Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General "Intellectual thing" prologue scene too much creepy

I thought it was cute... creepy, but cute too.
With the Mind Flayers as protagonists you should probably brace yourself for more creepy weird stuff.

I also think Us would be a great familiar for the GOO Warlock.

That I know, is in the proper game adter the crash that I would love to have they as pet in the camp

I mean... put ourselves in that situation.

If a brain asks you (while in your mind) pull it out of a body. As a normal day to day person that was just abducted by aliens?

The DC should be high to not be losing our minds let alone popping a brain out of a living being.

I'm fine with the scene, even if it is OTT, because frankly the game is immediately OTT.

If anything the prologue should be creepier, it's a mind flayer ship

Treating content like a checklist bewilders me.

Over the top? (seriously people stop making hard for us no native English users, and older too, with all this acronyms -.-' )

Nah. In the opening video the scene of a soldier that tranforms into a mindflier is more, way more, creepy and frightening we can see the fear of the soldier while he run for his life, the panic in his eyes when he start to become a mindflier in paragon the birth of Us the intellectual devourer is almost cute.

I dare to say that the intro made quite clear what to expect.


Furthermore the main character is the protagonist of the story, that means that they are not your average John/Jane easy to be startled or terrified, furthermore one way or anoher the main character are adventurers that reached level one in a specific class.

Am I in the minority here? That was one of my favorite scenes. I love Us! I wish it could be a permanent party member.

Not too well versed in DnD stuff, but i'm pretty sure a lvl 1 in a mindflayer ship might as well be a peasant.

I do agree with the sentiment, though. MC really doesn't feel like a young adventurer, which is pretty enjoyable, so it's easy for me to look past that aspect and just headcanon that the tadpole is tampering with my char's abilities.

To weigh in here, I actually pretty much enjoyed the darker tone of the intro.

GAH! waiting on inventory to buy a computer that can run this but based on the demo reels and intro play-through video I saw:

intellect devourer! Kill on sight! Although it did remind me of the Scrivener from Hordes of the Underdark (because they re-used their intellect devourer model). As the PC I probably would have thought the guy in the chair a sick experiment and looked for a way to put him out of his misery. As the human playing the game, after seeing it might help me navigate the intro I'll definitely do a play through with it. It was it's voice that made it creepy. Should sound more like a disembodied adult and less like some child trying to sucker you in to something your shouldn't do.

My question to you would be, why is your personal specific definition of what can be stomached and what can't be, the one that should be listened to?

If someone else has an even lower tolerance for squeam than you, but still really wants to play the game, would you support all of the elements that you like or appreciate being toned down into non-events and blandly neutral-to-positive scenes? Then the person who wants to play the game, but can't stomach it being anything other than a happy fantasy adventure where none of the good people get hurt and the bad guys are obviously bad guys who just fall down and then learn their lessons, and everyone is friends by the end? If they really want to play this game, but can't bear it to be dark in the slightest, would you want the game tuned to their needs? Or would you perhaps suggest that if they want to experience this particular story, it will have those kinds of elements, and they have to make a choice about whether this is the game for them instead?

I don't wish to seem aggressive or harsh here, but unless you're trying to say that your perspective is objectively true as the line for what is okay and what is too much (and no one person is special enough to claim that), then just not engaging with the content that you don't personally want to see, while allowing others who can or do appreciate it to do so, is the only really sensible solution.

You personally felt it was past your comfort zone; that's feedback and that's great! I'm sure it's appreciated as another data point, but your truth is yours alone in that respect, and many will not agree.

In terms of the rolls, you have a number of different options for how to acquire the ally if you want it - different ones to suite a couple of different builds (strong characters can win by being strong and smashing the skull, wise characters can win by being wise and perceptive - noting the issues and doing a planned extraction, nimble characters can win by being nimble, doing the extraction straight up), and the checks never seemed too high to me; I think in all of my play-throughs (and I have run through that intro a lot...), I've failed to acquire Us once and once alone.

Just a friendly reminder that this forum is for discussion of the BG3 game and your reactions to it. Posters are free to express any opinion they like about the game (with the limits of reasonable), and such posts should be taken as just that, their opinion.

It is not for others to ask them to justify that opinion. If you do not agree then explain why, but do not suggest that it is unreasonable for someone to be expressing an opinion on the very place set up to receive them.

My weird party would like this: Sazza the goblin, Us the intellectual devourer, Astarion the pale elf, my main character \m/

As a horror fan, I'm not grossed out by what happened so far in the game, but I can understand, that someone, who is not used to such graphic pictures might be put off by the way, you obtain Us. I have a very good friend, who would have stopped playing while watching the intro, because she can't stomach it.
As a Lovecraft fan, I appreciate the whole look and feeling of the Mindflayers ship, but I know, that it is very dark and grim. I was a bit shocked, when I approached a desk, clicked something and a poor woman instantly turned into a mindflayer - with a lot of screaming.
So I think, it is ok to voice those concerns.
The way the story is going, I don't think, those horror elements will be toned down.

However, demanding to make the rolls easier is a bit more complicated. Roleplaying games are all about dice luck. I got my character in Call of Cthulhu killed, because I managed to botch every roll and saving throw, I had to make - and the GM gave me a lot of chances - and I did put a lot of work in this characters story.

I don't think, you really miss out, if you botch a roll, things just go down differently. Maybe you have to fight, maybe an NPC don't tell you something - in the latter case, you often have numerous ways to get information anyway. For example Nettie: if you can't convince the two Tieflings to tell you about her, just ask the halfling trader in the Grove, he tells you willingly about Nettie, the healer.

In my first playthrough I just did go with the flow and took the dice rolls, as they came. In my newer playthroughs I sometimes save and reload, if I want a specific outcome for roleplaying reasons (this also can mean, that I want to botch a persuasion check).

The point is: if you want to get Us as a companion, save and reload and maybe space bar through the whole thing, so you don't have to see the scene that grossed you out. Or just ignore Us, you don't really need him to fight the imps.

Point is, seriously scenes can be skipped. The same image of the game (that reminds Chtul'hu) implies horror, the opening scene is creepy, furthermore is not a game that has just popped out, there are a lot of images, videos, articles that can let people to take the measures of the game.

I find quite weird, in this days when information is easily to find, to arrive at a game and then get surprised by the content and thus asking for it to be toned down because personal sensibility.

To me more changes ruled by this kind of pressure would make the game less interesting. Already Lae'zel and Shadowheart have been toned down, the gith patrol leader sounded less menacing that when I did play my first run.

Furthermore unless there's a phobia involved I don't understand how it seems impossible to control some reactions specially since no matter how immersive this is still a video game with a fake 3D feeling, that is clearly fantasy, in all the cut scenes the birth of Us is one of the most obviously fake.

it's a 50/50 roll at base 10 (str/dex). 16 dex/str makes it 7 or higher needed to roll. not that difficult sunshine. you can always f5/f8 . press spacebar to skip dialogue

Personally I love the tone that it sets.

Mind Flayers/Intellect Devourers are alien and creepy.
Would love it if Us was a full fledged companion.

I'm sorry, but this is way condescending. Nobody's forcing you to write here, right? Same goes for other toxic comments.

Eh, I'm not a fan, personally. I do find it a bit nauseating as I'm not that much into gore in general, so I've always been glad to get rid of the creepy little fucker as soon as possible.

But still, no idea why the OP seems to think he/she is in the position to DEMAND for its removal just because of a personal dislike.

Games rated M 17+ BLOOD AND GORE, PARTIAL NUDITY, SEXUAL CONTENT, STRONG LANGUAGE, AND VIOLENCE.

I'm expecting more to come.