In my opinion the evil route is bad because its harder and unrewarding.
It does not create fun dilemmas for me.
I believe that depends on what do you see as "rewarding" ...
Also it depends on what do you see as "evil gameplay" ...
For myself one of pure evil deeds was throwing a rock to Bear-Halsin ... and yes, you really dont get anything from it, except maybe even toughter fight, and lots of regrets as a player (speaking for myself).
Other evil situations is wiping out the groove ... but that is rewarding, since all loot from whole groove is yours to take and sell (presuming you still have some vendor alive
) ... and if you play your dices right, you even get that Drow to potentialy join you ... well, at last she helped you at the moment.
But if you are talking just about Illithid / True Soul conversation options ... that "final reward" was not yet revealed for us, but for now we get almost everytime sure dice sucess, wich can also be usefull ... kinda.
So in fact there is rewards, if they are sufficient or not, that is for you to decide.
Its not like I got a really cool sword or some other loot and it apparently belongs to some kid's dead dad.
And then I am faced with the dilemma of giving up the loot for honor or keeping it like a selfish bastard.
And that is exactly where our opinions are different ... i dont need cool sword.
Its good example ... but certainly not the only possibility. This what you are desribing is called carrot on a stick ... you stick some reward before players nose and he will follow it no matter the consequences, bcs he just want the reward, nothing else matters.
That is for example nice to see in that quest for Paladins of Tyr ...
That sword is certainly interesting reward (presuming you have someone with 2h weapon in party) ... so some players can just take that road and dont even think about the other way ... i know that it drops from his corpse if you choose to help other site, but for your first gameplay you dont, or at last i didnt.
No moral dilema here, in fact there is so chance so there is even no dilema (read as: thinking, or trying to figure out where is the truth) at all, just quest and reward ... nothing more, nothing less.
At last i know i did it with my mage ... she didnt liked at all how Myconids were treated her as potential threat right from the begining ... yet i just needed that neckage, that hobgoblin is selling.
Same with ogres ... i just wanted that crown! And i was potentialy able to persuade them that i am wearing the mark of Absolute ... but i didnt even try, and honestly i should, after all its three scarry ogres ... it was not right "roleplay" decision ... it was right "videogame" decision.
That is why i like so much how attack on the groove is made ...
Every decision you made you made for you own reasons, Larian dont need to show your character why you should that, or this ... that is for you to decide ... i dunno, maybe your character is homicidal maniac, maybe its xenophobic Tieflinghater, maybe hes fighter for goblin's rights, maybe hes just loyal to another Drow, or maybe he is really interested in that whole Absolute cult, so he really want them to suceed ... or maybe litteraly anything else.
But its all up to you, and that is exactly why i just love it.
That, and the fact that everyone is acting as they should ... goblins ale bloodthirsty, selfish, coward, treacherous bastards, that can be ruled only if they fear their master ... so you can presume that they will be even worse. And they are. :3
So in this particular case ... i think some reward will ruin that whole scene, bcs greedy players will do that just for biger profit, and evil is not "allways" just about profit. :-/
That Drow cant give you anything, bcs by her character, she sees you as usable tool, nothing more. For her you were never alies, since she sees herself on the top of pyramid ... wich kinda makes that situation, when you roll your dices right and she will not attack you, but help you instead ... even sweeter.
That, in my opinion, is what being evil or good is all about.
As for me not knowing if the reward is actually worth it.
Greed is certainly one of sins ...
But there is reason why i used plural.
So no ... it is "about" ... but certainly not "all about".
Also dont forget that this is only small portion of whole game, and we can presume that both roads will have some consequences ... so there is some chance that your desired "reward" will reveal later.
It seems to me like you are talking just about Lawfull-evil characters ...
Try this:
Chaotic EvilWell maybe the first gameplay sure but the second time? And after Act 1 whether I do good or evil I know that evil has little to no reward... so why keep doing it?
As i sayd, that is up to your character ...
After all, its not like "good and righterouss" path will give you any reward either.
And for myself (and multiple philosophies across human history) good, and evil is just matter of perspective ...
You either massacre tieflings for the good of goblins ... or massacre goblins, for the good of tieflings ... since there is no way to negotiate peace between them, there is no "pure good" solution.
Also being evil gives me a worse story.
I dont think so ...
But our metters are obviously working with different numbers.
I am not stupid, when I play as good large towns are open to me, I meet new characters, have interesting conversations, go on quests and etc...
And more often than not they tell me "See you at baldur's gate!"
You may not be stupid ... question is: Is your character?
I dunno, it seems like either im too distant from this game, or you are too deep.
Anyway ... if you are not evil person (and i presume you are not), and want to play evil character ... logicaly you cant decide as yourself, but as the character.
You can for example try with every diaogue to say something like "what would i NEVER choose" ... and then choose it, sometimes its fun.
Since we dont know yet what consequences will be there, its all pure speculations ...
But i think its not so impossible to presume that when you will go good path, there will be new characters, interesting conversations, go on quests and etc. ... but when you will go evil path, where will be another characters, with another conversations, and different quests etc.
I dont quite think it will be like Fallout 3 where you just blow nuke in middle of the town, and created magnificent crater.
More i expect that scenario, where on one side will be army of Baldur's Gate, potentialy with our good character ... and the other side army of Raiders, potentialy with out evil character ... ofc, that side with PC on their side probably wins.
So in conclusion, i dont presume that you will get rid of any experience for playing either side ... except the other ... therefore i will totally play this game at least twice, for both sides ... and then i shall see what will be next.
So either I will encounter them on the road to Baldur's gate or I will see them there.
But if I go evil? I destroy any chance of that. Even in the Underdark I lose several plot threads that lead to act two like helping the deep gnomes if I betray the current mushroom king to the exiled one.
You almost made it sounds like if you expect that whole maps will be empty for evil characters.
True, you will not met this characters ... you will met others.
The Underdark is tricky, since once aggain we didnt seen whole plot.
But you can make deal with that Duegar (especialy understandable as a Drow) that you will help him get that Deep Gnome runaway, especialy her boots.
So i presume that you will not "loose plot" with deep gnomes ... more likely you will switch Deep Gnomes plot with Duegar plot.
That said ... IF you dont choose to betray them both.
(Sometimes i just need to try kill everything in the Act ... betray Druids for Tieflings ... betray Tieflings for Goblins ... being betrayed by Goblins and wipe them out too ... i really wonder how will game will work with that. And yes ... Chaotic Evil character.)
It just doesn't make any sense and it is a chore to do.
Especially when the evil road almost always has those NPCs betray me anyway so I end up killing twice as many.
As Gale said: There is no thing as absolute certainity.
They can betray you ... and you will be foolish to expect otherwise ... yet, and again if you roll your dices right ... there are different outcomes.
For example:
If you decide to have sex with that Drow lady wich name i dont recall right now, after the succesfull raid at Druids Groove ... then you dont poke your nose to her personal business, so you dont make her mad, and instead try to focus on the fact that she likes you ... and in the end you manage to persuade her that attacking you is certain suicide, and you should join your forces instead ...
She will not betray you, she will even help you on your "next journey" to completely negate that "dark curse" that Halsin is so affraid of.
