#this patch is gonna be the end of me

[song-of-baldy-ron]

"A romanced Minthara can now refer to her bond with you using a drow word for deep, unbreakable love."

[aashiyancha]

No Step 3 moment with Derek so the guys are just gonna have to ambush him and make one happen >:]

[amygdalae]

ALL OF MY BARD CHARACTER'S SAVE FILES HAVE DISAPPEARED.

[draculiza]

ootd from last friday

[antennabot]

I’m gonna miss these guys <3

[nebulousfishgills]

As much as I love playing embrace Dark Urge runs (discussion in therapy pending), there's something so narratively satisfying about how a Resist Durge playthrough can go once you get to the Bhaal Temple. Your character steps into the ring with Orin, it's intended to be a duel, but odds are you're getting eviscerated pretty quickly. You then switch to one of your other characters in your party and throw an attack, effectively breaking the duel and setting the whole temple upon you.

(Adding a cut because this ended up being longer than I thought)

But, I think it's a very satisfying way to play. Your party members have grown fond of your Durge, seeing them as a friend, a family member, even a lover. They've watched you and your pain over your Urge and what it makes you do or want to do. Maybe you've slipped up once or twice, but you've been trying so hard to be the hero they know you can be, that Faerûn needs. So, when it comes time to finally face your demons and you're getting so horribly hurt in the process, they can't help but rush to your defense. It'll put all of them in danger, but it doesn't matter because they want and need to help you, their ally and companion.

Bonus points if you select your character's romanced companion as the savior/duel interruptor to make it extra delicious. They've fallen in love with you, stayed with you when your Urge craved their blood the most, maybe by this point in the game you've helped put their demons down as well. They see you in pain, a final valiant effort to overcome your Urge against the power of Orin, a whole cult, a god of murder himself. They want to protect you, save you as you saved them.

I'm also fond of the extra beauty of Astarion being your Resist Durge romance since it puts the two of you in very similar situations. Fighting against the will of your masters, finally defeating your demons with your newfound companions' help and being offered the greatest power you could ever fathom... only to deny it, ignore power in favor of your party and your love.

This isn't even mentioning just how goddamn good the Withers resurrecting you cutscene is. This skeleton in your camp with unknown and unfathomable power (also apparently supposed to be Jergal himself if I've done my research properly?) is able to bring you back to life, free of your Urge. The line along the lines of "Bhaal could only destroy what of you that he knew, but because you've grown past your Urge and become your own person, he couldn't destroy that new growth" is just so weirdly powerful narratively. Tav may be a default character for you to create upon making a new save file, but Durge is the canon protagonist and I think that entire scene shows it the best. It's a beautiful secondary climax of the narrative (primary being battling the Netherbrain of course).

And, perhaps it's just an oversight on Larian's part or something that'd be a bit difficult to work into the cutscenes mechanically, but I think that it could only get more impactful if your companions could comfort each other during these moments. Everyone and their mother wishes you could hug Astarion after he kills Cazador, but also imagine your romanced companion cradling your body after Bhaal kills you. It seems just a little odd that they all (meaning your party) kinda just stand around staring at your corpse, especially with how close y'all have gotten.

Idk, I have a lot of thoughts about this section of the game in this particular type of playthrough and some of them are hard to articulate into words. It's just such a damn good narrative peak and can really make you feel things.

I've completed I think two resist Durge runs and just hit this point on my third and it really stuck out to me this time (then again my new antidepressants are kinda fucking with me so that might be playing a role). I left it as my last mission before dealing with the Netherbrain and I think it helped build the anticipation of that moment. Everyone else has been helped by you, and now it's your turn to come into your own. I really felt so connected to my character walking into the temple, feeling like everything has been building to this, that regardless of what happens our suffering will finally end. And you have your party there to help you in your time of greatest need as you've done for them.

There's a reason this game was Game of the Year, the narrative is just so powerful and the replay-ability is just insane. I've beaten this game ten times, heading for my eleventh and it truly just never gets old and never fails to make me feel so many things so strongly.

[savage-rhi]

Having a B3 overdose be like

[baeshijima]

SCREAMS SILVER WOLF (5* quantum nihility), LUOCHA (5* imaginary abundance) AND YUKONG (4* imaginary harmony) NEXT PATCH

source

BUT CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE SMOL TINGYUN

[illiaccrest]

#1 favorite best boy forever (and #1 terrible gremlin!)

[notthemonthbutmarch]

Sincerely hoping that Citlali is a four star or something so I can get her easily, but then again it’s hard to tell who’d be a four star and who’d be a five star from just looks alone in my opinion.

All my money is on Iansan being a four star with Kachina, which I’m not complaining about— I want Iansan the most right now.

I really like Xilonen and I think I like Mavuika. I would like her more if she fit the Genshin aesthetic more. Like other than the obvious disappointment in skin tone, I feel like Mavuika just… doesn’t look like a Genshin character. She looks closer to ZZZ’s aesthetic in my opinion, it’s a flashy leather jumpsuit. I would’ve liked something more… in line with the theme?

But yeah, I’ll probably pull for Mualani if I like her enough when we meet her, I’m betting Kachina will be the free four star. I’m hoping Citlali will be four star but if not she’ll probably be a 5 star in 5.1 or something. I hope Iansan is on Xilonen’s banner and not Chasa’s because I reaaaaaally don’t like Chasa’s design. Everything about her is a no for me. I would rather get Geo Lion Lady and the fire child over… beta Clorinde. I already have the superior Clorinde anyways. No hate to anyone who likes Chasa, I just don’t see the appeal at all…

Also Oloron is a thing. He’s cool. Thank you next.

[eorzeashan]

7.4 spoilers, but....

I'm really surprised this choice actually mattered much less lead to an ending where it didn't fall into the same narrative trap one-choice-only with a false illusion of free will as SWTOR has been doing for a while now.

The fact that you *can* actually save Mina shocked me, I thought she was going to be abducted no matter what you picked, which felt really good for a game that's supposed to have those little things impact the story, not just be on rails. It also makes replaying with different choices worth it, though I wish they could've done the same with the saboteur options.

This is a good sign though, and maybe they'll implement that impact more later on now that they're breaking away from the formula.

Bonus white cape reflection that made me kick my feet editing this shot because it signifies the heroism in saving others:

[digirainebow]

ok allowing myself to do more bg3 posting. im on my second single player playthrough now but gosh is it different knowing how it ends. the emperor storyline makes me insane its so good i cannot believe it can just end so unceremoniously it makes me actively crazy i cant live through that again but i also cant do another ending because the alternatives hurt too much. but i am sure its just as unceremonious either way because the whole ending for every character seems to be like that except karlach

[e6danheng]

i already won 2.0

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

the light dragon the FUCKING LIGHT DRAGON

[franeridan]

jade drip marketing head in hands god really said I can't win

[nebulousfishgills]

Me after figuring out how to install mods so I can customize my companions, get over a hundred and fifty new hairstyles, new face presets, see what dialogue options will do to approval ratings, remove the party limit, and know when I should long rest for story events: