When you claim that the red flags are too obvious ... i read that people are simply affraid to risk it.
'faint heart never won fair maiden'
There are some risks I’m willing to take, but I’m going to steer away from paths when it’s not clear that the game is registering what I’m doing or is going to be able to let me roleplay the path to conclusion due to a limited number of branching options having been written. I suppose I am afraid of the frustration that would lead to, but that’s different from not having the bravery to try a possibly doomed course of action.
My character, for example, told Minthara he was hers and slept with her after the raid, but that was a lie and he only did that to gain her trust. He actually hated her and would happily stab her in the back as soon as she was no more use to him in infiltrating the cult. But that was all in my head, because there were no different options in the “romance” dialogue for a character that was sincere and one who wasn’t.
Perhaps I should just trust that Larian will have written options that will let me follow my chosen path, but I’m afraid I don’t. I’d be concerned in a full playthrough that I’d put in many hours only for the game to treat my character as having genuinely joined up with the cult or romanced Minthara, and if it’s going to do that then I’d rather betray her and them earlier. I see it as just good design and story telling to give enough feedback to players to indicate to them whether the options they are choosing are recognised and are going to lead to interesting content down the line, or whether they’re going off the map of what the game will cater for.
