Greetings! Although I have long appreciated the swords and sorcery genre, this has been my first time dipping into the DnD lore and Larian's treatment of it.
I'll keep it short and say that, despite some nice settings, engaging companions and solid in-world exploration, I've really been taken aback by the tone and major plotlines of BG3. It's like the game cannot decide what it is trying to be. Is this a fantasy epic? Is it science fiction? Is it a silly cartoon? It seems to depend on what you are doing at the time.
Regardless, I pressed on until finishing out Act 2 where I was treated to the visage of
Larian wrote the story but it's based very much in lore. The thing you mention but also the Mindflayers and Mindflayer ships have a sci-fi type of feel but I will give you one word: Spelljammer. It's basically a campaign in space and an official campaign of D&D. All of these things have been around since 2nd edition AD&D which came out in 1989 btw.
The absurdity of that sight mixed with the solemnity that the narration tried to respond with felt like satire. The dialogue continued on to explain that
three literal gods needed to recruit three cartoon supervillains to control said brain because...reasons?
You may have missed that the gods have to answer to Ao, the supreme god. And one thing that Ao strongly forbids is that the gods directly interfere in the matters of mortals. They can only act through mortals, hence the Chosen. Part of the discoveries you can make is that Withers is probably the Chosen of the original god of death (Jergal), who made a pact and left his death domain to three other gods of death (Bhaal, Myrkul and Bane). The plan to control an elder brain through the crown of Karsus was theirs to begin with. That's why they worked together. As you find out later, you can't control the elder brain by yourself because it's much too powerful for a single mortal. Chosen get more power and as such three chosen mortals can (barely) contain an elder brain. This is why you or someone has to become Illithid to be able to control the Elder Brain alone. I'd say that last part is a bit of a weak spot in the story line, but ok, I can forgive it
I stared in blank befuddlement. It did not help that immediately afterward
my guardian revealed themselves to being a Mind Flayer
who proceeded to spout five paragraphs worth of exposition that made just about as much sense.
So, all of that leads to my question: Are the tone and machinations of BG3 natural products of the source material in DnD? Or is this kind of storyline more of a Larian product?
Thanks, and Cheers.
So I would say it's a mix. Larian wrote the story as is but it does so based in the lore of D&D. Whether or not you like the story is up to the individual. It has some satirical elements for sure but whether you see it as a game that cannot decide what it's trying to be or as a game that has everything in it...well, that's up to you. After having played games like Sacred and Guild Wars, I've gotten used to Fantasy mixed with Sci-Fi. But far be it from me to try to convince you to like what you don't care for. I've given you some explanations that might help a bit.
Personally, I've put over 400 hours into it and I'm not bored with it yet. I don't think it's about the main story line though. It's more about the world building and companion story lines. I just like being in the game. Do mind, I didn't expect to still be playing it after so many hours but there it is. Then again, I've been playing tabletop D&D since 1989 and as such I understand that having a really great story is amazing but it doesn't have to be to enjoy a campaign. Sometimes tropes are good enough
