#niko plays bg3

[nikomedes]

—

this is durgestarion 2 me (original post)

[nikomedes]

idk i think what is interesting about astarion to me is the fact that you have a guy who started out an asshole (normal type) and then spent two hundred years in a very carefully and specifically crafted (by the writers of the game) Become A Terrible Person Or Die nexus. like it wasn’t just a Torment Nexus, he wasn’t just in hell, i feel like this is very important not to forget, he was in hell but it was specifically a hell designed to, over time, kill the empathy of anyone trapped in it, kill their brain’s ability to prioritize other peoples’ survival, to numb one’s conscience.

and then he gets yanked directly out of that nexus and despite that the fact that he spent, again, two hundred years in a situation that was sort of a rock tumbler for the human soul, there’s still a pebble left in there. and it’s a pebble that can be grown if placed in the right environment and provided with a support network.

so i think it becomes interesting because it really does i think force you to start thinking about the limits of free will even on as basic a level as the human personality. i think the fact that he becomes such a different character based on player choice, that his end morality is so hugely dependent on player choice, is uhhh. a big part of what the devs were going for probably.

it makes a lot of people really uncomfortable to acknowledge some bad people would be good people if literally nothing changed except they had a good support network and different circumstances. especially because it means the opposite is also true. which is even more uncomfortable.

you know that part in the beginning of fellowship of the ring where gandalf is talking about how gollum is ultimately only like that because of the ring and gandalf thinks his story is sad? astarion is kinda like if they sexualized gollum.

[flashhwing]

i don't have the game open rn to double check but i'm pretty sure. that after draining Nikos dry, Astarion did not have the "happy" buff. which is fascinating to me. like yeah you drank sentient blood for the first time ever, but you also killed someone who trusted you. and it's not exactly the first time that's happened either, but maybe it's different this time. because it was just you. no one holding the reins, no one made you do it. so despite what the mechanics are supposed to do you just. can't be happy about it

just. is that a glimmer of genuine remorse, Astarion? this early in the game? glib though your apologies may be, you truly did not intend -- or want -- to kill Nikos, did you?

[photochoco]

Fun Fact: Nemises' Dream Visitor is based off her husband in her original canon :>

[crowscroll]

actually unfair that i have to write a whole 400 words today i think my adhd is trying to kill me

[nikomedes]

#I TOOK THE TRASH OUT SEVEN MOONS AGO. HE TOOK THE TRASH OUT A FORTNITE AGO. GO. #*chugs half bottle of pinot grigiot* DO YOU SEE HOW EASY THAT WAS. man he was gonna do that anyway that was a total waste of time. NAY. #SOMEONE HAS TO TEACH THE BOY HOW TO LIVE. okay well do you have any molly i can buy off you. YES. #ill venmo you. I DONT KNOW WHAT THAT IS. ILL TAKE ONE OF YOUR STABLE BOYS. JUST KIDDING. HAHA. #*chugs more pinot* *checks label* THIS IS SHIT. (via recents)

Ascended Astarion

[moranahasbones]

dead boy detectives on my tomodachi life island?!?!

it's more likely than you think

here's a bunch of pics of them cause I'm OBSESSED!!

the photo booth is my favorite thing I took so many pictures of them there

this is the most on brand thing for him to say

these people do NOT want to leave their rooms they have ZERO friends (that's why there's like zero pictures of Niko...)

except for Crystal who is apparently BFFs with Astarion from BG3 and Michael Myers

I'll probably post some more photos soon cause I'm having a blast with them this is the most I've played tomodachi life in YEARS! also I just really want these losers to get some friends (and better outfits if we're being honest)

[the-four-humors]

I don't play BG3 but Niko was insistent on showing me Gale's sex scene and like. Wow. The nerdy ones are always freaks, aren't they

[nobleburn]

(Thinking about reworking this blog into a (small) fantasy/d&d multimuse? Might move over Lilli from @markofkaine and add a small group of other characters I've played + maybe my BG3 tav(s)? Not sure, but with BG3 out, I really want to do more stuff with Niko's mainverse, and generally just D&D/BG3 things in general)

[nikomedes]

#little tiny panini. making panini in da panini press at da cafeteriaaaaaa #rotisserie chicken cheddar cheese mayonnnaiiiiiise #panini panini making panini little panini man. (via recents)

[nikomedes]

even resistant durge has his moments

(anyway how bout that one durge epilogue?)

[nikomedes]

it makes me so insane that minthara is such a missable companion given she's The One with the info on orin. unless you play durge the info on her and her characterization is so thin on the ground. minthara is the one to tell you that at a dinner party courting powerful drow orin slit an entire table of throats and crawled across it to claim minthara from ketheric. minthara is the one who can tell you this woman is not just craAaAzy she is a ruin and there is no reasoning with her, there is just her also making you into a ruin. u meet minthara and she's a brutal, cruel, sensual, unyielding, vicious daggerslash of a woman and u REALLY meet her and you find out she's terrified of orin. like do u get me? am i making sense? so much of the background we get of orin from saarevok, her journals, gortash, etc, paints her as petulant, childish, and easily manipulated with "dangerous" almost as a footnote, ESPECIALLY if you play durge. it's from minthara and through her subjugation of minthara that we rly get her as an imposing figure akin to ketheric and gortash in power. and you rly can just skip minthara. nuts to me. anyway happy belated international womens day

[nikomedes]

astarion saying “this is why your father doesn’t love you ❤️” whenever durge does something considerate/romantic. aaand send tweet

[nikomedes]

excuse the dogshit quality screenshot but WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME MINTHARA CAN DUAL WIELD HAND CROSSBOWS!!!!

LETS FUCKING GO

[nikomedes]

my dealer: got some straight gas 🔥😛 this strain is called “troubled white-haired elf pussy” 😳 you’ll be zonked out of your gourd 💯

me: yeah whatever. i don’t feel shit

5 minutes later: dude i swear i just saw fear concealed in the core of desire

my buddy lae’zel, pacing: shar is lying to her

[nikomedes]

please forgive dogshit quality steam deck screenshots but. the way she grabs her woman. i don’t want to see these with the smaller body type the animations of her yanking a brick shithouse gf around are doing prion disease shit to my brain