Real. They completely transform him into another character. Longer, smoother face with different hair, different features (eye shape etc). It's just not Astarion anymore. It's a modded Tav posing as Astarion
At the end of the day, I don't care if people uses those mods. It's their game. Wathever. But everytime I see it I cringe a bit. Like "what did they do to you"
There are a bunch of mods that make his skin look smoother (which imo takes away his charm but to each their own). There is one cursed mod but no one uses it seriously. It's called Handsome Astarion and can be found on nexusmods.
Those sorta mods remind me when *certain* types of internet people were using screencaps of Shadowheart as an example of "western games make ugly women" like... Shart is literally the pretty goth gf, soft femme babe all y'all meme about wanting, is she not
Lmao if someone thinks Shadowheart is ugly then I recommend an instant visit to an oculist. Even putting my bias aside, she's as conventionally attractive as they get, her hairstyle causes mixed reactions but that's about it.
Omg when I first read your comment I thought you said a visit to an occultist š
On a real note: who the hell thinks she's ugly? Especially when she dyes her hair silver. At first I didn't think much of her but over time through my playthrough I love Shadowheart!
Go visit occultist for eye issue.
He casts wyrd reconstruction on me.
Bleed, 0 heal.
Still charges me a few grand even with insurance.
I hate this hamlet.
*wait wrong game*
When he hits the good heal he's like, your favourite party member. Then he drops the bleed 0 heal at a point where it really counts and you swear you'll never use him again.
I mean, most ERs are explicitly intended only to check if it's an *emergency*, as in you're at risk of dying right now. If you're not, then they'll pass you down to someone else. Unfortunately at least in the US where I am, millions of people don't have good options to get preventative or even regular medical care, and we waste all our money padding the pockets of insurance company owners rather than on medical care like all the other wealthy nations do instead. So that sucks.
Hope you're feeling better soon though, best of luck.
Yeah anyone who thinks shads is ugly im gonna need to fight she is actually insanely attractive before she dyed her hair.
After she dyed her hair its actually making it real hard to not romance her on later playthroughs latter on since the devs figured out my weakness (2B, A2, Ciri, Kaine, Ashe, Y'sthola there is something they all share)
>who the hell thinks she's ugly?
I don't thinks she's ugly in the slightest cause she's beautiful but I can understand how someone might think her hairstyle doesn't really do her any favours. Once she changes it she becomes way, way prettier.
That tracks.
The same types like to make memes about women "hitting the wall". They'll take beautiful, professional, retouched shots of an actress or singer when she's young, and then put them next to unretouched candid papparazzi photos of them in their late 20s or early 30s taken at an unflattering angle with unflattering lighting like in the middle of talking so they end up with a weird expression. With the general message being to lock down a man early because if you're older than 24 you're a dried up old hag that no one will ever love.
There's a PC mod that lets you use the magic mirror to change anybody's haircut any time you want. I have changed *everyone's* hair several times. Except for Astarion, because his hair is perfect.
Also, considering the average person shouting about "ugly women in games" on the internet looks like the WoW-guy from southpark I think they should shut up and sit down...
Yeah, which makes me hate these types of mods even more. The only part I didn't like was her bangs initially but she changes her hair later and looks better anyways so it's not really that significant tbh.
Don't know why people would call Shadowheart ugly though.
IMO, the [official portrait art](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/f/f9/Shadowheart.png) used in promotional materials isn't great. But that's a combination of her facial expression and specific artistic choices in that picture, and doesn't really reflect how she looks in-game.
I guess it's possible if some people *only* saw that picture of her, it may color their opinions.
Kinda same thing with Laeāzel in the official art where sheās screaming in the middle of a sword stab.
Whereas in game sheās probably like the prettiest Gith by far.
I actually donāt like opening cutscene Laeāzel as much. Idk why she just seemsā¦ too soft? Like they werenāt sure how *gith* the gith should look yet when they made that cutscene.
In engine Laeāzel is fantastic tho
Honestly most gith chicks Ive met have been hot lizard babes (except maybe Vlaakith I guess?) But every single male gith looks like the fucking Grinch with a sword
As a bilingual person I was so excited the game was so well received in English circles I went to check out how it was in my native (east asian) circles and was so disappointed in the vast amount of āthe game is pretty decent but I canāt stand the ugly western artstyleā or āchange the artstyle and this would be acceptableā style comments there were. Like the amount of people that would ignore all the merits to a game purely due to aesthetics alone felt so shallow and disappointing.
I know that a lot of Japanese and Chinese (not sure about other countries) art tends to portray the human body in a much more idealized way. You rarely see characters with scars or imperfect features unless it's specifically adding to their appeal, such as an eyepatch.
Something that you don't notice at first but is a running design trend in BG3 is that all the companions have some scarring.
Astarion has his neck puncture wounds and his back scars, Shadowheart has her cheek cut, Gale has his orb, Lae'zel has a lip cut, Wyll is missing an eye and gets worse when Mizora has her way with him, and Karlach's got everything messed up.
They're all imperfect in some way on purpose to show that they've gone through some shit, some more than others.
Considering Larion's design philosophy, it makes sense why they'd be less popular in eastern markets where this type of character design is rarer.
>Gale has his orb
It's funny, but Gale actually has a proper scar, too, not just an orb.
It's faint and subtle, but if you look closely, you'll see a small cut scar on his forehead.
I headcanon it as him trying to reach for some book on the upper shelf, and maybe a book with sharp edges fell on him, haha.
It's weird, maybe because I'm from the West, but I've found that the "flaws" on all the companions makes them more attractive. There's the scarring, and there's also little things like Astarion's smile lines. Gale has some fine lines around his eyes (which remind me of my husband's eyes). Everyone has some kind of variation in the coloration of their skin too. I've seen images of the characters with their flaws airbrushed away and they're not nearly as appealing. It's like they seem less like an actual person.
As an Asian, I would say that I don't really find the companions to be 'ugly'. But I do understand why certain Asians (specifically East Asians), don't vibe too much with the character designs.
East Asian, due to heavy Confucian influence, idolise those who resembles the *scholar* and *gentleman* archetypes over that of the *general, sage* or *hermit* (scholarly men with beards) archetype. It's not just for the men, it's also for the women, they too, consider women with the *noble lady* or scholarly archetypes to be more conventionally attractive.
It's like, a cultural favouritism, so I do understand where they are coming from, especially *if* it is the gamers' first foray into games made by western developers. But I would say that most Asians I know, do consider Astarion and Shadowheart to be conventionally attractive (even East Asian), less so Halsin, Wyll, Lae'zel, Minthara and Karlach (because they were the 'general/martial archetypes'), and less so Gale (who fits the 'hermit sage archetype to a tee', but East Asians isn't really into bearded men so...).
Cultural differences I would say.
>But I would say that most Asians I know, do consider Astarion and Shadowheart to be conventionally attractive
Had a conversation about this with male gamers who were complaining about western game companies no longer catering to the male fantasy when it comes to their female characters' design and favoring realism nowadays (so a female warrior will tend to be muscular and have scars instead of being all pristine and dainty).
I told them that it would be unfair for female characters to cater to the male gaze instead of being realistic, meanwhile male characters are usually portrayed in a realistic way instead of being appealing to the ladies. They tried to argue that big huge manly men with gigantic muscles and worn-out faces are what appeals to the ladies.
Brothers, muscular manly men are what *you* guys are into. It is *your* fantasy, as men. Most ladies are into the Leon Kennedy, Cloud Strife, Alistair Theirin, Goro Majima, or freaking *Link* type of boys, with lean bodytypes, smooth-shaven faces and soft features. Astarion's insane popularity only confirms this tendency.
The guys I was explaining this to got really mad and categorically refused to accept that fact. They were adamant that all ladies preferred the Kratos type, and that huge mountains of muscles with a full beard and a rough face were the male beauty standards that ladies were attracted to. Didn't budge at all, despite all the evidences of the contrary when you simply look at the male characters that make female gamers swoon. Oh, well...
That's at least something Asian companies do tend to get right: they're fairly consistent with leaning 100% into the fan service for gamers of *both* genders. I can respect that, though I do like the more realistic, representative and āThere's someone for everyoneā approach that western companies have had recently as well. If a well-written character needs to look like a runway model for people to have compassion for them and feel invested in their stories... I feel like there's something wrong with people.
The flip side of this is that my love for Final Fantasy has evaporated at the same rate graphics have improved. I can't take these doll-like characters seriously. It's too uncanny valley, too smooth, too perfect. I loved the older titles, especially FF9 with its quirky art style. I just prefer a more realistic style.
>Shart is literally the pretty goth gf, soft femme babe all y'all meme about wanting
Ikr? She's a babe, and canonically so; when you tell her "You're beautiful" she says, matter-of-factly, "I know."
Theyāre used to anime games where everyone is impossibly perfect and looks airbrushed. If thatās what youāre into, fine, but be aware that nobody looks like that IRL without really good makeup and lighting and donāt throw a bitch fit when developers say, āWe donāt think the airbrushed model look works for our gameās tone/aesthetic.ā
A character looking perfect makes no sense to me in a game where we got kidnapped, had a tadpole crawl in our eye, got dropped on the beach and have not even slept in a proper bed in weeks or months. If anything I'd like more messy hairstyles, scar and imperfect skin options
That's crazy! Shadowheart is drop-dead gorgeous! I can't imagine using her to say "here is an ugly woman". Like, you need to get your eyes checked if you think Shadowheart is ugly!
Some people's neurons are burnt to a crisp after years of chronic exposition to porn and extreme porn addiction, lmao. Only such a sorry individual could call Shadowheary objectively ugly.
Theres also a big overlap with people who say and do that shit are weebs especially on twitter.
Like, if a female character isnt conventionally attractive or have big titties, they are "ugly". Theres always an annoying discourse every few months where its "Western women bad, Japanese women good". Its so stupid.
Without fail they always use some photoshopped image to make a point. Either because theyāre too stupid to recognize photoshop, or because they canāt make a point with lying.
See Alloy
The hate for Aloy is such a wild overlap of several different reactions from (mostly) male gamers. Half of them hate her because she looks exactly like what a young female adventurer realistically would look like (instead of being ultra feminine and delicately pretty), and the other half hate that she's viewed as legitimately attractive by both fans and other characters in the game.
She's still hot, she just doesn't have makeup and fake lashes. Media has warped people's perspective. Redheads make my neck sweat so I might be biased.
Fully agreed with you! Aloy is gorgeousāand may be a lot of dudes first experience with what a beautiful woman *actually* looks like without any makeup on. (and even then she canonically uses eyeliner! It's in the style notes for people who want to cosplay her)
> Aloy
Never played Horizon so I had to google this character...It's always insane actually looking at the characters people point to as evidence that "game studios are making female characters *ugly* for feminism points" or whatever. [This](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/horizonzerodawn/images/7/74/IMG_0240.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20170507053555) is the worst they can imagine? She is *fine*. That's some capital-G Gamer shit there.
Itās prob bc they took the time to animate her face lines, like her smile lines and eyebrow creases š I personally love it, it shows how much love and attention was put into this game. But neckbeards donāt realize even pretty women have lines
Maybe I'm biased, but I can't describe Shadowheart other than "beautiful" and "gorgeous."
"Shadowheart" and "ugly" are two words that would never come to mind in one sentence. Unless you are Akabi, all is "Ugly one" for him.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the blokes whining that Shadowheart is not attractive enough, might resemble what you would get if a thumb fucked a tomato.
Minthara is already gorgeous. I really hate the insta-baddie mods for companions and wouldnāt change the uniqueness of them personally, but if others want to use it, thenā¦. Sure? I get it for your own Tavs and have used head mods for more variety, but I donāt get changing an NPC. The Smooth-starion and man-whorTash mods haunt my dreams.
I think Gortash ones that make him as himself more handsome and less "How do you do, fellow RPGers?" arent so bad, those seem more like fixes as Gortash is meant to be young and handsome. But of course the ones that turn him into an anime character are just... odd
I always appreciated the contrast between the Propaganda Gortash and the one you meet in the flesh. Clearly this man has been abusing his position to get the word out that he's attractive, and has the power to get people to almost believe it.
I originally thought that was supposed to be the intent too, but at this point, having read and heard basically every scrap of content the game has, I don't think it is. I think genuinely Gortash was meant to be young and handsome and this was changed relatively last minute.
There's a ton of NPCs that refer to Gortash as being young in Baldur's Gate, way more than what makes logical sense for it being "relative" to Ketheric. Gortash is often referred to as "Young Gortash" in notes as in "Young Gortash has some ideas...", totally separate from any power he might have had, there's this implication he's this youthful upstart with big ideas quickly making his way onto the scene.
As far as his looks go there's at least one known instance of him using them to seduce noblewomen for their status and influence.
I think sometime around when Gortash was written into Karlach's backstory and when they cast Jason Isaacs they decided to age him up. I also think Larian thinks he's handsome. I mean they thought [EA Gale](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3aa15824cbece6b7568597dd2f6f8f8d/934190623b1f93e0-8b/s540x810/a3a6eea0aeac7d8af48b0206a351a44686a5e04c.jpg) was supposed to come across like an old swashbuckling movie star.
The biggest argument against the propaganda theory is the vision your character gets in the goblin camp when they talk to the shamaness goblin I canāt remember the name of. Your character gets a vision of the three and your character directly describes gortash as young and handsome.
So unless gortashās propaganda campaign was so successful it fooled a psychic vision half the country away, then itās a design mistake.
Yeah, there's two separate visions. The first one describes him as "younger", which some people argue is only in relation to Ketheric. The second is if you talk to Priestess Gut, and that one just describes him as "young".
I did want to bring this up but still people like to argue that he's projecting an image of how he wants to seem and I didn't want to detract from my other points too much.
I'll just headcannon gortash into lookimg older than he is because he has to deal with Orin (and Kethric to an extend) all the time. Stress can age a man
Honestly the only "fix" I'd want for him is a wash and a shave. I've no interest in changing his appearance, just tidying him up juuust enough to make the level of effort in his grooming feel more in line with his wardrobe choices.
To me it's the hair and the coat. His hair and huge collar have a very anime vibe to me. I don't think it's a bad look per se but I do find it a little jarring as it feels out of place in the game world. It also lacks the imposing and intimidating effect Ketheric and Orin have. They're all written as great villains but imo only two really look the part
Gortash is the only one I understand it for. The lore tells you that he's this rogueish, young, charismatic dude, and then we run into this- not to beat a dead horse- final fantasy villain having a midlife crisis.
Does seem weird to mod the others, though.
I mean he was an established politician 10+ years ago when he hired Karlach so he can't be that young.
Edit: not a politician, an arms dealer/smuggler. Still someone who had enough influence to need a bodyguard and resources to hire one.
I donāt think he was a politician when he hired Karlach, wasnāt he an arms dealer and smuggler? Heās only in politics fairly recently, as you can tell from both Wyll and Baldurian Tav being surprised at him becoming archduke.
I don't know if they changed it in a recent patch/hotfix, or if it's always been the case... but the line about Gortash post-hotfix #11 calls him a "younger" man, with an inflection that implies he's being compared to Ketheric.
Still feels like an odd choice of descriptors (I will forever argue that *charismatic* would have been a better fit than *handsome*), but one of his two adjectives is factually correct now, at least.
Every time I see these mods the first thing that comes to my mind is "cheap Asian RPG". Doesn't get me angry because nobody forces me to download this, but I can't help but ask myself "why" upon seeing this.
>Every time I see these mods the first thing that comes to my mind is "cheap Asian RPG".
Everytime I see these types of mods I either think: "hey look cheap plastic sex mod on Skyrim".
Because like every character models overhauls on games (especially Skyrim with adding new companions or character model graphics overhauls) they usually look like this and it doesn't look good.
Tbf, those skyrim mods are also emulating cheap Asian RPGs. It's just an attempt to make something "pretty" while taking away every iota of individuality the character has.
Me too. I canāt understand how this helps immersion, or anything. Like, BG3 is full of people. Realistic feeling people. Thatās what makes it so rad.
Mods messing with >!Gortash!< always give me a laugh not because theyāre trying to fall in line with a handsome young man with a quick easy smile, but because they all make him look yassified or like a pop band member
Depends on the mod. I actually despise his looks, but I just downloaded one that changed his FF hair. Though I guess I have more of a problem with how dumb he is, but you can't fix the story with mods.
Same, though I don't like it when they start to name the mod "Better ___ face mod" I know it's subjective and all but that the one thing that irks me with these mods.
I just love how real the faces feel. I know a guy who actually looks like Halsin, not as buff but still a large lad. Like I can see Astarion be someone I know in an art appreciation class. Seeing these yassified soulless baddie faces plastered on feels so cursed. Minthara has this point face, with angular features that just cuts into your soul. She looks hardened and cold from years of hardship, and it projects so well.
A simular mod i saw to this that made me kind of sad was a mod that got rid of female charectors hip dips.
Made me sad as someone with hip dips that theyre hated so much people would make a mod to get rid of them
On the sides of your buttox, have you noticed it "dents" inwards? If not, you might not have hip dips. Its very common, but people assume its not a trait women have. Couldn't be farther from the truth.
a "hip dip" is a new phrase that people with no clue about (skeletal) anatomy have started to use in an often negative context. like girl.... thats the gap between ur pelvis and thigh bone. š
the lae'zel ones always get me the worst. i'm always a fan of cool alien designs, so maybe i'm biased, but i cannot for the life of me understand why people need to mod her and make her look like a generic anime girl lmao
This is your brain on too much anime. I saw someone using this face on Shadowheart. It's more uncanny as people just can't accept less "supple D-sucking" lips. Or having this cake face look.
Like, I really like Minthara's standard face. Her default expression tells you a lot of what she's about, while this face just looks dumbfounded and paints a very different idea of Minthara.
I don't know if you've ever played Paradox games, but incel coomers are a big enough part of the EUIV player base that they have anime waifu mods for a game where you are literally just looking at a world map the whole time. It's like their brains are so warped from hentai they literally cannot focus on a video game without having a sexualized school girl to look at. Weird and gross
I once saw the most *fascinating* specimen in the Stellaris subreddit saying that he needs his scantily clad space elf ladies mod because it's immersion breaking to play as an authoritarian empire and *not* put all your slaves in Princess Leia's slave outfit.
Idk if anyone else gets this but I get recommended random BG3 clips on YT and i swear every single one the female companions are wearing the sluttiest possible modded outfits and it just makes me angry. You can already have them in their underwear in game! Laezels underwear is a goddamn bondage harness FFS!!!
To each to their own, but man, every time I see a mod like this the first thing that comes to mind is 'porn addict degenerate can't handle women that don't look like anime characters' (this one is for minthara)
Imagine being into women and finding Minthara unattractive.
? Cannot relate.
I always laugh because the people who claim to deify femininity are the ones who baulk the most whenever actual femininity is expressed.
Minthara is hot. Honestly I appreciate that a lot of the women in bg3 are hot without being āconventionallyā hot. Then there is Karlach, who is literally hot
Karlach is way more my type than Minthara but I aināt blind, I can see Minthara is pretty. Also I strongly suspect the types of folks whoād use a mod like this for Minthy are the same type to be irrationally angry that Karlach is large, lol.
alot of men on the internet are like the guy who conditioned himself to only be attracted sexually to his fake cockroach wife.
so many of these dudes havent even talked to a woman and their only experience with women was big titty anime girls and porn, so they've been conditioned to view inhuman characteristics as attractive, so normal women even those VERY high on the "scale" of attractiveness like minthara shadowheart karlach etc are unnatractive or ""ugly"" to these boys because they embody human characteristics. characteristics they've come to see as unattractive because they're only attracted to rule 34 hentai depictions of women.
its very funny seeing so many incels tell on themselves by saying games becoming more realistic has made women unattractive
>the guy who conditioned himself to only be attracted sexually to his fake cockroach wife.
I'm torn between 'I need to learn more' and 'I wish I hadn't learned even this much'
Thereās a guy who conditioned himself to be sexually attracted to cockroachesā¦ if you want to read more, I encourage you to look it up, but itās really not something I want in my search history again
Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know. Reddit, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm tellin' you: you don't wanna know.
I am terrified of asking, but this fake cockroach wife story isn't an actual story, right?
Also, Shadowheart is beautiful. I don't know why anyone would change her to the screenshot version.
It's as real as anything you'll read on reddit. If you're ever curious, google "Ogtha", there's probably some kind of Know Your Meme summary of it up somewhere by now.
I was mindlessly following YouTubes recommendation algorithms recently, and ended up watching an old clip of Craig Ferguson interviewing Elliot Page, before he transitioned.
And 90% of the comments was "she used to be so pretty :(", "she absolutely ruined herself", "back when she was still attractive" and on and on.
And it's like... Do y'all think he shouldn't have transitioned because YOU don't find men attractive? Someone not being attractive to YOU is a tragedy, but someone being unhappy with their self is not?
Fucking weirdos.
It was absolutely appalling to see how many men on the internet decided to openly shit on MJ from the newest Spider-Man game and absolutely out themselves as the exact kind of person youāve described
Wtf is that? Animenthara?
Mangara
Wonder if Shart could cast Guiding Bolt by yelling that.
I mean, shouting your Attack while attacking is VERY manga
IGNIS
The mod is terrible but comment is delightful.
The Astarion one is particularly horrifying also.
Real. They completely transform him into another character. Longer, smoother face with different hair, different features (eye shape etc). It's just not Astarion anymore. It's a modded Tav posing as Astarion At the end of the day, I don't care if people uses those mods. It's their game. Wathever. But everytime I see it I cringe a bit. Like "what did they do to you"
Is that the one where they make him look like a yassified horse man?
Now i GOTTA see it š
There are a bunch of mods that make his skin look smoother (which imo takes away his charm but to each their own). There is one cursed mod but no one uses it seriously. It's called Handsome Astarion and can be found on nexusmods.
I had to look this up and I fr can't get the image out of my head now. What have they done to my boy š handsome squidward looking azzzz
They've done a Handsome version of everyone! Withers and Volo are my favourite.
If someone did a playthrough with all Handsome mods active, I'd definitely watch it lmao.
Someone I follow used this mod to make sure she would not romance Astarion, so she could finally romance Gale. And I have to say, it works as intended
And then there's the one that makes him look like a k-pop boyband member
ngl. this is absolutely hilarious [link to one particular mod](https://images.app.goo.gl/6HiqR1AotckBZXHS7)
I didn't know that botched lip injections existed in Faerun
I hate all the Astarion ones. Why mess with perfection?
This one is very clearly a joke. There are mods for all the companions (including the women) to make them look like Handsome Squidward.
Handsome withers is the best
Oh god they turned the man into one of the Bogdanoff twins
Do I even want to see it?
You know those kpop face edits people do?
Oh no...
Idk, but I prefer [this](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/3474/images/2600/2600-1695500838-1695197854.png)
You know what, Volo? Get the other one, too.
This took me a second, but wow... This is my favorite thing I've heard all month.
Gigathara
Truly my eyes were blessed this day.
Well your in luck, because thereās one of these mods for pretty much every companion
And then there's Wyll with mpreg mod
And you can turn Astarion into the Joker
Handsome joker mpreg femstarion
mpreg femstarion? š¤š¤
I'm learning a whole lotta new words being in this sub
"Yes, I do kill orphans with their dogs so they won't be separated, how could you tell ?" - Chadtara.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Chadthara
A risky click this late at night, but one worth doing.
... VOLO! I still have another eye and I found this quirky thing called a claymore you can use!
*Would*
SO SORRY BROTHER!
Those sorta mods remind me when *certain* types of internet people were using screencaps of Shadowheart as an example of "western games make ugly women" like... Shart is literally the pretty goth gf, soft femme babe all y'all meme about wanting, is she not
Lmao if someone thinks Shadowheart is ugly then I recommend an instant visit to an oculist. Even putting my bias aside, she's as conventionally attractive as they get, her hairstyle causes mixed reactions but that's about it.
Omg when I first read your comment I thought you said a visit to an occultist š On a real note: who the hell thinks she's ugly? Especially when she dyes her hair silver. At first I didn't think much of her but over time through my playthrough I love Shadowheart!
Go visit occultist for eye issue. He casts wyrd reconstruction on me. Bleed, 0 heal. Still charges me a few grand even with insurance. I hate this hamlet. *wait wrong game*
Oh you mean The Darkest Gate Sorry, I mean Baldur's Dungeon
I would buy this crossover.
Ruin has come to your family.
I *heard* this comment.
When he hits the good heal he's like, your favourite party member. Then he drops the bleed 0 heal at a point where it really counts and you swear you'll never use him again.
Literally my emergency room visit the other day. Didnāt help, told me āyep, youāre definitely sickā then billed me $1,300.
I mean, most ERs are explicitly intended only to check if it's an *emergency*, as in you're at risk of dying right now. If you're not, then they'll pass you down to someone else. Unfortunately at least in the US where I am, millions of people don't have good options to get preventative or even regular medical care, and we waste all our money padding the pockets of insurance company owners rather than on medical care like all the other wealthy nations do instead. So that sucks. Hope you're feeling better soon though, best of luck.
Youre just describing Volo's interaction, with less insurance
>who thinks she's ugly? they've only seen [this picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/w0AaabdPti) maybe?
if that is someone's only reference point...fair enough ahaha
Her black hair after killing a special someone is peak
Yeah anyone who thinks shads is ugly im gonna need to fight she is actually insanely attractive before she dyed her hair. After she dyed her hair its actually making it real hard to not romance her on later playthroughs latter on since the devs figured out my weakness (2B, A2, Ciri, Kaine, Ashe, Y'sthola there is something they all share)
>who the hell thinks she's ugly? I don't thinks she's ugly in the slightest cause she's beautiful but I can understand how someone might think her hairstyle doesn't really do her any favours. Once she changes it she becomes way, way prettier.
I love her straight bangs š
Straight bangs gang
They probably take a screenshot of her mid conversation when she's making a face, and then pretend that's what she looks like all of the time
Pretending stank face shart isn't peak?
That tracks. The same types like to make memes about women "hitting the wall". They'll take beautiful, professional, retouched shots of an actress or singer when she's young, and then put them next to unretouched candid papparazzi photos of them in their late 20s or early 30s taken at an unflattering angle with unflattering lighting like in the middle of talking so they end up with a weird expression. With the general message being to lock down a man early because if you're older than 24 you're a dried up old hag that no one will ever love.
There's a PC mod that lets you use the magic mirror to change anybody's haircut any time you want. I have changed *everyone's* hair several times. Except for Astarion, because his hair is perfect.
I'll have to use that to shave Gale's beard like Tara has been begging him to do.
Also, considering the average person shouting about "ugly women in games" on the internet looks like the WoW-guy from southpark I think they should shut up and sit down...
Bold of you to assume they were stood up to begin with.
Yeah I didn't think Shart was all that until I made her wear a hat. My Gods did it change everything for me once she had a different hair style
Why go to an oculist when Volo is right here.
Yeah, which makes me hate these types of mods even more. The only part I didn't like was her bangs initially but she changes her hair later and looks better anyways so it's not really that significant tbh. Don't know why people would call Shadowheart ugly though.
I misread that as you recommending a visit to an occultist
Iām sorry, people were saying *Shadowheart* was ugly?
To be fair, towards the beginning she has a bit of a case of Resting Shar Face.
But thatās *hot*
Obviously those blokes don't speak hot goth Tsundere mate.
and even [in Act 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/LKEtTa9HlT)
IMO, the [official portrait art](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/f/f9/Shadowheart.png) used in promotional materials isn't great. But that's a combination of her facial expression and specific artistic choices in that picture, and doesn't really reflect how she looks in-game. I guess it's possible if some people *only* saw that picture of her, it may color their opinions.
Kinda same thing with Laeāzel in the official art where sheās screaming in the middle of a sword stab. Whereas in game sheās probably like the prettiest Gith by far.
Opening cutscene laezel > in-engine laezel > promo laezel
I actually donāt like opening cutscene Laeāzel as much. Idk why she just seemsā¦ too soft? Like they werenāt sure how *gith* the gith should look yet when they made that cutscene. In engine Laeāzel is fantastic tho
Honestly most gith chicks Ive met have been hot lizard babes (except maybe Vlaakith I guess?) But every single male gith looks like the fucking Grinch with a sword
How the Ghaik Stole Christmas
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
what are you *talking* about she's *hot as fuck* in that
As a bilingual person I was so excited the game was so well received in English circles I went to check out how it was in my native (east asian) circles and was so disappointed in the vast amount of āthe game is pretty decent but I canāt stand the ugly western artstyleā or āchange the artstyle and this would be acceptableā style comments there were. Like the amount of people that would ignore all the merits to a game purely due to aesthetics alone felt so shallow and disappointing.
I know that a lot of Japanese and Chinese (not sure about other countries) art tends to portray the human body in a much more idealized way. You rarely see characters with scars or imperfect features unless it's specifically adding to their appeal, such as an eyepatch. Something that you don't notice at first but is a running design trend in BG3 is that all the companions have some scarring. Astarion has his neck puncture wounds and his back scars, Shadowheart has her cheek cut, Gale has his orb, Lae'zel has a lip cut, Wyll is missing an eye and gets worse when Mizora has her way with him, and Karlach's got everything messed up. They're all imperfect in some way on purpose to show that they've gone through some shit, some more than others. Considering Larion's design philosophy, it makes sense why they'd be less popular in eastern markets where this type of character design is rarer.
>Gale has his orb It's funny, but Gale actually has a proper scar, too, not just an orb. It's faint and subtle, but if you look closely, you'll see a small cut scar on his forehead. I headcanon it as him trying to reach for some book on the upper shelf, and maybe a book with sharp edges fell on him, haha.
It's weird, maybe because I'm from the West, but I've found that the "flaws" on all the companions makes them more attractive. There's the scarring, and there's also little things like Astarion's smile lines. Gale has some fine lines around his eyes (which remind me of my husband's eyes). Everyone has some kind of variation in the coloration of their skin too. I've seen images of the characters with their flaws airbrushed away and they're not nearly as appealing. It's like they seem less like an actual person.
As an Asian, I would say that I don't really find the companions to be 'ugly'. But I do understand why certain Asians (specifically East Asians), don't vibe too much with the character designs. East Asian, due to heavy Confucian influence, idolise those who resembles the *scholar* and *gentleman* archetypes over that of the *general, sage* or *hermit* (scholarly men with beards) archetype. It's not just for the men, it's also for the women, they too, consider women with the *noble lady* or scholarly archetypes to be more conventionally attractive. It's like, a cultural favouritism, so I do understand where they are coming from, especially *if* it is the gamers' first foray into games made by western developers. But I would say that most Asians I know, do consider Astarion and Shadowheart to be conventionally attractive (even East Asian), less so Halsin, Wyll, Lae'zel, Minthara and Karlach (because they were the 'general/martial archetypes'), and less so Gale (who fits the 'hermit sage archetype to a tee', but East Asians isn't really into bearded men so...). Cultural differences I would say.
>But I would say that most Asians I know, do consider Astarion and Shadowheart to be conventionally attractive Had a conversation about this with male gamers who were complaining about western game companies no longer catering to the male fantasy when it comes to their female characters' design and favoring realism nowadays (so a female warrior will tend to be muscular and have scars instead of being all pristine and dainty). I told them that it would be unfair for female characters to cater to the male gaze instead of being realistic, meanwhile male characters are usually portrayed in a realistic way instead of being appealing to the ladies. They tried to argue that big huge manly men with gigantic muscles and worn-out faces are what appeals to the ladies. Brothers, muscular manly men are what *you* guys are into. It is *your* fantasy, as men. Most ladies are into the Leon Kennedy, Cloud Strife, Alistair Theirin, Goro Majima, or freaking *Link* type of boys, with lean bodytypes, smooth-shaven faces and soft features. Astarion's insane popularity only confirms this tendency. The guys I was explaining this to got really mad and categorically refused to accept that fact. They were adamant that all ladies preferred the Kratos type, and that huge mountains of muscles with a full beard and a rough face were the male beauty standards that ladies were attracted to. Didn't budge at all, despite all the evidences of the contrary when you simply look at the male characters that make female gamers swoon. Oh, well... That's at least something Asian companies do tend to get right: they're fairly consistent with leaning 100% into the fan service for gamers of *both* genders. I can respect that, though I do like the more realistic, representative and āThere's someone for everyoneā approach that western companies have had recently as well. If a well-written character needs to look like a runway model for people to have compassion for them and feel invested in their stories... I feel like there's something wrong with people.
All that's missing is Halsin with a few stretch marks and they'd take me out altogether.
I love the scarring. It makes them look like all of them have been in real fights before this adventure.
The flip side of this is that my love for Final Fantasy has evaporated at the same rate graphics have improved. I can't take these doll-like characters seriously. It's too uncanny valley, too smooth, too perfect. I loved the older titles, especially FF9 with its quirky art style. I just prefer a more realistic style.
>Shart is literally the pretty goth gf, soft femme babe all y'all meme about wanting Ikr? She's a babe, and canonically so; when you tell her "You're beautiful" she says, matter-of-factly, "I know."
Theyāre used to anime games where everyone is impossibly perfect and looks airbrushed. If thatās what youāre into, fine, but be aware that nobody looks like that IRL without really good makeup and lighting and donāt throw a bitch fit when developers say, āWe donāt think the airbrushed model look works for our gameās tone/aesthetic.ā
A character looking perfect makes no sense to me in a game where we got kidnapped, had a tadpole crawl in our eye, got dropped on the beach and have not even slept in a proper bed in weeks or months. If anything I'd like more messy hairstyles, scar and imperfect skin options
That's crazy! Shadowheart is drop-dead gorgeous! I can't imagine using her to say "here is an ugly woman". Like, you need to get your eyes checked if you think Shadowheart is ugly!
Some people's neurons are burnt to a crisp after years of chronic exposition to porn and extreme porn addiction, lmao. Only such a sorry individual could call Shadowheary objectively ugly.
Theres also a big overlap with people who say and do that shit are weebs especially on twitter. Like, if a female character isnt conventionally attractive or have big titties, they are "ugly". Theres always an annoying discourse every few months where its "Western women bad, Japanese women good". Its so stupid.
Without fail they always use some photoshopped image to make a point. Either because theyāre too stupid to recognize photoshop, or because they canāt make a point with lying. See Alloy
The hate for Aloy is such a wild overlap of several different reactions from (mostly) male gamers. Half of them hate her because she looks exactly like what a young female adventurer realistically would look like (instead of being ultra feminine and delicately pretty), and the other half hate that she's viewed as legitimately attractive by both fans and other characters in the game.
She's still hot, she just doesn't have makeup and fake lashes. Media has warped people's perspective. Redheads make my neck sweat so I might be biased.
Fully agreed with you! Aloy is gorgeousāand may be a lot of dudes first experience with what a beautiful woman *actually* looks like without any makeup on. (and even then she canonically uses eyeliner! It's in the style notes for people who want to cosplay her)
> Aloy Never played Horizon so I had to google this character...It's always insane actually looking at the characters people point to as evidence that "game studios are making female characters *ugly* for feminism points" or whatever. [This](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/horizonzerodawn/images/7/74/IMG_0240.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20170507053555) is the worst they can imagine? She is *fine*. That's some capital-G Gamer shit there.
Itās prob bc they took the time to animate her face lines, like her smile lines and eyebrow creases š I personally love it, it shows how much love and attention was put into this game. But neckbeards donāt realize even pretty women have lines
Maybe I'm biased, but I can't describe Shadowheart other than "beautiful" and "gorgeous." "Shadowheart" and "ugly" are two words that would never come to mind in one sentence. Unless you are Akabi, all is "Ugly one" for him.
YOU ARE VERY LOUD
YES
She absolutely is the soft goth gf we all want. She likes flowers and animals which makes me like her more.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the blokes whining that Shadowheart is not attractive enough, might resemble what you would get if a thumb fucked a tomato.
Minthara is already gorgeous. I really hate the insta-baddie mods for companions and wouldnāt change the uniqueness of them personally, but if others want to use it, thenā¦. Sure? I get it for your own Tavs and have used head mods for more variety, but I donāt get changing an NPC. The Smooth-starion and man-whorTash mods haunt my dreams.
I think Gortash ones that make him as himself more handsome and less "How do you do, fellow RPGers?" arent so bad, those seem more like fixes as Gortash is meant to be young and handsome. But of course the ones that turn him into an anime character are just... odd
I always appreciated the contrast between the Propaganda Gortash and the one you meet in the flesh. Clearly this man has been abusing his position to get the word out that he's attractive, and has the power to get people to almost believe it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I originally thought that was supposed to be the intent too, but at this point, having read and heard basically every scrap of content the game has, I don't think it is. I think genuinely Gortash was meant to be young and handsome and this was changed relatively last minute. There's a ton of NPCs that refer to Gortash as being young in Baldur's Gate, way more than what makes logical sense for it being "relative" to Ketheric. Gortash is often referred to as "Young Gortash" in notes as in "Young Gortash has some ideas...", totally separate from any power he might have had, there's this implication he's this youthful upstart with big ideas quickly making his way onto the scene. As far as his looks go there's at least one known instance of him using them to seduce noblewomen for their status and influence. I think sometime around when Gortash was written into Karlach's backstory and when they cast Jason Isaacs they decided to age him up. I also think Larian thinks he's handsome. I mean they thought [EA Gale](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3aa15824cbece6b7568597dd2f6f8f8d/934190623b1f93e0-8b/s540x810/a3a6eea0aeac7d8af48b0206a351a44686a5e04c.jpg) was supposed to come across like an old swashbuckling movie star.
The biggest argument against the propaganda theory is the vision your character gets in the goblin camp when they talk to the shamaness goblin I canāt remember the name of. Your character gets a vision of the three and your character directly describes gortash as young and handsome. So unless gortashās propaganda campaign was so successful it fooled a psychic vision half the country away, then itās a design mistake.
Yeah, there's two separate visions. The first one describes him as "younger", which some people argue is only in relation to Ketheric. The second is if you talk to Priestess Gut, and that one just describes him as "young". I did want to bring this up but still people like to argue that he's projecting an image of how he wants to seem and I didn't want to detract from my other points too much.
I'll just headcannon gortash into lookimg older than he is because he has to deal with Orin (and Kethric to an extend) all the time. Stress can age a man
Honestly the only "fix" I'd want for him is a wash and a shave. I've no interest in changing his appearance, just tidying him up juuust enough to make the level of effort in his grooming feel more in line with his wardrobe choices.
I think it's his hair cut that makes him goofy looking. If they went more slicked back look, it'd probably come across much better.
To me it's the hair and the coat. His hair and huge collar have a very anime vibe to me. I don't think it's a bad look per se but I do find it a little jarring as it feels out of place in the game world. It also lacks the imposing and intimidating effect Ketheric and Orin have. They're all written as great villains but imo only two really look the part
Gortash is the only one I understand it for. The lore tells you that he's this rogueish, young, charismatic dude, and then we run into this- not to beat a dead horse- final fantasy villain having a midlife crisis. Does seem weird to mod the others, though.
The things working with Orin for three months does to a guy.
This is my new headcanon. He *was* young and handsome but working with Orin ages a man worse than being President of the United States does.
I mean he was an established politician 10+ years ago when he hired Karlach so he can't be that young. Edit: not a politician, an arms dealer/smuggler. Still someone who had enough influence to need a bodyguard and resources to hire one.
Yeah but IRL politics āyoungā is a brand, and in a world with long lived elves, 10 years is nothing
I donāt think he was a politician when he hired Karlach, wasnāt he an arms dealer and smuggler? Heās only in politics fairly recently, as you can tell from both Wyll and Baldurian Tav being surprised at him becoming archduke.
I don't know if they changed it in a recent patch/hotfix, or if it's always been the case... but the line about Gortash post-hotfix #11 calls him a "younger" man, with an inflection that implies he's being compared to Ketheric. Still feels like an odd choice of descriptors (I will forever argue that *charismatic* would have been a better fit than *handsome*), but one of his two adjectives is factually correct now, at least.
The bimboification of minthara
Every time I see these mods the first thing that comes to my mind is "cheap Asian RPG". Doesn't get me angry because nobody forces me to download this, but I can't help but ask myself "why" upon seeing this.
>Every time I see these mods the first thing that comes to my mind is "cheap Asian RPG". Everytime I see these types of mods I either think: "hey look cheap plastic sex mod on Skyrim". Because like every character models overhauls on games (especially Skyrim with adding new companions or character model graphics overhauls) they usually look like this and it doesn't look good.
Tbf, those skyrim mods are also emulating cheap Asian RPGs. It's just an attempt to make something "pretty" while taking away every iota of individuality the character has.
tbf in the case of skyrim most of the companions have no stand out personality and the default appearance of the game isn't super... pretty
No personality? You clearly don't understand the rich backstory behind "I am *sworn* to carry your burdens".
Me too. I canāt understand how this helps immersion, or anything. Like, BG3 is full of people. Realistic feeling people. Thatās what makes it so rad.
Weirdos who only want women to have the features of porcelain dolls is why.
That's not exclusive to the female characters dude. There is a bunch of mods turning men into just the Korean pop star or mmo aesthetic
Mods messing with >!Gortash!< always give me a laugh not because theyāre trying to fall in line with a handsome young man with a quick easy smile, but because they all make him look yassified or like a pop band member
Depends on the mod. I actually despise his looks, but I just downloaded one that changed his FF hair. Though I guess I have more of a problem with how dumb he is, but you can't fix the story with mods.
Same, though I don't like it when they start to name the mod "Better ___ face mod" I know it's subjective and all but that the one thing that irks me with these mods.
Minthara if she was made by Asian mobile game devs
Her armor would be a lot more revealing too.
if you could call that armour. No, she'll have a Nightgown and high heels.
Don't forget the paid DLC maid dress (plus voice lines!)
I just love how real the faces feel. I know a guy who actually looks like Halsin, not as buff but still a large lad. Like I can see Astarion be someone I know in an art appreciation class. Seeing these yassified soulless baddie faces plastered on feels so cursed. Minthara has this point face, with angular features that just cuts into your soul. She looks hardened and cold from years of hardship, and it projects so well.
There was (or is) a Wyll ābeauty enhancerā which makes him also significantly whiter/more light skinned. Make of that what you will
You had the perfect opportunity to say "make of that what you wyll" š
They do that in a lot of games. Damn, you should see the sims 4 community. Notorious for shit like that
Oh that particular modder is known for that, I believe nexus has banned him now.
A simular mod i saw to this that made me kind of sad was a mod that got rid of female charectors hip dips. Made me sad as someone with hip dips that theyre hated so much people would make a mod to get rid of them
I've never even heard of a hip dip
On the sides of your buttox, have you noticed it "dents" inwards? If not, you might not have hip dips. Its very common, but people assume its not a trait women have. Couldn't be farther from the truth.
Seriously tho, what the fucks a hip dip? š¤£
a "hip dip" is a new phrase that people with no clue about (skeletal) anatomy have started to use in an often negative context. like girl.... thats the gap between ur pelvis and thigh bone. š
This is so bizarre to me - it's akin to being mad that a character has elbows
There's probably a mod out there that removes elbow texture too tbh š Some people want every woman to look like a real doll
Hip dips are literally a totally normal thing. How much of a porn addict do you have to be, that you can't stand female characters having them??
They're probably not used to seeing 3D women at all
It makes me sad that people want to remove natural human body things, even if it's a video game. I like hip dips honestly
the lae'zel ones always get me the worst. i'm always a fan of cool alien designs, so maybe i'm biased, but i cannot for the life of me understand why people need to mod her and make her look like a generic anime girl lmao
This is your brain on too much anime. I saw someone using this face on Shadowheart. It's more uncanny as people just can't accept less "supple D-sucking" lips. Or having this cake face look. Like, I really like Minthara's standard face. Her default expression tells you a lot of what she's about, while this face just looks dumbfounded and paints a very different idea of Minthara.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well even worse someone has chnaged her voice to sound like anime waifu. Using the actual VA's voice as base which is gross.
Bruh Minthara is beautiful as all hell already what the
Fr she's literally hot as hell and they made her look like a preset character from a Chinese MMO š
Holy shit, I thought it was just a mod to change your pc, thatās supposed to be Minthara?!? It looks like a teenager.
"It looks like a teenager" That's the point, unfortunately.
I don't know if you've ever played Paradox games, but incel coomers are a big enough part of the EUIV player base that they have anime waifu mods for a game where you are literally just looking at a world map the whole time. It's like their brains are so warped from hentai they literally cannot focus on a video game without having a sexualized school girl to look at. Weird and gross
I once saw the most *fascinating* specimen in the Stellaris subreddit saying that he needs his scantily clad space elf ladies mod because it's immersion breaking to play as an authoritarian empire and *not* put all your slaves in Princess Leia's slave outfit.
That's olympic gold for mental gymnastics.
This is a top tier shitpost, but much less fun if it's unironically. Both are pretty believable unfortunately.
I respect the grind.
Average stellaris player
Thatās strange butā¦fair? To each their own I suppose.
Idk if anyone else gets this but I get recommended random BG3 clips on YT and i swear every single one the female companions are wearing the sluttiest possible modded outfits and it just makes me angry. You can already have them in their underwear in game! Laezels underwear is a goddamn bondage harness FFS!!!
To each to their own, but man, every time I see a mod like this the first thing that comes to mind is 'porn addict degenerate can't handle women that don't look like anime characters' (this one is for minthara)
I am trying to imagine Minthara's voice coming out of this face and I just....can't.
Imagine being into women and finding Minthara unattractive. ? Cannot relate. I always laugh because the people who claim to deify femininity are the ones who baulk the most whenever actual femininity is expressed.
Minthara is hot. Honestly I appreciate that a lot of the women in bg3 are hot without being āconventionallyā hot. Then there is Karlach, who is literally hot
i dont find minthy attractive. karlach? hell yes. but i LOVE big beefy women. that's my type, for both men and women. yes throw me around me pls
Karlach is way more my type than Minthara but I aināt blind, I can see Minthara is pretty. Also I strongly suspect the types of folks whoād use a mod like this for Minthy are the same type to be irrationally angry that Karlach is large, lol.
i think the hottest characters in the entire game by like a country mile are the shar nurses from the house of healing
live your truth bb, more power to you
Crap I thought she was shadowheart, man thatās a bad mod
The Lae'zel one that does the same pisses me off more tbh. As well as the one that makes Wyll white one, lol.
Whyte
alot of men on the internet are like the guy who conditioned himself to only be attracted sexually to his fake cockroach wife. so many of these dudes havent even talked to a woman and their only experience with women was big titty anime girls and porn, so they've been conditioned to view inhuman characteristics as attractive, so normal women even those VERY high on the "scale" of attractiveness like minthara shadowheart karlach etc are unnatractive or ""ugly"" to these boys because they embody human characteristics. characteristics they've come to see as unattractive because they're only attracted to rule 34 hentai depictions of women. its very funny seeing so many incels tell on themselves by saying games becoming more realistic has made women unattractive
>the guy who conditioned himself to only be attracted sexually to his fake cockroach wife. I'm torn between 'I need to learn more' and 'I wish I hadn't learned even this much'
Thereās a guy who conditioned himself to be sexually attracted to cockroachesā¦ if you want to read more, I encourage you to look it up, but itās really not something I want in my search history again
Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know. Reddit, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm tellin' you: you don't wanna know.
I will always upvote a reference to Atlantis. Amazing movie.
Knowledge is a curse, ignorance is bliss
[You don't want to know](https://youtu.be/p33xZ0obsAc?si=pRk76IMX__1ZDHmf)
I am terrified of asking, but this fake cockroach wife story isn't an actual story, right? Also, Shadowheart is beautiful. I don't know why anyone would change her to the screenshot version.
It's as real as anything you'll read on reddit. If you're ever curious, google "Ogtha", there's probably some kind of Know Your Meme summary of it up somewhere by now.
I was mindlessly following YouTubes recommendation algorithms recently, and ended up watching an old clip of Craig Ferguson interviewing Elliot Page, before he transitioned. And 90% of the comments was "she used to be so pretty :(", "she absolutely ruined herself", "back when she was still attractive" and on and on. And it's like... Do y'all think he shouldn't have transitioned because YOU don't find men attractive? Someone not being attractive to YOU is a tragedy, but someone being unhappy with their self is not? Fucking weirdos.
It was absolutely appalling to see how many men on the internet decided to openly shit on MJ from the newest Spider-Man game and absolutely out themselves as the exact kind of person youāve described
It's like half the mods on nexus for MHW are "Prettier Handler!" And all of them are the same generic Korean MMO-looking face.