I think this is one of those things that are going to fit into the "agree to disagree" bin.
Some people thing that game combat mechanics must be roughly equal despite and separate from narrative consequences. Others find it refreshing that you can CHOOSE to close off an additional game mechanic because of a narrative choice they make.
In real life the "good guys" have rules they follow to protect the people around them, while the "bad guys" don't. If a character seeks out an evil power because they want to be as strong as possible, that is a CHOICE they can make.
A good guy whining that they can't buy an illegal grenade launcher because the bad guys have one doesn't garner trust or sympathy from me.
I think gamers have been conditioned by decades of games to think that the morally "good" path must always be the most at least equal if not more rewarding in terms of in game items, currency, abilities, etc. Most don't really want to think about complex issues, they just want to press the button that says "good" and win for it. A huge portion of the more casual fanbase never experienced anything else. What do you mean there could be something I might consider more fun locked down the evil path?! That's an outrage, I press "good" button, I should get everything all the best, that's how life works, right?
@benbaxter, @Darth_Trethon, respectfully, you are either generalizing much or blowing it out of proportion, if we are talking about this thread in particular. That said, the phenomena described by Darth_Trethon is real, yet it is seemingly not in BG3.
I've already mentioned here, that when it comes to the 'team healthy brains' then I am fine with narrative payoffs only, but it can also get complex to implement it this way, because narrative elements can't be directly evaluated against gameplay elements. I think it would have been much simpler and satisfactory to introduce mind shielding abilities for abstaining from the tadpole use, in the exact same screen. Those could be mutually exclusive, but focused on completely different things. For example, Illithid options would target power and influence still, while mind shielding options would target psionic defences and psionic detection. Just an example.
