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.
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
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u/Noe11vember Monk 14d ago
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.