I don't know why, but ceremorphosis (turning into a flayer) doesn't seem all that interesting to me if it's done as a Bhaalspawn type transformation. The idea of maybe wrecking the game as a super OP Mind Flayer at some point in the Mid to Endgame as an Evil PC might have some initial charm, but I think it will wear a bit thin.
Instead I think they should rip off that 1990 movie The First Power, or that one flick where Denzel is a demon hunter, what was it called - Azazel or something? Anyhow, like that, where the PC is about to get chunked out of existence after a set-piece fight, and then the Daisy Worm reveals that it can save us, or at least our consciousness or our 'soul', but only if we give ourselves over to it completely. Like in an irrevocable decision that truly solidifies an Evil path with an Evil goal that has clear motivations, for an Evil PC. But then, instead of playing as a Mind Flayer, which seems a bit too obvious and predictable, the goal then becomes to continually find new hosts and take over the bodies of various hapless Companions or random NPCs in a sort of body/character jump campaign. To me that'd be way more Highlander/Kurgan with a twist, than what we ended up getting in Throne of Bhaal.
Basically where we become an Illythid themed doppelganger of sorts, in a nod to both BG1 and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers thing they've already been setting up here. Maybe not as the angle for the full game, but at least as a way to close out the EA and leave it with a bang. Sure it gives up a bit in terms of Charname/Tav as a totally unique show stealer, but also opens things up to have a lot of wicked fun with the material and assets that already exist. Like who we choose to take over and ruin, as a sort of aesthetic choice hehe.
To me that would be way more interesting than the Origins PC concept as some kind of game launch mode decision, because it provides a similar appeal of taking over someone else's set persona, but having a more in-game narrative rationale for how that all works and why it's happening, and also to really deliver on an Evil path like they teased at the start of the EA.
I'm not sure why, but I just really like the idea of a BG Where's Waldo that uses all the games Companions or NPCs as a potential way to riff on it, but also doing so in a way we haven't seen done before in a D&D game. I think a CRPG with a 100 or a even 1000 potential 'companions', has a novelty to it that 8-12 companions never could. They just need to find the right narrative way into the idea, and an execution that seems plausible or workable given the limitations of a computer game. I think the notion of us stealing the bodies and breaking the minds of our favored 'chosen' randoms, switching them out as we go along (sort of casually like the companions of BG1), is potentially interesting for a 'Role-Playing' game of this sort. Where we run into the wall of pre-definition that inherently limits CRPGs, at least there'd be a sort of tug-of-war push and pull about it, to gloss over the inconsistencies and make the limits there a bit more fuzzy so it has room to operate. Where we're not Origins per se, but rather the worm, or the dark passenger, hitchhiking and inhabiting/stealing the essences of the randos as we go.
That was just an idea for the Evil route, maybe the Good or Neutral path works a bit different for a similar crescendo, but building on that sort of concept for the Evil one- of the disembodied protagonist, who has to body jump, and take over other minds to stay alive and keep going. As a kind of compromise between what the writers want for their characters, and how the player chooses to rip these apart from the inside out lol. Could be fun, I'd think, and satisfying in a very different way than just curating our unique character from a range of pretty limited options.
I have no clue what we'll get in BG3, but I don't mind the idea of Larian doing a sequel, provided they deliver with BG3. I think I'd be kind of disappointed if we don't get a part 4, because that'll mean it didn't really land or seem worth it, even to the developer, which definitely isn't what I want for this one.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 02/08/22 05:17 PM.
