Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Warnings in the game - necessary or not?

We had a discussion about how triggering some stuff in the game is.
I personally think that the fact, that the game is for mature audience and the two first cinematics (raiding of that city and getting the tadpole inserted) sets the tone pretty much.
There are very heavy topics throughout the game and some characters are walking red flags. Our discussions were about Haarlep. Depending on the fact, what you ask Hope (because sadly you can' task her everything), she gives a pretty dark picture of what happens.
I put the rest in spoiler because of forum rules


I think, it still is ok, because you can kill Haarlep and Raphael and free Hope. Other dark topics would be what happened in Reithwin - there are a lot of people, who had pretty gruesome fates. Durges treatment in the mindflayer colony etc. The traumatic pasts of some of our companions - Shadowheart, Karlach, Astarion for example.

I personally think, there is no need for trigger warnings, but I'm a horror fan and don't have a lot of problem with dark topics. How do other people see this?

I want to remind you, to put darker things into spoiler tags and be civil with one another. I know, it's a heavy topic, but I think, we can do it

My issue is more with how the game treating situations as disturbing and harmful in one scene and as a joke in another.

The coercion scene that can happen with Astarion has always been taken seriously. On the other hand if you took romanced Gale to the brothel pre patch 6, almost the same scene was taken as a joke to make fun of Gale. (The change to player dialogue has made the general situation much less horrible now - if you leave Halsin out of it.)

The Haarlep scene was only ever a reason to say "No" for me. It's an affirmation of my autonomy - especially when play as Avatar-Astarion. I did take a look of it on yt though and I suppose it is treated as a bit of kinky fun, which I think was a bad call. A mate recently had the ogress be out of reach for Z'rell when asking for an example of her new powers, so instead of a demonstration of pain, they got a demonstration of pleasure. Which my friend said was a description of an orgasm which they found very disturbing. Something like that would have been better for Haarlep too because narratively it should not be fun.

But yes, like you, I like horror. Not because I find it pleasurable (in the "rivers of blood are so cool!" kind of way) but because I experience a moment of anxiety and survive. I have no problem with disturbing scenes being disturbing, I want them to be. Aylin's rage is perfect because it's not gratuitous but terrifyingly brutal. The same goes for Ketheric's introduction scene, you are supposed to be terrified of this sad old man and I feel, after his introduction, most players are. Where I have problem is when there is a disconnect, and the medium can't decide if it wants to be serious or a nsfw cartoon. And that's not something you can really put up warning screens for.

Yeah, those drow twin scene seems to be the source of a lot of anger. I never had it, since I only ever chat with them about their future plans and why they left the Underdark. But I agree, that it is not ok to make fun of Gales trauma, while taking Astarions seriously. That scene could have been a character moment, if one want to go down that route.

Horror is actually a really great ventile for people with anxiety (like me). It's not a coincidence that many famous horror writers like Poe, Lovecraft or King suffer (or suffered) from anxiety. But the horror genre often has better stories too (sorry for ot).

As you said, Anska, Haarlep is a nice way to take back autonomy - I think, it can be especially gratifiying if you play redemption Durge, Astarion or Shadowheart (and Wyll and Karlach for slightly different reasons).

I think, it's ok to put trigger warnings on media, you might not expect something dark and disturbing, but if one played the first two BG games and knows a bit of mindflayer lore, you at least could expect body horror and psychological torture.

About that Ogress: I never talked to her - I normally try to kill Z'rell and her entourage at the first level of Moonrise before the attack. Didn't know, that she had something to say tbh.

I'll be brief- I don't think the game as is needs any trigger warnings, and I think they could still push it a bunch more without requiring any. Anska is also right about flimsy handling of the topics, though.

I saw some of your discussion. Specifically about the Haarlep scene.

I think that scene happens very fast and it is tempting for some players (like myself) to see how far things will go in game, and you are not always prepared on a first playthrough. I have seen others belittling other players shock at what happened to their Tavs, I think players have all the right to be shocked. While it was not triggering to me personally, I can see it being that for others.

I also think (I know we are all sick of talking about expressions, but) Tavs expressions during and after the scene that shows them smiling content is important to not make that scene worse than it is. If it was different I probably would have a problem with it to be honest.
While the game has horror elements it is not a horror game. And hearing about horrible events are quite different from experiencing them through your Tav. The Haarlep scene as it is now is on the fine line for me. With the Patch 6 added companion warnings, all the other in game warnings and the content face, I feel it is ok. It doesn't need a trigger warning, imo.

In my opinion trigger warnings should be present if it is a unexpected, elaborative scene and it is presented in a way that makes it true to real life horrors. Even more imporant if the trigger is a common one that will affect many people.

You are right, that different people get triggered by different things. I was pretty shocked by the whole Haarlep thing, but not trigger warning shocked. You can just kill him and be done with it. But I think, it might be hard to put a trigger warning for a lot of stuff - I know some people, who were shocked by the scene, where we can save Us. I mean, yes, that is pretty deep in body horror territory, but for someone familiar with DnD mindflayer lore probably only a Tuesday afternoon. So it pretty much depends on ones background.


DnD has a lot of horror topics and some of the gods are pretty gruesome. You can't be a Bhaalist without killing people and what Sharrans do, we learned in deep detail. So a Baldurs Gate game is for me a warning in itself, since it was clear, it will be dealing with Bhaal in one form or another again. Somehow, gaming studios like the god of murderhobos a lot.

Yeah, the topic came up in one of AA kiss face animation discussions and I decided to move it over here since there were already a lot of side topics going on.

I admit, that I sometimes think, there might in general be a bit too many trigger warnings in media, but on the other hand, anxiety and ptsd are things. I know a friend, who didn't want to play BG3, because she is very afraid of spiders and I had to list up all incidences, where spiders will appear and give her a way to avoid them (she will probably never open the Necromancy of Thay, but that is ok). Others laugh about that, but she has severe arachnophobia. And I'm the last one laughing about fears and phobias.

I think for something of this scale, if you want to cover everything, including the implied stuff, the list would be so long that it would just be something people don't bother to read and ignore. I think it should be limited to just a few obvious instances, like if you are going to portray graphic or detailed sexual violence, throw a huge warning sign on it.

Otherwise I think using sensitivity readers to pre-emptively advice on the content is the best approach. Sure, some stuff will still slip through, but I think it catches the biggest red flags before you even go into production.

On release it was rated mature17+ and I’ve got the impression, that Larian wants to keep this and was avoiding to get a higher rating, so a lot of things occur off-screen. The bear is offscreen, the drows are offscreen, nsfw scenes are more or less censored (though some scenes are more explicit than other scenes, only god knows why), the torture scene is more or less offscreen, as the prisoner is seen and not the wounds, so the torture doesn't glorify violence. So for this, there is no need for another warning, those things are already in the rating "Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence". For the Harleep scene I cannot comment properly on this, as I haven't played it, but could be a scene, which could have touched the AO content, so probably Larian handled it with enough ingame hints, some overall consent and the possibility to refrain from it, if you don't like to see it.

For Haarlep, there are several points on the way where you can back out. So if you take the "go on" option every time, it means you're curious to see the end, and so I don't see why anyone would regret it. About halfway you should know very well what submitting to an incubus/succubus means.
I liked this scene . For me it's really a (adult) Heroic Fantasy common trope.

I like heroic fantasy very much, but I don't like horror, and never watch horror movies. I don't want to play zombie games either. And some of the horrific and murder scenes in BG3 were not to my liking. Well there's usually some horror in HF, but not constantly like in a movie, so it is supportable, and also in this game. I think it would be weird if an RPG would pop up a message saying what's going to happen if you make a decision, before you make it.

I have a (slightly off topic) question about the Haarlep scene. It's my understanding that in the epilogue, a player who made the deal with Haarlep gets letters reviewing their body, and it's played for laughs, correct? Does this happen even if the player has had the conversation with Astarion where he explicitly compares the situation to the abuse he suffered? The contrast between how nonchalantly the others react and how Astarion views it already makes me uncomfortable. It's like the writers couldn't decide if they wanted to treat the scene as a kinky joke or a violation. Fortunately, I can personally avoid that by just killing Haarlep, but on principle, I find framing SA as a joke to be repugnant. I find potentially triggering content to be much more disturbing if I think the narrative is trivializing it.

Yes, everyone who made the deal gets the letter.

I agree that when non-consensual stuff and sexual boundaries are treated as a joke, even if it's just implied, it makes me much more uncomfortable than very explicit things that are presented as horrific.

I don't think trigger warnings are necessary.

No other form of media requires trigger warnings (Some TV shows do if they're airing during or before prime time). I've watched plenty of films that have graphic portrayals of torture and sexual assault and not once have I ever seen a trigger warning for any of them.

a lot of people are fine with rape or murder as long as you don't do;
etc etc... i agree the game is just a game but the fact is most of the people that run on these forums upset about 'whatever' have not even played the game, they just heard about bears having sex from the media and hop right on the band wagon

i do think the game needs some warnings about play style like doing this is going to make your pally fall or up set the grove but those are a different type of warning

Personally speaking as someone who hates horror and certain types of torture; no, there should not be trigger warnings. That's why game ratings were invented in the first place so those not wishing to see certain type of content are well informed in advance, if it's truly a concern.

For example I'm an absolute spineless wimp when it comes to eye or nail torture. Completely immune to all other kinds, but I can't fathom eyes or nails... it repulses me so badly that I get extremely uncomfortable with terrible shivers throughout the whole body. Whenever a scene like that comes along I usually just instantly look away while impatiently squirming in the chair just waiting for the scene to get it over with (like Theon's nail torture in Game Of Thrones or Sister Sage's lobotomy scene in The Boys). In BG3 the very first immediate cinematic is a parasite squiggling into the eye and later we have Volo using an icepick to give us a lobotomy, Ethel who violently rips our eye out, Orin who inserts one into Ravengard's eye or Orin again who performs a dual lobotomy in ACT III.

Yet despite hating that stuff out of pure disgust to the point of recoiling, it's part of the lore and I would never want it toned down or have a game pop out a warning asking me if I wish to see that content because the problem isn't the scene, the problem is me and I don't wish to be catered to based on my own weaknesses.

If anything I want BG3 to increase the intensity of all its mature-rated content, rather than treat me like a child by downplaying them through obscurity or comedic tones, because when the developers have the courage to properly portray dark or controversial themes it becomes all the more better and richer for the overall experience. Not to mention that much more satisfying and appreciative when saving people from such fates, or eternally damning them to such fates. The stakes are drastically higher when something disturbingly resonates with the player.

Without content that is dark, graphic and outright disturbing to genuinely portray the heavy reality of its world and consequences that most of its denizens are living through the story becomes bland, loses its charm and its world doesn't carry any real weight. Personally I enjoy when a game is a graphic moral playground that has the poor truly suffering, the rich starved of morals, those in-between eternally damned and the children always in danger. Survival of the fittest, death of the weakest... with me behind the wheel to decide which way I'll go, no matter how disturbing it might be because I wish to see free and creative imagination, both good and bad.

For example:


Show me true creative imagination, don't downplay it.

I guess the consens is, that warnings really aren't warranted.
Since Crimson brought up The Boys : I guess it would have been easier to just write before every episode, what's not in there, instead listing off everything, that will be shown. By now, the show is well known for not making compromised and there like with BG3 I'm totally ok with it.

I think a good story at one point should make you uncomfortable and maybe make you stop and think along the way. I certainly thought more about the fates of poor hope or the citizens of Reithwin than any of the romances, because it was shocking and sad and it brought up the wish to help.

Crimson: I agree with your depiction about Hope and Haarlep, it is not there without sense, it drives home the fact, that you are in a very dark place. I think many people see Raphael as pretty nice compared to Mizora for example, until they reach the HoH and go through everything, they find there ( the journals about Hopes stay there are heartbreaking too). It's not mindless, it's there to make a story and a characterization ( in this case Raphael, since everything there is happening on his whims) complete. I often voice, that I don't like Haarlep,but I guess, that is exactly, what we are supposed to be feeling about him. Even if we do the deed with him, it comes back to haunt us.

I think there should be no warnings in-game for two reasons:

1. It breaks escapism by pulling you out of the game world into pondering the problems of the real one.

2. It is anti-QoL, BG3 in particular has a lot of stuff that could upset someone way too sensitive (to my liking), having a lot of pop ups would become a problem.

If it is optional - nvm. Maybe someone out there badly needs this!

Personally I think that there should be more of an upfront acknowledgement/warning about themses of sexual assault specifically since even in a mature rated game, it's not and should not be a given that sexual assault will make an appearance. Having a warning pop up in the middle of the game? I'm less certain on that but I personally would not be against it. Honestly I'm a big supporter of including trigger warnings and if they were included I'd never be against them, just on principle if nothing else. I also think that in general, if you need a trigger warning for certain things, you KNOW you need a trigger warning. So the opinion of the average player who knows they don't need one should probably be weighted a touch lighter. Trigger warnings aren't just about being uncomfortable, they're specifically about ptsd and I don't feel like the general public should be the dominant voice in discussion with regard to that.

As for the point someone brought up abouthow other media doesn't have trigger warnings, I think games are kind of unique in that they're so much longer than any other form of media and so they can fit in things that might not be implicitly part of the premise. For example I wouldn't go into this game assuming sexual assault would come up, whereas In a book or novel when you know the premise, you can pretty reliably know what could be included. Frankly I wouldn't be against trigger warnings being included a bit more liberally in other media. I think the most important thing though is to have them up-front so people know what they're getting into and can refund/not buy to begin with. I myself am speaking as someone who hates horror and never watches it, and is probably too sensitive. I once saw a description of the plot of a horror movie on youtube and it haunted me for weeks after. Same with reading the TV tropes page for that movie Us. So that's the constitution of the person making this argument.

Relatedly, I consistently see way more people arguing against trigger warning than I ever see arguing for them, and that makes me... uneasy for whatever reason. LIke, I don't know that I've ever actually seen someone online argue for trigger warnings on stuff, I just know it's an argument that broadly exists.

Not really.

I've read plenty of books where I was blindsided by sexual assaults, or tortures. Simply because these things are not advertised.

Like, unless it's a massively popular novel where people talk about all the things that are included within, you're unlikely to know what will be in a book. For example, Game of Thrones is super popular so it's likely you'll know about the things like incest and torture.

But other books? Not really. Same with movies, unless it's like the defining plot point thus comes up in the synopsis, you're not going to know about such things beforehand.

Yet, still. No trigger warnings.

I've read A Song of Ice and Fire before it became popular as a tv show and mostly knew, that Tad Williams Osten Ard sage (my favourite fantasy book series of all times) was one of GRRMs inspirations. While the Osten Ard saga can be pretty brutal in times, it is nothing compared to what awaited me in ASoIaF. It was ok for me, but if others did go in there expecting another Osten Ard, they'd be up for a rude surprise.

Gray Ghost:
I'm generally not against trigger warnings for the reasons I stated, but I do think, BG3 does a good job in setting things up, so that you can nope out - like Haarlep or the more unhealthier companion romances (one of them can end in your death) . There are the implications of the problem is, what people find triggering - going by recent discussions about certain face animations (please don't bring it in here, it's just an example) people seem to be triggered by very different and sometimes oppsite things.
I know at least one person, that was triggered by Abdiraks BDSM offer (without even knowing about Loviatar being an evil goddess), while friends from the BDSM community said, he is a great representation (since he stops immediatly, when you move away or get too badly hurt and has even something nice to say about it). Others are pretty offended by the notion, that you can kill goblin children, which I personally don't find so bad, because you don't have to do it. I always let them go (because I free Halsin last after dealing with the rest of the camp) and he is never fast enough to kill them before they run away.
And again anothers are not able to do the spider matriarch or are freaked out by Kar'niss because of arachnophobia.

Those are a few examples, but I guess all that -- the face animation, the bdsm priest, the possibility to hurt minors or phobia inducing stuff like spiders - makes it hard to put everything into a trigger. I had to affirm that I'm of age, when buying the game on Steam back in 2020 and there was a pop up about violence and sexual content and for me, that was ok. But if people think, there should be more, I don't have a problem with it.

Yes, exactly this. Unlike other media (such as television), various game ratings have and requires content warnings (namely in the Usa, U.K., Europe), it is written in their rating (most time not ingame), so people can decide then by themselves, if they purchase it or not.

That being said, most game developers try by themselves to avoid scenes that could trigger PTSD flashbacks or be declared as a glorification of violence or even being traumatizing* - by treating sensitive topics carefully, preparing the player what will happen (e.g. through the given answers), putting some scenes on off-screne or changing camera angle, incorporating them into the context or also let the player refrain from the scene. Crimsonrider did a wonderful job of describing how well very dark themes were incorporated into the story. It already starts at the beginning:


*video games could also end up on an index in certain countries, if they would contain e.g. glorification of violence or violation of human dignity, that is judged to be potentially criminally.



As Gray Ghost stated, I also have the feeling that some people here don't really know what PTSD flashbacks triggers and why game ratings with content warnings are done, and in general how to avoid them. I agree with Gray Ghost, people, who are not well versed in this, shouldn't judge about this so easily. For game ratings, if the game contains for example


it needs this content warning in their rating, so people could avoid to purchase and play this game. On release this game was rated and it was only rated with "violence" and "sexual content", though we don't know, which scenes they have seen.


I knew when you created this thread that you will bring this up. It is easy, if a game contains


it needs to get a content warning. If the scene does not depict it and it is consensual, it does not need this content warning (according to rating regulation).
That means if a person get triggered by a consensual scene, which does not contain:


that it is his personal trigger, which doesn't need a rating content warning (can't be avoided). Clear now? Abdirak is very much consensual, overly consensual to be honest, and not





It doesn't help to lump this together, Fylimar. I kindly ask you to refrain from this.