QueenNioiclin

Member of the Dtoid Exile.

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Writer of Queer Fantasy & Narrative Designer. Gamer. Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge. Lover of great stories. She/her 🏳️‍🌈 / Amateur artist


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Yesterday, I finished the game with Alywyll, my Dark Urge character who's not... completely evil but not worried about being good either. For her run, I usually went with the darker/more selfish choices available, so yeah, it would be generally considered an evil run. And I have... opinions on it. First, for the non-spoiler overview:

I haven't played many "evil paths" in RPG games (mostly because I hardly ever replay games; BG3 is proving an enormous exception!), but I read people saying how, in many cases, the evil path isn't so well-written. BG3 has a different issue: it is well-written, but it's lacking in content compared to the good/neutral run.

The Dark Urge storyline itself is great. I've said it here before and will say it again: it's worth playing a Durge evil run because of the unique interactions and powers you get. The "second gift" you earn by embracing your Urge is one of the coolest things in the entire game!

But, apart from that, there's nothing "unique" to the evil run (especially when you consider you can embrace your parasite's potential in either). Siding against the Grove in Act 1, for example, will lock you away from three, potentially four companions. That's four quest lines you'll be missing out on. You'll also lose Dammon, the blacksmith, who sells some great equipment in Act 3, along with all the other Tieflings and their quests. Honestly, I don't have a big issue with the morality of siding against the Grove; the issue is how much content you lose and gain nothing... I mean, you gain Minthara and (if you choose to, but why would you not?) the best sex scene in the game, but Minthara herself can only be recruited in Act 2, and while I love her to pieces, she doesn't have much content either after you decide her fate in the second act.

The gist of it is: the Dark Urge doesn't need to be evil (you can, I believe, play it three ways: good - resisting the Urges -, bad - embracing the Urges -, and a mix - which is Alywyll's case), but if you'll play an evil run, do it with the Dark Urge. For now, there's no reason to go evil with a "normal" character. I hope that Larian will add more content in the future; perhaps some quests involving Goblins, and pleeeease more Minthara goodness.

Two Dark Urge tips: The Durge has a fantastic romantic relationship with Minthara, so worth it! Astarion is also essential on your team! His high-approval greetings (you'll easily get approval with him on an evil run), especially after you discover the truth about the Durge, are the best! xD Example of a non-spoilery one:

About the ending. I wasn't a fan of the evil ending either. To explain why, though, I'll need to speak in the forbidden language of SPOILERS:

So, for the evil ending, rather than destroying the brain, you take control of it. Great! The problem is that your other companions become thralls. That was decidedly not what I wanted or what the game promised me. As I developed my relationship with Minthara, the plan was clear: take control of the Absolute so that we could rule it together. That the game offered me no option to rule alongside her and my other companions feels very unrewarding. And then, while you get 10 minutes of cutscene plus the epilogue with the good ending, the evil ending closes with a short cutscene of you and your thralls atop the Elder Brain.

Unless you're roleplaying as a character who literally cares about none other than themselves, choosing to destroy the brain (I went back and chose that. Or, better, I proposed the Emperor for us to take control of it, he didn't like the idea after Alywyll failed a charisma check - I reloaded the save until she succeeded and he just took control for himself and turned us all into thralls -, and then destroyed the brain) is, in my opinion, more fulfilling. Minthara has literally no line on the beach after destroying the brain, but later you have a scene where you can choose to take control of Baldur's Gate with her. That is a good ending! She's extremely funny in the epilogue too. Minthara, thanks to the awful society she grew up in, only sees parties as a chance to poison others. She says this, and there's an option where you can say something along the lines of, "You grab the drinks, I'll grab the food. They'll be dead by morning." I stared at the screen for a whole minute straight trying to figure out if we were joking or if we'd actually kill the few companions we had left..... thankfully, it was all in jest and no one died (unless it happened after Withers' speech, but I like to think we were too busy then to care about the others) 😃

I'm also not sure how to feel about Lae'zel's arc. Perhaps it was my fault for ignoring her for most of Act 3, but since I blew the créche up and she never learned the truth about Vlaakith, she was loyal to the end. Literally to the end scene at the beach, where she was like, "You know what? I don't need ascension. I'll spill blood on my own terms. Fuck Vlaakith!"

Overall, I had a lot of fun with the Dark Urge and would love to play it again fully embracing the Urges. I ended up refusing Bhaal because someone told me the Durge would kill everyone in the epilogue if we accepted to be Bhaal's Chosen, but for Alywyll, I honestly prefer the refusal arc. It suits her better. (One change I'd have done in this playthrough is stopping Shadowheart from becoming a Dark Justiciar, but since I didn't know the truth behind the Durge in Act 2, I let her kill Dame Aylin.)


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in reply to @QueenNioiclin's post:

OK so I don't think most of this is intended to be missing content at all. It's consequences for your actions, and I think that's great. There SHOULD be consequences. There are lots of little things in this game that are better when you choose the more compassionate path (for example, setting the pixie free in Act 2 and getting her blessing is WAY better than having to carry that stupid lantern everywhere). Minthara is 100% not finished though.

If it's not, then it should be. Again, I don't mind losing certain content or even companions because of action X or Y. What weirds me out is how empty the other side feels. There should be quests and rewards that are only accessed through the "dark path" to make it feel more compelling and rewarding. Like, there's the Temple of Bhaal, which is something you'll likely only engage with if you're on an evil run, and there are rewards for becoming an Unholy Assassin. That's the kind of thing I wanted to see more.

Also, setting the pixie free is definitely something you should do regardless of good or evil lol

I mean there is a reward for going full evil in Durge - you have more money than God because you have no friends and not as many shopkeepers because of all the murder lol (I didn't nuke the myconid colony because I couldn't lose out on more shops at that part lmao)

I actually think the approach is kinda awesome in the way they tie it to overall game difficulty. Going evil makes things easy. Sticking to your principles is much more difficult.

Also, from a logistical perspective, they probably (and correctly) figured most people wouldn't do the evil playthrough except as a third or fourth playthrough. They had no idea they'd sell the way it did, so they put their budget where most players would be putting their time. The fact there even is an evil playthrough goes far beyond the vast majority of RPG's. Most are just "do I save the world as a nice dude or as an asshole with a heart of gold?"

Yeah, I agree, which is why I make sure to say that the evil run is well-written, especially when playing with Durge. I just wanted a few more quests to explore the characters we get on an evil run.

I ended up refusing Bhaal because someone told me the Durge would kill everyone in the epilogue if we accepted to be Bhaal's Chosen, but for Alywyll, I honestly prefer the refusal arc.

oh if you can stomach it i highly recommend checking out the "accept Bhaal but refuse to do his bidding" ending on youtube! (no killing shown but it is a disturbing ending)
what i do not recommend however is searching for the datamined recorded lines of what this ending originally was because that one properly deserves the "not safe for life" tag

I'll probably play another Durge someday (still gotta play with a properly insufferable Lolth Drow, after all!), so I'll save this ending to see for myself. Good to know you can refuse to do his bidding, though!

But now you made me very curious to check out the datamined lines 👀😂

That's too bad there's less content on evil runs. Should be balanced to make it really worth the experience.

There's not many games where I actually play evil. Sometimes in Fallout where it's more chaotic/intrusive thoughts.

Also, here's a code for new twitter!
bsky-social-gvnx6-y5kbb

I hope Larian will add more content in the future since they're still cooking with their updates! And yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the first game where I played and enjoyed the evil run!

Oh, sorry, I completely forgot to tell you: Bluesky sent me an e-mail literally the day after I complained to you I hadn't received my invitation 😂 Feel free to send the code to someone else who still needs it. Thanks! (My username, btw, is @ashrahvell, in case you want to add there!)

Lol complaining works! 😆 And will do! I'm LeafiestOutcome on there.

I know the previous BG games got expansions so hopefully that tradition continues and you get more content to play.