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Lazael: Reminds me of a military commander. Being ex military I don't see this as mean, I see it as used to people following her commands without asking why.

Astarion: don't know I told him to hit the road due to his introduction and he responded with "What? So that's it? I got a tadpole in my brain and going to die and I get no help?" My response "Go find a healer" and then I left. I don't like vampires and I let him know it.

Gale: Never had issues, heck he liked it when I brought him back from dead.

Shadow: Xenophobic towards Lazael, but warms up to me.

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Originally Posted by Sestuna
Originally Posted by Oinkus
Companions aren't exactly fun at the start and that is as far as I have gotten. Whole idea of Game=Fun seems to be lost ? I keep running through the first 2 areas trying different classes but it is completely linear without much room for any sort of leeway to take a left and go off Larians plotted course. Everything in the Universe being hostile is not my idea of a good game of D&D. Removal of Alignment and changing the basic ruleset seemingly randomly makes for some weirdness. Feels a lot like DoS 2 and that is NOT good in my opinion.

couldnt agree more
hell its even got the "stereotypical good guild is evil in our game" trope
in dos2 it was the paladin order, in bg3 its druid enclave.....dos2 was a good game but it wasnt dnd


BG 2 had the whole Good Guild is bad thing as well though, with the Shadow Thieves at the begining of the game.

With the argument that everything is hostile in this game. I am extremely confused but in my playthrough I have been able to go through much of it without random battles. I have only had a few situations that I rolled poorly on and it became a blood bath. That could be because I am playing a relatively evil character though.

The removal of alignment as whole isn't my favorite, but when writing the characters they really try and keep there alignments visable through what they approve/disapprove of and how they act. Someone like Lae' zel is clearly lawful evil, Astarion is Neutral Evil, Shadowheart is more along a Lawful Neutral. I expect we'll see them change throughout the course of the story, and there will be more that will be added as well. I find the game reflects modern D&D very well.

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Loved all characters besides Gale. Has an interesting arc, but his dialogue sounds stupid. I was expecting a smarter wizard, but he is probably the dumbest of the characters.

All others are superb and have their own mind as you would expect. The manerisms in the cutscenes are very stereotypical and hopefully will improve to give them more personality.

I would appreciate if they made Astarion a little more evil. The jokes about blood sucking don't land well.


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Yeah, I must agree with OP somewhat. Seems like most of companions you pick up are coming up as strong negative. What's even more silly is how every one of them gets steamy with you after like several nights at camp... what's the point of the edge then?

I'd really love if they would add another companion, who's just a simple Neutral Good bloke that cheers people to work together, because it both makes sense (as other stuck up peacocks begrudgingly realize) and he/she is not hiding some yet another massive dark secret.

Reminds me of The Noob Comic – Adventures in Clichequest, where in one chapter in the starting experience there was a signpost stating "Dark Knights go to floor -2" or some such. Feels like that precisely - every companion you pick up is a "dark knight", I mean, come on - can we have a companion who gets his baggage as we go, instead of coming with yet another huge tragic secret? That would be a first and refreshing too for Larian, tbh.

Heck, that bard dude, Volo, would make a great companion - he just wants a big story and it probably will be more interesting as you go on and try to grant him that instead of tending to yet another addict, vampire, cultist, fraud or just a plain maniac that only wants stab things.

Last edited by Gaidax; 08/10/20 10:50 PM.
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To add on, something that made the companions from BG1 and BG2 iconic was their easily identifiable traits. These characters are Edwin (extreme narcissist who constantly talks under his breath), Minsc (a ranger with childish concepts of good and evil who travels with a miniature giant space hamster), Tiax (comic relief whose entire character is defined by his delusions), Jan (bizarre gnome inventor that acts like a snakeoil salesman), Ajantis (Overenthusiastic #1 Helm fanboy "By Helm! Yeah! Helm, give me strength! Yeah!"), Viconia (exiled drow coming to terms with culture shock), etc.

It's good to make three dimensional characters, but easily-identified defining traits can help make memorable characters.

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There does seem to be a serious dearth of good characters. The companions are fine, I suppose, but maybe one more with a less abrasive personality would be nice. Gale is a total bro on the other hand and comes off as easy to talk to.

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I agree with this post 100%. But it's a problem I have with the DOS games as well, every one talk with this snobbish english accents. Even goblins. There are no characters with different accents from different parts of the world or a different walk of life. Everyone feel like snobbish nobles in a tea party. Make you miss the old BG characters and town folks frown

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Originally Posted by Zress
I agree with this post 100%. But it's a problem I have with the DOS games as well, every one talk with this snobbish english accents. Even goblins. There are no characters with different accents from different parts of the world or a different walk of life. Everyone feel like snobbish nobles in a tea party. Make you miss the old BG characters and town folks frown

The accents don't sound particularly snobbish; just English. Larian is a Belgian developer so English studios tend to be the most convenient for the English-language game: I don't think it's any more complicated than that. As an Englishwoman myself, it makes a nice change for a game to not be full of American accents...


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Originally Posted by Sestuna
Please explain? No one is just nice to you. Everyone you meet is such a massive dick and cunt to you for no reason. Is this how everyone at Larian initiates conversations with people?


I had to burst out laughing looking at this as the first question. I and my sweetie have been playing (very slowly... we are cautious by nature) for the past two days, and met three NPCs, all of whom are intensely dis-likable.

Gith-sweetie was okay...Shadowheart is abrasive and those two are the most likable. Astarion is Jude Law with negative charisma, and Gale is ... well he is in love with himself with an effusive and annoying vocabulary.

Yes, I know that "not having everyone be "likelable" is sometimes seen as edgy and cool (look at the interviews with the actor that played Apollo on the recent - err not so recent - Battlestar Galactica reboot). But its not enjoyable to interact with characters who are abrasive first and as the major portion of their personalities.

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Lae'zel is the only one that's over the top so far. I want to like her, but to keep her happy you have to act like a lunatic and piss everyone off; both your other companions and the NPCs. It's hard to justify keeping her unless your character shares her world view exactly and likes being bossed around. Astarion is far more affably evil and Shadowheart is closer to a pragmatist than anything.

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Last edited by vometia; 09/10/20 07:29 AM. Reason: Personal attack
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Sestuna Offline OP
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Originally Posted by Comander Tuvius
Originally Posted by Gray Ghost
Honestly I think the companions are all pretty reasonably characterized. Lae'zel does feel rough and hostile but that seems to be the Githyanki's thing, even then she's still my favourite character so far. Shadowheart seems guarded and disinclined to trust you or be open, but she generally holds her tongue and doesn't seem overtly hostile to my character for the most part. Gale seems chill and reasonable. Wyll is a lot of fun.


I would love to have Wyl in my party but he perished in the first fight he was in and I was unable to revivify him. I thought it was literally will of the dice so I stuck with it. Otherwise Lae'zel has been my favorite as well, she is harsh but if you lean into it in the game there are some amazing moments with her.

this. laezel though agressive is great and i loved the githyanki agression in a new world vibes

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Gale is the nicest character I've met, Shadowheart is a massive bitch though. Astarion isn't so bad, I wish they would rework Shadowheart's dialogue so she is less of a bitch to us. I've yet to meet Wyll, I haven't figured out a way to recruit him yet XD.

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Shadowheart can be bitchy, yes, but she's a priestess of Shar... seems appropriate. There are definitely times, though, when she's pretty sensitive and even friendly.

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Shadowheart is a sweetheart when you compare her to the OTHER sharrian preistress in the Baulder's gate franchise.

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Originally Posted by BrianDavion
Shadowheart is a sweetheart when you compare her to the OTHER sharrian preistress in the Baulder's gate franchise.


Yeah.

Well at least she's not trying to slit my throat the first time we meet and then top it off by turning me into a snack. Why she's almost a good guy there in that band of lunatics we gather.

It's like sheesh... I'm not sure how my character can even rest at that camp, being surrounded by all these psychos with their tadpoles being the least of their problems. Can we get some Neutral Good bloke as a companion, please? An island of sanity in that sea of madness to soothe our souls?

Heck, the only good boi Gale is a
walking nuclear bomb that sucks up your loot into his black hole and can go off any moment.
I guess Wyll is also somewhat on the level, aside from signing his own praises, before we surely end up revealing he is devil incarnate or some such.

Last edited by Gaidax; 09/10/20 02:05 PM.
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Having attempted to build my own game in the early 70s and discovering Tunnels and Trolls and the Original D&D ruleset ended that process quickly. I have played just about every BG title to completion and run 1000s of D&D games including a persistent world in NWN I have a little experience in all of this. I REALLY want this game to be as good as it can possibly be. There is no way to please everyone and nothing is easy about making useful NPCs with a good story. Remember this is a video game not PnP tabletop play and it is very hard to translate those things into something enjoyable. We should all be applauding Larians effort at such a difficult task and do our best to give them useful info to improve the game as playtesters. Thank you very much Larian Studios !

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Honestly, this makes a lot more sense. There's a weak kind of writing in a lot of RPGs where everyone absolutely loves you as soon as they meet you - the only exception being bad guys, but they only dislike you because you're on opposite sides. Everyone else, with maybe the odd exception, is vying to be the president of your fan club. A common complaint about the "MUs" or "My Units" in the Fire Emblem series is that everyone falls in love with you, everyone looks up to you and follows your advice unquestioningly. It's like the game is trying to make you into a Mary Sue. So anyway, I think people not really trusting you, and mainly looking out for themselves, but hopefully coming to trust you over time, is much more fulfiling as it more closely mirrors how actual interaction works. People might be polite when you first meet them in real life, but it's not like they'd trust you with their kids or a load of their money until they get to know you more. You might start a new job and be amongst friendly new co-workers, but if you all had weird head maggots, how many of them would put you before themselves?

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Originally Posted by DumbleDorf
'Die N'wah'
'Why won't you die?'
'Ive fought mudcraps much fiercer than you'

I once tried introducing a female friend to Morrowind back when I was at uni, and immediately she got upset by how mean people in the game were talking to her. I explained that was because she still had a low personality and reputation score and that just made her like it even less.

But the thing is games are not meant to resemble real life. Its ok for Drow, Orcs and Tieflings to be inherently evil, another great thing that is gone from RPGs now.

'My favourite race is dark elves' I once told another gamer friend. 'Oh they are evil right?' he asked, to which I explained 'ah but not always you see because they can be like Drizzt' ...

My god yes that was once a real life conversation I had. Now if you call dark elves evil IRL you probably get carted off to the gulag / gitmo.

Oh I once joined a roleplaying server in the early days of DDO, made a drow and stayed in character saying evil things and worshipping my bitch queen umberlee. I got kicked from most groups who didn't get it.



You are pointing out a problem i find in some video games, i know this going to hurt the feelings of some (and some will agree with me because they are the minority in a country either they be white, black, asian, hispanic, indian etc...), they are bringing some of our worlds views and concept, like racism in a fantasy setting, but it is unnerving when the player have to undergo the racism in question (myself i can sympathise with the Tiefling, even if i am not one ) it is not a pleasant emotion, but i can get through this, and what i like is when the racism in question is punished in the game it is better, i find it weird and non logical to promote a bad behaviour, it is like if the game in question is apologizing racism. (I didn't say it is the case in Baldur's gate 3)

But i know some players want to be the f***** up character they want to be and they cannot be in real life, so better be in fantasy than in life, no ?

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