imo Shadowheart was the most unbearable companion at the start. But I think the point was that they’re all deeply flawed people that are forced to come together and face their trauma. Tadpole therapy works, I guess!

I always make Laezel leap to her doom right after the first fight with the three winged turds so yes, completely relatable.

The fact that everyone has different characters that they love and/or hate suggests that the devs did a pretty good job.

The writing isn’t stellar, but there’s a wide range of character types, and one person’s favorite is another’s leaat. For me, Lae’zel and Astarion are insufferable (Lae’zel a little less so, but still annoying). But those are favorites of other people, so they’re presumably not objectively bad, it’s just a matter of taste.

My only wish is that there were one or two more, or at least that the others were introduced earlier in the game (hell no, I’m not changing my entire party dynamic in Act 3).

I did my first playthrough as Karlach and romanced Gale for shiggles. After he abandoned her at the end. >!You know. Her last night alive before burning to death.!< Yeah. You can bet I left his ass in the portal the next time.

You can say Astarion, it’s okay.

(Seriously, any player who tried Astarion’s introduction at my table would be told to go get a different character, because what the fuck?)