this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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Lae'zel was my favorite origin character and who I ended up romancing and sticking with through my playthrough.
I wouldn't have expected that going into it, but I found her writing to be probably the most complex and interesting arc out of everyone.
Whereas Shadowheart, who I went into it thinking would be the one I'd want to romance, was insufferable by halfway though and I was regularly wishing she had less relevance to the core plot.
I'm glad Lae'zel wasn't male, and honestly I find the suggestion annoying given that the entire plot around the Githyanki is extremely focused on the matriarchal nature of the society.
More Amazons in our media, please.
Shadowheart and Lae'zel both annoy me and I really use neither if I can help doing so. Granted, I'm still getting to the side quests in Act 1 before moving on, so grain of salt, but they both currently occupy one end of an uninteresting extreme imo — Shadowheart the shrinking little flower that needs saving, Lae'zel the shallow, judgy barbarian I'm shocked to hear would have an arc.
I dislike her because she's unendingly rude and violent for no reason, even when the occasion would go over better if she chose to cool it. If she were male, I'd still hate ~~her~~ him because it's every time he opens his mouth. Nobody likes a dick bag.
As noted in the article, Astarion IS pompous and mean, but the important part is he's snarky instead of outright abusive, is rarely outwardly violent, and does what he does in a way that's funny. I keep him on my team purely to hear him backtalk Wyll and reminisce about hedonism and do not get the sense at any point that he would hit me over the head with a club and drag me into a cave.
If he acted all rough and edgy and broody instead of intentionally looking for amusement via horrifying randos just to see what they do, I'd consider him the world's most boring fanservice.
Anyway, the actual shining gem is Karlach and I'm increasingly in disbelief that I've seen no one singing her praises. I usually do find female characters underwhelmingly written and moments like Karlach are very needed reminders that I'm not some weird misogynist, I just hate bad writing and it's everywhere. I fell INSTANTLY in love with that energy and remain so.
Ultimately, I may not like the one, but I am glad we're able to do Warrior Female now and go all the way with actually making them warriors. More Amazonians in media!
One of the keys to writing a compelling arc is to start somewhere you can juxtapose against with where you end up.
Both of your characterizations of the characters may not remain the same as you play though.
Of course, the cool thing about what Larian did is that whether they do or don't depends a lot on player interactions and choice.
You may have a very shallow Lae'zel by the end of her arc in your game depending on both certain choices and the roll of the dice.