Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Dark Urge - Disappointed By The Scripted Unavoidable Outcome

Citation needed


In any case, Dark Urge really isn't intended for a first playthrough.

As I said before, my personal issue is not that Dark Urge has to kill someone since I even gave praise to the scene in my opening post. Nor do I mind if my character is forced to kill someone, because I really want to play a conflicted character that is trying to do the right thing while fighting the urge.

But I do however have a problem with the game forcefully killing a prominent side-NPC that has its own story to unfold just to make a point. Why did they simply not use the specifically made unique NPC for the scene that can only be accessed through meta-gaming to make a point? Why instead of that bugger are they using Alfira instead?

That's the issue, because Alfira has her own very emotional story that goes further than ACT 1. A story I very much want to explore and see where it goes. But nope... game decides she must die just to make a point and take away her side-content which has nothing to do with the actual character itself. That's the issue and why I have a problem with the way Dark Urge's curse is introduced.

It should kill the useless unique bugger made specifically for the scene instead and leave Alfira alone.

If you don't want the Durge to be evil, you have to struggle and *earn it*. It's not served to you on a silver platter just because you lost your memory. The past version of your Durge was absolutely, abhorrently evil with no capacity for true remorse. Larian did not make that clear to people who haven't been paying attention. I've seen all sorts of individuals come in here with their custom, lore defying backstory. You don't get to do that. Yet, you can, for example, start as a "good aligned" paladin. This makes ZERO sense! It would have been a golden opportunity to have a little popup that says: "due to your past actions, should you choose a paladin, they can only start out as an oathbreaker".

Seems to me that some people want to play the game as a 'badass' DU but still have a "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. In other words, the NPCs you slaughter bear the consequences of your actions.

Incorrect on both accounts.

The NPC that gets slaughtered got slaughtered precisely because it's not my own action, there's only one outcome. Therefore it isn't a consequence, but punishment for playing Dark Urge that takes away an entire storyline related to a side-NPC which has nothing to do with the Dark Urge character itself. Killing Alfira serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever other than to shock the player, which can be achieved just the same with a unique NPC which actually does exist specifically for this scene.

I just played out this scene by meta-gaming and the unique NPC is actually wonderfully written. So much so that I felt even more sad about her death because her reasons to stay at the camp are so much more compelling than Alfira's and really pulls at the player's hearstrings.



So it makes no sense to kill Alfira who has her own story which goes further than ACT 1, when this lady exists for this scene specifically and does a much better job at delivering the shock factor.

I can't test this. but i heard. if you knockout alfira. and then do that scene with the new npc showing up. you can continue to talk to alfira
However does that also mean alfira's questline will continue? or are you permanently screwed out of it even if you metagame like that?

I am proceeding as a glacial pace, and it took me 40h to get to the point this scene was happening if I were the Dark Urge. If I were in the middle of a “Try to turn the Dark Urge into a good person” I would have restarted without a second thought (or respecced out of that Origin, if possible).

I am not necessarily saying what Larian did is necessarily wrong, but all the people who were hoping to do a redeeming Dark Urge playthrough are in for an incredibly rude awakening.

Yup, if the player knocks out Alfira she will still talk to them despite the massive attitude loss, but in order to do so it requires naturally extreme metagaming. I believe she still will have her storyline available, despite the negative attitude.


The issue is not about redeeming Dark Urge, it's about Dark Urge killing off side-NPCs which have nothing to do with him and ending their stories without giving the player any choice on the matter. To make matters worse Larian made a unique NPC just for this scene alone, but instead of using the unique NPC they've instead locked it behind extreme metagaming and decided to sacrifice Alfira and her entire questline/story just for the sake of shock value. So in the end I as a player lost an entire optional storyline just because I am playing as Dark Urge.

If the character will be prematurely closing off side-stories of other NPCs then that's an issue, for me at least.

You can redeem him. I mean, your victims are dead, but you can . Don't think he's all gloom and doom

I strongly disagree with you, this scene has an effect precisely because this NPC is important and loved by the players. Any other hero can travel with her, but not Dark Urge.
Dark Urge was originally intended to be a very evil and violent passage...

If you went through the personal quest Shadow Heart, then you understand that the character must be important for his loss to be impressive

The effect is achieved even better with the unique NPC they've created, so it's not really true that Alfira is why it's a shocking scene. It would be shocking regardless of who it is because it comes out of nowhere.

If you don't believe me; I recommend playing the scene through the metagaming technique and you will see that unlike Alfira, the unique NPC is so much more emotionally compelling with her reasons to stay at the camp. She isn't pushy, annoying nor demanding, she simply is going through some extremely troubled times and just asks for a place to spend the night while she's also writing a book. If she is turned down, she will still thank the player and leave politely.

Unlike Alfira who is there only because she wants inspiration for her songs, which makes her pushy, demanding and even ends up calling the player a bastard if she's turned down. Ultimately they took a prominent NPC just for pointless shock value and made her annoyingly demanding before her sudden demise which adds absolutely nothing meaningful to Dark Urge's story.

I also personally find Alfira's death much more impactful, but that's just the thing. You can ask 3 people and get 4 opinions.

From reading that, I can understand, why they did choose Alfira as the victim. She is widely liked and it is more shocking, than an NPC, that ask to stay for a night. The shock value would probably only be greater, if Durge would kill Scratch or the owlbear baby.
But I get, that it is annoying to loose a character with potential story that way.
I probably will stay away from playing a Durge for now.

If you do end up playing as Durge Fylimar, my recommendation is to save every time you want to click on the Long Rest button after getting Karlach and Wyll into the camp, as that seems to be the trigger when Alfira will come to the camp. Then just reload whenever this scene occurs and do any of the two metagaming techniques.

Sucks because I would prefer a proper legit roleplaying way to save Alfira and not kill anyone, but they absolutely do not give the player any legit choice on the matter. Irks me so much that two desirable outcomes are locked away through metagaming and that one of them even has dialogue for not killing anybody that night.

HA i had this thread bookmarked for a reply. completelly forgot to check the second page so it looked like it never got a reply XD
now i read this im glad to hear. especially if her storyline continues.
does that storyline continuing also mean she will appear in your camp without getting murdered? cos that would be such a good thing.

I liked this plot twist, even though it's very sad. It made me feel like the stakes were high for my character (who is trying her best to be a good person). But then I enjoy playing characters with intense inner turmoil.

As for Alfira, I've been trying to find out what her "storyline" past singing the song in the Grove actually is? I've heard that she can show up in the Moonrise area (and potentially die randomly there), so is there actually a greater plotline you miss out on if she's dead? I've heard you can get items from her or something, but I'm more interested to know if she actually has a plotline, or if she's just a flavor NPC. Granted, I'll find out eventually when I play a non-DU to Act 2.

It would have been more impactful if Alfira could actually be recruited into the party, IMO.