#not liking how bg3 did their romance bc characters can fall in love with you regardless of gender just stinks of losers

[limielle]

nothing makes me more mad than when david gaider tweets lmfaoooo

[solitaireships]

Copying this over from my main bcs I got an ask about how badly Wyll gets treated by the game and I wrote an essay about it. Putting it below the cut, but Larian is racist as fuck and the tldr is you can tell they wanted to give the illusion of caring about and including poc without actually doing that

Oh yeah, i just played bg3 for the first time recently and let me tell you. The way they treat Wyll is so abysmal. I went into the game planning to romance him bcs he's one of the only companions that it's fairly easy to roleplay an ace player character with, and as much as I loved his romance, it's very easy to tell that the devs do not give a shit about him

Like, pretty much every companion has a major decision in their storyline, and instead of guiding them towards a choice, you can let them choose for themselves what to do. While Wyll does have one thing that you can let him choose, arguably one of the biggest choices for him is one that you have to decide for him. And then everyone in the camp for some reason treats it like he made that choice????? And this is not even getting into how there are some major things that happen that do effect him and the way he sees the world, but he doesn't really get to respond to that? I'm trying to be vague to avoid spoilers, but one other thing kinda tied to that is a lot of people in Baldur's Gate get super rude and dismissive (and fantasy racist) towards him if he ended up with the devil horns and he mentions who he is. And you don't get to talk to him about that at all, even if you're romancing him

Also I will say if you plan on romancing him. Do not make the choice I did for his ending state, bcs the way it ended up shaking up, it felt like he was a side character in his own ending of the game where I romanced him. I was so fucking mad bcs I literally had twice as many options in the end of the game epilogue to act like me and another character were together than I had options to talk about Wyll, the guy my character was literally engaged to. And the reason this happened is bcs in the one where I did let him choose, the choice he made made it so his ending was effectively reduced to being a mechanic to make another character's ending happen. And this also meant I missed out on a scene most other characters get in their romances of you and your partner after the final battle having a quiet moment together and talking about the future

This is a long enough rant as is bcs the way Larian treats Wyll pisses me off so much, but a couple of last points

One, why are he and Karlach, the sole black man in the main cast and the muscular woman voiced by a black nonbinary person, left out of so much merch?

Two, why does Astarion, a character with 0 connection to the main plot other than through thematic stuff (unlike every other Origin character), have iirc 4 hours more content from a breakdown someone did than Wyll, who is iirc the only Origin character with a content hour count in the single digits?

Three, why was he the only character bugged for like a month so no matter what your approval level is with him, he would respond with the low approval response which is kind of cold and indifferent? (this bug happened almost the entire time I was playing btw, so I was romancing him and still getting the very cold response which had a sharp shift when I would ask him about us romantically)

We do know why things are the way they are with all three of those questions. And imo the thing about Larian is that they wanted to give the feel of their world being inclusive of people of all races, which is why there are a lot of minor npcs that are poc, but they don't actually care that much. That's why Wyll is ignored and given less attention by the devs, that's why he's the one companion of color of the 12 possible companions, that's why the most significant east Asian character in the game is an evil monster that preys upon white people in ways that fall so heavily into old racist stereotypes

Anyway this was very long but I will be stealing Wyll from Larian bcs unlike them I actually respect him as a character

[wretcheddthing]

Tav ask meme! 1, 3, and 12 for allllllll of your guys >:3c

HIIII THANK U <3 ok here we go

here’s the ask meme post btw for those. who want to also ask :)

Venali Kelvyre (Human wild magic sorcerer)

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

- Negative: A disdainful “What?”, simply an arched brow, or “Make it quick.”

- Neutral: “How can I help?” “Sorry, did you say something?” “Sure, I have a moment.”

- Good: “Good to see you :)” “What do you have for me?” “Always a pleasure.”

- Romanced: Said with all the love in her heart, “There you are.” “How are you, darling?” “Anything you ask.”

3) What would their character quest be titled? Why?

A hard one to answer bc her full personal quest can’t be completed during the events of the game. So probably it would have something to do with Finally, after 7 years of searching, discovering what exactly she needs to do to rid herself of her magic. Which I haven’t figured out yet. But also she lied about being a wizard for seven years so Probably something along those lines. The Sorcerous Charlatan or something is that dumb

12) Does you Tav have any tattoos or scars? Why?

Yes to scars, no to tattoos. She has your general wear and tear of doing field work and then a side of adventuring to search for hidden information (even before being tadpoled), but most notably are the scars on her lips and forehead. She got hit by falling rubble while escaping The Ruin with her remaining friends.

My other friends under the cut

Tozra Cardove (Half-elf college of swords bard)

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

- Negative: “Make it quick.” “Oh, you wanna talk?” “If you must.”

- Neutral: “How’s it going?” “Hail, companion!”

- Good: “Just the person I wanted to see.” “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

- Romance: “Lovely as always.” “Sorry, I’m a bit flustered.” “Forgive me if I swoon.”

3) What would their character quest be titled? Why?

“The Would-Be Knight” bc before being tadpoled he did play fights during festivals in Baldur’s Gate. He was well liked by those he entertained, and is actually skilled with his sword. But he is first and foremost an entertainer. Idk the rest of his story yet.

12) Does you Tav have any tattoos or scars? Why?

Yes, two slashes across his nose. His opponent, both on stage and in real life, didn’t pull his blows. It was an intentional strike that knocked him out for an important show one season.

———

Mercury (Tiefling battle master fighter)

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

- Negative: “Ugh, what?” “Why don’t I just drop everything?” “Talk.”

- Neutral: “Hey.” “Got something?”

- Good: “My favorite helper.” “Where are we going?” “Shoot.”

- Romanced: “Hey, love.” “You lead, I follow.” “Aren’t you a doll.”

3) What would their character quest be titled? Why?

“Her Sister’s Keeper” bc. Well I had to modify her actual lore a bit to make it work in bg3 bc she is Originally an alchemist artificer who makes potion bombs and she lost her sister in a lab accident so I kinda made her into a sort of. Mercenary fighter for the sake of bg3. Idk, she was my first playthrough and I didn’t really wanna start with a whole new chatavyer so I borrowed one of my other ones. Anyway, something to do with that.

12) Does you Tav have any tattoos or scars? Why?

Yes to both. She’s covered in tattoos of alchemical symbols because she thinks it looks cool, but she also has burn scars all over from her lab exploding.

———

Clandestine (Tiefling gloomstalker ranger/assassin rogue)

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

- Negative: *Disapproving Grunt*

- Neutral: “Hm?”

- Good: “Hm.” (but nicer this time)

- Romanced: “Hello.”

3) What would their character quest be titled? Why?

These are actually really hard to come up with did you know! They’re a huge buff stealth build assassin with the outlander background. Idk her story yet. Maybe something about being an archer. “The Green Archer” perhaps

12) Does you Tav have any tattoos or scars? Why?

All Sorts of scars from a lifetime of picking (and winning) fights. A notable slash across his face from a particularly difficult job hunting an ogre.