#but I still can't judge them entirely for disliking being volunteered out for charity work with no guaranteed reward | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene · 5 months ago

Text

I think a key thing to remember when judging all those "Astarion/Minthara/Lae'zel disapproves" reactions to like... helping orphans is that in context they're often rather realistic and practical considering what's being asked of them. If anything it's the more good-aligned companions willingness to drop everything and risk their lives to help randos in need of help that is unreasonable to expect.

Remember, from their perspective things like save-scumming are not real. They cannot metagame and prepare for what specific enemy or attack they might face. In-universe, death has consequence and you can die. Plus we're on an unknown time limit here to potential squid-ifying, not to mention their own personal baggage.

It's like... they're playing blind and on Honour Mode, and the consequences of failure isn't just a story going the way you might not like or your fave character dying. It's actual life and death. There are real stakes here for them.

So while yes they can approve of just... petty asshole stuff or even genuinely evil stuff, it's not unreasonable for them to have a problem with risking their lives for random strangers. Because if they're in your party, that's what you're doing. Making the choice to put their lives on the line for strangers. If anything they're all oddly brave and ride-or-die for whatever bullshit decisions you make from the start--I mean it takes a lot of reckless altruism while also being an asshole to them specifically (it's not hard to balance their approval by being nice to them directly on a good playthrough) to get them to hate you, let alone ditch the group.

#bg3 #I feel like as players we get blinded by all our player knowledge and how the stakes feel to US #that we forget to look at how they impact the characters in-universe #like my previous post on how the Emperor has very sympathetic and understandable reasons for manipulating you #and is even quite restrained and fair considering what the stakes are for it #like with how the math actually plays out. Astarion will grumblingly put his life on the line for whatever side quests you want to go on #and will still come to like and trust you so long as personally you're supportive of him and his bodily autonomy #and even the more power-hungry evil stuff... Minthara and Astarion usually approve of such for very practical (if ruthless)#reasons because for them power = safety #Minthara is actually very chill and trusting of your judgment considering how she lived prior to joining us on our quest #to help every kitten stuck in a tree #and Lae'zel is actually very compassionate. it just presents very aggressively and selectively #and like obviously as adventurers now risking their lives is kinda par for the course #but I still can't judge them entirely for disliking being volunteered out for charity work with no guaranteed reward #and a very real chance of death

27 notes · View notes