I finally beat the game after something like 150 hours of in-game time according to Steam. I tried to play the role of a good guy half-elf monk that wasn’t afraid of to use violence to achieve his goals. My major story decisions included:
- Recruiting all party members (excluding Minthara obviously) and doing their side-quests except for Astarion
- Saving all Tieflings
- Romancing Shadowheart because I’m basic
- Telling the Emperor the entire playthrough that I will consider all of the options until the time comes
- Not evolving into a half Illithid to maintain my appearance and free-will
- At the final moment, freeing Orpheus against the Emperor’s wishes, leading him to turn against me and side with the Elder Brain
- Convincing Orpheus to become a Mindflayer
- Deciding to destroy the Elder Brain/Emperor instead of allowing Gale to explode himself
- Letting Karlak die in a blaze of glory instead of convincing her to go back to Avernus (as she insisted the entire game)
- Watching Astarion burn in the sunlight
- Telling Gale to leave the crown beneath the water and to move on.
- Telling Lae’zel to go fight Vlaakith
- Killing Orpheus honorably at his request
- Living happily ever after as a legend of Baldur’s Gate?
Overall, I feel like I achieved my good guy run pretty well. Maybe it would have been better had I convinced Karlach to return to Avernus, but it was hard for me to do that when the only thing she said the entire game was how she never would allow herself to go back. I felt like siding with the Githyanki was better than siding with the Emperor despite not viewing him as entirely evil. At the end of the day, he was a soulless husk of the person he used to be and more Mindflayer than anything else.
I’m curious to hear how everyone else’s runs ended.
Heroic Dark Urge has been my favorite ending so far. I definitely recommend it if you haven’t tried it.
My favorite ending for Wyll and Karlach is having them go to Avernus together.
It’s so hard to choose between doing another heroic run versus embracing a full dark run. But I find it so hard to be a baddy I feel like I know what I’m going to end up doing.
I’ll be like this time I’m going to pick the evil playthrough and on my first rude dialogue option I immediately regret it and start a new non evil run lmao.
Killing Karlach and Wyll
I am pretty sure you can recruit them, be evil and raid the grove, and then they will leave (and presumably die off screen, oh well…)
You can, it just makes more sense to me for them to confront the main character’s party. I think if you recruit them, you just get some sort of “party members have left your camp” popup and their stupid bags getting dumped on your main character lol.
I’ve heard that Minthara is still kinda broken, so I’m also hesitant to take a totally evil scumbag playthrough into Act 2. I’ve started a DU sorcerer that I’m planning on having an end game party of: DU Sorcerer, Minthara, Ascended Asterion, and Shar-doheart. I haven’t taken this run to the underdark yet, so who knows if I’ll complete it or not.
I have heard that if you take DU to act 3, and are nice enough to recruit Jaheira and Minsc, they’ll confront you if you accept Bhaal’s embrace after defeating Orin. A late game face-heel turn might be kinda fun!
I haven’t finished it yet because act 3 bugged out really bad for me. I’m looking forward to the definitive edition.
I did a reformed dark urge run and romanced Astarion. Astarion is grating on a surface level but if he’s treated kindly he becomes a kinder person, and the writing and acting for him is fantastic. Big ups to the developers for making a complex queer male character who is dealing with (and can potentially start recovering from) trauma and what it means to have agency.
I did not expect a lesson about consent, and bodily autonomy from an RPG game. He’s really worth a second look and YES I will simp.
I played AS Karlach, because I’m an unoriginal nerd, and I ended up romancing Shadowheart because I didn’t hear there was stigma against her and didn’t give a fuck. I liked her anyway. I finished RIGHT after they updated the Karlach ending, which was very fortunate, because I hear it was very disappointing before they had her doing that “HXC BRO \m/” ending where they charge into hell. Which I did like, tbh. I let Astarion become High Vampire, although I kind of wish it showed a bit more of a downside to the world as a result for your choice tbh. I think Lae’Zel died early af for me. I tried save scumming and playing through Orpheus’ saveline afterwards, which was a really cool ending that I was cooler than turning yourself into a mind flayer, as I did in my first, “non-canonical” run.
Has anyone played through one of the companion origin characters? I keep meaning to, but it’s so hard to decide which one to do.
Why didn’t you do Astarions side quest?
Just didn’t feel like it. I never had him in my party and I found his personality a little grating.
True but it at least let’s you take out an evil vampire
you can also take him out on your own and make Astarion mad
This is pretty much what I did, except I finished Astarion’s quest (and convinced him to not ascend), romanced Lae’zel, and had Karlach turn into an illithid to save her life. Karlach seemed pretty happy to have tentacles instead of a bomb in her body, and Lae’zel decided to stay in Baldur’s Gate with my character instead of going off to fight for the slightly less fascist faction of her slaver people.
Romanced Lae’zel and convinced her to stay because there was no option to go with her, being badass fantasy space pirate revolutionary forever. I imagine my dragonborn sorc will help Gale with his crown retrieval project. Mind flayer Karlach seems to have adjusted to her reality very quickly and is content to no longer be cursed to burn to death or be a soldier in Hell forever. I imagine she’ll be like Omeluum was. I convinced Wyll signing away his soul for eternity so his dad could live a little longer before going to the Elysian Fields was a raw deal, but was mad that I couldn’t call out Mizora on her bullshit and tell Wyll to refuse to sign either contract and let the six months play out, at which point she’d have to release him no matter what. Astarion I’m hoping will keep in touch now that he’s required to be gay as fuck in the dark again. Shadowheart rejected Shar and let her parents die because they begged her to do so, so she could be free. I’m guessing she and Wyll will be drinking buddies for a bit to cope.
I don’t think it’s possible for everything to turn out good for absolutely everyone; I never did run across Minsc, because I never had Jaheira in my party and he didn’t spawn when I cleared out that part of the sewers. Oh well.
Considering the historic record of the Sword Coast, and Faerun in general, leaving that Crown at the bottom of the bay is a bit like sitting on a lit stick of dynamite and claiming the fuse doesn’t matter.
The existence of the Iron Throne dive/Sub and the Umberlee Temple/Sahuagin mean that someone is going to reclaim Karsus’ Crown. It would be best if that party was friendly.
By the same record of the Sword Coast, it’ll probably turn out fine anyways.
