Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Are the companion story lines thematic or forced?

The story of Baldur's Gate 3 starts with escaping a nautiloid ship streaking through Avernus and eventually crashing in bumfuck nowhere with survivors who have been tadpoled as part of the Absolute plot. Alright. Let's go.

Lae'zael: Mortal enemies with ghaik, on a mission to fuck with their shit but shit got fucked. Super understandable.

Minthara: Has many things to say about the whole Absolute business and would like to say them personally. Cool, makes sense.

Jaheira: BG resident, Harper, call back, no more questions.

Minsc: Was a statue because WOTC, tadpoled ?? Well, okay I guess. Random tadpoling was a thing.

Karlach: Stowaway during the Avernus trip. Tadpoled when? Why!? And one of the bad guys in BG is responsible for selling you. That's...certainly a coincidence.

Wyll: Pursuing Karlach. Tadpoled. ...same questions. When? Son of the duke of BG?? O....kay.

Astarion: Vampire spawn of BBEG vampire who set up shop in BG. Wtf, so did the nautiloid ship go out for a light jog and could only grab people from three city blocks?

Gale: Oh no, someone was grabbed from right outside Waterdeep. Oh, the crown of Karsus is a thing about a guy with the exact same ambition you got punked for. And it's...in BG. Right.

Shadowheart: Sent after the prism. Okay, why does Shar want the prism? Dunno, the Mother Superior must have wanted it for her own reasons. What were those reasons? Dunno. Okay. And this Mother Superior is in your cult center in BG? You...you don't say...So is it just me or do most of you have the same background manipulation story too...?

Halsin: Cities are stupid.

Me: ..why are you even here?



It is my opinion that the companions presence in the story feel far too 'coincidental' for my suspension of disbelief. Not only do most of them come from the same small geographical area, but are also all in the same 'stage' of their life: directly after being let off the leash of their manipulator, on the cusp of a decision of what to do about it. This was probably done for thematic reasons, but imo it was OVER done to the point where there are some questionable narrative elements that don't quite justify their circumstances and in other cases has the effect of making them feel 'samey.' You get to a point where their quests line up and it's 'kay, gotta face SH's abuser and then go punch Astarion's abuser in the mouth and then talk to Gale about his problematic girlfriend and Wyll has a devil jerking his chain and gotta kill Gortash because he sold Karlach to HER abuser...'

Shadowheart and Lae'zael look a lot like they have the exact same character arc and once I noticed that, then I went 'oh and Gale and Karlach both have things in their chest that will kill them and Gale and Astarion needing to eat non-food items is part of their storyline and Wyll and Karlach are both tied to Avernus unwillingly...'

What are your thoughts on this?

Forgive me if this has been talked about before. If so, feel free to point me to the relevant thread.

It's a heroic fantasy story. Here is my conclusion. (Spoiler if you haven't finished the game )

"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck."

Don't blame Larian, they've been tasked to succeed Bioware, and Bioware had spent most of their early existence rewriting Star Wars. And then they literally rewrote Star Wars. And then they made "not-Star-Wars".

Jason and Argonauts, is ironically, a strange example since all of the said Argonauts volunteered for their own reasons rather than being personally entangled in the main quest, came from different regions all over Greece and at least one of them joined in order to sabotage the whole thing.

Well, in the intro of the game, we see the Nautiloid (the illithid ship) capturing people in the streets of Baldurs gate. So it makes a lot of sense that many people came from baldurs gate. That part is covered. Karlach is more of a stretch. But considering that all that happens starts with Gortach (even if later his plan was used by the brain), it seems that it is not a coincidence, but a design on his part. And later another oportunists jumps on it.

But yes, Illithids tadpoling everyone is kind of the point. Because it is not just the companions, but also plenty of NPC that cross your path.

You misunderstand. Your companions all being tadpoled isn't the questionable part.

The cult of the Absolute and the True Souls are said to be based around the Western Heartlands by the game. Do you know how big of an area that is? That's the entire Sword Coast region, south to Amn and north to High Moor. That includes Cormyr, Tethyr, Calimshan, the Storm Horns the Lizard Marsh, Waterdeep, Neverwinter and more.

And yet all of the people who were tadpoled on the ship you were on all have ties to Baldur's Gate and reasons to go there to foil the bad guys REGARDLESS of the tadpole in their heads that is the questionable part. SH's Mother Superior is in BG. Wyll's dad is in BG. Karlach's seller is in BG. Astarion's master is in BG. If SH succeeded her mission, then the Gith would have followed her to BG. Gale can't just be a chosen of Mystra dealing with the problem because Elminster is busy who got caught, he has to have a tie in to the Crown of Karsus, which happens to be in BG.

Karlach can't have been Gortash's design, because it makes no sense for him to 'plan' for Karlach to escape Zarial and be chased by Wyll to a nautiloid ship that is only in Avernus because it got attacked by Gith and the pilot warped it through several planes and then have a dragon attack it so it has to crash land right back outside of Baldur's Gate. That's insane.

That's before getting to all of them being young, fit with the same theme to ALL of their backstories...

Except that city is not Baldurs Gate but one hundreds of miles away.

In the endgame many Nautiloid's appear, so while your Nautiloid covered the environs of Baldur's Gate, these others may have been active elsewhere.
You encounter many NPC's who are tadpoled and under the control of the elder brain. They don't try to escape. Only the survivors of your Nautiloid do, and that is because they are protected by the prism.
Why did the prism protect just these survivors ? You know, predestination and fate is a very common theme in fantasy and myth. I think Whithers is the answer. You were destined to meet him and he protects you.

That was after His rewrite, before in EA, he had more Beef with Goblins than with Karlach, he wasn't even hunting her, him hating Karlach was completely out of left field, not sure if he was related to the Duke in EA However his pact with Mizora involved him being the sole survivor of a Goblin raid, there was no Mention of Tiamat Cultists.

The same prism SH has when it's an open question why the Sharrans are involved at all? The ship that only ends up in Avernus by accident because it was attacked still leaves Karlach and Wyll an open question as well. SH being a Sharran from Cormyr who got snatched still puts her in the party to help without the plot holes? Astarion being from Neverwinter and Cazador tracked him back down changes very little? Gale can be less stupid?

I don't understand what predestination has to do with everyone conveniently being a native of or needing something from Baldur's Gate. The actual quest is the Chosen of the Dead Three and their harebrained scheme, the city is just a city. It's also just you being in your own head making stuff up too? That's not something Larian wrote. It might be just me, but 'the gods did it' is also really, really lame imo.

Wyll's story seemed incredibly stupid, not going to lie. Because it seemed like his entire issue was that he wasn't given 5 seconds to explain himself. That seemed very, very contrived.

The Gate just happens to be a hot spot for trouble. Three different cult groups, aristocratic vampires, hag covens… boy, I’d hate to live there.

Act 3 was rushed, and just about every single quest line suffered from needing to be wrapped up then and there. I don’t think it was intentional to have this many coincidences line up.

Yes, well then I don't understand why you ask the question. Take the he Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion. Everything was predestined by the song of Eru. The Iliad ? Troy was destined to lose, but the Gods wanted to allow a decade of battle... and so forth. It's a myth/fantasy theme.
You were the chosen and so the surviors of the nautiloid crash that you were on were selected to help you on your quest.
We have Shar, Selune, Jergal and Mystra all getting involved, so something important is happening, and mundane things might not matter so much anymore.
Yes, I make this stuff up in my own head. You ask others to explain this to you, and that's what I just did. Do you want an explanation that is not made up in one's head ? Then you'll have to ask a headless one.

To be clear.

What reason have you come up with for why these gods need everyone to have ties to Baldur's Gate?

IMO, it's because of (1) writing choices and (2) due to the limitations of the game graphics (we get part of one big city rather than multiple cities or settlements), and the city being in the title and at the endpoint of the game, they just tied everything back to it. From a writing standpoint, IMO, the plot is weaker than in some other crpgs because it's trying to juggle every companion having main character syndrome. (I dislike the origin character thing and think the best crpgs have a set main character, though, so that's my personal opinion).

I don't think they would have had to actually render Neverwinter or Waterdeep in order to have the companions come from there. But yeah I agree 100%, the Origin mechanic was a non-starter from the word go. If it's supposed to be BG3, why are you trying to force Divinity Original Sin 2's set up into it? I heard they originally were going to kill extra companions off after Act 1 just like Fort Joy too, which is why the party management is so scuffed. Because the system was originally made when you didn't have to swap people in and out.

Well i actually Made 1 Run when i Only Bring.. Shadow, Lae'zel, Minthara, Jaheira, Minsc.. and it was the Most coolest one..
Becouse of what yu said..
i Never Felt that any other companion has nothing to do with the Main Tale..

Jaheira i get it.. its her stuff Bro fighting crazy bad things Hero stuff, Minsc too..

Shadow She Carry the Artifact just for this fact alone she is the most important for me no matter what yu say or show to me as proof of nonsense..haha
(she Has the Maguffin of the Tale so Lets Go!.)

Lae'zel Man. She is a Gith, never played Table Top ?! jesus.
(wanna Hunt Down a Squid.. Theres No Better Option for Sure bro or yu will Die in a Dream with your Brain Sucked out without yu even notice.. thats how Table Top Is.haha)

The Rest is Just Came Along for the Ride we need to have a Bigger Party..
None of then has nothing to do in the Tale that really added for the entire Plot..
i even Felt when i Bring Gale that the Game wanted Super Hard for hin to Be the Protagonist.. really weird..
(im killing and Huntind Down evrything for elminster and Mistra just piss on my Head becouse his Chest Blows Up and he steels my itens. No Game NO.)

so i nowadays only have a Few companions that i Always Bring..
Minthi when go Bad for Sure.. she is Great.
Shadow,Lae'zel,Jaheira,Minsc
becouse i love Boo ok. sorry. he is Badass. just Trow it and have Fun.

And i Get Astarion too just to lought a Lot.
and Yeas im a Scunbag with hin always.. becouse its funnier this Way..haha

Just a Personal Note.. i Always Love Games with Less Companions...
Most of the Times Games that Has a Lot of then, some dont get a Especial Treatment and endup short or bad.
Persona 5 Has this Problem, when Persona 4 Reach a Perfect Number 7
could use more games that i think run into the Same Problem..
but Persona was the Best becouse of the Way yu interact with the companions felt pretty similar sometimes on how they Deal Romance Here..

I'm not going to read through the thread because spoilers, but to me The Dark Urge makes the most sense to play.

Otherwise you're just a random nobody. Even Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are connected to Hamlet more than the Custom character is to this story.

Because I have pretty arms of course

So basically, to you, BG3 is a story repeat of DOS2? Hmmmm.

I mean, I wouldn't put it past Larian to have planned something like that, lol. But it would be a bit too much, since both games' act 1s share already so many damn similarities...


Yeah, true that, although the comparison between Tav and Hamlet made me cackle irl.

But on topic though, yeah, when playing I've had the same suspicious feeling my gut as you did Rahaya, and on repeat runs it gets even worse.

And I also dislike the entire origin system in this game, Dark Urge should've been the main character, the main Tav and we all know it. Also the fact that devs disentangled Durge from Tav (Tav had all those violent urges directed at Daisy hmm) super close to release and decided to make Durge a part of... y'know what to make it extra spicy.

"Is that blood? No nevermind."

I am convinced that is meant to be Durge idle dialogue.