Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Larian screwed up big time [Epic story fail] [Spoilers]

At the end of the Githyanki Creche, you meet queen Vlaakith for the first time. You can choose a dialogue option to mock her, and if you do, the game instantly ends. You lose.

You might think my complaint is just that I lost the game and I'm upset about that, but let's give that a pass. Let's say it's acceptable to have a diplomatic fail so epic that instantly losing the game is not an anti-fun mechanic (though it is), but treat it as an acceptable design. It is still completely awful for the game by the way it manifests:

The dialogue option is something along the lines of, "If you're such a powerful God, why don't you do it yourself?". It's already a very odd line because, up until this point, she is just the Githyanki queen. Nobody, not even Lae'zel, has ever once referred to her as a God, yet this dialogue option suddenly appears. If you continue mocking her Godhood then she responds with something like, "I wish you to die". And then you do. Your entire party dies instantly and the game is over. She simply wishes it and it is so. It's like Death Note but without the note.

So why is this a problem? If Vlaakith really is so powerful that simply wishing you to no longer exist is possible then the hunt for the artefact is entirely meaningless. Sending soldiers after you is pointless. It's all performative. If you don't mock her, you can instead decline to obey her wishes, and if you do so, she does not kill you. Why? We now know she has that power. Simply put, being able to wish anyone dead completely breaks the lore. In a world where such a thing is possible, life itself and its choices have no meaning. What is the point in role playing in such a world?

As an aside, before killing the inquisitor and meeting the queen, you're blocked by a subordinate who is trying to find the artefact you hold. I went to great lengths to obscure it and ensure nobody knew I had it, by pickpocketing the key from her to proceed instead of brandishing it in front of her and avoiding rolls that would tease it out of dialogue. Nevertheless, by the time you reach the inquisitor, everyone acts like they knew you had it the entire time, particularly Vlaakith. Again, if this is the case, she should just wish you dead from the start. Nothing that follows from this makes any sense because such a power is a force nothing can ever reckon with. How can I be an actor with my own agency and not just a pawn in her game in such a world? It actually makes me want to stop playing.

I think that since it's not a real DND campaign but a video game in which you can reload a save and try again, your argument is extremely weak.

I do think the crèche plot point is super lame and bad because of a different reason - it's completely pointless and devoid of any choice.

I found that interaction with Vlaakith hilarious tbh. I knew, it would be instant death, trolling her like that, I had to do it anyway for the lolz and then reload.
I had honestly no problem with it. If you enter the astral plane and talk to the Guardian, she explains, what Vlaakith problem is.
The Wish spell is powerful, but she can't use it endlessly.

My DM's would do this, if there aren't consequences for actions you don't have free will after all.
Also, the wish spell and Vlaakith go together, it's a whole thing.

Kinda funny. It says "Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast", which plays into her aspiring to become a god, but still quite mortal. And very very unstable, since she uses her most powefrul and potentially non-renevable nuke after a few puns.

Had the opposite effect, I laughed hard when I saw the game over screen and I was like yeah I paid the price and proceed to pick the right choice in this occasion.

Mostly this but also, even at a real D&D table if you feel like really challenging the power and authority of a Lich Queen, what do you expect the DM to do? Sure, she's not a god, but plenty powerful to destroy you and your party so maybe don't go in there and challenge her in front of her people.

As for this bit I mean yeah, the creche could have done with a bit more choice and reactivity but it's not pointless, it plays a part in Lae'zel's story, there's a pretty awesome legendary weapon to to find on the way there, and even though you don't get the tadpole removed it's still a pretty awesome bit of story to see.

It's funny, but yes, why didn't she simply use this ridiculously powerful spell, to you know, get the artifact? It's one of those moments that breaks the plot, but eh, it's a joke ending.

Well the spell does have limits, usually at a D&D table those limits are left to the DM to determine because the spell description doesn't really draw too many specifics. But stuff like messing with the gods would probably not work. The artifact is also an item of immense power sought by some gods as well, like Shar. And the game also defines the artifact as sentient. Once the artifact goes to your rescue if Shadowheart isn't in your party it stays with you and asking Shadowheeart if she wants it back results in her saying it may not be possible because the artifact is kind of stubborn and does what it wants. So it's entirely possible that getting this artifact may well be beyond the abilities of a wish spell...that's not really a narrative problem as far as I can tell.

I agree. I'm not sure about wishing to resolve her problem *with* the artefact. The "cleansing". If she can kill us, can't she kill anyone inside? Legitimate question, not rhetorical. Maybe she just really loves her minions doing the dirty work. The nature of being a tyrant.

It's unclear...there are two potential problems I can see there. 1) if getting the artifact is beyond the powers of the wish spell, as appears to be the case, then reaching anything inside the artifact without entering it herself might also be beyond her reach, and 2) she may need to know who she is trying to kill, and she does not appear to know who the guardian is.

It's well established Realmslore that the first wish any Archmage makes is immunity to wish. But your little party are no archmages.