Too many characters?

[4lesDvran]

About to finish the game, and I feel like there is too many companions, thought that it was that way so players would get enough companions with different personalities and skills no matter where they went, how they behaved or if they are in a new run, but the result feels awkward for a 4 member team, like they are not treated equal.

Shadowheart has enough content to be a co-protagonist, every act involves heavily her personal quest or interacts with her religious background, since deities and cults are a constant theme in the game, the dreamer has a similar standing. Astarion, Gale and Karlach stick around thanks to their sheer charismatic personalities, hard not to like them or be entertained by them, but in the grand scheme of things they get snippets of content or no big quest at all. Lae’Zel grew on me but the game ditches her after that act one detour and camp rests, while Wyl lack of initiative for many decisions weighing heavily on him (and poor combat performance, but that’s on me) felt lackluster.
Now that’s the big six (I can’t speak about Minthara) but the game also throws at you two druids, which makes their combat variety irrelevant on top of having even less content, now Jaheira (and Minsc) might carry over for someone who played the other games, but for me Minsc was a random guy who got a critical failure in a sewer.

Again, maybe that’s the intention, each player a different experience, or it’s okay for some members not to be that involved, but for me “less is more” works so well on videogames and I wonder what if we got less companions with more fleshed out interactions.

[Metallicus]

Dragon Age games always used 9 companions. I believe the 9 (or 10 with Minthara) are just the right number. If I were going to argue it would be the class distribution, however, since we can respec anyone in the game it would be a minor argument if any.

[dskpnk]

Complaining for having too much content...
And play honor mod, without reloading every dice rool you might end with way less companions...

[IRMcG]

Thing is you can miss or lose almost all the companions at some point. It's nice to have spares :)

[brendan_in_china]

Totally agree. I don't recruit all in play throughs anymore. It got ridiculous in original play through where I optimized the whole party; camp management became a time sink.

Game plays much faster 3-4 companions.

[FightingFirst]

Agreed. It becomes like a zoo in camp if you recruit them all. It feels like they started development with a larger party size in mind, then trimmed it down to what we have now as the balanced the game etc. Kind of wish for more challenging encounters but a larger party as it feels too small currently.

[alanc9]

Meh. Unless you recruit Minthara on a good playthrough, BG3 has the same number of companions as Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[alanc9]

Originally posted by Metallicus:

Dragon Age games always used 9 companions. I believe the 9 (or 10 with Minthara) are just the right number. If I were going to argue it would be the class distribution, however, since we can respec anyone in the game it would be a minor argument if any.

Probably should have been some short characters too.

[rubberducky102760]

As much as I like Halsin, I don't really think he has much to contribute to Act 3. He mostly sits and whittles, while Minsc, who I don't use much either, plays his drum. I think they included him past 2 to make him romanceable. Jaheira has some decent content, meeting her family is a cute aside, and I love taking her to the Murder Tribunal & the interaction between her and Sarevok. I can't say that Wyll sees much action either, as much as I like having a warlock in the party. I take him to the coronation and the Iron Throne prison, and he proves himself useful enough if I pair him up with Gale to nab Ravengard, while Karlach goes after the Gondians and my Tav gets Omeluum. My biggest thing is that between the Owlbear, Scratch, Yenna and her cat, Volo, Mizora, Ravengard, Shadowheart's parents (if you go that way). and Isobel and Aylin, camp gets rather crowded with characters you can't actually play.
Isobel and Aylin make sense for the fight with Lorroakan, and to solidify them as allies for the fight with the Netherbrain, but it looks like everyone else (aside from the pets and Withers) should just get a room. 9 companions almost feels like a nod to LotR to me. Having 6 companions with different abilities hanging around camp to swap on and off is handy, but not entirely necessary. You don't always need a thief and a cleric, and can swap them out depending on the encounter, but my ideal party is 5 companions; cleric, mage, fighter, and thief + your Tav playing everything you have a hankering to try, from bard or paladin to warlock. Unfortunately, we're limited to 4. Druids and rangers have limited utility, and you really only need them when the encounter relates to them directly.

[4lesDvran]

I might see in honor campaigns the necessity of having a tool for every job and substitutes in case things get sour, but it also feels daunting to optimize and gear up everyone, unless you only want the gold dice and speedrun/cheese the entire thing.
Like others said it feels like a zoo in act 3 and some companions don't have that much to talk about outside banter in specific missions or parts of the city.

It also feels contradictory by having only 3 slots in your party (even less in coop, but that's fine if you know what you are getting into) and missing content and characterization ANYTIME of half of your companions, for example I missed all of Wyl story bits and my friend didn't knew he was a possible companion, Wyl!!! who is second to Shadowheart on how much the story involves him (again that's maybe on me since I found the warlock useless in combat)
Companions also ignore each other a lot, they are usually sympathetic when something important happens to one of them but beyond act 1 all their relationships are settled, kinda wished to see Shadowheart and Lae'Zel or to a lesser degree, Wyl and Karlach relationship evolved more outside an origin run, the game puts this people at odds and either they get along well or one of them dies , what if that hate boiled in act 2-3 as way to cope and blame someone for their issues and frustrations, or instead helped each other and formed a bond stronger than adamant.
Same for Astarion and Gale, I barely brought them because I saw no combat reasoning, which is ironic with them dealing with isolation and selfishness due to their conditions but in act three I had to buy a "problem solved"
I really really liked this characters, but with the game in a finished state I would have preferred a more developed story for them outside origin runs.

[DontMisunderstand]

I came away with the exact opposite perspective... there aren't too many, there are too few. And even Minthara felt like there was enough to justify having her around for my party instead of Gale, who'd been there from the start. Reasonably speaking... there are 12 classes. There should have been 12 companions minimum. And even if you don't buy into that because of respecs, then racial options become the replacement, since it's the same argument. Personality wise, the only companion I encountered that felt hollow and empty was Karlach, so I can't really complain there.

[dskpnk]

With the 3 hireling you have 13 companions

[Strider]

Interesting. I didn't think there was enough. Could have easily done something with kagha (in place of Helsin), the bard tiefling, gnome, and maybe even the goblin you find locked up in the keep. Kagha in particular had every reason to journey with us for a redemption quest and could have had Helsin's act 2 hits put on her.

[rubberducky102760]

Originally posted by DontMisunderstand:

I came away with the exact opposite perspective... there aren't too many, there are too few. And even Minthara felt like there was enough to justify having her around for my party instead of Gale, who'd been there from the start. Reasonably speaking... there are 12 classes. There should have been 12 companions minimum. And even if you don't buy into that because of respecs, then racial options become the replacement, since it's the same argument. Personality wise, the only companion I encountered that felt hollow and empty was Karlach, so I can't really complain there.

Karlach is my favorite bestie. I never make a run without her. I like her backstory, her positive attitude, even though she has every right to be more bitter and angry than Astarion. And she kicks butt. But I guess different strokes. I don't get why people leave Gale in the hole or lop off his hand. But I never played any BG version without a wizard and the most kickass fighter available in my party. I guess some people think that's Lae'zel, but I just don't find her that interesting. I actually did a recent playthrough where I didn't go to the creche or find Voss, and the dum-dum ends the game going home to be devoured by Vlaakith, of all the stupid things.

[PyroMonk]

focus on the main 3 and move onto others in another play-through. Based.

[PyroMonk]

personally, I'm not expecting a lot out of act 3 in my 2 play-throughs. But my good playthrouhg... Wyll and Karlach. Of course. And Halsin. Halsin and Minthara, next time.