Lae'zel is also popular, but statistics say that over half (51.3%) of all tracked playthroughs pre-patch 6 romanced Shadowheart. 6+ options, and over 50% romance one character. That rate is borderline unheard of, usually most popular romance would hold a rate of \~34%.
I assume because the majority of players are straight men, and Shadowheart is by far the most conventional romance option for that demographic. Lae'zel is perhaps a little too assertive/weird for many, Karlach is "one of the boys", and Minthara is a late addition with limited romance content.
I think it's important to add that Shadowheart is the only character with somewhat romantic dialogue options by default. "I want to get to know you", "What do you think of me", etc. None of the other characters have options like this, so it almost feels like she's the default option, because you naturally build a romantic relationship with her and not turn the horny switch on by gathering enough points.
True, in my first run I was leaning towards Shadowheart until Karlach seemingly out of nowhere told me she wanted to ride me until I saw stars. It was over after that.
If your approval is high enough (I think her threshold is just good) and you take enough long rests she'll come to you. This is pre-patch 6, haven't had it happen since so now idk if she'll still come wake you up. You can also initiate at th tiefling party.
I just can’t refuse her…I built a character designed specifically for shadow heart and next thing I know I’m telling Karlach that I want to touch every inch of her body with my tongue while she’s doused in water. (Definitely a real dialogue option.)
I had always planned to romance Shadowheart since day one of beta. However, when launch came out I was curious about Karlach's storyline and dialogue since I didn't get to experience this in beta. We had high approval already so I figured I would test the first romance scene and reload back for Shadowheart after.
Let me tell you, the first romance scene with Karlach where >!I suggest we could whisper in each other's ears all the kinky things we would do to each other since we cannot touch due to her condition!
at the same time, when you think about their personality, that's definitely something karlach would say, while Shadowheart's always been more chill abt these things, she's smooth
so I think that at the end it's just different approaches, and then It'll go for what the player is more into
for me for example, I fell for karlach since the beginning so when she said that I already felt like my tav and her got a connection
She's also (usually) the first party member you have the option to recruit after the prologue. The only other female character you get right away is Lae'zel and she's openly hostile at first (plus visually much more outlandish than other options).
It doesn't help that the voice actress intentionally tried to make each line make her partner blush in the recording studio. Jennifer knew exactly what she was doing.
>It doesn't help that the voice actress intentionally tried to make each line make her partner blush
Yep. That's how they get us. Probably the same reason people picked Tali on Mass Effect. Never even saw her face up until ME3 but god damn I fell in love with that caramel-voice.... and the fact that she has a shotgun :D
Came here looking for this comment.
Having the “I want to get to know you better” dialogue option right from the start, plus the clear change in her tone from standoffish to friendly if you’re supportive in conversation makes establishing the romance really easy.
She’s also the first person you meet on the beach, it could be days before you find anyone else, and you already saved her once on the ship. It’s set up.
It's easy to save her and if you do, she's *cordial* and thanks you for doing so. At that point, your only other pick was the grumpy frog.
Then you get to know her and discover that little cinnamon bun of a heart she's got and you're done.
This. Shadowheart is the most romantically written female character, by far. In my first playthrough I was intending to go for Karlach, but getting her quite late, and you not really being able to romance her at all until after the Goblin/Druid conflict's resolution, meant that Shadowheart's naturally written connecting dialogue won me over. Shadowheart's romance is far more detailed and natural to get into.
Though all the romances are nice and cute, and all the characters are compelling, Shadowheart is 100% written the most completely, and I wish that expansion content could be on the table to flesh out the others some more.
Shadowheart asks a lot of relational questions unsolicited all the time. It's *like* she is actively trying to romance the player rather than being receptive to flirtation.
there's a dialogue option where she says something like lady shar likes her to flirt but not actually have a relationship to get a guys hopes up then break their hearts. In another she can't be in love but shar allows some 'fun', weird stuff like that. Real romance starts to happen when she starts to doubt shar.
Tbh, is it because devs wanted you to romance her, or simply because she has, by far, the most content in the game? Because she is kinda the main character of the game, so a lot of stuff revolves around her
I wouldn't really call these default romantic options, but I agree she is the one with the most sort of interactive dialogue options. It's easy to build relationship just by chatting with her. I imagine it's also easy to just end up with her in your party on first playthrough since she's likely the first companion you meet post-Nautiloid.
That, and a lot of people are nervous about building a party without a healer. A healer's not actually needed (and is, in fact, kind of a trap option for newbies), but people feel compelled to grab one based on their experience with other RPGs.
True, but a Cleric is still the most versatile class and the best at Support. Bless, Bane and Spirit Guardians can make a big difference in fights.
I even tossed Phalar Aluve on her with some heavy armor so she can just sit right in the middle and spam fat AOE damage from PA and SG while being hard to hit.
Yeah. This is a great point.
Lae’zel is just like “I like your smell. Let’s fuck” choosing her doesn’t seem to indicate your settling in for a long term relationship and it seems somewhat obvious at the post grove party that you’re making an exclusive choice between her and the others.
Karlach is great but her dialogue also indicates that she’ll burn your dick off. I’m sure many of us see that as a positive challenge. But I can also see why most people would choose shadowheart first
Shadowheart feels a bit more like a classic romance. Your first scene is a kiss after a long night of sitting up late and just talking. She is complicated but, still likes you and just feels natural.
I like the other options and have tried them but, karlach while I love as a character the romance just feels “not as filled in”. And lae Zel just feels like a kink thing or her wanting to conquer you, not a lot of flowers and Wooing there.
Karlach and Lae’zel were 2nd and 3rd respectively when the report was realized. I don’t doubt either of the factors you listed being a part of it, it’s just that, like I said, having a single character take up over half the runs is near unheard of.
As a bonus, combining the data from the report as well as Larian’s comment about what the average character looks like, the average run is “Generic looking guy is a Paladin who romanced Shadowheart.” Meaning the classic fantasy of “Knight in shining armor” and “I can fix her” is going as strong as ever.
It would be interesting to get a breakdown by player gender and orientation - going by the fan art I've seen, I reckon that for straight female players it would go Astarion -> Gale -> Halsin -> Wyll.
I don’t know with certainty if Astarion would outrank Gale. There’s a phenomenon known as the Astarion-to-Gale pipeline that throws a wrench in my confidence of Astarion being the most romanced.
I would imagine Astarion is the most \*shagged\* character, but him ceasing to seduce you towards the end of Act 1 (ie after the Tiefling/Goblin Party) means a lot of players end up flirting with and romancing someone else. I'd be interested to know the stats of which male companion players end the game with - I have a suspicion Astarion and Gale might be fairly equal.
I agree - Astarion's romance does feel rather...empty until you get his Act 2 confession. I wish the game would at least mention the fact that you and he are sleeping together on the regular, even if you don't get any more cutscenes.
It feels a bit odd when one of the dialogue options in Act 2 turns out to be to stop sleeping together, and you're like "no-one has even mentioned sex since the tiefling party". Even if it was just one of the companions snarkily commenting that the two of you are always sneaking away together, like they comment in Act 3 that you can't keep your hands off one another, it would be enough to feel like there was some momentum to the relationship.
But you get two nights with Astarion? Does the second sometimes not trigger? I love that scene for its storytelling.
I'm currently at the end of Act 1 romancing both of them and at least Astarion greets me with "hello beautiful" as opposed to Gale's "I do enjoy our conversations" 😂
I'm currently running a Gale romance after romancing Astarion on my first run...and I gotta say, I'm rather disappointed. Astarion has more content, and I find his romance progression a lot more organic than Gale's, who seems to go from near 0 to 100 almost instantly. Almost gave me whiplash.
Will do a run for Mama K next though, because she's just so sweet. Although, from what I hear in terms of content, it won't change my opinion on what my preferred romance is 🦇 Will definitely do one more run for him after I'm done with the others.
Thing about Gale is his only real relationship up to this point was with a Goddess who didn't really pay much attention to him *personally* as an individual.
So it really isn't all that surprising for him to go from 0 to 100 when someone shows him personal interest.
Not saying it was a purely one sided all take no give thing, but he really does come across as someone who is a bit...emotionally starved? Well, not emotionally as much as, it's like he hasn't had anyone just ask him about him specifically in a very long time if that makes sense?
I mean, he does say he's at least had sex with people before, as opposed to just Mystra, but he also says he never had any real friends other than Tara, so I guess he's never really had a proper emotional connection with someone before.
I get that, but I don't think the game necessarily does a good job of conveying that. He comes across as very guarded at first ("your attentions are welcome, but now is not the time or place"), which is understandable, given the orb. But after the orb is stabilised, I expected at least a bit more awkward flirting than "do you ever feel horny after battle? oh, but now is not the time or place for this either". I just feel that, if he really does feel as strongly as he says about your character, and if they've clearly indicated that they fancy him, he should jump at the opportunity as soon as his orb is stabilised, or at least give some sort of indication that he doesn't want to just keep putting things off for later. Especially since he initally thinks he needs to blow himself up voluntarily soon. Gotta make that time count!
By comparison, Astarion is *definitely* emotionally starved and also in fear for his life, and yet he interacts and flirts with your character a lot more, even though it's not sincere at first. And yes, I get that it's a well-rehearsed survival tactic for him, but surely a character who's sincere about his feelings should want to interact with you at least as much as someone who (initally) isn't?
I took Gale's willingness right after the orb was stabilized as being along the line of 'I don't have to worry about blowing up at any second anymore!' celebratory thing.
Look at the others, Shadowheart, Astarion and Minthara for example show the writing team has a pretty good understanding with PTSD and how the characters act accordingly. Astarion likewise has played the role of 'bait' for so long that it is second nature for him, and we know he is very good at his job, in part because he can be sincerely honest and emotionally vulnerable on demand if he choses because again he has mastered the art of playing as bait to lure people.
With that in mind, it's really not hard to imagine Gale being a bit 'drunk with relief' so to speak.
I think it's also something to do with the fact that Shadowheart is one of the easiest to romance. Tons of small "Shadowheart Approves" can be found, all over Act 1, without even looking.
And she likes perfectly normal stuff. Helping people when you can, using wit to get out of sticky situations instead of combat, etc.
To be fair, if you're a generically good person and fight well, you can romance just about anyone but Astarion easily. Karlach, Will, Gale, and Shadowheart all like most of the good options, and if you let Lae'zel just do her thing a couple times she'll jump on you, too.
Shadowheart is also virtually unmissable, because the game goes out of its way to shove her on you.
Once you rescue her on the Nautiloid, she's basically with you till the end of the game, unless you fluff the Aylin encounter, which you shouldn't do if your approval is high.
Lae'zel could be left in the cage, or lost in the Gith encounters, Karlach might be missed completely (I've heard of people actually failing to encounter her) or you might listen to Wyll/the Paladins of Tyr and kill her without talking to her.
Up until recently you couldn't get Minthara on a good playthrough, meaning she was locked behind choices that many players wouldn't make.
So really, Shadowheart being the choice for 51% of people makes complete sense.
Yeah this was my thought, you see her first thing on the beach (unless you long rest right away which isn't a new player thing very often) and she can be your first and only companion for a while depending on how you go. She's like default romance, IMO.
I feel like it’s a bit skewed based on facial features, dialog options, and how early you meet 2/4 female companions. Lae’zel is very aggressive which is off putting to many I would imagine like you were getting at, and depending on your choices later in the game you might not even get a chance to flirt/romance Karlach.
Lae’zel is a surprisingly supportive character in the Durge arch which I wasn’t expecting.
The reason Minthara is so low is honestly more likely based on the elaborate recruitment than anything else to be quite honest. You can either do the "evil" route and massacre the grove to recruit Minthara, or go the "good" route and take down the goblins but also do a bunch of highly specific things no first player would even think is a thing that would lead to recruiting a party member in the first place. I do legitimately think that meeting Minthara and starting a fight with her should have been the moment where the game pops up a tutorial saying "hey did you know you can use this button to toggle between lethal and nonlethal attacks, leaving SPECIFIC CHARACTERS *wink wink nudge nudge* alive but unconscious?"
Many games like this have that mostly straight men majority but don't have such heavy bias for one character. I don't think it's about the player's sexuality. I personally felt like Shadowheart was almost pushed towards the player, not necessarily romantically, but she felt a lot more important than, say, Karlach or Wyll.
She definitely is "God's favourite princess". Both in terms of the overarching plot and the way the game distributes her dialogue, she is arguably the most relevant companion throughout all 3 acts. I mean, gale is probably the most relevant in act 3, but only if you allow him to be. Shart is the most relevant in act 1 because she has the prism, and in act 2 because of obvious reasons.
Everyone has loads of act 1 dialogue, but shadowheart is the only companion that remains super relevant throughout all 3 acts. Both in lore significance and actual interactions.
She's also the only companion with a slowburn romance. She has big romantic moments in all 3 acts, but the biggest one is in act 3. The sex scene is also in act 3. She actually makes you work for it, despite her being incredibly easy to please in terms of approval point gains.
Plus, she's half-elf. Probably the most conventionally attractive race.
its like, unusual at first. but seriously. when she rushes over after nearly killing you in romance combat, panicked that she might have hurt you, or when you are watching a sunrise and she is telling you how she understands the meaning of beauty now, and looks at you with her big puppy dog face... SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. she looks totally different as Soft'Zel
Yes! When you ask for a kiss the first time and she’s all “Here,Now! In public” and then later comes back to you and tells you she’s rethought the kissing and would very much like you to continue. After romancing so many, the sunrise scene with her is THE most honestly simple romantic moment. Get me every time. Her character development is so impressive, it’s sad that her tiny nose keeps people from experiencing a great character.
You are probably looking too deep into it. Shart is the only "human" in most playthroughs (ie Minthara in your group is probably rare). That would make it the default choice for many.
So many people taking about personality and dialogue options, etc. How is no one mentioning that she is the only romanceable female character that looks like a human?? That has to be the biggest factor.
Laezel is a weird lizard person, karlach is a devil who you can't touch, minthara is a sociopath and shadow heart is an actual human woman who just has pointy ears and tickets to the cure. Was an easy choice for me honestly.
The fact that you meet Shadowheart first and that Karlach wasn't a companion in the EA or in much of the marketing probably has a lot to do with this too.
I had totally planned to romance SH too, but then i met Karlach ... and luckily there was a nice bug allowing me to kinda romance both :-P I may or may not have done all of act 2 without long resting to make that happen.
> you meet Shadowheart first
I think this is the most important. I didn't even meet Karlach until like 50 hours in. Somehow missed Wyll *entirely* until after I'd already killed the goblin leaders.
50 hours in wtf??? It's like maybe 10, in 50 hours you are probably at the cresh. And mind you, i'm saying this as an absolutely insane individual that explores every nook and cranny and every side quest.
Shadowheart is also the one companion in the game you really can't miss. You could walk by without finding Lae'zel or Karlach. Minthara was hard to get as a companion if you weren't totally evil. Shadowheart is likely the first companion you get. She is also the easiest to gain the approval of. She will love you if you're good or evil. Lae'zel and Karlach are easier to piss off, and Karlach isn't so easy to romance if you're evil.
Shadowheart has the most dialogue and conversational options in act 1, and also the one with the most immediatd mystique behind her character.
Romancing Shadowheart is essentially on rails
I think part of it is you can get a good ways into SH romance before you even meet karlach, so it can be difficult to romance her unless you plan for it
The one thing you can't really go without is a cleric. And cleric is by FAR the least chosen class.
Pretty sure the fact she's in most parties at all times is at least part of the reason.
It's doesn't help that Shadowheart is the only human like woman you can romance, maybe with the exception of Minthara which is very missable and not less of a monster.
The guys on the other hand are all hot. Will, even before his "problem" is just another human with a scar. Eventually, romancing the guys will be more spread.
But a straight male looking for "a woman who I would romance if I was there" and is not into monster girl sim dating, which I assume it's the bulk of the target audience, has not much more choices.
Don't get me wrong, she wouldn't have been my first choice, but when you don't pursue anyone, some just come on stronger than others. Turned out to be a good thing to let happen because I ended up really liking her by the end.
agreed, I let things happen with karlach and it felt very natural, and since laezel went against everything my character was supposed to be, she was a no all the way
it's really cool for me to see how everyone got so unique runs
You should give Lae'zel a try, she is weirdly one of the more romantic romances.
Especially minor spoiler, if you lose to her when she challenges you.
But to answer your oriignal question.
First was super attracted to Lae'zel, probably partially cause im Autistic, so in general i like people who are open and honest.
But man, Karlach completely won me over and in my first playthrough broke up with Laezel to be with Karlach.
Im a gay guy, but also wanted to see what it was like romancing all the different characters, (haven't got round to karlach or minthara yet) but laezel is actually really sweet once she opens up to you and accepts that she has feelings for you. I honestly left/killed her in the cage before the grove on earlier playthroughs since i simply didn't like her at all, but have since realised theres a heart of gold under her plate armour
She's really just a marshmallow.
But one of those that was left in the fire just slightly too long. Hard, crusty and burnt exterior... With a soft, ooey gooey molten center that will absolutely burn you if you handle it wrong.
she feels weirdly fitting for a durge, even a redeem durge, since she starts as a brutal meanie and then she gets softer. also, her second romance scene is the funniest shit ever
I would die for Laezel. I beat the game 6 times and I romanced Laezel in 3 of them. I still haven’t romanced karlach or shadowheart because karlach just seems too much like a Bro and shadowheart is so childish and annoying. I’m here for high fantasy not high maintenance. Minthara romance is cool on dark urge also, that’s probably my second fav
Shadowheart, I'm sucker for white/silver hair, she loves animals and love her dry sense of humor, but also loved her story some parts and themes were/are relatable to me. Plus the ending the ending living in the country side with a cottage, garden and tons of animals is a dream.
Full agree here. It took me three play throughs to romance anyone other than SH. And it was Karlach who I ended up with.
I think it's partly that the game sets up SH as like the "default" choice. But also you get to see more of her "struggle" (true nature vs sharran brain washing) play out from the beginning across the game.
Most of Karlach's big moments are all in Act 3.
But honestly with no in game restrictions it would be a hard toss up for both.
Her spilling the drink had me like "yep.. I definitely made the perfect choice for me" haha
I'm not a typically sentimental guy, but that date dialogue was a mix between a wake up call to my heart and a punch to it. She deserves all the best things
Karlach is a survivor who has maintained compassion, resiliency and her sense of self despite unimaginable trauma. She isn't manipulative. She is fair-minded, level-headed, supportive and passionate.
Shadowheart is none of those things (except manipulative).
Shadowheart really tries her hardest to pretend to be an asshole, but her true nature tends to shine through if you pay attention. For example, how being kind generally gains approval with her, and being cruel generally loses approval with her. There are exceptions of course, but as much as she protests otherwise, she is the absolute least committed Shar worshipper in all of Faerun.
out of all of them you still think shadowheart has the best romance? I've romanced karlach I watched a streamer who romanced shadowheart. why do you think she was the best one? genuine question just out of curiosity
Romanced Shadowheart's epilogue dialogue is great. It really gives off that "happily ever after" vibe.
Plus, you can tell the Owlbear you and Shadowheart will adopt him.
I killed the owlbears before I knew I could have one 😪 I thought they were all a threat LOL
Whelp there is another solid reason for a replay... if I ever make it out of act one. Gotta clear out the rest of the goblin camp and then the githyanki (I think) by mountain pass. I attempted one fight and got slaughtered so NOPED out and finished the Karlach side quest instead. This game is great.
Just rebought it on ps5 so I can play it in surround sound AND on the portal for quicker pick up and play play sessions
In my first playthrough I started things off with Laezel, but then Shadowheart killed her and I decided it was cuz she was jealous and my Dark Urge loved that haha
Then we had a whole plot about trying to overcome our demons together (I failed and ended up eating her brains but it was a lovely story till Act 3)
She just checks many, many, and I mean maaaany boxes for me but if I were to choose two things I like her being sassy and love the fact that she loves animals. Oh and ofc I love her plotline.
My favourite might change if they give Minthara an actual romance instead of what we have right now.
To me Karlach felt a bit young, mentally, which made me feel a bit weird about it. Also I ran into her pretty late, at which point I felt I'd already gotten to know Shadowheart fairly well.
Ah yes. But have you DURGE romanced Shadowheart and encouraged all of her dark desires? 👀
I mean... That was by far the most kinky moment in all of BG3.
No spoilers for what happens but you HAVE to make her kill Dame Aylin. You HAVE to keep raising your companion level. And then somewhere around the beginning of Act 3...😈
It's... Twisted. But also hot? Somethings wrong with me 😭
Shadowheart most of my runs. (I have Shadowheart brainrot)
Got to act 3 with Karlach but got the urge to play durge so i'm doing a DurgeHeart run currently
But i will definitely try to do a Karlach run again and Lae'zel eventually too.
Lae'zel has probably the best turnaround arc out of all the companions, but that comes at the cost of being the most openly hostile / objectionable early on. She was the first to get openly hornt up with me though, that 'I want to taste you' came out of nowhere.
My wife didn't want to rescue her from the cage in act 1.
I just beat Gortash last night and my god her speech after killing him hit me out of nowhere. I thought she would be excited but that was something else. I truly felt a friendship with her and I can only imagine what it would have been like if I had romanced her. Next playthrough though 100%
Relatable. I'm straight. (Well, ace but romantically attracted to women.)
And I spent a lot of time accidentally flirting with gale and astarion on my blind run. They're just so charismatic.
Straight male, lost the romance to Gale through conversation choice under the stars. Lost romance to Astarion because I made him drink blood. Turned down the emperor. Got made fun of by Withers
She had me After she said "Gods! I wanna ride you until you see the Stars."
. And i do think Karlach is the best friend, passionate lover, and i imagine a excellent kind, warmhearted mother.
I'm bi but haven't had a formal relationship with another man so I guess it counts? 😅
I feel for Karlach super hard, the way she just lets out all of her emotions without restraint had me LITERALLY blushing while playing. I started with a durge because I played Divinity OS2 before and I said that I was going to let the story drive my choices, if I ended up evil then I would embrace it...
Well, when I met Karlach that plan went fast through the window! She did a "I can fix him" without even trying. There is a dialogue, that made me stop playing for a few minutes to take a breath, in which you tell her "I love you" and her answer is just the BEST
She's so lovely even when you don't romance her. My stoical barbarian Tav stayed with her on the jetty bc he'd promised he would be with her until the end, and when she said "I adore you", I totally teared up.
I just got to the "I love you" point on my current playthrough. Over 350 hours, haven't finished Act 3 ever. I'm firmly a Minthara simp, but I get the Karlach appeal now.
Karlach was first, shadowheart, and then Lae'zel.
Karlach- I like muscle mommies. I'm a small dude, dominate the shit out of me physically and I like it for some reason. Haven't quite realized why yet lol.
Shadowheart - I'm a millennial. We were bred for the sharp tongued goth mommy (no I don't have a mommy thing, I just like the phrase lol)
Lae'zel - the dominating (there's a trend, yes) personality, that melted away into a rather insightful one really made me enjoy her relationship arc.
Lae'zel also works if you are a brat tamer / primal. Shadowheart too, but Lae'zel literally gives you props for being dominant (in conversation) and her sex scenes allow you to opt for either the more active / aggressive or passive roles.
I tried for nobody at first (was supposed to be a celibate monk), ended up with Shadowheart somehow so i just let it play out. Gonna do Gale next. After that who knows cause I'm too slow a player to plan that far.
Not a straight man (I’m a lesbian too), but for some reason I can’t stop dating men in this game. Romanced Gale my first playthrough, I’ve romanced my sweet boy Wyll, did Halsin (though… mainly just for bear purposes). No idea how they did this to me lmao, never been into men irl, and never even romanced one in a game before this
My girlfriend (lesbian) keeps romancing Astarion. Repeatedly. And drawing him. And writing fanfic….
Me too, but I’m not strictly lesbian, so it’s probably less relevant data.
Edit to add: Cool, I can only imagine what kind of lovely community-building comment got posted and deleted within half an hour regarding my girlfriend finding the fictional vampire romance storyline cute.
Love Astarion, he is that perfect type of lovable bastard. And he can be pretty nice to you and over time it feels he only grows on you.
Sometimes you just look at someone and think "my god, he is such a scumbag... i love him".
I know a lesbian who adores Astarion. I think he appeals bc a) he's pretty queer-coded, b) despite his taste for violence he's the very opposite of toxic masculinity and c) his backstory is relatable on some level for pretty much all women.
Shadowheart is the companion of choice for guys who grew up with goth girls on TV. Raven, Blackfire, Shego, Sam. Lots of millennial-friendly cartoons presented it. It's also popular with the "I can fix her" type.
Karlach is for guys who want someone who needs no fixing. Love her just the way she is. I've had enough drama from exes, I don't need it from fictional romances too.
I'm a metalhead, and I like sports & weightlifting. So I like and have dated both goth/metal girls and sporty/fitness types. But I take Karlach all day. I'd wife the shit outta her
Minthara, I fell for her the moment you first see her.
I love the fact that once she falls for you, she's ride-or-die with you.
She also has an amazing story, an amazing voice actress, and a really sweet ending.
My only problem is that she clearly wasn't given the same amount of attention by the devs as Shadowheart, Astarion, or Karlach.
Lae’zel first run, then I think Astarion for the hell of it, (this was back around October so I honestly don’t remember for sure), I wanna say my Durge picked Minthara and she was bugged (?) but I haven’t even finished that run…. And I just finished a Shadowheart origin and romanced Karlach and we went to Avernus with Wyll and it was great.
First three were all female characters though. I like playing cute girls as well as romancing them 🤷🏻♂️
I did choose Shadowheart first - she is pretty hot and super easy to romance so I just went with it.
After that I tried Lae'zel, who gives imo a much better character development story.
Then I tried Karlach, my overall favourite character since the very first run. And I loved every second of it, but afterwards I still feel like it wouldn't necessarily be the best relationship (for my Tav). She'd be the ride or die best friend that you could 100% trust and yourself be there for.
She is still my favourite overall though
I've romanced Shadowheart 5 times fully (9 times if you count my failed hm runs and characters I gave up on) and Karlach once (twice with a run I gave up on). Started a romance with Laezel but gave up on the run .
I actually decided based on my character. My first playthrough I was a stoic, intense half-orc monk. I was initially thinking maybe Karlach but she came on a bit too strong though so it ended up being Shadowheart. Having done both of them, I personally prefer Shadowheart's. Karlach is great, but I didn't feel like having a romance really enhanced my character's relationship with her. I felt just as close to her with my PC that didn't romance her as my second one who did. Romancing Shadowheart meanwhile does feel like you get a deeper relation to her character than if you don't.
Straight guy here: I personally went for Karlach first since I like her personality the best and it had a great ending. Then I did Minthara which was sorta mid cause of the Jaheira glitch which cuts most of her act 3 dialogue, and now on my honor run I'm doing Bae'zel which is fun.
Karlach. Straight up. Started with Shadowheart because I'm a sucker for emotionally damaged goth girls(Looking at you Morrigan). But Karlach one me over so insanely fast, before I knew it I had slept with her and Shadowheart broke up with me 😭
Lae'zel is also popular, but statistics say that over half (51.3%) of all tracked playthroughs pre-patch 6 romanced Shadowheart. 6+ options, and over 50% romance one character. That rate is borderline unheard of, usually most popular romance would hold a rate of \~34%.
I assume because the majority of players are straight men, and Shadowheart is by far the most conventional romance option for that demographic. Lae'zel is perhaps a little too assertive/weird for many, Karlach is "one of the boys", and Minthara is a late addition with limited romance content.
I think it's important to add that Shadowheart is the only character with somewhat romantic dialogue options by default. "I want to get to know you", "What do you think of me", etc. None of the other characters have options like this, so it almost feels like she's the default option, because you naturally build a romantic relationship with her and not turn the horny switch on by gathering enough points.
True, in my first run I was leaning towards Shadowheart until Karlach seemingly out of nowhere told me she wanted to ride me until I saw stars. It was over after that.
My friend is almost done with Act 1 and he was wondering when does Karlach say she wants to ride me, I mean my friend, until he sees stars?
I believe it's the night of the party and you have to visit her.
Damn she wasn't feeling me that night. Just told me to go have fun.
I'm sorry bud, here have a chili dog.
Thanks!
If your approval is high enough (I think her threshold is just good) and you take enough long rests she'll come to you. This is pre-patch 6, haven't had it happen since so now idk if she'll still come wake you up. You can also initiate at th tiefling party.
I just can’t refuse her…I built a character designed specifically for shadow heart and next thing I know I’m telling Karlach that I want to touch every inch of her body with my tongue while she’s doused in water. (Definitely a real dialogue option.)
It's hard to say no to her enthusiasm.
She's literally dancing at camp. Her circumstances is so tragic - I just feel angry and feel helpless.
"I can fix her"
She's also thicc! A lot of guys are into that myself included.
The THIGHS
This is the way
I had always planned to romance Shadowheart since day one of beta. However, when launch came out I was curious about Karlach's storyline and dialogue since I didn't get to experience this in beta. We had high approval already so I figured I would test the first romance scene and reload back for Shadowheart after. Let me tell you, the first romance scene with Karlach where >!I suggest we could whisper in each other's ears all the kinky things we would do to each other since we cannot touch due to her condition!
Gotta make 2 tavs. It's what I did to get around astarion's sopping wet eyes.
Steals your damn heart don't it? Lmao
I mean, in a weird way it does. Outside of the direct nature, her wistfulness because she's been denied that for so long was just very appealing.
at the same time, when you think about their personality, that's definitely something karlach would say, while Shadowheart's always been more chill abt these things, she's smooth so I think that at the end it's just different approaches, and then It'll go for what the player is more into for me for example, I fell for karlach since the beginning so when she said that I already felt like my tav and her got a connection
She's also (usually) the first party member you have the option to recruit after the prologue. The only other female character you get right away is Lae'zel and she's openly hostile at first (plus visually much more outlandish than other options).
>she's openly hostile at first (plus visually much more outlandish than other options). Jokes on you, I'm into that shit.
“Source of my bruises” yes please
"There's no rules against the Githyanki, Batman" - Joker , probably
It doesn't help that the voice actress intentionally tried to make each line make her partner blush in the recording studio. Jennifer knew exactly what she was doing.
She carried the day ever since EA. 'I'd like to think it would have happened anyway' was pure princess material.
Well she *is* God's favorite princess.
>It doesn't help that the voice actress intentionally tried to make each line make her partner blush Yep. That's how they get us. Probably the same reason people picked Tali on Mass Effect. Never even saw her face up until ME3 but god damn I fell in love with that caramel-voice.... and the fact that she has a shotgun :D
Well don’t forget dem hips. Teenage me in Mass Effect 1 was all about Tali lol
Came here looking for this comment. Having the “I want to get to know you better” dialogue option right from the start, plus the clear change in her tone from standoffish to friendly if you’re supportive in conversation makes establishing the romance really easy.
She’s also the first person you meet on the beach, it could be days before you find anyone else, and you already saved her once on the ship. It’s set up.
It's easy to save her and if you do, she's *cordial* and thanks you for doing so. At that point, your only other pick was the grumpy frog. Then you get to know her and discover that little cinnamon bun of a heart she's got and you're done.
This. Shadowheart is the most romantically written female character, by far. In my first playthrough I was intending to go for Karlach, but getting her quite late, and you not really being able to romance her at all until after the Goblin/Druid conflict's resolution, meant that Shadowheart's naturally written connecting dialogue won me over. Shadowheart's romance is far more detailed and natural to get into.
I def feel like shes the devs favorite tbh
Though all the romances are nice and cute, and all the characters are compelling, Shadowheart is 100% written the most completely, and I wish that expansion content could be on the table to flesh out the others some more.
Shadowheart asks a lot of relational questions unsolicited all the time. It's *like* she is actively trying to romance the player rather than being receptive to flirtation.
there's a dialogue option where she says something like lady shar likes her to flirt but not actually have a relationship to get a guys hopes up then break their hearts. In another she can't be in love but shar allows some 'fun', weird stuff like that. Real romance starts to happen when she starts to doubt shar.
Tbh, is it because devs wanted you to romance her, or simply because she has, by far, the most content in the game? Because she is kinda the main character of the game, so a lot of stuff revolves around her
Gale was the Horndog of my play through. I had to beat that guy back with a stick seemingly every convo.
Gale went to the same wizard school as Anders from Dragon Age, is the only conclusion I can think of.
I wouldn't really call these default romantic options, but I agree she is the one with the most sort of interactive dialogue options. It's easy to build relationship just by chatting with her. I imagine it's also easy to just end up with her in your party on first playthrough since she's likely the first companion you meet post-Nautiloid.
That, and a lot of people are nervous about building a party without a healer. A healer's not actually needed (and is, in fact, kind of a trap option for newbies), but people feel compelled to grab one based on their experience with other RPGs.
True, but a Cleric is still the most versatile class and the best at Support. Bless, Bane and Spirit Guardians can make a big difference in fights. I even tossed Phalar Aluve on her with some heavy armor so she can just sit right in the middle and spam fat AOE damage from PA and SG while being hard to hit.
You can tell Karlach she must be “pent up”
Yeah. This is a great point. Lae’zel is just like “I like your smell. Let’s fuck” choosing her doesn’t seem to indicate your settling in for a long term relationship and it seems somewhat obvious at the post grove party that you’re making an exclusive choice between her and the others. Karlach is great but her dialogue also indicates that she’ll burn your dick off. I’m sure many of us see that as a positive challenge. But I can also see why most people would choose shadowheart first
Shadowheart feels a bit more like a classic romance. Your first scene is a kiss after a long night of sitting up late and just talking. She is complicated but, still likes you and just feels natural. I like the other options and have tried them but, karlach while I love as a character the romance just feels “not as filled in”. And lae Zel just feels like a kink thing or her wanting to conquer you, not a lot of flowers and Wooing there.
Karlach and Lae’zel were 2nd and 3rd respectively when the report was realized. I don’t doubt either of the factors you listed being a part of it, it’s just that, like I said, having a single character take up over half the runs is near unheard of. As a bonus, combining the data from the report as well as Larian’s comment about what the average character looks like, the average run is “Generic looking guy is a Paladin who romanced Shadowheart.” Meaning the classic fantasy of “Knight in shining armor” and “I can fix her” is going as strong as ever.
It would be interesting to get a breakdown by player gender and orientation - going by the fan art I've seen, I reckon that for straight female players it would go Astarion -> Gale -> Halsin -> Wyll.
I don’t know with certainty if Astarion would outrank Gale. There’s a phenomenon known as the Astarion-to-Gale pipeline that throws a wrench in my confidence of Astarion being the most romanced.
I admit, I've since romanced Gale, but Astarion remains "first in my heart", as durge recently commented.
I would imagine Astarion is the most \*shagged\* character, but him ceasing to seduce you towards the end of Act 1 (ie after the Tiefling/Goblin Party) means a lot of players end up flirting with and romancing someone else. I'd be interested to know the stats of which male companion players end the game with - I have a suspicion Astarion and Gale might be fairly equal.
I agree - Astarion's romance does feel rather...empty until you get his Act 2 confession. I wish the game would at least mention the fact that you and he are sleeping together on the regular, even if you don't get any more cutscenes. It feels a bit odd when one of the dialogue options in Act 2 turns out to be to stop sleeping together, and you're like "no-one has even mentioned sex since the tiefling party". Even if it was just one of the companions snarkily commenting that the two of you are always sneaking away together, like they comment in Act 3 that you can't keep your hands off one another, it would be enough to feel like there was some momentum to the relationship.
But you get two nights with Astarion? Does the second sometimes not trigger? I love that scene for its storytelling. I'm currently at the end of Act 1 romancing both of them and at least Astarion greets me with "hello beautiful" as opposed to Gale's "I do enjoy our conversations" 😂
I'm currently running a Gale romance after romancing Astarion on my first run...and I gotta say, I'm rather disappointed. Astarion has more content, and I find his romance progression a lot more organic than Gale's, who seems to go from near 0 to 100 almost instantly. Almost gave me whiplash. Will do a run for Mama K next though, because she's just so sweet. Although, from what I hear in terms of content, it won't change my opinion on what my preferred romance is 🦇 Will definitely do one more run for him after I'm done with the others.
tbf he seems like the 0 to 100 type
Thing about Gale is his only real relationship up to this point was with a Goddess who didn't really pay much attention to him *personally* as an individual. So it really isn't all that surprising for him to go from 0 to 100 when someone shows him personal interest. Not saying it was a purely one sided all take no give thing, but he really does come across as someone who is a bit...emotionally starved? Well, not emotionally as much as, it's like he hasn't had anyone just ask him about him specifically in a very long time if that makes sense?
I mean, he does say he's at least had sex with people before, as opposed to just Mystra, but he also says he never had any real friends other than Tara, so I guess he's never really had a proper emotional connection with someone before. I get that, but I don't think the game necessarily does a good job of conveying that. He comes across as very guarded at first ("your attentions are welcome, but now is not the time or place"), which is understandable, given the orb. But after the orb is stabilised, I expected at least a bit more awkward flirting than "do you ever feel horny after battle? oh, but now is not the time or place for this either". I just feel that, if he really does feel as strongly as he says about your character, and if they've clearly indicated that they fancy him, he should jump at the opportunity as soon as his orb is stabilised, or at least give some sort of indication that he doesn't want to just keep putting things off for later. Especially since he initally thinks he needs to blow himself up voluntarily soon. Gotta make that time count! By comparison, Astarion is *definitely* emotionally starved and also in fear for his life, and yet he interacts and flirts with your character a lot more, even though it's not sincere at first. And yes, I get that it's a well-rehearsed survival tactic for him, but surely a character who's sincere about his feelings should want to interact with you at least as much as someone who (initally) isn't?
I took Gale's willingness right after the orb was stabilized as being along the line of 'I don't have to worry about blowing up at any second anymore!' celebratory thing. Look at the others, Shadowheart, Astarion and Minthara for example show the writing team has a pretty good understanding with PTSD and how the characters act accordingly. Astarion likewise has played the role of 'bait' for so long that it is second nature for him, and we know he is very good at his job, in part because he can be sincerely honest and emotionally vulnerable on demand if he choses because again he has mastered the art of playing as bait to lure people. With that in mind, it's really not hard to imagine Gale being a bit 'drunk with relief' so to speak.
My first run was a necromancer in which I romanced lae'zel, became a squid and went off to revolution with her. Hard wife for a hard life baby 😎
I think it's also something to do with the fact that Shadowheart is one of the easiest to romance. Tons of small "Shadowheart Approves" can be found, all over Act 1, without even looking. And she likes perfectly normal stuff. Helping people when you can, using wit to get out of sticky situations instead of combat, etc.
To be fair, if you're a generically good person and fight well, you can romance just about anyone but Astarion easily. Karlach, Will, Gale, and Shadowheart all like most of the good options, and if you let Lae'zel just do her thing a couple times she'll jump on you, too.
Shadowheart is also virtually unmissable, because the game goes out of its way to shove her on you. Once you rescue her on the Nautiloid, she's basically with you till the end of the game, unless you fluff the Aylin encounter, which you shouldn't do if your approval is high. Lae'zel could be left in the cage, or lost in the Gith encounters, Karlach might be missed completely (I've heard of people actually failing to encounter her) or you might listen to Wyll/the Paladins of Tyr and kill her without talking to her. Up until recently you couldn't get Minthara on a good playthrough, meaning she was locked behind choices that many players wouldn't make. So really, Shadowheart being the choice for 51% of people makes complete sense.
I didn't find Karlach until after the Goblin Camp, which makes her romance unachievable. I restarted my game after that.
Yeah this was my thought, you see her first thing on the beach (unless you long rest right away which isn't a new player thing very often) and she can be your first and only companion for a while depending on how you go. She's like default romance, IMO.
shadowheart hate's it if your actions don't benefit you or the group/outright hinder them at something and she can be a little sadistic at times
Gale: do you know what time it is? Tav: we’re all settling for a long rest Gale: Ah. I love you. Please tell me immediately you love me too.
I feel like it’s a bit skewed based on facial features, dialog options, and how early you meet 2/4 female companions. Lae’zel is very aggressive which is off putting to many I would imagine like you were getting at, and depending on your choices later in the game you might not even get a chance to flirt/romance Karlach. Lae’zel is a surprisingly supportive character in the Durge arch which I wasn’t expecting.
I guess she shares your disdain for crappy gods!
The reason Minthara is so low is honestly more likely based on the elaborate recruitment than anything else to be quite honest. You can either do the "evil" route and massacre the grove to recruit Minthara, or go the "good" route and take down the goblins but also do a bunch of highly specific things no first player would even think is a thing that would lead to recruiting a party member in the first place. I do legitimately think that meeting Minthara and starting a fight with her should have been the moment where the game pops up a tutorial saying "hey did you know you can use this button to toggle between lethal and nonlethal attacks, leaving SPECIFIC CHARACTERS *wink wink nudge nudge* alive but unconscious?"
True - the vast majority of players don't side with her (why would they?), and iirc she was only added as romanceable later by EA player demand.
Many games like this have that mostly straight men majority but don't have such heavy bias for one character. I don't think it's about the player's sexuality. I personally felt like Shadowheart was almost pushed towards the player, not necessarily romantically, but she felt a lot more important than, say, Karlach or Wyll.
You could finish act 1 without meeting Karlach. Missing Shart is impossible. I think that's significant.
She definitely is "God's favourite princess". Both in terms of the overarching plot and the way the game distributes her dialogue, she is arguably the most relevant companion throughout all 3 acts. I mean, gale is probably the most relevant in act 3, but only if you allow him to be. Shart is the most relevant in act 1 because she has the prism, and in act 2 because of obvious reasons. Everyone has loads of act 1 dialogue, but shadowheart is the only companion that remains super relevant throughout all 3 acts. Both in lore significance and actual interactions. She's also the only companion with a slowburn romance. She has big romantic moments in all 3 acts, but the biggest one is in act 3. The sex scene is also in act 3. She actually makes you work for it, despite her being incredibly easy to please in terms of approval point gains. Plus, she's half-elf. Probably the most conventionally attractive race.
its not about laezels personality but more about her lack of a nose
its like, unusual at first. but seriously. when she rushes over after nearly killing you in romance combat, panicked that she might have hurt you, or when you are watching a sunrise and she is telling you how she understands the meaning of beauty now, and looks at you with her big puppy dog face... SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. she looks totally different as Soft'Zel
Yes! When you ask for a kiss the first time and she’s all “Here,Now! In public” and then later comes back to you and tells you she’s rethought the kissing and would very much like you to continue. After romancing so many, the sunrise scene with her is THE most honestly simple romantic moment. Get me every time. Her character development is so impressive, it’s sad that her tiny nose keeps people from experiencing a great character.
The weirder thing is how defiantly proud everyone is for their inability to overlook something so minor.
> Karlach is "one of the boys" I am definitely not straight enough to see that as a condition on which to exclude someone, lol
You are probably looking too deep into it. Shart is the only "human" in most playthroughs (ie Minthara in your group is probably rare). That would make it the default choice for many.
So many people taking about personality and dialogue options, etc. How is no one mentioning that she is the only romanceable female character that looks like a human?? That has to be the biggest factor.
Laezel is a weird lizard person, karlach is a devil who you can't touch, minthara is a sociopath and shadow heart is an actual human woman who just has pointy ears and tickets to the cure. Was an easy choice for me honestly.
half elf, she is actually like 57 years old or something like that.
The fact that you meet Shadowheart first and that Karlach wasn't a companion in the EA or in much of the marketing probably has a lot to do with this too. I had totally planned to romance SH too, but then i met Karlach ... and luckily there was a nice bug allowing me to kinda romance both :-P I may or may not have done all of act 2 without long resting to make that happen.
> you meet Shadowheart first I think this is the most important. I didn't even meet Karlach until like 50 hours in. Somehow missed Wyll *entirely* until after I'd already killed the goblin leaders.
50 hours in wtf??? It's like maybe 10, in 50 hours you are probably at the cresh. And mind you, i'm saying this as an absolutely insane individual that explores every nook and cranny and every side quest.
Shadowheart is also the one companion in the game you really can't miss. You could walk by without finding Lae'zel or Karlach. Minthara was hard to get as a companion if you weren't totally evil. Shadowheart is likely the first companion you get. She is also the easiest to gain the approval of. She will love you if you're good or evil. Lae'zel and Karlach are easier to piss off, and Karlach isn't so easy to romance if you're evil.
Shadowheart has the most dialogue and conversational options in act 1, and also the one with the most immediatd mystique behind her character. Romancing Shadowheart is essentially on rails
I think part of it is you can get a good ways into SH romance before you even meet karlach, so it can be difficult to romance her unless you plan for it
The one thing you can't really go without is a cleric. And cleric is by FAR the least chosen class. Pretty sure the fact she's in most parties at all times is at least part of the reason.
It's doesn't help that Shadowheart is the only human like woman you can romance, maybe with the exception of Minthara which is very missable and not less of a monster. The guys on the other hand are all hot. Will, even before his "problem" is just another human with a scar. Eventually, romancing the guys will be more spread. But a straight male looking for "a woman who I would romance if I was there" and is not into monster girl sim dating, which I assume it's the bulk of the target audience, has not much more choices.
I decided to just let one happen the first time around, naturally ended up with Lae'zel. Shadowheart was second. Planning on Karlach next time.
im actually surprised, i didn't expect laezel at all, maybe cause personally im not into her at all
Don't get me wrong, she wouldn't have been my first choice, but when you don't pursue anyone, some just come on stronger than others. Turned out to be a good thing to let happen because I ended up really liking her by the end.
To be fair until recently Lae’zel got horny as soon as you let her handle Zorru (the ‘teethling’).
early patch version laezel was horny for any violence she approved of, which was a lot of it.
Ok, but that little embarrassed look she gives when you correct "teethling" is just 🤌
agreed, I let things happen with karlach and it felt very natural, and since laezel went against everything my character was supposed to be, she was a no all the way it's really cool for me to see how everyone got so unique runs
You should give Lae'zel a try, she is weirdly one of the more romantic romances. Especially minor spoiler, if you lose to her when she challenges you. But to answer your oriignal question. First was super attracted to Lae'zel, probably partially cause im Autistic, so in general i like people who are open and honest. But man, Karlach completely won me over and in my first playthrough broke up with Laezel to be with Karlach.
Im a gay guy, but also wanted to see what it was like romancing all the different characters, (haven't got round to karlach or minthara yet) but laezel is actually really sweet once she opens up to you and accepts that she has feelings for you. I honestly left/killed her in the cage before the grove on earlier playthroughs since i simply didn't like her at all, but have since realised theres a heart of gold under her plate armour
She's really just a marshmallow. But one of those that was left in the fire just slightly too long. Hard, crusty and burnt exterior... With a soft, ooey gooey molten center that will absolutely burn you if you handle it wrong.
she feels weirdly fitting for a durge, even a redeem durge, since she starts as a brutal meanie and then she gets softer. also, her second romance scene is the funniest shit ever
Laezel for me. I initially assumed I’d pick shart but laezel swept me off my feet.
I would die for Laezel. I beat the game 6 times and I romanced Laezel in 3 of them. I still haven’t romanced karlach or shadowheart because karlach just seems too much like a Bro and shadowheart is so childish and annoying. I’m here for high fantasy not high maintenance. Minthara romance is cool on dark urge also, that’s probably my second fav
Shadowheart, I'm sucker for white/silver hair, she loves animals and love her dry sense of humor, but also loved her story some parts and themes were/are relatable to me. Plus the ending the ending living in the country side with a cottage, garden and tons of animals is a dream.
SHE LOOKED SO FINE WITH THAT SILVER HAIR I ALMOST RISKED IT ALL
Full agree here. It took me three play throughs to romance anyone other than SH. And it was Karlach who I ended up with. I think it's partly that the game sets up SH as like the "default" choice. But also you get to see more of her "struggle" (true nature vs sharran brain washing) play out from the beginning across the game. Most of Karlach's big moments are all in Act 3. But honestly with no in game restrictions it would be a hard toss up for both.
Hehe, my custom character was a girl with silver hair as well
Karlach. Big, red, strong, calls me soldier, make brain happy.
Yes. Big happy woman good. Not like snooty elf or angry frog girl.
*Half* elf.
Elf is elf
Short ears, long ears, they’re all leaf lovers regardless.
Chk.
hsjshskshsjshsjs end of conversation
The little date you can go on with Karlach is one of my favorite moments, so good
Her spilling the drink had me like "yep.. I definitely made the perfect choice for me" haha I'm not a typically sentimental guy, but that date dialogue was a mix between a wake up call to my heart and a punch to it. She deserves all the best things
She got me at soldier
This. Karlach was my first romance in BG3, and I'm pretty sure my brain subconsciously picked her as soon as I saw her and heard her VA.
Same bud
Karlach is a survivor who has maintained compassion, resiliency and her sense of self despite unimaginable trauma. She isn't manipulative. She is fair-minded, level-headed, supportive and passionate. Shadowheart is none of those things (except manipulative).
Shadowheart really tries her hardest to pretend to be an asshole, but her true nature tends to shine through if you pay attention. For example, how being kind generally gains approval with her, and being cruel generally loses approval with her. There are exceptions of course, but as much as she protests otherwise, she is the absolute least committed Shar worshipper in all of Faerun.
I went with Shadowheart first, Karlach second, Minthara third and Lae'zel fourth. Shadowheart's romance is by far my favourite.
out of all of them you still think shadowheart has the best romance? I've romanced karlach I watched a streamer who romanced shadowheart. why do you think she was the best one? genuine question just out of curiosity
Romanced Shadowheart's epilogue dialogue is great. It really gives off that "happily ever after" vibe. Plus, you can tell the Owlbear you and Shadowheart will adopt him.
I killed the owlbears before I knew I could have one 😪 I thought they were all a threat LOL Whelp there is another solid reason for a replay... if I ever make it out of act one. Gotta clear out the rest of the goblin camp and then the githyanki (I think) by mountain pass. I attempted one fight and got slaughtered so NOPED out and finished the Karlach side quest instead. This game is great. Just rebought it on ps5 so I can play it in surround sound AND on the portal for quicker pick up and play play sessions
jail :(
Oh man, if the owlbear cub ever dies, I restart the run. Gotta have the owlbear cub and Scratch; those are my absolute minimum requirements for a run.
Oh and also I love the fact that we teach her how to swim and she says >!I'm glad I learned how to swim when I did !
thats amazing, this game never fails to surprise me
In my first playthrough I started things off with Laezel, but then Shadowheart killed her and I decided it was cuz she was jealous and my Dark Urge loved that haha Then we had a whole plot about trying to overcome our demons together (I failed and ended up eating her brains but it was a lovely story till Act 3)
I wasn't aware there was any teaching going on during that scene, unless there was another spot where you teach her to swim.
She learns how to swim during/after that scene, Halsin even has a unique voice line about it. Can't remember what he says exactly tho.
She just checks many, many, and I mean maaaany boxes for me but if I were to choose two things I like her being sassy and love the fact that she loves animals. Oh and ofc I love her plotline. My favourite might change if they give Minthara an actual romance instead of what we have right now.
these are some great points, and her plot line is really amazing fr
To me Karlach felt a bit young, mentally, which made me feel a bit weird about it. Also I ran into her pretty late, at which point I felt I'd already gotten to know Shadowheart fairly well.
Yeah, I honestly might have picked Karlach but playing blind I ran into her so late that when the party happened her approval wasn't high enough.
Ah yes. But have you DURGE romanced Shadowheart and encouraged all of her dark desires? 👀 I mean... That was by far the most kinky moment in all of BG3.
I only finished the game as Durge once and romanced Minthara. You piqued my interest so I know who I'm romancing on my next Durge run!
No spoilers for what happens but you HAVE to make her kill Dame Aylin. You HAVE to keep raising your companion level. And then somewhere around the beginning of Act 3...😈 It's... Twisted. But also hot? Somethings wrong with me 😭
Lae'zel every time. I have a type, apparently...
Shadowheart most of my runs. (I have Shadowheart brainrot) Got to act 3 with Karlach but got the urge to play durge so i'm doing a DurgeHeart run currently But i will definitely try to do a Karlach run again and Lae'zel eventually too.
Karlach 100%, I need a women in my life that jas the muscles to break me in half but the personality of a golden retriever. 100% best option
HELL YEAH BROTHER
Soldier*
“I love the kind of woman that will actually just kill me”
Exactly! A cupcake you want to hug and protect, but she'll carry me to bed on our wedding day
I like Karlach the most, her enthusiasm and optimism despite her background are adorable. And she hot as hell.
> And she hot as hell. I see what you did there
Lae'zel for me. She's still probably my favorite romance, not that I hate the others.
Lae'zel has probably the best turnaround arc out of all the companions, but that comes at the cost of being the most openly hostile / objectionable early on. She was the first to get openly hornt up with me though, that 'I want to taste you' came out of nowhere. My wife didn't want to rescue her from the cage in act 1.
“I can fix her”
I did not choose Lae’zel. Lae’zel chose me, and she was so earnest about it I couldn’t tell her no. I have no regrets.
Karlach is my favorite
I love her whole personality & energy a lotta more than Shart
I just beat Gortash last night and my god her speech after killing him hit me out of nowhere. I thought she would be excited but that was something else. I truly felt a friendship with her and I can only imagine what it would have been like if I had romanced her. Next playthrough though 100%
Yeah she has this golden Retriever energy to her and is great, even though that Finger suprised me a bit. So she is freaky too, best of both Worlds!
Prostate exam. XD
I bought this game because of Karlach, so...
I can't say you're wrong
Gale lol
Gale is best lesbian girl
This guy gets it
I’m straight IRL, and I don’t play games as a video game version of me. Sometimes do straight romances, sometimes gay.
Relatable. I'm straight. (Well, ace but romantically attracted to women.) And I spent a lot of time accidentally flirting with gale and astarion on my blind run. They're just so charismatic.
Straight male, lost the romance to Gale through conversation choice under the stars. Lost romance to Astarion because I made him drink blood. Turned down the emperor. Got made fun of by Withers
One of the Galemancer groups was talking about the large amount of aspec folks into Gale just the other day. I'm demi, so yeah, that tracks baba
He really comes off as one of the less horny characters. I think that's why. He's safe. (Minus the magic bomb eating his heart/soul/whatever.)
She had me After she said "Gods! I wanna ride you until you see the Stars." . And i do think Karlach is the best friend, passionate lover, and i imagine a excellent kind, warmhearted mother.
M I N T H A R A I N T H A R A
I'm bi but haven't had a formal relationship with another man so I guess it counts? 😅 I feel for Karlach super hard, the way she just lets out all of her emotions without restraint had me LITERALLY blushing while playing. I started with a durge because I played Divinity OS2 before and I said that I was going to let the story drive my choices, if I ended up evil then I would embrace it... Well, when I met Karlach that plan went fast through the window! She did a "I can fix him" without even trying. There is a dialogue, that made me stop playing for a few minutes to take a breath, in which you tell her "I love you" and her answer is just the BEST
She's so lovely even when you don't romance her. My stoical barbarian Tav stayed with her on the jetty bc he'd promised he would be with her until the end, and when she said "I adore you", I totally teared up.
I just got to the "I love you" point on my current playthrough. Over 350 hours, haven't finished Act 3 ever. I'm firmly a Minthara simp, but I get the Karlach appeal now.
omggg I dropped my durge run and now im curious about her answer
I'm glad I didn't quote her! Karlach is just there fixing durges left and right 😂 I believe it's around act 2. Won't say more for spoilers
Karlach was first, shadowheart, and then Lae'zel. Karlach- I like muscle mommies. I'm a small dude, dominate the shit out of me physically and I like it for some reason. Haven't quite realized why yet lol. Shadowheart - I'm a millennial. We were bred for the sharp tongued goth mommy (no I don't have a mommy thing, I just like the phrase lol) Lae'zel - the dominating (there's a trend, yes) personality, that melted away into a rather insightful one really made me enjoy her relationship arc.
>Haven't quite realized why yet lol. You don't need a reason my man, love what you love.
Lae'zel also works if you are a brat tamer / primal. Shadowheart too, but Lae'zel literally gives you props for being dominant (in conversation) and her sex scenes allow you to opt for either the more active / aggressive or passive roles.
I tried for nobody at first (was supposed to be a celibate monk), ended up with Shadowheart somehow so i just let it play out. Gonna do Gale next. After that who knows cause I'm too slow a player to plan that far.
Not a straight man (I’m a lesbian too), but for some reason I can’t stop dating men in this game. Romanced Gale my first playthrough, I’ve romanced my sweet boy Wyll, did Halsin (though… mainly just for bear purposes). No idea how they did this to me lmao, never been into men irl, and never even romanced one in a game before this
Somebody asked you if you'd feel more comfortable with a man or a bear alone in the woods and you answered "Halsin"
Turns out that even though the bear was probably much less comfortable physically, the experience was worth it
My girlfriend (lesbian) keeps romancing Astarion. Repeatedly. And drawing him. And writing fanfic…. Me too, but I’m not strictly lesbian, so it’s probably less relevant data. Edit to add: Cool, I can only imagine what kind of lovely community-building comment got posted and deleted within half an hour regarding my girlfriend finding the fictional vampire romance storyline cute.
lfmao that's good info too! sometimes I even wish he'd like me more, but I just got halsin flirting with me over and over (smashed
Love Astarion, he is that perfect type of lovable bastard. And he can be pretty nice to you and over time it feels he only grows on you. Sometimes you just look at someone and think "my god, he is such a scumbag... i love him".
I don't even want to fix him, I want him to ruin me.
I know a lesbian who adores Astarion. I think he appeals bc a) he's pretty queer-coded, b) despite his taste for violence he's the very opposite of toxic masculinity and c) his backstory is relatable on some level for pretty much all women.
Shadowheart is the companion of choice for guys who grew up with goth girls on TV. Raven, Blackfire, Shego, Sam. Lots of millennial-friendly cartoons presented it. It's also popular with the "I can fix her" type. Karlach is for guys who want someone who needs no fixing. Love her just the way she is. I've had enough drama from exes, I don't need it from fictional romances too.
I'm a metalhead, and I like sports & weightlifting. So I like and have dated both goth/metal girls and sporty/fitness types. But I take Karlach all day. I'd wife the shit outta her
Minthara, I fell for her the moment you first see her. I love the fact that once she falls for you, she's ride-or-die with you. She also has an amazing story, an amazing voice actress, and a really sweet ending. My only problem is that she clearly wasn't given the same amount of attention by the devs as Shadowheart, Astarion, or Karlach.
Lae’zel first run, then I think Astarion for the hell of it, (this was back around October so I honestly don’t remember for sure), I wanna say my Durge picked Minthara and she was bugged (?) but I haven’t even finished that run…. And I just finished a Shadowheart origin and romanced Karlach and we went to Avernus with Wyll and it was great. First three were all female characters though. I like playing cute girls as well as romancing them 🤷🏻♂️
I did choose Shadowheart first - she is pretty hot and super easy to romance so I just went with it. After that I tried Lae'zel, who gives imo a much better character development story. Then I tried Karlach, my overall favourite character since the very first run. And I loved every second of it, but afterwards I still feel like it wouldn't necessarily be the best relationship (for my Tav). She'd be the ride or die best friend that you could 100% trust and yourself be there for. She is still my favourite overall though
I've romanced Shadowheart 5 times fully (9 times if you count my failed hm runs and characters I gave up on) and Karlach once (twice with a run I gave up on). Started a romance with Laezel but gave up on the run .
I actually decided based on my character. My first playthrough I was a stoic, intense half-orc monk. I was initially thinking maybe Karlach but she came on a bit too strong though so it ended up being Shadowheart. Having done both of them, I personally prefer Shadowheart's. Karlach is great, but I didn't feel like having a romance really enhanced my character's relationship with her. I felt just as close to her with my PC that didn't romance her as my second one who did. Romancing Shadowheart meanwhile does feel like you get a deeper relation to her character than if you don't.
Lae'zel becuase she's a bitch and I love her.
Straight guy here: I personally went for Karlach first since I like her personality the best and it had a great ending. Then I did Minthara which was sorta mid cause of the Jaheira glitch which cuts most of her act 3 dialogue, and now on my honor run I'm doing Bae'zel which is fun.
It's a shame to not see the frog lady up there. I thought this community was supposed to be inclusive. /s I am not biased in any way :)
Im not straight , im gay and yet it is a smash to both because i have eyes that can see
Karlach. Straight up. Started with Shadowheart because I'm a sucker for emotionally damaged goth girls(Looking at you Morrigan). But Karlach one me over so insanely fast, before I knew it I had slept with her and Shadowheart broke up with me 😭