Minthara, a companion we can only obtain by going pure STUPID EVIL. I understand wanting to give players reasons to RP both as a good guy or as evil or as someone in the middle.
Not only you get nothing by siding with goblins and lose on quests, content, etc. There is 0 logical reasons to do that, RP and gameplay included.
Disagree. There is some real reason to side with goblins: you recognize their commanders as infected too and they obey to the source of the infection. So stay loyal to them you can get information about this source and alongside try get privilege to come closer to this source and know more about it.
Yes, it is evil. But still very reasonable.
Hope Minthara will stay as part of reasonable evil/neutral path.
That�s not reasonable, That�s just stupid and you are trying to make it sound smart.
Counterpoint 1: you already get recognized by true soul by other infected and those with a brand. Why would you side with the guys, you can already infiltrate? Hell, it gets worse with Moonrise tower and Grymforge.
Counterpoint 2: narratively speaking it makes no sense. Minthara only wants to destroy the grove based on suspicion that the prism is there. Why isn't there an option of leading her away on a wild goose chase? Why cant she leave the assault to you, while you backstab the goblins?
Counterpoint 3: if you recruited Karlach and Wyll, they will fight and leave you, you lose access to at least 2 traders (Dammon and druid) in exchange for what? Making a good first impression on a cult that believes you are one of them? That�s just stupid evil. You basically killing off potential merchants, allies, slaves just to for the sake of killing them.
So, no, this isn't smart in any way shape. It�s like being stupid good and killing all Zhentarim because they aren't "honest traders" instead of keeping them alive to benefit from their services...
I don't think your counterpoints work. If you go down that route, Minthara and the goblins offer you a save passage through the Shadow, which none of the other options can. In the same way, on the good side, it's almost suicidal to go to the Creche (and deliver the prism right into their hands, one of the outcomes is literally game over), and you still do it. All these options are very much taking high risks because you have no good options. For my dark elf durge, siding with goblins and commanding them around, feels like a much more natural choice then having to deal with druids, refugees and other losers.
CP 3 is just metagaming. You wouldn't know that, and also who cares? That's exactly what makes it a meaningful decision. You go down the evil route, you have less allies, less resources, but more personal power. It's part of the fun doing it. You also gain something for that. Normally in a good party, Shadowheart wouldn't become the leader of the Shar cult (getting some nice items and allies), Astarion wouldn't ascent (which makes him more powerful and fresh allies), the Dark Urge gets a few extra powers (limited though, if you play with a "good" dark urge, in comparison to Tav substantial) and a extra Baahl trader. I honestly don't get it. It's a trade off. And you can play the game without those allies and traders without any problems.
Now, Minthara is still bugged, the evil ending (at least in my case) was a joke, and they probably could add a bit more to that side in general, but it's still a fun, and because of all those differences, distinct and memorably experience. At least for me. It also makes Minthara stand out. She's can't be influenced as much as the other characters in either direction.
