Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Going Dark

Interesting how feedback from quite a few folks is too dark and too edgelord(y) when in 2019 and 2020 it was too silly, too whimsical, not dark enough like the original series and Irenicus.

What the showed in the PfH fully put that to bed but that doesn't mean you cant have a good playthrough and feel good about it. I am willing to bet you can and Karlach (did you see that unbelievably sweet date scene?!?!?, Minsc, Jaheria and Halsin will help ensure it besides the possibilities with Wyll and Shadowheart, but Astarion...he is still an elven vampire spawn which is an absolute sacrilege in my book off to the monster hunter with him in all my playthroughs ;-)

I love love love that we have both the extremes on the sillines-darkness axis. Lots of variety, lots of texture.

Agreed the possibilities are amazing.

+1

I had completely forgotten, but you are right. Initially the complaint was that everything was too silly, not serious enough. Wow how that pendulum swung.

As far as the companions are concerned, I remember day 1, people were saying that everyone was an asshole and that hasn't really changed, other than SH being toned down a bunch. That's where the "they gave us the evil companions first" came from in the first place. What exactly were people saying was whimsical and silly?

Yup. The same things we were saying three years ago are exactly what we are continuing to say now.

Alfira's squirrel audience is a common target of ire, that one I remember specifically

This is mostly true, however i am talking further back when Larian first got the license and announced the game, and what continued the first few months after EA release. Folks said that this isn't really BG3 and Larian should not have got the license because:
1) No RTwP
2) Larian writing is too off the wall, silly and whimsical
3) Larian gameplay is too off the wall, silly, and whimsical
4) Original BG was dark with torture, etc.

Larian never gave in on 1 but it seems they went hard on the other feedback (i am not saying this was solely a direct response to the feedback but i believe the feedback played a role in how this game is shaping up).

When EA first released many were like, see you can shove people like you are playing 300 not a "real" forgotten realms game too silly and over the top not realistic, or barrelmancy and surfaces and extreme like DOS. Later after a month or so after EA release people started to give the feedback these chars are selfish evil and annoying chars. That is when they said we are showing you the evil chars first.

Don't get me wrong there are good chars and you can have a good playthrough. I just think part of this came from a response to criticism that they received early on that they couldn't be dark enough to earn the BG license.
www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/ic6wdv/people_wanted_this_game_to_get_dark_seems_they/
https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgat...vinced_baldurs_gate_1_and_2_are_as_dark/
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=807482&page=1
and many other references to this.

Indeed.

If you read through all of those threads, there are a variety of things people are talking about. The only one that you could argue is arguing that BG was too whimsical was the 3rd one, and even then, the thread is more about tonal inconsistency. The world is simultaneously gruesome (dark) and silly looking exaggerated animations and explosions. The first two threads are just people saying "BG 3 is DARK!!" with (same as this thread) vague gestures to people saying BG3 isn't dark enough, but no one actually saying BG3 is too whimsical.

Also, what does RTwP have to do with dark vs whimsical..? This feels like you're just randomly picking complaints and using them to prove a point against an argument no one made.

RTwP was not part of the lack of Dark theme/Larian is too silly arguments folks were making when BG3 was first announced. It was just one of the quibbles that reared its head as much (even moreso actually) as the lack of dark theme. I can link a ton of more links from 2019 and 2020. I remember this because i challenged these concerns with Larian getting the license often early on and always thought they would be worthy of the name. I have a feeling me posting even more threads in forums and even official game site content referencing this wont sway you in understanding that this was a criticism they faced often early on, many many people made it. So be it.

I remember pointing out all of the silly gags and pop culture references in BG1 and 2 back in the day to show that the Larian whimsy was on brand for Baldur’s Gate. Now today I’m pointing out how the Dark Urge is just Bhaalspawn / Slayer 2.0. I’m shilling for Larian so hard, I’m gonna send them a bill. 😂

Yeah me too 😂

It's both though. These characters are extremely silly in the fashion a thirteen year old would consider dark and edgy but is really just cringy and stupid.

its choice... which of course means it will get banned pretty much everywhere but yipee for the players who like choice

+2