#for him it's between gale shadowheart and halsin but i just cannot decide.

[nathanprscott]

deciding who to date has never been harder than in baldur's gate..

[panigamermauser]

So, finally got myself to download epilogue.

It was an enjoyable experience for what it is. I will discard that it is not what I wanted. I had enough time to accept that Larian cannot stick the landing to save their life, and BG3 was not an exception, no matter how much I wanted it to be.

More details, spoilers, opinions, speculations etc under the cut.

For me it was solid 8/10 experience.

I dropped 1 point because they took away our inventory and did not put a single potion of animal speak in the camp. So I could not talk to Scratch and Owly! What travesty is that?!!!

I was considering going back to before the point of no return to add the spell, but decided it will take too long, and this was my first run anyways, so I missed some things or got suboptimal quest outcomes because it was a blind run.

And another half point off is for assuming Tav would leave Scratch and Owly behind. Wysteria WOULD NEVER abandon her furbabies!

And to get all the grumpynes out of the way - and put them in the last half-point I took off my score, here it is.

I do not get why epilogue removed scene of Wyll and Karlach in Hell. It was such a cool scene, and it would tie-in nicely with epilogue. Why? Put it back!

Also, why I was not allowed to talk more to Astarion? I get that in game he and Tav were together all this time. But me as a player was not there.

The least they could do is give us unlimited hugs and kisses, like with Halsin. And if there narratively no news between Tav and Astarion, we could have talked about Sebastian's letter and Gur's letter. And discussing moving in with Halsin or Gale. Both have invited us, after all. That would have been perfect. But unlimited hugs and kisses should have been a bare minimum!

And I hate Wither's 'this is the end... for now. You might be needed later'. Do not fucking tease new content if you have no plans to do it. Just stop. Give us definitive ending, or announce you plan to add dlc or a sequel at the same time as the tease. Especially if it is for a new game that won't be out for many years and not a dlc.

(And yeah, I read all the hints he has in his room. Dark Sun letter combined with Milil... My guess is that Cyric is the next Big Bad. I get excited by such things, and I do not want to get excited this early. Either announce the thing or do not tease 😤).

Companions do not interact with each other💔

And just some puzzling things.

Why not all companions get unlimited hugs? I love Shadowheart, yes! But I also love Karlach and Wyll! They need unlimited hugs too!

I wonder how Tav knew about 9 wagons of kids with Halsin if it was only mentioned in deleted datamined epilogue slides and was not a player's knowledge in the game itself?

Gale says he gave crown to Mystra. But we left it to rot in the river! Did he go back and went diving anyways?

Now onto good things!

So, Milil cameo is 10/10, Wysteria nearly peed her pants with excitement! He better be romanceable in the next game.

Loved seeing Boo riding on Minsc's shoulder. And hearing Minsc's descriptions of all the companions. Heartwarming! Though Boo is a tease with all the arcane remedies for vampiric condition that he will not say, because love is the strongest!🙃

Guess we'll go to Gale's magic students and quiz them on the topic then😄

Loved newspapers and letters. It was especially sweet of Haarlep to write💖 Please write more and come to visit too😏 My favourite Incubus indeed!

Also, lol @ so many ppl wanting to fuck Raphael now that he is dead🤣

Shadowheart having a million and a half of animals is very sweet! Especially wolf cub! 💖

Karlach and Wyll are officially a couple now? Yes please😍

The egg hatched! Hello gith baby boy!

And Lae actually saying she missed Wysteria? 💖💖💖

I am happy Halsin has finally settled down. I think Wysteria and Astarion will settle down with him when they find the cure. And at least Astarion will have a good home when Wysteria dies of old age. I mean, even if cured, Astarion is still an elf with hundreds of years left to live. And tieflings have human lifespan. So Wysteria will die much earlier that both Halsin and Astarion. Unless Withers does smth about it.

Did Arabella become Elminster's apprentice? Or there's some other 'beard man' she's talking about?🤔

Happy for Alfira and Lakrissa getting a house and a music school💖

Nice tease about Karlach and Wyll finding a hellforge map! I'd love it to be a dlc, but I will take offscreen cure too.

Wyll becoming a ranger now that he's not a Warlock is very cool. I wish we could meet his animal companions

Tara is a treasure💖

I am very glad the game recognized I did not kill Nocturne and just knocked her out😊

Overall it was a very nice small free thing. I'd prefer payed large one where we visit everyone and actually SEE the changes. Oh well. It was good for what it is.

[jones-friend]

BG3 is an all-timer

Since 2017 I’ve been making more of an effort to play more games. Two have always sat at the top for me: Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Bloodborne. The first game to be added to these two since my Bloodborne fascination is Baldur’s Gate 3.

I’ll be sharing my thoughts and experiences on the game, spoilers will be below the cut.

Very few games conclude with me feeling like I’ve earned the adventure the game wants me to feel. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a whole ass adventure full of twists and turns, puzzles, combat, fantastic sound design, incredibly well written companions, a legendary soundtrack, and a full suite of antagonists to face off against. It is the widest game I’ve ever played with so many systems below the surface I stop seeing the inner workings of the clock and it appears to me as magic.

Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t do anything New per say, but what it does is incredible. Everything is bound together in story, everything becomes a piece of the whole and all of it works in concert in a way that enchants me unlike any game I’ve played before.

A playthru of Baldur’s Gate 3 is the hour equivalent of the entire Mass Effect trilogy.

We don’t get games like this often at all. They just don’t come around like this. If you have not played BG3 I cannot recommend it enough, it is incredible in every facet.

In my playthru of Baller’s Gate 3 I made Jones the pal-adin, oath of the ancients.

Dragonborn look so fucking good in this game. I romanced Karlach and was so taken by her personality that when we left to Avernus to fight together so she could live it brought me to tears.

All of the companions are top tier quality. All of them. I will say some have stronger storylines than others but all voice actors and writers are bringing their A games and I can recall incredible moments with all main six party members that endeared me to them:

Astarion: when I discovered his performative voice and his vulnerable voice and we held an entire intimate conversation in his vulnerable voice after all our companions went to sleep

Gale: when after all the game he approves of so many actions you take and is so quick to be your best friend/lover as you support him with his struggles with Mystra he triggers a Disapproves when you try to talk him out of ascending to godhood

Wyll: when after he declined to dance earlier in the game you catch him dancing about and he offers you to join, having a moonlit dance led by Wyll to an orchestra vers of the game’s main theme between just the two of you

Shadowheart: when I offered her to let her heart decide what was best with her parents and she chose to save them, shunning Shar’s teachings of Loss to excise Pain

Lae’zel: when after being saved from Orin in the Temple of Bhaal her demeanor shifted, using Faerûn customs to thank me and asking me “is something burdening you” whenever I talked to her in camp

Karlach: her anger over killing Gortash and how it fixes nothing for her, her pivot from I’ll never go back to Avernus to I want to live bc now she doesn’t have to go it alone 😭

What is incredible is the climax of each storyline of these characters hinges on your understanding of these characters and characters. If in 100hrs did you learn the people you travel with. And thats just the companions. Theres Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc I was so entirely taken with. Then there’s NPC’s both allies and antagonists.

A lesson I learned from this game is make your antagonists HATE each other, this gives the players exploits that make the story thrilling. The antagonists in this game are incredible. Ketheric Thorm is my favorite of the chosen, when you ask him if he’s going to betray the other two chosen and he gives this resolved “Yes. Its going to happen. Everyone will die bc Myrkul is the only god who answered me. So I’ll be the best chosen he’s ever had”.

Orin and Gortash are excellent pinnacles of their deities and you’re given so many opportunities to interact with them beforehand letting you really get to know who you’re up against.

Raphael is also absolutely incredible. A devil in hell with the House of Hope who preys on the desperate offering contracts to be their savior while reaping all the benefits. Raphael, who watches your progress to let you get in over your head before striking with an incredibly juicy deal, and refusing to steal from him is an entire questline created from the player’s defiance and NOT from an NPC setting it up for you, AND his final fight has a disney villain song he sings. Holy shit is all the House of Hope stuff good.

But what really sets all the pieces of BG3 together is The Emperor. My roommate and I have had discussions for HOURS on his half truths and metered out information. When Ansur called me the Emperor’s thrall I FELT something. I felt played, betrayed by this character who reassured me they were my friend at all times bc I knew Ansur was RIGHT. I was being manipulated hardcore even if we had the same goals. This was NOT an even alliance. The emperor and his execution is one of the best characters I’ve ever seen in any video game.

And thats part of what BG3 does so well. Characters so rarely just spit out what they’re feeling. You have to listen and watch how they speak and interact with them as if they were a person. To me that’s the greatest triumph of BG3, I have to approach all the game’s characters like characters in a dnd session, like people. Its a really REALLY hard trick to pull.

Mechanically this game is a joy. The sound design is so chunky that all the actions and effects feel great to use. Respec’ing is easy and quick, and bc gear doesn’t upgrade you can respec and get back in the game instantly. It felt GOOD to deal 333 damage in the last round of combat with Huge Pal-adin Jones.

Btw, Elixir of the Colossus and the Growth effect on the giantslayer stack.

The fights are executed so well with multiple allies and enemies, casters in almost every combat, lots of uneven terrain and hazards, and not every combat is a “combat”. Many endgame scenarios caused me to sit back and say “oh? So we’re gonna cheat huh? I’ll show you cheating”.

Theres also bits I learned here I’ll be applying to dnd. The Blood of Lathander is a great example. Its a +3 weapon on a subpar weapon die, a +3 1d6 mace is just a more consistent +1 longsword. And its undead boons don’t do much if there’s no undead around. And its 6th lvl spell only gets cast once per long rest. Its a great weapon that makes the player feel overpowered against undead without breaking the game.

And thats just thoughts from running a custom character. I’m on Dark Urge and co op playthru and I love how the Durge playthru is just a cursed version of a custom character playthru.

I would be remiss to post my thoughts without mentioning The Bugs. This game has some major bugs that would have been a dealbreaker for me in a lesser game, but I’m willing to forgive BG3’s bugs bc of how much its trying to do. Some of them include:

Lae’zel T Posing on top of the altar she should be shackled to

The entire fireworks quest not working from guards always getting involved to fireball being thrown through two stories of wood floors and ceilings

The sound not working during the first final battle requiring a reload

Gale reprimanding me for taking a deal that had yet to be offered to me

Black boxes constantly flickering over Karlach’s campsite

There were more. And they did dampen my enjoyment of the later Act 3. However these are in the process of being fixed and with the game’s scale I’m willing to look past them. I will also say in its current state, 11/13/2023, the epilogue is far too short. Shadowheart didn’t even appear in mine. I’d at least like to know the fate of my main 6 party members, maybe more about the world after the ending. The ending is currently lacking for how well juiced the rest of the game is.

This is one of the best. Through and through. Its an experience thats left me changed, I truly feel I’ve gone on an adventure with my companions and we’ve gone through some intense trials and tribulations, faced down monsters and menaces, and played the big hero and saved the day. I cannot recommend the game enough, its a must play for anyone with capable hardware that can run it. Instead of a top two I now have a top three: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Bloodborne, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

[bosspigeon]

How is your Tav and Durges' relationship to the other companions? Are they close with any of them, other than their LIs? What is their dynamic like?

Bonus: Do they have any notable relationships among the other non-companion characters?

HELLO I AM FINALLY GONNA TRY AND ANSWER SOME OF THESE YEEHAW

As I love literally all the companions, bc they are all so messy and beloved to me, most of my characters tend to have that disastrous found family dynamic that I adore <3 but ye I think they've all got their own relationships with each other them

I think Pyre gets along really well with Karlach? Which I imagine surprises the others, somewhat. But they're both soldiers, at the end of the day, and there's a comfortable familiarity in that dynamic for both of them. Karlach, of course, is somewhat irreverent when she responds "Sir yes sir" to Pyre giving her an order, but he finds her energy and zest for life really refreshing? They both know what it's like to be a prisoner, after all, and to cherish the freedom they have, knowing what it's like to claw your way out of hell.

He gets along with Lae'zel for similar reasons in one direction, and Wyll in another. He and Lae'zel talk shop and strategy a lot, and she respects his shrewdness and forceful decisiveness, and he her focus, determination, and discipline.

With Wyll, once things come out about Mizora, there is definitely an uncomfortable familiarity for him, and it makes him determined to help Wyll escape the contract however he can.

I feel that Pyre feels much older than the rest of the party, save Astarion and Halsin, and it's sort of given him a reluctant dad vibe 😩 Well, he acts gruff and reluctant, but I think deep down he enjoys having this sort of close bond with them all. He's been alone for so long...

As for non-party members? He and Zevlor get along fairly well, even though I feel like it doesn't seem that way to most who see it. I can definitely see some history between the two of them, and I think they interact exactly how you'd expect two gruff old men to interact.

NOW FOR MOSS

With Moss, I think the rest of the party wind up very protective of him. He's so open and earnest, and also just... doesn't understand a lot of the intricacies of the world around him. He's very clearly completely lost, with no memories to speak of, not even a name at first. Still, he's determined to survive same as they are, and he becomes... terrifyingly loyal to them, very quickly.

They have to help him a lot with just becoming a functional person? And tbh I feel like some of them take that duty VERY seriously. Gale for sure. Especially bc Moss will happily listen to him explain magic things for hours on end just staring at him like 🥺. He and Shadowheart bond over that shared amnesiac trauma, and also later on the fun Abusive Parent situations. Lae'zel admires his power and brutality when it's necessary, and his struggle to resist that brutality when it isn't. Wyll just admires how honest he is about what he is and what he's feeling, and how empathetic he is when he has absolutely no reason to be.

Karlach has decided she's his big sister, even if he is A Good Bit Bigger Than Her. She cannot wait until it is safe to put him in an affectionate headlock and give him a noogie 😩

Halsin takes on a mentor role as a fellow druid because there's a lot about being one that Moss, oddly enough, doesn't really understand? Moss respects him enormously.

At the end of the day, Moss would tear out the entrails of any who dared hurt any of his friends and eat them bloody (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

[theshotsheardacrossworlds]

WIP...Wednesday

I mentioned my hibernation fic the other day, so I decided to share a bit of it for WIP Wednesday. :D

He smiled as he bent to kiss her. She is perfect. She fills my heart with such joy. “I was feeling tired.”

“Again?” Her voice was tinged with worry.

Pulling up his chair next to hers, he sighed. “Yes, but I think I know what it is.” She offered an encouraging nod, and he continued. “Every so often, the bear needs to hibernate. It’s getting to be that time.” He watched as she put a slip of paper inside her book and closed it.

“How long?”

“It can range from a week to three months. It’s never the same, and I won’t know for long I’ve been hibernating until I wake.” She’s going to ask if she can come with me. Oh Annie, please…

As she serious as he had ever seen her, she asked, “Can I come with you?”

He sandwiched one of her hands in his as he shook his head. “No. It’s far too dangerous. Best to stay here and—” Please don’t fight me on this. It’s too dangerous. Far, far too dangerous.

Anais smiled sadly. “Carry on as best I can.”

The two sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke again. “I will write to your mother, Nadia, and Astarion to see if any of them would like to be with you while I’m gone. Or perhaps Gale could make the trip from Waterdeep. Or Shadowheart and her parents?” I would also suggest Wyll and Karlach, but alas, they cannot return from Avernus, and gods know where Lae’zel is.

Her other hand now rested on the top of his. “Oh no, please. I don’t want to be a bother. Besides, I’m not alone when I have Scratch, Horace, and Obie here. And there’s also everyone in town. I’ll be okay.” She reassured him with a kiss on his cheek.

Their foreheads touched as he closed his eyes. I don’t want you to feel alone. I want you to be surrounded by love and care while I hibernate. It will make my sleep much more peaceful. “Since we have coupled, we have not spent one night apart. I worry if my hibernation lasts more than a week or two you will be lonely, my heart.” And it breaks my heart to see you sad.

She wrinkled her nose and gave him a quick peck. “Oh, I’ll be alright. Don’t worry about me.” Impossible, dearest one. “Is there anything else we need to do before you, I assume, go into a cave and sleep?”

Halsin chuckled heartily. “Yes! I’ll start scouting for one tomorrow. There is something else, Annie. I need to put on some weight.”

Anais raised an eyebrow. “How much?”

“Usually between forty to sixty pounds. Though,” he remembered a specific hibernation, soon after the Shadow Curse took hold. “There was one time I barely put on forty pounds, and it was…erm, not a pleasant experience. So please forgive me if I eat us out of house and home for the next several weeks.” Upon hearing her laugh, he shook his head. “You’re taking this remarkably well, my heart.”

She waved a dismissive hand with a grin. “To be honest, when you pass a certain point, some things are just filed under ‘strange but interesting druid things.’ This happens to be one of them.”

[simp-ly-writes]

Hide and Seek Headcanons with BG3 Character's

Pairing: BG3 Characters x Tav!Reader

Summary: The camp decides to play a good old fashion game of hide and seek, Tav of course is the seeker out of the group yet in which order would you find everyone and where?

Warnings: possible spoilers? really just fluff.

A/N: an actual shower thought I had. kinda breaking my own rules with this one but I cannot help a good idea when it comes

Masterlist | Taglist | edited.

Halsin

Surprising as it may be to some- he's 100% being found first

This man has the owlbear and scratch in his shadow so of course they follow him as he is "trying" to hide

He is used to playing this game with the children of the grove and enjoys seeing the excitement on their faces when they find him somewhat easily- he wants you to be happy too :)

Halsin would be hiding either behind a tree (facing sideways) or crouched behind too small of a rock as scratch barks at him- ball in mouth

He would act surprised when you found him, giving you a large smile while offering to help you "hunt down the others"

--

Karlach

She would be laughing at Halsin trying to hide, so much so that it gave her position away

She of course tries to quiet down her giggles as you and Halsin near and screams in surprise when you approach from behind

She erupts in flames slightly from the shock of it all as you kneel over laughing while Halsin holds the animals away from the small flame- smiling widely

She would be found hiding in a nearby ruin

She would wave you both off to "go find the others" as she catches her breath, meeting up with you later to help find the more difficult members

--

Gale

The wizard has a few plans up his sleeves yet he his magic tricks are a dead giveaway to his actual position

He would be found third out of the group, a valiant effort as he took a bit longer to find in comparison to the other two

He had a few hiding spots that he changed throughout the time you were searching, first he projected himself in another position (which an outstanding glowing gale was easily looked past)

He would move to hide where you started counting, sat waiting to win the game only to be very surprised he was found so quickly

Nevertheless he would join your hunt to find the others, a bit of competitive nature coming out to see how quickly he could find the others

--

Astarion

He is surprised he made it this far with minimal hiding spaces around

Like the cat we know him to be like, he is somewhere far up in a tree, holding on for dear-life as a few animals have joined him

Cue Preminger scream when he finds Halsin climbing up the tree to find him officially

He gets himself down from the tree with a huff and comments on how surprised he is that you didn't find him earlier (he is very proud of this fact though)

He would be quite intrigued as to whom beat him- walking off to the direction he remembered the others running to when the game started

--

Wyll

Man is actually in shock that you had not found him, he is actually gobsmacked

He decided to hide in your tent, he sits there on your carpeted floor with a book in his hand that you had borrowed from Gale earlier

Very relaxed when he is found, smiling at the group and offering a wave as Karlach helps him to stand- dusting off his knees once he does

He asks who is left to be found and offers to split the team up so you can more effectively find the rest

Wyll is on the hunt to find Lae'zel as Astarion and him meet up and search together

--

Shadowheart

She grows worried as the time goes on, the sun moving in the sky above- concerned that something happened during the game she exits her hiding spot

She would have been found amongst the supplies crates that held the resources for the camp, nestled between boxes, crates and a piece of torn cloth to drape over herself

She asks Karlach where everyone is as Karlach whispers loudly for her to run back and hide, you and Gale turn around to the commotion and Karlach stands very still, arms wide in an effort to hide Shadowheart

Halsin roars out with laughter as he approaches the group again as Karlach sighs defeatedly and moves to the side

Shadowheart is determind just as Wyll is to find Lae'zel

--

Lae'zel

She is the last to be found and she is no longer hiding but hunting you all down

She makes sure that she has won, the sun starting to set on the camp as you all stand around the fire and contemplate where she ever could have been hiding

She emerges back at camp, pride swelling in her chest and eyes, "I have bested you all with my training it seems," taking her seat by the fire as you all stare at her in shock and demand to know where she was hiding

Lae'zel simply shrugs her shoulders promising to never tell a good secret when she knows one (she blended herself in with the environment, hiding in the nature with branches and leaves- readied to strike)

--

Tav!Reader

If you were to be found in return from the group during the night, it would be a huge struggle to find a spot already unknown to the group

Astarion had hinted that he would be not be engaging with the later activity- heading off to his tent- alone

As the group turned around and you anxiously looked around the camp as the numbers ticked down

You ended up running into Astarions tent- giving him quite the fright as you hushed the man and ushered him to hide you someplace

From all the fumbling sounds from outside the tent, the group opened the cloth flap to find you holding a sheet over your head while Astarion sat on the floor, wineglass twirling in his had as he shrugged as to where you were

Wyll rips the cloth from over your head as you shriek out and laugh alongside the group as Astarion chuckles lightly as well before... politely asking everyone to leave his tent

╰┈➤ A/N: I really want to play hide and seek with them all now...