#i like to prioritize getting camp scenes over approval in EA

[bitchesgate3]

Tips for Getting Companion Scenes

Before I get to reblogging today’s daily dose of bg3 content, I’m gonna repost my spoiler-free detailed tips on maximizing companion content here for my tumblrfolks in prep of Patch 5 tomorrow:

Camp OFTEN! There are two camp scenes before the grove fight that serve as a good starting point for getting to know the companions. Companions often have something to say after you move along in their quest or in the main quest. Do one step of a companion's quest - camp - and only then do another's. (If you do them simultaneously, you will create a backlog of scenes. Meaning you might have camped after getting Gale to Medium approval, but because Wyll was just recruited, Wyll's scene occurs first. You will have to leave the area, and camp in a different one in order to “clear the queue” and have Gale's scene occur. Just camp often and you will not have to keep track of this too much, but you can learn to min-max this pretty effectively.) Camping may or may not change much with the new camping system in patch 5, but as far as I know, you can still "spam" camps and choose not to use any resources to forgo healing, if I understood it correctly.

Use the Tadpole. When the game releases you probably want to avoid this thing, but for now, I recommend using the Tadpole until you get the first two dreams. Because whatever is going on with the tadpole involves temptation, so you might want to hear the sorts of dreams and confessions the tadpole provokes in your companions - as well as the situations that arise from them.

Choose 3 Favorites and rank them. While Act 1 Part 1 is probably the playground to get to know the companions without committing to a definite trio, I recommend making your decision quickly in any playthrough. Whether by design or not, unless you've done their plots a million times and know when to swap them out and micro manage them - you will miss content and possibly miss environmental triggers that are necessary for their character development if you don’t stick with them. Additionally, in some camp scenes, the order you talk to your companions determines what they say and how much you can respond to. This is not always the case - possibly not even often the case, but I’d rather not miss out on the interaction and insight you gain in these scenes by not adhering to it religiously. My advice is to make one your confidant, another your bro, and another your third wheel and always talk to them in that order - no matter who has the ! mark over their head for that camp night. Some scenes, because you talk to them in that order, that's how they'll come off anyway.

Or Choose 1 to give priority. A common complaint I hear from people who enjoy the companions is that Shadowheart hogs all the reaction dialogues. There seems to be an unseen randomness or prioritization of who gets to react to certain scenes. Whatever the case may be, every character has a reaction if one of them does - if it is not a companion specific quest. (Yes, Lae’zel too for example has a reaction to this or that scene.) If you want to see a specific companion's reaction, the guaranteed way is to send the other two to camp. You can always fast travel to camp and pick them up later or right after. Be ready to fight a battle with just this companion for reactions that occur immediately following. The other half of this point is that sometimes, though not often, companions will interject into a scene if it appeals to their character traits. Talk to an ambitious wizard npc with Gale. A vengeful guard mourning her fallen brother with Lae’zel. Follow someone’s cries for help with Wyll. At a certain point if you just want to see one companion's content, you can attempt a single companion run with or without mods to help.

Lastly, try something new. The game has A LOT of content - not just companion content. What that means is that just choosing a different dialogue option, a different trio, a different way to handle a situation, a different area to explore, a different class or different race can cause new scenes and conclusions you've never seen. We already know we have one coming in patch 5. So if you have played EA several times, try something new here and there. Changing up how you normally respond to a companion can also change the actual tone of their response or a different line of dialogue entirely, leaving you with a different impression of them. Don't be afraid to be an ass or an ass-kisser to them. Both are quite entertaining ;)

[bitchesgate3]

Boss, I’m STRUGGLING!!! I’m currently in the middle of trying to romance our Great and Beloved Lae’zel™ for the first time, but I feel like I’m missing a ton of cutscenes and dialogue 🥺😭 Do you happen to have/know of any guides on how to get All The Content for her? I know I have to be mean, but I feel like I’m missing/skipping things on accident!

I got you – don’t you worry. I’ll make you one right now with alllllll the fine details.

In BG3, there’s approval and there’s content. Picking and choosing from my Lae’zel approval guide will certainly lead you to her romance scene, and it might be more straight forward for your first run. But you’ll have a richer experience if you focus on content. For general advice for getting companion content, see my other guide here, although it is slightly out of date for patch 5. Like that guide, I will avoid spoilers as much as possible below.

For Lae’zel specifically, the simplest answer on how to get her content is to prioritize her. And it’s as meta as it sounds. 😏 I will also say that the following advice is slightly tailored to offer scenes in a way that make her the most sociable and give off vibes she is warming up to you. If you prefer to rp a bit more love/hate, then you may be able to follow the general guide linked above alone. The following advice is a bit min-maxy, but if you want to get everything, here’s how to do it:

1) Camp Twice before reaching the Grove. You can only get these two camp scenes before reaching the Grove. I usually camp after recruiting Lae’zel and then camp before or after taking out the chapel looters.

2) Talk to her first in camp scenes. The order you talk to your companions decides how much or how little they say to you in some scenes, so you might as well be consistent. You can test this out on Camp Night 1 in particular. This also means that even if another companion has an (!) exclamation mark over their head, you pass them over. It is fun to headcanon why she’s calmer if you talk to her first and extremely agitated if you talk to her after others on that camp night.

3) Recruit Gale After Camp Night 2. Gale’s Mirror Image scene plays on Camp Night 2 if you have him recruited. If you do not have him, instead you will get an “Inspection” scene from Lae’zel discussing symptoms and the tadpole voice. There’s no approval in this scene, but as a Lae’zel fan you will probably prefer it to Gale’s.

4) Recruit Astarion After Camp Night 3. After dealing with Zorru, Astarion will have a camp night scene where he is staring at the stars. If you try to talk to Lae’zel first, she will have nothing to say (which may be a bug). But if you talk to her after Astarion, she will have her own star gazing scene where she gets caught up longing for home. It’s a scene you don’t want to miss. However, if you do not have Astarion recruited, you will be able to immediately talk to Lae’zel, and there is a change in how the scene begins and ends that emphasizes her homesickness. This would be another instance where talking to her first offers a bit more.

5) Follow her Lead. Step back to offer support. Let her take charge. Whatever you want to call it, if you are interested in getting her romance scene, you are gonna want to make sure that some things play out the way she wants them to. That means you’re going to want to do her questline: pursue Zorru, pursue the creche, and encounter the Gith Patrol. If you usurp control from her in the Gith Patrol scene, she will consider it betrayal and not offer you an intimate invitation later. I assume this goes the same for the Zorru scene. I also assume that if you do not pursue her questline at all, she will deny you as well. Give her control and ride the waves.

6) Get the Raphael Scene Early. If you do not do the Nettie, Priestess Gut, or Hag before the Gith Patrol, Lae’zel’s camp scene after will be overridden by the Raphael scene. You do not want to miss Lae'zel's camp scene after the patrol, as it is as far as we get in her plotline in EA. So do one of the 3 scenes above to ensure it doesn’t conflict.

7) Use the Tadpole to get the Two Dreams. Yes she is adamant about not using the tadpole, but I believe the Lae’zel scenes from them are CRUCIAL to getting deeper insight into her character. You get to see just how much she clings to protocol, how much she is devoted to her queen, as well as what Tav’s role might be in getting her to think outside the box.

8) Lae’zel also has a Reaction. My last advice to utterly maximize Lae’zel content is to realize that any time a companions has an (!) exclamation mark above their head after an event, there is also a reaction scene for Lae’zel as well. To ensure that you see her reaction scenes, you simply have to dismiss your other party members before triggering the scene. One of my favorite reactions is the one after speaking to Sazza.

And that’s it! Hope this helps you better please the Queen. 😉