#it's just the fact that some people quit making bg3 stuff because of it that's like.. fucking yikes

[mercymaker]

sometimes i still can't believe that the dude really built his portfolio by blatantly ripping off other tumblr creators and now he's become one of the bigger creators in the bg3 space like

[alpaca-clouds]

I really find it frustrating how very different in regards to effort the different companion quests in BG3 are.

Like, you have Astarion and Shadowheart who both have those really nice paced out companion quests with a rather good structure in the story, a dungeon for that quest each and this big bombastic finale with stuff that is only connected to their quest and nothing else. They both also - regardless of whether you romance them or not - have quite a few of cut scenes connected to the quest.

Then there are Gale and Lae'zel. Their companion quests are a lot more weaved into the actual main quest which you can see both positive and negative. Positive: They are a lot more related to the plot. Negative: You will do most of the stuff from their quests either way. You can argue that the creché is a dungeon connected to Lae'zel, and you can also make the argument that Laroakan's tower is kinda Gale's dungeon.

Then there is Wyll, who mostly just hangs around during Act 1 and 2 and then has a little tiny bit of quest in Act 3, though the game will very much make sure to push you into the quest even if you have not recruited Wyll or Wyll has left the party. So, yeah, depending how you read it, there are two dungeons that are kinda connected to Wyll (the Iron Throne and then the Ansur dungeon).

And then... there is Karlach. Karlach's quest can be summarized by: "Fight some fake paladins, get one piece of infernal iron, get a second piece of infernal iron, defeat Gortash." The Gortash fight is not even like the two Wyll dungeons, that are not really Wyll exclusive (I mean, technically none of the quests is), that are optional outside of the Wyll questline. No, you will have to confront Gortash in one way or another to finish the game, no matter whether you have Karlach recruited or not.

And it makes it just feel so very... unsatisfying. I think a lot of the problems that people (like me) have with act 3 of the game really are connected to the fact that the endings for the companions outside of Astarion and Shadowheart feel rather, well, as I said: unsatisfying.

I mean, yes, Gale and Lae'zel are connected with the plot, but also their resolution is kinda pushed somehow into this "post-final-boss" scene and hence feels not really as if it actually resolves somethng. Especially as it feels also so very disconnected from basically everything else in the game you do with them.

With Wyll I would even argue that technically the post-Ansur stuff could almost serve as a proper resolution... If the dialogue was not bugged as hell. At least it is for me. And of course it still does not compare at all with the stuff happening with Astarion and Shadowheart.

And then there is Karlach. I just... I am sorry, I hate how the game handels Karlach. Especially because she is such a cool character. But her companion quest gives you less to do than your average side-quest. It is a fucking fetch quest. That's it. And it has no proper resolution. Because in Act 3 there is not even an attempt made to solve her issue. I spoke about that before: I would be totally fine if there was a quest in Act 3 where the player tries to get the engine fixed in the city. BUT THERE ISN'T. It is like: "Well, Dammon does not know anything. Tough luck Karlach. You gotta either die or go back to hell." Meanwhile I am like: "THEN ASK SOMEONE ELSE?" Ask the Ironhand Gnomes, ask the Gondians, ask bloody Gortash, try to make a deal with Raphael. Like, there has to be something, right?

And look, while I would have loved some Halsin content in Act 3, I am fine with the fact that there is not really anything. That is alright. Because really, the entire Act 2 stuff and how Halsin is interwoven with it might very well be the game's highlight for me.

Just as I am fine that Jaheira and Minsc are more like cameos with not that big of a role in Act 3.

(Again, I cannot talk minthy, because I failed to recruit her so far because I do not like to play evil characters.)

But... Yeah. I will not go here and argue that the game is incomplete. It is not. But it still is very frustrating how the game handles the companion quests in this regard, because the companions are the beating heart of the game. And I think the ending of the game would have been more satisfying if the companion quests had been more comparable in quality.

[unreadpoppy]

I'm gonna be honest with you guys: there's a major difference between watching scenes of BG3 on youtube and actually playing the game, and I'm saying this was someone who began writing a BG3 fanfiction before playing the game.

A video can be edited. Or you can skip the 'boring' parts of the video. And also, the person who posted made their own decisions that could be vastly different than what you would have chosen, and many of them affect the characters of the game. The person who posted the video might not have read the various books and scrolls that the game has.

When you play the game, it's you doing everything. You who make the decisions, who go throuhg the 'boring' interactions, you. When you play, you have access to all bits and pieces of lore, access to talk with the characters how many times you want.

*also, i'm considering playing the game as finishing the game (or at the very least, getting very far into it cause I know a lot of people kinda stop after getting to act 3).

It's a different experience. You have a different perspective of the game when you play it, instead of just watching someone else do it.

And like, i will be honest, it baffles me a little how I've seen people write this long ass meta and opinion posts about characters of the game when the person has only experienced it through watching videos on youtube.

Because, playing the damn game is such a different experience that my opinion of certain characters CHANGED when I actually played the game v. when I was only watching stuff. Also, when you play and then make your meta posts, you can at least have the fact that you went through the things you're talking about, you have a different view of how those things affected the world and you.

Also, since i'm already in this discussion, we gotta stop acting as if datamines and devnotes were as important as what is actually in game. Sure, there are datamine material that eventually makes it's way into the game, but it's not a guarantee and in my opinion, it should not be treated with as much value as what is ALREADY in the game. And devnotes, they're acting directions, they're not supposed to be taken as some secret lore, they're just there to help the actors portray the desired emotions.

Anyways, i made this post cause some behaviours have been bothering me and quite frankly, if i ever have to choose who to side on with, i'll probably side on with whoever actually experienced the game. Now, i'll be back on my usual shit.

[karlachismylife]

character ask thingy for konig, thank you sm I hope your day is going great! <3

Oooh, König! I'm not talking about him much on here, am I? Might have something to do with the betrayal of my friend whom I dragged into the COD fandom for my Karlach x Soap team or at least Ghoap only to lose her to the Ghost x König gang... (I'm joking, we're still having fun, ship whomever you want). Thanks for asking!! And also thank you, my days are pretty okay lately, hope yours are too <3

If anyone else is interested, I'll be glad to talk about someone else from COD and BG3. The game itself is here if someone wants to reblog!

So, König, the big Austrian that has literally a couple parapgraphs of bio on the wiki but a ton of fans to make up for it, eh?

favorite thing about them

I'll do two, because one is mostly canon based and the other mostly headcanon, but not fully. The canon favourite thing is that he's imperfect at his job. It's not just his size that prevented him from becoming a sniper, it also says he is "unable to stay still". I think it would be easy to make him a total machine and just slap the social anxiety on top as the only "imperfection" he has, especially since he is a minor character in a fucking pew pew ka-boom game. But they literally said he's actually not that good at his job (like, if he's unable to stay still, this won't impact just his sniper abilities, you know?). So that's neat, I love when people are allowed to be not that perfect at their job. And the favourite headcanon thing is that he's a gentle giant, I just love the type. Yeah, he's huge and kills people, but he'll also cradle a little bunny like it's the most precious creature on Earth.

least favorite thing about them

Uhh apart from the fact that people for some reason (ahem, racism) replace Gaz with him instead of just adding him?.. I think he either compensates for his anxiety or just feels much more confident at work and it makes him a little too cocky without needed (for me at least) charisma/unseriousness towards himself. Judging mostly from his body language. I know he has a sense of humour, but yeah... maybe calm down a little big guy.

favorite line

Any of the few lines in German he has. Or the "pick your guts off the floor", lol. I just like German and König is a funny fella, especially when he sounds angy.

brOTP

König x Gaz! There have been a couple arts on the theme and I absolutely adore them. Stop pretending they can't coexist! Also, Kyle would definitely find a way with words to make König feel more at ease off duty or would handle the way König is in the field easily.

OTP

I don't actually have any preferences at all, I like everything I see with him simply because people explore different dynamics and it's the most fun part for me. BUT I'll say like what I saw from Ghoap x König less because everything I saw puts Soap into a position/dynamic I don't really enjoy that much. Doesn't mean there isn't something I'll like a lot tho!

nOTP

As always, nOTPs are not my thing, but toxic stuff upsets me.

random headcanon

Also giving you two: he loves wearing lingerie but is a little bit ashamed of it and definitely hides it and he's generally a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate, so a slice (several) of good Sachertorte will make him really happy.

unpopular opinion

Uhh... he doesn't have a huge dick?.. No one in my universe does cuz I don't see the appeal (we have huge straps in my universe tho. but toys are separate). I don't know what's popular opinion lmao, sorry.

song i associate with them

Oooh, I actually have one this time! It's from my favourite German band Oomph! - "Kleinstadtboy". I like the whole album it's from because they experimented with their sound and quite successfully in my opinon, and this one has both the lyrics (yeah it's about gayyyys but also toxic masculinity in general. fits him well I think) and the according sound. The overblown dry electronics crackling/rasping just suits him, I think. I think he smells of static electricity too.

favorite picture of them

I don't really have one? But I like him doing different finishers. Looks impressive thanks to his size.

[basil-does-arttt]

i want to yap about Lae'zel, because she's seriously grown on me through my 500+ hours playing BG3 and i just... hsjaksh i love her so much man.

First i wanna go into her personality because man, it hurts me. She is an agressive and blunt character, violent in some scenarios and not at all afraid to use force to get what she wants. It is all too easy to call her a "mean person", to put it simply, but i also want to point something out that is also true at the same time as everything i just said:

She is never the one to start shit.

The only time she ever is rude to the other companions, is when they go at her first. Shadowheart is a prime example of this, she's constantly being snarky or even downright rude to Lae'zel, so of course Lae'zel will respond in kind. When

But compare that to her interractions with Gale for example. He's just genuinely curious about her and githyanki stuff in general, and Lae'zel is happy to share what she knows with him. She even sounds quite proud of her heritage.

I find it quite significant, and it also says a lot about her character. Its all defensive, not offensive. And when you consider how she was raised, what a dangerous and violent environment it was, it makes perfect sense.

Growing up she could've been murdered by her brothers/sisters and other such kin in her crèche at any moment, should they have deemed her weak. In order to survive, she had to learn violence as her first reaction to a threat: if she hesitated to kill her classmates, they would not. Her whole life has been built around that, so its no surprise that when she's thrown into an unfamiliar situation, in an unfamiliar environment crowded by unfamiliar people, thats the first way she will react.

I also like how much of a culture shock it seems to her being in the mountain pass crèche (i forget the name apologies), she comments on how non-violent it is and how lax the rules and security seems to be. We dont know much about her crèche aside from what she tells tav, but we can gather it was a MUCH more hostile environment than this. It makes me think, is Lae'zel's crèche the odd one out here or is the mountain pass crèche the strange one? Is overwhelming violence the norm for a githyanki crèche or is that something that was unique to her's.

But she's not needlessly cruel, oh no. I want to point out another moment between her and Shadowheart as an example: when Shadowheart is trapped on the nautiloid. She says in that moment, "It cannot be helped." Lae'zel isnt trying to get Tav to leave Shart because she wants Shart to die, or because she doesnt care what happens to Shart. She's trying to get Tav to leave, because she knows that they cant waste precious time faffing around trying to get the pod unlocked. She's putting her and Tav's survival first before someone who is trapped and helpless.

Also the way she tries to get everyone - not just herself and Tav, all the companions - to the mountain pass crèche to try and purify them and get rid of the tadpoles. She easily could just go off on her own, without having to worry about everyone else - she does actually if you choose to leave her at the start of the game - but she doesn't.

The tadpoles must also be scaring the shit out of her, way more than she ever lets on. Acting scared is weakness after all, its useless - she says as much if Tav reacts that way to her describing ceremorphosis - and it makes you vulnerable, which makes you weak which makes you a bigger target for your enemies. In her mind at least.

The moment when she tries to kill Tav is a brief moment when that mask of toughness slips, and her true fears peek through. She wasn't waiting for a perfect moment to strike since she met Tav and the others, she was acting out of fear and maybe instinct to stop their transformations before the worst of it happened, a mercy kill if you will. The fact that you can convince her not to do it is also proof that it wasnt pre-meditated, it was a reaction to her fears.

I also wanna talk about the way she speaks to Tav over time. She starts out snappy and rude, with a harsh tone but as she gets to know them more, and as her approval of them increases too, her tone grows noticably softer and she even begins to greet them normally instead of just saying "Speak." You dont even have to romance her for that.

On the topic of her romance, i just... the scene where she asks to cuddle Tav makes my heart feel so full. Lae'zel, the violent and bloodthirsty githyanki, is letting herself be vulnerable for likely the first time in her life, to ask for cuddles.

Her character like i said just.... hshdhsjskhwdhakaidj. Her progression from this rude and mean person to someone you realize is just trying to keep everyone safe through the methods she knows. I love that funky little green alien woman so much.

Lae'zel my beloved, you have my heart.

[parvulous-writings]

I have several questions about your BG3 oc Tiro again! I'm still curious!

What are Tiro's sexualities/sexual presences?How are their families & friends like?

Romantic partners if he had any or is he dating anyone?

Fears/Phobias?

Best traits?

Worst traits?

Secrets whether it's something they would never admit or only if they truly trust someone enough to tell? Thanks! - Fluff anon

Notes: We're slowly leaning into his... Darker side... Be warned.

Warnings: Spoilers for the Dark urge, mentions of gore, reader discretion advised. (Placing answers under the cut as there are spoilers in the first question!)

Tiro doesn't really... Have any preferences, when it comes to romantic partners! Whomever takes his fancy, takes his fancy, for better or for worse! Though, that being said, he does quite like people smaller than him - which isn't entirely difficult anyway. He doesn't have much family - not that he remembers, anyway. He has his 'slaughter-sister', Orin, and of course his father is an ever present part of his life, but he isn't physically there. The closest thing he has to an actual family member is his butler, but Tiro never really treated him as such. For most of his adventure, he doesn't remember his family - which isn't entirely a bad thing, as he and Orin never truly got along, seeing one another as competition and less worthy than the other. He didn't really have friends either - only allies, and he used the term in the loosest sense possible. Deep down, in a bid to try and appease his murder-bent father, Tiro was very lonely.

2. Tiro has had a few flings in the past - sometimes there's just a longing in him, a need to be sated that he simply cannot ignore. These never last long though, and never had a lasting impact on him anyhow. Since losing his memories, he has not yet found someone who takes his fancy!

3. He never really had any phobias per-se; Tiro got up some some absolutely horrid stuff pre-tadpole - serial killings, lots of them, and with great care taken in them, alongside more taboo activities that I will probably delve into if/when I give Tiro his own book, because I am not sure Tumblr will like it. The only thing that could come close to a fear is the potential of disappointing his father in some way, and the punishment that may come alongside that.

4. Tiro can be very... Particular. If he wants something done, he will usually try and do it himself to ensure it is done 'right'. To this extent, he could also be seen as very efficient! So long as you overlook the fact that most of the tasks he has a drive to complete are slaughtering an array of victims. Other than this... There isn't overly a way to twist his traits positively, I don't think.

5. Tiro is incredibly impulsive - and not in a fun or silly way. Thoughts from his Urge pop into his head all the time, and depending on how good or bad a day he's had will then determine how likely it is that he'll be able to resist or shove it down. It can be something as small as snapping a bone, or as big as turning someone inside out. He doesn't filter his thoughts. If he thinks you are weak, or prime prey, he will tell you - unless he is specifically planning to kill you next. In which case he will work to earn your trust, so you'll never see his betrayal coming.

6. Outside of earning someone's trust, there is almost nothing he will not tell of himself - his heritage as a bhaalspawn, his countless murders and the like. But if he is trying to earn someone's trust, and make an ally of them, these pieces of information will either wait till much further down the road, or will never be revealed until his chosen's last dying breaths, so he can revel in the fear in their eyes during those final moments.

// Tiro Tag list

@rey-is-not-a-skywalker

[sil-writes-fiction-too]

The Weight of the Truth

June of Doom, day 17: "You don't want to do that"/Blackmail (late entry, @juneofdoom )

Genre: angst

CW: bodily harm, gore, blood, torture, death

A/N: the events of this one-shot take place before the events of BG3. It was a little challenging to write because when the campaign took place I wasn't smart enough to take good, detailed notes of the events that went down in each session. Essentially I have a bunch of bits and pieces of Summer's story that are barely connected to each other and now I have to re-invent a lot of that stuff. It's quite frustrating, but hopefully the result isn't too bad.

Empty.

Summer feels completely, utterly empty as she stares at the blood that stains her hands. Honestly, she should've expected this. Revenge tastes bitter when you sacrifice your integrity and the fate of your friends to obtain it.

She knew what she would be giving up when she struck up the deal, and yet it didn't stop her. She needed that woman gone, wanted to make her pay for what she's done to her. She knows how selfish this all is... and yet here she sits, in front of Lady Ashes' mangled corpse as she contemplates the horrible consequences of her actions.

Just two days ago an angel descended from the heavens to eliminate her. It knew about her deal with Asmodos, and if only that blasted thing hadn't underestimated the sheer, raw power of her magic, it would've easily taken her life... and perhaps even her friends'. How long until something like that happens again? Until her companions are caught up in her mess and suffer its consequences?

No... what is she even talking about? They were already caught up in this mess from the moment Summer started selling information to Asmodos and running his errands, deceptively making them look like part of their mission so that her friends wouldn't question her. The terms of her deal prevent her from having to directly harm her group, but let's face it... what she is doing right now isn't any better.

Now Lady Ashes is finally gone, both from the Material Plane and The Creator's realm. After Summer manages to intercept her lackeys before they get to her parents in Ferox, her wretched schemes will never hurt anyone ever again. She got what she wanted, but as the thrill of the kill subsides and that feeling of liberation dissipates... she can't even attempt to feel any happiness for what she's done.

If her soul usually burns as hot as the fire of the Hells, right now it feels more like a frozen lake, silent and dead.

She got what she wanted, but at what cost? Her allies, her friends, still trust her with their lives every single day, not knowing that she is nothing more than a filthy traitor. Not knowing that under her mischievous smile hides the rot of guilt and betrayal. What breaks her heart even more is the fact that the people she travels with are all wonderful individuals and that some of them would even forgive her if they ever found out. Hells, Jaime outright told her that he would've understood wanting to take the deal. That she was a better person than him for refusing. Those words almost make her want to vomit now. She is not better than him, and perhaps she isn't even a good person to begin with.

Arwen is a good person, she deserves those words. She didn't even have to think before she refused Asmodos' pact. Summer wishes she could be like her. Strong and resolute in her way of doing things, rather than being pulled left and right by her volatile emotions and diving in before thinking, unlike her.

Arwen... what would she say if she found out? Would she abandon her? Kill her? She wouldn't blame her if that was the case. Somehow, out of everyone in the group, she is the one Summer is most scared of if she was to find out the truth. Not because of her reaction... but because Summer dreads the idea of hurting her like that.

Hah, but perhaps she is only scared of being caught, because if she truly didn't want to hurt her, then she wouldn't have done this to begin with!

Summer hangs her head in shame, letting out a shaky sigh. “Fuck...”

“My, my... I thought you'd be celebrating by now, my dear. Isn't the vampire's death what you wanted all along?” Says Asmodos' deep, gravelly voice from the darkness. “Surely you've had your fun tonight...” he comments with a glance towards the woman's remains as he finally walks out of the shadows, his large, black wings stretching and then folding down again behind his broad back. “I expected more appreciation for the gift I've given you...” he tuts.

A scoff leaves Summer's mouth as she looks up at the devil with no fear in her yellow eyes. “What do you want, Asmodos?” She spits with disgust, her tail flicking behind her irritatedly. He rolls his eyes in response to her little outburst. “Why, I am merely here to enjoy the sight...” Summer doesn't know if he is referring to the dead prisoner... or to the despair that's surely written all over her face right now... but she has a feeling it might be the second thing. “And to remind you of your little mission, of course. You still need to get rid of the mind flayer-” “I don't want to do this anymore..” She interrupts, and Asmodos' face turns dark. “What was that?”

“I said...” she gets up off the floor, standing her ground as she stares into his equally yellow eyes. “I don't want to do this anymore, so I am not gonna. I already gave you what you wanted, and I got what I required. This ends here. I am not going to do your little errands anymore, and if you have a problem with that, we can settle it right here, right now.” She growls defiantly, her hand already reaching for her dagger.

Asmodos stands still, looking down at her in silence and with an unreadable expression on his face. She thinks he must be at least twice as big as the orcs she had to face off against a month ago. He is massive, and powerful too... There's no way she can actually survive in a fight against him, but if that's what it's going to take to finally get away from his clutches and stop putting her friends in danger, then so be it. She is ready.

“You don't want to do that.” The flat tone of his voice makes a shiver run down her spine. “Actually, I think I do.” She tries to keep her voice as still as possible, but the more he stalls the less confident she feels.. “No, you really don't, little girl.” He narrows his eyes at her. “Did you really think I would kill you so easily? Oh, no, my dear... you are much more useful and much more entertaining alive. So if you were hoping for an easy way out, well... I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed.” A smirk curls his lips. “I gave you the whereabouts of Lady Ashes' underlings, and in exchange I asked that you kill the mind flayer. That part of the pact still stands, tiefling, and you will take care of it if you don't want your little friends to find out what you've been doing behind their backs.” His smirk widens, showing off his sharp fangs. Summer can feel her stomach twisting uncomfortably at his words.

“And in case that wasn't enough to get you to do your damn job... I want to remind you that I might've shown interest in dealing with you and your warlock companion, but I have absolutely no use for the rest of your adorable little group. You're still holding the knife that's sticking out of their backs... surely you don't want to finish them off once and for all?” He chuckles darkly and for a moment Summer feels like hurling. “Don't you dare-!!” His wings open suddenly as he steps forward, making her almost jump back. “Oh I will, if you don't do as I say. Don't play hero, Summer... we both know you're nothing more than a wretched beast.” He growls deeply, almost making the air around them vibrate.

“Keep up your little rebellious act and I will tell your group how you've betrayed them for the mere opportunity of getting to torture and kill the vampire. Then, I will kill all of your friends one by one, slowly and painfully, and I'll make you watch every single second of it. After that, it will be your family's turn and, well... who knows what I'll do with you then? I have yet to decide, but I can assure you... it will be excruciatingly agonizing.” He hisses a mere two centimeters from her face, and Summer feels like he is staring right into her soul and picking apart each one of her sins with his scrutinizing gaze. “Do this for me... and all they'll have to worry about is finding a way out of the continent before I demolish it with them still in it. If they manage to survive that far, that is.” He chuckles again, before turning serious once more.

“I know it's horrendously difficult for you, Summer, but... be smart for once. Stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong and leave. You aren't heroes, so don't try to die like you are. You'll be better off washing your hands of this ordeal, trust me.” For a split second, the young tiefling feels like agreeing with the devil. He is right about her, after all.

She is no hero. Hells, the more she goes on the more she feels like a monster with each passing day. She's been selfish in her choice of accepting his deal... what's another act of selfishness now, after all this? But as quick as that thought pops up in her mind, it disappears without a trace, replaced with a burning desire to put a stop to Asmodos' schemes. This is her home, and he doesn't get to destroy it and kill the innocent people that live in it like they were worth nothing. Summer might be a beast, but those people have done nothing to deserve such an end, and if there's anything she can do to spare them that fate, then she will do it.

So she has to do one last thing for him? So be it, but keeping her alive will have been the biggest mistake of his immortal life. She will make sure of it. If she has to go down then she will bring him down with her.

“I want that mind flayer dead by the end of tomorrow. Don't disappoint me.” He peers down at her, unaware of the flurry of thoughts swirling in her mind right now. “Fine. I'll do it.” And as soon as she says that, the darkness dissipates and she finds herself in the little woods just outside of camp once again.

“Good. Keep your head down and do as I say...”

Summer looks around her warily, trying to see if anyone from camp followed her, but no... she is alone. The sky is still dark and everyone else is probably asleep. She must've been in that pocket dimension for at least four hours.

She can still see the fire crackling weakly in the distance, and by the time she gets back to camp she's already made up her mind.

She won't let him win.

[ryttu3k]

Astarion, Wyll, and Shart for the chara meme? :3c

[send me a character]

Under the cut! Spoilers for all three of their arcs.

Astarion

First impression: …tragically, it was "oh hey, he's the dude that fucked a bear." That was where I first learned of BG3. It was… memorable.

Impression now: My baby. What a shitbag. Needs a hug and possibly a slap upside the head. Meet me in the pit, Cazador. Blorbo of the year.

Favourite moment: Discovering the dungeons in Cazador's palace. Dude's going through the first four stages of grief all at the same time and Neil Newbon sells it. …That, or, "W~ell, apPARently there's a limit. Somewhere between a ~nice summer's day~ and the fuLL CONCENTRATED POWER OF THE SUN! *deep breath* [Astarion disapproves]"

Idea for a story: I have a whole list of the fuckers, but one I've been tentatively noodling at is an AU where a god does, in fact, answer him. Namely, Lathander. By the time he meets the rest of the Tadfools, he's been a Cleric of Lathander for about a century, and, yes, is also a vampire spawn. It's okay he and Lathander have an understanding.

Unpopular opinion: He was a Sun Elf. I know they're rare I know he's almost certainly a Moon Elf based on his hair colour and living in Baldur's Gate but I will die on this hill that he was a freckled, gold-eyed Sun Elf for the tragedy, okay. Ties in with the above story idea, too. He just loves the sun 😭

Favourite relationship: I have five OTPs for this jerk. Five.

Favourite headcanon: He's going to discover a talent for creativity and crafting. Embroidery and making perfumes and fragrances, yes, but also he's going to get quite into sketching, origami, all sorts of stuff. Post-game, he'd totally have a craft room.

Wyll

First impression: Designated hero, probably would be the main character without a Tav/Durge.

Impression now: Designated hero, probably would be the main character without a Tav/Durge, complete with all the complexity and fucked-up-ness (positive) that implies <3 He's still very much A Hero but he's definitely more complicated than just A Hero.

Favourite moment: Meeting Karlach face to face and realising Mizora has deceived him. He knows he's going to have to defy her and he's goddamn terrified but he barely even hesitates to do the right thing and keep Karlach safe.

Idea for a story: Ooh man I have one bobbing around about Wyll seeing Astarion's scars and realising he recognises them. Inspiration for wanting to save people, versus the helplessness of being all of sixteen years old at the time.

Unpopular opinion: Honestly I still go back and forward between reconciling with his father. On the one hand, I like seeing them move on and heal. On the other hand, he was seventeen years old Ulder you absolute fuck.

Favourite relationship: With Karlach. Probably due to design since their stories are interwoven, but I love how they just go from like… him being dedicated to killing her, to being so ride or die for each other that Wyll is willing to go to the Hells for her - and that Karlach is willing to go back somewhere she's said she'd rather die to return to, solely because Wyll promises he'll be there with her 🥺

Favourite headcanon: While chatting idly to Volo in the Elfsong, he learns Volo has that prosthetic eye handy. After breaking the pact with Mizora, Wyll approaches Volo and asks if… maybe he could have it, and replaces the stone Sending Stone eye with the Ersatz Eye instead. It's a hell of a relief.

Shadowheart

First impression: The Mean Girl tbh

Impression now: She is baby. Let her grow night orchids and feed pocket mice.

Favourite moment: Reunion with her parents ;_; I goddamn cried. Let her make her own choice and she let them go; when I do a Shadowheart Origin run she's going to choose them to survive and will get so many hugs.

Idea for a story: Got a silly little slice of life thing about getting frustrated at her hair getting tangled so easily in the wilderness, and Halsin teaching her some herblore for hair care. Alternatively, swimming lessons!

Unpopular opinion: Not sure if it's unpopular, but I find her the most unlikeable character in act 1 and a lot of act 2. I know a lot of it is her upbringing, and there are moments of sweetness (like with the night orchid), but otherwise she just kind of annoys me.

Favourite relationship: With Lae'zel. They instantly and immediately clash. They're also extremely similar, in that they both grew up in cult-like surrounds led by dangerous figures, and have to learn to find their own paths after breaking away from those surrounds in absolutely heart-wrenching circumstances. I think once they realise that, they'll start to develop a ridiculously close bond.

Favourite headcanon: She tended to avoid the full moon just because of its association with Selune. The first time she intentionally sits and communes with the moon at night, it'll trigger her first transformation going Full Werewolf and she will be quite surprised.

[dungeonmagister]

How do you politely tell someone that they're playing a game wrong and that's why they hate it?

I know someone that I do in fact care about that doesn't like Baldur's Gate 3, but it's not because it's a turn based d&d simulation. He's actually quite fond of the combat, apparently. He doesn't like BG3 because "all the characters are one dimensional assholes".

So I talked to him about Gale and Karlach and he's like "Gale is a secret keeping little bitch, and Karlach is way too nice to be someone who just made it out of hell. It's just not realistic".

So then, I'm like "well did you like any of them more when you made it to Baldur's Gate?"

This mf goes "no, I haven't made it there yet, I can't get through act 1".

The gears in my head stop turning as I check out his steam profile. ~100 hours.

"well what about the underdark? The Temple of Lethander? The characters open up a whole lot more on the journey to act 2 and in act 2. Once you do the tiefling party, everyone kinda normalizes"

"I always stop after the tiefling party. I'm never happy with my character, so I go back and make another one"

"maybe you should try using the mirror to change your appearance at camp? I mean, you can always do that"

"what mirror at camp"

"you know, maybe we should play a multiplayer game, and I can show you some of the cool stuff you missed-"

"idk man, I just don't get what other people see in this game. I don't see the grand narrative, and I don't get why everyone loves these characters so much. How was THIS game of the year-"

I just sorta stopped there. "Maybe we should talk about something else?"

"yeah, I'm done talking about it. I probably won't play it again"

Like, am I wrong for feeling like maybe he's just playing the game wrong???

[strikersexhaver]

greetings and salutations, hope I don’t bother you too much by sending in such a random ask. may I please have a romantic matchup for bg3?

I use they/them pronouns and I’m pansexual. my myers briggs type is INFJ and my star sign is taurus.

Im about 4’11..not to happy about it. I’m kind of introverted, and can be considered not a people person. I find life a little nihilistic. I’m into dressing in all black (trad, mopey, mall, black-metal, and hippie goth styles mainly, both fem and masc) or and taking a liking to gruesome and morbid things like slashers, analog horror, witchcraft, true crime, necromancy, anatomy, etc. I typically consider myself a "gorehound" ig. I participate in "Vulture Culture"; and I also like to visit abandoned places just for fun, along with playing quite a few escape rooms. I just have a genuine comfort in the uncomfortable.

I’ve come to the conclusion I just scare people off. In reality, I’m intimidated by everyone around me and find it hard to start talking, which may or may not come off as rude to people.

when I become comfortable with someone I start to become really sarcastic and joke around with them with witty banter. most of my humor comes off really insulting, and I’m brutally honest, but I’ll apologize and say it’s a joke or I didn’t mean it if it becomes a problem. even though I do have a hard time understanding social cues.

lots of people don’t like me or stay away from me because of my rude behavior. I’m not good with overly sensitive or overly annoying people at all because of that, and I can’t stand kids. Idiocy can get on my nerves too sometimes. I’m a huge animal person though, and I own four guinea pigs that I protect with my life. I have my moments where I can get really feisty, or very quiet and closed off. I’ve been told I’m also a laidback person. I’ve also been told I never know when to quit, and I find I hold grudges for certain things. It’s not as common now but I used to get called a vampire by other kids when I was younger since I had oddly pointy canine teeth. I find it funny, seeing how I am today. I also have an inside joke with my family where they call me "Irl Daria" which I find funny.

I’m the type of person that has lots of opinions on things but I keep them to myself and bottle them up. If pushed far enough I’ll become unforgiving, and aggressive. especially with the types mentioned above.

I find the most comfort in just being in my room drawing, listening to music ( the cure, pierce the veil, deftones, soad, cannibal corpse, slipknot, rob zombie,,,, sometimes radiohead, insane clown posse, jazmin bean or mother mother, etc. ), or even occasionally playing video games, reading, writing, or talking about a random conspiracy theory I have. I do acting in my spare time as a small hobby too, and I’m learning how to play electric guitar. I also work as a scare actor.

I’m a plushie maniac and when I fall asleep you can always see me cuddled up to one of them. I find it because I’m really touch starved. I also have this specific blanket I can literally not sleep without. Im also a caffeine addict, and I’m guilty of being very submissive and maybe even masochistic- and a bit of a pyromaniac. I dissociate or daydream a lot, so you can often catch me starring.

I suffer from a handful off mental and physical syndromes like asd, insomnia, asthma, depression and anxiety. These have all been diagnosed professionally, and I’m definitely not trying to make myself "quirky". unfortunately health problems run in my family.

I’m very fidgety, and often bite the inside of my cheek or bounce my leg rapidly. you don’t need to rocmantasize this stuff ofc, but I think it’s good to know so the person can tolerate me.

you do get to this, thanks for your time and feel free to shoot me a request in return. <3

I pair you with…

Shadowheart 🖤

You two both have a similar style, albeit her’s isn’t traditionally gothic. It’s definitely in some ways alternative.

Granted, it’s probably due to the fact people of Shar’s embrace enjoy a darker style in order to represent her.

She also understands the idea of being more quiet and on your own lonesome, she too indulges in that pleasure.

It’s something she’d probably enjoy having with you. Quiet sweet moments in the dark or- well anywhere.

She also prefers straightforwardness than anything to get to the point quicker.

Life is a ticking time bomb with the tadpole after all.

Animals are something she loves too, sure she dislikes some- but she has shown to embrace nature’s gifts. Which include- animals.

She’d honestly offer to watch your guinea pigs if you happen to be busy on occasions. Probably further down the line however.

Shadowheart has a poor past, she suffers from as well. Depression alongside anxiety is something she too faces, she can sympathize with your pain.

Albeit even if you dislike kids and she doesn’t as long as you two can see eye to eye on goodness for children it’ll be fine.

[icharchivist]

Tbh that's my issue with a lot of modern video games

I don't need photorealistic graphics. I want things to look good and clear and interesting

Trying to make your humans look like real humans only leads to the uncanny valley and it usually ends up dating your game because by the time the next generation comes out, your graphics are outdated

Also, I play video games to get away from people

It's completely fine to stylize things. It looks better, even in twenty years, it avoids the uncanny valley, it can still be expressive! And it cuts down on rendering and ideally on development costs. Like, I play the new Baldur's Gate and my computer is not high-end, but the game runs fine. Except for the dialogue scenes, where sometimes the expressions are weird and it kind of lingers uncomfortably for a few seconds before going to the next dialogue. Again, probably a problem with my computer, but it's a bit weird every time

Meanwhile I'm looking forward to Relink, which is a very stylized Anime game and I'm sure it's still gonna look good in 20 years

Or like, Super Mario. The new Zeldas. Stuff like that

There's also the argument that back then, games had to sell you on their narrative and story and gameplay instead of just graphics. I personally don't have an opinion on this, there's plenty of ugly games that also suck as well as pretty games with good stories. But I'm also not one of those people who throw a fit about a game not running at 60 FPS

But yeah, Final Fantasy games could totally embrace their Anime roots, I'm sure they'd be better for it

Fortunately, animation in movies at least is moving towards more stylized and I think that could be cool

Video games are art as well, after all and I'm happy for each one that isn't trying and then subsequently struggling with this self-imposed realism where it's not actually needed

You don't have to publish this ask btw, this just popped into my head just now and I have a lot of thoughts about animation

TOTALLY AGREE, 100%.

Like i think trying to perfect some graphic is fine and all but it's been quite a few years now that the progress is genuinely not worth it. Like the constant rush for realism often end up bringing duller artistic choices (which is even more noticeable with the remake trend in general because you see how older games went around those "graphic limitations") and it's just... not worth it? not with how big and huge it makes a game in the end?

like i know BG3 is that big because it's a huge game and stuff, but the fact i need over 150GB of stockage to install it gives me hives. If a part of it is due to the overthe top animations and high res's designs... i'd rather them toning it down instead.

Final Fantasy definitely fall into this category as well. Like for crying out loud, they justified making the remake a multiparter because the assets for Midgar alone were too big to just make the prologue of the game (which it IS, the current remake that came out in 2020 only covers the PROLOGUE of the main game) and it ended up being the reason they went completely off script and made a whole new narrative instead. All because they wanted the whole city to be this HD? Like Crisis Core came out in 2007, it's not perfect graphic wise, but it plays well within its limitation. And most of it happens in Midgar!!! they just knew to limitate as much of the Midgar's sets as they could!! Seeing how its remake just basically butcher most of the artistic creativity just by replacing the models with HD models is genuinely so boring to me. What's the point!! what's the point!!

maybe it's nostalgia and all but i'm at a point where i feel like most graphisms from up to the mid 2010s, as far as realism go, have pretty much filled this artistic approach, and anything else is just more flashy just to prove they can do it.

like i keep seeing those Last of Us' remaster's comparaison and i feel so ill like, the first game already holds up fine!! it didn't need all those remasters what the fuck are you people on about!! how is it improving the game the slightest!! i mean i know it's all about money, but jesus christ it's SO not worth it???? (for the record i don't give a shit about TLOU, i just saw the screenshots and it makes me feel ill).

i've also seen comparaisons of some Metal Gear Solid's remakes comparaisons where in order to chase the realism of the effects of the jungle and everything, they just completely removed the stylized lightning and atmosphere because REALISM, amnt i right? how is that better?? i don't need 30GB+ of game on my computer just to nod like "ah yes this one cutscene was worth me uninstalling a couple of my old games for it. you got me."

at this point i'd rather they focus on the story! on the characters! allocate this time somewhere else!

and it comes with a major disregard for stylized games in general. Games that don't want to pursue realism and are doing just fine like this.

idk i'm also just rambling but it makes me so sad. I'm not even against HD graphisms, but i definitely think we reached a cap years ago already and most of the attempt at progress we've had since have been about removing the stylization to push the realism, and it's genuinely not the interesting way to push the medium forward.

and like i'm definitely at the age where i'm probably clouded with nostalgia and i'm just "old man yelling at clouds" (ahah get it because Cloud stri-) and all but this is genuinely something that gets me annoyed.

and with ff7 in particular i'm just so upset because the pursue of realism led to "the game is too big now because of the assets so we need to cut it into pieces" to "but the pieces we have don't have enough plots to explore all the assets we have so now we're doing an original story!" and every decisions the "remake" has taken outside of the remake portions have been making me sick in my stomach. And while greed is of course the main cause of it all, it just ends up feeling so disingenuous and now i'm at a point a remake i awaited for a long time just so the saga could have a coherent imagery together (because the OG's graphisms do in fact clash a lot with the rest of the graphisms of the others game of the saga) just now is something i want nothing to do with. (except to take screenshots when the characters look pretty. 3D model simulator only.)

so yeah. felt. so much so. it fucking kills meeee like whyyy

BUT ALSO YEAH it's why games like Relink is definitely up my alley on that. Finally a game that is trying to actually do some style and isn't relying on realism to sell you something. Fucking lord. At last. We just needed Granblue to save us istg.

[spikeinthepunch]

thinking about the implementation of oppression and marginalization in fantasy lore bc of how i spoke about the importance of not falling into the 'everyone is bi just because' game romance issue, and how DAI had a character like Dorian.

but was thinking harder about it because of the other kinds of high fantasy oppression in BG3 versus DA in general. BG3 doesnt seem to have any oppression other than race? there is sometimes discomfort with warlocks i guess. but not much else. and as far as i can see no sexuality/gender issues, esp sexuality due to all character ignoring it entirely.

DA worked quite a bit of marginalization into their world. and lets disregard how well its writte- if its well written at all- lets just thinking about the idea of inserting it at all...

the most blunt oppression is the long term oppression against mages, and also elves. its pretty intense too-- its not just some offhand comments, its literal enslavement, abuse and even genocide. theyre very hard and uncomfortable subjects. while there isnt race oppression against human skin colors (as far as i could recall), its against the different fantasy races still. i havent heard of or see anything this crazy in BG3, minus the intro with the Druids, but it is a smaller scale situation with specific circumstances that dont seem to reflect this happening on a massive scale to teiflings, not on the scale of DA's long running history. i cant speak on race specific oppression, but i think its important to notice that intense difference, in the choice they made to include it at all.

on the other hand there is sexuality and gender. as i have said before, BG3 has no sexuality issues, and no supposed gender issues (mainly with your option to pick male, female, and nonbinary and it has zero effect on your game). everyone is bi.. but are they? they all have no preference for the sake of gameplay. gender isnt specifically brought up in regards to trans people maybe existing, or nonbinary. on the other hand, DA has shown some prejudice against non-straight people and trans people. most of it seems to be "personal" in the sense that character like Dorian seem to describe that people in society recognize gays, and that most dont seem bothered, but that individual families can and do depending on their beliefs or status. But even with a society that seems to be fine with it, there are obviously still issues that can arise when someone's sexuality is involved depending on who it is and how it affects their society directly. Characters like Krem faced significant prejudice as well in his backstory.

All of this is also quite similar to our world, painfully so. the hard part about this is not trying to word this in a way that makes it sound like im saying "i love seeing genocide against a race! homophobia is good and people should suffer through it. even in fantasy!" because that really isnt it. but i fail to understand why youd deny existence of these things in any fictional media. a lot of the time i see people say they dont want to see oppressed races or sexuality in fantasy worlds, its simply followed by the fact that oppression sucks- and thats true. but like ANY subject, people deserve to write about it and explore it in a means to understand themself, or society, or anything they need to reflect about the world. writing is so important for that!! if we can see metaphors for our issues or coding for chaaracters, why can we not just be straight forward about it too??

a lot of the time we connect strongly with characters and stories that reflect who we are. sometimes that is painful stuff. it doesnt make sense to me to never ever tackle those subjects in fiction. i get wanting to have a safe space in fiction, but that cant be all fiction.

[alpaca-clouds]

The DnD Lore Problem - Accessibility and Characters (and how BG3 might not help)

You know what? I am gonna talk about DnD Lore and the accessibility of that lore. I talked about this exessively before. But to summarize that long blog very shortly:

Wizards of the Coasts currently makes the mistake of putting basically most DnD Lore behind a paywall, rather than offering official ressources. This leads to a lot of tables actually playing with their original worlds, rather than Toril/Faerûn, which in turn also means, that they are not spending money on official products. While my anti-capitalist ass things that the lore should be accessible just so that people can enjoy it, I also think that this inaccessibility actually costs WotC A LOT OF MONEY.

Today I want to talk about another aspect of this inaccessibility, that is kinda linked to some of the stuff I talked about before, but also is linked to the things WotC is currently not doing in terms of both Honor Among Thieves and Baldur's Gate 3. A thing, that also might not quite work with BG3, though.

See, the core problem of this inaccessibility is, that a) there is no official place where you can just get base information about the world and the timeline, b) this world has grown organically for about half a century, which lead to clutter, but also to the fact that things are at times showing their age.

I might actually make a post on the gods and religion in the world at some other point - but for now let me talk about something else: Extended universes and access points.

The Problem with Extended Universes

Okay, let's talk about how a lot of the big franchises for the longest time have told their meta stories - including DnD - and how it kinda struggles to find its audience. The extended universe.

I am frankly not entirely sure what franchise has started this. I am assuming it was Star Trek? But that is just a guess. But at some point in the 60s oder 70s someone had the idea that: "Hey, we could totally give the fans more to chew on by making official tie-in comics and novels!"

And that was how it worked for very long. Like a lot of the big franchises had at times around 10 novels and comics (if not more) releasing per year that would just explore other parts of the universe and allow the very engaged fans to... well, learn more about the world. Now, I am not going to talk about all the drama connected to the Star Wars stuff, but if you know, you know.

DnD did this too. (As did a lot of the big TTRPG systems, like Shadowrun and WoD as well.) Having a lot of tie in stuff - in the case of DnD mostly novels - that told more stories on the world and also established like some big player characters within the world. Elminster Aumar is probably one of the best examples here.

Those established some characters that play a big role within the world and also told just more stories of those big world changing events. In the recent DnD history that would be stuff like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering.

Now, here we have one big issue. And one issue where I am not entirely certain where it arose from. But the fact is: In recent years, people invest way less into those kind of books. This is just a fact.

It is the reason why those big universes went from publishing like ten novels a year to often not more than three. We saw that in the failure of the extended Universe Disney tried to pull off for Pirates of the Caribbean (though I will still maintain that another big problem was that they barely marketed that at all - hi, everyone, who did not know there were extended universe novels for PotC). We also saw that with League of Legends, who really, really tried to tell a lot more stories with short stories and then also some novels set in Runeterra, before finally giving up, because most people didn't care.

In terms of Dungeons & Dragons I can totally see that a lot of people will also say: "I do not care what some other people's characters do within the world." Buuuuuut...

Stories actually can help you understand the world. Which brings me to...

The Elminster Problem

Okay, I do not know how to put this, but... If you look at the novels coming out for DnD literally half of them focus on either Elminster Aumar or Drizzt Do'Urden. Characters that have pretty much been around since the very beginning and. Look, I don't know how to put it but... It shows.

I am currently reading some of the newer novels and the fact is, that they do not really feel like fantasy books from the 2010s and 2020s. Because Elminster and Drizzt are very clearly characters originating in a very different time when stories were told very differently.

I mean, just look at Elminster. He is a wanna-be Gandalf character. He is from the early, early days of fantasy and... Look, I personally just really am unable to identify with a character like this.

And while Drizzt is a bit better as a character, but even he... How to put this delicately? They are both very much characters written by white cishet men for white cishet men. There, I said it.

I am noticing this a lot with reading Salvatore's books currently. Like, female characters are not overly sexualized, which is a plus. But they also very much exist most of the time in service to a man or at least in relation to a man. There is not a lot of female characters running around that have their own agency.

Which kinda leads to another thing. I actually saw this one brought up by one of those very cliché nerdy Youtube channels talking on DnD, who recognized the problem as well: There are basically two large groups of DnD players who barely intersect. One is the cliché nerds, the other is a largely queer and largely diverse group. And the youtube guy, who was very in the white cishet nerd group, suspected that actually the later group makes up more of the player base by now.

Buuuut... that is also the group who really do not get catered to by the canon lore so far. That was until 2023 with DnD:HAT and BG3 - both catering actually a lot to those groups.

Honor Among Thieves and the undermarketed books

Okay, here is the thing: Honor Among Thieves had two novelizations (one for young readers, one for older readers) and two tie-in novels. One featuring Edgin, Holga, Forge and Simon before the stuff with Sofina went down. And the other featuring Simon and Doric taking place at the time while Ed and Holga are in prison.

I am honest: I really, really liked the Ed and Holga novel. It was super cute and charming and really gives a better understanding of the characters.

But of course once again there is the thing: The books - just like the Pirates of the Caribbean books - were super undermarketed. Like, most people I know off do not even know that there were books released. Heck, even within the actual active fandom there are again and again people who will be surprised that those books exist.

And... I actually also think that the books waste one big ass opportunity, by not at all tying into the broader lore. They are super self-contained.

And that is actually just a waste. Because the place were Edgin lived in? Yeah, that place was super affected by the Second Sundering. Heck, that might have had to do something with his troubles.

Why is that an issue? Well, because... there was not a lot going on there that was inviting you to further interact with the world and learn more abotu what is happening. For once, again, because I think it is a super fun and interesting world. But also, because... WotC wants to make money and is so bad at it, that it really boggles my mind.

See, here is the thing: They could've used those characters - that really are fun and sympathetic characters - to create an accesspoint into that world.

Alright, so what about Baldur's Gate 3?

Which brings me to Baldur's Gate 3 and the thing that a lot of people have noticed: The other Baldur's Gate games - as well as some of the other games releasing around 2000 - had their own tie-in novels going into the characters, their background, but also what they were doing in the future.

Something that so far BG3 has not done, which some fans have already critized. Because a lot of people have actually gotten really invested into those characters. A lot of the kind of people especially who so far are underserved by a lot of the tie-in stuff: Queer and generally diverse audiences.

Like, I think there would be a lot of people, who totally would read a novel, about...

Astarion getting drawn into some sort of political intrigue in Baldur's Gate while serving Cazador

Karlach's time in Avernus

Some Adventure Wyll got dragged into while being the Blade of the Frontier.

Shadowheart going onto a mission for Shar (maybe together with Nocturne)

Whatever Gale was doing during the Second Sundering

Lae'zel's youth among the Githyanki

The Dark Urge and Gortash starting up the entire conspiracy

... whatever Halsin had been up to in his long live

Heck, people would eat that stuff up. And you could not only use it to worldbuild but also once more create some access into the world and what happened there. And they are kinda wasting a lot of potential by not bringing out those novels.

Of course, there is one big problem: BG3 makes it kinda hard to write about anything happening after the ending. Because as it is right now, someone is gonna be pissed if a novel set after the game does not go with the decision for a character they go for. Like, Ascended Astarion fans are gonna be pissed, if they go with Spawn Astarion - and the other way around. Same goes with every other character where you have those big decisions happening.

This is something they will have to tackle eventually if they plan on doing something with the characters in the future (no matter if we are talking Larian or WotC), but it is definitely an issue that just arises from the structure of the game.

Bonus of course is, that you just cannot define a canonical Tav. But without a Tav, you also gotta act as if the story of the game happened without a Tav, which still is not ideal. I am honestly not sure with how they are gonna deal with this on the long run.

Access via Characters

Alright, but what is the actual issue here?

Well, basically there are two hurdles to overcome for the accessibility of the lore. The first is the physical accessibility - aka, what I talked about in the last long blog post. The second meanwhile is more related to making the lore engaging. And that happens through characters.

It is for me what happened last year. I actually tried to engage with the lore as the movie came out - but only when BG3, that tied a lot more into the actual lore was released I actually found proper access to the lore. Because I had concrete things I could now look for because the game hinted at so much both through characters and major story events happening.

Here is the thing: If you just have the lore on its own, it is about as engaging as reading a history book. Sure, as your local history nerd I find reading history books fun, but most people really do not want to read a history book to engage with a hobby.

People will however engage with stories and characters that interest them. Which is where we get back to the thing I talked about at the beginning: Right now most canonical novels and stories still cater to an audience that is male, cishet, white and also, let's be frank, definitely over 30 years old. Leaving behind a lot of potential fans that theoretically make up a big part of the player-base, but actually do not engage a lot with the lore for this exact reason.

Look. DnD right now is fairly close to being an actual mainstream hobby, due to the recent proliferation of formerly nerdy stuff. And yet WotC is bleeding money, especially in regards of DnD.

If you ask me, sure... DnD should go into public domain. But it doesn't. And given that there are so many creative, skilled people working on this - no matter how dumb Hasbro is and how shitty of an employer they are - I actually do want them to succeed. I have really become engaged with this world now. And I think it is a pity that they clearly do not know how to market this stuff.

[alpaca-clouds]

Y'all really need to understand what makes a finished game. Nothing of this makes the game unfinished, no matter how unhappy you or I are about it.

A finished game needs a plot that reaches from beginning to end and is playable without bugs. Ideally there are no more quests (that actually open quests) in the game that the player is not able to resolve. That makes a finished game. Baldur's Gate 3 delivers on this.

Am I unhappy with how Karlach and Wyll are both handled in terms of their companion quests? Yes, I am fucking unhappy about it. The two of them deserved so much more.

Does Act 3 in general feel very unpolished in comparison to Acts 1 and 2? It absolutely does.

Would I have loved some DLC or post-game involving the Upper City or Karlach and Wyll in Avernus? Oh yes, I would have.

Does any of this make the game unfinished? No. It doesn't.

Y'all also need to learn that cut content does not make a game incomplete. Sometimes content gets cut for time. Yes. Sometimes content however also gets cut because the creatives behind a piece of media do not think that whatever they had originally planned would work with other changes in the plot (pregnant Minthara and guilty Halsin might well belong to that kind of cut content). And if it gets cut for time, it is still stuff that gets cut down on DevTime it is still the stuff that the game does not need to be considered a finished product.

I am sorry, but really, the BG3 fandom is quite a bit entitled in these regards. BG3 is a game with a ton more content than any other game currently on the market does offer. This absolutely is facts. And Larian supported this game longer with new content patches than any other AAA studio supports their games with free added content.

Yes, there is absolutely reasonable criticism to be had here. Because yes, it is quite noticable that Karlach and Wyll as the only two non-white companions got handed the short end of the stick in regards of content. This might well be subconscious bias on whoever made the decision (a lot of people blame the writers, but let's be clear, we do not know who made the decision - it might well have been someone higher up), but it still does not make the game incomplete.

Would I have written both characters quite differently? If I had been given the chance, I totally would've.

But here is the thing folks: You whining on tumblr about how the game was unfinished (which, again, it was not) might get people to agree with you, but it is not gonna change shit. And there will nothing be changed about BG3, because in the end WotC is shitty and working with Hasbro is clearly a nightmare.

Expecting even more content in the end also creates an even more toxic envirionment for gamedevs, a lot of whom already have to do a lot of unpaid crunch work.

What you can do: Write a carefully worded email at Larian with well formulated criticisms, that does not blame them for "not finishing" a game that was more polished on release than basically any AAA title I have seen in the last 5 years (though the bar is on the floor - given that half of the AAA studios do not manage to release a playable game on release at times taking a week to get the game to actually start), but rather brings up good points. Stuff like: "It is noticable that the non-white characters get treated way less carefully than their white counter parts."

But really, you will not get any studio that has delivered a very polished game on release and then has supposed it for more than a year after the release with new FREE content updates, to listen, when you just cry that it was "unfinished".

larian studios never released a finished game. here's a list of things that got cut, or had to be added in a later patch, or just never included in the first place

completely cutting the upper city in act 3

cutting a bunch of lore in the shadowlands in act 2, including halsin's connection to isobel

cutting the cazador plot down till there was no connection between astarion and the nether brain

wyll. just everything to do with wyll.

similarly, a lot to do with minthara (recruiting her, having her in camp with halsin at the same time, pregnancy plot)

duke ravengard. he's a strategic and political player in baldur's gate and yet after he's rescued he just hangs around in our camp

withers' party after saving baldur's gate

evil endings of course

the letters you receive at the end

karlach's engine (was it ever supposed to be fixable or was her sacrifice/death the whole point of her original arc?)

feel free to reblog with more

[alpaca-clouds]

Baldur's Gate 3 - Or: Why Endings are hard

The last few days I have seen quite a few posts going around about Act 3 and in general the ending of BG3. Which is understandable, because yes, the ending still kinda feels... off. Some decisions feel forced, some of the character endings feel unsatisfying, and how the game deals with Orin and Gortash also kinda feels off. There is a reason, why I did not write just one, but two fix its for the ending.

But let me talk a bit how this happens and why this is in fact quite a common thing to happen. If I had a dollar for everytime I enjoyed a thing where people were unhappy with the ending of the "thing", I would have enough to cover this month's rent lol

Now, let me talk about the most obvious fact first: Act 3 of BG3 is very long. Mostly because of all the side quests you can do - though you theoretically do not need to do, of course. Though even if you do only do the story-stuff, it is fairly long for one reason: The companion quest most finish up here.

As in my other stuff about the ending: Spoilers under the cut!

Let me quickly make a list of the stuff that is more or less essential to the plot happening in Act 3. Like, quite a bit of this you do not need to do to finish the game, but... For the story to properly finish up this is part of Act 3.

Confront Gortash (Karlach's quest is tied to this)

Confront Orin

Finish off Cazador

Save/Kill Shadowheart's parents

Save Duke Ravengard

Do the Balduran quest

Do the Sorceror's Tower and have Gale talk to Mystra

Deal in either way with the Githyanki revolution

The Counting House

Rescruit Minsc

Deal with Raphael in one way or another

Deal with the Elderbrain

That is a lot, right? And this is all without other sidequests that you can do in Act 3 (like dealing with Ethel and "Build-a-Clown").

The only companion, who does not give you anything to do in Act 3 is Halsin. (I don't know about Minthara, because I never managed to recruit her so far.) Okay, admittedly, also kinda Karlach, because you have to go against Gortash either way and other than that there is nothing that happens in her questline. Which, yes, is one of the reasons her ending feels so unsatisfying.

Now, I absolutely understand why this happens. Because of the thing we actually see with Karlach. It kinda feels off that one character does not really have anything to do towards the end. It feels unsatisfying.

Let me stay with Karlach for a moment. Because she is a good example. One of the main reasons her ending feels so unsatisfying is, that you do not really do a lot for her. Like, in Act 1 you fight Zariel's people sent after Karlach and talk to Dammon. In Act 2 you talk to Dammon. In Act 3 you fight Gortash, which you gotta do either way.

I would argue, that her ending would feel a lot more satisfying, even if it stayed the exact same, if you just were allowed to try and fix her. Maybe do something for the Gondians or Ironhands so they might try and fix her. Or try to get Gortash to fix her (like I wrote about). Or do a more complicated quest for Dammon to get something that might fix her. It does not need to actually work. But just you trying to do something would make the ending feel better.

I have seen people argue that Wyll has the weakest stuff in Act 3, which I very much do not agree with. Like, Wyll and Lae'zel both get a very short end of the stick in Act 2 (there is not really a lot happening for either in Act 2), but Wyll actually has two quests in Act 3, which is in fact more than anyone else. Especially as the Balduran quest ties him directly to the main plot.

Of course, I am still going to argue that Astarion and Shadowheart have the most satisfying ends of their questlines.

But let me get back to the main issue. The main story ending does feel... Hollow. And I think really that this boils down especially to one thing: The main plotline does take away your choices in Act 3. Yes, sure, you can try to become the new Absolute and stuff. But... That's about it.

Sure, you can ally with Gortash. But he dies either way.

You cannot really ally with Orin in any way.

And as I bemoaned so many times: The game forces you to choose whether to ally with the Emperor or Orpheus. Either way does only give minor differences for the ending. And no matter how much you allied yourself with the Emperor so far, he won't listen to you no matter what you say.

In the end the issue with Act 3 - as it is with so many of those endings in stuff that people felt were unsatisfying - is a pacing issues. You want to give all storylines (in this chase the character quests) a proper ending, which all needs to happen in that last Act, because it would feel off, if a main character does not get to do anything in that Act. (Again, like Karlach.)

Yes, I absolutely agree that we actually needed MORE STUFF in Act 3. Especially for Gortash and Orin. But on the other hand the third Act was already SO MUCH.

And that is without going into the problems of development cycles. Like, I don't know how bad it was with Larian working on Act 3, but especially the stuff with the Epilogue feels a lot like they actually did not finish everything. This feeling also gets supported by the fact that Act 3 to this day is more buggy than the first two Acts.

Yes, the problem is the writing - but given this is a game, that writing also needed to be implemented. Maybe they wanted to do more with Gortash and Orin - but they didn't get around to implementing it all.

If this was a non-interactive story, one could have probably tied up several character quests together. But of course that does not work here, because the game cannot know which characters you will have along in Act 3. Like, sure, it would totally make sense to tie up the plots of Karlach and Wyll. But there is a chance either might have died or left the party - or that you have not recruited one of them. Hence... bloating.

And really, the only thing one could do about it would be to add more. But that would make the bloating worse. It is... complicated. Planning stories is complicated.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why Lore needs to be Important to the DnD Franchise

Okay, I have been talking a lot on how DnD does not really make Wizards of the Coast any money, what they are doing wrong, and how the lore is not accessible. Like at all.

Today let me talk a bit quicker on why WotC really, really needs to do more with the lore. Because I have the feeling that a lot of people actually do not know that little fact about the way those things work: Chances are, that WotC cannot actually license the game mechanics of DnD.

Let me explain:

What you can license or copyright is a bit different from country to country. But in general simple game mechanics cannot be licensed. You know, stuff like the attributes, abilities and stuff like that. The concept of Strength or Charisma cannot be licensed. Nor can the concept of magic per se or the concept of stuff like persuasion.

The general idea of half of most of the classes are also too generic. You cannot license the idea of fighters, barbarians, wizards or bards. Sure, certain parts of the build of the classes can be licensed, but not the general idea. Same goes for elves, orcs, halflings and so on.

While the make up of the character sheet can be licensed and specific rules can be as well - or some of the spells. The general game mechanic cannot. Which is why there are several games that are quite similar to DnD in mechanics and general concepts.

When they put up the entire bullshit with the OGL, several lawyers were swift to argue that: "Well, actually, they will have a hard time enforcing that, and might in fact lose big, if they go after someone and the someone fights back." Some lawyers have even speculated that this kind of backlash did more to persuade them from not going through with it, rather than the boycot.

Like, don't get me wrong. If they had gone through with it and someone would have fought back, it would have been a year long expensive legal battle. But there was a good chance that especially if they went after some of the people who just made mechanics additions and that kinda homebrew content (aka stuff that build on mechanics, rather than DnD Lore)... It would have totally bitten them in the ass.

And this get's me to the point: The DnD Lore meanwhile, they can license and use to make money.

Faerûn and Toril as a setting are licensable. As are the original species of course. And the characters. You cannot license the idea of an elven ranger, but you can license Drizzt as a character. You can license the Faerûnian pantheon. You can license the story of the Second Sundering. That is stuff that you can trademark and that nobody else can work with. You can go: "Yeah, this is ours."

Which is exactly why WotC needs to do more to actually work with the lore. Because that is something that nobody can take from them. That is the stuff they actually can make money off. So, yeah, by not using it, by not getting people hooked on that lore... They actually just don't capture the market they need to capture.

As I said in the blog last week: This is why instead of alienating those big Actual Plays like Critical Role, they should work together with them. This is also, why they should work with Larian to use the attachment people have formed to the BG3 characters to implement them more into the DnD Lore, to get people hooked on that lore. Because that is, where they actually can make money.

Again, I will just repeat what I said before: I honestly do not get what WotC and Hasbro are doing there. Like, as someone who has an economics degree, I cannot wrap my head around it. Because economically it is just plain stupid.