#so uh. halsin's bugged

[invinciblerodent]

oh this. this is going to be a problem.

[kittlyns]

Shadowheart wanted to make out with Tav so I think the wedding is back on!

[eff-plays]

Honestly one of the worst things about how Larian has ignored Wyll is how much stuff they have added or fixed things for *every other character* except for him. And some of it is things people have been asking for Wyll forever! I mean think about it.

They gave Karlach a better ending shortly after launch, because people asked. They let people recruit Minthara on a good run & gave her evil ending content before patch 7, because people asked. They added new animations and dialogue for Astarion, just because people asked. They gave Halsin new animations, because people asked. They gave Shadowheart new dialogue, animations, and let players hug her in Act 3, because people asked. They also gave Lae’zel more autonomy in her quest in Act 3 (something people wanted for Wyll) as well as new animations, because people asked for it. They also added a whole new ending and also nicer dialogue options (another thing people wanted for Wyll) for Gale because people asked for it. Even Jaheira and Minsc got new animations added. Most of these characters also have more than one greeting for either friendship or romance, unlike Wyll.

All of these characters also largely had their bugs fixed promptly (or at least before patch 7) while Wyll sat bugged for over a year and has gotten exactly 0 new additions. And whenever people bring it up it’s silence from Larian. The selective listening from Larian is real.

Literally!! Literally!! It's so fucking insane cuz like!! They listen to literally every stupid minor dumbfuck thing that people demand, they listen to insane weirdos who have no concept of anything!! And YET. This one GLARING ISSUE that's been there since BEFORE DAY ONE? That people CONSTANTLY yet POLITELY remind them of? Huh. Suddenly there's fucking nothing. Except, the one time they vaguely referenced Wyll was after Patch 6 dropped and people were upset that Wyll still had nothing? And Larian vaguely was like "no more story updates uwu!! So don't ask tee-hee!" So people were disappointed and resigned to just having no more Wyll stuff? But then Patch 7 has uh. A ton of story updates??? :)))) For evil endings for each character that only a fraction of players will see at this point?

Okay. Very cool!!!

[aerynwrites]

Y’all I am a sucker for fluffy stuff and I know I’ve been writing a lot of fluffy Halsin stuff but goddammit the spice bug has bitten me and I have waaaay too many nsfw Halsin ideas in my brain 😳

So uh…apologies In advance if that’s not your thing 😭

I am still going to work on the request I’ve gotten so if you’ve sent one in don’t worry!

Just be prepared for some smutty goodness in the near future 😈

[lolliputian]

So, in my solo Halsin romance playthrough, I decided to steal Halsin's pipe from his study in the Grove solely so it could live in his inventory once he joined the party. Today, I remembered to actually PUT it in his inventory. I imagine the in character conversation went something like this:

Mira: :> Here, your pipe!

Halsin: Ah, thank you, my heart. I must admit, I've been missing it. But I could not find it after I came back from the... ... ...Where did you find this, again?

Mira: Uh. Um. ... Don't worry about it?

Made funnier by the fact that my game is bugged, so Halsin occasionally will not follow the party leader. I imagine he's a little miffed and will get over it once Ketheric gets curbstomped.

[amatres]

jumped back into balaerra and immediately left the gauntlet, we can finish that later 💕

saved this kid and finally recruited halsin for realsies this time.

the cute ghost kid balaerra played tag with turned out to be uh. a lot more important than i thought. lol

also here's a screenshot that made me reload the fight bc halsin was in bear form even after it was over lmao. i got too used to my multiplayer game where in talk scenes our druid just drops form

this isn't foreshadowing, don't worry about it

the rolls to talk to this man were Hell. this better be easier with dawn since she already had a 19 charisma at lvl 1

oops! they caught feelings for each other, who ever could have seen that coming. lol

this isn't doomed at all, i definitely didn't plan a bad ending for them i promise ❤ at least they actually love each other, for what it's worth. even if that's what's going to doom them.

not the only confession she got tho unfortunately. i don't even think this is a bugs fault, i think i genuinely just accidentally tripped his romance flag. gale im so sorry, but pls know you deserve better than her. i mean this, she is probably going to make you worse anyway but it will get better once you get away from her

as a side note, funny they were wearing the same jammies lol. i need to find different clothes for her but for now. hilarious.

[foreignobjecticus]

Get to know you meme

stolen from @thisbluespirit because I'm in the mood to meme hehe

last song: Balduran's Song

favourite colour: idk. purple because I just bought some

last tv show: Callan. As per usual lol

sweet/spicy/savoury: Savoury

comfort character(s): At the moment, still Callan & Meres but also 90% of the Baldur's Gate characters because I'm vibing so much. Gale, Halsin, Astarion, Shadowheart because I just finished her quest yesterday and damn. Zevlorrrrr, etc.

last google: "yellow orange circles love towel" once again I am searching for random shit from Callan

current obsession: Very much Baldur's Gate 3. Still haven't finished it entirely. Bought some 3D print figures of Gale, Jaheira, Astarion, Karlach and the Emperor and have started them up today. Forgot I don't have any purple (yes I can mix it, but that's a pain when half the characters are purple) so I've got 3 deliciously pigmented Vallejo paints ordered. Have also been playing with various other creative media, results pending.

Putting these pics here because I was painting them up while thinking of the old adage that got me through learning the basics of model painting (or any art really): It's got to look like shit before it can look good. Or, basically, priming, base, and layer painting are going to look like trash of course. You're not done yet. So there's some base colours done up. Yes I mixed a greyish purple. I should have slapped some base flesh paint on too but eh. Let it dry. Priming was done with my airbrush which is fun, but it's suuuuuper thin and easily scratches even after two days curing so eh. Still som sprues to clean up. I'm not a huge fan of these prints (them being mirrored bugs me way too much) but they're a decent price and UK based. Overall they're actually amazing given the size and quality. I'm just picky lol

Uh oh, that turned into a ramble. I tag anyone who wants to play!

[ryttu3k]

In recent BG3 news:

So after this exchange with Astarion, I noticed that apparently Tae's very glib response may have. Caused a bug, in that Astarion flat-out didn't have bite options, et cetera. Turns out that the conversation never actually registered, and I got the 'attempted bite at night' scene (why he went after the only other elf in the camp, ie. the only one who doesn't properly sleep, I have no idea). Anyway, it's all out in the open now! Approval raised! Bloodless debuff gained!

With... varying degrees of acceptance.

Storywise, we've had a nice party! I did set up Lae'zel and Shadowheart again, although since Tae had a scene of their own, it didn't show the full cutscene. I assume it just happened in the background.

Namely: Tae has acquired one (1) hot girlfriend.

(Very hot.)

Had to actually reset because. Accidentally led Gale on, and that was not what I was intending I'm sorry bby. Did lead to a fun line from Astarion:

But yeah, definitely not something Tae wants to find out themself, they're quite happy staying friends with Gale.

Astarion being... kind of inappropriate in general XD;;

He may just be salty because I tried to set him up with Halsin, who turned him down.

After the party, headed on up north, to deal with those 'Paladins' after Karlach. She was of much improved mood afterwards! Dealt with some gnolls, and made some... slightly questionable bandit friends. They showed up later, after we saved some people from a fiery doom, learned some of Wyll's family history, and got some fun new items (and some more Infernal metal!) and, well, robbing the Underdark Zhent base blind. Also, promising Shadowheart not to hold her fear of wolves against her, poor baby :( Haven't got that flashback in this run, yet, but. Know why it's there.

Anyway. Next up: south to the swamp!

Some fun (or, uh, kind of painful) conversations, somehow all involving Wyll:

Why tho.

Shadowheart sweetheart do you need a hug.

Astarion babe he's standing right there.

Also, the baby returns!!

...and Astarion ilu :) but also :) I am going to smack you :)

And ending on some cuteness, with the Ultimate Good Boy and the softest, fluffiest, most pastel drow in Faerun:

[sunstone-nerding]

BG3 Moonrise Towers Frustrations

I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 a lot, but more than a week ago I was jarred out of the story by mechanics problems. I am at what looks like the end of the shadow lands / Moonrise Towers zone. (Cut for spoilers.)

1.) Looked up a guide for the jailbreak. Seeing that freeing the prisoners didn't turn the whole tower hostile broke my immersion. Did it anyway.

2a.) I might have lost the chance to permanently recruit Halsin, possibly due to a bug. My party doesn't need another ritual caster, but I am annoyed that I went along with his story and tried to do it right, only to have him leave camp.

2b.) Saw in a Reddit thread that the only way to clear the cursed darkness is through Halsin. By rescuing him before. And defending the entire Druid Grove (not just the tieflings) from the goblin attack. There goes some of my plans for a future run with a more evil character.

3a.) In the current playthrough, fought Ketheric Thorm the first time. Followed him down the hole to the, uh, basement. Tried the next boss fight and failed due to running out of spell slots/abilities. Looked at a guide.

3b.) Saw thanks to the guide that I almost missed freeing Zevlor & co., because I didn't realize that I could interact with the nerve stations (because the red ones did nothing on the Nautiloid in part 1, if I remember right), and my camera was zoomed out so I couldn't see/recognize the individuals in the pods. Basically I was so visually overwhelmed that I missed the interaction/visual cues.

0.) Issue 3b could have been avoided if the "highlight interactive items" button ACTUALLY SHOWED ALL INTERACTABLE ITEMS like in the first two games, dear god.

4.) The NPCs giving what was, to me, anxiety-inducing ambiguous information re: how much of the Absolute we would encounter in that location, and when we were "supposed" to bring Gale to redeem himself (or not). Specifically, how the Guardian assured us this was the heart of the Absolute, but the minions were dropping hints that the Absolute has three parts. So....which was it?? Could Gale actually take out the entire Absolute here in one shot? Only after viewing the cinematic at the final confrontation is it made clear that all your antagonists are gathered there at the same time.

---

Don't get me wrong: this is, overall, an excellent game in my opinion. But that just kinda makes some of the flaws more glaring to me.

[bleedingheart-s]

bg3 epilogue spoilers

installed mods and now he's my wife- im not losing him on a technicality (apparently the dialogue is bugged so even if you crit pass a persuasion check, the dialogue flag doesn't trigger, so it wouldn't have mattered unless i installed the mods!) his final kiss is so worth it. what a tease omg, nox leaning in and he leans back with a smile so that nox has to pull him in and the simple but tender way he says 'i love you' and then the BOOP

THE BOOP IS SO CUTE

also i may have probably cried a little (/pos this time) for nox and karlach. they're best friends and they always will be 🥹

i had to reload so that i could get her hug because you can hug halsin multiple times and shadowheart pulls YOU in for a hug, but you can accidentally skip mama k's? no fucking way. not letting that slide. frankly nox wouldn't let any one of them leave without a hug if they could manage it- lae'zel might be a little difficult lol she's just a projection (i'm so proud of her) and astarion might complain but the effort would be made. minsc's would totally be a bros back slapping hug. (i adore minsc. and boo ofc!)

AND THE THANK YOU LETTERS OMG THE THANK YOU LETTERS!! lakrissa and alfie 😭😭😭😭 and sebastian!! i didn't expect to hear from him!!! and HOPE!!!! hope's letter almost made me cry (for a third time) AND DAMMON???? DAMMON!!!! DAMMONS LETTER TO KARLACH!!! DARLING BOY!!!!

i just did a lot of crying over the post netherbrain scenes dkhskahdkfndk karlach's dock scene...... no. stop it. i already wasn't gonna let her go but 'goodbye sun. goodbye sea. goodbye.'???? NO. NUH UH. NO GOODBYES FOR YOU. (the voice acting for that line broke me so much)

gale got snippy with me in game and i may have cried about it

[kittykatinabag]

Update at ~55 hours in and currently suffering through Moonrise Tower even though I'm pretty sure I'm slightly over leveled compared to the average person:

Still my favorite two characters so far. Karlach is a close third but I haven't gotten very far in her individual story. Lae'zel is... Interesting. But I appreciate her confidence even if it's probably misguided, she's a bit naive which is a nice change from the confident girlboss archetype. Wyll is just a little too much for me, and he's such a liar idk how anyone can fully trust the guy. Shadowheart is irritating tbh, but I also don't like the whole "duty is my entire reason for existing" storyline. Halsin so far is probably fourth but I've also not really gotten deep in his story either (also one of his quests is bugged in my save rn if my googling is true so I'm a bit of a standstill until I finish this fucking dungeon).

But yeah.

Gale's story is just tragedy after tragedy (so far at least). But the guy is still so supportive and mature and romantic and humorous! It's ridiculous, which is why it kinda makes sense that if you take the romance option (who wouldn't, he's quite the gentleman) that he starts putting you on a bit of a pedestal. I still think he's pretty great but as someone who has been put on many pedestals before for simply caring for and loving people, I'm a bit apprehensive. The saving grace is that somehow the game character is way less dramatic about it than the real life people that did that to me were. But I'm probably only halfway through (if that) Gale's story so we'll see if it changes at all.

Meanwhile, Astarion is plucking at every single "I can fix him" string but it's a bit slow going with his approval of my character because uh... I don't kill indiscriminately lmao. Either way it's a dive into a story about stumbling into an opportunity to take back power that you lost so long ago. It's also interesting to see how his actions change as you get closer to him (as a not chaotic evil character), he starts to express more concern over not only the player character but also others such as (slight spoiler warning) speaking up in the Crèche if you let Lae'zel into the Zaith’isk and subsequently fail I think 2 of the 3 saving throws with a line that's close to "are we just going to let that thing kill her?" which is a bit out of character for the only-looking-out-for-himself air he puts on. (Also his lines in combat when you're downed once you're close enough are low key adorable "damn you, you cant die here!", Why can't I die Astarion, because you need me? Because you like me?) Also good lord Neil Newbon went so hard with the VA in the exact voice and accent that drives me crazy.

Anyway it's 4:30am and I accidentally spent all night gaming again. Truly brain rotted.

jfc baulders gate 3 you didn't need to hit all my weak points around stupidly handsome charismatic men that have nice voices in the first 4 hours.

yes this post is about Gale and Astarion.