Originally Posted by Malrith
Originally Posted by Nerovar
The answer to all these apparent inconsistencies is that the Emperor simply isn't a character in the way most people think of when they use the term. He's a plot vehicle whose personality and actions shift based on whether you're nice to him or not.

Isn't this true for the companions too, tho? I do agree that it feels a lot more rushed when it comes to the emperor because obviously he's not really someone you hang around with like you do with the party members (and obviously doesn't have a visible approval meter) but when you get down to it it's not that different from being nice to Shadowheart or any of the other more 'evil' companions like Astarion and Lae'zel to soften them up.
Kinda, but it's not entirely similar. What's happening with the more morally grey companions is that there's two sides to their character and you can appeal to either of them which will result in a respective outcome (assuming they like you). Whether the execution is believable is up to you, I suppose. With the Emperor, everything is just based on your moment to moment dialogue choices in each of his isolated scenes. You don't get his approval in the way you do with your companions, there's no actual trust being built with him. The relationship is also completely one-sided and he's the one holding all the cards, only revealing information to you when it suits him so you're not exactly in a position to influence his character which makes his wild swings even less believable.

On my playthrough, I treated the guardian like shit and the only thing I didn't do to piss it off was trying to stab it and the Emperor still tried to rizz me up. Conversely, you can be nice to him at every step of the way but in the end decide to free Orpheus, he will still switch sides without hesitation. All that really matters is the choice you make at the present time.

Last edited by The Red Queen; 23/08/23 02:08 PM. Reason: Added spoiler tags