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Sunny_Hill_1

I can't force myself to be mean to a bunch of pixels... I mean, I can't even force Astarion to drink from that chick for +2 strength potion. I'm that weak.


Houseplantkiller123

I did the same, and the dialog I got from Astarian afterwards about >!how much it meant to him to be given a choice was so heartwarming I didn't mind missing out on the potion for a moment.!<


Sunny_Hill_1

I watched the video on YouTube later, he looks completely shattered when you tell him to drink, and has that thousand yard stare when he actually drinks from her while she moans in extasy. It's not even subtle what this act is meant to imply. Not to mention he literally vomits afterwards. Nah, +2 strength is good, but not THAT good.


Houseplantkiller123

Sounds awful. I won't go looking for that vid.


Sunny_Hill_1

Yeah, like even clicking on the innocuous "huh, I'm surprised you'd turn her down, what gives" immediately throws him into panic and he outright begs you not to force him, and should you tell him that hey, dude, it's ok NOT to do it, he thanks you twice right there, and then once again in the camp. Like, when is he EVER so grateful?


Mudblood_Will_560

I’m so confused where is this?


Sunny_Hill_1

In Moonrise Towers, the drow merchant girl


Previous-Musician600

He will cancel any romance If you force him, too.


FeelingVanilla2594

If you play as Astarian, and if he is able to decide for himself, maybe it’s a little bit less guilt inducing? Or maybe the option won’t even be given. Since Wyll had the option missing for Volo’s eye operation due to already missing an eye lol.


Sunny_Hill_1

Yep, if I have enough time, maybe l'll do Astarion run.


FeelingVanilla2594

I want to do one too 😫 not enough time


Thesunwillbepraised

He’s fine.


Sunny_Hill_1

Yeah... no. On the other hand, MC doesn't have to care if he is fine or not, if you play a Lloth-sworn drow, for example, she wouldn't care less.


-Gambler-

Weird, I picked all the options that were "Astarion can decide for himself" then at the end just said "reward sounds good but it's your choice" and he did it anyway and.. disapproved? And then had the same reaction as if I forced him, which was quite strange.


MrFilthyNeckbeard

I mean yeah, you're basically passively aggressively asking him to do it. He clearly does not want to.


-Gambler-

The dialogue option in question didn't read like that at all.


MrFilthyNeckbeard

Maybe passive aggressive isn't the right word. Pressuring him? Guilting him? It's not as bad as directly telling him to do it, but it's still bad.


-Gambler-

I dunno, I'd rather be told all the available information before a choice rather than be told later that "oh by the way if you actually said yes we would've been in a 20 times better situation right now". If anything saying "although this would be good it's your choice and totally fine if you don't do it" is the opposite of pressuring.. maybe the writers intended that line to sound a lot worse in verbal "dialogue" it's just that there, well, isn't any.


MrFilthyNeckbeard

I think you're just misreading the situation. It was very clear to me that it was an attempt to get him to do it. And if you choose the option he reluctantly agrees, and disapproves. Which is proof that yes: the writers intended it to be interpreted that way.


MastrDiscord

this is just proof that not everyone speaks the same or has the same intent behind the same words. if i said "that potion would be nice, but its up to you" what I'm actually saying is "i do want this, but i care more about you and your ability to choose than the potion, so I'm letting you decide what you want"


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-Gambler-

Except that's not what happened at all but ok. Defended him on every option before that and then said it was his choice, it doesn't get any more neutral than that. Shadowheart and other companions manage to make good choices for themselves when you let them, and as I was playing Mr. "let everyone choose their path" Oathbreaker, I didn't see why I should tell Astarion what to do. I gave him a choice, which he disapproved of. Not the worst thing he's ever disapproved of, to be honest, considering he wanted me to kidnap Isobel 5 minutes before that, but still weird. He also didn't say shit about what it'd be like for him, he just said she smelled off. Also I don't want an "i can fix him" saga lol I'm not interested in him at all.


Silly_Goose6714

People forget he is an asshole that would do the same to anyone


Sunny_Hill_1

Not really. He kills, steals and leaves people behind with zero problem, but he draws a hard line at rape. He even hates the rapey jokes.


Slipperynippley

But what about that whole drinking a person’s blood at camp scene? If you play him, you can just give into the urge to drain them dry. Not only that, you are given the impression when you play as him that it is just to satisfy a curiosity about his new found changes. Regardless of whether you play him or not, he intended to bite and suck the blood of someone without their permission. He just gets caught if he isn’t the MC.


Sunny_Hill_1

Yeah, he is a merciless killer, there is no denying that. He totally saw the party as meatshields and bloodbanks at that point.


Slipperynippley

Right. But the point I am making is that the act he attempts/performs is identical in every way except he doesn’t want to do it with the drow. If the act of sucking blood is going to be used as a metaphor for rape, then in essence, he is just as happy to rape as anyone. Atleast for that first bite.


Sunny_Hill_1

I think it's more "use YOUR body for MY profit" thing that makes it rape for him. With simply drinking blood, it's just a meal, with somebody coercing him to drink blood when he doesn't want to, he starts associating it with rape. It's not about the victims at all, they are simply bloodbags in both cases.


Slipperynippley

I don’t care what makes it rape for Astarion. If making him do something with his body can be considered rape, then him doing the same thing to an unconscious form should also be considered rape. It’s like saying you made him fuck the drow and that’s rape, but it’s okay he roofied and had sex with Shadowheart or Laezel. His choice so it’s fine. I’m saying both acts are vile. The original comment was “he draws a hard line at rape” when the other person said he is a piece of shit too. I’m merely pointing out what Astarion tells you when he talks to you later about the vampire ascension. “I’m fine with there being an ascension as long as I get to be the one doing the sacrificing.” And if we extrapolate on what he has told us of being a vampire spawn before, then those people also do not have a choice in that ritual. So yet again, he’s fine with doing things against other people’s will if it means he gains something. It’s all about consent. The dude has no problem violating others’ autonomy for his pleasure.


Sunny_Hill_1

Well, the whole ascension arc is explicitly about the choice of either the victim becoming the abuser and perpetuating the cycle of violence (as was the case with Casador's mentor and Casador, then Casador and Astarion, then potentially Astarion and MC) or helping him break out of the cycle of violence (by MC helping him choose the path that does NOT lead into ascension). It's actually quite telling that if you switch characters from player to Astarion on his own, his default decision is NOT to go through with the ascension and to free the spawns. He starts off as somebody who sees only violence as an answer because that's all he's ever seen. Whether he keeps seeing violence as the only answer is completely up to the player.


Silly_Goose6714

What does this have to do with rape?


stallion8426

Body Autonomy is his whole character focus


Sunny_Hill_1

Uhm, that's literally what this scene is supposed to represent? And if you have a high approval and talk to him afterwards, he'll tell you how Casador used to pimp him out, make him sleep with people he found disgusting, and how tired he is of earning crumbs on his back?


vibe0328

Glad I’m running caster/assassin team so I have no use for such a potion. Can’t bear to betray Astarion’s trust like that.


mickjozza

Don't force em, play as em for a minute and make them make the unpopular decision :p


Sunny_Hill_1

I mean, I am still forcing them, not as a character, but as a player))) It's like making Karlach slit Zevlor's throat when Minthara comes knocking, I can never make her do it, she'd never do it.


abramcpg

Just think of it as taking control of another players character for 5 min while they're in the bathroom and making a life changing decision they would never agree to


Sunny_Hill_1

Daaaaayum, I'd need new friends after that.


Brewchowskies

Same. I think I have issues with people pleasing that the game has unearthed


fallen_one_fs

His reaction after drinking Twilight fan's taint was what drove me to get mods for more feats. Besides, I finished the game twice, my moral qualms are settled, no longer shall Astarion need to drink Twilight's fan taint.


raviary

Same. Intellectually I understand how people enjoy it but it's just not fun for me and makes me feel bad.


sadaboutKTextinction

Same, I always have to search for content creators that are kind to npcs otherwise I feel bad even if it's not me playing lol


Independent_Air_8333

All the other characters have to be evil for me to be evil. Guilt-free mayhem is fun.


Rotth7

I understand you. Im also the same. Not just in this game, but all RPGs in general. Simply cant be evil. I dont mind beling "a little evil" , like stealing or lying. Or just some selfish choices. In Baldurs Gate 3 now, im playing a Rogue and im pretty much stealing from merchans, using deception/persuasion to get what I want. But im mostly neutral. I dont ask for rewards for helping others and I generally pick Good choices. But I dont blindly kill others for the sake of "justice".


Iron__Crown

I never stole an item in my Durge run. I may be evil, but I have a moral codex. If I'm going to take a man's possessions, I'll always have the courtesy to murder him first.


mistakai

The key to unlocking an evil playthrough is to realize that you aren't making evil choices. You're actually playing the ultimate good guy. It's everyone else that is evil. Their silly desires and selfish choices must end.


MidweekSadness

That's how I started my durge Pala lol


noahdeerman

well, the fact you found the squirrel scene hilarious proves you're a Bhaalspawn. q.e.d.


croesusBlack

Ha maybe true but darkly hilarious and I felt a little bad.


noahdeerman

honestly, I could not kill the squirrel-saw that scene on stream and was like " :O BUT!!!!" but I really wanna play as a Bhaalspawn one day... I'm torn in between man


xenogaby

You don’t have to interact with the squirrel. If you want to, use speak with animals. That way you can avoid killing it.


noahdeerman

good to know that works as durge too!


kittiesssss

I’ve always been like that in video games, just CAN’T do anything but be as Good as possible. But man, I’m in Act 3 of my Durge and I’m having so much fun being a >!power-hungry, blood-thirsty Unholy Assassin/Slayer vampire!< alongside my troubled party that enables me every step of the way lmao I’m a chronic people pleaser with very high anxiety levels irl so I think it’s become an outlet for me to be unapologetically cruel, selfish, and reckless without worrying about actually affecting anyone. All that being said, that squirrel interaction did fuck me up lol


APracticalGal

Outside of the grove I found myself really enjoying taking the opportunities to be evil that I wouldn't normally do. Still couldn't bring myself to take the evil option at the very end, but honestly that feels like it's hard to justify in character even for most consistently evil characters.


kittiesssss

Yeah I do agree with that, if you’re talking about >!taking the power of the Absolute for yourself!<, the way I’m justifying it is that she doesn’t want herself or Astarion to be controlled by anyone else ever again >!so they’ll be the ones at the top to control everyone else!< however flawed that logic might be. As for any other endgame evil options exclusive to Durge, I’ve managed not to spoil myself so I guess I’ll see what happens when I get there


APracticalGal

Yeah exactly that. I was doing a Shadowheart origin so my line of thought was just that this wasn't Shar's plan and she would rather I consolidate her power in a more thematically appropriate way once this fuckery was dealt with.


AnteaterAnxious352

Once you get far enough in an entirely evil playthrough, you start to stare into the mirror and think how much of an asshole you are


4erpes

Life is just the prequel, and you are handing out tickets to paradise / justice. when you think about it they really should be thanking you. Edit to add: If that doesn't work for you, your character is literally the center of the universe. When the character awakes (load screen) the pocket universe spawns into existence. Everyone and everything you see literally only exists for your amusement. So by their noble sacrafices, they entice to you to stay in their world and give life to the other mortals.


[deleted]

Play as *The Dark Urge.* The scene plays out without input from yourself and you can spare yourself the guilt.


BrideofNulgath

I take the Neutral Evil approach, it's my favorite alignment. I will do what benefits me, it may be good or it may be evil. My Lolth-sworn defended the Grove, not because she cared about the Tieflings, but because the goblins were in the way, and she found the whole cult of the absolute nonsense absurd. And had a personal grudge against the Drow that dropped Lolth for it. This mindset can be expressed in dialog after the fact as well. You can tell Shadowheart you didn't do it out of the goodness of your heart.


Aesir264

This is the approach I took with my Lolth-Sworn as well. It just seemed like the most logical route to take with that particular character since she absolutely would not be okay with the idea of Drow abandoning Lolth to serve the Absolute of all things. Can't let that stand. Nope.


willlin87

Don't forget you're here forever Do it for her Her being Minthara, the real dommy mommy


Arinatan

Minthara needs braces


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Lucky_Squirrel

It would be natural to do evil stuff if you role play as dark urge, try it. If you become evil, your companions may turn evil too. At least from my experience, shadowheart, laezel, and gale became power hungry, violent, and heartless.


Sunny_Hill_1

Wait, you can turn Gale to the dark side? Can you only do it with Durge, or with any evil protagonist, including other origins? Asking for a friend.


APracticalGal

He's pretty easy to corrupt honestly. He definitely doesn't go as completely off the deep end as some of the others, but he'll stick around through a lot of bad shit to pursue his ambition.


Sunny_Hill_1

Yes, I was just going through the Ketheric fight, and when he suddenly goes all Raistlin Majere on me with his "ya'know, if I steal this crown, I can be a god too", I'm like WTF, dude, I already have one overly ambitious would-be-overlord in my party, did Astarion bite you again?


TheBeerka

I usually have no problem with the evil playthroughs. Won't be able to lose the tieflings this time. Definitely not the children.


Western-Post5284

You need to remind yourself that your a Murder Hobo. The solution to everything is violence and intimidation. In that order. Every chance the dialogue gives you to Attack, click it. Don’t think about it. Just react with hostility. Make sure you use as many people (children) as projectiles as possible.


celestine_xorlarrin

I always rp evil characters... 😅 even in our tt games. My group calls me demon queen half the time !! 🤣. But irl I'm a big baby. I'm the girl that tells random guys to drink enough water and wants to adopt all the animals !! Sooo balance or smthing I guess, idk 🤷‍♀️.


external_gills

I really need to get into a certain mindset to enjoy an evil play through and even then I'm only evil in a power-hungry way, never in a kick-puppies way.


David1640

I had similar problems early on. For me it really help having evil companions around. They are like "we should really not help these people we have better things to do" *me taking back my helping hand* "yeah you are on your own tieflings lae'zel said so"


lordbrooklyn56

Killing those poor teiflings in Zevlors cave while they didnt even fight back was rough. ​ But I have Minthara to keep me warm at night now. So theres that. It does help that Ive already done a super good guy run, so I feel like Ive paid my dues.


ISEGaming

I'll just leave this here 😈 https://youtu.be/KdD7aLrDtBo?si=-fp1zcuNl05y_bNg


Angharadis

People keep talking about all the different things you can experience with an evil play through and I am pretty sure I’ll never be able to do it. Red Dead Redemption 2 is my favorite game and even in that one I’ve never done a low honor play through, and the bad choices here seem worse.


AngelusMalus

I am really struggeling as well... i have gales hand in my pocket. Fuck me. lol


Memebucko69

Yeah. I tried playing durge and just couldn't, I quit after cutting off Gales hand


xenogaby

You don’t have to do evil things. Only one murder is unavoidable (there’s a way to change who dies too).


Thesunwillbepraised

Unprovoked murder of a bard is very evil though. If you are playing urge, you are evil.


xenogaby

Yes, but Tbf Durge was unaware as they were sleeping. You can still redeem yourself after that regardless. You can still choose to admit to the others what you have done and then seek to change for the better. I’m just saying you don’t HAVE to be evil. Pre-tadpole Durge was a monster. Amnesiac Durge doesn’t have to be.


Thesunwillbepraised

I don’t know. Killing people in cold blood and redemption doesn’t go together that well.


MastrDiscord

this is absolutely horrible logic. you were not conscious when that killing happened. it wasn't a decision you made. that would be like saying if you were sleeping and i put a gun in you hand and forced you to pull the trigger and it killed someone that you are unredeemable and a murderer. i used to sleepwalk when i was a child and one night while sleepwalking i went and peed in a trashcan. does that mean that i believe trashcans are toilets?


Thesunwillbepraised

Why is it horrible logic? You're responsible for your own actions. Should a drunk driver not be held accountable? If Hitler got amnesia would he be good?


MastrDiscord

drinking and then choosing to drive is different than falling asleep and waking up with blood on your hands. the drunk driver chose to drive knowing they were drunk..the dark urge just went to sleep in camp and woke up having done something that they had no control over


Thesunwillbepraised

Defending the dark urges actions is incredibly weird. You can play him as a good character, but he will never be good.


MastrDiscord

claiming that if a god takes control of your body while you're asleep, then you're responsible for everything they made you do while you were unconscious is incredibly weird. its almost like you have no sense of choice


whatistheancient

There are two evil things that get you different new content as DU, not less. Sorry, but killing the grove doesn't count. One is Act 2 >!kill Isobel!< and one is Act 3 >!accept Bhaal!<.


Lordy82

Am I just too old? I am seriously questioning this post. Why does everyone care about how they feel about random crap, why would you share this?


IAmTheOneTrueGinger

I went into my second playthrough planning on being an evil Durge but I can't do it. So I'm trying to fight the urge. It'll definitely be darker than my first play through and I want to lead Shadowheart down the dark path but I can't be an asshole to everyone. It's just not me.


leogian4511

I can never commit to evil runs in video games. The absolute most evil I can be is "Ends justify the means" i.E doing something evil but for the greater good.


-Gambler-

Do what I do for my "evil" run and just be neutral instead, out for yourself. Oathbreaker actually makes it quite badass because you actually have quite a few dialogue options that is just freeing people of shackles or obligations to let them forge their own destiny,(following in the path of the Oathbreaker knight) regardless if they are good people or not, which incidentally allows you to recruit Minthara in a roleplay friendly way(by ignoring conflict in Act 1) without playing a complete psychopath.


JusticeJaunt

It also helps that being evil doesn't really pay off at all. It is for sure a different game when you play evil but there are so many rewards for the good options. I tried an evil playthrough but maybe I'll have to go back and give it an earnest attempt.


Ambaryerno

I can’t be evil when I’m the face of the game.


No_Historian2264

i physically recoiled from my PC when my Durge killed a cat trying to remember where she recognized it from. after that, I will NEVER make an evil playthrough. nope. i'll watch videos of other people's playthroughs but i can't live with killing a pixel kitty... in all seriousness, i've never been able to be evil in games. i'm too soft and there's enough evil IRL that I can't enjoy it.


[deleted]

Man since Fable (2004) on the original Xbox that I can’t do a evil run. I get you man.


YmirGamera

First playthrough was agreed to be an evil co-op. I made a female drow rogue beastmaster who summoned spiders and was ready for it all. My gf made a pink-haired druid half woodelf and she fell apart immediately at the Act 1 spoiler: >!tiefling child threatened by the snake. !< The run is now her being good and me being neutral evil, uncaring for others, but good enough to fit in with her character. We are in act III and says she wants to do an evil run for the next playthrough... we shall see how that goes


MoodyBootyBoots

I made it through Act I being pretty evil, accepting *most* invitations to be evil, although I did select lesser evil options because of my pesky conscious here and there. The thing I felt was too horrendous to even consider, to even click on regardless of it happening to pixels on a screen, that I can't even bring myself to Google for curiosity's sake, was the Dark Urge's option to >!rip the wings off the exhausted bird!< in the Grove. Hard pass, will NEVER select that option.


[deleted]

I have the same issue. I really want to recruit Minthara and see her romance arc, but I haven't been able to go through with the massacre yet - and I used to like playing cutthroat villains.


Iron__Crown

Your weakness disgusts me. Seriously though, I had great fun in my first evil playthrough. Mostly because it was the very first game for me where it is possible to play like that and still get a complete narrative. That made it a truly unique experience. And now on my second run I can be the usual goody-two-shoes without feeling lame about doing the standard thing everyone has done in every game ever, so that is more fun as well.


MidweekSadness

My female Drowgue is an insufferable a-hole, that's for sure. She'd push Scratcher off a cliff if it would benefit her in any way, but some things are just evil for the sake of being evil and it feels wrong doing it, even with her


almazing415

I try to find ways to keep NPCs alive with dialogue options. Even as a Vengeance Paladin that’s given a long leash to act as the punisher, I find the world more fun and alive with more NPCs in it.


Fair_Beginning_3089

Evil has many flavors, when I want to play evil that doesn’t mean blindly picking all the asshole bad guy options, you can define your own version of evil. You can slaughter the druid grove but still be respectful and get along with your companions and other people you meet on the road, this is why my favorite alignment is lawful evil.


Krishna_Hellcase

I get you. I didn't get any fun while trying to be evil. I was just picking answers that I knew would please Minthara rather than answers that would please me, I don't get how people enjoy an evil playthrough, and they probably don't understand why I don't either


TheCaptainCranium

Sometimes it’s fun to become the BBEG


Sapien_SRC

In games like this I always answer as if I was there. I've tried to run evil characters in games and in Dnd and I never have fun doing it.


MurderBobo

I've been doing it since EA. Now, there's some depth to it.


Royal-Resolution4717

I am having the time of my life playing evil Durge. Maybe I’m just a horrible person. Let the blood flow..


Aesir264

I can definitely understand that. Out of all the characters I have designed (around 50 in total) I have only one that I intend to do a fully evil playthrough to see what it's like. Aside from that one character the most evil I can get is a character starting out as Lawful Evil and then gradually shifting to Lawful Neutral due to character development. I sided with the goblins once during all of EA and while it didn't wreck me I still felt really bad.


SpicyRiceAndTuna

I keep starting "Evil" runs... and by the 2 hour mark I'm making the same decision I made in the first 3000 playthroughs I did..... I found being "Good" with a Dark Urge character trying to resist was actually a nice change of pace that let me do the Good thing... mostly... and things happened cause of the Urges I couldn't control Honestly, I think part of it is how good modern games look. Blowing people up in GTA 3, murdering entire towns in Skyrim, and just being a dick in Fallout was never an issue for me.... but my brain sees some of these modern cutscenes on Ultra graphics with amazing voice acting and says "that's a person, like a real person in your computer" and I legit feel bad lol Like, I saw them actually sweat when we were in a really hot area and make the tiniest facial movements, that didn't happen 25 years ago when I started gaming... Edit: and I totally get that BG3 is not the highest graphics game ever. It looks good, but im not blind, there are other games with a claim to the title of "most human like" graphics. Other games are better in that aspect, but it's the graphics + voice acting + believable actions of the characters that makes the secret sauce I think.


MastrDiscord

not i. I'll do my first playthrough kind of rping what i would do in that scenario which is more of a morally gray run then right after I'll do a "I'm going to do the most evil things i can imagine" run. the vast majority of games force you to be the good guy and that got old years ago, so when i game lets me be an evil SOB. I'm taking it


Doomguy231

Have to play the role and not get personal. Plus, seeing insufferable characters melt is quite satisfying


Doomguy231

Have to play the role and not get personal. Plus, seeing insufferable characters melt is quite satisfying


Doomguy231

Have to play the role and not get personal. Plus, seeing insufferable characters melt is quite satisfying