LogFAQs > #945714370

Impressions on the companions, copied from another message board:

I love all of them, but Shadowheart is absolutely my favorite.

She's just entertaining and her snide remarks are hilarious as hell. Overall, she seems rather reasonable enough in her judgement.

Lae'zel reminds me quite a bit of Jaheira, but more out of sheer pride rather than the naturally stoic nature of a harper. Jaheira was stern, but she wasn't quite as harsh as Lae'Zel can be. I don't hate Lae'Zel, but she's probably my least favorite companion.

Gale is freakin' great. There's not much more to say about that, especially without avoiding spoilers.

Wyll's pretty cool so far. I think he's awesome based off first impressions, but I just met him in my second playthrough where I actually managed to keep him alive. That said, my main character is a Warlock, so I'll probably save his party space for my Ranger when I get around playing her.

Astarion's cool. I was mildly turned off of him at first, but he grew on me rather fast. Still don't like him quite as much as Shadowheart, Gale, or even Wyll, but I fully expect to enjoy a playthrough with him in my party.

Overall, Shadowheart > Gale > Wyll > Astarion > Lae'Zel

That's my personal ranking based off what I've played. It's hard to compare them to the NPCs of the original series, but people have to remember that aside from the obvious standouts, there was a lot of NPCs across both games that were quite bland and didn't have a lot to them. I have no doubt in my mind that Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion will prove worthwhile companions that can stand the test of time alongside the likes of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, Edwin, etc.

Obviously not Minsc, but he's a special case. Not even my favorite of the companions, but I don't think there's a single other character who's name is as synonymous with "Baldur's Gate".

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Hail Hydra