Been trying out an evil playthrough and I've got to admit it feels flawed. Not only does the story lack narrative hooks as to why I should go down the evil path, but there's also a lack of rewards, loot and meaning once doing so.
*Warning spoilers ahead!*So raiding the grove doesn't really gain me anything story wise. When working with the tieflings there's small story/quest hints like the thief kids who imply after I've helped them I will be rewarded in Baldur's Gate. The goblins have no such quests and nothing tells me helping/siding with them will net me any gain. I was hoping that maybe at the end I would be rewarded or could challenge Ragzlin for goblin allegiance, learn something about the Absolute or something.
It seems after Minthara dies (which the game feels like it forces) post sex scene/fight, all the goblin's and their war camp are now hostile towards me? Strange as I killed all hostiles at the player camp party, how would they know or why would they care? With everyone dead or hostile I've now lost access to Traders/quests in the grove and goblin camp and story wise feels like I've just been engaged in some mindless murder hoboing.
Side problem, I realized the druid Halsin is imprisoned in the Goblin camp, but I can't get into the dungeon to kill him or get answers without causing goblins to become hostile. Minthara has his journal on her corpse post-fight so I presume she kills him off screen.
Wouldn't it be better narratively if Halsin escapes on his own and came back to hunt you down for destroying the grove? He does come for you
So Negatives of evil playthrough so far:
- No narrative hooks/reasoning for why
- Lack of story benefit for being evil
- Lack of loot rewards, compared to neutral/good (unless you go back to kill hostile goblin camp, but narratively why would you?)
- Loss of traders
- Loss of grove questing options if not done before raid
- Lose Wyll as a companion
Positives:
+ Can get some +1 gear from traders you killed? (but not all)
+ Satisfaction of killing group/characters you didn't like?
Possible Solutions:
* Goblins are not hostile post-Minthara death
* The goblin camp should have quests for you
* Trader in goblin camp should gain new interesting buyable loot because of the raid.
* Reward from Ragzlin for doing the raid
* Gain some knowledge, secrets/powers of tadpole for helping the Absolute
An evil playthrough in my mind should be about control by gaining power, wealth or resources at the expense of others, perhaps being opportunist about killing and deciding if it benefits me long or short term. But currently it feels closer to murder hoboing because your not gaining anything of value for being evil. Killing for sake of killing because your character is evil is narratively dull.
I've still go to go into the under dark, but so far I'm disappointed on the surface story wise for being evil.
