#and i actually had astarion with me for a change for a quest that involves him

[ettadunham]

shadowheart has such main character energy, you can't take her out of your party for a minute without some sidequest popping up involving her, she's just that powerful

[chronurgy]

I made a post earlier talking about three directions I thought wyll's quest might take in at the end of act 1/early act 2 and I wanted to elaborate on it a little bit. The three directions I considered were a focus on monster hunting and what that meant, a focus on his disdain for politics, and a focus on his relationship with his father. I didn't particularly consider any one more likely than the other, they all just sort of arose out of what I saw as "points of tension" in wyll's character. I'm also not trying to say that these are the only options or the best options, I'm just laying out what I personally thought might happen and how it was going to work.

Focusing on the monster hunter thing - was karlach the first innocent person he had been sent to hunt? What does it mean to be a monster hunter in a world where many monsters have human intelligence? Especially because of what happened with Karlach, I thought this might become a throughline in his quest and tie further into the ways devils twist words and contracts to use and manipulate people. What they call a "bloodthirsty rampaging monster" might have understandable reasons for attacking a village that had, say, stolen its eggs to sell as spell ingredients. Or even if they didn't have such a sympathetic reason, it's absolutely possible that they could be reasoned with and asked to stop. With wyll's already existing sympathy for karlach and astarion, I thought that creating sympathy for less human looking "monsters" might be the next step.

I actually still think this would have been a pretty interesting questline. His act two quest could have centered around a monster he'd been sent to kill at the edge of the shadow-cursed lands, returning to that area and meeting there a mate, sibling, or child that had possibly changed its ways (great durge parallel here!). There could be a lot of questions about whether or not someone can change their nature, about what redemption means, about who is afforded second chances, all of that. I think by nature Wyll would lean towards letting them live, but a player character could push him down a darker path (a la Shadowheart). This would also feed well into Wyll making choices about his pact with mizora - if he kills the mate or sibling, leaning into the monster hunter and no hope of redemption thing then he would choose to keep his pact, saying that it gives him the power to protect people from monsters while perhaps also believing that there's no way for him to be saved, but if he chooses to let them live and broadens his mind and understanding he would choose to break his pact with mizora, citing the fact that she's lied to him repeatedly and how he doesn't want to bring more harm on innocents.

Focusing on the politics thing - wyll's comment about how "a Duke shakes hands with more monsters than he slays" is really fascinating because Duke is a political job and the "monsters" he's talking about are people. He was the son of a grand duke and was intended to follow in his footsteps, but this is the view he has of politics? That's kinda wild to me! I assumed we'd get some sort of politically involved quest once we got to the city where Wyll would have to get over his distaste for politics and challenge his view of other people as monsters and overall examine what it means to run a city or something along those lines.

Like I said, I assumed any quest line would focus on a situation where Wyll would either overcome his distaste for politics and learn to appreciate the difficulties of running a city when your opponents are people you can't just kill when they get in your way or have a "bad end" where he decided that he didn't care and was happy to use force on political opponents. (interestingly I think you can see some potential remnants of this in his speech about becoming grand duke where he says something along the lines of "no one could stand against him")

Focusing on his father - I felt like there was obviously a lot going on in that relationship and that it had to come back up! Wyll acted so sanguine and understanding about the whole banishment thing even though it seemed obvious (to me at least) that he was deeply hurt by it and in denial about it. I thought for sure that would come to a confrontation where Wyll would accept that he was actually hurt by this and that his father had done him wrong. This was further reinforced through act 1 and 2 by the repeated references to how terrible the flaming fist were and how they weren't what they used to be. Since Ulder was their commamder, I assumed that this was also meant to be a reflection on him and that he wasn't the perfect and heroic man Wyll idealized him as. Act 3 actually reinforced this for me with its constant examples of just how corrupt and incompetent the fist were. I really thought we were going to see some emotional payoff and reckoning here right up until we actually rescued ulder and it didn't happen.

I wasn't really sure what form this quest would take but I was very convinced it would happen. Like I said, all the comments about the fist in acts 1 and 2 had me convinced! There's so clearly tension there, with ulder having been unwilling to show any sense of understanding to his 17 year old son. I assumed that the quest might involve puncturing the "myth" of Ulder for Wyll and him starting to see his father as a human with flaws instead of idolizing him. I also really thought that there would be a dramatic confrontation!

So there we have it - places I thought Wyll's quest might go based on what I'd seen in act 1 and early act 2. I was very wrong indeed - two of the three things I thought might be main drivers never came up at all, and one of them ended up being straight up ignored. Ah well!

[sailorgundam308]

Got pretty annoyed yesterday while discussing the game with a friend (don’t worry, we’re still friends lol). But truly, I got annoyed at, once more, seeing how there are wrong assumptions weaved into the community discourse - things based out of someone’s ass, apparently, that got traction and now are repeated by players as if it’s true. But, of course, if anyone stops 2 seconds to actually pay attention to the game, these ideas prove to be just wrong.

This friend, for example, was mentioning how Astarion and Karlach NEVER agree or disagree together in anything. That’s a lie. I’ve (me myself, so I KNOW firsthand) been screen shooting every time there’s an agreement between them and when there isn’t. There are much more agreements than disagreements between Astarion and Karlach. They do come across as having different alignments, but they think alike MUCH more than ‘the internet’ (or even some devs?!) tend to believe. They might justify their rationale in different ways but they do agree together and disagree together way more than they disagree with each other. So that is something I personally can attest to.

Then I heard the argument that Karlach and Astarion don’t get unique scenes between each other: again, untrue. The tiefling party scene with Karlach, for starters, is the only unique romance scene for Astarion. The only person who has back and forth with Karlach after the paladins of Tyr are defeated is Astarion. They have (out of the top of my head, at least 4 unique short banters while both are in the party - again, more than Karl with any other companion.

Then the wrong assumption Astarion can’t go to Avernus : he can and he goes, both as ascended and spawn if you’re playing origin Karl. Ascended if you’re playing him.

A lot stems, again, from simplistic and shallow interpretations of both these characters’ story arcs and personalities. Others come from prejudice, from passing judgement on their appearance instead of their “content”.

Moreover, though, there will never be as much this x that content if it’s involving Karlach (and worse for Wyll) SIMPLY BECAUSE there is LESS than A THIRD the amount of content for Karlach in ANYTHING.

For some reason writers/devs took a long while to decide to put the work into Karlach and when they did they clearly made a bet that blew in their faces - that she’d be a lesser origin character and that’d turn out alright. But she’s the second most popular character and because people like her, they are paying attention to her story - and the massive lack of work and resources dedicated to her arc. Imagine if she had received the attention in detail and the game time / in game content, say, shadowheart received? Instead of a temple Shar, we went to Avernus? In place of Shar, ZARIEL made a personal appearance? We could’ve gotten a young Karlach flashback cinematic, an extra dungeon in act 3, then a personal quest closure with Gortash instead of SH’s parents, so we’d know what the fuck happened. As someone who can’t give two shits about SH, that would’ve been incredible to play. Half of that would still have been a blast. But we get nowhere near. And I’m only bringing Karlach to attention here as an example - if you look at Wyll (who was the front page origin boy since the conception of the game), the disparity is even more shocking.

I’ve read on a writer’s twitter a while back (can’t remember who exactly so you’ll have to excuse me), that they were the writers for Durge, and for a time they got to write some stuff for Astarion for a bit, due to some task delegation changes and whatnot, and they explicitly said they “managed to put in things specific to their “main” character (durge) in Astarion’s writing” - or something in those lines. Honestly… what the fuck? Not sure if that was the intention, but to me it sounded like someone with their own precious OC, which they are obviously attached to, pushing content in to benefit their “main”. In a game where there are several “mains” and many with glaringly less content than others. Again, in my interpretation of what I read that day, this information came across as the most unprofessional shit I’ve seen - if you are tasked to write someone else’s character, you should act as that character’s writer - not a fanfic writer trying to push a personal headcanon or narrative because it pleases YOU, in detriment of other characters. It was wild at the time and I just kinda… walked away and pretended I didn’t read it. It was just shocking and not the attitude I expected from a serious professional.

Whether that’s the whole truth or not I can’t say, but what I can say is that this left me with a weird taste in my mouth and perhaps that’s why until today I couldn’t finish a single run with Durge despite trying several. There are other issues with Durge for me personally in term of the actual writing of the sentences and the way they were worded that just seems impossible to take seriously. (But I’m trying to get over it still, as I want to experience this part of the game too, so I won’t give any sort of personal final veredict).

Also, the idea that Durge was supposed to be the main character… that’s a new assumption for me and my friend also brought it up. That sounded very sus and I went to read more about it and, of course, that’s also wrong. In previous BG games, we always played a Bhaalspawn. It would make perfect sense we played one again - but the butler shit, the amnesia, the gore erotic fantasies, that wouldn’t fly for the average BG3 player - and wasn’t supposed to. When they decided to split tav to leave the “absolutely neutral protagonist” they parted with the bhaalspawn narrative that was a very big part of the previous games, so I assume they didn’t want to just toss it, but put it to another “dark tav” or whatever shit that means. And then they doubled down with the evil and edge lord of kitschy horror narrative. It’s FINE. But isn’t supposed to be the main character.

TLDR: instead of taking random assumptions about bg3 as yours, pay attention to the game itself. And think critically about it a bit. All the origins are presented AS equals but they’re nothing but. And Larian should be (yes, troubleshooting tech issues but also) trying to even out the absurd gaps they allowed to happen in integrating the narrative of, especially, Karlach and Wyll into the game. Make more and decent content for them, fix the plot holes, rewrite the shit that doesn’t make sense for them FIRST.

Tbh, I wouldn’t be complaining if Larian had owned it to their content and presented us with Karlach and Wyll as sort of Halsin or Minthara type of companion - non origin, lesser tier of companion. Then the production choices they made would be at the very least justified. And I won’t EVEN start on the fact that these two, Karl and Wyll, are the two PoC origins… the black guy and the southeast Asian woman. Because, oh, boy, things start to look VERY bad when you put THAT into this equation… 👀

[waffelteufel]

I think I vastly prefer Early Access Wyll. Some thots under the cut.

In the released game he is very much the knight in shining armour, the one who will always do good and is pretty much the fairytale romance. Now that's not a problem per se, but I struggle to stay engaged in such a story, when that is never challenged in some way? He really has no internal conflict and stays the same character from start to end.

In the game, Wyll is very much a passive observer. He doesn't really have any agency in the game, as Tav is making all the choices for him, and I find that to be such a damn shame. There is like one moment in the game (when he gets the horns) where we can see his image faltering for a bit, but then it is kind of never mentioned again? I wanted to see how that moment influenced him, if he was struggling because of what people saw in him, you know? Get to know him on a deep level!

Why does he have such a hero complex? Why does he need to save everyone? It would have been such a cool thing if his storyline involved him becoming so self-sacrificing out of compulsion, that it started to destroy him. What if his quest could end with him destroying himself out of his need to protect everyone vs Him finally being a little bit more "selfish" and saving himself instead (I feel like his last choice sorta went into that direction, but the execution was awful)? What if he saved his father and his father still rejected him, was still acting like an asshole, etc.? You cannot save everyone, you cannot always win, people will not always love you. That would have been a rad narrative imo.

Early Access Wyll felt different. He was flawed, he wanted to be seen as a hero, but he was very much not. He would even lie about it, to seem more heroic to you! EA Wyll wanted to become the Blade of Frontiers, but he was pretty far from being one. Some people didn't like that in EA, because they felt like he was a sham. And like? Isn't that exactly what's so fascinating? Like if you didn't let him get his (good) way, Wyll would actually snap at you and get really nasty! He'd call you a wretch!! In EA, the reason he was missing an eye was because of a goblin raid in the past. You then had the possibility to torture/kill or even let Wyll do that to the responsible goblin in the goblin camp, and Wyll was honestly really on board with that revenge trip. It's like a flip would switch, and his mask came off and you saw how bitter he actually was underneath.

I wanted an arc for him where we could help him grow away from that bitterness, or (when evil) help him embrace the more egoistical aspect. Or a middle ground, I dunno. The road to hell is paved with good intentions - THAT'S what I assumed his story was supposed to be.

Mizora is also in this weird limbo that feels rewritten like hell. Originally she tricked him into a pact by offering him the power to repell the goblin horde. Now she is... Whatever she is now, I guess. Maybe that whole thing would have been more cohesive if Raphael had been his patron instead? He could have guided us towards Raphael as a way out of the tadpole mess and at the end there could have been a choice between him delivering the crown to Raphael, or him sticking with us instead. I don't know, I just feel like it would have been much more cohesive somehow? But Mizora has been slobbering all over him in the marketing art, so I guess changing that would have been odd LMAO.

This is him in EA by the way (gosh I miss his old voice so much) explaining his pact:

As he is right now, Wyll's intent is the story just isn't clear to me at all? There is this common theme of self-sacrifice in there, but it's not here nor there and I cannot find it really compelling especially in contrast to other really well-written arcs like Astarion's or Shadowheart. Like there just isn't any internal conflict and I don't see him changing towards a version of himself that makes me go "Wow! What a character!" . I wonder if that has to do with his re-write, because it feels really rushed and the pacing and tension is super off. It makes me sad for the story we never got to experience, cuz some people couldn't imagine that there was more to his story than Early Access showed us. EA criticism towards him in general felt overally critical and dramatic and to me it always smelled of racism. People would legit talk about him like he was the most questionable evil character ever for not being who he claimed to be, it was so fucking odd. :/

I love Wyll! I am sad he got the short stick, man.

[symunuk]

for the companion asks: general 7, 10, 11 and the free space!

7. Do they have their own personal quest that spans the course of the game? Can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the Player Character makes?

Since his story got worked up from a Tav perspective his story's a lot less about big villains or having something in your chest ready to pop - his quest circles more themes of family trauma, giving a shit about other people when it doesn't directly impact him, oh, and Tymora favouring him enough to give him a critical nudge towards the end that stops him falling to his death. From my interpretation of her, she's the type to favour those who push on despite the odds - so the PC making those kinds of decisions would favour that sort of thing I suppose?

Also: whether you take the Underdark or Mountain Pass route into the Shadowlands would change something pretty significant for Symon :') See No10.

10. Are there any unique NPCs associated with your Tav that can show up during the course of the game?

Oh god, is there. If he wasn't a PC then the minimum would be: Ikkath (younger brother, part of the Drider's escorting party, dies if you don't meet them before the Harpers are involved) and Hogarth (youngest brother, can be persuaded (checks) to assist in the Moonrise prisons if Symon is in your party or your PC recognises the tattoo on his face as matching Symon's). Perhaps Durz too (true soul, can be brought under the protection of the artefact as long as Symon & Hogarth are alive in Act 3). Getting Durz and Hogarth onside means they'll go off with the Harpers in Act 3 and turn up for the final battle with the rest of the family as a summon.

11. Are there any moments in the game that trigger unique dialogue for your character? (Like Gale’s anecdote about the barfight after you save the goblin prisoner)

I think he'd have something to say if he was present for the first chat with Alfira (and he wouldn't be kind about Alfira or the PC - unless the PC already had performance proficiency). Something along the lines of:

"That was very sweet. It reminds me of when I was first learning the lute - the worgs were the only ones would could tolerate that too."

Free space! Share anything from your companion!Tav au!

He's actually significantly nicer as a PC - when he's shunted into a leadership position he's much more inclined to try and keep the peace for the sake of his own neck. He gets along best with Shadowheart and Astarion, and then Karlach once she's found. And to flesh out the Tymora thing: this came entirely from me picking the Lucky feat early on and then just barely scraping through a lot of difficult fights because of one critical decision that completely turned the fight around. Usually stuff that had a low odd of success but NEEDED to work, or a character crit'ing at a key moment, or suddenly realising information that let me change strategy ("Hey, the werewolves are humanoids... hmm--") (End of Game spoilers below)

So that was in my head when we got to that series of rolls in Act 3 and used all the Lucky + Inspiration rolls on the first 3... and then passed the DC99 without any save scumming. And that's the only reason we were able to kill the brain fast enough to stop him from falling to his death (it was on ~9 health and I only had one attack left before the floor under him broke). So safe to say Tymora had been looking out for him the whole time.

[fictionplumis]

To preface, I definitely think this is a matter of different people needing different messeges and seeing different things reflected in a character. As someone who has never felt trapped in an unhealthy relationship and had only experienced people around me going through that, this isn't the kind of message I need to take away from a character or would be looking for in them, but what you see, OP, is still just as valid for you.

The times I've played and romanced Astarion, I don't consider him abusive or that Tav's love fixes him.

He's an asshole, for sure. Distrusting due to his past, manipulative due to his past and what he's had to do for survival, yeah, but that's before they actually get together. The timing of when Tav hooks up with him depends on what quests you do before the main one, but for the most part, he's beginning to trust Tav and be less of an asshole when they hook up.

And that first time hooking up isn't the beginning of the relationship. That doesn't start until Act 2, I believe?

Someone can be an asshole without being abusive, and to me, Astarion seems like the kind of person where he's an asshole to anyone he doesn't know and trust.

Him manipulating Tav into the relationship in the first place is a really dick move and a betrayal of trust, but doing an abusive thing isn't the same as being an abuser. It wasn't TAV'S love that "fixed" him, it was his own love for Tav that made him not want to do such a shitty thing. An abuser doesn't genuinely strive to be better, and Astarion does.

My playthroughs where I romanced him were all Durge playthroughs where he was resisting the Urges, but Astarion is nothing but supportive and caring.

That only lapses where Cazador is involved, who is the main part of his trauma and the thing that's always taken everything Astarion cares about from him. He once again pulls out the manipulation tactics to try to get Tav on board with him Ascending if you voice any displeasure with it. He's scared. He believes it will protect what he has. And I'm not sure he fully sees the shittiness of what he's doing.

And that also happens in healthy relationships sometimes. No one is perfect, and people sometimes do shitty things without realizing it, especially if they're trying to work through a lot of complicated feelings.

Aside from matters involving Cazador, Astarion doesn't belittle Tav, doesn't try to control them, doesn't try to isolate them, doesn't so much as get jealous if Tav wants to hook up with someone else. To me that shows it is just this one thing, just Cazador, that makes him falter in trying to be a good partner.

When the Ascension comes, he is blinded by that power, rather than wanting it to protect Tav and himself. I wouldn't see that as a red flag in itself. Everyone had their vices and temptations. Now failing the persuasion check and him throwing a hissy fit, THAT'S the red flag. That's an abusive Astarion. That's someone who will toss you aside the second you don't do what they want.

I see that Astarion as completely separate to the Astarion who has all this promised power in front of him, everything he's ever wanted while under Cazador's thumb, and instead hears Tav, listens, and decides that the promise of a new life with Tav is more important.

I see it as two seperate Astarion's because that's the check that makes our breaks the moment. You can do everything right, and he leaves you over that. Or you can some things right, some things wrong, and he still listens. It's like a branching timeline, one timeline where Astarion is a piece of shit, one where he's not, and nothing you can do will change which universe you're in, it's all a matter of luck. Or rather, a roll of the dice.

I can see why someone might think that it's Tav's love that "fixes" him because you're playing Tav, and if you want this "good ending" then you have to pick the choices that would make Astarion better. Mechanically, yes, the player really likes Astarion and therfore making an effort to "fix" him by caring for him.

But I can't help but get immersed in these games. My character doesn't do things in an attempt to fix Astarion. My character would dump Astarion on his prissy little vampire bum if he continued carrying on like a jerk and wasn't visibly making an effort to be better. And in my mind, it's Astarion falling in love that makes him want to be better, at least to this specific person.

Now, as to whether Astarion is a good person...

LOL

But not being a good person doesn't mean you can't be a kind and caring partner to the person you love, and it's up to the person you love to decide whether they're okay with you being an asshole to other people.

The problem with the Spawn ending in regards to the relationship message it sends.

The more I think about it, the more I begin to understand my main issue and gripe with the Spawn ending. Aside from how OOC this ending is and how it makes no sense character, motivation or psychology-wise: Spawn encourages the idea that you can fix a jerk and he can become so much better with the power of your love and guidance while in reality, it's a horrible message to send.

“I can fix him” is exactly how people end up in and stay in an abusive relationship - they live with the hope that “my love can make him a better person” and - surprise - it never works and leads to a broken relationship at best, being trapped in this relationship at worst.

Sending a message that your “fixing” can truly work is horrible and, honestly, a cruel reality would have been a far better ending: your ‘anti-ritual persuasion’ doesn’t work, Astarion lashes out at you and leaves, leaving you to realize that it is always important to wake up and leave your toxic partner, instead of wasting your life trying to be their life coach and saviour.

Real victims of abuse need to realize this: that it's important to leave an abusive, toxic partner, to recognize their manipulation and how unhealthy it is, not witnessing what Spawn ending showed: another instance of a problematic relationship which was magically fixed “if you try hard enough”.

Cinema Therapy - while discussing Twilight - tackled this topic, and their input is really the best way I can ever explain why Spawn is such a horrible ending with a terrible message for everyone - abuse victims or not. “Fixer-upper” is a terrible mentality, the concept of fixing is horrible for both parties and toxic partners need to be avoided: not stayed with in hopes that “my love can make them better”.

Spawn romance ending is not just a myth - it’s a very toxic myth. Same thing with Ascendant.

Hate Ascendant all you want, you can absolutely have your preferences, but please don’t think that Spawn is in any way better just because it's less on-the-nose.

Ascendant Astarion is obvious in his toxicity, and people pick up on that and don’t want this “bad ending” - but Spawn is the same toxic relationship but better disguised - something that abusers are good at - disguising their worst sides, showing you the good side so you would remain trapped in this unhealthy relationship.

And frankly, I prefer Ascendant far more in that regard: it's horrible, creepy, dark, but it shows you how problematic his love is, and raises your alarm bells that you need to leave this sort of relationship; Meanwhile, Spawn romanticises this problematic relationship and that is the worst part.

I would rather see an over-the-top Ascendant who teaches people to be alarmed and leave toxic partners, than Spawn who teaches them to stay with unhealthy partners because “you can bring out the best in them”. 

No. You can’t.

[macgyvertape]

BG3 Act 3 thoughts and liveblog part 2

There were a lot of parts of act 3 where I wished I could have atleast 1 more companion, I would see something that a character in camp would obviously react to, so I would have to pause and go swap my party around

Am I getting a Halsin radicalization arc? That civilization bad because Baldur's Gate is hurting the vulnerable (wish I could say like dude what about your druids grove in your absence). (edit: shame he actually has no act 3 quests at all, definitely felt added later in development)

Gale is such a pushover for his cat its hilarious. Also he’s inviting my character to his house for an intimate dinner which she is thrilled about because it means Gale is thinking about living beyond killing The Absolute but she’s getting some mixed signals here because she’s clearly involved with Astarion but thought Gale was monogamous considering his “a pity you already found someone else to make merry with” back in act 1 and how he never followed up on that. So here she just said “you must really like me” and when Gale replied “more than you could possibly believe” she started screaming internally inside at this confusing dude. 

This is the moment where my character remembered, yeah she does care for Gale and Karlach so she should tell them the Bhaalspawn secret and work more at that “being vulnerable” thing for those she does care about.

Surveillance state woohoo! My character gave a fake name but it scanned her face. I’m not sure how this connects with what crimes the scrying eyes have see  or how you’ve interacted with them, or if I had been bothered to run around and teleport past the checkpoints if things would change. (edit: I wonder when the first time is that Gortash can see D!urge is alive)

Ok Amira made a good guess at my characters tastes, I wonder what factors is coded for calculating that

My character caught up with the dude putting in explosives in toys, and if it were not for him being in a crowded public place she would have killed him. I then threatened him so he would turn himself in, I figure my character wants to see the guy suffer more than she needs money right now

Found Raphael in the brothel and he is pushing for Orpheus to be freed, yes Lae’zel wants this, but its a bad idea to have him become archedevil supreme. My character trusts no one in this scenario, not Raphael nor the Emperor nor Orpheus who she thinks would kill her if not for slaughtering his guard then for having a tadpole in her head. 

The best option is to walk away for now, and pretend to be clueless about the Emperor’s connection being blocked. She agrees with Lae’zel better to break into the House of Hope and steal the hammer. The Raphael voice acting and mocap is so fucking good, he’s a major power player and a cunning deal making devil and he feels like it

My character missed the nymph's perception check, I redid it on another character but I think it's funny my character has her blindspots

Astarion shoving his “brother” into the sunlight to torture him for info while reveling in the fact that he wasn’t burning was such a fun fucked up scene. This is deeply personal to Astarion so I chose the dialogue options to only speak up to back up Astarion’s threats, and in context of helping Astarion with the ritual the only response of “they’ll warn him we’re coming” makes sense because we can’t kill them and we aren’t planning on sparing them. She did say “for ourselves? For yourself you mean” and she really wants to believe in Astarion’s “if I become all powerful then we become all-powerful, we are a team” My character wants Astarion to be happy, and has had this arc of opening up and learning to trust some people, and she’s never cared for anyone like Astarion before or had someone help her with the D!Urge like he did so while she’s hesitant of trusting someone aside from her with a lot of power she wants to trust him. If he betrays her I think she’ll break and go full Bhaalspawn. 

(edit: it wasn't intentional but on reread it comes together nicely how she has this lack of perception and how she helps Astarion with the ritual because she thinks he does want that, and she's gone after power so how could she deny that to Astarion who she loves)

I’ve failed several perception checks in dialogue and I think it's good way for the game to indicate me there’s more to this I'm not getting. I savescummed the one with Wyll but I found it frustrating that a critical detail about there being more to Stelmane’s stroke was hidden behind 2 different checks

My character just let Shadowheart handle how she wants to respond to Ferg about Shar. Like if it isn’t super important don’t kill the Nightsong, she’s decided to just be hands off with the whole Shar/Selune thing

Dammit, there was a bug where the game thinks I signed Rapheal’s contract so I have to reload a save from over an hour ago

So while I was spoiler-ed about The Emperor’s interpersonal manipulations I don’t think my character would have responded much differently to the conversation where he talks about Stelmane if I the player hadn't known. I went with a lot of noncommittal responses, not being friendly but not calling out the obvious sympathy gathering attempt either

Halsin asking my character if she would be interested in sex, my character’s been flirting with him since the act 1 party and she is thrilled Halsin is open to casual relationships but respects what she has with Astarion and is interested in Astarion too. Talking to Astarion about it and that’s the most genuine laughter I’ve ever heard from him when you bring it up and ask how he could tell, its great. My favorite option for reassuring Astarion was “what I have with you is wholly different and very special to me”, since that’s really true for my character. Astarion’s final line “far be it for me to hold your hunger against you” and really I love the way hunger/urges play into both character's stories.

My character would then definitely be like "wait so also about the things Gale has been saying". There's no way anything more than a one night stand would work for my character at this point if Gale didn't also express interest in Astarion, and it makes me wish we saw more of different companions interacting than just banter. Gale and Astarion have the potential to get along really well. A Halsin/D!urge/Astarion relationship would be more casual and off and on again than anything with Gale, but I think there's a lot of fun potential in "ambition and bad ideas" trio of Astarion/my D!Urge/Gale (edit: especially with how all 3 end the game)

Love a man who goes down, Halsin has big top energy. I tried the bearfucker scene and it was really funny but its also played for more than just laughs where he’s clearly nervous that he’ll get rejected for losing control

Halsin is now the 4th person my character has told about being a Bhaalspawn. I waited until now in case he got more dialogue, figure my character would think that if they’re in a romance together and he’s so non judgemental she should tell him, and the fact that he told her to be careful for her own safety who she tells was a reputation increase moment for him.

Met one of Orin’s impersonations on a dying thug my character chose the Dark Urge for putting him down, what a fun face to face reunion. Also lmao this is where Astarion’s “this group is full of weirdos” little breakdown is from!! I love Karlach’s response about how the group’s best asset is trust and 2nd best defense is herself. Jaheira is definitely suspicious about how familiar Orin was with my character, but my character doesn’t plan on telling Jaheira anything about being a Bhaalspawn. 

I found more mindflayer parasites and I'm still using them on Astarion, Gale, and Karlach since they have already consumed them in the past for extra powers. Even though The Emperor isn’t really trustworthy the rubicon has already been crossed might as well keep going

BG3 Act 3 thoughts and liveblog part 1

I couldn't stop comparing DOS2 act 3 and BG3 act 3, since act 3 is a bit underbaked in both games compared to the other acts, but wow BG3 just has so much more polish and content.

The prologue reveals my character is a Bhaalspawn, I feel like it's just so widely known at this point

Defining character moment for Astarion “the problem with what Cazador has done is he did it to me”. Since Asatarion really wants this she’d help him sacrifice his “siblings” what matters to her is that Astarion is safe, but she’s worried about the unknown details but is still planning as if its possible. The dialogue options of “a killer isn’t worthy of respect” is fucking laughable my character would never say that lmao. 

When the narrator was saying you have a bunch of options what will you do, for my character it felt best to say “when the moment comes I’ll do what feels right”, since she's more of an opportunist

Ooof that fight with the gith was rough even on easy mode.

My character wanted The Emperor to prove he was the protector, but then tried to read his thoughts anyway. She’s also very grateful Lae’zeal wasn’t around when this happened considering Orpheus is real and a renegade mindflayer has him prisoner

Learning that the protection against the Absolute comes from Orpheus being trapped really puts a damper on my character’s plans to not get rid of the tadpole and associated powers. It's too dangerous to count on Orphues being imprisoned. Also the Emperor was a successful power player in Baldur’s Gate, so she’s more wary of his plans and agenda than the fact he is a mindflayer. 

My character did turn down the Emperor’s offer to evolve her, sorry she just is too attached to how her body looks. She also thinks this is a line in the sand she’s not going to persuade her companions on, unlike the tadpole powers. (personally it's the fact that it messes up your teeth, huge personal squick). I guess had my character take on so many parasite powers it gave me a fucking 21 score roll to not evolve. 

EDIT: the next day I got spoiled on the Emperor’s seduction scene and it’s friendly manners being all a front; real fucking surprise pikachu face moment for me. That my character who manipulates, lies, and seduces people might encounter someone who emotionally manipulates, lies and will seduce people. I didn’t fully trust it and thought it might have its own agenda, but still I was a little too trusting that there might have been some genuine emotion. Like DAMMIT I was rewatching Felix rvb scenes before I started the game and he has a line “Funny how an act of sacrifice like that [getting hurt] buys you so much trust”. Which is exactly what the Emperor did, where it knelt down and made a big show of how it trusts me not to hurt it and when it calls on us for that dramatic rescue that while genuine was an excellent opportunity for it to be revealed. Apparently the 21 roll is because I used so many tadpoles which the game treats as buying into The Emperor’s promises. Its repeated lines of “just like you” and “i’m on your side” to establish common ground and then presenting itself as a criminal with “a heart of gold” in its backstory. I/my character was skeptical on some details considering it also presented itself as a major power player, but bought into it’s use of “allies” when what he meant was “pawns”.  

Gale had the comment “you’ve not taken this power for yourself… why offer it to me” and I wish I could respond like what Astarion said, that don’t want to sacrifice my body. Astarion had a whole lot to say on the subject but Karlach only had 1 line about being surprised I hadn’t taken the power/transformation. Funny to see how other companions had lines about how they hadn’t done any tadpole powers and they weren’t about to start now. 

My character’s made an enemy out of the undead lich Gith queen, whom only Orpheus can oppose, and there’s an entire Gith resistance working to free him as well. So that really kills any plan of using the Absolute for herself because she’d be better off with Orphues fighting the Gith queen

Really Astarion and my character have come so far from act 1 where he was warning me about how easily Cazador could kill me to now where he’s saying if Cazador comes for him he’ll strike back and he’ll have my character along with him 

The one group my character has been consistently nice to with no promise of reward is kids, so at this point she’s just resigned to them showing up at camp as long as there’s someone like Withers, Halsin, or Wyll to keep them from getting hurt. 

My character is helping the strange ox yet again. It won’t reveal what it is but she’s really curious, and it hasn’t seemed to kill people, so she’ll help it because it might be a useful ally in the future

I love Biscotti what a GOOD DOG (love the animal writing in this and DOS2)

I think its funny that for a while I was thinking that Astarion wasn’t that pale, but in the bright light of Baldur’s Gate he really is. I think it's due to my monitor that has super high contrast

Surprised Halsin has the most dialogue in the refugee area mostly about how he’s rapidly becoming disillusioned with the city, and I tried a earlier save without him and the other companions like Astarion or Karlach don’t speak up if he’s not there.

Community meme about Gortash: I can excuse him being the chosen of an evil god and using his power to found a murderous evil cult but I draw the line at him and his PMC making surveliance cop robots. Bane is just the god of cops and Gortash works for Boston Dynamics

I like to think a bunch of the companions have been a positive force on my character so she’s helping the refugees in her own manner (lots of intimidation), and wants to see the Tiefling refugees make it after all the struggles. That there were explosives in toys justifies her being nosy and helping

Karlach really wants to go to the circus, unfortunately my character is a vicious murderer lmao. Thankfully she’s great at [persuading] and charming. Astarion, Halsin, and Karlach seem to be the best “go to the circus” group

Incredibly cool to hear my bard character perform along with the other bard in the circus

The dinosaur and the magic cat in the circus are being mistreated, Halsin is right to be mad about it. I used Astarion to pickpocket the key, then mage hand to open both cage doors

My character doesn’t like clowns and after she felt that murderous urge there’s no way she’s getting on stage. I watched the different versions of sending Halsin or Karlach up on stage but sending Astarion up on stage really is the best version. Role playing it as after he made that comment about clowns being a horror and with how both Karlach and Halsin approve of picking Astarion while he doesn’t approve if you pick someone else; its some light hearted group teasing of a guy who usually has a joke at others expense “You love the spotlight, don’t you… here’s your big chance”. Yeah he says he’s going to kill me but he’s not seriously upset.

Astarion and my character both enjoy killing clowns, see we’re great together

My bard character was pissed about the Djinn scamming with the spin the wheel game so of course she went back to rig things to get the jackpot. 

Ok so my character gets her meteorites back, that she’s a Bhaalspawn, she’s not surrendering to the D!urge or worried about atoning, but that she’s being encouraged to slaughter her line and that its the woman who hurt her before is a opportunity for power and revenge coinciding nicely

For now the only person my character is telling is Astarion, this is a big thing to confess and she wants to play this close to the vest for as long as possible. While she did have earnest suspicions since the oubliette, she’s more afraid about standing up to a god and the loss of control. I personally like how Astarion comforts you after that dialogue a lot more, especially the way he says you must try to beat Bhaal and not become a slave.