Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Profanities in the game

I know that this is an adult game with adult content. But does NPCs really have to use words like f**k, s**t, bulls**t, and so on? I don't mind curse words but can't you guys think of fantasy curse words? dropping the f word really takes me out of the immersion. In my playthrough I met an NPC that just won't stop using modern slang and profanities and it was really out of place.

Alternate profanities can easily go bad. I don't have any problem with shit, etc.

What would you suggest?

I actually prefer it. When I saw the character dispense hatred in a particular fashion. I was like ah, another like me. (Of which I hope she becomes a companion or someone ill see often as it amuses me)

I just to be clear I tricked the halfling ranger onto the roof, to which I eldritch blasted the fucker from the roof to the valley down by the river.

Yeah.. the word fuck does feel fairly modern even if it might not be. Words like bleedin', bloody and shyte, could all easily replace it and fit in well with the already British accents.. Also, what's up with every race having British accents?

I'd prefer if they swear by their various deities or planes of hell/heaven/whatever

I have to say that so far the best "not really swearing" I have run into has been in the Harry Potter books where they swear by Merlin's/Morgana's [adjective] [body part or garment] such as "Merlin's Sweaty [boy-parts]" or "Morgana's [undergarments]".

Fake curse words are universally cringy and make it feel like some sort of Veggie Tales kids' game. Your suggestion is ridiculous. "Fuck" has been around since at least 1535 and "shit" has been around for even longer. https://www.etymonline.com/word/fuck https://www.etymonline.com/word/shit

I thought Astarion’s delivery of “...shit” when you catch him about to go fangs deep in you was perfect.

Well, To burst your bubble a little - Most of the profanities aside from the ones provided by Lae'zel are actual approved and recognised words in the Forgotten Realms, penned and coined by the creator of the Forgotten Realms setting himself - Ed Greenwood.

So, Hrast, Stlarn and Tluin!

I take the opposite view to the OP. If I see a group of people ambushed by something Big and Nasty, I expect them to come out with language stronger that 'Oh blast, would you look at that.' Profanities are part and parcel of the world, and ought to be part and parcel of an alternative fantasy world based loosely on our own. New words and artificial curses jar as badly as any other attempt to change language by crowbarring new syntax into an established language.

If I play an adult game with violence, sex and highly dubious magic, I accept swearing as part of the 'grown-up game' package.

I hate how everywhere tries to ban beautiful profanities.

IMHO it's generally best to stick with what we know. Alternative forms often sound a bit less than awesome, whether or not they come across as ratings/sensibility compliance, and their absence can feel artificial.


I see this a lot, but I'm never really sure what's the issue with English being voiced with English accents; the alternative being... I dunno, American accents? Larian have used a British cast since Divinity 2 around 10 years back, perhaps initially as British recording studios were geographically convenient for a Belgian developer to do its English-language voices. I suppose it just fits in with their way of writing and producing stuff.

fwiw, swearies like "fuck" etc are pretty ancient, as is "the c-word". There's a street in central Oxford here that was until comparatively recently called Gropecunt Lane. I believe the naughty word in question goes at least as far back as Chaucer, though I am not a literary type so I may be mistaken.

'Gropecunt' straight up sounds like a badass fruit.

Ish. I'm reminded of tasting dragonfruit for the first time and being disappointed that it tasted much less badass than it looked.

Also the street in question, according to The Font of All Knowledge™.

I dont mind it, searing is part of the common folks habits in normal conversation, in combat its done for sure. Would be strange if a lord or lady would start to swear like a sailor. So keep it to characters that would do it. it adds to the immersion.

Sadly, Scunthorpe comes from the Old Norse and means the homestead of Skuma. Oh well.

To add to the point about English accents; as a resident of this sceptred isle, this precious stone set in a silver sea (to slightly mangle Shakespeare), it is a welcome change from the West Coast US accents that seem to prevail in CRPGs, largely, one suspects, because of the convenience of using local voice actors.

I know that fantasy games are not set in the real-world and thus accents are somewhat meaningless, but in a game with a Western European Medieval setting (i.e. most of the FRPGs out there), having a pseudo-Medieval character talk like some California college cheerleader and use phrases such as 'gee whiz' is intensely immersion-breaking. BG and BG2 were guilty of this to an extent, who can forget the horrors of Imoen, 'Do ya wanna tell me a story 'bout trollops an' plug tails? Please?' <shudder>.

Please game developers, use Irish (not US cod-Irish for pity's sake), English, Scottish, Dutch, German, even (dare I say it ) French accents. There are also vast regions of central Europe with accents that would mesh with a Medieval-style setting.

American accents just don't sound right unless you perhaps restrict them to certain races.

But I can't recall in the old BG games, Neverwinter Nights, IWD, etc' resorting to such language. I never read a forgotten realms novel that the words fuck and shit etc' are used. I don't know, it's not part of the settings MO. Sure, we see it all the time in DAO, or Witcher. It doesn't make the game more mature IMO. I don't know it's very immersion breaking to me, feels out of place. I guess to each his own.

Profanity makes the game more immersive for me, and every instance of it that I've seen in this game has been done tastefully. It's not even mildly overdone and it's sporadic enough to feel natural.
Fantasy profanity is always done poorly because it's literal nonsense and always needs to be explained, which kills its intended purpose and instantly makes it feel shoehorned in.
I'm a huge fan of a well-placed fuck or shit.

The dreaded curse words bane of adventuring parties every where!

Heres my view they are for a large part used 'flavorfully' to color, and add depth to a situation, to convey a strong thought, feeling, or emotion. They are not inheriently bad, yet are often times abused, or usage is misunderstood. Think of how boring lackluster it would sound if you stumbled across a raiding party of orcs, your response was. "oh" not much emotion there, pretty much all your saying is is that you forgot your dry cleaning bill on the table. 'Oh, I was spose to do that' oops forgot something totally unimportant, and can easily be put off to the next day.

Now you again run into a swarm of raiding orcs. 'Oh Fuck' yeah you just realized that your about to die, get maimed, and have a rather horribly, very bad, no good day.

Second example "Oh shit!" yeah you left your baby in the car, or left the oven on with food in it.

Your conveying a sense of heightened emotion, an urgent thought, or very strong feeling/opinion what have you.

Now if you looked at someone and said 'Let go fuck!' that is more modern, and in my opinion rude, crude and should get the shit slapped out of you for it, even if you say it to your wife. Again in my opinion its tasteless, crass, and derogatory to the one you say it.

Personally I think Love should be put up right along side the bad words do to it's over use, it being often abused, or misused. again my opinion.

Context is everything for me. I am used to a different level of conversation at work than I am at home. I used to work in a highly stressful job where swearing was heard everywhere, but I wouldn't expect the same language when at a conference.

As xMardeRx says, it would be odd to hear a noble use 'gutter' language, but it would likewise be odd to hear a common peasant verbally jousting with fine phrases and elaborate witticisms. So long as the script doesn't become like a Richard Pryor show, I'm happy for contextual swearing.

As a Dwarf, I noticed that happen one time on the Nautiloid so it's there, just not sure how much.