#these devnotes can be so hilarious

[justanotherignot]

devnote: Horny.

[merrinla]

Poking around in the EA build and indulging in nostalgia. What else I love about Halsin from EA. He was more confident in himself and he always had a witty answer ready. His lines when Tav argues with him are hilarious. I miss it.

Halsin: I am a healer of some renown, if I can cast aside modesty a moment.

Player: If you can help me, you should do it now! Halsin: There is an order to things. First, I need to safeguard my grove from these butchers. Then I shall see to you. [devnote: Stern, his way or the highway]

Player: Not my problem. I saved you - you will help me. Now. Halsin: Please, spare me your efforts at intimidation. No more effective than those goblin children's taunts. [devnote: Stern and unimpressed]

Player: Enough delays. I want to be cured. Now. Halsin: Then go forth. There are no easy paths to what you seek. If you seek my aid, you must show patience. [devnote: Stern. 'Show patience or you get nothing']

Player: Why do I sense more delays and excuses incoming? Halsin: Because you're a realist, I'll wager. Or a pessimist. But yes, I'm afraid there is still work to do.

Player: You've said little I couldn't figure out for myself so far. Halsin: And yet here you are, desperate for help. Hold your tongue until I'm done.

Player: You can't just cut it out? Halsin: I could, but I'd be cutting it out of a corpse. We'll have to try a different approach.

Player: I didn't agree to your company. Halsin: You didn't agree to host mind flayer spawn either, but sometimes your fate is wrested from your hands.

[carryoncastiel]

I'm trying to so something with the new parsed dialogue files for patch 6 but until then I checked some Wyll files again.

There are actually some added lines of dialog for when you leave him to go to Avernus (or go fight Vlaakith). I thought they didn't add anything for him because I tried that path in the game but apparently it's just not accessible at this point?

Player: I miss you so much, Wyll. Wyll: By day, I bargain with dusty bureaucrats and fuss over documents that would make a devil blush. By night, I sleep alone, longing for your touch. Wyll: But I love you no less now than ever. And I love that you are fighting for your people. Wyll: But I love you no less now than ever. And I love that you devoted your talents to such a dear friend. Wyll: I will wait for you, I promise - no matter how many sunsets pass. You are my heart. Player: And you are mine. I'll join you in Baldur's Gate as soon as I can. Wyll: Nothing could make me happier. Gods, what a treasure you are. Player: My beautiful man. You've always been such a softie. Wyll: Not always. But once I met you, well - love has a way of tempering a blade's edges Player: It could be a while, you know. Can you really wait that long? Wyll: I'll wait until the hot Hells freeze over and the cold Hells melt away. Let forever pass, if it must. Time itself can't keep us apart.

There is also an impossible kiss option which wasn't there before. Hilariously enough the devnote reads "If we have the bandwith add some kissing to his dialog"

Idk Larian, but didn't you just do nothing else but animating kissing for two months? You added an extra scene for Gale at the end (and extra animations for other characters I'm sure) but this was too much?...

At least it means kissing Wyll might gonna happen at some point, I guess.

Player: Lean in for a kiss. Wyll: Ah. A kiss as sweet as the first you ever gave me.

[ssvnormandysr-1]

one thing larian did and did really well is not romanticizing the end result of pursuit of ambition, or the erasure & denial of one's true self. The result is shown as pathetic, sad, and hilariously heartbreaking. This is shown especially well in Astarion & Gale's case.

Gale, in his god form, is honestly pretty insufferable. On the surface, it's easy to think that he's the same old guy with jokes and all but in every sentence, you can see him demeaning the mortal lives, the material plane, his superiority complex, etc.

The dude's been a god for 6 months and apparently forgot what faerun smells like, saying it 'cannot be compared to the aromas of Elysium' (this is shown when you play as his origin). He goes around to his companions and essentially in a roundabout way, begs for them to pray to him. when as a player you ask him 'you didn't dethrone Mystra? that's not very ambitious' he gets defensive by basically saying 'well i didn't say I'm giving up.' The devnote for this section says 'torn between the need to refute your accusation and knowing that doing so would be a terrible, terrible idea' - he's afraid but too proud to admit it because he does not want to be seen as weak. In his origin he can tell minthara that he can smite her, to which she replies 'better gods than you have tried.' Fucking owned. His idea of helping mortals is turning some mage's book to a helpful page. It's a fucking joke. All of these are a very hilarious and pathetic and so sad as we are witnessing his ego death in real time. There's nothing cool or awe-inspiring about who he has become. And i love that.

I think this might also be why in the epilogue he was alive and not smitten to pieces by mystra. Challenging Mystra directly and dying? now that's pretty cool shit. He may have failed but he still flew to the sun and shot his shot. few mortals can claim to have tried to both bed and behead the goddess of magic herself. But staying alive because he actually fears mystra and therefore taking the loophole to create his own domain? displaying his twisted heart for everyone to see and pity? for us to see that the true result of ambition is becoming this petty and narrow-minded? now that's just sad and pathetic. I love that.