The Lae'zel solution [SPOILERS] - 09/08/21 02:57 PM
After playing four caracters, including one complete playthrough, I'm happy with the game overall. Most comments I could make were made elsewhere, with one exception.
TLDR : Given the circumstances, the sense of urgency feels lacking in the beginning of the game.
Here is what the caracter is told from the get-go :
OK, great. That's a clear set of goals with appropriate stakes.
Then Lae'zel appears on a silver platter, in a wooden cage. She's got a plan. She is the plan. Planning for this kind of contingency is her literal raison d'être.
Of course, she needs helps from her people; lo and behold, some dude over there saw a Githyanki patrol up on the Risen Road.
How is this not route 1? Where else should the player look for a perfect solution? Why don't the other characters react to this option at all?
At this point, nobody knows about the larva's modification. In fact, it takes a while (or some snooping) before you learn that fact. As far as anyone knows, you've got 48 hours to find a miracle or jump off a cliff.
Then the miracle people show up out of nowhere and they're barely a consideration. All your companions have to say about the Gith is that they're kinda rude, sometimes.
In my mind, the only reasonable course of action is to pipe down and follow the lady with all the fun facts about Mindflayers. (Plus, she helped you get out of Hell).
You can do that, of course. But if you do the sensible thing and rush for the Gith patrol as though your life depended on it, you will get your skull caved in. The patrol is level 5 at least, with great equipment.
So you reload and wander about, collecting wares for gold and murdering goblins for xp. That's how the game progresses, and it's fun, but it all seems like a distraction from ceremorphosis rather than a solution.
And the more you wait, the more you realize that the mindflayer larva doesn't actually matter. Ignore what everyone says and go kidnap owlbear cubs. Who cares?
Nobody seems to be interested in the best shot for a cure at your disposal, so why should you?
TLDR : Given the circumstances, the sense of urgency feels lacking in the beginning of the game.
Here is what the caracter is told from the get-go :
- You were infected by mindflayers
- They will destroy you from the inside
- You have days to live
- You need a healer ASAP
OK, great. That's a clear set of goals with appropriate stakes.
Then Lae'zel appears on a silver platter, in a wooden cage. She's got a plan. She is the plan. Planning for this kind of contingency is her literal raison d'être.
Of course, she needs helps from her people; lo and behold, some dude over there saw a Githyanki patrol up on the Risen Road.
How is this not route 1? Where else should the player look for a perfect solution? Why don't the other characters react to this option at all?
At this point, nobody knows about the larva's modification. In fact, it takes a while (or some snooping) before you learn that fact. As far as anyone knows, you've got 48 hours to find a miracle or jump off a cliff.
Then the miracle people show up out of nowhere and they're barely a consideration. All your companions have to say about the Gith is that they're kinda rude, sometimes.
In my mind, the only reasonable course of action is to pipe down and follow the lady with all the fun facts about Mindflayers. (Plus, she helped you get out of Hell).
You can do that, of course. But if you do the sensible thing and rush for the Gith patrol as though your life depended on it, you will get your skull caved in. The patrol is level 5 at least, with great equipment.
So you reload and wander about, collecting wares for gold and murdering goblins for xp. That's how the game progresses, and it's fun, but it all seems like a distraction from ceremorphosis rather than a solution.
And the more you wait, the more you realize that the mindflayer larva doesn't actually matter. Ignore what everyone says and go kidnap owlbear cubs. Who cares?
Nobody seems to be interested in the best shot for a cure at your disposal, so why should you?