Originally Posted by Blackheifer
Originally Posted by Leucrotta
Originally Posted by Blackheifer
*snip*
Yeah...calling people 'selfish' for not being on board with Viconia's railroad/character assassination is certainly...a take.

BG 2 writers were 'humoring' you with her character arc and Viconia 'wanted to die' . Just....really?

The knots some people will tie themselves into to excuse the terrible writing around Viconia is truly astonishing.

Her status in BG 3 directly contradicts her BG 2 epilogue in specific ways obviously intended to make her less sympathetic. It's frankly just baffling that anyone can look at an ending where she explicitly is rejected and betrayed by her fellow Sharrans and loses the favor of Shar and comes to the conclusion that 'Viconia was a fanatic and butchered her fellow Sharrans (loyalty and faithfulness emphasized) without a second thought because Shar demanded it, because she lives and breathes for Shar's favor-was a natural and fair interpretation and continuation of the former.

It's literally 'well actually the exact opposite happened'.

And yeah none of this crazy string justification for her portrayal (or Sarevok, for that matter) comes close to addressing that Larian had the option to interpret them in a manner where they were included in a manner like Minsc or Jaheria that was designed to actually be a treat for their fans to see, instead of ...this. They had a choice, and a degree of artistic flexibility available to them that they were willing to exercise, clearly. But *this* is what they chose to go with. The one where S & V are one note fanatics whose character development is thrown out the window, who are narratively set up to be second fiddle to the player and the Origins (I mean hell, according to Minsc, Viconia left the BG II party after being chased off by Boo, of all things, and SH's story basically flat out makes her Vic's replacement, while Durge's makes it very clear that Sarevok is a shadow and a failure of both Orin and Durge.) ...villains whose (strongly encouraged) killing is framed as a cathartic triumph that's celebrated by everyone in your party.

A degree of extrapolation might be expected to include old characters, but for heaven's sake, Vic's portrayal could not be more tailor-fitted to PO her fans if it was a literal hate fic. It's amazing something like this got green lit, IMO.


My goodness, how dare they not consult you before writing Viconia into the story, what with all your published novels and your clear and deep understanding of writing. Truly a loss for all of us I am sure.

Personally I would have preferred that they had left Vicky out - I think she was too many young boys first sexual video game experience and they never got over it. Probably spent years writing steamy fanfiction about it all - ruining all those socks your dear mother bought you. Then she shows up and she is just some bitter old lady Shar fanatic with a lifetime of regret for her shitty behavior. That's got to be a kick in the ol' yarbles, just ruins all that fantasy.

You know what Viconia is? She is proof that boys (and some gals) will go crazy over a good pair of digital breasts and a sultry voice despite a mountain of red flags surrounding them. She is prepubescent male lust and the arrogance of "I can fix her" writ large.

In THIS story, letting Viconia live is not only cruel to her, but it showcases a lack of conviction on the players part to bring to justice a mass murderer. Doing anything for the sake of sentimentality is how psychopaths and sociopaths operate. Congrats on failing that "good" playthrough. Pft.

Lmao, so now you're slut shaming Viconia? Well, that explains the venom.

Edit: Also, Viconia in BG2 has no digital breasts.

I'm also a woman who loves Viconia as my female Charname's bff, so weirdly, I can't claim to have been enraptured by her sex appeal.

Last edited by celestielf; 10/10/23 04:53 AM.