When I first played the game... And I mean several playthroughs, I was wondering, "Where's my dream person?". Why? I wasn't EVER going to use mind flayer powers. Who would? You gotta know it's bad for you.
Then I decided to just see what would happen if I was a total idiot, and I used them like crazy. Suddenly, there she was. Ah! Now I get it.
Larian needs to tempt players more or no one is going to ever fall into temptation and trigger the dreams. Also, again, if you make Shadowheart so easy to rescue, who WON'T do it? Very few will just ignore her and head to the end. Even in my first playthrough, when you couldn't save her, I ran all over the shop trying to figure out how to.
But, if I'd been presented with the tadpole powers on my first playthrough - use the Dark Side or leave her - I might have just left her. But then... The good side of me might have been like, "It's just one time. What if she dies because you leave her? Maybe you should do it?"
We need MORE of that if anyone is ever really going to be tempted to use the illithid powers. I think it's totally appropriate and makes a lot of sense from a game perspective. It also CAN be explained away in various ways as to why she's in a special pod that can only be operated by illithid powers.
Oh I agree on the temptation part.
That was my point. When you first encounter the console, it makes more sense to me for the tadpole to offer you a quick and easy solution to freeing Shadowheart, rather than this stupid need for a key to open a chest to get a part of the console to THEN use a power that isn't even obviously labelled until too late.
Give me temptation and easiness/morally tough choices, but don't hide those behind stupid fetch hoops.
Build the tension, time is apparently of the essence, but meh, not really right... Geez maybe just change Laezel's comments about "don't touch anything" to more of an explicit warning about how even trying to use the equipment might accelerate ceramorphosis due to allowing the tadpole more access to our minds. Or something to that effect. After all, Gith have knowledge in this regard.
But I always prefer the concept of choice.
- If searching and maybe even fighting to find a key/part allows me a "safer" path to freeing SH, maybe I do that, but then maybe the cost is Laezel's approval of me plummets due to the time it takes and I am on a bad footing with her later on.
- Using the tadpole without the time wasting, she might dissaprove only a little and you get SH on your side, but Strike 1 in terms of Tadpole usage!!
In any case, even if Larian don't want to bother with any of that and it stays as is, I would like more obvious mention that operating the console means accessing a power I "shouldn't have", BEFORE I press the button.
