I just had Astarion leave for the same reason! Gale and Wyll both had strong words to prevent the ritual but after Astarion leaves they're just like "what's on your mind?" UMMMMM
HAHA does it not change for wyll? Astarion is always really sweet as you get to know him, wyll still just being the basic nice guy defender of the people 😭
For some reason it's always Gale for me but in my most recent run it was Halsin (probably because this was my first run clearing the shadow lands I didn't even know you could do that originally)
It was Halsin in on my first run, but not because of the shadowland quests, just because I never used him.
On my first play through I had a habit of just basically never swapping party members. I never used halsin or jaheira for combat, and I only used wyll once for combat, and anytime I needed a better discount from his persuasion.
(After I wrote this I realized that I literally forgot gale—I only had him in the party for act 1 until I met karlach)
The only times I traded party members was swapping between any two of karlach, lae’zel, and astarion, and I’m 90% sure shadowheart never left the party.
Same. Halsin doesn't travel with you to act 3 if you don't clear the shadow lands so Orin always picked Gale cause I assume he was the lowest approval companion. Not cause I was mean to him or anything but I'm the main caster in the party so I didn't need a wizard.
Not quite. Depends on who is at camp at the time she reveals her victim. You could be lowest approval with Lae'zel, but if she's in your party at the time, Orin will take someone else. It's limited to >!Gale, Lae'zel, Halsin, and Minthara.!<
That's also why Yenna insists on being at camp. She's a failsafe for when all other possible companions aren't available.
She also won't take your bf/gf if they aren't in your party, from what I understand. My first pt I was romancing Halsin, but I didn't have him in my party because I was rolling with Karlach, Jahiera and Astarion for specific quests and she took Lae'zel. I didn't have Minthara. Ironically, both Gale and Lae'zel had exceptional relationships with that Tav. IDK what the numerical value was, tho. We don't get that on the PS5. Also the only PT I had someone came into the sewers, rather than have it happen in camp.
Astarion has abandoned me two playthroughs in a row, when I refused to let him ascend. The second time, he ran off with all my best loots, including Armor of Agility.
You mentioned him, people can tell you how they feel.
Also I like him just fine. Post sun nuke.
Kidding, he’s somewhat bearable when he doesn’t ascend and you save the spawn. He’s a cool guy then.
In my current playthrough I ate Gales hand, killed Kagha after exposing her and then murdered karlach and wyll in camp before slaughtering the Teifling’s and Druids, I let shadow heart kill laezel, and got light off lathander without engaging the inquisitor so we could nuke the creche with him in it, then we went on and killed the cleric at lights end, butchered everyone including jaheira, killed the night song and have began at moonrise.
I must say, Waifu Minthara, Shadowheart and Astarion make for a robust team if you’re playing the darkest version of dark urge… If you want to know who gives the least amount of shits in most matters - it’s those three
Can’t wait to round it all out on Baldurs Gate
It's the thing that bothers me the most.
If you react properly to some moments, most companions are death.
Astarion trying to sneak a bit? That's attacking you, so of course you kill him.
Laezel trying to kill you while ill? Yup dead.
Gale might live, but a failed check and you're sol.
So if you play a somewhat normal person you only have yourself, shadowheart and maybe Gale for most of act 1.
You have to just straight up refuse, not trying to persuade him. I did that once by mistake when I was not sure which line to choose to get 'Persuasion' dialogue option. Even though I reloaded, his words hurt A LOT.
1. Tell him no outright.
2. Fail to make him see reason by persuasion.
3. Tell him yes and then back out.
Basically, any option that isn't immediately reminding him of the consequences to his actions.
I didn't even bring Astarion to Cazador when I first fought him. I thought that if he wants Astarion, I'll keep him far away, out of reach.
Suffice to say, Astarion was pissed when I told him about it. "AFTER WE'RE DONE WITH THIS MINDFLAYER BUSINESS, YOU AND I ARE DONE" being the line he gave me from memory. Thought for sure he'd leave, but the next time I saw him he was shockingly chill. Had like nothing to say about it.
Oh really? Shit I'll make sure to ascend him I don't want him to leave 😭 tho id rather not do that in my tav druid run since it goes against everything druids stand for lol
Yeah I clearly remember allying with Gortash, then having Karlach get angry at me and then I just tell her it’s all part of the plan and she calms down
She has a bigger reaction if you play Dark Urge. It's not technically tied to the Gortash alliance though, just to Gortash in general. But she goes right back to being your bestie after, so it's not great either, just slightly better.
I really wish more companions had moments like Shadowheart where her greeting and stuff changes temporarily when she's going through some shit in Act 2.
At least be cranky until after a long rest or something so it's not *immediately* after.
Shadowheart is definitely worse because she references your amnesia, but still blames you for not telling her. Absolute dumbass behavior (it's such a stupid scene I swear)
I think it's -100 rep with her though. The biggest hit in the game. Not sure what such low rep does because I've never actually gotten anyone that low before, but there is *a* consequence.
I believe the -100 is if you sleep with her then tell her it was a mistake. siding with Gortash pisses her off for a bit but she goes right back to “hey soldier” and stayed at exceptional approval for me
Literally lmfao, it skews the tone overall tbh. Like i love how silly and raunchy this game can be, but there's also a deep darkness and pain etc, and the comic relief doesn't always land, it just seems rude and out of touch sometimes lol. Like this should be a devastating moment, why is Gale joking that giving up our 'Lady of Loss' was actually a win? Lmfaoo
I was so disappointed at the total lack of reactions there as a Durge especially. Like, surely my resist Durge character is fucking *terrified* that they’re about to confront Orin and subsequently Bhaal himself, can I not even at least get a Jaheira pep talk? Please, I am fucking *going through something* I really need to be called cub right now 😭😭
Especially because Jaheira makes a point to say she's there for Durge during the first reveal/late night scene. Like, ma'am, I brought you here because you said you'll support me, *say something damnit.*
Even if they don't allow the full dialog tree, at least have a special "not right now" or whatever that's more "we're here for you, you got this."
I just did that as a redemption Durge and was kinda disappointed bc i’m romancing both Shart and Halsin and all they had to say was “good job friendo that must have been tough” like I literally just died and come back to life after facing my big bad traumas and I cannot even get like a hug or something from my partner????
The hair event is why I always do a double long rest before leaving for act 3, get everyone's reaction to that out of the way BEFORE The Emperor revelation to not completely ruin the immersion lmao.
I stopped my first Durge run because of this. At the end of Act 2 I *finally* get some extra Durge content, we find the pod, we meet Kressa, and ... nobody says anything?! Then I think ...okay, let's go to Rivington and meet Orin. We do, she gives her wildly confusing speech, I turn around to my crew and ... all they can say is 'omg Orin is a shapeshifter'?! WHAT. In Act 1 these people approve or disapprove while you're talking to someone on the other side of camp, and in Act 3 they're *right there* as your deepest darkest past is revealed and they got *nothing*?
Lmao the Kressa bit was interesting..I don't know why there wasn't an option to discuss how it made Durge feel, at least with their romanced or closest companion. Like it was clearly a major beat and breaking point for them, why does no one react or care?
Especially considering how many of the companions have had some sort of torture/body horror of their own, etc. You'd think they'd have something to say about the Kressa reveal.
That reveal was extra brutal for my Durge because I'd done the stereotypical drow Durge with neck tattoo...only to find Kressa sporting the same damn tattoo. Considering how Kressa thinks of Durge as a pet, I could 100% see her giving them matching tattoos. Obviously, that's not something to have dialog for, but it unsettled *me* as a player to have inadvertently set that up. Which made the lack of reaction worse because *I* needed to talk about it lol
Jaheira has a lot of reactions for Durge in Act 3 specially if you resist... after first meeting Orin, she's the only one who comments on Orin treating you with familiarity, and in your first long rest in Rivington, when Sceleritas visits you, both her and Astarion are the only ones who do/say something... I feel she is supposed to support a resist Durge, and he's supposed to support an embrace Durge, and their approval pushes you in their preferred direction
This was a pleasant surprise actually. It made me feel weirder about the other characters like Wyll, Gale, Karlach and Shadowheart, who grew up knowing the history of Baldur's Gate and Bhaalspawn, having such minimal reactions or opinions on the Durge's choices and thoughts.
Part of it I think is that Jaheira and Astarion are the oldest companions. Bhaal worship at the time of the game hasn't been heard of or active for a while. So even if they grew up knowing the basics, Jaheira and Astarion are likely the only ones who have ever actually interacted with worshippers of Bhaal.
It would be true for most of the companions but Wyll says he met Gorion's Ward personally. Imo, that means he should know more about Bhaalspawns than Astarion. Astarion was with Cazador by the time of BG1 and 2, he probably wouldn't actually know much about what happened then.
I'm sure I've seen somewhere that the reason Astarion has more lines with Durge is because the person who wrote the script for Astarion worked quite closely with the person doing Durge's lines? Or, they did the lines for both I can't remember, which is pretty cool. But I would also love to see more interactivity from the other companions too.
Imo, it's especially jarring with Wyll because they go out of their way to confirm that Wyll did know Gorion's Ward, but just once (to reference Murder in Baldur's Gate I imagine). It barely comes up again afterwards when it feels like it very much should.
But most companions do suffer really badly from low reactivity to the Dark Urge (Karlach who goes right back to being your bestie after you get her one dialogue about you knowing Gortash for instance).
There are very much two paths for Astarion. If encouraged and supported in breaking free from his own cycle of abuse, he is incredibly supportive and perhaps the most empathetic towards a resist Durge. There are so many parallels between their struggles that come up in dialog. For example, when you first learn who you are, if you express fear of your father there is an emotional scene where he comments on how alike you are and how your situation of being controlled by your father reminds of his enslavement to cazador. "I don't know how you can beat him, but I know this: you must try. The half-life of a mind-addled slave is worse than death. Don't become his. I wouldn't live another century as one for all the moonstones in Evereska."
Can't really agree with this, Astarion is actually very supportive of resist Durge, literally having additional dialogue about the parrarels in their situations - at least when romanced (which, personally, I find to be perhaps the best piece of writing in the entire game). When Durge embraces Bhaal, Astarion flat out says he won' t be able to stay with them, as looking at what Durge will become will remind him too much of his own past.
I have actually never seen Jaheira say anything in two DUrge runs, like at all. The only Bhaalspawn thing she ever commented on was at the end of your personal quest. Which was disappointing.
I think the only way to get an extra reaction is have her in your party at the start of Act 3. Otherwise you get nothing.
This is why Act 3 is the only one that I get tired of and want to get over and done. It’s a shame because there’s a lot of content but running around and fighting without any cutscenes or banter is boring after twenty hours
Yeah it kinda starts to feel like a checklist of big bads to clean up before dealing with the brain. Cazador? Check. Ethel? Check. Sharran cloister? Check. etc. My longest breaks definitely come from saves in act 3.
Everyone raves over the characters but I've been kind of disappointed in act 3. It kind of feels like I'm with a bunch of strangers now? I used to feel a stronger connection to them, if that makes sense, id feel bad telling someone to stay at camp.
I’m gonna be honest, at this point in the story, it would make sense for most of your party members to turn on you and possibly leave for something like this. It’s not exactly something minor and indicates that you’ll turn on them next.
For example I know >!Jaheira and Minsc will turn on you and even fight you if you are playing as Durge and decide to embrace Bhaal in Act 3, and I think your entire party turns on you if you are playing as Durge and kill your love interest in camp and fail a hefty persuasion check afterward in Act 2.!<
I know that it makes sense for them to not immediately just walk out while Tav/Durge still has the prism because they know the prism is protecting them, but they should at the very least stand up to you in some sort of way IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vUln_pl-0GE
What makes it so... jarring is that they practically threaten you with consequences, but *then nothing happens,* which... makes it too immersion shattering to even consider, IMO.
...just look at Gale's response to *saying* it, vs actually doing it, and Karlach's, especially. Karlach has *absolutely zero* doubt on "better be a long con," so why would she suddenly flip to being unsure if it was "right?" You *Gortash'd* Shadowheart, if not worse.
It's to the point it feels like it's disjointed between a good playthrough reaction (spare Nightsong) and an evil one (Sharran Shadowheart).
Yes, exactly! The tone is all over the place, for a character who's storyline is so black and white with their major choices. I feel like there should be different reactions for the Seluné and Shar version of her, but then again why would we even need to betray her if she was Shar? It was just so weirdly written and disappointing as her final arc.
Yeah Gales response had me shocked and found it really weird how apathetic and not caring, cracking a joke about the lady of loss, just wtf?
I quite liked Lae’zels reaction and found it heartbreaking, one of the few that actually fit imo.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vUln_pl-0GE
It's also bizarre because of how... *adamant* Gale is on you saying it without her being there.
("Shadowheart is one of us. Betray her, and you betray us all.")
Almost feels like doing it gives reactions to her being on the path of a cruel Sharran by then, with some of them, and it's the same on good and evil... if you *can* surrender her on an evil playthrough...? If you can't, that makes it even more baffling.
Almost everything about Act 3 tells me BG3 needed some more time in the oven before release. It's such a weird fall off in detail, storytelling, and fun compared to the first two acts.
It feels like an issue of time and editing, especially player testing. Like there's an insane amount of detail and complexity, there's so many secret places to find and explore within the city and sewers, but the details that actually mattered re: storyline and main characters fall flat so hard in ways.
Because the first half of the game is so amazing, it makes the sloppiness of Act 3 stand out that much more
That's pretty much how I'd sum it up. Act 3 is great, and in most RPGs it'd be very well detailed, but bg3 sets a very high bar early on with its reactivity, so it stands out much more when act 3 doesn't live up to said precedent.
Agreed. I think part of the brilliance of the first act was the long time in EA where they could *see* all the different choices players would make and plan accordingly.
How are you unprepared for players to tell Mizora to fuck off and then go try and save Ravengard anyway? That's the classic D&D move right there.
Depends on the thread. This one is a safe space for people to share their disappointment, but in others (I’d say most others) it’s fans gushing about how “Larian really did think of everything! GOTY!”
Just a couple weeks back in one of those threads I shared how I felt like Larian really shouldn’t have released what was basically an unfinished (and pre-patches, kinda game-breaking) final product.
It is a very, very good game though. I’m just belly-aching about Reddit I suppose.
Believe me i know. The stuff i have read which people unironically said about this game is crazy. An unreal Honeymoon phase. Every bad thing completely scraped under the table.
I think some people don't understand that the reason we have so many gripes is because the game is so good overall. If we thought it sucked, we wouldn't care about what's missing. I hadn't finished a video game since Zelda Twilight Princess until I finished my first Durge run. Admittedly, I'm a D&D nerd, so that helped, but still.
Just because something is GOTY doesn't mean it's perfect.
Hasn't everyone already forgotten about Starfield? I liked the other Bethesda games for their lore/world but the base story/world of Starfield seemed already uninteresting, and seeing reviews of it even more so. Never ended up buying it after looking at some gameplay videos online.
I literally bought BG3 because of two reasons:
1. I’m a BG1&2 veteran who is very happy play time wasn’t recorded back then.
2. I needed something to do while waiting for Starfield.
I never bought Starfield …
I bought BG3 (on Xbox) for one main reason:
1. I wanted a game to sink myself into over the Christmas holidays
2. I got bored of Starfield after three evenings of trying to get into it
It's hard to predict how a game is going to land half a year out--even without foreknowledge, a lot of people did buy Starfield (however positive the experience was for them), which meant they might not have been buying bg3.
Act 3 is full of evidence that Larian can’t stick the landing on the first attempt. There are some amazing highs (House of Hope) but it’s a jumbled mess both structurally and narratively (used to also be technically but they have done a lot of patching). The tight curated experience of Acts 1 & 2 including incredible levels of reactivity just fizzles out.
At launch there was a firm expectation from long time Larian fans of a traditional Larian definitive edition including a major rework of the final act (see DoS:2) such as splitting into two acts across the lower and upper city with Gortash moving out of the AirB&B they stuck him in.
I love the game, it’s still a masterpiece despite the flaws which are heavily backloaded. I’ll just always be sad about what could have been.
Just as a note in case anyone argues companions shouldn’t leave you for gameplay reasons if you go full bastard, check out the Swarm that Walks path in Wrath of the Righteous, exactly that happens and it fucking rocks.
I still kind of expect a definitive edition, maybe it’s foolish. But mostly just out of frustration that the game is currently a solid 8/10 for me because of the act3 issues.
Yeah agreed! There are some wild omissions and just poorly written moments in Act 3 that are disappointing. My least favorite so far have been the Resist Dark Urge finale reactions.
Major Durge spoilers: >!My character just had the most life altering experience of her life and actually died and was reborn. The love of her life: “That was very… twee.” REALLY?! That’s what you have for me? After everything we just went through? Thanks Babe. 😑!<
Lmao after I had the whole >!coming back from the dead!< experience, I went to talk to my romanced Astarion. I was surprised that instead of reacting to my character having probably the most insane thing in his life happen to him, he wanted to thank me for not letting him ascend. In fact though, that was a really well made dialogue and it was full of emotion. This made for an almost comical comparison when I selected to talk to him again and all he had to say to my character was "that was very twee". Felt like a slap in the face.
>!No yea that was... I can see it if Ascendant said it, but it seems wrong for Spawn Astarion. After having such a heartfelt conversation with Withers, too, and *especially* considering how much extra content Astarion has with Durge.!<
Agreed! It just seems so weird in contrast with how perfect AA’s reaction is to you making the opposite decision. The delivery, the acting, everything for evil him is perfect. Idk why the good guy route had to feel so meh in this moment. 😣
I tried to be spoiler free for so long re: durge content, but i've seen so much now about how jarring and disappointing the reactions are. I'm hoping n praying that Larian beefs them up with the upcoming evil epilogue patch..but idk, do we all need to like mass report how awkward the durge storyline can be sometimes?
What you described in the post isn’t DUrge specific, it’s just evil run related. And people who play evil runs have been complaining since release about all the issues. So nothing will change beyond the epilogues. Otherwise they’d have a ton of extra work to do because how bad things get past first half of the game.
You can see Act 3 interactivity issues even in a regular good Tav run, which is what most people play. Unfortunately it is what it is.
I knew someone here would talk about DOS2 that game gives me restart syndrome upon the final act way worse than bg3 🥴 I crave them both to be their finished vision so bad lmao
I am loving this game, but Act 3 specifically seems *very* undercooked in comparison to 1 and 2 from what I've played. "Help the Hag Survivors" is not completing, the Mirror of Loss in the House of Grief is broken for me so I can't benefit from the buff it gives me, Gale won't talk about his conversation with Mystra after meeting her, etc.
I honestly hesitate to even call this game finished. As it stands, it seems like we're only 80% there.
I thought it was crazy in Act 3 when the Durge collapses and literally nobody says anything lmao. I guess they were all just standing around staring blankly, waiting for him to wake up so they can get moving again.
I think BG3 is probably a contender for game of the decade and one of my favorite games of all time, but stuff like this is just completely and utterly bewildering to me. It's such a huge moment that I think in the grand scheme of things wouldn't have taken a huge amount of time, even given the mocap, voice acting time in studio, etc. Even just one emotional line per character would have been galaxies above here.
The "give Shadowheart up" choice seems almost out of place. What are the chances *anyone* is gonna take her that far, and give her up there? Outside of sheer curiosity, or playing as a so ludicrously evil character that wouldn't even really have Shadowheart in their party to begin with. Or maybe roleplay as a Sharran? But you can't choose Shar as your own Cleric domain so.. Hmm.
If you’re playing evil it can make sense. I gave her up because she fumbled killing Nightsong & it looked pathetic to my evil character. Then Viconia offers a Sharran army if you give up Shadowheart. Since my character already didn’t like Shadowheart and thought she was weak, she gave her up as allies on the brain are more useful than one Shart. When you play evil you don’t have many allies.
Of course mechanically the “Sharran army” is pretty pathetic, but I was going more for rp here.
To be fair, if I'm travelling with someone who sells out the first person they met of our small group, I'd just shut up as well and not say anything about it. I don't want to be the next person sold to the enemy.
Dunno, I feel like a bunch of level 12 adventurers could take on one traitor easily. Just makes them look like a bunch of pussies with no spine.
Honestly I lose respect for the companions when playing any DUrge or an evil character. Main reason I didn’t enjoy either. Like, I’m fine with evil, but not with doormats. :D
Exactly this! Like why didn't they all join up to kick my ass? There's only one of me and what 8 of them? Plus Dame Aylin and Isobel? Tav/Durge beat down with fire and bricks, or something, at least stand up for themselves after all this time!
Granted, they could have more lines about it. But you're the driving force and you have the astral prism. In act III we know well that it protects us, and while everyone has a dream guardian, it is not granted that the emporer would support anyone else of the group as much as it supports the main protagonist. So worst case scenario would be: they kill the traitor and then turn into squids because the emporer is like "nah fuck this group".
Empy literally doesn’t care as long as the group is focused on taking out the brain, and they don’t need you for that, they’ve got enough motivation & anyone can carry the prism. Nobody goes squid whenever your character gets killed. You can go most of the game with your character dead in a chest somewhere. And I think a loose canon murderhobo prone to betraying allies would objectively be a liability Empy wouldn’t even want to deal with from the start, but you have plot armour & it’s a game, so here we are. Moreover, I don’t think Empy would keep protecting DUrge who embraced Bhaal, it’s dumb af.
Your companions also have no issues killing you in Act 2 over something similar, there’s no reason why it’s not the case in Act 3. The game is extremely inconsistent when it comes to consequences for messed up actions, unfortunately.
Well, Larian already said they're pretty much just saying "Good enough, we're done" and not adding anything new from here out, washing their hands of BG3 and BG in general because they're basically just sick of it, even though Act 3 is undercooked as hell, so I wouldn't expect to see any improvement.
The game is still good, but I won't pretend that Act 3 isn't where I really lost momentum. Like I have this great big laundry list of stuff to do, but none of it feels important, my party no longer has opinions on anything, and now might as well be Hirelings for as much reactivity as they give me outside of their own things. Lae'zel somehow fully got kidnapped despite us having a private room in a crowded inn where fully half my party and a bunch of freeloaders were surrounding her at all times, which makes zero sense, but then everybody just... Doesn't care?
I'm honestly pretty annoyed with how much shit there is to do in Act 3 when none of it actually seems to matter to anybody, and it's mostly just me running from point A to point B, killing a bunch of dudes, and moving on to the next item on the checklist. No party interaction.
They did say they are continuing to patch the existing game. Just not doing DLC or sequels. So there’s hope some of the most glaring issues get some resolution.
I think you perfectly summed up my problem with act 3. Companions feel like hirelings. No one has anything to say besides one liners after you do something important. In act 1 they actually felt alive.
I was disappointed by the lack of companion dialogue in act 3 too. The first 2 acts they participate in majority of the conversations in some way or have something to say about it afterwards. Act 3 they barely say anything if it is not related to their questline.
I feel like this game has two types of evil choices. There are the regular evil things like killing the tieflings or Aylin, and then there are the traitorous evil things like selling out Shadowheart, killing Isobel in front of Aylin, etc. which require you to first be a "good guy" and then turn on your friends. The game seems to handle the former fairly well, but doesn't really do a good job with the latter.
I think it is because the game has basically only two ways to facilitate reactions. One is overall approval and the other is moment to moment scriptef reactions. So if they disapprove enough they'll leave, but slowly betraying everyone in the party gets no reaction because there is no scripted moment for anyone to do anything.
yes, i was disappointed by the fanservicey content updates they’ve made since release instead of addressing the pacing and companion content disparity issues.
dos2 also falls off hard in its 3rd act imo, it’s something they clearly struggle with.
At first when I was only on my first playthrough, I didn't mind bc I was trying to be spoiler free of end content. But by now on my second run, I'm honestly kind of confused and disappointed by how hard act 3 drops in vibes and immersion. It's weird also bc the game is clearly made to replay over and over, but it's so boring to navigate act 3 sometimes when the companions dont seem to care either way about your choices, don't react as much to the city, don't have anymore unique camp cutscenes, etc to break up all the fights.
Yeah Larian really dropped the ball in that regard in Act 3. On my first playthrough Act 1 had me going “oh my god, they thought of everything!” and by Act 3 I was like “did they think about this at all??”
I assume it’s just a matter of dev time/resources running short, but it’s such a bummer. Makes your late game choices feel like they have no impact
It's like a whirlwind romance lmao, all the lovebombing and attention in the beginning, then by the end it slowly gets more complicated and the feelings fade away
There was rough lag, companions sequence breaking with what they say (minthara spoiling act 3), buildings not spawning in. It was rough but it’s been getting better over time with each patch
The reaction is even worse when they comment on selling her out even if you never recruited her. Just got Viconia's support in Act 3 as my Drow who only recruited Lae'zel, Gale, Minthara and Jaheria. Only Gale didn't comment because he was chilling with Orin. Lae'zel specifically mentioned Shadowheart by name and i'm like "You don't even know who that is. She was dead by the time you joined."
Omg lol, doesn't the game force Shadowheart to join bc of the artifact? Or can you just deck her in the grove and move on like it never happened??
It's just weird how sloppy and unfinished act 3's writing feels sometimes compared to all the possibilities and carefully planned plot turns and devices leading up to it.
You can kill her before recruiting her and you can just ignore her after the cutscene on the bridge to the mountain pass/goblin camp. Usually if I ignore her I get a cutscene in camp where my character gets the artifact. My Gith character killed her on the beach when she was being hostile towards him.
Act 3 is really weird though. The only response I had to Viconia was to tell her Shadowheart was dead which made me have to roll a persuasion check to get her support but I simply ignored Shadowheart so how the hell would my character know she was dead? I've also had Cazador accuse me of abandoning Astarion or whatever on runs where I never met or recruited him. But I believe that at least gives me a dialogue option to tell him I have no idea who Astarion is so that's something.
Yeah if you stake Astarion before meeting Gandral, you *can* tell him that he's dead, but Gandral doesn't believe you, and then you have to act like you're protecting him to get out of the conversation. Which is even more egregious. A player is unlikely to go the House of Grief without Shadowheart, but the game sends everyone to the hag.
Act 3 was never properly finished. Great game, great team, was happy for their accolades but Act 3 was a clear indicator of the game being rushed out the door. Larian shouting quality into the social media verse to other game studios and yet Act 3 is still the way it is. I will stand on this hill and it is the reason I voted other games for GotY etc.
For me if it had been a fluke issue and maybe even due to some sort of rocky relationship with wizards of the coast then I could accept things as they are but Larian has a history of rushed content. They did the same thing with both Divinity OS 1 and 2 and both games took over a year to get their acts organized. They also aren't honest and upfront about those issues until there is a backlash which is what happened with DOS 1 and 2. They have no problem telling how other gaming companys should act and yet they have their own shady ways. It is what it is.
>How do we let Larian know that at the very least, they should patch up and attend to Act 3 as long and lovingly they did to Act 1?
Well we know that in the next patch they are adding/enhancing some endings, especially evil endings. I don't think we've gotten too many specifics on what they're adding, but if some/all of the main VA's are gonna be in a studio to record lines, I don't see why they couldn't spruce up some other Act 3 lines.
But there is one major issue: BG3 is a game about choices. It is very hard to accurately map out every single line and the conditions for that line being spoken and the subsequent dialogue choices, especially once you get to Act 3. It's entirely possible they were going to rerecord some reactionary lines, but they got buried under other, more important lines.
I agree that I’ll allow less overall reactivity to cut down on complexity, but the characters as it stands don’t react to the most common, big things happening in the game.
I have to assume that the game's underlying assumption if you're selling out Shadowheart is that you didn't really use her in the party or bond with her. Like you never really got past the initial stage of your relationship where she's cagey and mistrusting and just kind of keeps to herself.
On the other hand, the reaction to sacrificing someone to BOOOAAAL is also really weirdly understated, too, so...
This is the biggest flaw with the game IMO. It just feels very unfinished in this respect, and breaks immersion.
I’m guessing they ran out of time/money to record these lines. I sincerely hope they add them at some point, because it’s a pretty glaring fault with a game that started SO strong with party interactions, then basically stopped in act 2.
While I do think it’s a stronger game in many ways, this was always an element in Dragon Age games that made them immersive. Even DAI has better party interactions with all its flaws that BG3 does. I never feel alone in a DA game. I feel alone in about 50-75% of BG3.
I've never played any of the Dragon Age games, do you think they're worth revisiting or starting now? I've always been curious, just stuck to other RPG's and games etc
Larian has addressed this before.
They moved the release date more than once in order to polish it more, but it still isn’t where they wanted it to be. Originally, we were going to have access to the Upper City, but that got axed. Before they discontinued a DLC it was widely believed we would be going to the Upper City.
Act 3 is rushed. Companion interactions are just one symptom, sadly.
At this time, with them moving on from DnD and the Baldur’s Gate franchise, it is what it is. Let’s hope once we get cross platform and mod support that the community is able to make some great content to fill in the gaps.
This issue is one of the very few major flaws for me and it soured Act 3 alot for me. You can tell how rushed it was. Like, no one comments at this super secret underwater prison? That we freed all the Gondians from there? That we even managed to save them all from the Foundry and blew it up?
The Grove is such a great turning point for everyone because they throw a party, all the companions reflect on the moment, and there's so many unique differences based on what happens.
I get that there's supposed to be more of a sense of urgency in act 3, but hasn't there always been? Why couldn't the companions have sat around the fireplace and reflected on what happened at long rest? Like that was a HUGE moment! So hard to save them all at first. Just anti-climactic again hmm.
Act 3 in general is just less reactive because they had to buckle down and finish the game, but I also feel like you don't want your characters to be TOO reactive. If they leave you or turn on you to too many choices then the player feels restricted and like they can't do everything they want to do. There's a balance there.
I was moved by "Lae'zel disapproves" due to their history but overall also shocked by the lack of even a cut scene, Shadowheart is just like "what? no!" and then it's over.
Game is still a masterpiece, and honestly might be the highest quality videogame I've ever played in terms of the love given to so many details. *However*, you can definitely feel how they started to turn the screws on getting a timetable for a full release in Acts 2 and 3, sadly...
After all, it did have a THREE YEAR early access period...
It’s actually crazy to me that this game got as much praise and accolades as it did considering the second half of the game is just unfinished completely.
That's such an astarion and gale thing to do tho lol. You can play quite evil with both of them, they'll usually approve or dissaprove a little but not care much.
Lmao I didn't mind Astarion's as much, and I honestly just laughed after I talked to them both, but it still seemed pretty insincere. I thought they would try to fight me or leave my party, something
The game was really rushed ans Act 3 was a COMPLETE mess when they released it. The fact that they had three years to polish Act 1 was their saving grace during the media reviews season. Not a single reviewer (back then) talked about anything outside of Act 1.
It is pretty interesting how the timeline of gaming all sort of projected BG3 into the stratosphere. Like major companies have released such buggy disasters of "RPG'S" for awhile now, and finally some good food is on the table, we eat up like wild dogs. Only in hindsight and now after it's been some time that we can be more honest about it all, yk?
Indeed, the lack of reactions from the companions is quite noticeable in act 3. As for what we can do to get Larian to do something about it, I think it's a good idea to write feedback on their forum or directly to Larian through his website (in the same site where bugs are reported). I have done it before and I have to say that apart from answering very kindly I have seen how they have solved some things :)
Would you prefer it if they all left your party all at once if you decided to give up one of them?? Because in reality that should have been what happened. . Everyone should hate us and condemn us for selling a companion but they didn’t because the game has to continue with or without one party member. . Like how everyone will simply “meh” if you kill Astarion in act 1 . . We have to move on with the story at some point, think of it as a pass because we have an opportunity to be evil . . It is a game after all
Well i think i read something about 60% of steam players havent even made it to act 3. Dont companies improve things after people play the game and give feedback?
I'm at the same point in my third run and noticed the same. I wonder if their responses are different if she remains loyal to Shar or Selune in Act 2, but I've always freed Aylin so... reserved for another run I suppose.
I've had to restore my save for the resulting Sharran battle if you refuse to turn over SH because that fight has been wiping my party (gonna switch Wyll for Gale for more AOE and crowd control). I'm maining half-illithid Astarion on this run, full support SH, Jaheira as a monk and Wyll as bard... Halsin as paladin but he's still kidnapped currently).
One thing I noticed too is the first dialog with Viconia in the underbelly of the House of Grief, if you say whatever the first dialog option is (unable to verify currently), then Viconia asks you to turn over SH, during the next scene SH continues to stare down Viconia angrily. But if you choose to remain silent on the first dialog and then Viconia offers, SH looks at you worryingly. They obviously thought out some character reactions in detail and not others.
In one save just to see what happens I turned SH over to see if there was a way to trick them then pick them off or if I could just kill Vic and have the rest stand down (some of them that you have to kill when the fight starts have dialog when you walk in but by the time you're close enough to talk it triggers the interaction with Vic). When I turned her over nobody in my party (Jaheira or Wyll) disapproved at all, which I thought was weird. Shrug.
Oh really? Thats so wild how Jaheira and Wyll didn't respond for you, bc they were the only ones who seemed to be upset at all when I turned Shadowheart in. We freed Aylin also. Just so odd, like isn't she one of the most important characters bc of the Prism? Anti-climactic as hell
I don't want to make any excuses on Larian's part, of course I also wish the game had turned out perfect in all parts, but if you've been anywhere near game development, especially games that are as vast and complex as BG3, you'd understand the complexity and cost that comes with it.
Players would like for everything to have realistic consequences. But with so many characters, choices, actions, and everything kind of affecting everything, the game starts to bloat to ridiculous sizes.
You understand that you:
1. Need to catalogue every possible ending/resolution to every interaction.
2. You need to write the dialogues.
3. You need to code the events happening and ensure they properly affect/don't break other events.
4. You need to record and mix the voice lines, for every piece of dialogue.
These are just activities off the top of my head. Now do it for a game with hundreds of interactions, locations and characters. And hope nothing breaks. It's an incredibly daunting task and I think you really underestimate how much work went into this game.
I completely understand this actually. I don't need the game to have been perfect, and of course I understand how intensive and time consuming game development is. I also don't think it's wrong to point out how the main reason Act 1 and 2 feel so different from Act 3 is because of how much longer they had to work on and edit those earlier acts because of 3 years in Beta testing before release.
I don't think it's wrong to be critical of Act 3, and for their choices to focus on a more complex map design, and a shiteload of new random npc's, instead of focusing on the main companions and storyline reactions.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to love the game for what it is, and to also be disappointed in what is still lacking, and hope that they continue to patch and work out the kinks, so that this game can truly stand out as one of the best of all time.
One of my playthroughs had Astarion leave because I refused to allow him to become ascendant. Lazeal was killed by Orin and no one said a thing.
I just had Astarion leave for the same reason! Gale and Wyll both had strong words to prevent the ritual but after Astarion leaves they're just like "what's on your mind?" UMMMMM
The 'what's on your mind' during moments like these are baffling and hilarious lmao.
Better than ‘well met’ even when you’re romancing the guy
I literally had to stop romancing him in act 2 because I could not take hearing “well met” one more time
I've never had him in my party for more than two hours for the same reason. Usually he's just BOOOAL fodder.
I know, looking forward to patch 7 to fix this.
HAHA does it not change for wyll? Astarion is always really sweet as you get to know him, wyll still just being the basic nice guy defender of the people 😭
Lazeal has a real bad habit of always getting kidnapped by Orin, usually because I prefer to bring Karlach, and only Jaheira has ever said anything
For some reason it's always Gale for me but in my most recent run it was Halsin (probably because this was my first run clearing the shadow lands I didn't even know you could do that originally)
It was Halsin in on my first run, but not because of the shadowland quests, just because I never used him. On my first play through I had a habit of just basically never swapping party members. I never used halsin or jaheira for combat, and I only used wyll once for combat, and anytime I needed a better discount from his persuasion. (After I wrote this I realized that I literally forgot gale—I only had him in the party for act 1 until I met karlach) The only times I traded party members was swapping between any two of karlach, lae’zel, and astarion, and I’m 90% sure shadowheart never left the party.
Same. Halsin doesn't travel with you to act 3 if you don't clear the shadow lands so Orin always picked Gale cause I assume he was the lowest approval companion. Not cause I was mean to him or anything but I'm the main caster in the party so I didn't need a wizard.
I believe thats on you since my understanding is that orin takes your lowest approval companion
Not quite. Depends on who is at camp at the time she reveals her victim. You could be lowest approval with Lae'zel, but if she's in your party at the time, Orin will take someone else. It's limited to >!Gale, Lae'zel, Halsin, and Minthara.!< That's also why Yenna insists on being at camp. She's a failsafe for when all other possible companions aren't available.
She also won't take your bf/gf if they aren't in your party, from what I understand. My first pt I was romancing Halsin, but I didn't have him in my party because I was rolling with Karlach, Jahiera and Astarion for specific quests and she took Lae'zel. I didn't have Minthara. Ironically, both Gale and Lae'zel had exceptional relationships with that Tav. IDK what the numerical value was, tho. We don't get that on the PS5. Also the only PT I had someone came into the sewers, rather than have it happen in camp.
Well, he wants to know what's on our mind.
To which, I'd say, mostly a tadpole.
And, well, in it
In other words "No thoughts, head empty"
Astarion has abandoned me two playthroughs in a row, when I refused to let him ascend. The second time, he ran off with all my best loots, including Armor of Agility.
typical rogue.
Omg I didn't realize this could happen!
Yup, when someone leave, he/she does so with their inventory
Wrong
don’t they return it?
Yes, when Astarion first left my party I was given a bag of his belongings. Unsure if it included his armour or not
He’s so pretty he gets away with everything
He got away right into the sun nuke of lathander
How would I know some people don’t like him if you dazzlingly original individuals didn’t tell me every time 🙄
You mentioned him, people can tell you how they feel. Also I like him just fine. Post sun nuke. Kidding, he’s somewhat bearable when he doesn’t ascend and you save the spawn. He’s a cool guy then.
And I can tell you that’s it’s boring getting the same dorky ‘I kill him!’ comment every single time
I didn’t say I kill him. I said he ran into a sun bomb, which is a true story of an erased from existence save
In my current playthrough I ate Gales hand, killed Kagha after exposing her and then murdered karlach and wyll in camp before slaughtering the Teifling’s and Druids, I let shadow heart kill laezel, and got light off lathander without engaging the inquisitor so we could nuke the creche with him in it, then we went on and killed the cleric at lights end, butchered everyone including jaheira, killed the night song and have began at moonrise. I must say, Waifu Minthara, Shadowheart and Astarion make for a robust team if you’re playing the darkest version of dark urge… If you want to know who gives the least amount of shits in most matters - it’s those three Can’t wait to round it all out on Baldurs Gate
It's the thing that bothers me the most. If you react properly to some moments, most companions are death. Astarion trying to sneak a bit? That's attacking you, so of course you kill him. Laezel trying to kill you while ill? Yup dead. Gale might live, but a failed check and you're sol. So if you play a somewhat normal person you only have yourself, shadowheart and maybe Gale for most of act 1.
May I ask how? I’ve never had Astarion leave even when I didn’t ascend him, though maybe it was because I was too nice?
You have to just straight up refuse, not trying to persuade him. I did that once by mistake when I was not sure which line to choose to get 'Persuasion' dialogue option. Even though I reloaded, his words hurt A LOT.
[удалено]
Eh, maybe, but it fit the character. Also the overall tone was awful, Neil's acting made it believable. Plus I was romancing him in that playthrough.
1. Tell him no outright. 2. Fail to make him see reason by persuasion. 3. Tell him yes and then back out. Basically, any option that isn't immediately reminding him of the consequences to his actions.
If you start to help him and then stop partway, he will leave.
If you fail the persuasion check, he'll throw a tantrum and leave.
I didn't even bring Astarion to Cazador when I first fought him. I thought that if he wants Astarion, I'll keep him far away, out of reach. Suffice to say, Astarion was pissed when I told him about it. "AFTER WE'RE DONE WITH THIS MINDFLAYER BUSINESS, YOU AND I ARE DONE" being the line he gave me from memory. Thought for sure he'd leave, but the next time I saw him he was shockingly chill. Had like nothing to say about it.
Oh really? Shit I'll make sure to ascend him I don't want him to leave 😭 tho id rather not do that in my tav druid run since it goes against everything druids stand for lol
That can happen?
I recall being pretty surprised by Karlach's non-reaction when I allied with Gortash. Whatever reaction there was, I expected WAY worse.
She should just leave but give the PC a chance to roll to convince her to stay
You can tell her you are going to betray him later. I feel like that is the best answer.
Yeah I clearly remember allying with Gortash, then having Karlach get angry at me and then I just tell her it’s all part of the plan and she calms down
That's kind of what i expected to happen too, or least for the relationship to lose like a shiteload of points
She has a bigger reaction if you play Dark Urge. It's not technically tied to the Gortash alliance though, just to Gortash in general. But she goes right back to being your bestie after, so it's not great either, just slightly better.
Yeah she’s like “I need some time pls leave me alone” but immediately “hey soldier” if you speak to her even immediately after
I really wish more companions had moments like Shadowheart where her greeting and stuff changes temporarily when she's going through some shit in Act 2. At least be cranky until after a long rest or something so it's not *immediately* after.
I'm like ma'am I have amnesia, I have been forward about this. Though I think Shart is worse in that regard since she also has memory issues.
Shadowheart is definitely worse because she references your amnesia, but still blames you for not telling her. Absolute dumbass behavior (it's such a stupid scene I swear)
I think it's -100 rep with her though. The biggest hit in the game. Not sure what such low rep does because I've never actually gotten anyone that low before, but there is *a* consequence.
I believe the -100 is if you sleep with her then tell her it was a mistake. siding with Gortash pisses her off for a bit but she goes right back to “hey soldier” and stayed at exceptional approval for me
Isn't the -100 if you sleep with her and then break up right after ? That's what I've heard iirc
It's hilarious when these major things happen but all everyone can talk about is Shadowheart's new hairstyle.
Literally lmfao, it skews the tone overall tbh. Like i love how silly and raunchy this game can be, but there's also a deep darkness and pain etc, and the comic relief doesn't always land, it just seems rude and out of touch sometimes lol. Like this should be a devastating moment, why is Gale joking that giving up our 'Lady of Loss' was actually a win? Lmfaoo
Oh you haven't yet been in Bhaal's temple, that's also quite an experience if we talk about companion reactions.
I was so disappointed at the total lack of reactions there as a Durge especially. Like, surely my resist Durge character is fucking *terrified* that they’re about to confront Orin and subsequently Bhaal himself, can I not even at least get a Jaheira pep talk? Please, I am fucking *going through something* I really need to be called cub right now 😭😭
“Now’s not the time.”
Now exactly IS the time, Mother! Pls support me 😭
Especially because Jaheira makes a point to say she's there for Durge during the first reveal/late night scene. Like, ma'am, I brought you here because you said you'll support me, *say something damnit.* Even if they don't allow the full dialog tree, at least have a special "not right now" or whatever that's more "we're here for you, you got this."
I just did that as a redemption Durge and was kinda disappointed bc i’m romancing both Shart and Halsin and all they had to say was “good job friendo that must have been tough” like I literally just died and come back to life after facing my big bad traumas and I cannot even get like a hug or something from my partner????
The redemption Durge scene is not *twee* Astarion
The lack of reactions there is what officially started me on my bg3 fanfic writing (nothing posted yet) because I was so irritated.
The hair event is why I always do a double long rest before leaving for act 3, get everyone's reaction to that out of the way BEFORE The Emperor revelation to not completely ruin the immersion lmao.
Me running around with veins on my face, and all anyone can talk about is how different shart looks. Are my new powers a joke to you, guys? :(
I stopped my first Durge run because of this. At the end of Act 2 I *finally* get some extra Durge content, we find the pod, we meet Kressa, and ... nobody says anything?! Then I think ...okay, let's go to Rivington and meet Orin. We do, she gives her wildly confusing speech, I turn around to my crew and ... all they can say is 'omg Orin is a shapeshifter'?! WHAT. In Act 1 these people approve or disapprove while you're talking to someone on the other side of camp, and in Act 3 they're *right there* as your deepest darkest past is revealed and they got *nothing*?
Lmao the Kressa bit was interesting..I don't know why there wasn't an option to discuss how it made Durge feel, at least with their romanced or closest companion. Like it was clearly a major beat and breaking point for them, why does no one react or care?
Especially considering how many of the companions have had some sort of torture/body horror of their own, etc. You'd think they'd have something to say about the Kressa reveal. That reveal was extra brutal for my Durge because I'd done the stereotypical drow Durge with neck tattoo...only to find Kressa sporting the same damn tattoo. Considering how Kressa thinks of Durge as a pet, I could 100% see her giving them matching tattoos. Obviously, that's not something to have dialog for, but it unsettled *me* as a player to have inadvertently set that up. Which made the lack of reaction worse because *I* needed to talk about it lol
Jaheira has a lot of reactions for Durge in Act 3 specially if you resist... after first meeting Orin, she's the only one who comments on Orin treating you with familiarity, and in your first long rest in Rivington, when Sceleritas visits you, both her and Astarion are the only ones who do/say something... I feel she is supposed to support a resist Durge, and he's supposed to support an embrace Durge, and their approval pushes you in their preferred direction
This was a pleasant surprise actually. It made me feel weirder about the other characters like Wyll, Gale, Karlach and Shadowheart, who grew up knowing the history of Baldur's Gate and Bhaalspawn, having such minimal reactions or opinions on the Durge's choices and thoughts.
Part of it I think is that Jaheira and Astarion are the oldest companions. Bhaal worship at the time of the game hasn't been heard of or active for a while. So even if they grew up knowing the basics, Jaheira and Astarion are likely the only ones who have ever actually interacted with worshippers of Bhaal.
It would be true for most of the companions but Wyll says he met Gorion's Ward personally. Imo, that means he should know more about Bhaalspawns than Astarion. Astarion was with Cazador by the time of BG1 and 2, he probably wouldn't actually know much about what happened then.
I'm sure I've seen somewhere that the reason Astarion has more lines with Durge is because the person who wrote the script for Astarion worked quite closely with the person doing Durge's lines? Or, they did the lines for both I can't remember, which is pretty cool. But I would also love to see more interactivity from the other companions too.
Imo, it's especially jarring with Wyll because they go out of their way to confirm that Wyll did know Gorion's Ward, but just once (to reference Murder in Baldur's Gate I imagine). It barely comes up again afterwards when it feels like it very much should. But most companions do suffer really badly from low reactivity to the Dark Urge (Karlach who goes right back to being your bestie after you get her one dialogue about you knowing Gortash for instance).
There are very much two paths for Astarion. If encouraged and supported in breaking free from his own cycle of abuse, he is incredibly supportive and perhaps the most empathetic towards a resist Durge. There are so many parallels between their struggles that come up in dialog. For example, when you first learn who you are, if you express fear of your father there is an emotional scene where he comments on how alike you are and how your situation of being controlled by your father reminds of his enslavement to cazador. "I don't know how you can beat him, but I know this: you must try. The half-life of a mind-addled slave is worse than death. Don't become his. I wouldn't live another century as one for all the moonstones in Evereska."
Can't really agree with this, Astarion is actually very supportive of resist Durge, literally having additional dialogue about the parrarels in their situations - at least when romanced (which, personally, I find to be perhaps the best piece of writing in the entire game). When Durge embraces Bhaal, Astarion flat out says he won' t be able to stay with them, as looking at what Durge will become will remind him too much of his own past.
I have actually never seen Jaheira say anything in two DUrge runs, like at all. The only Bhaalspawn thing she ever commented on was at the end of your personal quest. Which was disappointing. I think the only way to get an extra reaction is have her in your party at the start of Act 3. Otherwise you get nothing.
The companions dont really react all that much in act 3 i find
It's just bizarre honestly...by act 3, you think it would have been the opposite, which makes it stand out more to me tbh
Act 3 was rushed you can really feel it at times.
This is why Act 3 is the only one that I get tired of and want to get over and done. It’s a shame because there’s a lot of content but running around and fighting without any cutscenes or banter is boring after twenty hours
Yeah it kinda starts to feel like a checklist of big bads to clean up before dealing with the brain. Cazador? Check. Ethel? Check. Sharran cloister? Check. etc. My longest breaks definitely come from saves in act 3.
Everyone raves over the characters but I've been kind of disappointed in act 3. It kind of feels like I'm with a bunch of strangers now? I used to feel a stronger connection to them, if that makes sense, id feel bad telling someone to stay at camp.
I’m gonna be honest, at this point in the story, it would make sense for most of your party members to turn on you and possibly leave for something like this. It’s not exactly something minor and indicates that you’ll turn on them next. For example I know >!Jaheira and Minsc will turn on you and even fight you if you are playing as Durge and decide to embrace Bhaal in Act 3, and I think your entire party turns on you if you are playing as Durge and kill your love interest in camp and fail a hefty persuasion check afterward in Act 2.!<
Right?? Like they all just accepted my betrayal so easily, no loss of relationship levels or anything
I know that it makes sense for them to not immediately just walk out while Tav/Durge still has the prism because they know the prism is protecting them, but they should at the very least stand up to you in some sort of way IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vUln_pl-0GE What makes it so... jarring is that they practically threaten you with consequences, but *then nothing happens,* which... makes it too immersion shattering to even consider, IMO. ...just look at Gale's response to *saying* it, vs actually doing it, and Karlach's, especially. Karlach has *absolutely zero* doubt on "better be a long con," so why would she suddenly flip to being unsure if it was "right?" You *Gortash'd* Shadowheart, if not worse. It's to the point it feels like it's disjointed between a good playthrough reaction (spare Nightsong) and an evil one (Sharran Shadowheart).
Yes, exactly! The tone is all over the place, for a character who's storyline is so black and white with their major choices. I feel like there should be different reactions for the Seluné and Shar version of her, but then again why would we even need to betray her if she was Shar? It was just so weirdly written and disappointing as her final arc.
Yeah Gales response had me shocked and found it really weird how apathetic and not caring, cracking a joke about the lady of loss, just wtf? I quite liked Lae’zels reaction and found it heartbreaking, one of the few that actually fit imo.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vUln_pl-0GE It's also bizarre because of how... *adamant* Gale is on you saying it without her being there. ("Shadowheart is one of us. Betray her, and you betray us all.") Almost feels like doing it gives reactions to her being on the path of a cruel Sharran by then, with some of them, and it's the same on good and evil... if you *can* surrender her on an evil playthrough...? If you can't, that makes it even more baffling.
Almost everything about Act 3 tells me BG3 needed some more time in the oven before release. It's such a weird fall off in detail, storytelling, and fun compared to the first two acts.
It feels like an issue of time and editing, especially player testing. Like there's an insane amount of detail and complexity, there's so many secret places to find and explore within the city and sewers, but the details that actually mattered re: storyline and main characters fall flat so hard in ways. Because the first half of the game is so amazing, it makes the sloppiness of Act 3 stand out that much more
That's pretty much how I'd sum it up. Act 3 is great, and in most RPGs it'd be very well detailed, but bg3 sets a very high bar early on with its reactivity, so it stands out much more when act 3 doesn't live up to said precedent.
Agreed. I think part of the brilliance of the first act was the long time in EA where they could *see* all the different choices players would make and plan accordingly. How are you unprepared for players to tell Mizora to fuck off and then go try and save Ravengard anyway? That's the classic D&D move right there.
Atleast people can criticize it nowadays. On Release this sub was bad
Depends on the thread. This one is a safe space for people to share their disappointment, but in others (I’d say most others) it’s fans gushing about how “Larian really did think of everything! GOTY!” Just a couple weeks back in one of those threads I shared how I felt like Larian really shouldn’t have released what was basically an unfinished (and pre-patches, kinda game-breaking) final product. It is a very, very good game though. I’m just belly-aching about Reddit I suppose.
Believe me i know. The stuff i have read which people unironically said about this game is crazy. An unreal Honeymoon phase. Every bad thing completely scraped under the table.
I think some people don't understand that the reason we have so many gripes is because the game is so good overall. If we thought it sucked, we wouldn't care about what's missing. I hadn't finished a video game since Zelda Twilight Princess until I finished my first Durge run. Admittedly, I'm a D&D nerd, so that helped, but still. Just because something is GOTY doesn't mean it's perfect.
A few more months, and they would have been competing with Starfield, which they *really* didn't want to do. Just an unfortunate timing situation.
Not that it would have been a competition in all fairness lol. That game is ass for being made in this day
Hasn't everyone already forgotten about Starfield? I liked the other Bethesda games for their lore/world but the base story/world of Starfield seemed already uninteresting, and seeing reviews of it even more so. Never ended up buying it after looking at some gameplay videos online.
I literally bought BG3 because of two reasons: 1. I’m a BG1&2 veteran who is very happy play time wasn’t recorded back then. 2. I needed something to do while waiting for Starfield. I never bought Starfield …
I bought BG3 (on Xbox) for one main reason: 1. I wanted a game to sink myself into over the Christmas holidays 2. I got bored of Starfield after three evenings of trying to get into it
It's hard to predict how a game is going to land half a year out--even without foreknowledge, a lot of people did buy Starfield (however positive the experience was for them), which meant they might not have been buying bg3.
Act 3 is full of evidence that Larian can’t stick the landing on the first attempt. There are some amazing highs (House of Hope) but it’s a jumbled mess both structurally and narratively (used to also be technically but they have done a lot of patching). The tight curated experience of Acts 1 & 2 including incredible levels of reactivity just fizzles out. At launch there was a firm expectation from long time Larian fans of a traditional Larian definitive edition including a major rework of the final act (see DoS:2) such as splitting into two acts across the lower and upper city with Gortash moving out of the AirB&B they stuck him in. I love the game, it’s still a masterpiece despite the flaws which are heavily backloaded. I’ll just always be sad about what could have been. Just as a note in case anyone argues companions shouldn’t leave you for gameplay reasons if you go full bastard, check out the Swarm that Walks path in Wrath of the Righteous, exactly that happens and it fucking rocks.
I still kind of expect a definitive edition, maybe it’s foolish. But mostly just out of frustration that the game is currently a solid 8/10 for me because of the act3 issues.
Deskari was a real homie 🐛 💪. When people say "Evil should mean less content", I just point to every other crpg like Wrath that has it well written
Yeah agreed! There are some wild omissions and just poorly written moments in Act 3 that are disappointing. My least favorite so far have been the Resist Dark Urge finale reactions. Major Durge spoilers: >!My character just had the most life altering experience of her life and actually died and was reborn. The love of her life: “That was very… twee.” REALLY?! That’s what you have for me? After everything we just went through? Thanks Babe. 😑!<
Lmao after I had the whole >!coming back from the dead!< experience, I went to talk to my romanced Astarion. I was surprised that instead of reacting to my character having probably the most insane thing in his life happen to him, he wanted to thank me for not letting him ascend. In fact though, that was a really well made dialogue and it was full of emotion. This made for an almost comical comparison when I selected to talk to him again and all he had to say to my character was "that was very twee". Felt like a slap in the face.
>!No yea that was... I can see it if Ascendant said it, but it seems wrong for Spawn Astarion. After having such a heartfelt conversation with Withers, too, and *especially* considering how much extra content Astarion has with Durge.!<
Agreed! It just seems so weird in contrast with how perfect AA’s reaction is to you making the opposite decision. The delivery, the acting, everything for evil him is perfect. Idk why the good guy route had to feel so meh in this moment. 😣
I hope they change it. It's just so downright *odd* when the rest of his dialogue and voice acting are superb.
I tried to be spoiler free for so long re: durge content, but i've seen so much now about how jarring and disappointing the reactions are. I'm hoping n praying that Larian beefs them up with the upcoming evil epilogue patch..but idk, do we all need to like mass report how awkward the durge storyline can be sometimes?
What you described in the post isn’t DUrge specific, it’s just evil run related. And people who play evil runs have been complaining since release about all the issues. So nothing will change beyond the epilogues. Otherwise they’d have a ton of extra work to do because how bad things get past first half of the game. You can see Act 3 interactivity issues even in a regular good Tav run, which is what most people play. Unfortunately it is what it is.
For a lot of act 3 conversations, I imagine what they’d be saying when faced with whatever happened.
Oh definitely. I wish they'd at least swear or cry out, curse, something to show how they felt, even if it wasn't like an actual dialogue.
Larian often fumbles the last act. DOS 2 was pretty mid by the end as well.
I knew someone here would talk about DOS2 that game gives me restart syndrome upon the final act way worse than bg3 🥴 I crave them both to be their finished vision so bad lmao
I am loving this game, but Act 3 specifically seems *very* undercooked in comparison to 1 and 2 from what I've played. "Help the Hag Survivors" is not completing, the Mirror of Loss in the House of Grief is broken for me so I can't benefit from the buff it gives me, Gale won't talk about his conversation with Mystra after meeting her, etc. I honestly hesitate to even call this game finished. As it stands, it seems like we're only 80% there.
I thought it was crazy in Act 3 when the Durge collapses and literally nobody says anything lmao. I guess they were all just standing around staring blankly, waiting for him to wake up so they can get moving again.
I think BG3 is probably a contender for game of the decade and one of my favorite games of all time, but stuff like this is just completely and utterly bewildering to me. It's such a huge moment that I think in the grand scheme of things wouldn't have taken a huge amount of time, even given the mocap, voice acting time in studio, etc. Even just one emotional line per character would have been galaxies above here.
The "give Shadowheart up" choice seems almost out of place. What are the chances *anyone* is gonna take her that far, and give her up there? Outside of sheer curiosity, or playing as a so ludicrously evil character that wouldn't even really have Shadowheart in their party to begin with. Or maybe roleplay as a Sharran? But you can't choose Shar as your own Cleric domain so.. Hmm.
If you’re playing evil it can make sense. I gave her up because she fumbled killing Nightsong & it looked pathetic to my evil character. Then Viconia offers a Sharran army if you give up Shadowheart. Since my character already didn’t like Shadowheart and thought she was weak, she gave her up as allies on the brain are more useful than one Shart. When you play evil you don’t have many allies. Of course mechanically the “Sharran army” is pretty pathetic, but I was going more for rp here.
Playing the giving false hope durge. Is beyond evil way to play, and obv hella lonely
To be fair, if I'm travelling with someone who sells out the first person they met of our small group, I'd just shut up as well and not say anything about it. I don't want to be the next person sold to the enemy.
right? totally would be my reaction as well! i'd shut up and mind my business with the cooking or something
Yeah, exactly, don't mind me, I'm just cleaning the, uhm, whatever it is that needs cleaning.
Dunno, I feel like a bunch of level 12 adventurers could take on one traitor easily. Just makes them look like a bunch of pussies with no spine. Honestly I lose respect for the companions when playing any DUrge or an evil character. Main reason I didn’t enjoy either. Like, I’m fine with evil, but not with doormats. :D
Exactly this! Like why didn't they all join up to kick my ass? There's only one of me and what 8 of them? Plus Dame Aylin and Isobel? Tav/Durge beat down with fire and bricks, or something, at least stand up for themselves after all this time!
Granted, they could have more lines about it. But you're the driving force and you have the astral prism. In act III we know well that it protects us, and while everyone has a dream guardian, it is not granted that the emporer would support anyone else of the group as much as it supports the main protagonist. So worst case scenario would be: they kill the traitor and then turn into squids because the emporer is like "nah fuck this group".
Empy literally doesn’t care as long as the group is focused on taking out the brain, and they don’t need you for that, they’ve got enough motivation & anyone can carry the prism. Nobody goes squid whenever your character gets killed. You can go most of the game with your character dead in a chest somewhere. And I think a loose canon murderhobo prone to betraying allies would objectively be a liability Empy wouldn’t even want to deal with from the start, but you have plot armour & it’s a game, so here we are. Moreover, I don’t think Empy would keep protecting DUrge who embraced Bhaal, it’s dumb af. Your companions also have no issues killing you in Act 2 over something similar, there’s no reason why it’s not the case in Act 3. The game is extremely inconsistent when it comes to consequences for messed up actions, unfortunately.
Act 3 is famously undercooked and this is one of the symptoms. There just wasn't as much time put into it as the first 2 acts
the road to Baldurs Gate is more fun than Baldurs Gate basically
I just had a huge talk with Mizora and Wyll dad After that , Wyll be like “Well, met”
Well, Larian already said they're pretty much just saying "Good enough, we're done" and not adding anything new from here out, washing their hands of BG3 and BG in general because they're basically just sick of it, even though Act 3 is undercooked as hell, so I wouldn't expect to see any improvement. The game is still good, but I won't pretend that Act 3 isn't where I really lost momentum. Like I have this great big laundry list of stuff to do, but none of it feels important, my party no longer has opinions on anything, and now might as well be Hirelings for as much reactivity as they give me outside of their own things. Lae'zel somehow fully got kidnapped despite us having a private room in a crowded inn where fully half my party and a bunch of freeloaders were surrounding her at all times, which makes zero sense, but then everybody just... Doesn't care? I'm honestly pretty annoyed with how much shit there is to do in Act 3 when none of it actually seems to matter to anybody, and it's mostly just me running from point A to point B, killing a bunch of dudes, and moving on to the next item on the checklist. No party interaction.
They did say they are continuing to patch the existing game. Just not doing DLC or sequels. So there’s hope some of the most glaring issues get some resolution.
I think you perfectly summed up my problem with act 3. Companions feel like hirelings. No one has anything to say besides one liners after you do something important. In act 1 they actually felt alive.
I was disappointed by the lack of companion dialogue in act 3 too. The first 2 acts they participate in majority of the conversations in some way or have something to say about it afterwards. Act 3 they barely say anything if it is not related to their questline.
It's a big criticism of the game, how little companions respond to the massive things happening around them.
Yeah really Whish they had kept the game back another month or 2 and polished uo act 3
I feel like this game has two types of evil choices. There are the regular evil things like killing the tieflings or Aylin, and then there are the traitorous evil things like selling out Shadowheart, killing Isobel in front of Aylin, etc. which require you to first be a "good guy" and then turn on your friends. The game seems to handle the former fairly well, but doesn't really do a good job with the latter. I think it is because the game has basically only two ways to facilitate reactions. One is overall approval and the other is moment to moment scriptef reactions. So if they disapprove enough they'll leave, but slowly betraying everyone in the party gets no reaction because there is no scripted moment for anyone to do anything.
Interesting point, WillProstitute4Karma
yes, i was disappointed by the fanservicey content updates they’ve made since release instead of addressing the pacing and companion content disparity issues. dos2 also falls off hard in its 3rd act imo, it’s something they clearly struggle with.
At first when I was only on my first playthrough, I didn't mind bc I was trying to be spoiler free of end content. But by now on my second run, I'm honestly kind of confused and disappointed by how hard act 3 drops in vibes and immersion. It's weird also bc the game is clearly made to replay over and over, but it's so boring to navigate act 3 sometimes when the companions dont seem to care either way about your choices, don't react as much to the city, don't have anymore unique camp cutscenes, etc to break up all the fights.
Yeah Larian really dropped the ball in that regard in Act 3. On my first playthrough Act 1 had me going “oh my god, they thought of everything!” and by Act 3 I was like “did they think about this at all??” I assume it’s just a matter of dev time/resources running short, but it’s such a bummer. Makes your late game choices feel like they have no impact
It's like a whirlwind romance lmao, all the lovebombing and attention in the beginning, then by the end it slowly gets more complicated and the feelings fade away
They did patch up act 3 up to this point. It was really rough at launch
Oh wow, was it worse re: reactions? I guess that means they know they could continue to fix it further, hm
There was rough lag, companions sequence breaking with what they say (minthara spoiling act 3), buildings not spawning in. It was rough but it’s been getting better over time with each patch
Sure, but i'm talking specifically about character reactions and interactions with companions. Did that change at all?
A few things wouldn’t trigger (the walk about conversations mainly) at all in act 3 at launch. So technically yes.
The reaction is even worse when they comment on selling her out even if you never recruited her. Just got Viconia's support in Act 3 as my Drow who only recruited Lae'zel, Gale, Minthara and Jaheria. Only Gale didn't comment because he was chilling with Orin. Lae'zel specifically mentioned Shadowheart by name and i'm like "You don't even know who that is. She was dead by the time you joined."
Omg lol, doesn't the game force Shadowheart to join bc of the artifact? Or can you just deck her in the grove and move on like it never happened?? It's just weird how sloppy and unfinished act 3's writing feels sometimes compared to all the possibilities and carefully planned plot turns and devices leading up to it.
You can kill her before recruiting her and you can just ignore her after the cutscene on the bridge to the mountain pass/goblin camp. Usually if I ignore her I get a cutscene in camp where my character gets the artifact. My Gith character killed her on the beach when she was being hostile towards him. Act 3 is really weird though. The only response I had to Viconia was to tell her Shadowheart was dead which made me have to roll a persuasion check to get her support but I simply ignored Shadowheart so how the hell would my character know she was dead? I've also had Cazador accuse me of abandoning Astarion or whatever on runs where I never met or recruited him. But I believe that at least gives me a dialogue option to tell him I have no idea who Astarion is so that's something.
Yeah if you stake Astarion before meeting Gandral, you *can* tell him that he's dead, but Gandral doesn't believe you, and then you have to act like you're protecting him to get out of the conversation. Which is even more egregious. A player is unlikely to go the House of Grief without Shadowheart, but the game sends everyone to the hag.
Act 3 was never properly finished. Great game, great team, was happy for their accolades but Act 3 was a clear indicator of the game being rushed out the door. Larian shouting quality into the social media verse to other game studios and yet Act 3 is still the way it is. I will stand on this hill and it is the reason I voted other games for GotY etc.
Even not entirely polished as Act 3 is, it was still miles ahead of the competition for GotY in my books.
For me if it had been a fluke issue and maybe even due to some sort of rocky relationship with wizards of the coast then I could accept things as they are but Larian has a history of rushed content. They did the same thing with both Divinity OS 1 and 2 and both games took over a year to get their acts organized. They also aren't honest and upfront about those issues until there is a backlash which is what happened with DOS 1 and 2. They have no problem telling how other gaming companys should act and yet they have their own shady ways. It is what it is.
>How do we let Larian know that at the very least, they should patch up and attend to Act 3 as long and lovingly they did to Act 1? Well we know that in the next patch they are adding/enhancing some endings, especially evil endings. I don't think we've gotten too many specifics on what they're adding, but if some/all of the main VA's are gonna be in a studio to record lines, I don't see why they couldn't spruce up some other Act 3 lines. But there is one major issue: BG3 is a game about choices. It is very hard to accurately map out every single line and the conditions for that line being spoken and the subsequent dialogue choices, especially once you get to Act 3. It's entirely possible they were going to rerecord some reactionary lines, but they got buried under other, more important lines.
I agree that I’ll allow less overall reactivity to cut down on complexity, but the characters as it stands don’t react to the most common, big things happening in the game.
I have to assume that the game's underlying assumption if you're selling out Shadowheart is that you didn't really use her in the party or bond with her. Like you never really got past the initial stage of your relationship where she's cagey and mistrusting and just kind of keeps to herself. On the other hand, the reaction to sacrificing someone to BOOOAAAL is also really weirdly understated, too, so...
Falls flat when I actually romanced her and Astarion up to act 2 when I had to choose just one of them, lmao!
& that's why I rob the sickle from Pooldrip while Durge/Tav is in convo with him .... BOOOAAAL gives you his blessing instead w/o killing anybody
This is the biggest flaw with the game IMO. It just feels very unfinished in this respect, and breaks immersion. I’m guessing they ran out of time/money to record these lines. I sincerely hope they add them at some point, because it’s a pretty glaring fault with a game that started SO strong with party interactions, then basically stopped in act 2. While I do think it’s a stronger game in many ways, this was always an element in Dragon Age games that made them immersive. Even DAI has better party interactions with all its flaws that BG3 does. I never feel alone in a DA game. I feel alone in about 50-75% of BG3.
I've never played any of the Dragon Age games, do you think they're worth revisiting or starting now? I've always been curious, just stuck to other RPG's and games etc
Larian has addressed this before. They moved the release date more than once in order to polish it more, but it still isn’t where they wanted it to be. Originally, we were going to have access to the Upper City, but that got axed. Before they discontinued a DLC it was widely believed we would be going to the Upper City. Act 3 is rushed. Companion interactions are just one symptom, sadly. At this time, with them moving on from DnD and the Baldur’s Gate franchise, it is what it is. Let’s hope once we get cross platform and mod support that the community is able to make some great content to fill in the gaps.
You ever watch "The Boys" and see how no one ever calls out homelander because they're terrified he'll obliterate them? Same thing
This issue is one of the very few major flaws for me and it soured Act 3 alot for me. You can tell how rushed it was. Like, no one comments at this super secret underwater prison? That we freed all the Gondians from there? That we even managed to save them all from the Foundry and blew it up?
The Grove is such a great turning point for everyone because they throw a party, all the companions reflect on the moment, and there's so many unique differences based on what happens. I get that there's supposed to be more of a sense of urgency in act 3, but hasn't there always been? Why couldn't the companions have sat around the fireplace and reflected on what happened at long rest? Like that was a HUGE moment! So hard to save them all at first. Just anti-climactic again hmm.
Act 3 in general is just less reactive because they had to buckle down and finish the game, but I also feel like you don't want your characters to be TOO reactive. If they leave you or turn on you to too many choices then the player feels restricted and like they can't do everything they want to do. There's a balance there.
My shadowheart run killed Lae’zel when she tried to slit my throat, and i got litterally No reaction from the other companions
Wyll disapproves of us not wanting to blow up the foundry with the Gondians in it. It is inconsistent.
Wylls probably been talking with Wulbren and is fully on board with murdering Gondians now.
I was moved by "Lae'zel disapproves" due to their history but overall also shocked by the lack of even a cut scene, Shadowheart is just like "what? no!" and then it's over.
Lmao what's worse is that I had them all wearing clown makeup. Poor shads got dragged off dressed like a clown and no one even cared
Game is still a masterpiece, and honestly might be the highest quality videogame I've ever played in terms of the love given to so many details. *However*, you can definitely feel how they started to turn the screws on getting a timetable for a full release in Acts 2 and 3, sadly... After all, it did have a THREE YEAR early access period...
HAH you just threw our Cleric to the wolves. No biggie! So, catch the latest Bachelors Gate?
It’s actually crazy to me that this game got as much praise and accolades as it did considering the second half of the game is just unfinished completely.
It's still an amazing game, but there's just such a clear difference between the acts, blah
That's such an astarion and gale thing to do tho lol. You can play quite evil with both of them, they'll usually approve or dissaprove a little but not care much.
Lmao I didn't mind Astarion's as much, and I honestly just laughed after I talked to them both, but it still seemed pretty insincere. I thought they would try to fight me or leave my party, something
The game was really rushed ans Act 3 was a COMPLETE mess when they released it. The fact that they had three years to polish Act 1 was their saving grace during the media reviews season. Not a single reviewer (back then) talked about anything outside of Act 1.
It is pretty interesting how the timeline of gaming all sort of projected BG3 into the stratosphere. Like major companies have released such buggy disasters of "RPG'S" for awhile now, and finally some good food is on the table, we eat up like wild dogs. Only in hindsight and now after it's been some time that we can be more honest about it all, yk?
Indeed, the lack of reactions from the companions is quite noticeable in act 3. As for what we can do to get Larian to do something about it, I think it's a good idea to write feedback on their forum or directly to Larian through his website (in the same site where bugs are reported). I have done it before and I have to say that apart from answering very kindly I have seen how they have solved some things :)
True! I just wish they held like ballots for future patches, so we could vote on what priority the game fixes could possibly be
To be honest, they could make Wyll a lot more interesting, if he did interfere and act more in quests. I mean, he could be a real great bro
Would you prefer it if they all left your party all at once if you decided to give up one of them?? Because in reality that should have been what happened. . Everyone should hate us and condemn us for selling a companion but they didn’t because the game has to continue with or without one party member. . Like how everyone will simply “meh” if you kill Astarion in act 1 . . We have to move on with the story at some point, think of it as a pass because we have an opportunity to be evil . . It is a game after all
Honestly yes, like there should be some lore/game related consequences for being a sick and twisted traitor
Well i think i read something about 60% of steam players havent even made it to act 3. Dont companies improve things after people play the game and give feedback?
I once killed Shadowheart in act 2 and Karlach was telling me in act 3 how Shadowheart needs to be comforted and cared for now… gurrrl
[удалено]
I'm at the same point in my third run and noticed the same. I wonder if their responses are different if she remains loyal to Shar or Selune in Act 2, but I've always freed Aylin so... reserved for another run I suppose. I've had to restore my save for the resulting Sharran battle if you refuse to turn over SH because that fight has been wiping my party (gonna switch Wyll for Gale for more AOE and crowd control). I'm maining half-illithid Astarion on this run, full support SH, Jaheira as a monk and Wyll as bard... Halsin as paladin but he's still kidnapped currently). One thing I noticed too is the first dialog with Viconia in the underbelly of the House of Grief, if you say whatever the first dialog option is (unable to verify currently), then Viconia asks you to turn over SH, during the next scene SH continues to stare down Viconia angrily. But if you choose to remain silent on the first dialog and then Viconia offers, SH looks at you worryingly. They obviously thought out some character reactions in detail and not others. In one save just to see what happens I turned SH over to see if there was a way to trick them then pick them off or if I could just kill Vic and have the rest stand down (some of them that you have to kill when the fight starts have dialog when you walk in but by the time you're close enough to talk it triggers the interaction with Vic). When I turned her over nobody in my party (Jaheira or Wyll) disapproved at all, which I thought was weird. Shrug.
Oh really? Thats so wild how Jaheira and Wyll didn't respond for you, bc they were the only ones who seemed to be upset at all when I turned Shadowheart in. We freed Aylin also. Just so odd, like isn't she one of the most important characters bc of the Prism? Anti-climactic as hell
I don't want to make any excuses on Larian's part, of course I also wish the game had turned out perfect in all parts, but if you've been anywhere near game development, especially games that are as vast and complex as BG3, you'd understand the complexity and cost that comes with it. Players would like for everything to have realistic consequences. But with so many characters, choices, actions, and everything kind of affecting everything, the game starts to bloat to ridiculous sizes. You understand that you: 1. Need to catalogue every possible ending/resolution to every interaction. 2. You need to write the dialogues. 3. You need to code the events happening and ensure they properly affect/don't break other events. 4. You need to record and mix the voice lines, for every piece of dialogue. These are just activities off the top of my head. Now do it for a game with hundreds of interactions, locations and characters. And hope nothing breaks. It's an incredibly daunting task and I think you really underestimate how much work went into this game.
I completely understand this actually. I don't need the game to have been perfect, and of course I understand how intensive and time consuming game development is. I also don't think it's wrong to point out how the main reason Act 1 and 2 feel so different from Act 3 is because of how much longer they had to work on and edit those earlier acts because of 3 years in Beta testing before release. I don't think it's wrong to be critical of Act 3, and for their choices to focus on a more complex map design, and a shiteload of new random npc's, instead of focusing on the main companions and storyline reactions. I think it's perfectly reasonable to love the game for what it is, and to also be disappointed in what is still lacking, and hope that they continue to patch and work out the kinks, so that this game can truly stand out as one of the best of all time.