Given the nature of the Dark Urge's character and ambitions, this post contains severe NSFW content alongside heavy spoilers from start to finish. This feedback post is also primarily from a standpoint of having twice replayed Dark Urge committing to a fully evil playthrough (choosing all in-character options of slaughter, torture, manic joy at committing evil deeds, killing literally every NPC (which in turn meant I cleared everything as a completely solo party barring the Emperor at the end to avoid turning into an illithid), world domination, all the good stuff), so this post will only touch on plot points that occur in that sort of playthrough. It's also a giant wall of text, so I hope you enjoy the read.

1. About the Dark Urge

To give some context on Dark Urge: This origin is the last remaining true Son/Daughter of Bhaal, the God of Murder, and they were the original Chosen of Bhaal who was ordered to carry out the plans of the Dead Three by seizing control of the Elder Brain and achieveing world domination. Everything was going according to plan until they were betrayed and replaced by Orin, who conveniently ripped into their skull and brain hard enough to give them total and permanent amnesia, but by some miracle (likely by Bhaal's and/or the Elder Brain's intervention, I couldn't confirm this nor find external info on this(either that or I'm fried)) the Urge lived. With the change of leadership, Orin is also causing the Dead Three to "fight like children" as the Elder Brain put it, who was more than happy to follow the Urge instead at the time. Eventually, with tadpoles in head and Astral Prism in hand, the Urge fights their way back to wrestle back control of the Temple of Bhaal, of the three Netherstones as the new Dead Three were incompetent to wield it, and then eventually the Elder Brain (who became the Netherbrain by this time), not as the Dead Three, but the Dead One, in the name of Bhaal. Being a Bhaalspawn, they do this by amassing a veritable mountain of corpses of friends and foe alike, bringing unimaginable tragedy to the lands of Faerun. Along this path, their ever-adoring butler Sceleritas Fel - the last of his kind - assists them on their path by praising the Urge's deeds and rewarding them with gifts of Bhaal.

Overall, it is a very compelling story of an unhinged villain whose instincts are so pure that not even a full-scale permanent amnesia could stop them. And whether or not it was intended, but by Act1, amassing enough corpses gets you strong enough to clear all of Act2 and 3 with no issues completely solo (given when I tried Tactician like this, I had to amass all the Invis potions for Raphael), mainly thanks to the cloak gifted to you by Sceleritas, and that power level I feel like is rather in character.

It is clear that the primary motivation of the Dark Urge is to kill, kill and kill again, something that they even say in just normal gameplay when attacking NPCs. Everything else for them is quite literally insignificant. The freedom to plan out the best way to kill someone is very much there (being a stark contrast to Orin, who sees murder as art, while the Urge sees it as the ultimate goal), making the Dark Urge not just a butcher, but the most potent and competent Unholy Assassin of Bhaal. However, there are some inconsistencies and issues with the plot surrounding what is otherwise a beautifully crafted character.

2. Isobel is forgotten

The first big issue happens at a rather significant point in the Urge's story, as this interaction unlocks the Slayer form. Once you kill Isobel - specifically by not letting her get kidnapped by the ambush party once you meet her for the first time, only killing her afterwards, or killing her by sneaking past Jaheria and everyone else when you first get to Last Light - the game always treats it as if her dead body was kidnapped by the ambushing forces, and the game teleports you in front of the Inn to fight the now Shadow-turned. This rather ruins the immersion as the Urge specifically screams at itself internally for her to preferably die at the Dark Urge's hand, and given that storing corpses in your inventory is an actual in game mechanic, it is rather hard to believe that Isobel could have gotten kidnapped in any other way other than failing the actual ambush sequence (and as a side fact, Jaheria appears as a neutral NPC if you decide to kill Isobel without interacting with Jaheria, nor is there a cutscene / dialogue after you kill Isobel this way, but the cutscene after the battle plays out as if you've already had your previous cutscenes with Jaheira and Isobel. And another side note, Jaheria does not drop the Mind Flayer Specimen despite she herself clearly showing she has one that she uses to identify True Souls, nor is it stashed anywhere in Last Light).

This breaks the immersion three-fold:

- If Isobel dies before or after the ambush, not during, how does her body get stolen? Remember that this becomes an important plot point and ends up making the fight with Ketheric that much tougher as she will be present as an enemy in the final fight of Act2, now undead and tadpoled. If there is nobody to steal the body other than the Dark Urge, why does Ketheric have her body?

- Not a soul other than Jaheria seems to take her death seriously, including Ketheric AND Dame Aylin (please note that in comparison to those two, Jaheria is a nobody to Isobel). Ketheric should be absolutely FURIOUS that you, someone he's worked with before, and someone that defies his will of the Absolute, murdered and stole the corpse of the daughter he loved more than anything else in Faerun away from him - he very blatantly makes this clear by stating that he would sacrifice everything to Myrkul just to be with his daughter.

- As for Dame Aylin, she would absolutely try to tear the Dark Urge apart - given nobody told her who killed Isobel, her default assumption is understandably Ketheric, but because Ketheric doesn't care, nor does the Dark Urge have an option to reveal to Dame Aylin that it was the Urge themselves that murdered Isobel, this simply never happens.

If you really want to keep to her body being yanked, why not just have Jaheria bust the door on you as you kill Isobel, and while you and the entire town dunk it out, Isobel's body gets stolen while everyone else is busy fighting? Assuming you dont pick up the corpse in some turns or something along those lines. You can always just drink an Invis potion and yoink the corpse yourself, leaving Jaheria to fight off the cursed (and opening on her again once she took out everything and is weakened or something. Evil playthrough stuff).

3. Dame Aylin's brain

Speaking of Dame, she also somehow has worse memory than the Dark Urge themselves. When you get to the point of freeing her (which is the only thing you can do in the end if you do my playthrough, as I killed Shadowheart at the first opportunity I could, right outside the Temple's door in Act1), you get the option to torture her by repeatedly killing her over and over again until the player gets bored, after which point you tell her that you're much, MUCH worse than a Sharran (given at this point, the Urge doesn't know that they're a Son/Daughter of Bhaal, although Sceleritas does hint that their Father is very proud of their deeds), which Dame confirms with a regrettable tongue. But after that, this is completely forgotten about, and she ends up treating you with the utmost respect despite slaughtering everything, including Dame herself and children straight afterwards in Act 3 (well, just the one in the Temple of Bhaal if you don't go around killing NPCs randomly like me). On my second playthrough, I actually ended up looting the corpse of Isobel after the Myrkul fight, and put it next to Dame afterwards just to see if anything happens, but no. She will actually work like any normal NPC and will get angry at you if you try to "illegally loot a corpse".

One of the things that completely blindsided me was the fact that she's just completely irrelevant after Act2. Sure, you can finish up the Nightsong quest, either imprisoning her once more or killing the mage, but what about revealing the fact to her that it was YOU who killed Isobel all this time? Sure, Ketheric might have glanced over it during all the fighting, but there would have been plenty of quiet moments between the Urge and Dame to discuss Isobel, Ketheric and Last Light. And speaking of the mage, why isn't there an option to get everything you can out of him with intimidation rolls, teaching you how to imprison Dame, then performing that on her (who, in this context would be a bit careful, given she was already deceived once by Ketheric exactly like this), and then revealing Isobel's murder after the fact and causing you to become immortal? (sidenote: they even have those plants in the Underdark that work as magic dampeners, so KO-ing the Mage and interrogating him is absolutely an option - and of course, killing him once everything is done and dusted).

This is something that would 100% be in line with the Urge's character as a sadistic psychopath, as it achieves both a severe mental breakdown and severe physical pain as you get to torture her infinitely (note: in Act2, if you decide to help Who He Was, the Urge is practically drooling at the idea of being able to kill something over and over again). And, sure - gameplay wise making the player Immortal would be slightly broken, and also slightly boring if you can't get an active turn in case you get KO-d, but you can make it so that it's not active while you are in the House of Hope given that it's on a different plane (as Raphael IS the hardest fight in this playthrough, while the Dead Two are a giant pushover and you can basically kill them in 1 turn if you get lucky on crits, or otherwise pre-pop a Scroll of Haste, damage elixir appropriate for your class and an appropriate weapon coating - Orin herself you can even kill in 1 turn with the weaker version of the Slayer that you are given thanks to a bug that is now fixed, and the only difficult part of the Netherbrain is just how low the Emperor can be on mobility compared to the Fighter I was playing, not to mention Dragon Slaying Arrows and Frightening Bolts completely neutralize the Dragon as a threat, plus the insta oneshot on the guy next to him). This also opens up another significantly difficult side bossfight that you can do next to Raphael while ticking all the boxes for an evil Dark Urge.

3+1. Same deal with the Emperor

Now, given that the Emperor basically sees (almost) everything you do and hears everything you think, he should absolutely be aware that the Urge is a Bhaalspawn and they plan on bringing ultimate doom, however, the only time he gets mildly annoyed is when you retreive the Orphic Hammer (even though he should know that they have absolutely no intention of using it, and also, it combos quite well with the Blood of Lathander by the way, although I was primarily using two handers when in melee), and is taken by COMPLETE surprise when the Urge eventually murders him atop the Netherbrain. Wasn't this something he should have accounted for? He is the selfless and heroic adventurer type to a fault, but even he must have that much insight. All it would have taken to identify the Urge as a psychotic mass murderer is to peer into their mind for a split second. Even Jaheira suspects them to initially be a menace, tadpole or not, someone who only had to take a glance at the Urge from the outside, so how come the Emperor can't see what's up? He should have absolutely prepared a contingency plan. One final showdown atop the Netherbrain to decide the fate of Faerun, both sides using each other to achieve their ultimate goal.

3+2. Oh, and Ketheric too.

Danny just kinda forgot that the Iron Fle- Oh, sorry, I meant to say Ketheric just kinda forgot that he used to work with the Urge. The old man never recognizes the Urge and never acknowledges them internally either as the original Chosen of Bhaal, leaving that revelation to be made by Sceleritas, Orin and Gortash. This feels like an artifact of early access in all honesty - leave the big revelation for Act3, the one no one had access to, despite it logically being a massive plot point in Act2 if Ketheric doesn't develop sudden dementia. The thing is, in Moonrise Towers, you also get a bit of foreshadowing if you pass an investigation check as you manouver around the wooden support beams and pass the crack in the chimney wall, as you get to interact with the Elder Brain who scolds the Urge for having abandoned it. So if the Elder Brain remembers, then why doesn't Ketheric? Without Ketheric saying anything, this is only interpretable as "it's trying to trick us" despite the fact that what the Elder Brain said is completely sincere and true, and could have been easily confirmed by the slightest slip of Ketheric, creating all the stakes for Act3 on the spot, giving you, the player, extra hype to partake in the Myrkul bossfight.

4. Raphael going under the radar

Raphael gets massive spotlight in the first two acts, and is one of the most compelling villains in the story. In Act3, it is revealed that he wants to take ultimate control of the Crown, either by simply talking to him or by pickpocketing him. While he might be someone that *could* use the Brain reasonably (remember, he wants to end the war in the Hells, being someone who despises chaos), the Urge is completely against this as they've been dreaming of world domination as early as Act1 once Vlakiith comes into the conversation. However, whether you kill him in the House of Hope or not, he really has no effect on the story, as he is treated as a sidequest in Act3, the most likely reason why players would bump into him being because they're horny and they wanted to have sex with random NPCs only to be told at the desk that Raphael is in house (I only caught wind of him of course because I killed everyone in the establishment. In fact - people keep saying how good of a dating sim this game is, but I've havent seen a single sex scene in 150 hours of playing this game. Stab people more, ya'll. There's some good loot out there).

This should be a MAJOR red flag for the Urge. As you move along the story, some things are set up:

- The Dead Three have the power to control the Illithid and achieve domination of everything. Once Orin takes the place of the Urge, they also become a giant pushover and barely a threat in the grand scheme, leaving the uncontrolled Netherbrain as the much larger threat.

- Raphael is the one who sourced this power to the Dead Three via the Crown of Karsus and also has a plan of his own, playing the long game to be the one who rules. He has been mysterious and menacing all this time, something that the Urge (and every other origin) picks up on. In Act3 however, it is revealed that he is also a player in the grand scheme - a dangerous one at that - and needs to be wiped out. Even the Emperor acknowledges this after you have a conversation with Raphael (although, for whatever reason, he doesn't suggest finding a way to get rid of Raphael permanently, which is kind of stupid given he called the devil a cockroach that always looks for trouble, but instead gets pissy at the sight of the Orphic Hammer, lol).

- The Githyanki despite hating the Illithid religiously have no real power against them as that power is within the Astral Prism, which is in the hands of the Dark Urge, never to be surrendered. If the Brain is free, or is otherwise under the control of the Absolute, the Gith Empire would almost immediately fall, despite being the most powerful military force in this universe.

Whatever you do with Raphael has no greater consequence though primarily, because:

5. There is no epilogue

Once you take control of the Netherbrain in the name of Bhaal, that's it, GG, credits roll. So what about everything else then? You defeated the Dead Three, you became the Absolute, but what about Raphael's demise and the Hells? What about the Gith Empire? What about Faerun? The ending is abrupt and there is no ultimate payoff for such heavy setup, as if the writers simply thought that "yeah everything is gonna die anyways now that the Urge is the Absolute, it's so obvious we don't need to make 3 PNGs and a couple lines of text for this" but you do. Like, yeah, I know the game is massive enough as it is, but compared to some of Mankind's greatest Fantasy works, Lord of the Rings has an INSANELY long and very satisfying payoff with their epilogue. BG3 just falls extremely short and leaves a bad taste in my mouth in this department (and note: I think this game is a 10/10 judged from what I've seen so far).

If you leave Raphael alone, he would be a giant threat to the Urge as Raphael has strung along a lot of the characters in the plot, almost to the same level as the Elder Brain itself. But if you kill him of course, how would the Hells react? Would they end their war and unite against the Absolute, giving the Urge not just one war to relish in, but also another with the Gith Empire? Can the Absolute fight two wars at once? What about Bhaal? Would he begin creating new Bhaalspawns to fuel the conflict? Would these new Bhaalspawns pose a danger to the Urge? Does the Urge learn from the lesson taught to him by Orin's betrayal, that they should always keep an eye open? Would Bhaal elevate the Urge to God status, especially given that, assuming we go along with the story I made up in point three, they would be invincible through Dame Aylin? And if she isn't imprisoned, then would they turn against the Urge despite being the one that rescued them? Would she convert to being a Bhaalist? What about all the characters you murdered? Who remembers their loss as they get slaughtered by the Absolute, praying for saviours that are long gone now? Is Dame going to suffer for eternity? What about any other God? Are they just going to stand around, looking pretty while Bhaal consumes everything? It is known that Gods can unite, which must be a significant threat to the Urge and Bhaal, so are they doing anything about it?

My first playthrough took me 70 hours of ingame time, about a 100 real time counting in for AFK-s, savescumming and going back in saves. There is a LOT of content and plot that is given to the player, many of them leading all the way into eventually betraying the Emperor atop the Netherbrain and becoming the Absolute. And a lot of them are simply never adressed.

6. A severe mischaracterization (heavy NSFW)

Now, this is ultimately a small criticism in the grand scale (a nitpick if you will), but this is something that has strung me along all the way to the end of the game from the first quarter of Act1 only to never have a payoff. I was always curious as to what is acceptable to put into a video game and what isn't. Across the history of gaming, we've had stories like Mortal Kombat being way too gory, or something like CoD Modern Warfare2 where you get to be in the boots of a terrorist and slaughter an entire airport. Thus I was instantly hooked the moment this was revealed as a possibility, as it would have taken MASSIVE balls to pull something like this off to further solidify the character of the Dark Urge.

After you kill Alfira in Act1, Sceleritas randomly drops the fact that the Dark Urge used to be a necrophiliac, and that they will "have it back on their schedule soon". Now, we know that the only thing that matters to the Urge is to "kill, kill and kill again". It is the one and only motivator and the purest instinct they have. The thing is, there are PLENTY of moments where that - let's just say hobby - could be explored during the plot. However, this is never touched on afterwards, leaving this one small one-liner in a weird spot.

The thing is, any type of nercrophilia or sexual assault falls WILDLY outside the characteristics of the Dark Urge - in fact, I don't think there are any other times in the plot across all the origins and possibilities where anything close to this comes up. So by the end, this small one-liner is simply meant to be there as a weak attempt to further portray the Urge as an unhinged villain without actually committing to it. And again, this is something that is very, very questionable to put into any media, but if you don't commit to it, why have it? That one liner could easily be removed, and the character would actually come off way better (not to mention the company itself removing a giant legal and safety risk). But of course, you can also choose to commit to it to extend and complete the portrayal of the evil you play as.

Non-NSFW TL;DR: The vileness of the Urge is presented in an extreme way that is then not explored, only leaving the character weaker. The character would be better off with that one small one-liner removed and forgotten about - or expanded, which comes with major risks as they often do in any media when artists try to portray the most inhuman behaviours possible.

7. Conclusion

The issue is that some of these criticisms don't just apply for the Dark Urge. You can choose to kill Isobel for example on any origin, and the story would be left broken just as much. And as far as I'm aware, other origins don't really have epilogues either - apparently, they added one for Karlach now, which is what primarily inspired me to share my feedback, as it's rare to see a studio so dedicated to mastering their game and genre (a game I already view on the same level as an RPG as Dragon Age Origins and Awakening, which is basically 10/10 territory in my book) that they are willing to go back and either fix or extend their plot.

I hope this giant wall of text was an enjoyable read. Given that according to Steam, only 0.4% of all players actually ended up as the Absolute in the name of Bhaal at the time of writing this post, I'm not sure how much attention this post will get, but I'm also sharing this as feedback to Larian as they have been incredibly receptive and I hope that I can give them something to think about.

Last edited by ghettojesusxx; 03/09/23 07:27 PM. Reason: Widened scope of spoiler tags