Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Killed by Bad Writing

[Disclaimer: There are spoilers and sorry for the length

I don’t think I am a troll. I think I am someone who very much likes this game and has high hopes for it. I know there are serious problems with the story and I know that many people realize this. My guess is that no one knows it better than the writers at Larian. That’s usually how it works. My concern is that I am a lunatic in the wilderness, and that BG3 will become a dating simulator or goblin punching arcade because that is what generates the most positive responses on Twitch. I suppose this post was my feeble attempt to prevent that.]

I have tried twice to write a character that makes it to Act III. One is only there because he fudged a key choice and so I have no interest in continuing with that plot line. I have another that cannot proceed past the Astral Plane because there is no way that he would side with a Mind Flayer under the circumstances presented. I am not saying Act III is bad, I am saying there is no coherent way for my characters to reach it. They can only proceed as self-aware game pieces following game-logic.

I don't think I am any less of a fanboy than most of the people on this forum. I would say that, in general, the dialogue is quite good and the voice acting is exceptional, but the story arc is a disaster. My hope is that a dark urge playthrough will make more sense, but that's not how I would prefer to play the game.

Here are some issues with the writing**:
(1) The plot reversals for Lae'zel and Shadowheart are whiplash-inducing. It's a reach for you to argue that the writers laid the groundwork for those twists. They were simply necessary as 'game-logic'.

(2) I can't say much about the other characters. There isn't much depth to Gale and Karlach's story in Acts I and II -- Gale is a doomsday device and Karlach is a dating simulator. Characters like these do not exist outside of video games. Wyll's story seems decent but the cambions are wildly implausible.

(3) Mizora and Raphael are written as high school bullies. The first time I met Raphael he said "The mouse smiled brightly; it outfoxed the cat! Then down came the claw and that, love, was that." I sincerely think you can find better poetry in the average public restroom. If a student submitted this I would ask for a re-write. Just in case you are not seeing it, the problem -- at least one problem -- is that he ends with an artificial device to force the rhyme and meter. Surely the writers could have come up with something better. The portrayal of these characters is cringe-inducing.

(4) Cruelty is not a punchline. I am not a prude -- I do not mind cruelty in the punchline. But there must actually be a set-up and punchline for the joke to land. If you kick the squirrel because squirrels are jerks, that could be funny. But if you simply kick the squirrel without provocation, that is just cruel. I feel like the game often does not see the distinction.

(5) I sincerely do not mind the BDSM theme, I just think they are laying it on too thick (I affirmatively support it being in a fantasy game, I just question the decision to put it nearly everywhere in the game).

(6) It is generally correct to choose the most outrageous option. I suppose this is because the game is meant to be funny (and it is – the Volo surgery scene is among the game’s best). But it doesn’t allow for player created characters unless those characters know they are in a game world. No reasonable person would allow Volo to operate on them, or jump into an oubliette, but the “Player One” character always knows that is the objectively correct choice because Player One knows it is in a game. My point is that, while it is nice to have the option of making an outrageous choice, it is bad writing to consistently reward the character for behaving in such an implausible way.

(7) I am sure there is more but my specific problem is the following. At the very beginning the story told me: “First things first: we need supplies, shelter, and most of all, a healer”. The healer is to remove a mind flayer tadpole from our brains. We agreed that it was bad to have a worm eating our brain and I find this to be an eminently reasonable motivation for my characters. That this is our top priority is reinforced throughout all of Act I.

It is very important to my character that he agreed to end his own life if no progress is made on the main quest. Early in the game Lae’zel said “If the sickness does not pass come dawn, I will end us all.” In the Druid Grove I swore an oath to Nettie that I would take Wyvern Poison if I started to turn.

The guardian will not identify themself and is vague about their conflict. I find out that, not only are they lying about their appearance, they are, in fact, a mind flayer. I am not terribly surprised by this since there must have been a reason for their lack of transparency, they have been communicating with me telepathically, and they are encouraging me to eat more brain worms. In short, a creature whose modus operandi is mind control and deception is asking me to trust him despite the fact that he has demonstrably deceived me. My answer is no. And I am not the one who is crazy.

I know who the Githyanki are and I trust their motives. They will probably kill me but that is the morally correct course of action at this point. The game has provided no progress in the main quest to remove the tadpole and so I must honor the oath I took in the Druid Grove. Certainly I cannot take my brain worms into Baldur’s Gate. I claim that, unless Orpheus has a cure, any good-aligned character must snuff it at this point. We are out of options. But like a blinking green door in DOOM, the game was clearly telling me that I should trust the guardian for the sake of progressing the story. Only a self-aware game piece can choose that option (and it chooses it largely because there is no other option).

That is what I meant by “Killed by Bad Writing.’ I don’t believe the game provides any logical and principled path forward other than to die in Act II. I must choose their rail or end the game.*** So now I am trying a character that has no logic or principles. She just returned camp to find that Alfira wants to join the party. Oh happy day! Give me a sandbox with Minsc and Alfira and I might quit my job. But of course I am now looking at her disemboweled corpse. This is how Larian wants me to play the game…

**I left out the fact that major characters are introduced at the very end of Act II. This is way too late to be introducing Orin and Gortash.

***Larian likes to jokingly kill you with a game menu. Vlaakith will end your game if you insult her but not if you betray her in a quest of existential importance. That may be good game logic but it is poor writing.