#and i already started a BG3 playthrough with them as the characters

[amygdalae]

made a new baldurgate...their name is Briar. seldarine drow. spore druid

[olgipolgi]

Anyways here's my Wyll kisser Malix and Lae'zel smoocher Aranea who I plan to play eventually 🥰

[mere-glim]

the fucking chokehold baldurs gate 3 characters have on me.... im going to sleep dreaming of holding that gayass wizard in my arms while the faggot elf holds me in his arms

[meanbossart]

So I'm curious about something. Not that I don't love the Drow the way his is right now, because seriously how could you not - but if you had a chance to redo the way you created him, would you and what would you change?

I'm also wondering about your other BG3 playthrough characters and wondered if you had drawn them before. Where would they fit into Drow's universe?

He's already gone through changes! I altered the way I draw his face pretty noticeable since I first started, made his hair a little shorter, and turned his eyes from off-white to a yellow color. Whenever I feel like I wanna tweak something, I just do 🤷 so he's perfect the way he is.

I have not completed a single other playthrough of BG3 with another character, to be honest. I'm still planning on getting back on Izzantar's playthrough though - he's an original character from A Novel Experience first and Tav second, so the campaign events aren't "canonical", but he has his own little story and character arc as told in the fic and a non-insignificant pain in DU drow's ass.

[midnightcatharsis]

Astarion haters are usually pathetic liars and the worst part of bg3 fandom. Here is a prime example of an absolutely pathetic individual (screen and context below, btw the first screens don't look that bad but the last one is important here and sheds a different light on them) : They go under every Astarion-related video and hate on him and his fans. They also almost always lie. They're the ones who said "AsTaRiOn DiSaProVes oF sAvInG thE GnOmEs at MoOnRiSe" and "AsTariON oNlY apPRoves oF sAviNg the HyEna and the OwlBeaR because he wants to eat them" I've debunked it with information from the game and wiki, but they continue to say that. You can find my post here. The same individual some time ago went under another Astarion video and made a comment hating on the entire Astarion fandom in a comment that at first glance can look innocent to neutral fans. They were enraged that some Astarion fans disliked people who purposefully downloaded a mod that allows you to put a collar on an escaped slave and makes him crawl. Of course, they failed to give any actual proof or link and expected everyone to blindly believe them which would be very unreasonable since I've already proven they often lie (the entire gnomes at moonrise situation I've mentioned) but they target neutral people in hope of deceiving them. Anyway here's the comment:

While there's no evidence and the only proof is "trust me bro", the comment itself doesn't look that bad, right? After being told that playing slave-owner simulator and purposefully putting a collar on an escaped slave to "make him crawl" is bad and people pointing that out were not wrong they went on to explain that the mystery "streamer didn't know and has only been playing for 6 hours"

Hmnn… They once again failed to provide ANY evidence. Which I wonder why? They seem to know the story and the streamer quite well, so why not even tell who the streamer was so people can check for themselves what he did, with what intentions and what was the real answer of Astarion fans? Perhaps the "evil Astarion fans" were just people telling him that playing the slave-owner simulator was disgusting. The story and justification itself sound extremely implausible. Why would the mystery streamer who had never played bg3 before, never had heard about it, and had not known the story before specifically look for and download a mod just to make one specific character (an escape, traumatized slave) into his own slave… Something doesn't seem right in their story. They explicitly stated that "the streamer " had only played 6 hours and hadn't been caring or paying attention to the story at all. Yet only after merely 6 hours, he searched for that particular mod to use it specifically on Astarion? I've played the game, and I've watched numerous playthroughs on twitch and youtube. Character creator alone takes almost 1 hour on your first time and the nautiloid tutorial takes another one. It leaves barely 4 hours of the game… Most people, even experienced gamers with gaming channels, are still learning basic mechanisms and are experimenting with them after 4 hours. They're exploring the vastness of the bg3 world and trying to grasp the story. You don't get a lot of companion interactions during the first few hours, and even Astarion's bite scene doesn't usually happen that early. After 4 hours of gameplay most gamers I've watched (and I, myself) were still getting around long/short rest mechanics and trying to learn how combat works… Most people try to understand how the main game works and what it has to offer before getting mods. And you're telling me this streamer who didn't care and didn't pay attention went out of his way to download such a specific mod for Astarion?? It sounds like a bad lie to me. Nobody can check it or verify it without a source, but the comment may sound innocuous on its own. Almost immediately in the same thread, another account started backing them up

Again, it looks harmless, right? Neutral fans and even some Astarion fans may think it's a valid opinion as everybody can dislike different characters.

Imagine my surprise or rather lack of it when I found THE SAME two usernames under another Astarion video talking about how they enjoy putting a collar on Astarion, making him crawl, torturing him and helping Cazador:

And they claim Astarion fans are the toxic ones XDD

There are several messed up things here:

Notice how they talk about enjoying torturing him and playing slave-owner simulator months after making comments defending the "streamer" on the basis that "the streamer didn't know about enslavement". Well, they surely know about Astarion's past and story because they both acknowledge it in their previous comments yet they both are proud of torturing a slave.

They think they're good for doing that

The sheer f* hypocrisy and audacity to say that they're bullied by "toxic fans" when people point out that messed up behavior

The dates. The "newer" comments were made under a video from several months ago, and the original comment had only a few likes and was one of the last ones under the video. You have to scroll a lot to see it. The fact that there is only one hour pause between them is strange. Additionally, the older comments made by those "two" accounts were also made back-to-back. Both are under the same comment/video, in both cases the original comment is not that easy to find because it's either hidden in replies or you really have to scroll the comments to see it, both made in the same very short period under a much older video/thread, both backing each other up and making THE SAME bs points. Interesting… very interesting indeed. XD

I have a strong suspicion that the "mystery streamer" was the second account (if the streamer wasn't made up) and I am practically certain those two accounts are the same individual. Which makes them one of the most pathetic characters I've ever met. They do similar things under other Astarion videos and comments too - purposefully lying making bs takes, and doubling down on it.

I'm too lazy to search or cite all of the bs I've seen them spew and I'm sure there's much more of it under different Astarion content but here are some examples that I find the most ridiculous:

Astarion doesn't approve of saving gnomes at Moonrise (proven to be a lie)

Astarion only approves of saving the hyena and the owlbear because he wants to eat them. (XD)

Astarion admits that he's evil in his good hero epilogue because he answers that he "embraced the darkness" when asked whether he misses walking in the sun

Astarion is evil because he disapproves if you forbid him from drinking animal blood (Don't tell them that other characters eat meat too, that meat is made of dead animals or Karlach knows how a dwarf tastes)

Playing the slave owner simulator is ok. (When said mod was compared to mods of Male Aylin or the mod whitewashing Wyll they said, playing with those mods is ok too)

Having nightmares is not a symptom of PTSD, and having nightmares of your abuser enslaving you again is also definitely not that. When asked to do some basic research they said they don't care what Wikipedia or the Internet says

The wiki and mods are lying and shouldn't be believed, only they're telling the truth and should be blindly believed

They also tried to decanonize the official in-game narrator lines and said origin runs are and events in them are not canon and don't offer companions' perspective. (Like they're arguing that Astarion nightmare doesn't happen despite it being in the game because their character can't see it XDD)

And many many others I don't even have energy to describe. How pathetic do you have to be to create numerous alternative accounts to go under all Astarion videos or threads and lie about fictional characters? They most surely have other fake accounts too. Do you know what's even funnier? They claim "they're not an Astarion hater" to convince neutral fans to believe them blindly. Yes, sure "they are not a hater". They just think Astarion is a disgusting evil monster who deserves to die and they brag about enjoying using slave collars on him and making him crawl. XDDD

I think it would be difficult to find a more hateful, dishonest, contemptible, and foul individual.

P.S. If you ever see a comment where somebody claims they're not an Astarion hater but then lies or tries to spread misinformation about him don't let them deceive you. It's their tactics. Please don't believe them or check every piece of information for yourself. Later, they go and brag about killing him, making him a slave as this individual here. Part 3

[pheavampire]

Astarion, Cazador and D&D vampire lore

Let’s talk about D&D vampires and some lore inconsistencies in Baldur’s Gate 3.

BG3 is not a game about vampires. It was obvious we won’t get a playable character who will be 100% vampire spawn from the handbooks - the mechanical balance would be disturbed in comparison with other characters. But we can list some weird stuff and missing aspects. For fun, for fanfiction, for nerdiness.

I still wonder why Cazador even asked Astarion if he wants to be turned. Sure, he could do that, so he could say later „ha ha you asked for it!” but still - weird. Anyway, a vampire lord doesn’t need to ask - he just bites his victim, kills it by drinking its blood and boom, a vampire spawn is made. Almost made…

… because at first the victim needs to be buried and layed in the ground before it rises. That’s the next question - how the hell did Cazador make 7000 spawns? Theoretically he needed to bury them all, dig them back/wait until they dig themselves out or something and transport them to his dungeon without being noticed. His servants could do that for him, but it still is a pretty big thing to cover. Besides…

… accordng to D&D 3.5 edition: "At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice" which means it was impossible for Cazador to create 7000 spawns. Sure, Baldur's Gate 3 uses 5 ed rules, but I'm sure they didn't change this one that much. (BUT! We can interpret this rule as: a vampire lord can create as many spawns as he wants, but the number of enslaved ones is limited. That's all right in this case).

That being said, Astarion is surprised when he discovers that all Cazador’s victims are spawns now. One of his dialogue options is „I thought Cazador was feeding on you”. Well yes, he had to feed on them to make them spawns Astarion, I thought you noticed that yourself 200 years ago. But let's say I understand your confusion, 7000 spawns mean Cazador's hit dice is 3500. Lol.

As a vampire spawn, Astarion should be able to regenerate even without biting someone. To be precise, he should get 10 health points at the start of every turn until he gets killed. But ok, this one doesn’t work in the sun, so let’s say it’s justified… unless the party is in the underdark, shadowlands or other dark place. But yeah, that would be too OP.

Astarion should be afraid of holy symbols, mirrors and garlic. That would be quite irritating, as he wouldn’t be able to even get near Selune's stuff or Lathander’s temple (Lathander HATES the undead, just ask poor Jander Sunstar). But let’s say the tadpole gave him immunity.

Spider climb. Imagine Astarion climbing walls or even ceilings like a damn Spiderman - this is what a regular vampire spawn can do. If the tadpole took away this ability, that’s not very nice of it.

Claws. Astarion should be able to transform his fingers into claws at will. That’s right, it works like another melee weapon.

Coffins, graves et cetera - bunk beds in Cazador's palace are a very anti-canon idea. Because D&D vampires have really traditional weaknesses, they always have to „sleep” in the ground they were buried in to recover - just like Cazador. Jander I mentioned earlier invented an un-lifehack, as he was traveling through Faerun by keeping some of the dirt from his grave in his pocket. He was scattering it in the place he wanted to rest for some time.

A vampire spawn can be controlled or banished by clerics like any other undead. That's right, when Shadowheart casts this one, Astarion should roll the dice, or else he will have to run away from her like those zombies you banished during your playthrough.

Last but not least, vampires get damage if they are in the flowing water, for example river, but you already know this one from the early access Astarion. Shame they removed it, in was a bit irritating but I loved it. It reminded me Astarion is a vampire not only in the dialogues.

That's all I can think of now. My knowledge is a mix of 3.5 and 5 ed, do with it what you want. I wouldn't mind more lore accuarte Astarion fanfics though.

Shocked Astarion reading D&D Monster Manual. Or Libris Mortis.

[loquaciousquark]

quark are you planning to play veilguard? :3

I am! I suspect I’m going to be a little behind everyone else--I want to finish my current playthrough of BG3 (in Act 3, about to do Wyrm’s Rock); then I want to replay Inquisition with a Lavellan. This is mostly for @silksieve because I love her and want her to be happy, as I’m currently rather ambivalent about Solas. 

DAI was a perfectly fine game, but the character I was trying to play just butted badly up against the constraints of the narrative. To me DAI seemed clearly to be built as a story for elves, the way DA2 seemed to me to be built for mages, and I have just...I don’t know! I have this weirdly reflexive negative response to playing elves in DA the way I do to playing tiefling bards in BG3 - there seem to be plenty of them around already & I’d rather see a different story.

So yeah. I’m going to try to do an elf playthrough of DAI before I start Veilguard. I’ll let everyone else populate the wiki for me so I don’t have to worry about approval ratings & collectible locations, ha!

[sexhaver]

im kind of conflicted on bg3 because on the one hand it inarguably has a lot of fundamental flaws and shortcomings, but on the other hand, they're the kind of flaws you only notice after sinking dozens of hours and at least one playthrough into the game, so you can't really call them "dealbreakers" because by the time you notice them you're already hooked. that being said, the single biggest gripe i have with the game at the moment is how blatantly unfinished huge chunks of it are, especially in Act 3.

to put it bluntly, it feels like the writers spent the majority of their time on the "good ending" Tav's romance arc with Astarion, branched out from there, and had the game come out of early access before they fleshed out anything else. the further away you get from this intended path, the more holes you notice in the writing. comparing Astarion to the other base origin companions just shows that he has a bit more dialogue at points, but then you start comparing him to Jaheira or Minsc or God forbid Minthara and it becomes a joke. i'm not exaggerating when i say that i'm pretty sure Astarion has more dialogue in Act 1 alone than Minthara does throughout the entire game combined. meanwhile, because they just straight up never implemented the Upper City into Act 3, Karlach's good ending is inaccessible, leaving her storyline to conclude with what amounts to

the part of all this that drives me fucking insane is that people are still pushing BG3 as an example of a Good AAA Game with No Microtransactions that Wasn't Rushed, and like, are we playing the same game? it's a textbook example of releasing an unfinished game and then pushing hotfixes as players hit issues. if i was more cynical, i'd say that Larian knew Astarion was going to be the most popular romance option based on early access data, so they focused the initial writing effort on him and then planned to flesh out other characters after launch based on who else fans liked the most

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Review of Dragon Age the Veilguard

First off, right off the bat, I’m putting out there I am foremost a story person. Give me a good story and I’m happy. Then it’s graphics, gameplay (by which I mean do I think it is very replayable), then combat.

So positives first for me:

Story: I love the story. It’s a little cliche and a bit silly but it’s so much fun. Besides it’s not like Dragon Age has ever not been a bit cliche. Secret bastard son of the king saving his homeland. Frosty witch with a secret sensitive side. Assassin who wants out. These were in the FIRST game. I very much enjoyed it and the lore we were given. I actually went ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ out loud multiple times and had a blast through the whole thing. I actually dropped my controller in shock during the final battles because of several moments.

I’ve seen complaints about the writing being ‘MCU’ but honestly I just recently replayed the first three, and this is the same to me. It’s actually better to me then Inquisition which I found so boring. No really, Inquisition was the weakest to me character and writing wise. It felt so flat but Veilguard brings back the spark that Origins and DA2 had. This sort of ‘we need to get people together and save the world despite the odds’ spark.

Characters: I love every single one of them and am already starting more playthroughs so I can ROMANCE THEM ALL. Some may not be your cup of tea but honestly a lot of the hate I notice tends to be the weird feminist ‘you have to be serious’ tone, the ‘I don’t like anything cheery’ type, transphobes or racists. The actual critical takes I find tend to veer on the usual bullshit of the writers in general. (Such as Taash apparently having to choose between two cultures and how their gender is handled. Which fair. I love their gender storyline but it isn’t the greatest story)

The characters are very dynamic and fun to get to know. I didn’t care about Harding in Inquisition but I love her here. It’s just so much fun.

Character Creator: This is honestly the best one I’ve seen yet. I know everyone loved BG3 and how they do it but Veilguard BLOWS it out of the water. Just so many options and things to do.

Plus as a side note you can choose to be nonbinary or trans and it has an affect. It is so cool. I loved my Rook talking about their gender.

Combat: Oh man this is weird for me but I love this combat. Let’s be real- tactical stuff in the past games were clunky and off. A lot of Origin purists say DAO was the best but who ACTUALLY used half the stuff? Like traps? Maybe a fair few but the majority didn’t. The whole series so far had been button mashing for me. Here? Nope! It’s a lot more complex for me and makes me actually think. I love it.

Puzzles: One person I saw said they were to simple. My response is that the early ones were but they sure ain’t later on. Took me forty minutes to figure out one. It’s awesome.

Gameplay: FUN! Just everything about it is so nice and I love it. It’s not annoying to do, it’s simple once you get used to it and honestly I like how the missions are set up. I do think it is very replayable as a whole.

The Ending: I FUCKING LOVE THE ENDING IT IS SO DAMN COOL. I dropped my controller during it, I gasped, I cheered (totally guessed one plot twist but DAMN did not expect the very end) and HOLY SHIT it was SO GOOD.

Now the negatives.

Story: There’s a lot of sanitization of the Crows. The Crows are canonly assassins who buy a lot of their recruits and brutally train them to become Crows. It is not nice unless maybe your family are Crows and you’re treated nicely. Even then, Lucanis canonly was beaten by his grandmother during training and other things.

Also, I did not like how my Rook Laidir suddenly talked about being a galley slave. It was confusing as that was never brought up before. If they’d included it in the description it would have been better. So I’m headcanoning something different for Andy Laidir. I think this is just an over sight, but it is off putting for me that it’s suddenly said once then vanishes.

There's also a few things with how story progression goes. It feels a bit to fast in some moments, and to slow in others. I think that they had to many ideas, but I'll talk about that in the factions section.

Characters: While I love their story line I think Taash could have done better if there was less ‘choose between being Rivaini or Qunari’. Like having a disconnect from your culture is understandable but I felt it was to… ‘you must conform or reject’. That’s not how it goes.

As well the discussion of gender was fairly Western specific which isn’t true across all cultures. It would have been interesting to explore it more and with Taash also wondering about the Qunari version of gender as why they don’t feel right.

I’m also semi kinda upset with how Davrin kept getting the same ‘intro’ scene to his quests a bit. Just him carving something. It was recycled to me and compared to the others… kinda felt off.

Also, while I love him, Lucanis' romance isn't my favourite. It's very slow burn and while nice, I felt that it was to much of a slow burn in the end, where it's just them kissing and a few words of love. I haven't been spoiled about the others too much, but he feels very lacklustre. But it might just be me there. I will defend it saying it isn't bad, but for me? Not my cup of tea.

I'm also disapointed with Isabela's cameo. While YES WE SEE HER, I do romance her with Hawke often and I can't believe any of my Hawkes who did (and lived) are't with her causing chaos. Plus for fuck sakes she gets some generic outfit but Morrigan gets a super special one? Really?

Combat: While I love it, I think they made the dragons to OP. It’s really hard to get close and fight them. Of course I am not a combat person so it may just be I’m bad at it. I do think some of the 'being shoved backward' moments could have been done better as well.

Gameplay: Okay so… I think the choice to have Varric narrate things wasn’t ‘bad’ but they really went to spoiler filled in some. Like dude, don’t SAY that?!? I don’t get to eagerly wait in suspense now, I know what’s going on. That’s not fun. Boo!

Also the animations for opening chests was annoying.

Factions: I feel this is another kinda let down. I truly believe the only four that mattered were Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, Crows and Grey Wardens. Plus I felt again a lot of this is sanitized. The Crows are not a good organization. Sure they basically are the Antivan military but they’re assassins who buy their recruits half the time. Lords of Fortune are pirates and treasure hunters. They're not 'good' people.

This really ties into my thoughts on progression: we could have done away with the Lords and the Mourn Watch to focus only on the four factions and it would have been amazing. Probably would have had better pacing for the plot to. While it was so cool to see these places, in the end it would haven't taken away from the main plot by just not having them be around.

However- despite my negatives, and despite my issues?

This game is a solid 8.7/10. It was truly 9.5/10 for most of the game, but by the end, I did find that I was a bit dissatisfied with some things. However, the game is genuinely amazing. It's a call back to the original 'rag-tag bunch of losers go and save the day' and has elements of Mass Effect 2 I adore.

Solid game, if you loved Origins, DA2 and even some elements of Inquisition, go for it. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it sure as hell is mine.

[preciouslittle-bhaalbabe]

why do you use mods? do you not like the game as it is?

I love the game as it is! I just like expanding on it! I have over 1,500 hours of playtime I don't want to do the same thing over and over. I played and finished the game without mods at all before I started adding them in.

I use mods that add subraces and new classes, and do slightly different rp for my characters, companions, and NPC's because it's fun! I'm making my own little pocket universes inside the already great bg3 universe :3 Each playthrough has it's own canon outside the established canon of bg3. I'll view each character slightly differently depending on the oc i'm playing as. To put it plainly, i'm playing with my virtual dolls lol

[sheyshen]

ok mostly full veilguard thoughts both good and bad, some spoilers sprinkled in but i'll try to stay vague where i can.

I give the game a thumbs up, so like, 8 or 9 out of 10 probably (i never know how to rate on a scale since i'm generally easy to please when it comes to games). i can see playing it again but it is a longer game so it might not be something i just go "hey yeah i'm gonna just go replay that really quick for kicks"

full thoughts under the cut:

to start out with I am a big fan of the lore, I did every quest every zone and had a lot of fun with it all, good and bad. tidbits about my rook since it does affect the story here and there and my thoughts on some things: Mateo is a transman, rogue, crow, elf, romanced lucanis, mainly did purple with a bit of blue options (much like my hawke)

starting with the good stuff:

-I loved the companions and how they interacted with each other and with the lighthouse itself. it made it feel very homey like the tempest in MEA, since they would move around and talk with one another. and that they could start relationships with other characters (even ones not in your team) it made it feel a bit more dynamic like these people are here with you not for you.

-I also enjoyed how they would have things to say that were to do with quests you completed or choices you'd made (kinda wish you could get them to trigger by stepping away and coming back even if it only works when they're solo. they do shift if you save and reload at least)

-I loved that you could canonly choose to be trans and it would have special options (like relating to lucanis and taash in different ways) and it makes me wonder what other options from the mirror open up in convos.

-I also loved that there were quite a few trans and NB characters who's VAs were also trans and NB. it was a really nice touch.

-the combat was fun, I do want to check out the other classes when i start a second playthrough (lets see if i'm strong enough to romance someone different cause i don't think i am! lol) and see what's different when playing someone who's cis or a human or a warden

-a lot of the controls were really familiar and easy to adjust to (aside from jump/climb being F instead of space, who decided that? do you know how many times i hit space expecting to jump and just slid instead??) so it was pretty smooth going from playing ffxvi to dav.

-the twists in the story were well executed and man did it make me cry in a few places. wish the one didn't lock you out of an entire vendor so early in but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i'll just keep that in mind for my second playthrough, i never expect the first to go completely smooth anyhow.

-I also loved seeing some familiar faces though i wish it was a bit... well. more complex than what we got. (i'll expand on that below) but what we had? oh it was nice.

-the environment felt very vast and I loved that there was a lot to explore and find. and plenty of cats to pet.

-I loved Lucanis's romance, and while I do wish there was more, I'm pretty happy with what we had and what I can build on through art and fics (already having some ideas percolating heheheh) but I also seem to end up picking the romances that are more off screen anyhow (looking at you Reyes)

-The companion quests were also all really well done and felt unique. I liked that they weren't all just combat quests and some were more relaxing. and that you can just meet up with them while you're working on something in that area if you didn't bring that specific companion with you.

-in the end i actually didn't mind only having two companions with you. it felt off here and there because it's been such a staple to have 3 in the series, but it worked out well enough same for not being able to control your party members (mind you i'm not someone who likes playing turn based (why i'm struggling with bg3) so i can see that bothering people who play like that) the only time not being able to control your team really bugged me is when i was trying to get some action shots for drawing refs. i'll keep trying with photo mode maybe i'll get lucky XD

-btw photo mode is awesome

-the final push felt a lot like the suicide mission at the end of ME2, that's mostly a compliment. I'm a completionist so i had everything maxed out and done when i got to it so I was ready to go but i wonder how bad things can go if you didn't since there's a whole room for the fallen.

-i loved the final slides (the last one in particular made me cry) and it reminded me of the line at the end of rvb season 14 about telling stories. and honestly i loved that

-the little references to things really tickled me. kalluzeb, kotor, and dungeon meshi to name a few. I'm going to be keeping my eye out for ones i missed now that i can safely dig through the tags.

-there's a ton more things i loved but they get a bit more spoilery than I'd like to get with this post!

-oh yea! and no fall damage is for sure an amazing thing. i jumped off so much stuff before i realized it won't break your legs.

and the things i didn't like so much:

-motion sickness leaking through my seabands wasn't great. i had all the settings for it adjusted but some effects would still trigger it, not as bad as some games but it was still there.

-where i loved how the companions interacted i also didn't like the fact it relied on you returning to the lighthouse after every single mission. there was a lot of stuff i likely missed because i was so wrapped up in doing side quests or wandering around in a certain area rather than going back after each thing and poking everyone.

-I also wished that they would interact with rook more. It felt like rook was checking in on them helping with their problems and being a shoulder to lean on but never the other way around. (aside from varric)

-the pacing on the story was awkward in places, and felt like you had to go out of your way to find side missions and interact with companions rather than it be a fluid experience. it can be a complicated thing to integrate especially if there's a lot of shifting things around internally leading up to the game being finished so it's not a killer for me but can be a bit of a pain.

-not being able to import anything from the previous games (except the 3 from dai) and many of the letters you receive from the quizzy definitely feel like they just kinda wanted to wipe the slate clean and start new and I have some real mixed feelings about that. I don't mind a soft reset but i think it could've been handled better

-I do wish that the cameos we had had some. slight. variation based on previous choices. (using isabella as a main example, i wish she could've had like the red favor if hawke romanced her or didn't mention learning about family in kirkwall if she bailed in act 2) there's a few cameos i think would've made sense to have and references that wouldn't've been too hard to include (vaea was mentioned so it would've been nice to hear about fenris, and with us being in weishaupt it would've been nice to have some sign of hawke since they were there, even an anders mention from isabella. seeing cullen at the final push with the inquisitor (or whoever not dorian or solas y'all romanced). little things without needing to hire extra VAs or anything)

-could use the ability to place waypoints on the map. and the ability to dye gear. it'd just be a nice to have, i'm sure there's mods rolling out already at least

-I do wish the conversation options were a bit more varied. yea i like playing a sarcastic and kind character but I wish there was a bit more of the option to kinda be mean. i mean rook's kinda gotten stuck with a job they weren't planning on ever having let them be rude now and then, as a treat.

-while i loved the romance (as mentioned above) i did miss the ability to get a little smooch or something like in previous games (which is something i miss in other games with romances as well so it's not a nock on dav itself but still something i wished we had gotten) and that they were a little bit. more. not like explicit, but i would've liked a little kiss for good luck before the final battle kinda thing like they have in DA2

-The "virmire" situation felt... off to me, like it was done for shock value rather than a meaningful moment (similar to what happened with torian and vette) and that it was kinda out of the blue rather than something that made sense narratively.

-without spoiling anything major there were a few lore explanations I felt were a bit. unnecessary or could've been done better or expanded on better, or changes that felt a little strange to do that could've been better explained (like the crows)

that's kinda it for things that bugged me. nothing that would make me hate the game but little things that made me go >.> lol

One small hope I have is that they patch in a citadel dlc type of thing, something that has no impact on the story itself but is just kinda fun with your companions. have a little party at the lighthouse right before the final push like in ME3 >:3

There's a "secret" ending after the credits and a few things brought up throughout the game that make me curious where they'll go with the next game.

All in all i thought the game was really great and I can't wait to see my friends sharing their rooks and art and screenshots and stuff!

[gryffintheparrotcat]

Hot take but bg3 doesn't have the awesome replayability it claims to have.

To get the most obvious point out the way first: 17,000 endings? Pure marketing there is like 5 unique endings and the rest is tiny details that don't change ending scenes. Realistically after you've seen one tav and one durge ending and made one of em good and one evil, you won't be replaying just for the other 3 endings.

And you won't replay for the sidequests and their outcomes either. How many sidequests are there in Act 1? How many in Act2? Barely any if any at all, almost of them link back to the mainquest and change with it so you've probably already seen it in your first good & evil playthroughs. And if they don't (namely Auntie Ethel, Baelen & Derryth , Omeluum and Zhentarim) they are short and only become relevant again in Act 3. Act 3 the place of endless amounts of sidequests that all boil down to 'defeat this boss' and then never affect anything else. You can do these quests in literally any fucking order and they will not change anything. The only order needed is murder tribunal -> Orin and Iron Throne -> Steel watch -> Gortash. And both of these can be fully or partially skipped depending on if you want to save the Gondians and if you're Durge.

And let's entirely be honest here, as fun as it is to make a new tav or durge concept, once you know the endings and some few major choices, you know how their story will play out. Do I start those playthroughs anyways? Yes. Did I finish any of them yet? No, I struggle to find a reason why I should if I can already predict how the major story beats will play out, I spend most of my time making a new character with trying to find a way to combine an interesting tav idea with a companion I haven't romanced before or with a specific major choice for a companion that I haven't played before.

Which brings me to actually reasons to replay the game:

1) Romancing a different companion, because that's literally the only way to get to know them. Except romancing a different companion doesn't change anything major except some parts of the ending epilogue dialogue, so you'll be replaying the exact same playthrough again but this time you romance Gale instead of Wyll and get 3 new scenes you haven't seen before in a total of what? 100 playhours?. But for each companion there are story changing choices too, only changes like 2 scenes with said companion and nothing else, but wouldn't you want to see those too?. Alright another 100 hours except this time the choices only change 1 scene and happen 50hrs into the exact same playthrough as your previouse Astarion romance.

And nr 2) trying out builds. Because you can't actually try out combos in Act 3, both because there is a very finite amount of enemies with very specific weaknesses and resistances and because some build changing items are in previous acts and you can't go back. If you want to try out a build you best hope you have the perfect coincidental save to reload to (and lose all progress or not save the changes... fun) or you better prepare to replay the entire damn game just to try out if 6 levels paladin and 6 levels sorcerer work well together or not. And the companions don't help here either. We have two humans, five elves (with 2 wood 2 high 2 half elves, yay!) a githyanki and a tiefling. How many of these actually have unique racial features? Your build would work better with halfling luck or duegar invisibility? Tough luck. Make a new tav. Most of the time first 5 levels aren't even worth multiclassing at unless you want to make the game unnecessarily difficult, dragging your new playthrough out even longer.

I have 600 playhours and I still don't know anything about Lae'zel, Shadowheart or Karlach because my romance runs for them are all not past Act 1 yet. And it doesn't matter how fun it feels to have a powerful build in act 3 or how fun it is to find a new story possibility. If I have to go spend like 50hrs to reach the part that's interesting. Even worse when I can't be bothered to loot things anymore, leading to me missing out on vital loot all because I didn't want to turn the stone at the grove for the 12th time. My choice here is get burned out from turning every rock every time or burn out because skipping through everything, making it unnecessarily hard, blocking potential builds and missing quests/dialogue/etc ruins the whole roleplay part that would motivate me to make a new playthrough in the first place.

Not to mention the fact that I'm struggling to make the character creator fun, it's always been lacking options but with 20 playthroughs open to go, I've already used all of them. I'm trying to choose a different face and hairstyle (gave up on makeup and body art being unique a hot while ago) for each character to make them unique but with all elves sharing faces and all half elves sharing faces and already having used at least 2 face from each race it's starting to look pretty samey here. And I'd love to use a ton of mods but the game by itself already breaks when it's update time.

The point is that no matter how much the game likes to pretend, choices don't matter that much, not in the character creator, not in the story, at best a little in who you romance but even then the difference is a few scenes. This is only made worse by larian confirming that the evil run is purposfully so short and lacking because "it's supposed to feel bad. You killed these people, now you miss out on their questlines." I'm here to explore different story outcomes, not to be punished for picking options the game gave me! An evil playthrough can be made to feel bad without punishing the player for picking an option you gave them. Not to mention the fact that there is barely any way if any way at all to be more nuanced? All options are either heroically good or comically evil, if you're lucky you get the third option to do good but ask for payment... yay... I'm sure that will totally not play exactly like the good playthrough.

The game is fun, hell I have 600 playhours. Not all of them where spent in burn out limbo. But I could've easily stopped at 150hrs after finishing my good tav and evil durge and I wouldn't have missed much.

[adelarsims]

How is playing BG3 going?

amazing! the way you can achieve your goals in so many creative ways and the game will be okay with that just keep shocking me.

and i love most of my companions, omg i love them so much. you see, i played on early access (not till release, last time i played was in 2021) and i used to strongly dislike most of them. shadowheart was rude, dismissive and cold 24/7, wyll was a pretentious hypocrite full of heroic cliches but with a short fuse whenever he wasn't praised, gale never shut up about mystra for a second, even in his romance scene he kept mentioning her. so i started the game expecting to get back to the same people, but the improvement surprized me. they're now multifaceted, interesting to be around and overall more relatable and lovable (and wyll was fully remade from his story to his voice actor). i wanna hug them all.

i'm only a bit sad that they removed many small after-event conversations, like when you finish a quest or do something and there's an exclamation mark over character's head so you can discuss it with them. there used to be at least three astarion's dialogues that used to exist but didn't trigger for me on two playthroughs, so i'm afraid they were cut out.

one major thing in the plot was kinda spoiled for me by early access, because now it's completely reworked and subtle, and it used to be very obvious and on the nose, so now i already knew what it's all about. some other things were also reworked completely. but i love comparing what i saw on early access with what i see now because i really appreciate the improvement in writing.

[faorism]

niche crossover of the day that im too lazy rn to clean up and post to ao3 but may in the future: alec hardison (leverage) plays bg3

hardison balances playtime with hacker hours well, which means he moves through hyperfixations but has learned through working with the crew how to prioritize when there's a friend's life on the line. (there will be no more repeats of his crew sitting on a bomb without him right next to them.) sometimes though his partners lose him for a week after a new release, but now that they live together at least parker can drag him to bed for cuddles (and to sleep) and eliot will kept him fed.

it should go without saying that hardison loves baulder's gate 3. he heard such good things about it during early access from his dnd buddies, but hardison refuses to play EA because he will end up encountering bugs and basically writing the code that the devs will end up doing anyway, so why waste his time.

he plays without any prior knowledge, doesn't even know the characters really except from glimpses at their promo pics. but he's excited. he downloads the game, kisses his partners """goodbye""" for the foreseeable future (as long as a job doesnt spring up, but even then it would be a quick one because eliot sprained his ankle and needed to rest it no matter how much he complained he was good).

he decides to play his chaotic good halfling wizard mendula from two campaigns back - fresh enough in his mind to remember the character, but not too recent so that he wont feel conflicted if the tav storyline doesnt allow for precise oc characterizations. hardison gets super into it, but he doesnt linger on side quests, not yet: he wants to get a feel of the game without mods and follow its arc. hardison doesnt usually romance on a first playthrough, but wyll!!!!! wyll was right there being perfect and beautiful and righteous and black and bi and yeah, hardison had to fan himself off during the dance sequence

his party is wizard tav, shadowheart, wyll, and lae'zel, and barely switches them out. when astarion drains him dry and kills him, hardison is so annoyed he kills astarion. he feels very proud of himself when he sniped wyll's devil karlach without much fuss. then he skips a lot of the companion sidequests because he just wants to rush to the end. he gets married to wyll, then starts right over and plays wyll origin, now able to take his time and understanding the mechanics of the game. he also downloads QOL mods that have already come out for EA, and he has notes about ones he will make if no one else does when he's ready for playthrough #3. he purposefully avoids any major ones (so no Polyam Mod for him, though he does eye it, but he wants to see how multiple romances play himself).

he plays will as accurately as possible, which means engaging heavily with the very companions hardison spent ignoring because wyll? wyll cares (and fuck, hardison loves him for that because yes yes, that's him too!). and......

ah. okay so. maybe hardison shouldn't have ignored the companions so much since they do add a lot to the game! and..... maybe, just maybe, hardison was too hasty killing astarion and karlach the first go around. maybe a lot. he thought they would be companions for evil tavs/origins only! he played kotor and [insert game references here, i dont play games like this usually...], so he thought he knew what was up.

anyway, he is drawn so much to these two out of the novelty of them that he puts them into his party (the fourth spot he switches around, thought once hardison gets him, halsin is a fun mainstay because BEAR. hardison gets up romancing both astarion and karlach (and a little halsin, HALSIN IS SO EASY TO FLIRT WITH, larian WANTS you to fuck him)

and....... okay. okay. maybe romancing them both at the same time was a mistake because. because he loves them both. so much. for very different reasons. hardison feels so deeply and then he's forced to make a decision, and hardison crumples a bit. considers downloading the polyam mod but opts out of it to suffer vanilla game logic to its very end.

when he breaks up with astarion, who plays it so damn cool, hardison had to walk away from the computer to mourn by burying himself in his nearest partner's arms (eliot, this time).

he finishes the game, makes wyll go to avernus with karlach (as he made them do during this tav playthrough) and... thinks about astarion.

hardison had carried over the breakup scene save this whole time, and he decides fuck it, and goes back and tries it the other way this time.

he didnt know karlach will just... die on the pier. wtf. wtf. or wyll will go and there wont be any interaction with astarion?? hardison is Distraught. he downloads the polyam mod and while it doesnt force the issue, he can just feel at the edges that nope, this isnt authentic

finds partner's arms again. parker this time. she asks whats wrong with his make believe people, and he pauses for so long that parker thinks he fell asleep or didnt hear her, and then he quietly says that wyll has a heart big enough for two, a romance can be fairytale when made for three, dont they know there's nothing more beautiful than being held between by both the people you love?

parker kisses his temple as tears legit well in his eyes (and he feels embarrassed) and she yells for eliot for emergency group hugs.

eliot, with hardison squished between his two partners, usually doesnt get involved with hardison's gaming but this time he's just like, okay what is it about these characters that's getting to you like this? and why them together? who are they?

and hardison had already talked about wyll a little because disney prince. so he reiterates some of that with a major case of projection. and then when he turns to talk about the companions, hardison stops. and just.

oh.

a black man who was forced to make impossible desperate choices when he was still a teen, which got him into trouble as a consequence, and then being alone and wandering for years until he ran into a pack of different people come together for a common purpose. trying to be good, the best he could be, and hiding behind a flashy name to hide some of the more raw parts underneath. ravenguard and nana have strikingly similar cheekbones.

then theres a rogue with a deeply traumatic past who can be selfish and kinda insensitive and likes shiny things. a pale thief who likes a little bit of chaos even when running good alignment, and who can't help sticky fingers reaching for unsuspecting belts and also... well, also is a top, through and through. a top who likes to bite. vicious when upset. also... also touch adverse and who at first laughs at sincerity and then basks in it but only once your commitment is fully and well established. the only bit of code hardison wrote as he played his wyll origin was to remove astarion saying dont touch me when you switch to him; hardison flinched every time, hearing the cadence of parker's voice scratching at him when she's triggered.

then, a barbarian who handed from one handler (who ended up being a totalitarian dick) down the road until being owned by the literal devil. body put through hell, scars littering a body that spells strength at a distance. once escaped from the nightmare, only wanted their own perseverance. their own life. wanting so desperately for a touch, to be loved, to be held in a way that didn't spell murder. "heartless" after years of working for, again, literal devils, but so full of life and kindness and (also eliot is more coy about it) a deep sense of joy for the world. kind to children. protective of children. wary of deals too good to be true. willing to die than return to a life they once lived. death feels imminent, despite the protestations of everyone around them. really good bedroom eyes.

so.

yeah.

maybe... maybe

hardison couldnt get the words out to say all of that. all he says is, they're a lot like us. (like with astarion, if hardison spelled out the exact overlaps of the characters.)

the games dumb then, parker says. or at least broken. if the game isnt right, just go fix it?

and hardison has protests about the limits of what is possible within someone else's game and...

parker is like, you made a guy hold up a bank in like, 10 min? on a laptop with spotty internet and without a mouse or any preparation?

and this takes some time between other projects he really has to get to, but.... he does it. codes like a motherfucker and bribes eliot & parker into mocap and also genuinely pays the VAs to voice lines for him. shit hardison does for the love of his ot3:

script out unique banter for karlach and astarion in your party that hints of their attraction to one another

code in an extra option when astarion or karlach confront you for to prompt them to consider their own feelings for the other (different from the current but i want to be with you both! line)

a short nighttime cutscene that with dialogue that implies the three have just finished talking and have agreed to be together. they are all holding hands

include astarion and karlach in each other's act iii scenes (they arent the most chatty, admittedly, but they are there and integrated)

outside of camp, if you three are standing near each other, you can cast a spell that cuts to astarion and karlach kissing either of wyll's checks (this is admittedly somewhat buggy but!

edits out astarion cowering on the pier from the sun, just rushes the three to avernus which hardison doesnt have to edit; just uses astarion origin version for wyll.

nexusmods community begs desperately for him to do this for some other ot3s and he is willing to hear them out for shadowheart/lae'zel/tav, he absolutely refuses to break up karwyllstarion and only offers wyll pov. will not even allow for edits being made for a tav/karlach/astarion mod. he deeply pisses off some people, but overall this mod is downloaded a fuckton as the only truly viable polyam romance option in the game. people start writing fanfic specifically for this one mod and eventually it is just integrated into canon lore that karwyllstarion exists as an option

[astarionposting]

How do you deal with creative burnout and possible disconnection from BG3 (if you have experienced it yet)?

For example, a while ago I found myself taking more pictures than actually playing the game, so I felt disconnected from the characters, and I wonder how the future will look like when the hype dies down. I mean, fandoms come and go, and I took a break of course, but I wonder where all the people will go that mainly focus on just BG3 at the moment. (Other games probably?)

I’ve experienced it for sure. I’m the type of person who tends to hyperfixate on only one or two things at a time, so when I start to develop other interests I start to want to focus more on those, and lose motivation to create for previous interests.

When I start to feel the burnout, I just take a bit of a break from it and focus on the other stuff I like. Then, after like a week or two, I’ll slowly start working on things again (for example, my mods, but this isn’t as bad cause it often relates to my other interests). So as another example, with BG3, I still of course LOVE Astarion, but I’ve created so many things for him already, that it feels repetitive if I try to keep making things constantly. Instead, I start to focus on other characters that I might like (like Durge and Orin hehe), and start coming up with new ideas for them! In turn, I am still having fun making new content for BG3 and starting to get new inspiration for Astarion content as well!

I also start actually playing the game again, like in my Durgetav playthrough, so I am having a lot of fun taking my time exploring the game all over again and coming up with scenes in my head and taking certain moments from the game and making headcanons (in my brain cause my writing is horrible LOL). I would try just actually playing through the game again, but as a new character, not a previous OC! Maybe take photos and videos of the moments you like and coming up with some fun little stories for yourself. Another thing I would do when I felt myself getting more into GOT and HOTD was to involve it with BG3, so that I had new ideas and something fun to look forward to making!

As most fandoms, I think there will always be people who love BG3 for a LONG time. I mean, look at fandoms like ASOIAF. GRRM hasn’t made a new book in over a decade, but I’m STILL seeing new videos on his books and Game of Thrones (which has also been over for many years). Another example is the Cyberpunk fandom! That game has been out a few years now, but you still see people playing it and making new characters, fanfics, art, etc. Even I want to start getting back into it as it was my first game where I even took screenshots (but before I knew what the heck Otis tools were lol). There will be those who move onto new things, but there will also be many of us who might stay a while even after the “excitement” dies down.

[tearlessrain]

what about the companion questions from the tav ask game, for mallory!!

eey thanks! (ask meme here for everyone else lost in the bg3 sauce)

for reference here's Mallory, looking very offended that the obviously hazardous rune had the audacity to zap him when he poked it

he's a half-drow gold draconic sorcerer and as extra as that lineage would suggest. he's also got the urchin background, but he doesn't tell people that.

I also feel it's important to mention that he was the first character I created for my initial blind playthrough and by the time I realized that his backstory and personality had a similar vibe to Astarion it was too late. as a pc it works because he romanced Astarion and the two of them have a wonderful time being insufferable and flamboyant together and bonding over their similar trauma, but as a companion he'd feel a bit "why do we have this guy, there's already one of these but better". but for the moment we'll ignore that lol.

1. What would your Tav’s greetings be (at different levels of approval)

Negative:

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" (intensely sarcastic)

"Oh. It's you."

"I was just wishing someone would come over and bother me." (also sarcastic)

Neutral+:

"Can I help you?"

"A pleasure."

"Hello, darling."

High+:

"Everything all right?"

"You know, I actually enjoy these talks."

"I hope you're well, aside from... you know."

Flirting:

"Well, hello."

"My dear, you have my full attention."

"Oh, just here to talk? Pity."

Partnered:

"I'm here."

"Gods, what would I do without you?"

"Do you need something, love?"

Broken up:

"Darling! Whatever can I do for you?" (intensely sarcastic)

"Keep wandering over here and people will talk, you know."

"Straight to business, I suppose?"

"Hm, I liked you better when you were fawning over me."

2. Describe their tent setup! What’s on the outside? The inside? The inside would be cluttered but in a deliberate organized chaos kind of way, Mallory decidedly lives up to his dragon blood in that he collects shiny things and trinkets and has maximalist decorating tastes when he's able to. the outside would be comfortable but fairly unassuming and barren. The reason for this is not personal taste, it's so that anyone who might come along to burgle the camp will go for the externally fancy-looking tents first and leave his alone.

3. What would their character quest be titled? Why? oh god I'm so bad at titles, probably something gold-related or dragon-related. idk the writers are talented they'd come up with something snappy.

4. What would your Tav’s romance scenes look like? How many would they have? He would definitely be on the "bone first ask questions later" end of the companion spectrum and would probably come onto the player fairly early on. Mallory flirts with Everyone whether he's invested in following through or not and prior to The Tadpolening he'd been clawing his way up the ranks of the upper class mages in his home city via a carefully balanced combination of fucking and blackmail and it was a marked improvement on the situation he was in before that, so his perspective on both sex and relationships is not what you'd call rose-tinted. He'd be doing the same thing here, looking for leverage and a way to establish himself with the person who's taking charge of things. It would definitely be a fun romance in act one, very weighted toward the sex scenes and light banter, but he'd be deflecting any attempts to take things further emotionally or get him to open up (and might show a bit of a vicious streak if he's pushed too hard) until the latter two acts of the game, when you'd probably see more in the way of heart to heart conversations with him as he starts trusting the player. And that trust would mean a lot to him, considering all his prior "relationships" have been transactional at best and abusive at worst.

He'd also be among the companions who's fully down with you hooking up with Halsin, and would only complain if he never gets invited. He's not well suited to monogamy.

5. Describe their idle animations! Doing little tricks with conjured fire to entertain himself, straightening his clothes/hair a bit surreptitiously and/or being preoccupied with some dirt that's not coming out, maybe doing some stretches. Pacing because he's not very good at waiting around. admiring some bauble he found while out adventuring with you and trying to figure out where to put it. if companions autonomously interacted with each other he and Gale would be arguing about magic frequently.

6. How would the player go about meeting them in Act 1? What is their introduction? I feel like the player would probably find him standing in a ring of char not far from the crash, surrounded by several smoldering intellect devourers and looking like he was not at all planning to do any adventuring the day he got abducted. He'd be wary initially but would warm up very quickly once he realizes you're not also here to attack him and suggest sticking together until the whole situation gets resolved.

The first impression he tends to give off is "mildly snobby ivory tower mage who's never had to boil water before" but it's a very curated image that he designed to navigate a very specific environment and it starts to break down once you realize he can pick locks and has a lot of random mundane survival skills and will immediately adopt any orphan that stands still long enough if he's allowed to. he is very good at being a mage though, that part is accurate.

7. Describe their arc. How would a player help resolve it? What choices can be made? Can your Tav be turned down a dark path, or pulled to a lighter one? Mallory definitely has the potential to go to the dark side, one of the ways he's most similar to Astarion is that he fears/resents others having power over him and is willing to take dubious measures to make himself as untouchable as possible. He's also manipulative at times and the kind of person who fully believes he could outwit the devil (not without reason, but he's much less impervious to consequences than he thinks he is), and he's got a lot of pent up resentment and grief and anger he's never really dealt with, so it's entirely possible that he could end up in a very bad place (both for him and for everyone around him). I've thought about one unfortunate timeline that eventually ends with him becoming a devil himself, which ultimately just traps him in a worse version of everything he was trying to escape from as a mortal but gives him the illusion of power and control (so at least he can tell himself it was worth it, even knowing it wasn't).

If influenced away from that though, he's just as capable of turning all that toward improving things instead of tearing them down, and he does have a good heart when it comes down to it.

He's got a huge soft spot for kids and a strong drive to make sure as few as possible ever have the kind of childhood he did, so I could see his arc tying in with the tiefling babies and/or Yenna in some way.

It would also likely involve Darius, his abusive ex who "took him in" in his late teens when he was in a particularly bad spot, and who he didn't get away from until he was essentially bought by someone else (which is how he ended up in the social groups he did) for more gold than Darius felt keeping him was worth. There was never any real closure there prior to the events of the game but that guy honestly needs to die. whether things end well depends on what's motivating him by the end and how he gets there; this will either be a turning point where he'll realize he's better off helping people who need it than hurting people who deserve it, or he'll go full tumblr revolutionary and decide that killing Darius wasn't enough and the only way to fix anything is to burn it all down and start from the ground up so he can do things properly, collateral damage be damned.

8. After Act 3, what does their life look like? What are they talking about at the reunion party? Regardless of his ending he will have been continuing to develop his magic, guy was like two levels away from sprouting wings by max level and he's not gonna pass that up, plus he just enjoys it.

If he had a good ending he will 100% have adopted Yenna and/or a tiefling orphan or two, and has definitely been making a huge nuisance of himself to the city's patriars in an effort to help improve things in the lower city, to great success all things considered. Mallory is extremely good at making a nuisance of himself effectively. It will be pretty clear that he's doing a lot better mental health wise and takes a lot of pride in what he's doing.

If he had a bad ending... he will insist that all his power plays and growing spiderweb of faustian bargains and revenge plots are going fantastically, and he's doing great.

He is definitely not doing great.