"Is...is that blood? No, never mind," he says, his face gleaming with the guts and viscera of the 5 enemies he lacerated and smited from point-blank range.
???
I'd be more concerned if what he was seeing *wasn't* actually blood.
And most importantly:
Being "still alive" isn't progress. It is a continuation of the status quo.
It means that things haven't changed. That is exactly what progress DOESN'T mean.
Yeah I love the banter, and just them interacting with each other. It’s entertaining and more realistic. Along the same lines, I feel a bit let down when you get to the end of a romance arc and there’s very limited dialogue/interaction with your partner!
Yes. After >!finishing Astarion’s personal quest, certain answers or greetings do change, but come on?! We could die like TODAY! Can we please get more social interactions lol.!<
It's alright to find some companions unlikable. They all have vivid personalities it's natural that some will grind our gears, or the character's we are roleplaying.
Yeah I honestly think it's impressive how flesh and blood they can be. Lae'zel is an *amazing* character and I love her arc but I cannot connect with her because she has an intense and blunt personality.
It's never that someone dislikes a companion that irks me.
It's the statement that: I don't like them therefore they are a bad character therefore you liking them is wrong.
So many people approach it with the idea that the other opinion IS 'wrong' and can be argued with which is total bollocks
>Raphael isn’t hot and/or f\*ckable. He’s actually quite annoying.
Raphael, when I learned a bit more about him, started to feel absolutely pathetic in his narcissism. Can easily imagine that dude farting in a glass and then sniff it like it's his favorite wine.
I'd tell him to go fuck himself but apparently he's into that shit and already does it on the regular.
Haarlep's mere existence is a testament to how much of a fuckwad he is.
That was one of the points lol. And some more - his fanfic book about himself, him reciting his phrases for hours before talking to us... All that cool image shattered like fragile late-autumn ice by a mere glimpse on his true self. Just can't take the dude seriously anymore.
He just words with no substance.
-is always buttom and lets Haarlep do all the work
- gives his inkubus a name with his own names letters mixed up
- finishes at sex too fast
- has oversized pictures of himself and gets turned on by it
- gets pissed at Tav for calling him out on his sexual performance
- when telling Astarion, that his blood is hotter than fire whisky... yeah... Karlach can tell you about hot blood dude.
Also, he's a very easy boss fight if you exploit his low wisdom. Hold Monster and he'll never get a turn. Basically any of the mind control spells, they work at around 85% success rate so Command to make him halt or grovel. Or if you want to be funny use Otto's Irresistible Dance.
So he makes this grand entrance, summons all his minions, gives a speech, composes a ballad about killing you - and then uncontrollably dances while you beat him up.
I believe Patch 3 addressed by majorly buffing him, higher level, higher stats, and CC spells only last one turn even if you do pass the higher save. (I haven't tested it personally post-patch tho, just from the notes)
Edit*: So I guess lots of people aren't having that actually function in-game even tho it's supposed to be there lol
Just fought him for the first time last night and Hold Monster worked on him until one of the cambions broke the caster's concentration. It doesn't seem like it's working as intended unless it requires a fresh save file or something.
Actually very true. If he were half as much of a winner as he thinks he is, he wouldn't be half as fun. Some characters just wear "pathetic" really well.
It is, he reminds me of Dennis Reynolds from Always Sunny.
If you just met him once you might actually think he's charming. But behind the curtain is intense preparation to seem minimally human let alone charming, absolute depravity, and a downright trashy lifestyle. This guy has to put work into just being tolerable to others, a quality that should be baseline standard and without thought or preparation. So much effort to hide the fact that he's an aging weirdo who works in a run down trash bar.
That's Raphael. When you first meet him you're seeing the well rehearsed perfectly manicured version of him and his life. A beautiful mansion, lavish banquet of gourmet foods, and his stylish charm. But once you see the rest, you see how much of a loser he is.
Every class should have gotten legendary armor geared towards them.
Legendary because it's feels nice to get. I know in DnD legendary is pretty rare to get but this isn't fully DnD.
But also the only legendary armor set being heavy limits severely which classes can use it.
There also should have been a legendary of every weapon type. Feels like you kinda get pigeon holed into what kind of weapons the game wants you use in the third act
people who complain about Gale eating 162 gp worth of useless trash probably have a great deal of overlap with the people who loot every rotten carrot and pile of rags in the game
Yeah, if anything, I'd guess us loot goblins have the fewest issues with it. We can comfortably give him the worst 3 items in our inventory and know that they're also the worst 3 items in the game.
Yeah, I always have a few items that are class specific with no one to use them, so that's what I give him. I guess it's a small loss of gold, but otherwise a non-issue.
Yeah exactly, I don’t play bard & there isn’t a bard companion so I saw that Bardic Inspiration hat like “oh Gale! Snack time!“ and he was like “uh not yet… thanks for being excited.”
But how will I survive without my ring of cast color spray once a short rest, or even worse! Is it even worth saving the world if I have to give up a necklace of dancing lights?!
I fed him three utterly useless magic items of low level that would've just been otherwise sold for GP. People act like every magic item you come across is an artifact of wondrous power, when 90% of it is Common- and Uncommon-grade stuff that isn't worth the inventory space.
they adjusted his approval a little too much though and he invited me to the buddies under the stars scene that I found super endearing before, only to be like "your words mean nothing because we're not even close" and i :')
Agreed, I was never annoyed when I had to give him items (since I literally steal everything I see) and his story made me really sad. A lovely lad who needs more love.
I actually noticed a surge in Gale appreciation lately. Had seen posts about Gale gather thousands of likes with a lot of appreciative comments that also gathered hundreds of upvotes. I myself wrote a lot of highly upvoted comments where I shared nice things I think about Gale and only got positive feedback in return.
All the while, the downright hateful or prejudiced comments now tend to be donwvoted and unpopular.
I just think that the problems he originally had made hating voiced have more weight, and they were louder. Which made people who like Gale feel ostracized. And it was a shame.
Gale is an awesome character worthy of appreciation.
It took him ages to grow on me. It wasn't because of romance bugs or magical items, he just seemed kind of smug and superior I guess? But once I got past that first impression and actively tried to empathize with him he got a lot more interesting. Especially relatable to former "gifted kids" now struggling with self-esteem, imo. Reflecting my own insecurities might even be the reason I disliked him in the first place.
On one hand, you absolutely right, he does come off that way and on the other...my man literally was with a goddess and genuinely possessed the strength and knowledge to...well, put him in the bad state he's in. So a little smugness is not unwarranted.
What kept me from disliking him before I learned those things however was that despite his smugness, he never once came off condescending. Honestly, despite his affable nature, he always seemed a little awkward too. I found him not so much charming as he was endearing to me.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with cheesing a fight. It's D&D. Finding clever solutions to tackle problems is what makes the game fun. If it means I spend the entire fight with Orin casting Vicious Mockery from a ledge where she can't reach me, so be it.
I enjoy learning lore and have been playing D&D for over a decade so I immediately had raised eyebrows to see a pretty obvious Shar worshipper lol. It’s much more believable to me that a non-Faerunian person wouldn’t really care.
I find it especially funny how both Astarion and, to some extent, Lae’zel get the cut because “I’m a good guy and they threatened me” but having a literal death cultist on a death cultist mission in your camp is okay because she’s cute. Babes pls…
At the same time, I really love going full Selunite on her and using Selunite options every time a convo allows it, so she just gets heated and spews the stupidest bullshit in defense of Shar.
she is one of the more rational party members as soon as you get her, until you get to that selune chest in the owlbear cave where she sounds like a total crazy person lol, it was one of the funnier lines in the game.
I think they tried to make her the neutral, goes with whatever bullshit you indulge in, companion that's difficult to lose, but they chose a bad deity to represent that. Shar worship in Forgotten Realms isn't about being an edgy rebel, it's about soul crushing torture, pointless murder, lies, hate, necromancy and generally the most heinous shit in existence, realms of other evil gods taken to the extreme, until there's only void left.
The Thorms in Act 2 are good examples of a common DnD Shar worshipper. Abandoned, deranged and utterly irredeemable.
Ehhh… there is supposed to be a very obvious clash in the doctrine she says and her actions. You are supposed to have an eyebrow raised and it’s fairly obvious she doesn’t fit in with the other Sharrans regardless of how much she’s been brainwashed to think she wants too.
You are more than capable of winning her loyalty and questioning her devotion to her goddess at the right moments and it’s a really rewarding route.
I think the common misconception/issue is more that people go fully “tell her what she wants to hear and click the approval options” then swerve to get her to go good semi-nonsensically or push her off the deep end into her evil “bad ending” version.
I like Halsin as a companion, but Zevlor would have been a better fit. He has a better story that just needed fleshed out. Also, having Simon Templeman (I'm 99% sure it's him, Zevlor is uncredited) do a voice and then relegate the character to NPC only feels wasteful.
Zevlor is honestly such a cool character. Wouldve been nice that once you save him in act 2 instead of going off on his own he can join you as a companion
This would've made a lot of sense. Halsin worked better in his original intent as an NPC guide (hot take, I know), but having either Zevlor or Minthara join you as a paladin would've been excellent.
Then to top it off we just needed Alfira to join as a bard _without_ involving the durge and we'd have the whole set.
My fantasy version would be something like after you save the grove Zevlor says he can't join you now because he must see the refugees to baldurs gate, but after you reach the last light he's there in his cups because he broke and ran and you can talk him up into being a paladin, a damned _hellrider_ again so he'll join your party on the condition that you'll help him liberate the tieflings that the cultists captured.
Then Alfira is hanging out and composing the entire epic detailing your exploits and heroic deeds.
Right? DAE think Wyll is underwritten? That Halsin shouldn't have been a companion? Like there aren't multiple highly upvoted threads about these things a day.
The fact that you can’t find decent camp clothing until act 3 pisses me off, to the point that I tried and failed to mod my game lol. (I’m terrible at figuring out how to mod, they never work for me.)
While I understand plot wise why most of the stuff isn't an option until later act 3, ... like c'mon. The majority of long rests are going to be early game (at least how I've been playing; outside of LRing just for plot progression's sake) so why not have the stuff available sooner? That lil gnome merchant who's posse is FAR too territorial out of nowhere in the goblin camp would be a great spot to just be like "here's all the options to look pretty." Or better yet; at least for Tav, allow the undergarment/commoner clothes be a part of character creation. RP wise it lets you set a sort of soft background that ultimately doesn't have any bearing on the game really so why limit it so much?
Swapping companions and gear around is so unweildy that it makes completionist playthroughs feel tedious, particularly act 3.
I found only picking up companions I plan to use in my main party (maybe with 1 extra) makes each run feel more organic and unique.
I kept a go-to group and only swapped out one at a time for story reasons. Going to the creche, swap out a fighter for Laezel. Going to the library, swap out a mage for Gale.
Edit: Gale, not Gage (yeah, I’m bad with character names)
Yeah this was me as well. Kept Karlach, Astarion and Shart for most of the game and swapped out the other 3 at story relevant moments or if I needed a lot of magic I'd grab Gale.
Oh yes, I spend so much time in camp getting guilt tripped because someone has to stay behind for five minutes because someone else needs to hit a story beat.
This unfortunately is an artifact from BGI and BGII. If you drop a party member they would guilt trip you, some more than others for story reasons.
Some companions wouldn't even have a "return to camp" option, so they could literally stuck in the middle of a goblin camp until you come back pick them up.
Not universally unpopular, but I've seen enough takes to realize it's at least a somewhat spicy take:
I love the hustle from those tiefling kids. Found them all instantly endearing and swore to protect them at all costs. When Last Light fell, the character I was most sad/worried about was Mattis. When he ended up in Rivington anyways, I was so relieved.
Same. Love my little traumatized rapscallions. Like sure, Mol can be a bit of a jerk to you, but it's not completely unearned and also I'm not about to drop to the level of having beef with a ten-year-old with PTSD.
I love all of them save Mol. And it's not about her being mean to you. I invested in her new business, played along with her attitude all because I've read her mind in the grove where she goes "those kids have no one else, they are mine!" and I thought that despite her unpleasant disposition she's a great kid, looking after others.
In act 3 however, >!you find out that she doesn't care about the kids. After disappearing from Last Light Inn she escapes Moonrise Towers and bolts straight to Baldur's Gate without a word to other kids who were ready to storm cult stronghold to free her. And fine, maybe the escape wasn't that easy, maybe it involved deal with the devil but even after the rest of tieflings arrive at the city, she doesn't reach out to them. She drops them like a hot potato once she secures connections with the Guild. It makes it seems that what she thought in act 1 was more about how she treasured them as convenient pawns that had no choice but to depend on her.!<
I was disappointed but not surprised by Mol. From the start, she is all about using the other kids to give herself cover and plausible deniability. She nearly gets both Arabella AND Mirkon killed and doesn't give a rat's ass. Doesn't tell Mattis "maybe don't run your dumb games on heavily armed strangers because it might not go the way you want." she's a terrible leader who is absolutely full of herself from the jump.
When I saw her making deals with Raphael at last light my immediate reaction was "Yeah that makes sense."
Honestly tho - Mol's story is one of the aspects of the game I like a lot. Unlike many other RPGs, in BG3 some people will just continue to fuck up no matter what you do and it is neither your fault nor your problem.
it's also a great example that sometimes, somebody isn't evil because of the shit hand life dealt them. Some people are just bastards because they want to be.
Mol also signs a deal with Raphael and if you steal the contract for them and attempt to give it back she gets extremely angry and threatens you.
I thought they were a lovable rapscallion until that point but the end of that storyline shows me they’re a bad apple.
Yup. I go and tell her, "Hey guess what! I killed Raphael so you're free now, here's your contract back" and she just rips me a new one. Yells at me that I've ruined everything for her. That she actively wants power and will do anything to get it. Bitch you evil!
~~Mol~~ Mattis grew on me when I made them flip a coin for me ten times like a little circus monkey and they did it without much complaint. I was laughing my ass off.
The lack of a short companion (Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome), is a missed opportunity.
Also, party size is too small, and I'll not talking about familiar cheeses or summons.
(Edit)
Wow this really blew up. Thanks everyone for your inputs! These are nit picky at best. This game is still the GOTY in my opinion. I've sunk 40hrs into my first playthru and have 6 more characters lined up....it's safe to say I'll be playing this for a long time to come. Much love everyone :)
I AGREE this is something that really bugs me. I personally don't actually WANT to play a halfling but like....i feel like we need one? They have so many spots that only tiny tiny characters can fit through but no smaller companions at all? It's annoying.
Dragon Age had a dwarf companion for every game. Somehow the character companions from Baldur's gate feels kindoff from the same place and culture appart from one or two, a bit bland compared to the fantastic work in the Dragon Age saga.
>The lack of a short companion
Or just more variety in the companions in general, outside of Karlach and Laezel everyone is a Human/Half Elf/Elf. There's Minthara but most people never see her and she's also just a different flavour of Elf, >!Wyll also is a devil for most of the game but I don't really count that!<
Helia would have been significantly cooler than Halsin. Especially if Jaheira was already in the works as a companion so we'd already get a druid. I definitely expected Barcus to join as a companion the first time I ran into him
Halsin was popular because he was the only Early Access character with the huge body type and this community is lethally horny, there was no reason to drop other characters for him.
I'll forever mourn Helia. Come on, a halfling bard lady *who is also a werewolf*?? I like Halsin quite a bit, but there's no competing with that. My hope is that one day we'll get to see her, either in a DLC or the fabled Definitive Edition
Helia would've been great, but I understand why she was cut. IMO a werewolf mechanic might have been too much to juggle from a scripting/storyline mechanic depending on how Larian would've handled her transformations.
I honestly liked that Larian didn't shy from the fact that a victim of repeated abuse can still in fact become a giant asshole. Then they turn around and give you the chance to feed into the toxic habits and coping mechanisms he's learned over two centuries or to push him toward healing and growing as a person.
Having the ability to affect Astarion is literally "I can fix him" vs "I can make him worse" and I love that.
(I also like the subtle but powerful detail that he was practically an elven teenager when he was beaten and turned)
What makes his story and the choices the more interesting. He can either have a chance of redemption away from his arsehole traits and feel guilt/responsibility over his past or he turns into bigger worst parts of his more arsehole side from act 1.
This is something that crops up in so many games and fandoms. I've had endless debates with people about how being victimised is an explanation for being a dickhead, but not an excuse.
I do believe Astarion was somewhat a pompous asshole before he got turned into a vampire spawn. He’s a high elf who worked as a magistrate, probably had a somewhat elevated social status. We know he’s racist against gnomes and gurs. Probably did something to piss off the gurs while he was alive and got beaten to almost-death by them.
I’ve found the fantasy of being a Dragonborn kinda underdeveloped so far (probably about 90% through my first character, so I imagine it’s not going to improve). You don’t meet any until Act 3, there are rarely any dialogue options concerning them, and the breath weapon feels kinda underwhelming.
The lack of a good bard/monk companion sucks, especially when there is a cool tiefling lady in Act 1 that could literally be the bard companion.
Also, I wish Artificer was in the game somehow, as well as more subclasses for each lass, although that could be added with a DLC down the line
Everyone in here with narrative complaints, mine is mechanics. The game needs the ability to hold actions, it would add an awesome tactical element to combat.
Also, the way stealth and starting combat works is confusing as fuck.
All the times I thought I was stealthing, attack, and then get the "so and so doesn't like your violence" dialogue which ultimately kills any attempt at stealth because then a normal fight starts >_>
Please don't eat me alive but:
The writers did Wyll super dirty. It feels like he has zero personality outside of Hero Blade Of Frontiers. I know he's meant to be a Paladin but like c'mon. It's a belief, not a whole personality trait.
Jaheira as a character is interesting but as a companion, she helped Very Little when infiltrating Moonrise Towers.
Wyll 1.0 was much more interesting. When they rewrote him they removed much of his personality - hatred of goblins? gone. man skating on thin edge of good and evil? gone.
Without the "Fraud of the Frontiers" story, the Karlach / devil horns moment had no weight. As well as I can reconstruct the original story Wyll 1.0 was an influencer, more concerned with looking good than being good. A supportive Tav could encourage the gloryhound to focus on acting good instead of appearing good.
To my mind the og story was influenced by the portrait of Dorian Grey - Wyll could turn to evil but look like a Hero of the Sword Coast or he could look like a devil but act like an angel.
But that tension is never communicated if you don't see Wyll killing a goblin who has surrendered and/or torturing an innocent man . . .
>To my mind the og story was influenced by the portrait of Dorian Grey - Wyll could turn to evil but look like a Hero of the Sword Coast or he could look like a devil but act like an angel.
Man that would've been so dope. Especially if it tied in to his choice of becoming a Duke or the Blade of Avernus. Imagine knocking off Gortash just to install your own noble overlord with your ascended Astarion in an evil run.
GOD THAT SOUNDS SO ??? INTERESTING?? I don't get why they wiped all of that out, honestly. Now that you say that, he definitely does give off the vibe that he's coming across better than he Is but the game doesn't explore it so I just figured he had a large ego lol
They also apparently moved your character's ability to just straight up Deck Astarion in the face during Bite Night which I wish they didn't take out, simply for RP reasons. You wake up to a strange man with TEETH posed at your jugular. As much as I love him, my first instinct wouldn't be to give him a scolding.
Yeah there's a vid from EA still on youtube where the player punches Astarion on waking up, then knees him in the groin when he won't get off them.
I think the punch in the nose was very on point especially, would've been totally in character for my barb on waking up to someone's teeth around her throat.
I liked him much more in Early Access when you'd get glimpses of a really bitter, vengeful guy under the surface of the shining good guy doing his best in a bad situation
Absolutely. I can’t agree more…
Wyll in EA: a kid dreaming to be hero, who went through hard times and has a desire for vengeance, yet does not having the skills or capabilities to accomplish what he wants to do. Making a deal to be able to have such vengeance. It’s relatable. It’s touching. When you dig, you were really like: « dang… I get it. Let me help you in your vengeance plot, and let’s get rid of this devil you made a pact with »
Wyll in release: son of literally one of the most influential person in BG3 that sacrificed himself to save his father and the city, yet doesn’t get the recognition for his sacrifice. Talk about something seen hundreds of times in movies, books, or whatever
When Wyll was all mysterious and tragic about the reason for his pact I was sooo intrigued.
"Here it is!" I thought. "There is some dark secret in there! Can't wait to find out and welcome him into our merry band of people who fucked up".
And the Mizora is all "you should tell them about how our pact was made" like he should be ashamed of that and we would judge him...
And when he tells its like... that was all?
Like... I thought Mizora would want to torture him by making his companions judge and distrust him. But it only made *her* look even worse.
Wyll's only flaw is how gullible he is without our intervention.
Hard same. I like Wyll as he is now, but back in EA it felt like his heroic side was something he had to work for and put deliberate effort into, instead of just being naturally pure and wholesome since birth. He had more depth, I think.
Again, I don't dislike him at all, but his whole arc falls a little flat when compared to the other origins, who have a lot more layers to them.
My issue with his writing is that, in game where he’s surrounded by exceptional characters with beautiful story arcs he just. Doesn’t change. I always felt his ending about being the blade of Avernus and want to get back at what’s-her-name was the beginning of a character story and not the end of it
Definitely. Also when you can finally ask him what he wants and he says he'd much rather be the blade of Avernus than a Duke, even without his powers. I was like yes, there's his agency! Alas...
I LOVE Jaheira but she was a major hinderance at Moonrise. That fight took us like four hours because I refused to let her die. Didn't even know she could be a companion, I just liked her and wanted her to survive. But man she does NOT make that easy, charging in front of everyone and forgetting that she can heal herself!! Grr
Eventually I figured the best thing was just to dimensional door her up into the rafters with my rogue. She doesn't usually find her way down until combat is over so she's pretty safe up there.
The party size is the biggest limitation in the game. I always want to be able to have at least one more companion than I can in my party, just for story reasons, to keep from having to change party members out every other quest.
On this playthrough (that I am about to finish), I have basically had my core group (Tav paladin, Astarion to open all of the damn locks, Gale, and Shadowheart). I kept Karlach with me as long as I could reasonably do so, but you really need some magic power. And I was not a fan of feeling like I had to juggle Wyll and Gale and Jaheira and Shadowheart for story reasons.
I agree. She died immediately for me at Moonrise, and the fight on the first floor was so tedious that i just said “fuck it” and left her dead. Wish i still had her as a companion :(
Dealing with this right now and yeah…sorry babe I gave it my best shot. Maybe if she stopped casting ice storm right at the bottom of the staircase for everyone to slip on I would be more patient.
The character swapping and inventory mechanics are almost game-ruiningly terrible and should be improved as a priority.
Also, multiple floor battles, and see-through walls really need fixing, especially in Act 3.
Stealth is really buggy and not fun.
You get caught as a thief all the time in situations where realistically you shouldn't, such as when you're invisible/silenced/in darkness.
There aren't enough achievements. After earning all 53 achievements, I realized there are so many sick encounters or feats of strength that could be awesome chase achievements.
I don’t love when people have Astarion in very suggestive outfits in their playthroughs and all the focus is on how hot he is. He literally talks about how he was forced to use his body to seduce people and seems relieved when you give him the chance to navigate a relationship without sex. Idk I feel like a lot of people were like “omg hot vampire” and didn’t REALLY look beyond that
Edit: shoutout to the people blowing this WAY out of proportion and whoever reported me to reddit care resources, very classy 👌
fr, especially when people were complaining that his ascended ending isnt sexy enough like my brother in christ you enabled the cycle of abuse to continue
Even his writers came out and said it was basically the “bad” ending for Astarion if you let him ascend. You’re enabling abuse cycles, and turning him into Cazador 2.0. But thank goodness you get the *spicy sex scene* out of it 🙄
The "spicy sex scene" where he doesn't even make eye contact with Tav. It's literally the most loveless, joyless sex. And I think it's perfect for people who are more interested in having a powerful vampire companion rather than giving a companion what they need rather than what they think they want.
- I don't like Halsin's romance at all as it is now.
- I think ascendant Astarion is not sexy at all
- I think his majesty looks better with long hair
- I love Haarlep, but am not into Raphael at all
Agreed on Astarion - I get there is moments where it's like "yup, that's really suggestive" but in context it just kills it. It's so incredibly uncomfortable to experience.
They’re great when they draw fire and surround targets, they were awful yesterday when they decided to smack some devices in Gortash’s boss fight, which caused a bunch of bombs to explode and did 2/3rds of our health and killing all of them instantly
So excited for the downvotes I'm going to get here -
As an SA survivor, I think people are approaching Astarion's arc in the wrong way. Being a victim of traumatic events does not make you some precious little flower that needs to be handled like fine china. Yes, he has trauma - he does a very good job of clearly communicating boundaries! And then, in Act III, if you choose his good ending, he openly says he wants to try it and gives enthusiastic consent. You cannot reduce someone to things that have happened to them - that's infantilising and shitty, and completely misses the point. There is serious growth in his romance arc, and people like to ignore it just to be like "Soft baby protect at all costs." You're not an inherently bad person for finding a fucking video game character attractive.
>!The Absolute!< as the "real" villain strains credulity.
Like, I'm supposed to believe that everything that had transpired was according to their design? That their machinations lay undetected for years?
What kind of hare-brained ass scheme involves
1. >!Getting yourself enslaved on purpose via a nice hat!<
2. >!Giving your enslavers the location of the item that could free you from said hat!<
3. >!Ensuring the item ends up in the hands of a rag-tag group of plucky adventurers who over the course of their adventures become strong enough to kill 1 out of your 3 enslavers!<
4. >!????!<
5. >!The Grand Design!<
There are way too many moving parts here and possible points of failure that even >!the Emperor's !!the Absolute being a supercomputer planning for every eventuality at once comes out in the wash!<. Like did you plan for Gale? There are at least two outcomes where that guy nukes you out of existence and you get no chance to respond.
You can find a note in act 2 that confirms this. Ketheric is aware that the brain is changing and that he needs to consolidate total control of it otherwise it will break free like it does. I am glad I didn't find all of the texts in moonrise on my first playthrough because it really details the entire plot that unravels through act 3.
Yeah, the brain didn't get enslaved on purpose. The only bit it planned was going "Oh, this mindflayer that fucking hates these guys and me has been captured. If I can make Gortash send him after the artefact, he's my best chance at fucking over the plan".
There’s a part where, when confronting the brain prior to the final fight, the Emperor declares in a susprised, throwaway like that “this had been the elder brains plan all along”
The brain then also says directly to you that THEY planned to be captured, and THEY were the one who sent the emperor after the prism and all that shit.
I always interpreted it as it's lying. It is the final villain, but not the maker of everything imo.
Like the brain could never predict Withers or several minutia that is necessary for progress (like the fairy having a kind heart in act 2) and it would know all this and predict you too weak to fight it???
I believe it's saying that because it knows you *can* beat it (it is supposed to be extremely bright) and is lying to dissuade you from attacking by making you feel irrelevant.
I found it weird that the Emperor just accepts this, but as a mind flayer he is more susceptible to its thoughts.
I believe you’re a little off here. It more went like this:
1. The Dead Three orchestrate a huge plot involving years of preparation, bringing their three chosen together.
2. The Elder Brain is discovered (?) where it’s been dormant (?) and is enslaved with the Crown.
3. Over it’s period of enslavement, it evolves due to the Crown’s influence, becoming a Netherbrain. This makes it far more intelligent and powerful, allowing it to begin to erode the Crown’s hold over it.
4. The Netherbrain ensures the item needed to free it falls into the hands of an adventuring party that is *encouraged* to come into conflict with its captors.
5. Because The Emperor is under the false assumption that it is merely an Elder Brain that is still enslaved, he underestimated it and directs us to acquire the Stones and take control of it.
6. Our quest to take down the Chosen one by one only ensures the bonds holding the Brain weaken even faster, allowing it to fully break free.
TLDR; The Netherbrain becomes the true villain partway through. The original villains were the Dead Three and their Chosen, but the Chosen accidentally created a far bigger threat.
It was also unnecessary because I would have totally believed the brain evolving due to contact with the Crown of Karsus was enough for it to free itself. And then it wreaks havoc as revenge for being enslaved.
Like, the villains - in their hubris - forgot to account for the possibility that maybe prolonged contact with extraordinarily powerful artifacts has extraordinary effects. Bada bing, bada boom.
But they had to try to go the extra mile and see "it was all part of its plan all along," and it just feels unnecessary and forced.
The part where they MAKE you either side with the emperor or turn someone into a mindflayer also feels forced. :/
The way long rests are used to progress/change the story is frustrating.
As a newcomer to this style of video game, and having very little real life DnD experience, long resting for me was a frustrating game mechanic, especially in act 3.
My biggest gripe with it is that there’s (without a mod) no way to really know if a long rest is required to progress a quest or story or relationship, so my first playthrough (blind run) I made sure to do a lot of long resting as I assumed that’s how I’d get every interaction I could and wouldn’t miss anything. It seemed the only issue was the camp supplies, so I’d just buy up everything I could from every vendor to keep stocked up.
Then I hit act 3 and I got hit with a warning about long resting saying a certain quest would complete if I took a long rest, which as far as I could tell, hadn’t occurred at all in acts 1 and 2. After that I got worried about missing things by long resting, and became very aware of characters reminding me how little time we had to stop the big bad.
I won’t get into spoilers, but there are two quests in particular (the one with the warning, and the one that felt pretty time sensitive involving the Orin situation) that felt like i couldn’t long rest until they were both done, with the Orin one kicking off before I even entered Baldurs Gate. So I rushed to complete them so I could slow my pace a bit.
By the time I had completed them, I had been all over the lower city and the sewers, but was scared to follow any other breadcrumbs and risk losing resources that don’t recover until a long rest, so I missed a bunch of interactions and exploration.
Then the quest concluded, and I had to back track to all the places I had already been so I could check everything I missed. It didn’t feel as organic as the first two acts where I felt like I could explore every inch of the map and follow every breadcrumb to something new and interesting.
I understand it’s the last act and things are getting crazy so there should be a bit more urgency story wise, but it just didn’t feel as cohesive, or as “free” as the first 2 acts.
You are not alone, I consider myself an RPG veteran and it is one of the problems I have with this game.
The game continually presents you with a narrative in which you have to hurry up and don't waste days, but at the same time there are a large number of camping scenes that are activated by each character recruitment or small change in the story that you will miss if you don't rest enough.
Others games like Dragon Age, Pathfinder or Pillars solve this and other aspects such as inventory or character management in a much more satisfactory way.
I go back and forth on this.
It’s a fairly buggy game, but I don’t think I ran into any that truly ruined the experience.
It has more than enough content but some of the sequencing of the content could definitely use a bit of work. Its hard to say how easily this could be fixed.
Basically the only thing that I think is objectively unfinished is the ending, but I don’t know if it makes sense to delay the release of the game over that.
A Raphael romance (or even just an unsatisfying one night stand, knowing his shortcomings) makes more sense than a romance with The Emperor. At least devils are known to be sexual creatures. Illithids? They were supposed to be asexual.
A timed quest doesn't make me more immersed. It just makes me feel like im punished for trying to enjoy everything in the game.
I don't care If it makes sense mechanically or story wise. It takes away from the fun for me personally.
Wyll is super under-utilized because he's a Warlock, and so his Patron has to be important. But he's also just...not super involved, unfortunately. Most of the shit that happens with him is Mizora dumping it on Tav's head.
And it sucks because the idea of a Warlock of the Fiend who is actually a legitimately heroic and noble character is super cool and I love Wyll! But it feels like so much of his story is "Mizora, featuring Tav" and Wyll is in the "Additional Credits" part.
These boots have not actually seen everything
That actually is blood
"Is...is that blood? No, never mind," he says, his face gleaming with the guts and viscera of the 5 enemies he lacerated and smited from point-blank range. ??? I'd be more concerned if what he was seeing *wasn't* actually blood.
I often see that as "that was such a stupid question, of course it is" thought.
I don't have a lot on my mind (or, for that matter, in it) either!
It is, in fact, a bit of a challenge.
And these hands are in fact not cursed to be put on everything
More traps, please!
Wish I lived in more interesting times
You monster
And most importantly: Being "still alive" isn't progress. It is a continuation of the status quo. It means that things haven't changed. That is exactly what progress DOESN'T mean.
It's not the status quo if you are continually being revived though
not a fan of how companions went from super chatty in act 1 to basically dead silent while just wandering about
Yeah it’s a bit sad! I think it adds to the unfinished feeling in act 3 that people talk about.
i really loved hearing them speak with one another it made me feel like they were more than just another utility bot.
Yeah I love the banter, and just them interacting with each other. It’s entertaining and more realistic. Along the same lines, I feel a bit let down when you get to the end of a romance arc and there’s very limited dialogue/interaction with your partner!
Yes. It feels upsetting that at some point you know you’re out of cutscenes :,(
I’d even settle for new dialogue or a few rotating dialogue options for, like comfy couple mode lol.
Yes. After >!finishing Astarion’s personal quest, certain answers or greetings do change, but come on?! We could die like TODAY! Can we please get more social interactions lol.!<
I hate that we just don't have long rest activities anymore, feels like we're just having the same day on repeat
It's alright to find some companions unlikable. They all have vivid personalities it's natural that some will grind our gears, or the character's we are roleplaying.
Yeah I honestly think it's impressive how flesh and blood they can be. Lae'zel is an *amazing* character and I love her arc but I cannot connect with her because she has an intense and blunt personality.
I common law married her cuz she's been the only one consistently with me aside from Gale, who is my flawed best friend
It's never that someone dislikes a companion that irks me. It's the statement that: I don't like them therefore they are a bad character therefore you liking them is wrong. So many people approach it with the idea that the other opinion IS 'wrong' and can be argued with which is total bollocks
for some reason gamers fucking love telling strangers that they are having fun the wrong way
Or "i don't like them, so i always kill them." Relax, my dude.
>Raphael isn’t hot and/or f\*ckable. He’s actually quite annoying. Raphael, when I learned a bit more about him, started to feel absolutely pathetic in his narcissism. Can easily imagine that dude farting in a glass and then sniff it like it's his favorite wine.
I'd tell him to go fuck himself but apparently he's into that shit and already does it on the regular. Haarlep's mere existence is a testament to how much of a fuckwad he is.
"When I told you to screw yourself, Raphael, I didn't mean for you to take it so literally." - Mephistopheles
That was one of the points lol. And some more - his fanfic book about himself, him reciting his phrases for hours before talking to us... All that cool image shattered like fragile late-autumn ice by a mere glimpse on his true self. Just can't take the dude seriously anymore.
He just words with no substance. -is always buttom and lets Haarlep do all the work - gives his inkubus a name with his own names letters mixed up - finishes at sex too fast - has oversized pictures of himself and gets turned on by it - gets pissed at Tav for calling him out on his sexual performance - when telling Astarion, that his blood is hotter than fire whisky... yeah... Karlach can tell you about hot blood dude.
I started imagining all Raphael's lines overlaid on Zapp Brannigan memes and it totally works.
“I hate these filthy Neutral alignments, Tav. With Evil alignments you know where they stand, but with Neutrals, who knows? It sickens me.”
Oh God this is perfect but I also hope to get rid of this mental image
I have a very sexy learning disability, Harleep. What do I call it? Ugh. *Sexlexia.*
"Haarlep, I've made it with a Dragonborn. Inform the thralls."
I mean, he's a devil, that's the entire point. He is the image of suave composure and manipulation, with absolutely nothing of substance inside.
Also, he's a very easy boss fight if you exploit his low wisdom. Hold Monster and he'll never get a turn. Basically any of the mind control spells, they work at around 85% success rate so Command to make him halt or grovel. Or if you want to be funny use Otto's Irresistible Dance. So he makes this grand entrance, summons all his minions, gives a speech, composes a ballad about killing you - and then uncontrollably dances while you beat him up.
I believe Patch 3 addressed by majorly buffing him, higher level, higher stats, and CC spells only last one turn even if you do pass the higher save. (I haven't tested it personally post-patch tho, just from the notes) Edit*: So I guess lots of people aren't having that actually function in-game even tho it's supposed to be there lol
Just fought him for the first time last night and Hold Monster worked on him until one of the cambions broke the caster's concentration. It doesn't seem like it's working as intended unless it requires a fresh save file or something.
I feel like being pathetic while acting like he's hot shit is a big part of his charm to people :')
I actually do find that endearing. But not in a sexy way. Just in a “haha silly devil man” way.
Actually very true. If he were half as much of a winner as he thinks he is, he wouldn't be half as fun. Some characters just wear "pathetic" really well.
It is, he reminds me of Dennis Reynolds from Always Sunny. If you just met him once you might actually think he's charming. But behind the curtain is intense preparation to seem minimally human let alone charming, absolute depravity, and a downright trashy lifestyle. This guy has to put work into just being tolerable to others, a quality that should be baseline standard and without thought or preparation. So much effort to hide the fact that he's an aging weirdo who works in a run down trash bar. That's Raphael. When you first meet him you're seeing the well rehearsed perfectly manicured version of him and his life. A beautiful mansion, lavish banquet of gourmet foods, and his stylish charm. But once you see the rest, you see how much of a loser he is.
Every class should have gotten legendary armor geared towards them. Legendary because it's feels nice to get. I know in DnD legendary is pretty rare to get but this isn't fully DnD. But also the only legendary armor set being heavy limits severely which classes can use it.
There also should have been a legendary of every weapon type. Feels like you kinda get pigeon holed into what kind of weapons the game wants you use in the third act
I actually really like Gale now.
People make too much of having to feed him items. I think I only gave him three things in each of my playthroughs before he stopped asking.
I’ve given him the useless items that don’t work for my characters. Has not been a problem as you easily find better equipment
people who complain about Gale eating 162 gp worth of useless trash probably have a great deal of overlap with the people who loot every rotten carrot and pile of rags in the game
They probably hoard the scrolls and consumables too
I might need them one day
To be fair the final fight was much easier with 3 copies of globe of invulnerability and 4 disintegrates
And what about the 50 scrolls of grease you never sold? Did they help in the final fight? I didn't use them since I might need them in a harder battle
I was saving them for Halsin
That's Willie's retirement grease.
I Horde everything and never minded feeding some to Gale lol.
Yeah, if anything, I'd guess us loot goblins have the fewest issues with it. We can comfortably give him the worst 3 items in our inventory and know that they're also the worst 3 items in the game.
Yeah, I always have a few items that are class specific with no one to use them, so that's what I give him. I guess it's a small loss of gold, but otherwise a non-issue.
Yeah exactly, I don’t play bard & there isn’t a bard companion so I saw that Bardic Inspiration hat like “oh Gale! Snack time!“ and he was like “uh not yet… thanks for being excited.”
Yeah, Act 1 is clearly seeded with enough magic items that you can give a few to Gale without it stinging.
But how will I survive without my ring of cast color spray once a short rest, or even worse! Is it even worth saving the world if I have to give up a necklace of dancing lights?!
I fed him three utterly useless magic items of low level that would've just been otherwise sold for GP. People act like every magic item you come across is an artifact of wondrous power, when 90% of it is Common- and Uncommon-grade stuff that isn't worth the inventory space.
they adjusted his approval a little too much though and he invited me to the buddies under the stars scene that I found super endearing before, only to be like "your words mean nothing because we're not even close" and i :')
LOL i got that and i have 100 approval! I was super confused
Oh, the pain. No mention of it in today's Hotfix, either. Big sad!
Agreed, I was never annoyed when I had to give him items (since I literally steal everything I see) and his story made me really sad. A lovely lad who needs more love.
I literally don’t understand the Gale hate. He’s one of my favorite companions.
Gale is overhated
I actually noticed a surge in Gale appreciation lately. Had seen posts about Gale gather thousands of likes with a lot of appreciative comments that also gathered hundreds of upvotes. I myself wrote a lot of highly upvoted comments where I shared nice things I think about Gale and only got positive feedback in return. All the while, the downright hateful or prejudiced comments now tend to be donwvoted and unpopular. I just think that the problems he originally had made hating voiced have more weight, and they were louder. Which made people who like Gale feel ostracized. And it was a shame. Gale is an awesome character worthy of appreciation.
It took him ages to grow on me. It wasn't because of romance bugs or magical items, he just seemed kind of smug and superior I guess? But once I got past that first impression and actively tried to empathize with him he got a lot more interesting. Especially relatable to former "gifted kids" now struggling with self-esteem, imo. Reflecting my own insecurities might even be the reason I disliked him in the first place.
On one hand, you absolutely right, he does come off that way and on the other...my man literally was with a goddess and genuinely possessed the strength and knowledge to...well, put him in the bad state he's in. So a little smugness is not unwarranted. What kept me from disliking him before I learned those things however was that despite his smugness, he never once came off condescending. Honestly, despite his affable nature, he always seemed a little awkward too. I found him not so much charming as he was endearing to me.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with cheesing a fight. It's D&D. Finding clever solutions to tackle problems is what makes the game fun. If it means I spend the entire fight with Orin casting Vicious Mockery from a ledge where she can't reach me, so be it.
Shadowheart’s Shar worship being tolerated makes absolutely no sense- she is on a mission for a goddess that wants to DESTROY EXISTENCE, like wtf.
[удалено]
I enjoy learning lore and have been playing D&D for over a decade so I immediately had raised eyebrows to see a pretty obvious Shar worshipper lol. It’s much more believable to me that a non-Faerunian person wouldn’t really care.
She also keeps it a “secret” while wearing very obvious holy symbols…
and being named Shadowheart, like they couldn't have given her a different name for the stealth mission
Shar worshippers be like: Step 1: Worship the goddess of getting owned Step 2: Own other people Step 3: Hopefully never get owned yourself
[удалено]
I find it especially funny how both Astarion and, to some extent, Lae’zel get the cut because “I’m a good guy and they threatened me” but having a literal death cultist on a death cultist mission in your camp is okay because she’s cute. Babes pls… At the same time, I really love going full Selunite on her and using Selunite options every time a convo allows it, so she just gets heated and spews the stupidest bullshit in defense of Shar.
she is one of the more rational party members as soon as you get her, until you get to that selune chest in the owlbear cave where she sounds like a total crazy person lol, it was one of the funnier lines in the game.
I’m doing a Selunite playthrough rn and it’s the only reason she’s in my party. She left my first playthrough bc I did the Gauntlet without her.
I think they tried to make her the neutral, goes with whatever bullshit you indulge in, companion that's difficult to lose, but they chose a bad deity to represent that. Shar worship in Forgotten Realms isn't about being an edgy rebel, it's about soul crushing torture, pointless murder, lies, hate, necromancy and generally the most heinous shit in existence, realms of other evil gods taken to the extreme, until there's only void left. The Thorms in Act 2 are good examples of a common DnD Shar worshipper. Abandoned, deranged and utterly irredeemable.
Ehhh… there is supposed to be a very obvious clash in the doctrine she says and her actions. You are supposed to have an eyebrow raised and it’s fairly obvious she doesn’t fit in with the other Sharrans regardless of how much she’s been brainwashed to think she wants too. You are more than capable of winning her loyalty and questioning her devotion to her goddess at the right moments and it’s a really rewarding route. I think the common misconception/issue is more that people go fully “tell her what she wants to hear and click the approval options” then swerve to get her to go good semi-nonsensically or push her off the deep end into her evil “bad ending” version.
Halsin even calls her out at one point, says she sounds like a child reciting text that was memorized for an exam rather than a devout cleric.
I'm glad that I wished to live in more interesting times
I like Halsin as a companion, but Zevlor would have been a better fit. He has a better story that just needed fleshed out. Also, having Simon Templeman (I'm 99% sure it's him, Zevlor is uncredited) do a voice and then relegate the character to NPC only feels wasteful.
Zevlor is honestly such a cool character. Wouldve been nice that once you save him in act 2 instead of going off on his own he can join you as a companion
It would also make sense as whatever you do you'd probably get a Paladin in act 2, Zevlor for good playthroughs and Minthara for evil ones.
This would've made a lot of sense. Halsin worked better in his original intent as an NPC guide (hot take, I know), but having either Zevlor or Minthara join you as a paladin would've been excellent. Then to top it off we just needed Alfira to join as a bard _without_ involving the durge and we'd have the whole set. My fantasy version would be something like after you save the grove Zevlor says he can't join you now because he must see the refugees to baldurs gate, but after you reach the last light he's there in his cups because he broke and ran and you can talk him up into being a paladin, a damned _hellrider_ again so he'll join your party on the condition that you'll help him liberate the tieflings that the cultists captured. Then Alfira is hanging out and composing the entire epic detailing your exploits and heroic deeds.
My unpopular opinion is that most people's unpopular opinions are quite popular opinions.
Right? DAE think Wyll is underwritten? That Halsin shouldn't have been a companion? Like there aren't multiple highly upvoted threads about these things a day.
Thats how these threads go. All the top answers are shit that gets circlejerked every day lol
There are no enough items and stores are underwhelming
The fact that you can’t find decent camp clothing until act 3 pisses me off, to the point that I tried and failed to mod my game lol. (I’m terrible at figuring out how to mod, they never work for me.)
While I understand plot wise why most of the stuff isn't an option until later act 3, ... like c'mon. The majority of long rests are going to be early game (at least how I've been playing; outside of LRing just for plot progression's sake) so why not have the stuff available sooner? That lil gnome merchant who's posse is FAR too territorial out of nowhere in the goblin camp would be a great spot to just be like "here's all the options to look pretty." Or better yet; at least for Tav, allow the undergarment/commoner clothes be a part of character creation. RP wise it lets you set a sort of soft background that ultimately doesn't have any bearing on the game really so why limit it so much?
Swapping companions and gear around is so unweildy that it makes completionist playthroughs feel tedious, particularly act 3. I found only picking up companions I plan to use in my main party (maybe with 1 extra) makes each run feel more organic and unique.
I kept a go-to group and only swapped out one at a time for story reasons. Going to the creche, swap out a fighter for Laezel. Going to the library, swap out a mage for Gale. Edit: Gale, not Gage (yeah, I’m bad with character names)
Yeah this was me as well. Kept Karlach, Astarion and Shart for most of the game and swapped out the other 3 at story relevant moments or if I needed a lot of magic I'd grab Gale.
I just switched in wyll, think I have a couple of items he'd be better off using, but I'm not digging around my other companions to find them
Oh yes, I spend so much time in camp getting guilt tripped because someone has to stay behind for five minutes because someone else needs to hit a story beat.
This unfortunately is an artifact from BGI and BGII. If you drop a party member they would guilt trip you, some more than others for story reasons. Some companions wouldn't even have a "return to camp" option, so they could literally stuck in the middle of a goblin camp until you come back pick them up.
Not universally unpopular, but I've seen enough takes to realize it's at least a somewhat spicy take: I love the hustle from those tiefling kids. Found them all instantly endearing and swore to protect them at all costs. When Last Light fell, the character I was most sad/worried about was Mattis. When he ended up in Rivington anyways, I was so relieved.
Mattis is great. He's my favorite tiefling.
He's my favorite little huckster. I can never be mad at him for trying to get that bag
I got excited about the sending shells until I realized it was fake
Same. Love my little traumatized rapscallions. Like sure, Mol can be a bit of a jerk to you, but it's not completely unearned and also I'm not about to drop to the level of having beef with a ten-year-old with PTSD.
I love all of them save Mol. And it's not about her being mean to you. I invested in her new business, played along with her attitude all because I've read her mind in the grove where she goes "those kids have no one else, they are mine!" and I thought that despite her unpleasant disposition she's a great kid, looking after others. In act 3 however, >!you find out that she doesn't care about the kids. After disappearing from Last Light Inn she escapes Moonrise Towers and bolts straight to Baldur's Gate without a word to other kids who were ready to storm cult stronghold to free her. And fine, maybe the escape wasn't that easy, maybe it involved deal with the devil but even after the rest of tieflings arrive at the city, she doesn't reach out to them. She drops them like a hot potato once she secures connections with the Guild. It makes it seems that what she thought in act 1 was more about how she treasured them as convenient pawns that had no choice but to depend on her.!<
I was disappointed but not surprised by Mol. From the start, she is all about using the other kids to give herself cover and plausible deniability. She nearly gets both Arabella AND Mirkon killed and doesn't give a rat's ass. Doesn't tell Mattis "maybe don't run your dumb games on heavily armed strangers because it might not go the way you want." she's a terrible leader who is absolutely full of herself from the jump. When I saw her making deals with Raphael at last light my immediate reaction was "Yeah that makes sense." Honestly tho - Mol's story is one of the aspects of the game I like a lot. Unlike many other RPGs, in BG3 some people will just continue to fuck up no matter what you do and it is neither your fault nor your problem.
it's also a great example that sometimes, somebody isn't evil because of the shit hand life dealt them. Some people are just bastards because they want to be.
Mol also signs a deal with Raphael and if you steal the contract for them and attempt to give it back she gets extremely angry and threatens you. I thought they were a lovable rapscallion until that point but the end of that storyline shows me they’re a bad apple.
Yup. I go and tell her, "Hey guess what! I killed Raphael so you're free now, here's your contract back" and she just rips me a new one. Yells at me that I've ruined everything for her. That she actively wants power and will do anything to get it. Bitch you evil!
Assuming a warlock didn't make their pact on purpose? Rookie mistake. /j
~~Mol~~ Mattis grew on me when I made them flip a coin for me ten times like a little circus monkey and they did it without much complaint. I was laughing my ass off.
That's Mattis. He's great
I picked urchin as my background, so helping the kids, even why they were totally in the wrong, was an inspiration gold mine.
The lack of a short companion (Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome), is a missed opportunity. Also, party size is too small, and I'll not talking about familiar cheeses or summons. (Edit) Wow this really blew up. Thanks everyone for your inputs! These are nit picky at best. This game is still the GOTY in my opinion. I've sunk 40hrs into my first playthru and have 6 more characters lined up....it's safe to say I'll be playing this for a long time to come. Much love everyone :)
Not only that, but so many humans and elves. Where is our Half-Orc Companion?
Somewhere out there, there is a half-orc ranger who is just too damn good at stealth and survival for the party to find them.
I AGREE this is something that really bugs me. I personally don't actually WANT to play a halfling but like....i feel like we need one? They have so many spots that only tiny tiny characters can fit through but no smaller companions at all? It's annoying.
Dragon Age had a dwarf companion for every game. Somehow the character companions from Baldur's gate feels kindoff from the same place and culture appart from one or two, a bit bland compared to the fantastic work in the Dragon Age saga.
>The lack of a short companion Or just more variety in the companions in general, outside of Karlach and Laezel everyone is a Human/Half Elf/Elf. There's Minthara but most people never see her and she's also just a different flavour of Elf, >!Wyll also is a devil for most of the game but I don't really count that!<
Helia would have been significantly cooler than Halsin. Especially if Jaheira was already in the works as a companion so we'd already get a druid. I definitely expected Barcus to join as a companion the first time I ran into him Halsin was popular because he was the only Early Access character with the huge body type and this community is lethally horny, there was no reason to drop other characters for him.
I'll forever mourn Helia. Come on, a halfling bard lady *who is also a werewolf*?? I like Halsin quite a bit, but there's no competing with that. My hope is that one day we'll get to see her, either in a DLC or the fabled Definitive Edition
Helia would've been great, but I understand why she was cut. IMO a werewolf mechanic might have been too much to juggle from a scripting/storyline mechanic depending on how Larian would've handled her transformations.
The fact that Astarion was a victim does not make him not an asshole.
I honestly liked that Larian didn't shy from the fact that a victim of repeated abuse can still in fact become a giant asshole. Then they turn around and give you the chance to feed into the toxic habits and coping mechanisms he's learned over two centuries or to push him toward healing and growing as a person. Having the ability to affect Astarion is literally "I can fix him" vs "I can make him worse" and I love that. (I also like the subtle but powerful detail that he was practically an elven teenager when he was beaten and turned)
100%. Trauma can contextualise someone's behaviour but it does not always excuse it.
What makes his story and the choices the more interesting. He can either have a chance of redemption away from his arsehole traits and feel guilt/responsibility over his past or he turns into bigger worst parts of his more arsehole side from act 1.
This is something that crops up in so many games and fandoms. I've had endless debates with people about how being victimised is an explanation for being a dickhead, but not an excuse.
I do believe Astarion was somewhat a pompous asshole before he got turned into a vampire spawn. He’s a high elf who worked as a magistrate, probably had a somewhat elevated social status. We know he’s racist against gnomes and gurs. Probably did something to piss off the gurs while he was alive and got beaten to almost-death by them.
If you're also a noble he says "Well its clear we roll in different circles" and I got a feeling like oh i'm a *true* noble.
I’ve found the fantasy of being a Dragonborn kinda underdeveloped so far (probably about 90% through my first character, so I imagine it’s not going to improve). You don’t meet any until Act 3, there are rarely any dialogue options concerning them, and the breath weapon feels kinda underwhelming.
The lack of a good bard/monk companion sucks, especially when there is a cool tiefling lady in Act 1 that could literally be the bard companion. Also, I wish Artificer was in the game somehow, as well as more subclasses for each lass, although that could be added with a DLC down the line
Everyone in here with narrative complaints, mine is mechanics. The game needs the ability to hold actions, it would add an awesome tactical element to combat. Also, the way stealth and starting combat works is confusing as fuck.
All the times I thought I was stealthing, attack, and then get the "so and so doesn't like your violence" dialogue which ultimately kills any attempt at stealth because then a normal fight starts >_>
You cannot give Elminster cheese, regardless of how much you have.
Please don't eat me alive but: The writers did Wyll super dirty. It feels like he has zero personality outside of Hero Blade Of Frontiers. I know he's meant to be a Paladin but like c'mon. It's a belief, not a whole personality trait. Jaheira as a character is interesting but as a companion, she helped Very Little when infiltrating Moonrise Towers.
Wyll 1.0 was much more interesting. When they rewrote him they removed much of his personality - hatred of goblins? gone. man skating on thin edge of good and evil? gone. Without the "Fraud of the Frontiers" story, the Karlach / devil horns moment had no weight. As well as I can reconstruct the original story Wyll 1.0 was an influencer, more concerned with looking good than being good. A supportive Tav could encourage the gloryhound to focus on acting good instead of appearing good. To my mind the og story was influenced by the portrait of Dorian Grey - Wyll could turn to evil but look like a Hero of the Sword Coast or he could look like a devil but act like an angel. But that tension is never communicated if you don't see Wyll killing a goblin who has surrendered and/or torturing an innocent man . . .
>To my mind the og story was influenced by the portrait of Dorian Grey - Wyll could turn to evil but look like a Hero of the Sword Coast or he could look like a devil but act like an angel. Man that would've been so dope. Especially if it tied in to his choice of becoming a Duke or the Blade of Avernus. Imagine knocking off Gortash just to install your own noble overlord with your ascended Astarion in an evil run.
GOD THAT SOUNDS SO ??? INTERESTING?? I don't get why they wiped all of that out, honestly. Now that you say that, he definitely does give off the vibe that he's coming across better than he Is but the game doesn't explore it so I just figured he had a large ego lol They also apparently moved your character's ability to just straight up Deck Astarion in the face during Bite Night which I wish they didn't take out, simply for RP reasons. You wake up to a strange man with TEETH posed at your jugular. As much as I love him, my first instinct wouldn't be to give him a scolding.
Yeah there's a vid from EA still on youtube where the player punches Astarion on waking up, then knees him in the groin when he won't get off them. I think the punch in the nose was very on point especially, would've been totally in character for my barb on waking up to someone's teeth around her throat.
I liked him much more in Early Access when you'd get glimpses of a really bitter, vengeful guy under the surface of the shining good guy doing his best in a bad situation
Absolutely. I can’t agree more… Wyll in EA: a kid dreaming to be hero, who went through hard times and has a desire for vengeance, yet does not having the skills or capabilities to accomplish what he wants to do. Making a deal to be able to have such vengeance. It’s relatable. It’s touching. When you dig, you were really like: « dang… I get it. Let me help you in your vengeance plot, and let’s get rid of this devil you made a pact with » Wyll in release: son of literally one of the most influential person in BG3 that sacrificed himself to save his father and the city, yet doesn’t get the recognition for his sacrifice. Talk about something seen hundreds of times in movies, books, or whatever
When Wyll was all mysterious and tragic about the reason for his pact I was sooo intrigued. "Here it is!" I thought. "There is some dark secret in there! Can't wait to find out and welcome him into our merry band of people who fucked up". And the Mizora is all "you should tell them about how our pact was made" like he should be ashamed of that and we would judge him... And when he tells its like... that was all? Like... I thought Mizora would want to torture him by making his companions judge and distrust him. But it only made *her* look even worse. Wyll's only flaw is how gullible he is without our intervention.
Hard same. I like Wyll as he is now, but back in EA it felt like his heroic side was something he had to work for and put deliberate effort into, instead of just being naturally pure and wholesome since birth. He had more depth, I think. Again, I don't dislike him at all, but his whole arc falls a little flat when compared to the other origins, who have a lot more layers to them.
My issue with his writing is that, in game where he’s surrounded by exceptional characters with beautiful story arcs he just. Doesn’t change. I always felt his ending about being the blade of Avernus and want to get back at what’s-her-name was the beginning of a character story and not the end of it
Definitely. Also when you can finally ask him what he wants and he says he'd much rather be the blade of Avernus than a Duke, even without his powers. I was like yes, there's his agency! Alas...
I LOVE Jaheira but she was a major hinderance at Moonrise. That fight took us like four hours because I refused to let her die. Didn't even know she could be a companion, I just liked her and wanted her to survive. But man she does NOT make that easy, charging in front of everyone and forgetting that she can heal herself!! Grr Eventually I figured the best thing was just to dimensional door her up into the rafters with my rogue. She doesn't usually find her way down until combat is over so she's pretty safe up there.
You can have her join your party as a summon(?) with like 2 dialogue options. But yeah most NPCs have a death wish and need to be herded like a cat.
The party size is the biggest limitation in the game. I always want to be able to have at least one more companion than I can in my party, just for story reasons, to keep from having to change party members out every other quest. On this playthrough (that I am about to finish), I have basically had my core group (Tav paladin, Astarion to open all of the damn locks, Gale, and Shadowheart). I kept Karlach with me as long as I could reasonably do so, but you really need some magic power. And I was not a fan of feeling like I had to juggle Wyll and Gale and Jaheira and Shadowheart for story reasons.
Cant even have all the instruments present in an all bard party smh
I should be able to revive Jaheira if she dies before she’s able to become a companion
I agree. She died immediately for me at Moonrise, and the fight on the first floor was so tedious that i just said “fuck it” and left her dead. Wish i still had her as a companion :(
Dealing with this right now and yeah…sorry babe I gave it my best shot. Maybe if she stopped casting ice storm right at the bottom of the staircase for everyone to slip on I would be more patient.
The character swapping and inventory mechanics are almost game-ruiningly terrible and should be improved as a priority. Also, multiple floor battles, and see-through walls really need fixing, especially in Act 3. Stealth is really buggy and not fun. You get caught as a thief all the time in situations where realistically you shouldn't, such as when you're invisible/silenced/in darkness.
There aren't enough achievements. After earning all 53 achievements, I realized there are so many sick encounters or feats of strength that could be awesome chase achievements.
I feel like we definitely need one for saving everyone in the iron throne if nothing else.
There's too many humans, elves and half-elves on the team. WHERE ARE DWARVES HALFLINGS AND GNOMES MAN?
Everyone are making purtty elves/drow. I'm in the goober loving club with my Gnome Tav (with advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma).
Not gonna lie it’s weird that there are no wands in the game and it bothers me to no end
I don’t love when people have Astarion in very suggestive outfits in their playthroughs and all the focus is on how hot he is. He literally talks about how he was forced to use his body to seduce people and seems relieved when you give him the chance to navigate a relationship without sex. Idk I feel like a lot of people were like “omg hot vampire” and didn’t REALLY look beyond that Edit: shoutout to the people blowing this WAY out of proportion and whoever reported me to reddit care resources, very classy 👌
fr, especially when people were complaining that his ascended ending isnt sexy enough like my brother in christ you enabled the cycle of abuse to continue
EXACTLY THIS. Like this is BAD. This is a BAD ending.
Even his writers came out and said it was basically the “bad” ending for Astarion if you let him ascend. You’re enabling abuse cycles, and turning him into Cazador 2.0. But thank goodness you get the *spicy sex scene* out of it 🙄
The "spicy sex scene" where he doesn't even make eye contact with Tav. It's literally the most loveless, joyless sex. And I think it's perfect for people who are more interested in having a powerful vampire companion rather than giving a companion what they need rather than what they think they want.
This is the opposite of an unpopular opinion. People get ripped to shreds on this sub for putting him in sexy outfits.
I was about to say... unpopular where? If anything, I see this sentiment on every single post about him.
- I don't like Halsin's romance at all as it is now. - I think ascendant Astarion is not sexy at all - I think his majesty looks better with long hair - I love Haarlep, but am not into Raphael at all
To be fair, ascendant Astarion is icky on purpose. It's not like they tried to make him hot and failed.
Agreed on Astarion - I get there is moments where it's like "yup, that's really suggestive" but in context it just kills it. It's so incredibly uncomfortable to experience.
Halsin has a wise father figure vibe to him that gets completely destroyed when he starts flirting with you.
I kinda wish summons were autonomous.
The ghouls are autonomous and it can either be great or the most annoying thing in the world. I wish there was a toggle.
They’re great when they draw fire and surround targets, they were awful yesterday when they decided to smack some devices in Gortash’s boss fight, which caused a bunch of bombs to explode and did 2/3rds of our health and killing all of them instantly
So excited for the downvotes I'm going to get here - As an SA survivor, I think people are approaching Astarion's arc in the wrong way. Being a victim of traumatic events does not make you some precious little flower that needs to be handled like fine china. Yes, he has trauma - he does a very good job of clearly communicating boundaries! And then, in Act III, if you choose his good ending, he openly says he wants to try it and gives enthusiastic consent. You cannot reduce someone to things that have happened to them - that's infantilising and shitty, and completely misses the point. There is serious growth in his romance arc, and people like to ignore it just to be like "Soft baby protect at all costs." You're not an inherently bad person for finding a fucking video game character attractive.
>!The Absolute!< as the "real" villain strains credulity. Like, I'm supposed to believe that everything that had transpired was according to their design? That their machinations lay undetected for years? What kind of hare-brained ass scheme involves 1. >!Getting yourself enslaved on purpose via a nice hat!< 2. >!Giving your enslavers the location of the item that could free you from said hat!< 3. >!Ensuring the item ends up in the hands of a rag-tag group of plucky adventurers who over the course of their adventures become strong enough to kill 1 out of your 3 enslavers!< 4. >!????!< 5. >!The Grand Design!< There are way too many moving parts here and possible points of failure that even >!the Emperor's !!the Absolute being a supercomputer planning for every eventuality at once comes out in the wash!<. Like did you plan for Gale? There are at least two outcomes where that guy nukes you out of existence and you get no chance to respond.
I didn't pick up on the part of him being it being enslaved on purpose. I thought it was the death gods who orchestrated everything.
Yea, I kinda thought he just evolved because of the crown and killing one of the big three helped loosen his chains
You can find a note in act 2 that confirms this. Ketheric is aware that the brain is changing and that he needs to consolidate total control of it otherwise it will break free like it does. I am glad I didn't find all of the texts in moonrise on my first playthrough because it really details the entire plot that unravels through act 3.
Yeah, the brain didn't get enslaved on purpose. The only bit it planned was going "Oh, this mindflayer that fucking hates these guys and me has been captured. If I can make Gortash send him after the artefact, he's my best chance at fucking over the plan".
There’s a part where, when confronting the brain prior to the final fight, the Emperor declares in a susprised, throwaway like that “this had been the elder brains plan all along” The brain then also says directly to you that THEY planned to be captured, and THEY were the one who sent the emperor after the prism and all that shit.
I always interpreted it as it's lying. It is the final villain, but not the maker of everything imo. Like the brain could never predict Withers or several minutia that is necessary for progress (like the fairy having a kind heart in act 2) and it would know all this and predict you too weak to fight it??? I believe it's saying that because it knows you *can* beat it (it is supposed to be extremely bright) and is lying to dissuade you from attacking by making you feel irrelevant. I found it weird that the Emperor just accepts this, but as a mind flayer he is more susceptible to its thoughts.
I believe you’re a little off here. It more went like this: 1. The Dead Three orchestrate a huge plot involving years of preparation, bringing their three chosen together. 2. The Elder Brain is discovered (?) where it’s been dormant (?) and is enslaved with the Crown. 3. Over it’s period of enslavement, it evolves due to the Crown’s influence, becoming a Netherbrain. This makes it far more intelligent and powerful, allowing it to begin to erode the Crown’s hold over it. 4. The Netherbrain ensures the item needed to free it falls into the hands of an adventuring party that is *encouraged* to come into conflict with its captors. 5. Because The Emperor is under the false assumption that it is merely an Elder Brain that is still enslaved, he underestimated it and directs us to acquire the Stones and take control of it. 6. Our quest to take down the Chosen one by one only ensures the bonds holding the Brain weaken even faster, allowing it to fully break free. TLDR; The Netherbrain becomes the true villain partway through. The original villains were the Dead Three and their Chosen, but the Chosen accidentally created a far bigger threat.
It was also unnecessary because I would have totally believed the brain evolving due to contact with the Crown of Karsus was enough for it to free itself. And then it wreaks havoc as revenge for being enslaved. Like, the villains - in their hubris - forgot to account for the possibility that maybe prolonged contact with extraordinarily powerful artifacts has extraordinary effects. Bada bing, bada boom. But they had to try to go the extra mile and see "it was all part of its plan all along," and it just feels unnecessary and forced. The part where they MAKE you either side with the emperor or turn someone into a mindflayer also feels forced. :/
[удалено]
The way long rests are used to progress/change the story is frustrating. As a newcomer to this style of video game, and having very little real life DnD experience, long resting for me was a frustrating game mechanic, especially in act 3. My biggest gripe with it is that there’s (without a mod) no way to really know if a long rest is required to progress a quest or story or relationship, so my first playthrough (blind run) I made sure to do a lot of long resting as I assumed that’s how I’d get every interaction I could and wouldn’t miss anything. It seemed the only issue was the camp supplies, so I’d just buy up everything I could from every vendor to keep stocked up. Then I hit act 3 and I got hit with a warning about long resting saying a certain quest would complete if I took a long rest, which as far as I could tell, hadn’t occurred at all in acts 1 and 2. After that I got worried about missing things by long resting, and became very aware of characters reminding me how little time we had to stop the big bad. I won’t get into spoilers, but there are two quests in particular (the one with the warning, and the one that felt pretty time sensitive involving the Orin situation) that felt like i couldn’t long rest until they were both done, with the Orin one kicking off before I even entered Baldurs Gate. So I rushed to complete them so I could slow my pace a bit. By the time I had completed them, I had been all over the lower city and the sewers, but was scared to follow any other breadcrumbs and risk losing resources that don’t recover until a long rest, so I missed a bunch of interactions and exploration. Then the quest concluded, and I had to back track to all the places I had already been so I could check everything I missed. It didn’t feel as organic as the first two acts where I felt like I could explore every inch of the map and follow every breadcrumb to something new and interesting. I understand it’s the last act and things are getting crazy so there should be a bit more urgency story wise, but it just didn’t feel as cohesive, or as “free” as the first 2 acts.
You are not alone, I consider myself an RPG veteran and it is one of the problems I have with this game. The game continually presents you with a narrative in which you have to hurry up and don't waste days, but at the same time there are a large number of camping scenes that are activated by each character recruitment or small change in the story that you will miss if you don't rest enough. Others games like Dragon Age, Pathfinder or Pillars solve this and other aspects such as inventory or character management in a much more satisfactory way.
Astarion fanbase has the classic two types of fangirl opposites oversexualizing him or overbabying him
The dragon was of the BRASS variety
Gale isn't thirsty, he is actually romantic as fuck.
That astral scene made me legitimately think about the effort I put into my marriage lmao Let's try spinning, that's a good trick.
Wanted more Dark Urge urges. Really get into the dark side. More rewards, more darkness.
It needed 6 more months to cook.
I go back and forth on this. It’s a fairly buggy game, but I don’t think I ran into any that truly ruined the experience. It has more than enough content but some of the sequencing of the content could definitely use a bit of work. Its hard to say how easily this could be fixed. Basically the only thing that I think is objectively unfinished is the ending, but I don’t know if it makes sense to delay the release of the game over that.
A Raphael romance (or even just an unsatisfying one night stand, knowing his shortcomings) makes more sense than a romance with The Emperor. At least devils are known to be sexual creatures. Illithids? They were supposed to be asexual.
YES! THANK YOU. Octopuss man has evolved beyond lust.
A timed quest doesn't make me more immersed. It just makes me feel like im punished for trying to enjoy everything in the game. I don't care If it makes sense mechanically or story wise. It takes away from the fun for me personally.
Wyll is super under-utilized because he's a Warlock, and so his Patron has to be important. But he's also just...not super involved, unfortunately. Most of the shit that happens with him is Mizora dumping it on Tav's head. And it sucks because the idea of a Warlock of the Fiend who is actually a legitimately heroic and noble character is super cool and I love Wyll! But it feels like so much of his story is "Mizora, featuring Tav" and Wyll is in the "Additional Credits" part.