r/BG3 • u/Feeling-Classroom729 • 3d ago
Bg3 Hot Take Edition
I'm feeling spicy and I want to hear some of your hot takes about the game. Perhaps, I'll see the game from a fresh perspective and/or learn something new.
There's no limit to the hot takes you can share.
I'll go first.
Despite Araj's negative reputation, I think she's one of the best merchants in the game. In act 2, she carries the risky ring and the ring of free action, which is already amazing. But she also offers unique elixirs in act 2. In act 3, she sells sanguine explosives, which is basically a level 4 fireball that you can buy for less than 20 gold. Getting the unstable blood condition from her in act 3, can also be powerful if you build around it. The +2 to strength is super powerful if you're willing to torture Astarion, but even without that, she's still an amazing npc. She's a little pushy with Astarion, but she ultimately accepts his no. So, I don't stay mad at her.
I don't think completing a "good run" automatically makes your character good aligned. Basing your decisions around not making your favorite npcs sad is not a sound moral compass. I think there are more morally neutral people out there than people are willing to admit. It isn't a bad thing to be morally neutral. Jaheira is canonically true neutral in the older games, and people love her.
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u/sadhagraven 3d ago
Most of my hot takes are disliking characters, honestly.
I don't understand the appeal of Alfira at all and wouldn't want her as a companion. Yes, a bard companion would have been neat, but she's so boring and one-note. I feel objectively bad about killing her as Durge, since it's still the death of an innocent, but it doesn't feel like you lose out on much otherwise.
I also don't understand the love for Karlach. I've forced myself to keep her around in 2 of my 8 completed playthroughs and just can't anymore. Her post-Gortash and docks scenes makes sense in the context of her character, but they feel like they take 5 years to get through and come across as disruptive to me.
And Orin. Her VA did a good job, but by god, I cannot stand how Orin's speech patterns and mannerisms are written. She also just comes across as a weak and unconvincing villain. It works on a Durge run, where she feels like the whiny younger cousin who wants what they can't have but isn't actually qualified for it, but in a Tav or other origin run, it doesn't feel right at all.
Honorable mentions are Dame Aylin, Minsc, and the resolution of Rolan's story. Someone else mentioned Aylin being boring, and I absolutely agree. She had so much potential, but it really is wasted in favor of her being lumped entirely with Isobel. Minsc feels too childish for me, and (no hate to Matt Mercer) I hate his voice. Boo is also not interesting and comes across as forced in terms of "cuteness." Lastly, what do you mean I get to dispatch a pathetic wizard with barely any help from Rolan and he gets a whole wizard tower to himself afterwards? No, sweetie, I didn't kill Lorroakan for you to get the tower. I have as much of a right to it as you do.