Oh oh also...

She needs better hair! They really should have anticipated this from the many discussions about Minthara's hair hehe.

Right now her part is off. They also nixed her beauty mark over the lip. I'm not too attached to the BG2 portrait on that one, cause it was a rip (the BG1 portrait is better in my view and this Viconia does feel more like the BG1 Viconia to me) but they obviously went with more of a BG2 approach to her trim there. I think they should have kept her in a hood for the reveal and left more of her face in Shadow that way.

Ted Arfken did a nice concept for her a couple years ago... I liked his idea for Jaheira as well. The both have the Elf thing going with the larger eyes and wider set, but mostly I just liked the vibe and outfit there...
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eawONX

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]


I think if we don't get to see Shar save her from the Spider Queen's vengeance then that's bound to be a let down. I read somewhere the suggestion that we should be able to trade out for Viconia when we get to that point so we could still have a Cleric. But to me it would be more fun to have them together. You know like, "I hate what you've done with your hair, and what are you wearing!" Griefing Shadowheart about not having enough tattoos for a justiciar her age, and "I don't care what your aunt Jaheira said!!!" heheh. Seems like it could have been a goldmine for some clutch banter.

To me the thing which doesn't fit and isn't going to sit right is the idea that Viconia is the one who's primarily responsible for Shadowheart's woes, like from childhood, by the implication. Shadowheart's quest becomes all about finding her "parents" and getting to the bottom of that mystery, but if you want to do that right, we as the protagonist should be able to play out the dysfunctional family, with the lesson that 'mother' has an inherently redemptive angle, even Shar. You need a reveal which lends more weight to the value of the obscure there.

Like where we don't do what Viconia asks, and lie to protect Shadowheart, and then doing that is the thing which makes Viconia actually trust us. When we find out some sub-plot stuff there, that makes every dark choice of Shadowheart's still seem like maybe it was the right call after all. In a more morally ambiguous universe, where gods are intervening and all these peeps are just sorta hapless proxies for the divine wills at work, at least. Instead of a Mommy Dearest set up, where we just want to see that person get instantly off'd, cause we're on team Shadowheart now, instead it could have been a whole schtick with the dysfunctional Sharran side of the adoptive family tree there hehe. Viconia was a fantastic BG character! Of all the companions who made it through to the sequel she'd have been the longest lived.

By this point she should be among the wisest people we speak to in the entire game. She's both older and wiser than Jaheira, but what does that mean here lol. According to her BG2 starting stats, Viconia was the one who must have read all the wisdom tomes in BG1 hehe. I mean for real, by now she should be like the Heraclitus of Faerun on that score, imparting the revealed wisdom of a priestess who's served Shar for centuries already.

I'm happy to see her in BG3, I just want more, and better!!! Always for that one!

ps. This is pretty much exactly what I would want as well...

Originally Posted by Vlad the Inhaler
What i would have expected to find, was a stern, stoic person, being a strict, yet maternal figure to Shadowheart, seeing herself in her, trying to instill her philospohy into her to mould her into what Viconia thinks Shadowheart needs to be, to not only succeed her, but to survive the erratic decisions and Ambitions that Shar will put on Shadowheart as Mother Superior, once she suceeds Viconia. You can see this behaviour in how she speaks and "helps", or atleast tries to help, troubled female companions in BG2, like Aerie and Imoen, aswell. Her Struggle to shield Shadowheart from Shars Dark Ambitions, while still appeasing her and seeing to her duties as Mother Superior would have made for an excellent character struggle, befitting her Character, and making the Divide between Shar and Selune, that defines Shadowhearts entire story even more ambigious, ultimately making both paths morally grey instead of a clear black and white. This is not what i wished this would have been after finishing the game mind you, this was my expectation after 3 Acts of Shadowhearts story, romancing her, getting to know her and hearing her speak about her upbringing, and especially how she talks about the Mother Superior before and after an eventual turn to Selune.

Pps. Also really doesn't matter what the Wizards say on this count, just to premempt that, cause it wont matter to the reaction I have. The wizards made a lame call there, like a real ball dropper, and Larian should help them walk it back, because this is super high profile compared to novelizations that nobody read. I don't care about Karlach's ending nearly as much as this one. Whatever canon plot points have to have happened, the game should respond to player nostalgia and allow us to tease out sensible motivations or uncover a hidden truth via initial dialogue prompts, so she can have a proper send off. Let it remain a mystery, historical obscurity, a secret where nobody knows for sure what really happened. But don't run roughshod over those fond memories ya know, by forcing her into a one note. She's right at the beating heart of the game's legacy for many. I hope they revisit this stuff for their final cut.

Last but not least, the choice to handle this particular character in that particular way runs entirely counter to everything else we've heard from the higher ups regarding how they want us to reimagine that particular fantasy race. Instead they've been flattened back down into a pancake. Undid all that work with one stroke. I'm not sure they quite realize that's what they've done, but if you think of it from that frame, they've basically painted 'em right back into that corner. The Character I'm talking about was an exemplar of running counter to type in that way. She broke the mold on it (with Ashideena probably lol) and is possibly the reason we have certain options foregrounded in the PHB now. They should do her up right, the way they did Jaheira!


Either that or we learn she's been Orin in disguise the entire time, from the very start. Shadowheart raised by doppelgangers twist. Like seriously, if they have to fix it like that, then fine. But gotta do something here.

Last edited by Black_Elk; 02/09/23 10:37 PM.