Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Dark Urge after acts 1,2 and a bit of ACT 3, review

So, Dark Urge is the last addition to the origin characters.

It’s a path for those, who either want to be Murderhobos or those who like protagonist with an internal conflict and redemption.

After playing both TAV and Dark Urge, I have to admit, I will probably never come back to TAV ever again. Not that Tav is bad, they are just a blank page, perfect for those who have never played dnd or previous games.

Having said that, despite me liking the origin, I couldn’t help but notice certain hiccups along the way, which I hope will be adressed in future patches. To start off with:

-Losing a very rare unique piece of armour due to origin, unless you metagame the encounter.

The only problem with it is that you get locked out of a quest, without knowing it 30 hours later. There is no backup npc to give you the reward, if you play Dark Urge, like in the Grymforge, thus soft locking the quest without a way to complete.

-Very few moments, where you can actually feel the urge come into play.

What I mean by this is that you only need to resist the Urge at the end of ACT 2, but not sooner. The game constantly says about horrible thoughts of your character, but rarely forces you into a situation, where you have to resist it. There should be more of those, especially if you come across people or animals in vulnerable circumstances. Not in all dialogue options, but resisting the urge should be a bit harder than it is right now.

Although, kudos to the writers for the Dark Urge scene we get in chapter 1, it comes across as a good gut punch.

In the same manner, it should be like constant whispering with promises of power.

-Lack of any real incentive to commit to urges across the game, with 2 exceptions.

To put simply Dark Urge moments are good for RP, but nothing else. It doesn’t matter how many atrocities and urges you commit across the game, because most of them don’t matter.

The way I would solve it is making something similar to Ilithid powers tree, but a bit simpler. Think of something similar to a pillar. You start at the bottom, but the more you commit to the urges, the more powers you get. The downside could be reputation loss, harder DC to resist in the future and of course, endings being locked out/worse than they would be in a different circumstances.

TLDR:

Overall, the Dark Urge should be more impactful on the gameplay and the rewards should be worth it. As of right now, playing an evil character is simply worse than being good/neutral, as you lose out on magic items, quests, etc.

Out of curiosity, what are those? In spoiler probably, in case I'm not the only one to *not* know
Thanks!
Also, I mostly agree although I would not be this extreme regarding the urges.
I felt like the narrator did a fantastic job, throughout all act 1 and 2, and the beginning of act 3 with small comments here and there to remind you of your condition. But sure, there could always be more

Potent Robe, perfect for Warlock, very rare. You lose it, because you can't turn in the quest to anyone. It’s 'Rescue the Tieflings' quest.

As for npc that dies it's:

Oh ok, I did "do" the quest's objectives anyway, just had no idea that it was an actual quest by *that* NPC
No big deal for the item then. Thanks for the answer

I'm on my second playthrough now, this time as Durge (right up to the hard decision you mentioned in Act 2, so can't say anything about Act 3, but because of my Tav playthrough I can imagine where the story is heading).

I agree mostly with you, after the scene in Act 1, there is basically nothing much at all happening for Durge. My character wants to resist the urges, but even so, it feels a bit too easy to do so (just click that option). Theres should be more of a tradeoff there (or at least some checks).

Also, some of the Durge story/dialogue is outright funny/weird, like when you run up to all your party members and tell them basically "I'm a psychopath who needs to slaughter people, do you mind?", or "I didn't do this" after they clearly saw you doing it (in my case, failed the test to hide it). They might have to smooth out those a bit.

On the other hand, I think it's ok if you miss out on some of the stuff (like the quest you mentioned) as Durge because you do get another powerful item right at the start, and playing Tav should also have it's perks. It's not bad in my mind that you can't do everything as either Tav or Durge, but that there is a bit of a tradeoff. If you play as a mostly resting Durge you don't lose out on much (so far at least, the only thing is the one you mentioned, and I got something else in return for that, which I also can't get as Tav. Feels fair to me).

A real evil playthrough is not worth it yet I think. I'm doing that with a friend, and in that case you lose much more than you gain (even if you don't play as a murderhobo). Like siding with the Goblins is not in any shape or form equal to siding with the druids/tieflings (quests, experience, items etc.). But that's true for both Tav and Durge.

It's one thing to miss out on stuff due to conscious decision, the problem is that the quest gets softlocked due to a single npc, as there is no redundancy there. It’s more like a bug or an oversight, especially if you save everyone else. Funny thing is, Grymforge has got a check like this, due to lava.

As much as I like BaldursGate3, I think I will have to take a break and wait for definitive edition or something. The game will need several patches anyway, ACT 3 aside. And between lack of epilogue and some questionable design choices, I am fine with ending my play through on act 2.

From the trailers, it was rather obvious what the deal with the Dark Urge is and it didn't disappoint me at all. Personally I believe the Dark Urge is a better experience than regular Tav, but that depends on what you want to play.

Because, The Dark Urge playthrough gives you not only that you're

So for me, if I want to play certain classes I'll go Tav.

I do agree that it's entirely silly party members being so forgiving about this. There's not even a dissaproval from say, the ever righteous Wyll after the obligatory scene. I think this is more fun if you go multiplayer and one of the group is the Dark Urge, and you're all trying to figure out who, or somesuch. Even though that too would become rather obvious after the first scene.

I don't care about 'balancing' playthroughs, each has its own merits and faults. I thought I would love going as a female Lolth-Sworn Drow and pick my Drow-Options every time it came up. Now *that* is missing out, as no one is fighting you. Even Kagha is all excited for your arrival. It was fun for a while, ordering everyone about, but rerolled post-Gobbo camp.

Those who played it all the way through already, could you please clarify? Am I right, and if you decide to play Durge as a good person resisting every urge, the play-through is the same as for good Tav?

What's TAV?

Since I changed my act 3 playthrough into Dark Urge – and I am still at act 1 – I have a question, since you reviewed it. If Dark Urge’s instincts are embraced, do they ever become more inventive? I mean, until now Dark Urge just wants to viscerally torture everyone and there is next to no narrative payoff for that. (I mean, you can e.g. kill Pandirna in her shack and there won't be any distrust / drama among the tieflings later. It basically removes NPC from game, and that's it.)

He never got any though to e.g. try to seed discord to make people kill each other, play mind games with people, or anything much besides attempting to shove their hands in others’ innards. That is… kinda murderhobo-flavour boring, actually and it doesn't really fulfill the promise of socio-/psychopathic killer playthrough.

Does it ever change? as it is I am considering to switch into a 'good' DUrge playthrough because I am less than impressed with its evil side right now.

Tadpoled adventurer, the base origin. No backstory, you choose your own background. At the top of character creation.


Well, in ACT 3, it is explained how you are tied to the main story. Your origin, past are expanded upon.

It is not the same as Tav, It has got more depth. I haven’t finished act 3, but from what I have played Tav is less connected to the main plot and barebones. Dark Urge is more developed.

Unfortunately the Dark Urge is not exactly subtle. Evil path in BG 3 is pretty bad overall as it is, no matter who you play as.

Dark Urge wants to kill everything and everyone as brutally as painfully as possible, due to
There is no pay off for most of the acts. From what I have gathered, all that matters is that you kill 2 npcs, which gives you a bit of reward, but it’s not worth it. Ignoring them is easy and often recommend, as you lose on approval and magic items.

Good Dark Urge is similar to Tav, but with more depth. I definitely enjoyed the scene with your chosen romance and Dark Urge in Act 2, it was well done. Sadly, it’s only one of few acts like this.

Right now playing as a good Dark urge and resisting it is strictly superior to evil playthrough for a multitude of reasons. I think that’s the best way to play, that or other origin character.

Currently in Act 2. To get access to Minthara I did something that lost me 2 good companions. There should be more evil aligned companions to replace these 2.

Currently in Act 2. To get access to Minthara I did something that lost me 2 good companions. There should be more evil aligned companions to replace these 2.

I would argue that Minthara should be recruitable in the first place, without needing to choose between FOR THE EVULZ and proper content.

Evil path is barebones already and I don’t mind that. What I do mind is locking out content due to arbitary reasons. You don't get better items, alternative companions, different quests by playing evil. You come out worse than being good or neutral.

So, honestly at this point, I think I am done with BG 3. It’s a good game, but it needs way more than a month or two of extra polish, probably a definitive edition.

Welcome to the club! Hopefully, Larian takes notes for future Dlcs and bg's. Durge it's the way!