Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Thoughts on Various Storylines

This is the part that makes me feel like they weren't quite sure what they were doing with this character / the final choices in the game.

Half the time, interacting with him, it seems like they wanted a companion-esque character whose story you could influence. Some of the interactions for showing empathy towards him seem to garner genuine reactions, while other comments he makes, like being exasperated whenever you show interest in his human life or the way he describes keeping Orpheus imprisoned as a beautiful sight, suggest that this isn't a "good" person. But the only time you get his most evil-sounding dialogue is if you're frankly pretty antagonistic towards him, and with the context, it seems far more like a response of "Fine. You want to interact with an evil mindflayer? I can be an evil mindflayer." Except he still doesn't actually DO anything to you because again, all his threats are basically hollow.

The other half of the time, it seems like the game wants you to see him as a villain, exactly like you said. The problem is... it just can't back that up. He can't do anything to the party or to their allies. He doesn't seem to have any evil plans (I am, again, forever shocked that he didn't want to control the brain). He doesn't even intend to force you to become a mindflayer. Where am I supposed to see a villain in this, aside from keeping Orpheus imprisoned for his own self-preservation? I think I've seen it said that the Knights of the Shield are evil, but... that's not really established very well in THIS story. Considering one of our battles is choosing between the Guild and the Zhentarim, letting the Emperor return to running his own syndicate seemed about on par with that.

Basically, I don't think he's a good person, but he doesn't seem to rise to the level of a true villain, either. As far as the story of this game is concerned, he just wants to survive, and while he's willing to do evil things to get there, he generally seems inclined to cause the least amount of trouble possible if the opportunity presents itself. It also happens that his survival aligns with the party's survival and the city's survival, which is why it seems to me like he doesn't feel like the villain of this story, even if he could be in another one.

I've heard people justify his decision to join the Absolute if you side against him, and while I can sort of see what they're latching onto, it just feels very forced. His whole strategy up until that point has been attempting to side with the party and use the party; it seemed like that moment called for him to attempt to force the party's hand or otherwise control them, not just... leave. I wouldn't even call that a villainous move. It's just bizarre.

I definitely agree that his scenes need to remember more context of how you've treated him before. It makes no sense for him to try to come onto a character who's already expressed some serious dislike for him (It already felt weird on a character who HAD been nice to him, given that he's the one who's like "I have no need for human relationships" half the time). It's especially weird to me because they made this a character who is with us through ALL of the acts, and who's part of a seemingly major choice in the final battle, but then made him so unaffected by anything else we've said or done in the entire game? It just feels either unfinished or like they were trying to walk back earlier ideas they had.

Yeah, they're... fine. The feeling that they're just "in the way" is a good description but not exactly a good way to feel about two characters that were supposed to be major antagonists. Or at least, I thought they were, given their introductions. At least I have no objections to fighting them, but when the game makes it seem like there's some reason to choose between them, I would have liked to actually feel that effect, instead of it just being a matter of which order you tick the boxes.

I didn't even consider what the game would feel like if you didn't have Lae'zel / lost her early on. It was definitely one of the highlights of Act 1, even in a playthrough where I kept her in camp until it was time for her quest zone. It also felt like it gave the act so much more of a driving force (even if her objective was slightly askew from the grove-goblin situation); I'm sure it does feel a lot weaker without her.