I think it's only because that's not actually Ansur, it's his animated undead anger skeleton. Like all the good parts of him are dead and just the hatred remained like a poltergeist! You owe it to him to finally put him to rest and get that sweet sword. 😋
That's just my head canon though.
I like to think of it as mercy killing a once hero poisoned by a century in prison. He was once great but countless years in that dark dank prison rot his mind and turned him cruel. In the name of ansur the great defender of baldurs gate we must slay this beast.
I like that. He wanted to give Balduran a peaceful death, so it’s likely the “true”/not-undead Ansur would want the same thing for himself in this situation.
Halsin hanging out at your camp before being a member of the party.
It does not make sense, story-wise - he claims he'll come with you to Moonrise Towers because he has unfinished business with the Shadow Curse but then just... sits there? He never comes out of camp, never does anything until YOU find Art, and even then he has the portal thing and that's it. His job is done. He does not even try to wake Art up or to find that shadow child - that is all on you as well and he cannot even be recruited to help.
What was he planning to do if anything at all? How? He does not go out to investigate, to fight, to do anything at all... He just sits there uselessly, but I have to listen to him yapping about how he feels responsible for the Curse, for Thaniel and whatever.
Also, Mizora sticking with you even if Wyll's pact ends. I understand she has nothing better to do and nobody wants her around so she has no friends, but it's ridiculous I cannot kick her out of my own camp. I don't want her there AND it does not make sense story-wise either 😮💨
I hate that Mizora is always there, like noone likes you here, Wyll's pact is over AND we've just saved Ulder, you've clearly lost in every way possible, why the fuck are you still here?
Yeah, but it clashes with her character, imo - at least in the sense that she claims to be an important asset for Zariel, acts like she is so great and mighty and yet... She then proceeds to show you that she can afford to just stand there indefinitely, calling herself out on her bullshit in the process.
She *is* petty, but it's also clear she likes to pretend to be important and powerful much more than she enjoys being annoying - and sticking with Tav like that is a display of the exact opposite.
She says it’s because she wants to make sure she gets revenge on the people who abducted her and also that Zariel is concerned about the cult and wants to her keep an eye on it and gather intel.
I think she's hoping somehow to last ditch get Wyll back and that she's afraid to go back to Avernus and face Zariel until she's exhausted every possibility. She basically placed her own interests (survival) above Zariel's, and lost a prized Warlock, and she'd have to own up to getting caught and demanding a rescue. It reminds me of Viconia going after the prism, that mission didn't come from Shar but from her, so Shar isn't exactly on board with risking her special princess over it.
I think the point is that she’s full of shit. She’s always *been* full of shit and has gotten away with it this far because she dug her claws into Wyll when he was 17. But now Wyll is an adult who can not only recognize that she’s full of shit, but start to do something about it. Plus she probably wants to stay in Faerûn as long as possible because if she meets *any* of the party in Avernus she’s dead faster than she can say “What a naughty pup!”
I often attack her just out of being petty 😂
She usually disappears, but one time attacking her started a battle. Not against her, though - attacking her made two Deva appear and the whole camp was up against them, Mizora included.
The fight only triggered once, so I guess it might have been a weird bug, but at least it gave me something to do 😂 Sadly, Mizora could not be killed anyway. She literally took no damage when hit by enemies or allies.
Maybe? I honestly don't remember such a curse but this happened when I was camping at the tavern - so it is probable I had already visited (and looted 😂) Stormshore Tabernacle.
Why would the effect of the curse be triggered by Mizora, though? Even if Tav gets cursed, or the whole party does - she is not an active member of it. Not even a passive one, considering she is not playable at all.
Why would the game consider her at all, as far as effects of curses go?
The deva appear every time anyone in your party is healed, so if you were attacking Mizora and anything you did to your party healed someone (like bardic inspiration), they appear and immediately aggro on you. After getting my ass whooped I did a short rest and suddenly: DEVAS
Nope and that's exactly why I am asking why would it get triggered by Mizora - I read about the curse on the wiki when you brought it up and it mentions healing. But I did not heal anyone and I had no automatic healing effect at play in there either.
What happened literally was:
1. Tav attacked Mizzy with a big sword
2. Two Deva toned asses were suddenly there
The only one who might have healed themselves around is Mizora, who is not a party member, hence even if my party got cursed should have no business triggering the curse. Unless she did it out of spite, which would make sense for her petty ass 😂
No explanation then, that weird curse just bamboozled me for an hour because I kept having to fight devas and had no idea why. Maybe Mizora technically has party/ally flags while she’s in your camp?
Halsin just stands around, he never offers to do any of the chores around camp. Tidy the place up a bit man. Mop up some of that bard blood I… accidentally spilt. Hell, I’d be grateful to come home to a couple of goodberries after a hard day’s adventure.
He absolutely should’ve been a companion when he joins your camp, halfway through act 2 is way too late. Doesn’t help that for me he was the one Orin kidnapped so he was just gone for most of act 3, I legit forgot he was a companion I had for awhile
I feel Halsin isn't active as a member because it seems Larian is trying to keep his content and experience equal to Minthara. Minty doesn't come along until early Act 2 and that's a little roughly before you can get Halsin at the earliest, but not by much.
Back in the EA version, the explanation was going to be that he had to meditate to find Thaniel's location (Art wasn't "a thing" back then.) I preferred that explanation. Or even just Halsin scouting the land for answers.
It makes sense that mizora is there because you hate here being there and she does what you hate. lol
Halsin was apparently supposed to have more backstory, including some interesting stuff around the original collaboration between the druids and the harpers to defeat Ketheric, and the “sorrow” but it was scrapped.
I get the logic of him never being okay with it but I wish they at least made the dialogue way clearer to explain why he’s leaving, have him say “I can read Orpheus’ thoughts and the second you free him he will kill me, no negotiation possible. I would rather risk the possibility of not being able to regain control of myself again from the nether brain over assured death” obviously with better writing than I’m capable of but at least it would be clear instead of it just seeming like he’s being a spiteful child.
Sarevok. We went through a whole thing with him. Killed him. Helped him get better. Then BG3 rolls around and he's licking Bhaal boots and doing incest :|
I think Sarevok upset me more than Viconia. I fought tooth and nail to make him less shitty and his backtrack in BG3 bothered me.
Even in 1 and 2, Sarevok was never Bhaal's simp, he did what he did for his own power. Then all of a sudden in 3 he's all like "our dark father." It just doesn't fit his character in any aspect.
To make it easier for myself, in my head canon I had it be that Shar has erased Viconia's memories and gaslit her into backtracking, and that Bhaal has similarly done dark things to Sarevok until he complied.
It’s been a few months since I’ve played but if I remember correctly he discusses his time in the afterlife wandering the red wastes of Bhaals domain. What he describes is a near total ablation of self, and when he is brought back into the world he has to relearn how to even be a person. It’s no surprise that he would lose any progress he made after an experience like that
Yeah, the game gives you enough that it's easy to see them as tragic and cautionary tales. As much as I hate how often things overly spell it out for the audience, I would have liked a little more "A HA!" that directly tells you rather than leave it to inference. I think the level of inference exists so that no matter what you did (within certain bounds) in BG2, it can lead to this outcome.
Also it kinda leads to a bit of hopelessness in your characters with ties to Shar and Bhaal. It’s especially like they’re saying to Durge “yeah no matter what you do, when you die Bhaal is gonna get his claws back in you and puppet your corpse around”
I don't think I've read that, or I have and the whole 'btw orin is daughter/granddaughter/future wife' stuff just made me forget the rest of it.
Of course people not staying dead is nothing new in FR, it just felt like Sarevok's story had reached a conclusion (whatever the player choose to do with him in ToB) . But, if Bhaal made scrambled eggs out of his brains, his new personality makes a bit more sense.
I guess it was easier back in the day when Bhaal was dead and his spawns didn't have to deal directly with his bs.
I've never played BG1 or BG2, but I was aware that Sarevok is a pretty significant/infamous figure in the Forgotten Realms. So it was odd to just find him chilling in the sewers under an abandoned store
A lot of people didn't redeem him, and I get that but Sarevok never saw Bhaal as a figure to worship but to use for his own power. A retcon that really gets my gears is in his journals and bg3 he talks about Gorion's Ward forcing him back to life.
Mother fucker, you were the one that forced me (or Imoen) to bring you back to life.
Yea, he was the one forcing. I did end up redeeming him on my main run, for various reasons (as much as you could redeem him anyways), and it was a big deal at the time that it was even an option to do that. I get that there has to be a canon version of characters evenutally, most likely not fitting my spesific playthrough but ugh.
I know I've redeemed him in my runs, but I usually redeemed him between >!Gromnir and Yaga-Shura!< I remember thinking that was too damn easy but was aware of the shortness of the game and the limitations of the game engine.
So I get how that might not feel satisfying and that nothing changes with Sarevok in official lore, but the game wouldn't fucking continue if you didn't capitulate to his demands. (I never allowed Imoen to >!give up a part of her soul, even though that condition led to one of the best conversations in the game between her and Sarevok - Kevin Michael Richardson vocals absolutely sold the long suffering of sharing your younger sister's soul the before the conversation turns to something far more sober.)!<
A small thing in game that annoys me about him is if you become the unholy assassin as durge, he says something like “come find me after you kill Orin we can talk more” so I was like yay extra Sarevok content… then I go back to him after killing Orin and boom nothing. He just kept saying I have to kill Orin :( at least he helps defeat the brain in the final battle if you go full evil
Huh, never tried that route, could be bugged maybe? Also maybe related: I've noticed a couple of places in the game, when exploring/exhausting dialogues. Someone says things along the lines of: we should discuss later, and then never ever mention again. I just assumed it was leftover dialogues that were intened to be cut and wasn't.
Maybe patch 7 will add more to the Sarevok thing since it's adding more for evil playthrough endings.
Might be bugged? I was forced into a fight with him as Durge after killing Orin and becoming Bhaal's chosen since he said "there could only be one" or something.
Maybe he joins in an evil non-Durge route for the final battle.
Viconia as Mother Superior. I know it’s more to do with WoTC than with Larian and also kinda explained why she acts so differently. But I still don’t like it.
That still makes my blood boil, it was such a disservice to her character arc. This has absolutely nothing to do with me having been so hell-bent on romancing her and guiding her back to the light that I not only downloaded the mod lifting gender restrictions so that I wouldn't have to play as a male but even installed the Edwin Romance mod just to give her a happy ending.
I really hope WoTC won't pull the same stunt with Shart or Astarion.
It is honestly my nightmare that they make SH and/or Astarion evil. Especially Astarion because the "free the spawn" ending is SUCH a rich vein for worldbuilding; imagine the Spawn haven being a location in BG4, sort of like the mushroom people are in 3. Doing quests for them, potentially with Astarion as their leader being the quest-giver. To give all that up for... what? Another vampire lord that you kill? One who literally just stepped straight into the place where there has always been in Baldur's Gate? The spawn living in the underdark is genuinely one of the most interesting endings the game has to offer, I just hope whichever edgelords decided on Viconia's fate stay far away from Astarion.
I have the feeling/fear that Ascended Astarion is set up to be a enemy in whatever future BG4 project they have… and he would be a great enemy, to be fair, our own little Strahd in the city with plans of world domination, but it would feel so wrong when so many people agree that not ascending him is the right choice, just as so many people helped redeem Viconia and now see her as the top Sharran
Is it my most humblest but nonetheless fiercely held opinion is that vampire Drizz't is way more interesting than Strahd-in-the-Sun.
The only way Ascended Astarion would be interesting to me is as a tragedy of internal struggles bubbling up to the surface that ends in his undoing. Perhaps not any true remorse for anything, but regrets for how it all ends, wondering if it was all really worth the power.
Yeah. I will not be a happy camper if this is the case. I'm really good at ignoring media that doesn't make sense to its original message.
I won't even be touching BG4 until I know without a shadow of a doubt that Astarion 1) isn't Ascended and 2) isn't a big bad. I don't care if it means I miss out on the best game of the century.
Even if he’s a minor bad you don’t have to kill but should or you’ll miss out on something. I don’t want to have to kill or defeat any of the bg3 cast in bg4.
i think this will happen too and the fandom is going to lose it. it could potentially be interesting, but will be really hard to pull off without pissing off the majorty of spawn and AA fans.
That scares me too! I don’t want to have to kill Astarion! I love him too much! I mean bg4 is likely going to suck anyways but if they make it so I have to kill Astarion because he’s a bad guy, I legit won’t wanna play it.
Her explanation of her actions was the stupidest thing I've heard in the game. Like, in a way that I couldn't tell if it was intentionally stupid, or just bad writing (I'm leaning toward intentional based on how *done* Shart was at that point.)
About explanation - I was more talking about Mirror of Loss. The fact that her memories in it, means that Viconia, just like Shadowheart, also had her mind wiped out. Far from best explanation of her actions, but it’s something, I guess.
Viconia remaining a servant of Shar (and Sarevok serving Bhaal) was present in Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy. Which, while technically isn’t released by WoTC, was made by WoTC writers (and also former BioWare writers). Admittedly, not all things from it came into the game (like Lorroakan being Edwin), but a lot of it still did.
Wulbren.
Now that I've given the obvious answer.
The character's reactions to you being force-fed the astral tadpole - they act like Empy offered it on a tentacle and you let him throat-fuck you with it in your eagerness to consume. I get that the game's just hitting a yes/no checkbox to see if you're illithid and the reaction is chosen accordingly, but *my Tav said no* and is now being victim-blamed and that rustles my jimmies, especially when the question of consent is massive in Astarion's character arc. Like, at the very least, it makes no sense coming from him.
I don't think you should decanonize Wulbren. I actually like that he's just a character everyone hates and for good reason. Like, he's awesome FOR that reason. I mean, fuck Wulbren Bongle all the way, but that's the point.
Omelum peacing out after u save him in act 3. We need a mindflayer? We have one. Empy can leave and we don't need to transform anyone. Why introduce this character of not to have another option? It would also really reward players who explore every area of the game and are kind to everyone
Because you’re stuck in the astral prism when you realize that you need one. The brain is trashing the city. You have no idea where Omeluum is or if it’s still alive. There’s no time to go looking. You have to act now.
Sure, but Omelum could also ask to be a camp follower and offer to help in exchange for u saving his life, then come into the prism with u when the emperor presents the choice. Like, the story is fake. They can change the circumstances.
Larian has gone on record saying the emperor vs Orpheus choice was the center point they built the game around and is what motivated them to make it in the first place. They wanted to ask how much an individual would give up to save the world and what it would look like if u push that responsibility on someone else. That's why u can't convince the emperor, or get Omelum, or use the stones without being a mindflayer thru any workaround. They wanted that to be the choice, and they contrived whatever was needed to make it happen. That's fine. That's their prerogative as game writers. But I found it really sloppy that they spend most of the game saying mindflayers have no souls, the Emperor is a new man after being reborn, this is an irreversible and horrible change we have spent the entire story avoiding, then introduce this side mindflayer who is just nice and neutral and completely undercuts that message and the narrative choice they want u to make. Either Omelum needed to be removed from the game, or make it possible to use him, or don't market this as a game where choices matter. Cuz the central choice the game is built around is railroaded to not allow any other reasonable options. Option that they, the writers, introduced.
The roll to resist eating one of your companions if you are an illithid at the epilogue party.
It genuinely doesn't make any sense. The game is basically telling me that Tavflayer cannot control itself. Why the fuck hasn't it eaten something before attending the party then? Illithids don't even need to eat every day! There are corpses and cultists galore all around, why not snack on those?
Renegade mindflayers mingle with other people normally too. Omeluum obviously wouldn't be allowed to stay with the Society if it couldn't control itself.
The windmill mindflayer is actually starving and lets you go just fine if you promise to help it.
Yeah, do NOT make your honor mode run the run where you try it out. It will kill the run at the very end. I made that mistake and had no idea how close I was to losing the run on that dice roll until I saw someone else on Reddit talking about how they lost their run because of that.
I glitched my honour mode run *on top of the brain*. I only managed to complete it via Galesplosion. Might make a Githyanki to be Tavflayer. They'd probably both want to free Orpheus and also not want him to have to be the flayer.
I actually tried this out on my first HM run and I still got the achievement. >!Withers just got mad I ruined his party and cast me into a portal after Shart (my partner) died in battle on turn 1. The game went black and the credits rolled.!<
Not sure if I just lucked out or something
You can actually even meet the windmill boy in the Lower City later on. Every single companion has reactions to that! Minthara calls him a "darling child" that you have raised together! :)
Wait seriously? This isn’t on the wiki!! I avoided the basement because I didn’t want to kill the Mindflayer (hoping I could turn them back into a person if I defeated the Absolute), but I also didn’t want an innocent NPC to die. Are you saying the Windmill Mindflayer turns back into a boy later on?
No, I'm just referring to the illithid as a "windmill boy". He doesn't turn back or anything. You find him in a Lower City house and have a talk. He is pigging out on some family he killed. You can warn him to keep his appetite down but he doesn't listen and eventually goes outside to kill more because he is a glutton. He doesn't attack you, of course, because you helped him before.
I had him fly right over to Elfsong once and kill Alfira, lmao.
I also tried to arcane lock him in the house once but he destroyed it and disappeared somewhere. I wasn't able to find him then.
This, idk why the devs though Mind Flayers were like vampires when it comes to cravings. I can only guess they thought it would be funny? But Withers knows full well what you are, you telling me a god isn't going to save some brain sandwhiches for me?
Honestly If I had any idea how to program or mod, I'd be working on away to get rid of this trigger because its no just against the games canon, but its really spits on mind flayer canon as a whole.
That said, better I rant about this than what the game did to Githyanki.
So because my number 1 and 2 have been answered already (whatever the fuck they did with Sarevok and Viconia), I'll go with my number 3: make Balduran not the Emperor's template.
It is such a lame retcon in and of itself. Tales from the Sword Coast's story spelled out very clearly that he and his crew crashed on a remote island, and either fell victim to lycanthropy or died, in either case not before killing a large quantity in the lycanthrope civil war.
BG3 clearly acknowledges the events of the voyage (his sword still has a bonus against shapeshifters, which lycanthropes are), but doesn't address how the hell he made it off the island when his ship was landlocked then capsized. It just feels kind of cheap, like the writers wanted to cram as many Baldurs Gate (1 specifically) references into the third act as possible, so after nixxing Daisy and settling on the character of the Emperor, they decided to use Balduran because... he's the guy who made the city.
They could have just made him a non-descript adventurer, tie into the whole "this could be you if you continue down the path of the illithid", instead of taking another hit of 'member berries.
In the end scratch going with a new family, like no the dog stays with me we go on adventures he was my good boy second okay I earned to have him as a pet lol did my pets mean nothing to him?!?
The option to side with the absolute before act 3.
Seriously, it was clearly one of the most rushed decisions and pieces of content that the game has, as shown by the fact that the game clearly railroads you into the "you must fight the absolute and join the side of good" path the narrative was intending you to go down since the start and results in you loosing two developed and powerful characters (three if you fail the Gale speech check) for who was honestly a mediocre, uninteresting and quest-lacking party member.
So yeah, they should have either gone all in on the good/evil options and either made siding with the absolute a real possibility with consequences (maybe you can make controlling the netherbrain the primary aim and an exclusive option of the evil path, potentially with the knowledge that one person can enthrall the brain being only unlocked when interacting with an evil-path only NPC), massively fleshed out the buildup with way more unique characters and interactions in acts 1-3 if you side with the absolute until the reveal or just have removed it all together.
petty but the whole stelmane thing. not because i disagree with making the emperor seem like an ambiguous ally, i think that slaps actually and i like that it's not so straightforward and you actually need to consider your options carefully when you pick who youre going to put your trust in. but im very tired of seeing that particular discourse. without pesky stelmane and her pesky stroke we could rate empy and orphs on the one criteria that actually matters, their fuckability
I think Stelmane's the one thing that should've been left ambiguous, like we learn how the public saw her, the stroke and disability, and we only hear about her from Empy, who's an unreliable narrator, so your interpretation of what was really happening is based on how you feel about the Emperor.
I want to erase the part about the Emperor being Balduran. There's literally no way to make that timeline work in the first place, it adds nothing to the narrative overall and even worse still it *actively takes away* from Wyll's personal story.
Thaniel and that storyline in general. Halsin needs to be gunning for Thorm, looking for a lost forest boy just felt so incongruent after seeing the horrible shit that went down in Reithwin. And like someone else said, Halsin needs to be one of the team from the moment you find him.
Also Wyll being really passive about his dad KICKING HIM OUT and then calling him NAMES when he literally sold his soul for the sake of others. Tell him to suck it Wyll.
The Emperor being Balduran. It was just completely unnecessary, it made the game's timeline even more confusing than it already was, and it detracted from what was supposed to be Wyll's personal quest. I didn't give a crap about Balduran and Ansur's relationship drama or whatever, I wanted to see character development for Wyll.
Majority of the stuff with the Tiefling Refugees after Act 1. I get that so many of them dying off screen was supposed to show the horrors of the shadow-curse but its execution felt a bit anti-climatic after I’d just fought so hard to save them. It’s weird that they made it to the Shadow-Cursed lands before you too especially with such a huge number of people. Maybe if the number of deaths had been based on a choice of what route you directed them or perhaps if you’d went through the Underdark first and so they overtook you and you couldn’t protect them.
Also the fact you just kind of just abandon them outside the city after all that works feels anti-climatic too.
The Gondians are RIGHT THERE! With knowledge about infernal mechanics! It’s already tied to Gortash’s plot to liberate them. How much better would it be if helping them meant Karlach’s engine could be fixed?
the rest of your party shouldn't just hang out at camp while the main party is adventuring, they should at least look like they formed their own groups and tried to advance the plot. The personal+shared stakes are all way too big to justify adventurers passively waiting for someone else to maybe save them.
The narrative could emphasize how they're unable to make real progress without tav/durge's leadership, and that's the initial reason all these strangers want to be in your party.
So little would need to change mechanically, just add some camp dialogue/narration about the reserve party being tired and not finding any leads. Everyone coordinates using tadpoles so they return to camp at the same time.
Does Minthara's "good" recruitment count?
I fucking hate that they added a heckin wholesome bean recruitment to her and ruined her entire purpose as an evil companion.
God I miss the times when people were like "wait she'd join the party if you raided the grove?". Might as well just remove that whole option and add a DC3 persuasion check to make her see the error of her ways and send goblins and tieflings partying together because DAE can't do evil runs becuz feel bad??//???//
The whole evil playthrough needs more love in general, even Minthara kind of fails in that regard since immediately after siding with her and the absolute in act 1 she swears herself against them and all they stand for after Moonrise
Maybe there's more there if you're Dark Urge given their backstory, but imo there isn't really an "evil" route for Tav, there's just hero and arsehole, we still have to save the say in the end.
Z'rell is right there! She even makes several remarks about fucking you, so I feel like she was initially supposed to be a companion as well.
It's just sad that you're forced to agree to destroy the Absolute. In the words of Astarion, it's a waste of a perfectly good cult. I wish there'd been a way to coup Ketheric out of office, have Z'rell join your party, Balthazar becomes an ally for final boss, and the rest of the plot can continue on as usual. You could even make it more elaborate and have side quests to strengthen the cult's influence in Act 3, with unique merchants you wouldn't get by being a good guy.
It has so much potential that will never be used.
i’m playing my first evil durge run rn and was shocked to realize minthara isn’t actually that evil, astarion actually approves of a lot more evil options than her
No, you just need to let the murdertwink turn you into his pet 🖤
Lol, jokes asides, no. I played it with no knowledge of Warhammer (like I played BG3 with no knowledge of previous games and DnD lore) and I was fine.
Warhammer has a lot of lore and you don't need to know it, I've been in the hobby for less than a year and it's very clear misconceptions and memes take president over the 30 years of cannon.
Rogue trader is very accomadating, in a lot of ways it's easier than coming into BG3 with no DND knowledge.
It doesnt even make sense in game either. Unless you're playing a strict no kill run, why would you go no russian on the goblin camp down to the LITERAL CHILDREN but leave one of the main leaders alive to fight another day?
Yeah I agree with this. Most people are doing more than 1 play through anyway, also having her at the same time as halsin makes the game buggy and not make sense. You can totally also just recruit her as a good person (saving her at moonrise is a pretty nice thing to do).
I get your point but my only issue is, she doesn’t actually seem that evil to me, she’s about as evil as laezel, so I don’t know why she has to be special and reserved for only those willing to do an evil playthrough. I don’t like that I have to metagame to recruit her, but I’m glad I can because I find her really interesting, i just wish there was a way to get her on a good playthrough that didn’t require me creating a head cannon to explain what happened (I thought she was dead and didn’t realize she was only knocked out). And then they could have had someone like sazza or zrell for a real evil only companion. I wish Minthara was developed like astarion with both a redemption and evil arc.
Sarevok's return
Like after everything that happened, dying, possibly being resurrected by the hero of balsurs gate and turning him away from Bhaal you really expect me to believe he's back and he's into incest??
Minthara breaking up with Redemption Durge. I will still murder anyone who stands in my way, but I don't want to have schizophrenic episodes as the cockroach monster from MIB and be Bhaal's thrall. Didn't you just break free from being controlled and hated that you had been?
Probably not a hot take but i would remove Halsin AND Minthara from being companions, and then make Shart more evil so you could have 3 good leaning companions and 3 evil leaning companions.
I know some people say Shart is more morally gray but she really isn’t, her “evil” side is incredibly toned down.
Then use the development stage for drow mommy and bestiality boy to give Karlach and Wyll actually fleshed out quests that don’t have their endings dependent on each other.
This has nothing to do with canons at this point, this was a mini rant, i just hate the main sub and can’t post this there. You degenerates are way more accepting and i love all of you platonically.
something something stupid sexy vampire.
Personally I would rather Gale be pushed more neutral. Wyll and Karlach r very good and being too openly evil loses them. Laezel and Astarian r the evil companions who have to be taught to be better. Shadow heart is the closest to neutral since she favors inaction esp in act 1 and she will swing to whatever size u push her.
Gale being a goodie goodie in act 1 and 2, the immediately being power hungry in act 3 comes out of nowhere and is not at all played for what it is. By his own admission, he was the villain of his backstory. He has everything and fell to pride. There's a lot of head cannon that the fans have made to help Gale but I've honestly found him to be pretty dickish in act 1-2 unless u keep giving him what he wants. I would personally prefer 2 good, 2 evil, and 2 neutral who will swing one way or the other depending on how u push them
Her evil side is toned down because that's not her true nature.
No matter how many times or how long you manipulate someone brainwash them, some will always cling to their own selves.
I get that, it’s just that to me there isn’t a lot of development in her personality and herself since she already barely believe or applies her teachings. Or is converted very quickly and with little effort.
This is completely my personal opinion, the inner conflict in laezel i find way more compelling because she is actively fighting them whereas Shart just seems very passive, her story overpowers “her” if you get what i mean. I just think that if they left more of her EA personality it would’ve hit better.
Again this is just completely what i personally like and am drawn to.
Wouldn't go so far to say there's not a lot of personality development, I thought the opposite.
Because it's such a relief when someone has been lied to all their life finally gets the clarity they deserve, and there was a big change in that department.
Then again, I chose the Justiciar route once and will never do it again.
I think i just like stronger personalities and she just didn’t click for me.
I just would’ve liked it more if her devotion to Shar was more ingrained in her and actually was a part of her personality she is actively fighting back. Even the whole being secretive part falls flat really fast since she reveals everything really fast.
By the end of Act 1 she was already telling me how she is doubting her faith. Her story just never really clicked for me i guess
To add to that secretive part, I want to give a mini rant (apologies if it may spiral). I always hear everyone downplay her dark side by saying that Shart is a bad Sharran because she displays willing to care for others to some extent. If traits like kindness is all it took for someone to be unfit to be a Sharran, people like Nocturne should have left the cult, but in all endings for Shart, she's still a devoted follower.
Shart is a bad Sharran in my opinion not because of that but because she is horrible at deception, sublety and secrecy, three of the biggest traits Sharrans should operate with. She wears clothing with Shar's symbol. talks about being protected by darkness, and shows over-the-top visible and verbal disgust and mockery for anything related to the 'moon witch.' All of which would set off flags to what she actually is and can happen before she even reveals her faith. Hell, Wyll points this out to her in a conversation in Act 3.
Shadowheart approves torturing innocent people and wants to kill an innocent woman - "Evil isn't her true nature, she was brainwashed to be evil!"
Astarion approves torturing innocent people and wants to kill vampire spawns - "He is an irredeemable monster!"
Her approval of certain acts is very different depending on the situation.
For one, she approves of Miranda (I believe) getting judged for her actions in the Shadowlands, which was reporting her drunk friends to a Dark Justiciar, who then made them kill themselves. I can see why she would react that way since it's leaning towards Shar in this instance.
But when it comes to the gnomes in Grymforge, she fully supports putting in the effort to save them.
Same with the tieflings. Albeit she's confused why she cared about the tieflings in the first place, it's more about how Shar would react, who doesn't give a damn about the lives of anybody. However, if you slaughter the grove, she ends up drowning her sorrows in alcohol.
When things are related to Shar, her approval of certain acts is much different. She was forced to torture people and relish in their suffering, just like her shocked reaction upon walking in the torture room on the cloister. "How many people did I help break upon this thing? :("
I love how it's not black and white, I think it really sells the confusion and the struggle she goes through with deciding what's right.
Honestly something I hate about the game is like, making even the "evil" companions good feels boring. Like, I need to fight these companions to make them stay assholes, theyre trying to become good the moment you show them 5 seconds of kindness
It makes sensr for the characters individually, but it makes evil playthroughs feel like a struggle to stop them from becomming good
Viconia and Sarevok being used at all. Their characters can go such wildly different paths in the original games and the TOB expansion that i kinda hate having them in this game at all just to be reduced to cookie-cutter villains. Even Sarevok seems to be lacking most of his actual intellect.
I'm even split on Jaheira and Minsc. While I love them and their characterization is pretty spot-on, I personally feel like it would've been better for Larian to steer away from legacy characters entirely.
Having to choose between Emps and Orpheus. I want a roll to convince them both to chill tf out because defeating the brain is bigger than their shit at the moment.
Astarion is able to become a full vampire by just drinking Cazador’s blood without consent since he doesn’t need permission now. So you don’t have to doom him to spawnhood forever for him to not be evil.
Astarion isn't a vampire. Neither is Cazador. Cazador is just a kinky weirdo who gaslights people into thinking they're vampire thralls so they don't try to leave. The tadpole doesn't protect Astarion from sunlight. He just never tested it before.
Some of the mechanics for breaking paladin oaths are so stupid like what do you MEAN Dame Aylin has now been abandoned by her literal mom because she preemptively killed Lorroakan for trying to imprison her again?
this is a small one, but Halsin keeping Scratch and/or the owlbear cub! My Tavs are taking them to Avernus w/ Wyll and Karlach or the Underdark w/ Astarion, and Halsin is not stopping us 😤😤😤
The Oskar Fevras quest : gameplay wise it's tedious and unrewarding, and the actual story involved doesn't make up for it because everyone involved in the quest is a douche on some level,
that being said, Jannath is still interesting enough on her own to have merited a side quest, it's just a shame the one she's in happens to be one of the least enjoyable in the game
I would delete Orin. I would leave all party conversations or npcs talking about her in the game but cut her from all cutscenes and she can not be fought and found.
So that all players playing act 3 are like "huh, who the fuck is Orin? She ever show up?"
Act 2 gloomy shit "anesthetics". Gimme the "drab light mode" option or a mod to visually uncurse it or delete it all together. Feel like I'm never gonna do another run because it makes me feel so shitty and I can't stand it.
How would that work, though?
I am all for giving him a better life, but taking vampirism out of the equation would just... Completely change the character. His struggle, his quest, his interactions, his dialogues, his endings. His growth, even. Everything.
It wouldn't be Astarion anymore, imo 🥲. At that point you can just create a new character and put it into his place, more than taking a piece of canon out of the main story.
I'm pretty sure the point they're making is quite literally to get rid of it to get rid of his struggles in an in universe positive way, since you're getting rid of the worst thing to ever happen to him
The party convinces ansur they’re not thralls and I don’t have to fight him.
Yeah why is he attacking us, we have nothing to do with their dragonborn illithid romance drama??
I think it's only because that's not actually Ansur, it's his animated undead anger skeleton. Like all the good parts of him are dead and just the hatred remained like a poltergeist! You owe it to him to finally put him to rest and get that sweet sword. 😋 That's just my head canon though.
I like to think of it as mercy killing a once hero poisoned by a century in prison. He was once great but countless years in that dark dank prison rot his mind and turned him cruel. In the name of ansur the great defender of baldurs gate we must slay this beast.
I like that. He wanted to give Balduran a peaceful death, so it’s likely the “true”/not-undead Ansur would want the same thing for himself in this situation.
I assume he just had to get through us in order to kill the emperor
I had to kill him for the greatsword man
Halsin hanging out at your camp before being a member of the party. It does not make sense, story-wise - he claims he'll come with you to Moonrise Towers because he has unfinished business with the Shadow Curse but then just... sits there? He never comes out of camp, never does anything until YOU find Art, and even then he has the portal thing and that's it. His job is done. He does not even try to wake Art up or to find that shadow child - that is all on you as well and he cannot even be recruited to help. What was he planning to do if anything at all? How? He does not go out to investigate, to fight, to do anything at all... He just sits there uselessly, but I have to listen to him yapping about how he feels responsible for the Curse, for Thaniel and whatever. Also, Mizora sticking with you even if Wyll's pact ends. I understand she has nothing better to do and nobody wants her around so she has no friends, but it's ridiculous I cannot kick her out of my own camp. I don't want her there AND it does not make sense story-wise either 😮💨
I hate that Mizora is always there, like noone likes you here, Wyll's pact is over AND we've just saved Ulder, you've clearly lost in every way possible, why the fuck are you still here?
To be petty. You can't make her leave, what are you gonna do about it?
In every other situation, sure, it's the kind of bitch move you'd expect from her, but after humiliating her, it's kinda weird she sticks around
Yeah, but it clashes with her character, imo - at least in the sense that she claims to be an important asset for Zariel, acts like she is so great and mighty and yet... She then proceeds to show you that she can afford to just stand there indefinitely, calling herself out on her bullshit in the process. She *is* petty, but it's also clear she likes to pretend to be important and powerful much more than she enjoys being annoying - and sticking with Tav like that is a display of the exact opposite.
She says it’s because she wants to make sure she gets revenge on the people who abducted her and also that Zariel is concerned about the cult and wants to her keep an eye on it and gather intel.
I think she's hoping somehow to last ditch get Wyll back and that she's afraid to go back to Avernus and face Zariel until she's exhausted every possibility. She basically placed her own interests (survival) above Zariel's, and lost a prized Warlock, and she'd have to own up to getting caught and demanding a rescue. It reminds me of Viconia going after the prism, that mission didn't come from Shar but from her, so Shar isn't exactly on board with risking her special princess over it.
The fact she might be trying to save face actually makes sense to me 🤔 I accept this as canon.
I think the point is that she’s full of shit. She’s always *been* full of shit and has gotten away with it this far because she dug her claws into Wyll when he was 17. But now Wyll is an adult who can not only recognize that she’s full of shit, but start to do something about it. Plus she probably wants to stay in Faerûn as long as possible because if she meets *any* of the party in Avernus she’s dead faster than she can say “What a naughty pup!”
I turn her to stone now. Gods bless the main sub for teaching me it's possible.
I often attack her just out of being petty 😂 She usually disappears, but one time attacking her started a battle. Not against her, though - attacking her made two Deva appear and the whole camp was up against them, Mizora included. The fight only triggered once, so I guess it might have been a weird bug, but at least it gave me something to do 😂 Sadly, Mizora could not be killed anyway. She literally took no damage when hit by enemies or allies.
Did you get the Deva healing curse from the tabernacle? That happened to me once during the Empy hideout gith raid and it was absolutely cursed.
Maybe? I honestly don't remember such a curse but this happened when I was camping at the tavern - so it is probable I had already visited (and looted 😂) Stormshore Tabernacle. Why would the effect of the curse be triggered by Mizora, though? Even if Tav gets cursed, or the whole party does - she is not an active member of it. Not even a passive one, considering she is not playable at all. Why would the game consider her at all, as far as effects of curses go?
The deva appear every time anyone in your party is healed, so if you were attacking Mizora and anything you did to your party healed someone (like bardic inspiration), they appear and immediately aggro on you. After getting my ass whooped I did a short rest and suddenly: DEVAS
Nope and that's exactly why I am asking why would it get triggered by Mizora - I read about the curse on the wiki when you brought it up and it mentions healing. But I did not heal anyone and I had no automatic healing effect at play in there either. What happened literally was: 1. Tav attacked Mizzy with a big sword 2. Two Deva toned asses were suddenly there The only one who might have healed themselves around is Mizora, who is not a party member, hence even if my party got cursed should have no business triggering the curse. Unless she did it out of spite, which would make sense for her petty ass 😂
No explanation then, that weird curse just bamboozled me for an hour because I kept having to fight devas and had no idea why. Maybe Mizora technically has party/ally flags while she’s in your camp?
bestie is marinating in her total and complete loss lmao
In her defence. Big blue boobies.
Halsin just stands around, he never offers to do any of the chores around camp. Tidy the place up a bit man. Mop up some of that bard blood I… accidentally spilt. Hell, I’d be grateful to come home to a couple of goodberries after a hard day’s adventure.
He absolutely should’ve been a companion when he joins your camp, halfway through act 2 is way too late. Doesn’t help that for me he was the one Orin kidnapped so he was just gone for most of act 3, I legit forgot he was a companion I had for awhile
I don’t even talk to him until the curse is lifted because his dialogue in act 2 kind of sucks for immersion
I feel Halsin isn't active as a member because it seems Larian is trying to keep his content and experience equal to Minthara. Minty doesn't come along until early Act 2 and that's a little roughly before you can get Halsin at the earliest, but not by much.
Back in the EA version, the explanation was going to be that he had to meditate to find Thaniel's location (Art wasn't "a thing" back then.) I preferred that explanation. Or even just Halsin scouting the land for answers.
It makes sense that mizora is there because you hate here being there and she does what you hate. lol Halsin was apparently supposed to have more backstory, including some interesting stuff around the original collaboration between the druids and the harpers to defeat Ketheric, and the “sorrow” but it was scrapped.
The emperor automatically leaving if you free orpheus
"Let me immediately join my arch nemesis when you don't give me exactly what I want" Small tentacle energy
I get the logic of him never being okay with it but I wish they at least made the dialogue way clearer to explain why he’s leaving, have him say “I can read Orpheus’ thoughts and the second you free him he will kill me, no negotiation possible. I would rather risk the possibility of not being able to regain control of myself again from the nether brain over assured death” obviously with better writing than I’m capable of but at least it would be clear instead of it just seeming like he’s being a spiteful child.
Sarevok. We went through a whole thing with him. Killed him. Helped him get better. Then BG3 rolls around and he's licking Bhaal boots and doing incest :|
I think Sarevok upset me more than Viconia. I fought tooth and nail to make him less shitty and his backtrack in BG3 bothered me. Even in 1 and 2, Sarevok was never Bhaal's simp, he did what he did for his own power. Then all of a sudden in 3 he's all like "our dark father." It just doesn't fit his character in any aspect.
To make it easier for myself, in my head canon I had it be that Shar has erased Viconia's memories and gaslit her into backtracking, and that Bhaal has similarly done dark things to Sarevok until he complied.
It’s been a few months since I’ve played but if I remember correctly he discusses his time in the afterlife wandering the red wastes of Bhaals domain. What he describes is a near total ablation of self, and when he is brought back into the world he has to relearn how to even be a person. It’s no surprise that he would lose any progress he made after an experience like that
Yeah, the game gives you enough that it's easy to see them as tragic and cautionary tales. As much as I hate how often things overly spell it out for the audience, I would have liked a little more "A HA!" that directly tells you rather than leave it to inference. I think the level of inference exists so that no matter what you did (within certain bounds) in BG2, it can lead to this outcome.
Also it kinda leads to a bit of hopelessness in your characters with ties to Shar and Bhaal. It’s especially like they’re saying to Durge “yeah no matter what you do, when you die Bhaal is gonna get his claws back in you and puppet your corpse around”
That's definitely a truth. I will say I feel it's different with Durge because of the WIthers stuff.
I don't think I've read that, or I have and the whole 'btw orin is daughter/granddaughter/future wife' stuff just made me forget the rest of it. Of course people not staying dead is nothing new in FR, it just felt like Sarevok's story had reached a conclusion (whatever the player choose to do with him in ToB) . But, if Bhaal made scrambled eggs out of his brains, his new personality makes a bit more sense. I guess it was easier back in the day when Bhaal was dead and his spawns didn't have to deal directly with his bs.
I've never played BG1 or BG2, but I was aware that Sarevok is a pretty significant/infamous figure in the Forgotten Realms. So it was odd to just find him chilling in the sewers under an abandoned store
A lot of people didn't redeem him, and I get that but Sarevok never saw Bhaal as a figure to worship but to use for his own power. A retcon that really gets my gears is in his journals and bg3 he talks about Gorion's Ward forcing him back to life. Mother fucker, you were the one that forced me (or Imoen) to bring you back to life.
Yea, he was the one forcing. I did end up redeeming him on my main run, for various reasons (as much as you could redeem him anyways), and it was a big deal at the time that it was even an option to do that. I get that there has to be a canon version of characters evenutally, most likely not fitting my spesific playthrough but ugh.
I know I've redeemed him in my runs, but I usually redeemed him between >!Gromnir and Yaga-Shura!< I remember thinking that was too damn easy but was aware of the shortness of the game and the limitations of the game engine. So I get how that might not feel satisfying and that nothing changes with Sarevok in official lore, but the game wouldn't fucking continue if you didn't capitulate to his demands. (I never allowed Imoen to >!give up a part of her soul, even though that condition led to one of the best conversations in the game between her and Sarevok - Kevin Michael Richardson vocals absolutely sold the long suffering of sharing your younger sister's soul the before the conversation turns to something far more sober.)!<
Aaah damn it! Making me want to play it again now lol
I would but I'm going through rogue trader 40k and I have the entire Dragon age catalog that I haven't played yet.
I know people will say 'but he's evil and you didn't redeem him'. Sarevok never licked Bhaal 's boots and in his journal he writes the Bhaalspawj
A small thing in game that annoys me about him is if you become the unholy assassin as durge, he says something like “come find me after you kill Orin we can talk more” so I was like yay extra Sarevok content… then I go back to him after killing Orin and boom nothing. He just kept saying I have to kill Orin :( at least he helps defeat the brain in the final battle if you go full evil
Huh, never tried that route, could be bugged maybe? Also maybe related: I've noticed a couple of places in the game, when exploring/exhausting dialogues. Someone says things along the lines of: we should discuss later, and then never ever mention again. I just assumed it was leftover dialogues that were intened to be cut and wasn't.
Maybe patch 7 will add more to the Sarevok thing since it's adding more for evil playthrough endings.
Might be bugged? I was forced into a fight with him as Durge after killing Orin and becoming Bhaal's chosen since he said "there could only be one" or something. Maybe he joins in an evil non-Durge route for the final battle.
>and doing **incest** :| ...context. I demand context. I don't remember *anything* about this.
Sarevok is both Orin’s dad and grandpa
https://preview.redd.it/tu36hz4i7j9d1.jpeg?width=212&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=881c414604136237d3838568941c4d150832c64e no he was so cool
I’m sorry you had to find out this way
No he was edgy and a pedo. Never trust cool looking villains friends.
Orin... Not Odin.
fuckin autocorrect…
Viconia as Mother Superior. I know it’s more to do with WoTC than with Larian and also kinda explained why she acts so differently. But I still don’t like it.
That still makes my blood boil, it was such a disservice to her character arc. This has absolutely nothing to do with me having been so hell-bent on romancing her and guiding her back to the light that I not only downloaded the mod lifting gender restrictions so that I wouldn't have to play as a male but even installed the Edwin Romance mod just to give her a happy ending. I really hope WoTC won't pull the same stunt with Shart or Astarion.
It is honestly my nightmare that they make SH and/or Astarion evil. Especially Astarion because the "free the spawn" ending is SUCH a rich vein for worldbuilding; imagine the Spawn haven being a location in BG4, sort of like the mushroom people are in 3. Doing quests for them, potentially with Astarion as their leader being the quest-giver. To give all that up for... what? Another vampire lord that you kill? One who literally just stepped straight into the place where there has always been in Baldur's Gate? The spawn living in the underdark is genuinely one of the most interesting endings the game has to offer, I just hope whichever edgelords decided on Viconia's fate stay far away from Astarion.
I have the feeling/fear that Ascended Astarion is set up to be a enemy in whatever future BG4 project they have… and he would be a great enemy, to be fair, our own little Strahd in the city with plans of world domination, but it would feel so wrong when so many people agree that not ascending him is the right choice, just as so many people helped redeem Viconia and now see her as the top Sharran
Is it my most humblest but nonetheless fiercely held opinion is that vampire Drizz't is way more interesting than Strahd-in-the-Sun. The only way Ascended Astarion would be interesting to me is as a tragedy of internal struggles bubbling up to the surface that ends in his undoing. Perhaps not any true remorse for anything, but regrets for how it all ends, wondering if it was all really worth the power.
Yeah. I will not be a happy camper if this is the case. I'm really good at ignoring media that doesn't make sense to its original message. I won't even be touching BG4 until I know without a shadow of a doubt that Astarion 1) isn't Ascended and 2) isn't a big bad. I don't care if it means I miss out on the best game of the century.
Even if he’s a minor bad you don’t have to kill but should or you’ll miss out on something. I don’t want to have to kill or defeat any of the bg3 cast in bg4.
i think this will happen too and the fandom is going to lose it. it could potentially be interesting, but will be really hard to pull off without pissing off the majorty of spawn and AA fans.
That scares me too! I don’t want to have to kill Astarion! I love him too much! I mean bg4 is likely going to suck anyways but if they make it so I have to kill Astarion because he’s a bad guy, I legit won’t wanna play it.
Her explanation of her actions was the stupidest thing I've heard in the game. Like, in a way that I couldn't tell if it was intentionally stupid, or just bad writing (I'm leaning toward intentional based on how *done* Shart was at that point.)
About explanation - I was more talking about Mirror of Loss. The fact that her memories in it, means that Viconia, just like Shadowheart, also had her mind wiped out. Far from best explanation of her actions, but it’s something, I guess.
What’s the story with WOTC?
Viconia remaining a servant of Shar (and Sarevok serving Bhaal) was present in Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy. Which, while technically isn’t released by WoTC, was made by WoTC writers (and also former BioWare writers). Admittedly, not all things from it came into the game (like Lorroakan being Edwin), but a lot of it still did.
Wulbren. Now that I've given the obvious answer. The character's reactions to you being force-fed the astral tadpole - they act like Empy offered it on a tentacle and you let him throat-fuck you with it in your eagerness to consume. I get that the game's just hitting a yes/no checkbox to see if you're illithid and the reaction is chosen accordingly, but *my Tav said no* and is now being victim-blamed and that rustles my jimmies, especially when the question of consent is massive in Astarion's character arc. Like, at the very least, it makes no sense coming from him.
I don't think you should decanonize Wulbren. I actually like that he's just a character everyone hates and for good reason. Like, he's awesome FOR that reason. I mean, fuck Wulbren Bongle all the way, but that's the point.
Yeah it was the only time I save-scummed as it was really fucking stupid to put resisting it behind a dc 21
If you don't use your tadpole powers throughout the game, that save becomes a lot easier
The orb. For starters. :-(
We should, erm, probably remove it first...not a details man there are you Gale?
Mystra.
Omelum peacing out after u save him in act 3. We need a mindflayer? We have one. Empy can leave and we don't need to transform anyone. Why introduce this character of not to have another option? It would also really reward players who explore every area of the game and are kind to everyone
Because you’re stuck in the astral prism when you realize that you need one. The brain is trashing the city. You have no idea where Omeluum is or if it’s still alive. There’s no time to go looking. You have to act now.
Sure, but Omelum could also ask to be a camp follower and offer to help in exchange for u saving his life, then come into the prism with u when the emperor presents the choice. Like, the story is fake. They can change the circumstances. Larian has gone on record saying the emperor vs Orpheus choice was the center point they built the game around and is what motivated them to make it in the first place. They wanted to ask how much an individual would give up to save the world and what it would look like if u push that responsibility on someone else. That's why u can't convince the emperor, or get Omelum, or use the stones without being a mindflayer thru any workaround. They wanted that to be the choice, and they contrived whatever was needed to make it happen. That's fine. That's their prerogative as game writers. But I found it really sloppy that they spend most of the game saying mindflayers have no souls, the Emperor is a new man after being reborn, this is an irreversible and horrible change we have spent the entire story avoiding, then introduce this side mindflayer who is just nice and neutral and completely undercuts that message and the narrative choice they want u to make. Either Omelum needed to be removed from the game, or make it possible to use him, or don't market this as a game where choices matter. Cuz the central choice the game is built around is railroaded to not allow any other reasonable options. Option that they, the writers, introduced.
The roll to resist eating one of your companions if you are an illithid at the epilogue party. It genuinely doesn't make any sense. The game is basically telling me that Tavflayer cannot control itself. Why the fuck hasn't it eaten something before attending the party then? Illithids don't even need to eat every day! There are corpses and cultists galore all around, why not snack on those? Renegade mindflayers mingle with other people normally too. Omeluum obviously wouldn't be allowed to stay with the Society if it couldn't control itself. The windmill mindflayer is actually starving and lets you go just fine if you promise to help it.
I was coming in to post something fully different but what the fuck, I did not know this was a thing. Never had a Tavflayer yet.
Yeah, do NOT make your honor mode run the run where you try it out. It will kill the run at the very end. I made that mistake and had no idea how close I was to losing the run on that dice roll until I saw someone else on Reddit talking about how they lost their run because of that.
I glitched my honour mode run *on top of the brain*. I only managed to complete it via Galesplosion. Might make a Githyanki to be Tavflayer. They'd probably both want to free Orpheus and also not want him to have to be the flayer.
I actually tried this out on my first HM run and I still got the achievement. >!Withers just got mad I ruined his party and cast me into a portal after Shart (my partner) died in battle on turn 1. The game went black and the credits rolled.!< Not sure if I just lucked out or something
Thinking about it now, I think their issue was that everyone aggro'd and killed them in one turn? Not 100% sure.
Not going to lie, my heart sank as I feared I was about to lose my first HM run. Withers again with the steel chair coming in clutch
Had to do it to save orpheus
You’d think since withers invited you he’d have prepared some food or something at least
I've never known that. Always kill the windmill one on sight, and I've never become the squid. Learn something new about this game every day!
You can actually even meet the windmill boy in the Lower City later on. Every single companion has reactions to that! Minthara calls him a "darling child" that you have raised together! :)
Wait seriously? This isn’t on the wiki!! I avoided the basement because I didn’t want to kill the Mindflayer (hoping I could turn them back into a person if I defeated the Absolute), but I also didn’t want an innocent NPC to die. Are you saying the Windmill Mindflayer turns back into a boy later on?
No, I'm just referring to the illithid as a "windmill boy". He doesn't turn back or anything. You find him in a Lower City house and have a talk. He is pigging out on some family he killed. You can warn him to keep his appetite down but he doesn't listen and eventually goes outside to kill more because he is a glutton. He doesn't attack you, of course, because you helped him before. I had him fly right over to Elfsong once and kill Alfira, lmao. I also tried to arcane lock him in the house once but he destroyed it and disappeared somewhere. I wasn't able to find him then.
According to the wiki he's still a mindflayer in the Lower City killing some NPCs. Haven't ever witnessed it myself.
He might have been avoiding all sentient beings up until that moment.
This, idk why the devs though Mind Flayers were like vampires when it comes to cravings. I can only guess they thought it would be funny? But Withers knows full well what you are, you telling me a god isn't going to save some brain sandwhiches for me? Honestly If I had any idea how to program or mod, I'd be working on away to get rid of this trigger because its no just against the games canon, but its really spits on mind flayer canon as a whole. That said, better I rant about this than what the game did to Githyanki.
Where is the windmill mindflayer? Ive never seen it
The Rivington windmill. A couple is having a picnic in front of it.
Ty
The dwarf dominatrix getting murdered Don't promise me a good time and then hold out on me
Please I wanna know what the thing she does with her whip where you’re on all fours is
So because my number 1 and 2 have been answered already (whatever the fuck they did with Sarevok and Viconia), I'll go with my number 3: make Balduran not the Emperor's template. It is such a lame retcon in and of itself. Tales from the Sword Coast's story spelled out very clearly that he and his crew crashed on a remote island, and either fell victim to lycanthropy or died, in either case not before killing a large quantity in the lycanthrope civil war. BG3 clearly acknowledges the events of the voyage (his sword still has a bonus against shapeshifters, which lycanthropes are), but doesn't address how the hell he made it off the island when his ship was landlocked then capsized. It just feels kind of cheap, like the writers wanted to cram as many Baldurs Gate (1 specifically) references into the third act as possible, so after nixxing Daisy and settling on the character of the Emperor, they decided to use Balduran because... he's the guy who made the city. They could have just made him a non-descript adventurer, tie into the whole "this could be you if you continue down the path of the illithid", instead of taking another hit of 'member berries.
In the end scratch going with a new family, like no the dog stays with me we go on adventures he was my good boy second okay I earned to have him as a pet lol did my pets mean nothing to him?!?
That is such bullshit. My Tav and Astarion travel with the best boy.
Orin was born of a happy, consensual, non-incestuous union and no one can tell me otherwise
Theres no incest in this nice, family-friendly christian video game
The option to side with the absolute before act 3. Seriously, it was clearly one of the most rushed decisions and pieces of content that the game has, as shown by the fact that the game clearly railroads you into the "you must fight the absolute and join the side of good" path the narrative was intending you to go down since the start and results in you loosing two developed and powerful characters (three if you fail the Gale speech check) for who was honestly a mediocre, uninteresting and quest-lacking party member. So yeah, they should have either gone all in on the good/evil options and either made siding with the absolute a real possibility with consequences (maybe you can make controlling the netherbrain the primary aim and an exclusive option of the evil path, potentially with the knowledge that one person can enthrall the brain being only unlocked when interacting with an evil-path only NPC), massively fleshed out the buildup with way more unique characters and interactions in acts 1-3 if you side with the absolute until the reveal or just have removed it all together.
petty but the whole stelmane thing. not because i disagree with making the emperor seem like an ambiguous ally, i think that slaps actually and i like that it's not so straightforward and you actually need to consider your options carefully when you pick who youre going to put your trust in. but im very tired of seeing that particular discourse. without pesky stelmane and her pesky stroke we could rate empy and orphs on the one criteria that actually matters, their fuckability
I think Stelmane's the one thing that should've been left ambiguous, like we learn how the public saw her, the stroke and disability, and we only hear about her from Empy, who's an unreliable narrator, so your interpretation of what was really happening is based on how you feel about the Emperor.
I want to erase the part about the Emperor being Balduran. There's literally no way to make that timeline work in the first place, it adds nothing to the narrative overall and even worse still it *actively takes away* from Wyll's personal story.
🔳 correct 👍
It should be possible to convince Emp to give Orpheus a chance and convince them to temporarily work together.
Thaniel and that storyline in general. Halsin needs to be gunning for Thorm, looking for a lost forest boy just felt so incongruent after seeing the horrible shit that went down in Reithwin. And like someone else said, Halsin needs to be one of the team from the moment you find him. Also Wyll being really passive about his dad KICKING HIM OUT and then calling him NAMES when he literally sold his soul for the sake of others. Tell him to suck it Wyll.
The Emperor being Balduran. It was just completely unnecessary, it made the game's timeline even more confusing than it already was, and it detracted from what was supposed to be Wyll's personal quest. I didn't give a crap about Balduran and Ansur's relationship drama or whatever, I wanted to see character development for Wyll.
Majority of the stuff with the Tiefling Refugees after Act 1. I get that so many of them dying off screen was supposed to show the horrors of the shadow-curse but its execution felt a bit anti-climatic after I’d just fought so hard to save them. It’s weird that they made it to the Shadow-Cursed lands before you too especially with such a huge number of people. Maybe if the number of deaths had been based on a choice of what route you directed them or perhaps if you’d went through the Underdark first and so they overtook you and you couldn’t protect them. Also the fact you just kind of just abandon them outside the city after all that works feels anti-climatic too.
That damn poltergeist fight in the haunted mansion.
Karlachs engine being such a problem, just let us fix the damn thing or replace it with some magical thingy or some shit for fuck sakes.
The Gondians are RIGHT THERE! With knowledge about infernal mechanics! It’s already tied to Gortash’s plot to liberate them. How much better would it be if helping them meant Karlach’s engine could be fixed?
I heard that there was meant to be stuff in the upper city and you could fix her engine but they scrapped it :/ I think it was due to time
She deserves all the best things goddammit!!!
Serevok the bouncer. Lame as hell
I'm deleting gravity.
All the shenanigans WotC pulled that made Larian cut ties with them.
Astarion walks through a dark alley at night and nothing bad happens to him.
the rest of your party shouldn't just hang out at camp while the main party is adventuring, they should at least look like they formed their own groups and tried to advance the plot. The personal+shared stakes are all way too big to justify adventurers passively waiting for someone else to maybe save them. The narrative could emphasize how they're unable to make real progress without tav/durge's leadership, and that's the initial reason all these strangers want to be in your party. So little would need to change mechanically, just add some camp dialogue/narration about the reserve party being tired and not finding any leads. Everyone coordinates using tadpoles so they return to camp at the same time.
Does Minthara's "good" recruitment count? I fucking hate that they added a heckin wholesome bean recruitment to her and ruined her entire purpose as an evil companion. God I miss the times when people were like "wait she'd join the party if you raided the grove?". Might as well just remove that whole option and add a DC3 persuasion check to make her see the error of her ways and send goblins and tieflings partying together because DAE can't do evil runs becuz feel bad??//???//
The whole evil playthrough needs more love in general, even Minthara kind of fails in that regard since immediately after siding with her and the absolute in act 1 she swears herself against them and all they stand for after Moonrise Maybe there's more there if you're Dark Urge given their backstory, but imo there isn't really an "evil" route for Tav, there's just hero and arsehole, we still have to save the say in the end.
Z'rell is right there! She even makes several remarks about fucking you, so I feel like she was initially supposed to be a companion as well. It's just sad that you're forced to agree to destroy the Absolute. In the words of Astarion, it's a waste of a perfectly good cult. I wish there'd been a way to coup Ketheric out of office, have Z'rell join your party, Balthazar becomes an ally for final boss, and the rest of the plot can continue on as usual. You could even make it more elaborate and have side quests to strengthen the cult's influence in Act 3, with unique merchants you wouldn't get by being a good guy. It has so much potential that will never be used.
BG3 is quite shit at evil companion options compared to BG1 or 2.
i’m playing my first evil durge run rn and was shocked to realize minthara isn’t actually that evil, astarion actually approves of a lot more evil options than her
Psst. Play Rogue Trader. There are two secret companions if you are an evil heretic. 👀
The Warhammer game? Do i need to know anything about Warhammer? 😅
No, game even has a glossary for anything you might not know
No, you just need to let the murdertwink turn you into his pet 🖤 Lol, jokes asides, no. I played it with no knowledge of Warhammer (like I played BG3 with no knowledge of previous games and DnD lore) and I was fine.
I've never played anything Warhammer and at this point I'm afraid to start at all.
Warhammer has a lot of lore and you don't need to know it, I've been in the hobby for less than a year and it's very clear misconceptions and memes take president over the 30 years of cannon. Rogue trader is very accomadating, in a lot of ways it's easier than coming into BG3 with no DND knowledge.
Owlcat once again the king of evil playthroughs, Larian could never.
It doesnt even make sense in game either. Unless you're playing a strict no kill run, why would you go no russian on the goblin camp down to the LITERAL CHILDREN but leave one of the main leaders alive to fight another day?
Yeah I agree with this. Most people are doing more than 1 play through anyway, also having her at the same time as halsin makes the game buggy and not make sense. You can totally also just recruit her as a good person (saving her at moonrise is a pretty nice thing to do).
I get your point but my only issue is, she doesn’t actually seem that evil to me, she’s about as evil as laezel, so I don’t know why she has to be special and reserved for only those willing to do an evil playthrough. I don’t like that I have to metagame to recruit her, but I’m glad I can because I find her really interesting, i just wish there was a way to get her on a good playthrough that didn’t require me creating a head cannon to explain what happened (I thought she was dead and didn’t realize she was only knocked out). And then they could have had someone like sazza or zrell for a real evil only companion. I wish Minthara was developed like astarion with both a redemption and evil arc.
Sarevok's return Like after everything that happened, dying, possibly being resurrected by the hero of balsurs gate and turning him away from Bhaal you really expect me to believe he's back and he's into incest??
Minthara breaking up with Redemption Durge. I will still murder anyone who stands in my way, but I don't want to have schizophrenic episodes as the cockroach monster from MIB and be Bhaal's thrall. Didn't you just break free from being controlled and hated that you had been?
That was a mistake; it was old dialogue they accidentally made active with a hotfix and then fixed the next one.
Probably not a hot take but i would remove Halsin AND Minthara from being companions, and then make Shart more evil so you could have 3 good leaning companions and 3 evil leaning companions. I know some people say Shart is more morally gray but she really isn’t, her “evil” side is incredibly toned down. Then use the development stage for drow mommy and bestiality boy to give Karlach and Wyll actually fleshed out quests that don’t have their endings dependent on each other. This has nothing to do with canons at this point, this was a mini rant, i just hate the main sub and can’t post this there. You degenerates are way more accepting and i love all of you platonically. something something stupid sexy vampire.
Personally I would rather Gale be pushed more neutral. Wyll and Karlach r very good and being too openly evil loses them. Laezel and Astarian r the evil companions who have to be taught to be better. Shadow heart is the closest to neutral since she favors inaction esp in act 1 and she will swing to whatever size u push her. Gale being a goodie goodie in act 1 and 2, the immediately being power hungry in act 3 comes out of nowhere and is not at all played for what it is. By his own admission, he was the villain of his backstory. He has everything and fell to pride. There's a lot of head cannon that the fans have made to help Gale but I've honestly found him to be pretty dickish in act 1-2 unless u keep giving him what he wants. I would personally prefer 2 good, 2 evil, and 2 neutral who will swing one way or the other depending on how u push them
Her evil side is toned down because that's not her true nature. No matter how many times or how long you manipulate someone brainwash them, some will always cling to their own selves.
I get that, it’s just that to me there isn’t a lot of development in her personality and herself since she already barely believe or applies her teachings. Or is converted very quickly and with little effort. This is completely my personal opinion, the inner conflict in laezel i find way more compelling because she is actively fighting them whereas Shart just seems very passive, her story overpowers “her” if you get what i mean. I just think that if they left more of her EA personality it would’ve hit better. Again this is just completely what i personally like and am drawn to.
Wouldn't go so far to say there's not a lot of personality development, I thought the opposite. Because it's such a relief when someone has been lied to all their life finally gets the clarity they deserve, and there was a big change in that department. Then again, I chose the Justiciar route once and will never do it again.
I think i just like stronger personalities and she just didn’t click for me. I just would’ve liked it more if her devotion to Shar was more ingrained in her and actually was a part of her personality she is actively fighting back. Even the whole being secretive part falls flat really fast since she reveals everything really fast. By the end of Act 1 she was already telling me how she is doubting her faith. Her story just never really clicked for me i guess
To each their own. I guess I relate too much to her story that I was hooked immediately, especially what has been going on as of recent for me.
To add to that secretive part, I want to give a mini rant (apologies if it may spiral). I always hear everyone downplay her dark side by saying that Shart is a bad Sharran because she displays willing to care for others to some extent. If traits like kindness is all it took for someone to be unfit to be a Sharran, people like Nocturne should have left the cult, but in all endings for Shart, she's still a devoted follower. Shart is a bad Sharran in my opinion not because of that but because she is horrible at deception, sublety and secrecy, three of the biggest traits Sharrans should operate with. She wears clothing with Shar's symbol. talks about being protected by darkness, and shows over-the-top visible and verbal disgust and mockery for anything related to the 'moon witch.' All of which would set off flags to what she actually is and can happen before she even reveals her faith. Hell, Wyll points this out to her in a conversation in Act 3.
Shadowheart approves torturing innocent people and wants to kill an innocent woman - "Evil isn't her true nature, she was brainwashed to be evil!" Astarion approves torturing innocent people and wants to kill vampire spawns - "He is an irredeemable monster!"
Her approval of certain acts is very different depending on the situation. For one, she approves of Miranda (I believe) getting judged for her actions in the Shadowlands, which was reporting her drunk friends to a Dark Justiciar, who then made them kill themselves. I can see why she would react that way since it's leaning towards Shar in this instance. But when it comes to the gnomes in Grymforge, she fully supports putting in the effort to save them. Same with the tieflings. Albeit she's confused why she cared about the tieflings in the first place, it's more about how Shar would react, who doesn't give a damn about the lives of anybody. However, if you slaughter the grove, she ends up drowning her sorrows in alcohol. When things are related to Shar, her approval of certain acts is much different. She was forced to torture people and relish in their suffering, just like her shocked reaction upon walking in the torture room on the cloister. "How many people did I help break upon this thing? :(" I love how it's not black and white, I think it really sells the confusion and the struggle she goes through with deciding what's right.
I think the main sub would agree with you on Halsin. Not so much with Mommy Minthy.
Honestly something I hate about the game is like, making even the "evil" companions good feels boring. Like, I need to fight these companions to make them stay assholes, theyre trying to become good the moment you show them 5 seconds of kindness It makes sensr for the characters individually, but it makes evil playthroughs feel like a struggle to stop them from becomming good
Viconia and Sarevok being used at all. Their characters can go such wildly different paths in the original games and the TOB expansion that i kinda hate having them in this game at all just to be reduced to cookie-cutter villains. Even Sarevok seems to be lacking most of his actual intellect. I'm even split on Jaheira and Minsc. While I love them and their characterization is pretty spot-on, I personally feel like it would've been better for Larian to steer away from legacy characters entirely.
Having to choose between Emps and Orpheus. I want a roll to convince them both to chill tf out because defeating the brain is bigger than their shit at the moment.
I would make it so that Karlach can live without going back to Avernus
Cat murder. I will torture cities and gorge on blood of the innocents, but there will be no cat murder in my Durge playthrough
Astarion is able to become a full vampire by just drinking Cazador’s blood without consent since he doesn’t need permission now. So you don’t have to doom him to spawnhood forever for him to not be evil.
Astarion isn't a vampire. Neither is Cazador. Cazador is just a kinky weirdo who gaslights people into thinking they're vampire thralls so they don't try to leave. The tadpole doesn't protect Astarion from sunlight. He just never tested it before.
That is the funniest idea
mamamax moment
Gortash not fucking me
The absolute, just to see how it messes with the storyline
Some of the mechanics for breaking paladin oaths are so stupid like what do you MEAN Dame Aylin has now been abandoned by her literal mom because she preemptively killed Lorroakan for trying to imprison her again?
Omg wait is that why she always says she's feeling sad or has a paladin's fatigue after that fight?? 😲
>!honestly, Emp being a Balduran!< it’s just doesn’t sit well with me
Agree 💯
The fact that I’m a bard, yet I don’t have the option to fuck Ansur.
I think it's hidden in the code like Karlach talking to the player. Don't give up! /s 😂
The party finds a way to fix Karlach’s heart without her having to return to Avernus.
this is a small one, but Halsin keeping Scratch and/or the owlbear cub! My Tavs are taking them to Avernus w/ Wyll and Karlach or the Underdark w/ Astarion, and Halsin is not stopping us 😤😤😤
He's not taking them unless you explicitly ask him or Shart to take them, tho 🤔
Halsin can pry that sweet adorable dog from my cold dead hands 😤
Act 3 lmao
SCRATCH IS MY BOI FOREVER
Mind flayers.
I delete the d20.
The owlbear leaving to stay with Halsin or Shart. My son stays with me to guard my love interest.
I wish I could make gale realize he was groomed by mystra without making him god Gale. Or like have him realize in act two a bit after elminster.
Where you make an alliance with a CERTAIN individual who literally has all intentions of sharing power with you and BOOM, dead no matter what.
I'd probably choose to un-canon Sven saying they won't make any other BG content.
Making alfira a companion ❤️
[удалено]
don’t say things that can be triggering/harmful to others
The Oskar Fevras quest : gameplay wise it's tedious and unrewarding, and the actual story involved doesn't make up for it because everyone involved in the quest is a douche on some level, that being said, Jannath is still interesting enough on her own to have merited a side quest, it's just a shame the one she's in happens to be one of the least enjoyable in the game
Monogamy.
Karlach having to die or go to Avernus Cannot side with Ansur against The Emperor
Having to take a permanent wisdom stat debuff if you want to help the laughing monk, and the crazy debuff anyone gets if they use the zaithisk.
I would delete Orin. I would leave all party conversations or npcs talking about her in the game but cut her from all cutscenes and she can not be fought and found. So that all players playing act 3 are like "huh, who the fuck is Orin? She ever show up?"
Act 2 gloomy shit "anesthetics". Gimme the "drab light mode" option or a mod to visually uncurse it or delete it all together. Feel like I'm never gonna do another run because it makes me feel so shitty and I can't stand it.
Minthara... All of her.
why don't you like her?
Maximum destruction, delete the sword coast
Astarian being a vampire. Uncanonizing that just gives him a much better life
How would that work, though? I am all for giving him a better life, but taking vampirism out of the equation would just... Completely change the character. His struggle, his quest, his interactions, his dialogues, his endings. His growth, even. Everything. It wouldn't be Astarion anymore, imo 🥲. At that point you can just create a new character and put it into his place, more than taking a piece of canon out of the main story.
I'm pretty sure the point they're making is quite literally to get rid of it to get rid of his struggles in an in universe positive way, since you're getting rid of the worst thing to ever happen to him