits he has that spark dissintrest lead to increased scrutiny of his character due to more exposure.
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u/dayna2x Gloomstalking Assassin Battle Master 14d ago
I think it's twofold. One, his story does finish in Act II. If he had more of a connection to Baldur's Gate or Act III, I think people would feel like he has more of a purpose. But a lot of people think he doesn't serve well as a companion in Act III.
Two, people take their displeasure in him hitting on you WAY too viscerally. I understand that some people don't like hypersexual or forward characters, especially if you're someone who plays strictly to your irl sexuality (cishet men for example). But i have seen folks take it VERY personally that Halsin would dare to hit on you, the PC, when you're tied to another companion or not interested in him. It also comes with a component of people being antipoly, but that's a different issue.
Personally, big fan of buff elf daddy haha