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I mean all the stuff the Netherbrain says about letting emp slip his leash, we don't know it's actually true. it could just be cope
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Mar 28, 2024 13:37
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Yeah, it was a bit of a silly moment for me too. The guardian in your head is one of those things that got reworked quite a lot even from the early access not that long before launch, and I think they just sort of got to end and had sort of painted themselves into a corner there. I would have liked it better if we just fought him there when he announced he was betraying us but eh, at least we get to end him. The dream guardian, Wyll's whole situation, and Halsin's story were the main things that I noticed that changed a lot from EA and those are probably not coincidentally what I think are three of the weakest parts of the story.
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Mar 28, 2024 14:14
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Shard posted:Those robots killed a little girl Yes, again, we know they're cops!
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Mar 28, 2024 15:22
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SlothBear posted:Yeah, it was a bit of a silly moment for me too. What were the original EA versions of these? Also... Khizan posted:He knows that Orpheus will loving end him if he is freed. Not a maybe, not a possibility, a dead certainty. Maybe he will be spared long enough to fight the Netherbrain, but maybe not. There’s no outcome where Orpheus is free and he survives. Better to risk slavery, because he’s already escaped that once. Would be easier to believe if the prince wasn't an absolute chump.
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Mar 28, 2024 15:27
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LifeLynx posted:He's non-stop big reveals and that's why he's rear end. Hate to bring up Robot Chicken because that's also rear end, but I used to watch it on Adult Swim because it was on; but there was a Star Wars scene where after Darth Vader does the "I am your father" speech and Luke says "No, that's impossible", Vader goes on to give other revelations such as "Also, the Empire will be defeated by Ewoks" to Luke's increasingly disinterested disbelief. That's my experience with his revelations - that's the eighth or so ridiculous one, and I'm done caring. I want to frame this post because this is basically a perfect summation. Also why it basically felt great for my rp of the durge turning to "I just want to grill for god's sake and help my buddies" as his prime motivation in life felt awesome as I slammed every response that was close to "drat that's crazy". Lawman 0 fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Mar 28, 2024 |
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Mar 28, 2024 15:39
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PriorMarcus posted:What were the original EA versions of these? Wyll was a very different character. He was searching for Mizora from the start and was a lot more arrogant, at least on the surface. The whole Blade of Frontiers thing was very much his title he'd given himself and you got the impression nobody else really called him that. The whole pact with Mizora was made under much less 'obviously the right choice' circumstances and he came off as sort of desperately trying to convince himself he was a hero for it when it wasn't so clear that was the case. His whole relationship with Mizora was very different too. She was much more of the whispering in his ear that he really was the hero and deserved it all as opposed to the very antagonistic from the get go relationship they have in the game that released. Halsin was hinted at being directly responsible for the shadow curse and Isobel's death (which is why his weapon is called "Sorrow") although to what extent I don't think we ever found out in EA. I suspect the original plan for him was that he wasn't going to make it through act 2 or if he did he was staying behind there and never becoming a companion. I think this also all explains a lot more why he's willing to just leave the grove behind, which is something that always seems weird to me. Like, "hey yeah I know I'm First Druid and all but you all can let the snake lady who tried to murder kids and sell you out to shadows be in charge or whatever, I'm off to Moonrise." The dream guardian is probably the biggest change. The guardian in EA was the manifestation of the tadpole itself, and it wasn't a guardian it was just a tempting companion (the original character creation asked you who you dream of at night when creating them). It would try to soothe you into giving up, i.e. staying with it "down by the river" which represented giving into ceremorphosis. The emperor I suspect was going to be part of the plot in act 3 but then got kind of shoe horned into becoming the dream guardian too which leads to some inconsistency with its story.
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Mar 28, 2024 16:08
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How does pickpocketing work? I had Astarion pick pocket stuff from the tiefling smith in the grove. There were little green circles in the pickpocket mini game but I don’t know what any of it means. A couple beats after I finished, he goes “I’ve been robbed” and a different NPC ran over and said they will search for the thief. I went and talked to the tiefling smith again with Tav and then again with Astarion and it was fine. Did not trigger an arrest or anything. It was a lot of decent equipment worth hundreds of gold, which seems rad. Pickpocketing seems super strong. I’m still in the grove. Sorc 3 Tav Life cleric 3 Shadow heart Thief 3 astarion Battle master 3 Laez This is a fun game!!!
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Mar 28, 2024 16:15
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The more expensive the item is the harder it is to pickpocket. The number you see is the number you need to roll to get the item. You can still fail with a one, even with advantage if you pickpocket enough times that double 1 roll will get ya. Pickpocketing is super strong, I've watched people play without a pickpocket and they are struggling for money sometimes. After you pickpocket someone they will notice they have been robbed and search the area for anyone in your party for around 1 minute. If they spot you they will follow you and trigger an accusation dialogue that results in you passing a check or getting beaten up / guards called on you. Fights from thefts usually result in you waking up in jail upon defeat. You can break out of jail (each one is unique) but you wont have your equipment or inventory readily available.
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Mar 28, 2024 16:19
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SlothBear posted:Wyll was a very different character. He was searching for Mizora from the start and was a lot more arrogant, at least on the surface. The whole Blade of Frontiers thing was very much his title he'd given himself and you got the impression nobody else really called him that. The whole pact with Mizora was made under much less 'obviously the right choice' circumstances and he came off as sort of desperately trying to convince himself he was a hero for it when it wasn't so clear that was the case. His whole relationship with Mizora was very different too. She was much more of the whispering in his ear that he really was the hero and deserved it all as opposed to the very antagonistic from the get go relationship they have in the game that released. Wyll and Halsin seem way cooler with these characterizations.
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Mar 28, 2024 16:27
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Morrow posted:Wyll and Halsin seem way cooler with these characterizations. Agreed. Wyll especially I couldn't help but feel a bit let down by in the release version. His relationship with MIzora was veering into exploring toxic relationships using the pact as a metaphor and there were definitely suggestions of Mizora doing the whole "I'm the only one who gets you, babe you had to torture that goblin, they don't understand that's what heroes do." Sort of way of tempting him down to darkness all based on his desperate need to be a hero. It would have made Wyll fit in a lot more with the other characters who all have that sort of theme playing into their backstories (using fantasy tropes as a way of exploring universal struggles) especially as the player would have certainly had the chance to talk him out of it and convince him to be the one to break the pact as opposed to what we got in the release version. I mean release Wyll is fine but he's a very sort of shallow goof with a heart of gold compared to the real depth of the other origin characters.
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Mar 28, 2024 16:47
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SlothBear posted:
This sounds so awesome!!! I am excited to experience this as in progress through the game!
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Mar 28, 2024 16:53
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Yeah that version of Wyll sounds 1000x better than what we got, what the hell Regarding Halsin, I thought that was still true? I definitely had dialogue where he said "I'm as responsible as anyone" and he's going back to Moonrise to try and atone. Maybe it was dialed up more in EA? I didn't play it. Also if you kick out the shadow druids he busts Khaga back down to the lowest possible druid rank and puts someone else in charge. He doesn't just hand over the keys to the grove to an obvious villain. At least in the "good" story branch. Ornery and Hornery posted:How does pickpocketing work? I had Astarion pick pocket stuff from the tiefling smith in the grove. There were little green circles in the pickpocket mini game but I don’t know what any of it means. A couple beats after I finished, he goes “I’ve been robbed” and a different NPC ran over and said they will search for the thief. I went and talked to the tiefling smith again with Tav and then again with Astarion and it was fine. Did not trigger an arrest or anything. Yeah the crime reaction is a little weird. With decent persuasion/deception you can usually talk your way out of it easily. If you want to bypass it entirely you can have the pickpocketer run away immediately or even fast travel to a waypoint. They'll come yell at the rest of your party who just go "I ain't do poo poo" and since you don't have the item on you, they believe it and leave you alone lol.
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Mar 28, 2024 17:03
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Docjowles posted:Yeah that version of Wyll sounds 1000x better than what we got, what the hell I think someone pointed out that there are a bunch of leftover banter lines that refer to earlier versions of characters still in game. Like how Wyll can still be a total rear end in a top hat to Astarion while others like Gale flirting with Shadowheart were removed for reasons ??? and also the perpetually bugged romance banter in general.
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Mar 28, 2024 17:18
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There was a big uproar like 3 days before launch when a dev post got misinterpreted as if you don't romance your companions then they'll mingle amongst themselves. This lead to people flipping out about the potential of getting "cucked" by Wyll. Which honestly would've been some interesting character development besides daddy issues.
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Mar 28, 2024 17:23
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Hi thread, I feel like I’m about to answer my own question, but should I play this if I: Never really played Baldurs Gate or other D&D adjacent RPGs of the era, and don’t gently caress with D&D in general, but love narrative choose your own adventure branching dialogue and choices stuff (I loved dragon age and the like for example), and was down with the skill check stuff going on in Disco Elysium? If yes, is the PS5 version an acceptable way to play or is it still kinda busted
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Mar 28, 2024 17:23
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Yes you will like/love this game
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Mar 28, 2024 17:24
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Thank you Black Noise, thank you docjowles. Astarion will steal for me. Can’t wait  E: I kind of want to do a relatively good party for the first time through. But I like the vibes Astarion brings. Just from an RP perspective I like Lael and Shadowheart in the same party because they snipe at each other so much lol. I want to experience all the character interactions!
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Mar 28, 2024 17:25
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man nurse posted:Hi thread, I feel like I’m about to answer my own question, but should I play this if I: Yes game owns. If you decide you don’t love the combat stuff just turn the difficulty down to easy and you’ll steamroll everything so you can get on with the story
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Mar 28, 2024 17:32
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Black Noise posted:There was a big uproar like 3 days before launch when a dev post got misinterpreted as if you don't romance your companions, then they'll mingle amongst themselves. This lead to people flipping out about the potential of getting "cucked" by Wyll. Which honestly would've been some interesting character development besides daddy issues. Thankfully, everyone is a totally self-absorbed rear end in a top hat so we don't have to worry about that. Wyll possibly hooking up with Karlach in hell is honestly sensible since both are the most normal and sane people in this party. Caphi posted:I remember hoping for this, the party members dating in Pillars 2 was a lot more of a fun dynamic than anyone turning to the camera and going "ooh Mx. Captain you changed my life" and they still came to you first so people wouldn't lose out on the romance they wanted just by doing things in the wrong order. I wanted to matchmake the party members I wasn't sticking with Tav. I genuinely wished that you saw your party members pick up a thematic hobby or something as part of their character development. At least Halsin whittles and Minthara will practice her villainous speeches or whatever. Lawman 0 fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Mar 28, 2024 |
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Mar 28, 2024 17:34
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Black Noise posted:There was a big uproar like 3 days before launch when a dev post got misinterpreted as if you don't romance your companions then they'll mingle amongst themselves. This lead to people flipping out about the potential of getting "cucked" by Wyll. Which honestly would've been some interesting character development besides daddy issues. I remember hoping for this, the party members dating in Pillars 2 was a lot more of a fun dynamic than anyone turning to the camera and going "ooh Mx. Captain you changed my life" and they still came to you first so people wouldn't lose out on the romance they wanted just by doing things in the wrong order. I wanted to matchmake the party members I wasn't sticking with Tav.
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Mar 28, 2024 17:38
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Lawman 0 posted:Thankfully, everyone is a totally self-absorbed rear end in a top hat so we don't have to worry about that. The opposite of the Mizora scene but everyone finds Wyll and Karlach unable to separate their horns.
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Mar 28, 2024 17:38
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Ornery and Hornery posted:How does pickpocketing work? I had Astarion pick pocket stuff from the tiefling smith in the grove. There were little green circles in the pickpocket mini game but I don’t know what any of it means. A couple beats after I finished, he goes “I’ve been robbed” and a different NPC ran over and said they will search for the thief. I went and talked to the tiefling smith again with Tav and then again with Astarion and it was fine. Did not trigger an arrest or anything. The short answer is, the more 'complete' that circle is, the easier the roll your character needs to make to successfully steal is. Like, if the thing you want to steal is a bog-standard potion, the circle will usually be nearly full and green, but a fancy set of armor costing thousands would be in the red. You can keep attempting to steal items one by one until one of your rolls fails. When a character has been pickpocketed, they'll do the little "i've been robbed!" motion, then pretty much make a beeline for one of your party if they're nearby. In your case, if they talk to Tav after Astarion stole a pair of fancy gauntlets, Tav can turn out their pockets, and as long as they don't have any of the victim's stuff, all is good and you can go right back to pickpocketing them some more, if you want. If they don't find any of your party to talk to, they'll give up the search after a few seconds and go back to their default state, at which point you can again start the whole merry dance all over again. However, say they got to Astarion, at that point you can try to talk your way out of it, pay a bribe/fine/give the stuff back, or start a fight. So, once you've pickpocketed a character, it's a good idea to get the thief as far away as possible. Either have another party member freeze the target in dialogue before starting to steal, and/or enter turn based mode before starting to pickpocket, then once you're done, use your movement to get as far away as possible, exit turn based mode, and maybe run a little bit more. It's a good idea to steal when in turn-based mode anyway, as if any random person walking by sees you crouching, it breaks your cover. Pickpocketing is *absurdly*, game-breakingly powerful. By the end of my run, i had 30k gold because I wasn't actually spending money on anything. Well, except for (minor spoiler) the statue of my character, one has to be a patron of the arts
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Mar 28, 2024 17:56
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really curious to know what that halfling werewolf bard companion would have been like. would have been nice to have a rogue option beyond Astarion, and no D&D party is fully complete without at least one short companion
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Mar 28, 2024 18:10
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Pattonesque posted:really curious to know what that halfling werewolf bard companion would have been like. would have been nice to have a rogue option beyond Astarion, and no D&D party is fully complete without at least one short companion you can respec anyone to rogue just fyi
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Mar 28, 2024 18:15
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Larian opened the door to letting you roll a Halfling Bard yourself and enjoy the most OP race/class combo in the game.
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Mar 28, 2024 18:17
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An Taoiseach posted:Pickpocketing is *absurdly*, game-breakingly powerful. By the end of my run, i had 30k gold because I wasn't actually spending money on anything. Well, except for (minor spoiler) the statue of my character, one has to be a patron of the arts really can't be overstated how broken it is, think i ended up with like 150k gp and half a million worth of scrolls one game I went out of my way to hoover up vendors. no pickpocketing house rule vendors is good.
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Mar 28, 2024 18:23
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If they didn’t want you to steal they’d put in the one theft per vendor limit like they did in Divinity. Or just no pickpocketing at all like Wrath of the Righteous. If there is a pickpocketing mechanic I will use it. I don’t care about 1 shotting the big bad Fable 2 I care about the illusion of fictional wealth  Also given enough thefts then you definitely hit that Nat 1 and got caught. Cheesing it with a waypoint or reload is on you at that point. And there is cool stuff in some of the jails.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:00
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Out of curiosity do you fight the red dragon if you side with the emperor, or is it possible to never fight a dragon all game
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Mar 28, 2024 19:05
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HashtagGirlboss posted:Out of curiosity do you fight the red dragon if you side with the emperor, or is it possible to never fight a dragon all game yeah you always fight it
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Mar 28, 2024 19:09
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HashtagGirlboss posted:Out of curiosity do you fight the red dragon if you side with the emperor, or is it possible to never fight a dragon all game I sided with the emperor and yep, the red dragon was there as well. I actually wondered if you have to fight it if you side with Orpheus since I assumed it was a Gith owned dragon. You also get to fight the skeletal dragon if you can figure that puzzle out.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:09
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Shard posted:yeah you always fight it Medullah posted:I sided with the emperor and yep, the red dragon was there as well. I actually wondered if you have to fight it if you side with Orpheus since I assumed it was a Gith owned dragon. Interesting, thanks! Knew about the other but it’s optional so that was why I was curious
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Mar 28, 2024 19:16
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Docjowles posted:Yeah if I have one complaint about the ending, it’s that the last second emperor team change felt like embarrassingly, cartoonishly bad It's not last second. There are a number of story beats in Act 3 that paint the Emperor as a giant screaming rear end in a top hat that shouldn't be trusted under any circumstances. Also they straight up tell you that they're manipulating you for their own ends.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:22
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grack posted:It's not last second. There are a number of story beats in Act 3 that paint the Emperor as a giant screaming rear end in a top hat that shouldn't be trusted under any circumstances. I wonder how many people outright get the scene where he tries to scare you by revealing his real relationship with the duke and then outright says something along the lines of “you are nothing but my thrall”
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Mar 28, 2024 19:27
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I expect most people wouldn't have cos the only way to see that is to pick the option that outright antagonizes him, and that feels like a dumb move even or especially if you don't trust him
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Mar 28, 2024 19:40
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You could get there through paranoia or metagaming. And not like reading ahead just knowledge of how these mind control / reality warping stories go.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:50
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I really hate that Emperor is (big spoiler) Balduran. Just seems really gratuitous.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:57
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It's kind of remarkable how not-particularly-interesting the city of Baldur's Gate is despite this being the third game named after it
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Mar 28, 2024 20:18
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Gort posted:It's kind of remarkable how not-particularly-interesting the city of Baldur's Gate is despite this being the third game named after it you dont even go to baldurs gate in baldurs gate 2
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Mar 28, 2024 20:22
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Shockeh posted:E: Aside - I'd be wholly unsurprised if, if we ever get a Larian post-mortem, that was a 'poo poo we ran out of time' point of development, and they had to wrap it up; It happens so late in the arc and to so little fanfare it does feel rushed. Not quite a post-mortem, but in recent interviews Sven has talked about exactly that. The game was a bit bigger in scope but they were quickly approaching a deadline and had to rescope https://x.com/ESR_tv/status/1770900954789163427?s=20 https://nordic.ign.com/duplicate-ba...-development-an Worth reading and checking out the twitter thread and article, but some highlights: Ketheric was going to be a potential companion you could recruit. The persuasion check you can do in the game, if succesful, was originally going to have him surrender and join your team at the camp as an advisor. Lots of locations got cut, amongst them, Vlakiths palace, one of the Gith planes, Candlekeep and even hell itself. This gels with some datamined content that implied you would have used the infernal coins for currency in hell, and also tied in with karlachs quest to cure her of her affliction. As others also pointed out, Wyll and Halsin changed a lot from their Early access days. I don't think halsin was intended to be a playable character, but because of the positive reception to the buff muscle-elf they changed him into a companion, which is probably why his plot is so anemic after act 2. Wyll was a lot more of a charlatan with a devil on his shoulder whispering in his ear. Originally one of his quests was going after a particular goblin in Act 1 who took his eye (it's one of the goblins torturing the mercenary). The "guardian" was also changed almost entirely. In early access they were a mental manifestation of the tadpole trying to seduce you (figuratively and literally) into using the tadpole powers, and the more you used them the more you would lose yourself and become illithid. The ring from the illithid in the underdark was supposed to inhibit the tadpole at the expense of your tadpole powers, but all that got dropped. Honestly, almost all the changes larian made seem to have been for the worse, the original ideas all seem way cooler, and by cutting out locations you miss out on big character moments. Karlach and Lazaels story feels unfinished because they cut out their big final acts. I would have rather they pushed the game back another 6 months, but I also realize that wasn't really feasible for them. It's a shame, but it is what it is. Black Noise posted:There was a big uproar like 3 days before launch when a dev post got misinterpreted as if you don't romance your companions then they'll mingle amongst themselves. This lead to people flipping out about the potential of getting "cucked" by Wyll. Which honestly would've been some interesting character development besides daddy issues. Almost all the complaints were focused on Wyll too. It was so transparently a bunch of incels getting mad at a black guy preemptively cucking them with their pixel waifu.
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Mar 28, 2024 21:41
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McCloud posted:
motherfucker
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Mar 28, 2024 21:51
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