#so. every companion in this game

[jeeaark]

If Greygold was a companion, what would be the best way to initiate a romance with them? Would they go for the “L” word early or an Act or two later?

The "L" word was lube, right? Right? Else showering Durge/Tav with kisses Gomez-Addams-Style is the alternative.

Maybe the Nat 20 romance isn't the best way for Tav/Durge, but it sure is for Greygold. You just know Greygold scared that Dream Guardian away the first time and has been low-key obsessed with that armor since

[brick-brooke]

[flashhwing]

i love the kirkwall squad because they all have such protagonist energy. any of them could be the main character. except for varric but he did that on purpose. any of the rest of them could be the main character

[holistichiatus]

Apotheosis

[the-punforgiven]

Shoutout to the bad bitch who never once let me down in any fromsoft game I've played

Motherfucker's had my back since day 1 however many years ago and in this house we love and support her

Fuck yeah

[freshworms]

GRAAAA I LOVE PASQAL. HE IS SO AWSOME AND WITTY!!!!!

[eff-plays]

"Durge and Astarion are canon your honor!"

Well canon Durge is a white male dragonborn sorcerer and yet y'all are making cute little drow girlies and sexy little tiefling twinks to get at that extra content so what's the truth?

Oh that your personal preferences are somehow more canon than someone else's because the devs didn't have enough time to write extra content for every companion, leaving an unfair and imbalanced emphasis on the one character that did get extra content? That you feel your choices are validated because they're reinforced by poor planning/game design? Hmm. Hmm. Hmmmm 🤔

[apricote]

i never understand people who kill their companions prematurely like guys on reddit be like "i killed astarion with a stake after he drank my blood lol" like so fucking what, that was really sexy of him and you missed the storyline of one of the greatest characters in the whole game. hope you're happy

[pinacoladamatata]

One thing I'm actually genuinely excited for is see everyone play BG3 and all of us piecing together what choices trigger certain outcomes and watching how wildly playthroughs can diverge! Because there's no way I'm playing every race/class combo to the end, I'm just so excited to see all the different scenes people might experience and share!

[v-arbellanaris]

here's the thing, right. like. okay, let's take everything up to the title showing up as the 'origin' style opening for dai, where you establish character. but like. literally what about that opening establishes character. you get brought to the chantry in haven where they briefly discuss executing you before declaring the inquisition. you can either begrudgingly support the people who have actively threatened you repeatedly or you can go uwu i'd love to help you guys out im so excited to be working with you. like. hello.

[tanituo]

spoilers for bg3 dark urge playthrough

i have a hc in my second durge run that my durge was initially orin's mentor. because she's sarevok's granddaughter, she's technically the dark urge's grand-niece, right? and knowing that the dark urge was a prolific serial killer in baldur's gate, i imagine my durge as having passed their skills on to orin. he taught her to carve flesh from bone with a delicate yet cruel hand. and when the time came for orin to betray him, to make a mess of his brain and to subject him to his own evil plot, i imagine my durge as maybe even being a little proud. the sting of being usurped was made sweeter by the knowledge that he trained the hand that twisted the knife and puppeted his sinews. to be so viscously torn apart was in and of itself holy, a beautiful, bloody, miserable act of devotion. because that's how both he and orin were raised--they were born to become vessels of suffering, living to die.

which makes it all the more confusing for orin when he returns and is different. when he's less fun to toy with, less delighted by the agony she puts him through. when she steals his friends or leaves nauseating carrion in her wake for him to uncover, he shows no masochistic joy. instead only fear. and normally she likes fear, but it's wrong on his face. she used to be seen as his inferior, and yet it took only the rearranging of a little grey matter to make him a pathetic, sentimental, weepy mess than clings to idealism and fragile new friends? what evil could bhaal have mistakenly seen in him to make him his chosen?

but his great evil never negated his simultaneous capacity for great good. she doesn't know that in undoing him, she allowed him to be reborn. that he has known love and has been changed for it. and she will never understand why, as he steps foot into the temple of bhaal and drives his blade through her heart upon their foul god's altar, there is no joy taken in the act of ending her life. the expression on his face is not one of malevolence, but one of pity.

[mabaris]

i’ve said this before, but my ideal fix for magic in da2 would be the introduction of a stealth mechanic

in origins, you’re under more threat because you’re a warden than because you’re a mage, and honestly you don’t spend that much time in civilization that would care (lothering and redcliffe have bigger things to worry about; the dwarves, the dalish, and the people of haven have different views about mages; etc). in inquisition, the circles have fallen apart and everyone is technically an apostate, so none of it matters

but then there’s kirkwall. you spend the whole first act with the threat of templars hanging over you (or your apostate sister) when literally the first thing that gets you into the city is doing magic in broad daylight, in the middle of the gallows.

certain characters react to the fact that you or your companions have magic (feynriel, fenris, even meredith in later acts!!!) and it’s always hard for me to get invested in a mage hawke because of that dissonance. it’s not like you’re supposed to completely suspend your disbelief!! but in act 1 you can do magic in front of the knight-captain and i guess he just doesn’t notice

a stealth mechanic for magic would have a couple different factors:

does a character have line of sight on you (more directly incriminating) or are they otherwise within earshot (raises suspicion but may not immediately alert them)? is it day or night?

what is the disposition of the bystanders? for NPCs it could be easy enough to code something like “people are much more reactive in hightown, in lowtown/the docks they’ll only report you if you’re really obvious, and no one cares in darktown” but of course, it’s over if they’re a templar or a priest

how obvious is the magic? something like mind blast, horror, or even elemental weapons (enchantment exists!!) are much easier to slip under the radar, as opposed to something like firestorm or stonefist. are you casting at range? or are you fighting in melee with your staff blade, or with spells that could just be explained as an effect of your weapon, if it’s tricked out with the right runes. each spell would have a base value that indicates how noticeable it is, and how easy it is to hide that you're actually casting something

being too obvious or getting caught would lead to a game-over screen (or maybe a unique cutscene in act 3, where you get called into the gallows and have the chance to talk your way out of it, because you Are the champion)

if i'm just creating game mechanics for my own fantasy, this would also be the kind of thing you could turn on and off, if you don't actually care about that level of immersion and just want to play a cool magic user. if you use tactics, it could let you select certain behaviors for your companions, depending on the general Suspicion Level towards them

[mtreebeardiles]

Hokay like no offense to people who like G*rrus but seeing so many say he’s better written than Gale like???

???

Are we interacting with the same media? They don’t give us anything in ME! What backstory is there?? Just vague hints and nods to maybe being important in the hierarchy and copaganda?

[prettyboykatsuki]

i have many many many critiques about wylls story, most of them being about the fact it's just so lackluster in game when compared to other companions which is a shame. because wyll to me is and has the potential to be an even more emotionally compelling companion. and he was early access!! he was so gritty in ea please bring him back larian i beg of thee. the way he was rewritten has stripped him of so much nuance and depth. wyll to me is such a wonderful character to me because of what he represents, which is heroism so down to his core he never gives up on it even when he ought to

his goodwill and nobility are ceaseless. at the center of his story is betrayal trauma, his agency over himself vanished into thin air. mizora turns him into a monster and there is no turning back. he has become the thing he's despised, the things he's hunted for his entire life. and we know so little about that canonically because of the way his story is set up but its hinted time and time again that he struggles with his reality deeply and even that cannot make him turn away from the city he loves so much.

if larian would go back to clean up and fix his story (which im truly praying to god they do) i want them to touch on what wyll must be going through as he continues to try to ground himself and deal with his newfound reality. i want them to touch on the abandonment he experiences because of his father and the inevitable burden his title as blade and hero has on him. because these things obviously compel him, they're hinted at all the time but they were completely stripped of him in final release and its fucking disheartening... larian please im begging you. thats the love of my life. please.

but for now i will do it with fanfiction and gather enough wyll fans to make a fuss about it . peace and love

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

reason #592 why Carver is my favorite companion in da2: All companions have 2-4 different lines of dialogue they can potentially say if Hawke falls in battle, but Carver has 5 and they're just-

[bitchesgate3]

I will always be in favor of playersexuality. Until the day game designers have more nuanced understandings of sexuality.

Game designers still only understand flamboyant gay, mean lesbian, slutty bisexual, and quirky queer. Any identities not those are not even recognized. And any complex characterizations are only afforded to "normal" straight characters.

While Larian gave us a step in the right direction, they are still coming from the above framework and trying to reiterate upon that. And you have to understand that framework in order to recognize why their implementation is still somewhat shallow while still being the best offered compared to other games in the genre.

In the past, every time I encountered a woman in a romanceable video game who correctly represents my own experience of bisexual/pansexual identity, she was only romanceable by male characters.

These are women who have tough exteriors on a spectrum of "bitchy femme", a midpoint of "aloof androgynous", to "tough masc". All points that are gnc in some way, but all are women who also have a soft interior that is interpreted as conventionally feminine.

Game designers interpret these two traits (outward gnc and inner softness) as a nullification to heterosexual woman. Time and time again. Falling into the stereotype of being a woman for a man to tame.

Will they ever understand? Or do people as a whole just don't understand the many ways bisexuality can take shape?