Jeez, this list is spot on for me. I had a good chuckle with the Karlach approves one.
I will say, my heart's pretty torn between Lae'zel and Shadowheart. I am pretty loyal to Shadowheart (so much so I got her romance scene twice for some reason) but there are some legit badass moments with Lae'zel that have me turning my head.
Looking forward to my second playthrough... I opted to kill Lae'zel in the first scene you find her after the crash rather than rescuing her, yet to meet anyone else who has done that so wondering what I'm missing out on 😂
I am still only in Act 1 (with 56 hrs in, this game is huge), but so far she's just been this endearing grouch. She gives off this rough murderous exterior but you just know somewhere in there she's a bit of a softy. I hear she grows a lot as a character later on so I am excited to see what comes next.
She's insane in combat tho. I don't think I can live without battle master.
Lae'zel is my best friend. If anyone makes her sad, I will kill them.
Additionally, my favorite i interaction with her involved freeing the Drow Nere, who I then talked to. I was like, "Nere, you use slaves, thats terrible," and I saw a little 'Lae'zel disapproves' box. Nere was mouthy, then I responded, "You don't understand. You aren't leaving here alive." I then saw 'Lae'zel approves' immediately after. Best natural interaction ingame I've had.
Her trust bar is maxed out for me because if bad people give me shit, I tend to murder them enthusiastically, and when good people give me shit, I ignore them and tell them to go screw themselves. And hey, she's gone from evil crazed zealot to less-evil skeptic that loves me. She's my bestie 💓
I tried to get along with her but just can't. During beta, I did a playthrough where I shot her in her cage at the beginning and kept wearing her armour. That was the most satisfying experience I had with her yet. Now after full release I kept her in my party for the whole act 1, trying to make it work but I just can't bear her snarky arrogant zealot shit so she stays in camp condemning me for helping people from there.
I think it takes a certain kind of person who can put up with snarky comments and act extremely aggressively towards people. Like my character! I made my classic Neutral Tiefling Fighter I play in tabletop, who doesn't give a shit what others believe, thinks violence is the second option if the first one fails, likes killing and fighting, tries to respect other cultures (most of the time,) and hates slavery. I tend to get strange looks at my table when I say, "Not saying we should, but we could just kill him," in regards to the innocent guards protecting a prison. Karlach is like my second best friend ingame, and she's like a good version of my character.
Anyway, Lae'zel respects that if my character doesn't like someone, I'm cutting off their head then and there. My character also tends to be brutally honest with people, and she enjoys that. You can have her like you without being evil, I still helped the grove and tieflings, I saved the Harpers, helped Halsin and stormed the Moonrise towers. AND I murdered dozens of her kind at her crèche and she was pretty chill with it after some stuff I won't get into involving the parasite and Vlaakith.
Pretty much same for me. My half-orc barbarian hit it off from the start with her. As I'm new to this whole dnd world, I don't know shit about any of these cultures or religions. Nearly everyone you meet is a zealot or has some major character flaw. My guy is all about that half-orc smash! In as many ways as possible. I'm just in the start of Act 2 but Lae'zel has my loyalty.
I adore him too, but I can't deny that I make that exact face whenever he disapproves. Okay, lemme just reload my entire file for the resident drama queen.
I think she is just kinda the default if you have no imagination - softspoken human female that isn't totally obnoxious.
In terms of female romance options Lae'zel is the only one who it seemed to make sense would be forward enough to try and jump your bones after just 2 or 3 days. Karlach wasn't even an option for me, she had no romance adjacent dialogue at the tiefling party. I wonder if part of that was just how late she joined up in act 1, I did get her engine "fixed" for the first time but it was one of the last things I did and I can't remember if it was before or after clearing the goblin camp.
I did really enjoy Shadowheart's arc though, especially since I generally adopted a policy to not suggest or try to interfere with the companions' quests. Just left them to their own decisions without trying to sway them, and the fact that Shadowheart chooses to reject Shar and Lae'zel chooses to reject Vlaakith (or at least hear Voss out) made for two of the most powerful moments in act 2 IMO. There is lots to like about all three of them throughout their arcs and that's part of what makes them so great.
Fun fact about the companion quests, what descisions you make as the player will change what your companions do if you let them make their own descisions. For example, if you side with the goblins and destroy the grove then Shadowheart will actually not reject Shar if you let her make her own decision.
I've grown so used to the companions falling in love with within a week in every RPG that I don't even notice anymore. Personally, I legitimately like Shadowheart. I've tried the Karlach romance, and she wasn't doing it for me. Dunno why. Lae'zel has more going on than I gave her credit for at the start, but Shart is still my girl.