#i only mentioned tyranny offhandedly but tyranny also rocks

[silversed0]

One of the things I think really sets apart how Larian writes their companion characters compared to other RPGs is that they don't typically start off liking or even trusting you very much at all. In like, Dragon Age, Pillars, or the other Baldur's Gates, most characters like you by default and are invested in helping you out, or at the very least, like you in addition to having a specific reason they need to accompany you. Even the more hostile characters tend to readily open up when you ask about their backstories and their interests, because that's how you as the player need to learn more about them, which to be clear, makes sense and is totally normal!

But it does hit different in a really interesting way in both DOS2 and BG3 where you have all these people forced to group up, not because they like each other, not because they even have any unified greater goals, but because they need each others' help to solve an immediate problem. In DOS2, nobody wants to be trapped in Fort Joy, so all the characters team up, all the while you'll see some IMMEDIATE friction. In BG3, nobody wants to have a tadpole cuddling their hindbrain, so everyone sticks together in this wilderness as they desperately search for a cure. There's no real camaraderie at first, it's about survival, and accordingly, these characters often don't WANT to tell you about themselves if they don't have to (though I think this part is more true for BG3, everyone in DOS2 tends to spill their initial deal pretty fast). Gale and Shadowheart actively dislike when you prod them for information, and appreciate when you let them talk in their own time. Lae'zel has no intention of even being on this plane longer than is necessary and sees basically everyone as being beneath her initially, while Astarion's lived lifetimes of abuse and deceit that've made him this naturally distrustful, closed off person. Wyll and Karlach are exceptions to this, being these happier, more heroic characters, but even Wyll wouldn't tell you about Mizora if she didn't pop up in camp herself, because he wouldn't nearly trust you with that secret yet. They're people who don't see a reason to open up to this stranger they just met just because they're the nosy protagonist, and it contributes to making them feel super textured, I feel.

And this isn't something totally unique to Larian or anything—there's Sten in DAO, or like all of the companions in Tyranny, or a third example I couldn't immediately think of that I'm sure exists and you'll pretend is here, but I think Larian making this how most of their companions work IS more unique to them and rocks combined with just the general quality of their character writing. It doesn't and shouldn't need to be how all companions in these kinds of games are written, don't get me wrong, I just think it works super well and serves to make the world feel a bit less like it revolves totally around the player.