#larian what the FUCK.

[fishofthewoods]

Single most jarring thing about baldur's gate is not any of the extremely well-written plot twists it is not the Emperor reveal it is not the time you jump down a hole in moonrise towers and find yourself in the Mind Flayer Flesh Pit NO. The most jarring thing in baldur's gate is when you hear Ketheric Thorm talk for the first time and, in this game of 100% English accents, he is the sole fucking american.

[solmesia]

sex is nice and all but have you considered just laying there... holding your vampire lover... and talking about the first time you broke your oath...........

[teem-boo]

.•｡ﾟ POWER 彡 TRUST  ﾟ｡•.

Day #1 of @theemperorweek !!!

I let out a gay yelp every time I hear Empy say "thank you" after you give it the netherstones soooo I had to 🥺💖

[circle-of-the-spores]

Genuinely how fucking dare Larian pat themselves on the back for their portrayal of male victims of abuse in BG3 when Wyll's fuckass storyline exists. When they sexualise his abusive relationship with a woman who publicly treats him like a dog. When they allow players to sleep with her and write her as some kinda sexy domme. When they include her in so much of his official content that she's literally on the cover art for the game and Karlach isn't.

Astarion gets to kill Cazador and has a poignant animation where he screams and weeps with sorrow over his body because he's confronting everything that happened to him and accepting that it's finally, truly over. What does Wyll get upon breaking his pact with Mizora? She literally fucking stays at camp right next to his tent and WILL NOT LEAVE. You can't even harm her. Where's Wyll's scene of getting his vengeance for the torment he's endured, for the hell she's put him through since she took advantage of him at 17?

Because who cares about male abuse victims if the abuser is a """hot""" woman? Because who cares about male abuse victims when they're black men in a historically white genre?

Why doesn't Wyll's abuse matter?

[northlandcleric]

Yall the Larian updates and patches for BG3 are the complete fucking opposite of whatever the hell Bethesda been doing with Skyrim since its 2011 release.

All most of us wanted with the patches in BG3 was bug fixes, fleshed out characters, completed companion quests, equal amount of companion time and the upper fucking city.

What we’ve gotten: white vampire supremacy, bear man promotion from subpar side character to subpar main character status, fifteen million kisses, demeaning the chronically ill wizard, cutting even more of the companion with the least amount of content on release, updated brothel afterglow, removing steampunk fallout boy’s bisexual letters and unfinished fiery big lady’s companion quest.

Not to mention, the feral side of the fandom out here sexualizing vampire VA, other VAs forming parasocial relationships that tiptoe the inappropriate line and the blacksmith’s VA all but begging the fans to stop demanding romancing of his character, the fucking studio acting a fool on social media and so much more

I’m very glad I’m back into ESO, gives me less stress.

[metaben]

also the so-called "full release" (it wasn't, but hey) of BG3 has been out for a year and they're still making alterations to the story/character narratives as if that shit isn't stuff they should have been more than certain of already. incompetent ass devs fr

[vorestarr]

a frustrating thing about larian changing actual game content so often is that now when someone says something i think is factually incorrect (for example, saying that a character does/doesn't do a certain action in the game), i don't know if it's because the person just hasn't seen that content in game bc the game has so much content, or if it's that the game has actually changed since i played that content and now the content is gone from the game entirely.

it kind of makes it hard to engage with the game because you experience it one way and then draw conclusions and make connections or interpretations based on that, and then the game just deletes or changes it without even telling you.

like, im perfectly willing and able to change or ignore canon in my fandom contexts, but that is a very different thing from basing an interpretation or thought on a certain event and then having that event just completely removed from the game.

[dmbakura]

Bg3 hitting the "actually this game is bad" part of the hype cycle more than like half a year after it released is so fucking funny to me. Usually it only takes like a month or 2 for people to start overanalyzing the fuck out of a good game and convince themselves it's actually shit but the fact the game is so big and dynamic that it took this long is impressive

[mybrainshyperfixtations]

https://x.com/larianstudios/status/1757773594229191141?s=46&t=woICpjR-UhKfECIXwJBePA

hey larian what the fuck. it is 10 in the morning and you dropped this?? (not that i’m complaining, i’m loving it). at least i know i’m awake now lol

[y-rhywbeth2]

It doesn't help that the in-game romances are a few weeks (tendays), maybe a month or two old, whereas they've potentially known Gortash for years. The gods started making their newest Chosen in the 1480s: they've potentially known each other for the better part of a decade.

And it's gone. It's gone.

[amatres]

'i hope larian picks up making pathfinder games' no you dont

[feedthepheasants]

doing my 3rd playthrough of the game rn and tell me why I just discovered karlach’s parents’ graves 😭😭😭 AND SHES NAMED AFTER HER MOTHER

[nerozane]

Something you can definitely tell with a lot of talk with the Devs development with Astarion's story, to Wyll's story. Wyll's rewrite was crunched to the point a new actor had to come in for him (the EA actor for Wyll is a theatre actor and judging timelines on the rewrite, if he's in a production he's Def locked in for months at a time plus preparation and rehearsals). Compare to Astarions story arc, where the writer was allowed to mull and write the best stuff in parts where he was stuck writing for astarions arc. And have some long term input from Neil.

And I can't help but feel sad. Because both EA Wyll and release Wyll both deserved to have time to stew and mull and have input from both actors to how his character arc goes. And it just makes me sad that both players and larian had absolutely no faith in receiving/writing a black character. Or even the desire to take risks that the writer for astarion's arc took.

[iicaru2]

as much as i hate the fact that we cant let wyll make his own choice to break the pact or not when we can do so for pretty much every other huge origin choice, i kind of get why - because from what we know of wyll as a character, i really dont think he would ever make the decision to break the pact on his own. he hates mizora (understandably) and wants to be free of her (extremely understandably), but we also know about his insanely selfless, self-sacrificing tendencies. i love him dearly but i have serious doubts this man would ever knowingly sacrifice his father, no matter how much of a dick the guy is.

theres the argument of “but he must know his father would never want him to pact himself for eternity for his sake!!” but like. one, ulder wrote him off the moment he came home and saw him with a devil. that much is clear from wylls own testament and the things he says after you save him. two, even if that were the case, i doubt wyll would consider that perspective. because all he hears is “give away your soul to save a life” which is exactly what he did when he was seventeen.

is it an objectively bad decision? yes. have i made it repeatedly? yes, because of the points above and the fact that i think its the most in character decision for him, even if it makes me sad (wyll origin run is gonna be fun. and emotionally destroy me). do i still think we should be able to let him make his own decision? yeah, even if it means watching him sign his soul away again, because i think that happening 9 times out of 10 would really be a testament to what kind of character he is. tldr im at my limit and wyll ravengard makes me so fucking sad.

[umbralsong]

Lady Incognita

Cazador Szarr's "niece" is named Amanita Szarr. You can find her story scattered throughout the palace's attic, dungeon, and the House of Hope. She was a girl who grew up near Anga Vled raised by old servants. At 13, she was brought to visit her uncle in Baldur's Gate...

The day her entire family exposed themselves as vampires.

Alternate Text: An east Asian girl with medium-brown skin and dark brown then red eyes looks away from the viewer. One with brown, facing away. Twice with red and shoddily cut away dark hair, looking away in despair and notably darkened, red, downcast eyes and short hair. Once more with darkened eyes and a cloak and red eyes to match, long dark hair flowing from her hood.

Unfinished, but hey. I want to show fellow artists that things just don't come to you. Sometimes, you have to work the lines and paint until they do. Use Glaze to protect your art from AI scrapers.

The notes you can find in order:

Alturiak 1477 Tarsakh 1477 Mirtul 1477 Kythorn 1477 Flamerule 1477

Please read about issues with Cazador's depiction [here]. Thank them for their kind contribution and show support.

Donate to Gaza here: https://gazafunds.org/ Support good causes with a click here: https://arab.org/ Ceasefire Now: https://ceasefire-now.com/ Donate to the [Sidewalk School] [Pay your rent], settlers. [KOSA Resources]

The city palace, straddling the wall between the Upper and Lower City, was more than creepy, it was somehow chilling.

Cazador Szarr the Avid rose to power in 1296. She stayed at the estate for at least four months before she was killed. She was turned in Kythorn 1477, 15 years before the start of the story.

'Uncle' Cazador made me a vampire, but I refused to participate in the family rites. He gave me the Hunger but he could not break my will. He had Blovart imprison me in the attic. I weakened. They sent up human blood, and eventually I drank it. For a year, they stopped sending anything. I tore at the walls in frustration. Then they sent up a bound captive.

Cazador's favorite punishments are cruelty, hunger, and isolation.

His staff, "Woe:" The gentle tap-tap-tap of a staff on stone sparked terror for all in Cazador's palace. It signalled an approaching storm, and all they could do was shrink into the background and pray its wrath would not fall on them. His dagger, "Rhapsody:" Cazador's love of poetry arose after he read on the naked stomach of a dead child in his homeland. The child was hung from the lowest branch of a tree. Cazador read the poem, and looked at the child, and he knew that here was the artform for him.

Her coffin is on a wooden table overlooking a window. There are chains by her bed, a candle, and a skull. There are three skeletons in the attic, one headless with a crossbow and garlic cloves in their cage.

I succumbed. I am a vampire, and damned. I curse the name of Szarr and reject it. Now I stay in the attic by choice and write my little histories. I am Lady Incognita. Amanita is no more.

I think the snippets of her story were so impactful because of the complete betrayal. The fact her family were never around. The fact they lied for her entire life. The fact they forced her to transform, which we know from Astarion's partial ceremorphosis dialogue is incredibly painful:

Player: Unlike you to be so unwilling to receive a new power... Astarion: That was before I knew the cost. Before I knew it meant transforming into some grotesque beast. I remember how it hurt when I turned to a vampire. My body writhed and warped while I was utterly helpless, the grip of death owned my heart as it beat its last. I - I don't want to turn into anything else. I can't do that again. I can't watch my body be taken over. Player: You're afraid? Astarion: I'll happily murder my way to whatever powerful artefacts we can make use of. Point at the back and I'll stab. Just don't ask me to sacrifice my body. It hasn't been mine for so long.

We know thematically there is a parallel between vampirism, abuse, and sexuality. Cazador appeared to lose interest in his 'niece' altogether. Nonetheless, he locked her into an eternal childhood under "true vampirism," never to grow to adulthood, and denied her a "typical" life forevermore. There is something particularly grotesque about that.

Astarion: Nearly two hundred years and I never came back. Not since the night I woke up down there. I had to punch a hole in the coffin and claw my way through six feet of dirt. Then when I finally broke the surface, retching up dirt and congealed blood, Cazador was waiting. From that day on I was his. Until today. Player: You were never his. Whatever he had, he took by force. Astarion: Maybe, but he did take it. There's almost nothing left of the person I was. Just a name on a rock. For nearly two centuries, I stalked the streets like a ghost while the person I was lay here, dead and buried. Now I need to figure out who I am. What I want.

We find The Tourmaline Depths in the room beneath Cazador's room. She wrote Diseases of the Blood to tackle vampiric illness. She wrote the names of ruling vampires, their titles, and their successors. She is, what, 28?

I like to think she knew all of Cazador's secrets, from the corpses in the suspended cages to his dungeon. I'm impressed by her mental fortitude in the face of such odds as a child and young woman. I'm impressed she chose to do what she loved, escaped, and became such a relevant figure in the study of vampiric physiology. I wish we knew her better. I wish we had the opportunity to meet her.

She is the historian who sullies his name and documents his endless crimes. She escaped. Cazador underestimated her.

[metaben]

Larian let me kill Mizora in Act 3 btw- wtf is wrong with you?

the only POC companion is the only one whose enemy you can't kill even though it makes total sense for Mizora to be a final boss.

dozens of reasons why Act 3 is bad but that's a big one.