Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Some general opinions on the story

So I'm finally doing a new playthrough, haven't completed one since the Grymforge patch was released, and just want to get out some general rambled opinions and comments on the story. Still don't like the Origins, others may like it and that's fine but I know I'll never touch any of them, glaring unaccomplished achievements in the future. Combat is fun though I feel like blitz strikes are the best way in every situation (Shoot first and all that), the long rest system is better and the rolls are a lot better than they were at the start. The "evil" path continues to be rather unattractive which also goes for tadpole use. Some other quick info before getting into it, I typically play a Seldarine Drow and the current run is a Sorc with party members being Astarion, Shadowheart and Lae'zel.

So first off the companions are a lot less abrasive then they were. Shadowheart comes across as a far more reasonable and pragmatic character than she original was. Lae'zel is still her fanatically loyal to the God Queen self and Astarion seems about the same with annoying affinity choices but humorous interactions. Gale's interactions feel better, more fleshed out? I think, from his original interactions which were a speed run to "I love Mystra and turned into a bomb because of rejection". I will say the weave conjuring interaction blitzing into a "We'll bang, okay?" was...annoying... I like the current look of Karlach though she's still not recruitable so no idea how her affinity reactions will go. I feel like her interactions will potentially change on full release and she'll be recruitable there. An issue, I feel, is that if these are suppose to be, excluding Karlach, the "evil" companions then that's pretty limited. Lae'zel is a fanatical Gith supremist and Astarion is motivated by fairly extreme self-interested. Shadowheart, Gale and Wyll(Least interesting companion) are at best neutral though currently I'm going with Gale and Wyll are good but each made a major stupid decision and Shadowheart is neutral. Though her less abrasive nature and, I think, altered affinity reactions make her lean more towards good/decent. I remember her originally being real impatient when at the grove. With that stated, it feels fairly limiting going for a generally "evil" path as you'll end up racking up the negative affinity or simply not getting affinity. Of course this is only part of the issue with the "evil" path and it seems that things haven't really changed since the start.

For myself, and this keeps me from going evil in most games, I prefer to win it all or at least gain as much as possible and this games "evil" path is just a path of losing. Granted that's a flaw with most games that have some form of evil path. A comparison example I thought of is Fallout 3 where you can blow up Megaton, there's no real benefit to it and you lose a settlement. You either blow it for laughs or you do it because a psychopath in a tower wants to see a big explosion. That's how the evil path in this game looks to me it's the burning down orphanages, slavery and mass murder because evil type of evil. Even with Fallout 4, where the factions could've been better fleshed out, you could have solid arguments for which faction you support. Except the Railroad, that was a weird group that wanted to save the synths by blowing up where they were built. Choices are far better when the arguments for and against them are fairly balanced. A more morally grey path like seizing power because you believe that only you have the best plan, the strongest will and clearest vision feels like a more fulfilling path. Sure you might not be the best choice, but you may also be far better than what is currently available. The choice of kill everyone because evil has never held much value, it's the whole ruling over ash choice.

Returning to this game, the primary "evil" path is effectively just a path of killing or destroying as much as possible. I can't find the thread and maybe it was on reddit but someone made a pretty solid info chart about all the stuff you lose, future interactions and possibilities mainly, if you start killing your way to "victory". The chart makes it very clear on a meta and even story level that you lose a lot going "evil". You're also never truly sold on taking this alternate path, in fact, plenty of interactions very directly tell you it's simply the bad/stupid path. The other issue, returning to companions, is that no one really pushes you towards this alternative way forward. Lae'zel wants to kill all weaklings/inferiors and get to the Creche and while that place may very well be the best option for you, she's shit at convincing you of that. It does make sense with the character but for motivating your character it does little. It also does not do much to convince you that the cult is any good for you. Astarion is in his own unique situation trying to get out of a bad deal he made and is very much acting in panicked self interest. The best example of this is when he panics over the tadpole use and is immediately ready to sell his soul off. His affinity reactions are also a bit annoying since they run counter to almost everyone else, Lae'zel is normally the only one to react positively alongside him. On the other hand getting positive affinity from Gale, Wyll or Shadowheart will usually net you negative affinity with Lae'zel and Astarion. Yes, I know, each character is their own person and that's good. Even Wyll, who is boring and not interesting, is his own character. The problem is that the majority will typically push you towards being a relatively decent person. Especially with the options you're presented with as you go through the story.

Going through the story, You meet up with Lae'zel and then Shadowheart while escaping the Nautiloid. Past the artificial sense of urgency there's no real reason to leave Shadowheart behind as the more the merrier in dealing with the threats ahead. Once landed, depending on how you go about you can miss Astarion and Gale (unless he pops out of other fast travels in which case nvm) when you've landed. Lae'zel isn't hard to find again as she's just off the path to the grove. Once that's done you're going to end up at the Grove where you end up fighting a Goblin raid. Now in one run where I was actively going to go "evil", and in turn meta'ing it, I watched(stealthed) the fight until everyone died though I don't know if that can still happen. Now yes there are "evil" choices to be made around the Grove though I feel like the majority are more in the "apathetic/thief" realm rather than a pursuit of power or benefit, at least a few "you stand back and watch" choices. Let the adult smack that child thief around, let the kid die for the meta set up, kill the Tieflings or Druids so you can more easily siege it later(Meta). There are few times where I feel you end up with two choices of equal or close to equal value. The major Grove decision is between Tieflings and Druids and either settling their dispute or killing one side. Non-lethal continues to be a mostly non-existent choice as I knocked out the Shadow Druid leader and that yielded nothing same with one of the Hag masked people. I tried it with Minthara (The only cultist of value other than Sazza) during the siege in the early days and the game's ai and combat system had a meltdown until I slit her throat, go go heroics. Another solid example of sparing is bad was when I knocked out the two Absolute acolytes and they went back to the camp and would drag everyone into combat, boy was that a bloody bridge. So while I still occasionally try to knock some folks out, like the tomb raiders, I don't view it as a primary choice. Back to the grove, you gain very little helping Kagha rather than dealing with her, keeping the grove open and the Tieflings safe are just better results. If you figure her secret it can be an even more clean victory, have to purge that heresy. Now with her secret I don't know if there's an actual natural way to learn it, I think I learnt it through a comment on these forums, but if there isn't maybe there should be even if its not obvious. A big change has been in regard to the kid who tried to steal the Idol, that used to be a pretty straight forward screw up a roll and its all down hill from there. Now, you have to either have really bad rolls or actively enable the kids death. Outside of setting up a weakened grove, which you have zero reason to go for at this point, letting the kid die doesn't benefit you in anyway. After the grove is sorted one way or the other you move onto dealing with the looming siege with a number of choices on how it happens and who wins. Now you can get started on destroying the Grove by talking to Sazza, who's imprisoned at the grove however that'll result in you skipping a ton of stuff (Loot, exp, interactions) if you happen go for it immediately and if you don't go through the secret back path you'll just be wiping out the grove right then and there. For myself, I play Drow characters so walking into the Absolute's camp, without Sazza, is pretty straight forward. I can't speak to the difficulty or ease with which it is to get in with other characters, the time I played with a Tiefling it was Eldritch Blasts for every little Cultist I found.

Now, the grove siege is where you're, I believe, potentially beginning the primary "evil" path. More than likely folks will be coming into contact with this path after at least starting a bunch of the grove stuff, which would influence you towards obliterating the Absolute Cult and further interactions with the Cult will likely reinforce this. The fundamental issue with siding with the cult is that it just does not make sense, not in meta nor story. As you interact with the Cult you very quickly come to the realization that their leadership is infested with Mind Flayer Tadpoles and they don't know that they are. They think they're following a god called the Absolute, which may very well be real but is more than likely not. The Absolute as far as most, with knowledge on the Cult, are concerned is either a Mind Flayer ploy or an illusion presented by a different god or entity. A new cinematic where you almost get mind controlled shows three people who seem to be the primary leaders of the Cult. The thing is you're almost enslaved by these people and barely escape that thanks to an artifact Shadowheart has. The attempted mind control is made possible thanks to that tadpole you've had rocking about on your brain since the ship. This serves as further incentive to get the thing out of your head if you didn't already have enough. Inside the Cultist camp there's a several interactions but the primary ones are Gut, Ragzlin and Minthara. Gut is one of the several options for potential help with getting rid of the tadpole though its not a good option and never really presented as such. Ragzlin is trying to interrogate a dead Mind Flayer and you can get involved in that if you choose. Minthara is the one to see regarding the grove siege and is for most, I'd be surprised if not, the main reason for siding with the cult on the siege. Being able to capture her during the grove siege would be a good option especially to further study the tadpole's role in the Cult and look for potential solutions to your own problem however that isn't an option. You will either kill the three leaders of this Cult sect or burn the grove down. As previously stated there is no real gain or reasoning for siding with the Cult so you'll likely kill them, you also likely do so as one of the bigger gains for destroying the cult is gaining Halsin's aid in dealing with the Tadpole.

For the tadpole's use with your character and gameplay, the majority of time it feels more like a crutch for when your character isn't charismatic, cunning and/or strong enough to get something done. It is also made clear, repeatedly, that using the tadpole is bad and its costing you every time you use it. Now its been a long, long time since I've played Baldur's Gate 2 but I don't remember being a Bhaal spawn being fatal for your health. Even making pacts with Demons is usually a game of making the pact then trying to figure out how to retain the power while keeping your soul hell free. The tadpole on the other hand just comes across as a give me dementia and maybe I'll get something option. Now, using the tadpole, why are you?, eventually leads to the dream person. To even get to the first dream sequence with the dream person you've got to use it, I believe, three times at which point the tadpole is described as practically eating your brain. What idiot wants to keep using something that everyone says is extremely dangerous and inevitably fatal? Once you get your first dream sequence it will give you a new ability. I mean, cool, I suppose but I've already got plenty of powers to utilize that don't eat my brain or potentially turn me into a Mind Flayer. Wild Magic is less dangerous and that keeps summoning Mephits on me. The tadpole is an inherently bad thing with no redeeming aspects, we're not forced into using it but then that'd be the only real way to ensure its use and getting those dream sequences. Sure Astarion likes it but, if he's to be believed, he's escaped a bleak and roadblocked existence and is fairly desperate to not go back. He's the only one where the tadpole even makes remote sense in using or keeping. Overall for what seems to be the main quest you're given options but its very much a case of several bad choices and one good one. When it comes to the side quests the bigger ones currently available have some better overall choices though there's still a typically optimal choices.

When it comes to the side quests and events some of them feel better fleshed out in their conclusions and options, which considering this is early access isn't surprising. The main quest only gives us the buy in not the whole package. You've got Ethel, the burning inn, smugglers, Gith patrol and Karlach as some. There's also smaller events like saving the under gnome, finding the dog and the Owlbears. I also killed a Spectator which freed a Drow who is part of the start to the Adamantine Forge quest, knocked him out. With Ethel you go beat her down and either kill her or get some power from her, I killed her due to annoyance. The Inn is super straight forward, go save the people inside. The smugglers lead to an item of value that you can keep, open or return so its fairly open for choices and potential rewards. You could also kill all the smugglers because murder hobo needs their fix or you're bad at rolls. With the Patrol you either deceive or kill them, I prefer deception but the murder hobo route is probably better since loot and they're a future threat. Karlach is also extremely straight forward, save the big Tiefling or lose a future companion. On the whole you've got options with your side quests though, meta'ing, there's a best path for most of them. With Ethel I may have actually let her live if I could've had my character interact with her when she begged, rather than Astarion but he was closer, since that looked like a potentially more optimal choice. For some extended options with the Hag quest, a good character should really be to "humanely" beat down the two brothers so they don't run to the Hag like the idiots they are. Not everyone need be persuadable but its not hard to see, even on an first playthrough, that those two are going to get themselves killed quickly. Killing the Hag and saving Mayrina means you also get to deal with her husband which can go hilariously dark.

I have yet to decide on which choice for the grove siege on this playthrough, maybe evil just to see what changes there are but really there's still no real reason to bother with that path unless you really need Minthara in your life. Currently potential companion Karlach and Shadowheart beat her. Overall I've continued to enjoyed the game and I'll be interested to see how the overall story turns out.

This is longer then I planned...Whatever...I've said(typed?) my piece.

Someone once pointed out the evil route is like foiling your DM's story on purpose and them going: "See? Are you happy now?"

No special loot. Doesn't go anywhere. Important pet NPC Halsin replaced with cursed drow + a lantern. Underdark map skipped

Are you perhaps thinking of this https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=828579#Post828579 ?

I do (still) think that there's really good potential in exploring the option of siding with Minthara at the expense of the grove, either genuinely, eg because you see it as a path to power, or deceptively, in order to infiltrate and stop the cult either for your own benefit or because of character backstory. And that thinking of that as necessarily an "evil path" is not particularly helpful. Of course, an evil character might do it, but they might equally prioritise their self interest and think Halsin was a better bet to cure them. And while a neutral (or even at a push good) character who took the path would have to have a certain disregard for collateral damage and a strong stomach to side with Minthara, it's feasible - or should be - that they think they could do more good in the long run by getting into the good books of the cult.

At the moment, of course, it's not at all fleshed out and doesn't feel particularly satisfying, as was discussed in the thread linked above. But I do really hope Larian will invest some time and effort on the potentially quite different path through the game offered by siding with Minthara, including making the choice feel more compelling at the start by bringing to life the different motivations a character might have for pursuing it.

Yup, that's the one. Christ that's a lot of potential stuff to lose. You are correct that seeing it as the "evil" path may not be the appropriate way of seeing it. I don't see it even as an alternative path their though. I'd hope that Larian, or any studio, wouldn't expend resources on a fairly large "Are you happy now" misdirect. In Morrowind you could kill anyone and the game would straight up tell you when you killed someone important and botched the main quest, that's as close to a "you dun fucked up" I'm willing to accept.

The issue is that even seeing it as not an evil path it's still, in my opinion, an extremely specific kind of playthrough. It also requires a degree of meta to actually get to that side since you either get Sazza and skip a whole bunch of stuff or you skip the grove and run on down to the Goblin camp. Its just not a choice that's really presented as a genuine option currently.

Taking a meta view, the infiltrate the Cult approach fails immediately after the Grove is burned down so while it is a mindset to go with it backfires relatively quickly. The newer cinematic of the three and almost getting enslaved also warns you off the approach due to significant risk. Even if you want to infiltrate then you don't actually have to help the cult since you can just walk around and tadpole power your way through. Though that gets into the whole issue of the tadpole itself being a giant screaming "Do Not Use" alarm. The path to power which in my mind is the tadpole path is still extremely unpersuasive to me. There just isn't a strong pull to get a person to look at the cult and think "Ya, this might be a good idea". Currently its more "A hot Drow wants you to kill some folks for her and while she'll likely try to kill you at some point its worth the risk". While there might be more down the line with this path its kick off isn't great.

It may be that at release where and how you wake after escaping the Nautiloid will be completely or somewhat different and will better present the Cult option. I'm somewhat doubtful as I think they'd at least want to parse how an altered start would affect people's choices. The other consideration is with how close to release they are now and what the priorities are, if they haven't already changed or improved this path. I do hope they improve this potential alternate choice, however they haven't presented anything significant to indicate they are since this criticism began.

I do agree that just simply joining the cult and going along with what it wants surely can't seem a good idea to anyone. But given that the PC is going to have to deal with the cult in some way anyway as they're clearly associated with the tadpole implanters, and given Halsin's ability to help is doubtful at best, a character might decide that it's worth a punt to get in with this cult, hopefully find the higher ups who know what's going on with the tadpole or who can lead you to someone who does, enabling you deal with that problem while - you never know - possibly getting a position of power and influence within the group to use and subvert it to their advantage.

I do agree it needs work, though, to seem compelling as an infiltration operation for the purposes of either destruction or takeover. Though I don't think there's any need to have different starting points in order to do that. Just having one of the companions compellingly argue in favour of infiltration (I vote Astarion) and changing dialogue options when going along with the cult so that we can register our intentions, and gain confidence that the game recognises it as a valid motivation (and therefore likely has the content to allow us follow through) would go a long way for me.

And you could make some relatively small changes such as not having the goblin camp turn hostile if you side with Minthara and get rid of any dialogue that explicitly rules out infiltration as an option. Other than that, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say that the infiltrate the cult option fails immediately after the grove, though? I confess I've only gone that route once and I don't recall all the details.

And I actually don't think it matters that there are ways to infiltrate the cult without helping Minthara, as long as we have a choice to roleplay how we think our character would approach the task. In fact I think it's positive if there is overlap and commonalities as it means that the different paths can possibly converge and diverge again, with different flavours and options depending on what you've done before, but leveraging a lot of the same content so saving development resources for Larian while increasing the flexibility for us to play twisty or conflicted characters whose allegiances might shift over the course of the game. I would be really disappointed, on the other hand, if siding with Minthara locked you into a wholly different path so early in the game.

What was said in the last Panel from Hell about the choices becoming more complex and grey as the game goes on gives me some hope that this is what Larian are going to aim for, though admittedly it's no small task to pull off.

If this game pulls off complex choices it'll leap frog a few of my favorites, choices rarely feel complex but more there's a good choice and a bad choice.

For the immediate fail if I'm remembering correctly, once you siege the grove and have the party you're outed by the Absolute or at least by those three in charge. Minthara states that your death was ordered and while you can get her to back off the cult is still out for you. It may be each group is merely a cell and that the Cult is diversified but that's getting into full game assumptions. But if the Cult's leadership has figured you out you wont be able to do much infiltrating, at least nothing high level. You are correct about choices on how to infiltrate though, that's more a personal view rather than any game critique. Though, if you don't pull your speech checks with Minthara your infiltration is more or less rendered moot.

Are we actually sure that the Cult is a part of our tadpole alterations. I'm not sure if its two parties or three with the Mindflayers implanting, the Cult hijacking and then a third party messing with ours. It seemed to still be a lot of speculation rather than a hard "these are the people we need to deal with". Maybe it is just two and the process was messed up during the tampering, therefore only two groups. Also, being fair, there is the third option of the Cult not mattering other than as a potential option for removing the tadpole. After all you could simply want the blasted thing out and after that good luck to all parties. Though I don't think we'll be getting quite that level of choice, more than likely the Absolute will be involved in the endgame.

Astarion is frankly the only character currently that can be used to argue going any routes involving the cult, which is semi problematic. After that I think its a distant Shadowheart and then a really (really) long mile for Lae'zel and honestly probably not. With that said he's also the least trustworthy of the companions, very blatantly untrustworthy regardless of how entertaining he can be.

I don't think we do know for certain, but they do seem like the best lead we have at the moment, given that all their True Souls have tadpoles. There is clearly some connection, as all these tadpoled individuals are ending up in the group, and though we don't know what that connection is, it does seem reasonable to me to hope that if you follow the thread it will take you somewhere useful. I think if I didn't particularly mind killing a bunch of people, then trying to get in with the cult would be the option I'd go for in order to save my life, over the extremely dubious help Halsin could offer given Nettie and then he confirm that he's not sure what's going on with them. So I'd probably say that it's a path extremely selfish evil characters could easily choose as well as those who might hope to get any additional benefit from it.

Of course, it might be disappointing if their evil plans are scuppered before the end of chapter 1 because the Absolute and her minions are onto you, though that doesn't mean it's not what a character would have tried to do. And it could even be done well: okay, plan A didn't work, but with any luck you've made some new allies in the form of Minthara and her drider pal, or if not you've burned a whole lot of bridges and need to find another option ... on to the Githyanki Creche, perhaps! As long as the game keeps giving new options and reflecting my choices I don't actually mind if things don't always come off as I'd wish. Though, as you mentioned before, I'm not sure I'd be happy if the game let me make choices that made it impossible to finish the quest down the line.

I'd agree, and said earlier that the evil path was a bit too evil, and that some sort of middle ground path would make things more interesting. At the time I agreed that there was no logical reason to follow the Minthara path, but I would take that back now after many more playthroughs and more interaction with Astarion. I do think that one might conclude logically that the tadpoles aren't going to turn us into mind flayers, and that in fact siding with the Absolute might lead to great power, as it has for some of the True Souls that we've met. The fact that unlike these True Souls the PCs have agency certainly has promise for truly evil characters. It's not my cup of tea by any means, but I can see it.

That being said, I can see a bit of a morally middle ground whereby maybe the PC helps destroy Kagha and the druids in exchange for safe passage for the tieflings. Kagha and her enablers certainly don't present a friendly face for the druids, and given the fact that even Zevlor is willing to suggest the PC assassinate her suggests that he might be willing to help sell the grove to Minthara in exchange for safe passage for the tieflings to Baldur's Gate. This might be too much investment for a third path, but it is one that I could see some PCs reasonably making.

All that said, when the game releases I am definitely going to play the good guy, and very much enjoy that path. Karlach will add another good aligned character as datamining has revealed that like Wyll she leaves the party if you side with the goblins. Whether or not the prospective Helia character turns out to be part of the final release is anyone's guess, but it stands to reason that she will be a good character too, as I believe they stated somewhere that it was more important in early access to get feedback on the more "prickly characters" than on the obvious hero ones.

Yeah, the problem is: you get so much good loot and items from killing Minthara, Dror Ragzlin, Gut, etc.

If you kill the Grove, the loot distribution isn't comparable at all. There should be some kind of quest reward from Minthara - item(s) you could only get if you went evil and that synergize with the Absolute's branding.

Think about it: why did Larian create an option for you to get branded, use Absolute items that can only be obtained by killing the people you're "siding" with, and still be evil

Well, of course that could be balanced out later in the game. But yes, the rewards should ideally be roughly comparable when taken as a whole.

But I confess the branding conundrum hadn’t occurred to me before!

If anything, the rewards for siding with evil should be greater, at least at the beginning. Most Evil people don't do evil deeds for the pleasure they get from murdering/stealing/etc, but instead because they are selfish, and doing those deeds benefit them more.

There's the common trope that doing Good will not be that rewarding in the beginning, but will eventually put you in a very good place. Evil, however, is rewarding up-front, but you'll eventually get what's coming to you.

I wonder what that reward could reasonable be, though. Maybe the Idol of Sylvanus? I'm not sure If it does anything yet. They could put some magic effect into it.

There's a quest to steal it, though, it's downright stupid to hand it over to a bunch of thieves on the vague promise of later reward. I could do without it.

True, that’s a common trope but I don’t think it needs to be that way, and in fact it might be fun to turn it on its head ! I think an unscrupulous, selfish character with no regard for life already has a good reason for going with Minthara given that the cult seems a potentially better lead for finding out what’s going on with the tadpole - which as a threat to life is surely higher priority than good loot right now - than Halsin and certainly than the Tieflings. Or it could be a good reason if clearly articulated and recognised by the game.

I've believed so far that they're limited since, aside from being quite OP, being branded with the enemy's seal might lead to rather terrible outcome. Like the amount of tadpole use, who knows what the consequence is? "Good" characters are unlikely to want the brand, "bad" ones don't get the loot. Only a niche population has posession of their character in the future

That's fair.

Let's not forget you're given a hard shove towards at least good/neutral as soon as the Druid Grove opening fight sequence starts.

You're placed on the Grove side by default and the Goblins are presented as the threat. One of them is branded and has some gloves, which would seem like a tadpole connection or something with the PC would attempt to be made (akin to the Gnoll boss mid-combat), but this is meta'd because you're only L2/L3 and not strong enough to beat the entire Grove yet.

So the writing and framing of everything falls short. There's very little in terms of writing, content, or rewards that truly incentivizes evil. However, the companions you do have at the moment largely disapprove of you agreeing to get involved in the Grove's dealings.

Again, flawed story IMHO.

Now, you hear the Tieflings and Druid side of the story first and know nothing of the Goblins until later.

I do believe there will be some side effects to the brand or following the Absolute, but how does that work out in a split party where two people got branded and two people didn't?

It's it going to be a battle royale like DOS2 or will the Absolute temporarily mind control them against their allies. Either way, it doesn't sound pleasant.

Branding is, to me, just like the Tadpole. Why would you look at that and think "This will get me power with no significant consequences". You even see it in action giving you the ability to command others.

Admittedly, improved loot on either side doesn't really make a big selling point to me. You get plenty roaming the maps and turning over rocks, and letting Gale turn into a mana bomb rather than feeding him. I'm more interested in more choices and story improvements.

The companions with negative Grove reactions have been toned down. Provided my memory isn't faulty, Shadowheart used to negative on anything that wasn't "go go go get this tadpole outta my head". She's a lot easier to get positive reactions with. Lae'zel too was a lot more "GET TO THE CRECHE". Astarion and Gale have remained relatively consistent, Gale might be a little less abrasive. I should do a playthrough and actually include Wyll...maybe, one day...

To be fair, we're shown as completely defenseless without the artefact as of patch 9. My fear is that being branded gets around the artefact's protection.

Essentially, you're screwed no matter what. Player character believes for a good while they can just remove the parasite. When it's clear you can't, might as well use it, right?

That's the call of temptation speaking 😆. How far is too far, I wonder?

Wyll has grown on me quite a bit because I keep getting his scenes.

... just like I keep getting Gale's. Unfortunately, I will never romance Gale because he reminds me too much of my uncle and I might literally throw up. No offense to my uncle. This time. But, fuck no.

I'm just not interested in Lae'Zel though, so I understand being horribly bored on principle.

Wyll, to me, is such a funny little ball of angst in a way that's absolutely going to ruin him. Don't you want to ruin him further? Lae'Zel... I can taste the decorruption arc. I really can. You could say: "don't you want to go apeshit? Don't you want to run the rivers red with blood while we rejoice in destruction and despair?" and she'd be like, "Ugh, is it tuesday again?". Before and after. God damnit, Lae'Zel. At least Shadowheart would go from "what the fuck?" to "go fuck yourself". It's the cheese to Lae'Zel's stale bread, If you will. But, Wyll. I want to see him lose his mind.

And then start a non evil playthrough.