#patch 6 when larian

[magalhaessims]

YOU PUT THE STARS TO SHAME | YOU'RE EVERYTHING TO ME

You can all blame @teaprose for this sudden urge to make my beloved Tav and the infamous Wizard of Waterdeep after we spent the whole evening chatting about how much we both love him.

Still waiting for Patch 6 to drop so we both can be kissing some wizard in the corner. Right, Larian?!

#the sims 4 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #ts4 bg3 #gale dekarios #patch 6 when larian #non sims #but they are also sims lol

[silver-horse]

#they fooled us #lmao #I really thought they would release that patch today #bg3 #funny #oh well #valentine's day #baldur's gate 3 #meme #my post #my posts #larian studios #patch 6 #funny thing is Irl I had such a nice day ... everything went well... and it was sunny outside #weird backwards reality today when the hobby is providing the frustration and not the relaxation #anyway #I'll go to bed now #14th of february #february 14 #february

[roksik-dnd]

For everyone who asked: a dialogue parser for BG3 alongside with the parsed dialogue for the newest patch. The parser is not mine, but its creator a) is amazing and b) wished to stay anonymous.

UPD: The parser was updated!! Now all the lines are parsed, AND there are new features like audio and dialogue tree visualisation. See below!

Patch 6 dialogue added!

If you don't want to touch the parser and just want the dialogues, make sure to download the whole "BG3 ... (1.6)" folder and keep the "jscssetc" folder within: it is needed for the html files functionality (hide/show certain types of information as per the menu at the top, jumps when you click on [jump], color for better readability, etc). See the image below for what it should look like. The formatting was borrowed from TORcommunity with their blessing.

If you want to run the parser yourself instead of downloading my parsed files, it's easy:

run bg3dialogreader.exe, OPEN any .pak file inside of your game's '\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data' folder,

select your language

press ‘LOAD’, it'll create a database file with all the tags, flags, etc.

Once that is done, press ‘EXPORT all dialogs to html’, and give it a minute or two to finish.

Find the parser dialogue in ‘Dialogs’ folder. If you move the folder elsewhere, move the ‘jscssetc’ folder as well! It contains the styles you need for the color coding and functionality to keep working!

New features:

Once you've created the database (after step three above), you can also preview the dialogue trees inside of the parser and extract only what you need:

You can also listen to the correspinding audio files by clicking the line in the right window. But to do that, as the parser tells you, you need to download and put the filed from vgmstream-win64.zip inside of the parser's main folder (restart the parser after).

You can CONVERT the bg3 dialogue to the format that the Divinity Original Sin 2's Editor understands. That way, you can view the dialogues as trees! Unlike the html files, the trees don't show ALL the relevant information, but it's much easier to orient yourself in.

To get that, you DO need to have bought and installed Larian's previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2. It comes with a tool called 'The Divinity Engine 2'. Here you can read about how to unstall and lauch it. Once you have it, you need to load/create a project. We're trying to get to the point where the tool allows you to open the Dialog Editor. Then you can Open any bg3 dialogue file you want. And in case you want it, here's an in-depth Dialog Editor tutorial. But if you simply want to know how to open the Editor, here's the gist:

Update: In order to see the names of the speakers (up to ten), you can put the _merged.lsf file inside of the "\Divinity Original Sin 2\DefEd\Data\Public\[your project's name here]\RootTemplates\_merged.lsf" file path.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions! Please let me know if you modify the parser, I'd be curious to know what you added, and will possibly add it to the google drive.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #datamined #datamine #parsed dialogue #dialogue parser #parser

[sweetmage]

Wyll got like 3 new animations what do you mean no new Wyll content?

And so did everyone else, but that's the problem. Nothing has been done to address the content disparity between him and other characters, which is what we are referring to when we say 'he got no new content'. We mean that nothing has been done to bring him up to the same level of content as other characters. He is the only character without a single romance greeting even 6 patches later. He is the only character who, in the epilogue, you can neither give a hug or kiss to (which negates the "they ran out of time" argument for why he has less content, though let's be real, that was already negated by them not fixing any of the issues after endlessly tweaking and adding new lines to Astarion and NPCs for 6 patches). He is the only character with 2 romance scenes instead of 3+ like everyone else has. He is the only character without a sex scene (or at least an equivalent non-sexual romance scene to fill that gap). He is the only character to not be able to make his own choice in the climax of his story. He has the least reactivity of of the main origin companions, both as a companion and as an Origin. Larian has continued to add brand new things (outside of the things everyone gets such as kisses and epilogues, the latter of which they dropped the ball on with him for the aforementioned reason) on to other main origin characters who already have a wealth of content or on to NPCs, yet they have thus far neglected to fill in the gaps in his story, romance, and overall integration into the world. He also remains riddled with bugs, many of which never get addressed. If you'd like to learn more about it, you can check this post which thoroughly breaks down the Wyll content disparity that Larian has still not addressed even 6 patches and 17 hotfixes later. You may also Ctrf+F his name on previous patch notes to see how little they have updated and addressed for him in regards to the mentioned problems.

#wyll ravengard #larian critical #jun answers

[michaeljoncarter]

how to roll back your game version & play the early access version of bg3

because all the people in my notes talking about being sad about never getting to play during ea are making me sad. you can still get in there!! easily!! and you don't even have to uninstall the current version to do it! you can have the current game & the ea version at the same time and switch between them by just moving around a few files

all you need to do is follow a slightly tweaked version of this guide on how to roll back your game to a previous version--slightly tweaked in that this is a guide for people whose games are broken and yours isn't (hopefully?) but more on that in a sec

you need two different id numbers to download, the "main" depot's (1086941) and the "bin" depot's (1419652). the very last update to the early access game before its full release was hotfix #32. if you're just interested in playing the early access version in general, i'd suggest going with this one! but i'll also be putting in the ids for the various other patches for anyone interested in earlier versions of ea

the "main" (1086941) id is 2986558115270870303 and the "bin" (1419652) is 3491586966951526173, so in step 3, your console commands would be "download_depot 1086940 1086941 2986558115270870303" and then "download_depot 1086940 1419652 3491586966951526173" (without the quotation marks)

after you've gotten that downloaded, those slight tweaks come into play. since your game is (hopefully) not broken, in step 6, when it tells you to "Go to %LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\ and delete there everything except PlayerProfiles folder," make a new folder somewhere easily accessible (i just keep mine on my desktop homescreen), give it a recognizable name like "bg3 full release" or smth, and toss all those files into it for safekeeping instead of deleting them

then, make a copy of the PlayerProfiles folder to go into %LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3, and continue with the rest of the guide from there

hopefully, everything should work and you'll be able to play the early access version!

if you need to make space, you can just delete the files in %LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3, replace them with the original files from this folder that you moved to their own folder earlier, and go back to playing the full version of the game

OR if you have enough space and just want to go back to playing the full release version for a while with the option to go back to ea later, you can make a second folder in that same easily accessible location, name it something like "bg3 ea," and move the ea files from %LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3 there for safekeeping while you switch the original files back in. and then whenever you want to go back to ea, you just switch them out again!

if you just want to play ea generally, that's all there is to it, but for anyone interested in the earlier versions, i'm also including the ids for everything back to patch 5 or 6 (more on that below) under the cut!

steamdb's "main" depot ids go back all the way to the beginning of early access in october 2020, but the "bin" ids only go back to september 2021. i have no idea why or if there's a way to get around this to allow access to the super early versions of the game (let me know if you know), but from what i recall, most of the big changes came post-patch 6 (which dropped in october 2021), so i don't think you're missing all that much here

i'm going to list 2 different versions for each patch--the version of the patch that dropped and then the very last hotfix of that patch that was released before the next patch's release. i strongly recommend using the pre-patch hotfix versions since they'll be the ones that's already fixed any major bugs found in the patch, including the ones that caused crashes (which weren't common but did very much happen from time to time), but since there were sometimes changes made in the hotfixes between patches, i'm including the raw, sometimes buggy initial patch itself, too, for anyone who wants the true ea experience

whenever a patch dropped, there was usually a patch announcement post that included a long list of everything added/changed and a community update post that highlighted & went into more detail about some of the biggest, most significant additions/changes shortly after. i'll be linking both of them for each version so you can see what was added in each patch & decide which you'd like to see!

final pre-release patch 9 hotfix - january 26, 2023 - hotfix #32

main: 2986558115270870303

bin: 3491586966951526173

initial patch 9 release - december 14, 2022 - announcement post, community update

main: 6537615510298161288

bin: 5945988095619420679

final pre-patch 9 patch 8 hotfix - hotfix #29

main: 4587530374381214828

bin: 1158786419690212446

initial patch 8 release - july 7, 2022 - announcement post, community update

main: 6228241067016987625

bin: 7406932516672251230

final pre-patch 8 patch 7 hotfix - april 7, 2022 - hotfix #23

main: 2158159273108954060

bin: 5051502138264372142

initial patch 7 release - february 15, 2022 - announcement post, community update

main: 2319709286482444091

bin: 5051502138264372142

final pre-patch 7 patch 6 release - december 2, 2021 - hotfix #19

main: 7168428077382038060

bin: 3275005870898440938

initial patch 6 release - october 14, 2021 - announcement post, community update

main: 7453809126564301688

bin: 9049843173236541567

the oldest entry of a "bin" id is from september 16, 2021. there are no community posts or hotfix announcements from that day, and i haven't tested it myself, so... possible pre-patch 6 version? but i'm not sure! if anyone tries this one, please do let me know

main: 6252948475239841962

bin: 7144137622957893936

good luck & have fun!

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #long post #lemme know if you see i messed up any of these links or numbers or anything #because i double checked everything but it's a lot of numbers and im very dyslexic lol #posting this super fast super early before i have to leave hekrvn #so i might not see any corrections or anything for a while if there are any but i will eventually ! #hopefully this makes sense and is understandable <3 im horrible at giving instructions but yk

[carryoncastiel]

I'm trying to so something with the new parsed dialogue files for patch 6 but until then I checked some Wyll files again.

There are actually some added lines of dialog for when you leave him to go to Avernus (or go fight Vlaakith). I thought they didn't add anything for him because I tried that path in the game but apparently it's just not accessible at this point?

Player: I miss you so much, Wyll. Wyll: By day, I bargain with dusty bureaucrats and fuss over documents that would make a devil blush. By night, I sleep alone, longing for your touch. Wyll: But I love you no less now than ever. And I love that you are fighting for your people. Wyll: But I love you no less now than ever. And I love that you devoted your talents to such a dear friend. Wyll: I will wait for you, I promise - no matter how many sunsets pass. You are my heart. Player: And you are mine. I'll join you in Baldur's Gate as soon as I can. Wyll: Nothing could make me happier. Gods, what a treasure you are. Player: My beautiful man. You've always been such a softie. Wyll: Not always. But once I met you, well - love has a way of tempering a blade's edges Player: It could be a while, you know. Can you really wait that long? Wyll: I'll wait until the hot Hells freeze over and the cold Hells melt away. Let forever pass, if it must. Time itself can't keep us apart.

There is also an impossible kiss option which wasn't there before. Hilariously enough the devnote reads "If we have the bandwith add some kissing to his dialog"

Idk Larian, but didn't you just do nothing else but animating kissing for two months? You added an extra scene for Gale at the end (and extra animations for other characters I'm sure) but this was too much?...

At least it means kissing Wyll might gonna happen at some point, I guess.

Player: Lean in for a kiss. Wyll: Ah. A kiss as sweet as the first you ever gave me.

#wyll ravengard #wyll romance #bg3 #bg3 patch 6 #bg3 spoilers #bg3 datamine #the dialog for the avernus route is very cute but come on

[faerievampling]

Patch 6 has me feeling things. these are just my opinions and random thoughts.

Consort is just Ascended Astarion’s pacifier: an object he uses to feel safe, loved, to comfort him when he needs it. I don’t think Astarion, in his evil route, would likely ever open himself up to anyone again.

He loves Tav, he tells you as much during his Act 2 confession. That he’s fallen for you. A!A will also tell you “You’re the one I want, the one that I love.” (this is different than his “I love you, that’s what you’ve been waiting to hear? that’s what you want?”) And idk i just think it’s interesting he will say that to you.

Also - Astarion tells you that he going to do the ritual so that you’ll both be safe- forever, for good. (He tells you this right after his siblings attack) You can’t tell me that man wasn’t already planning on eternity with Tav at that point. I think it’s very likely he’s already thinking he will make Tav a vampire if he can.

I think it’s interesting how Larian just added to Astarion’s objectification of Tav, and now it’s very obvious WHY Astarion won’t let you go if you break up with him post tadpole.

If Tav leaves him, his ending is essentially the same in the epilogue, so he doesn’t need Tav for protection or help planning or anything like that.

Tav is his pacifier!!!

#ascended astarion #i want everyone to know this is hot to me #astarion #lord astarion #astarion x tav

[dekariosclan]

GodGale on curing Astarion & Karlach (new from Patch #6)

In case you didn’t see it in the patch notes, Larian added new dialogue for GodGale in regards to Astarion and Karlach asking to be cured. For anyone interested, I’ll share screencaps and links to both the non-romanced and romanced versions below. These contain endgame spoilers, obviously!

(NOTE: these videos are not mine, they are from user BG3PlayerTwo on YouTube)

Non-Romanced Responses

Both Astarion and Karlach will get this response from GodGale after they ask if he can help cure them:

“Such a feat would certainly be within my capabilities, but alas—my hands are tied. Bodily interference with mortals lies well beyond the purview of my particular niche of divinity.”

So—that’s a no :(

GodGale then goes on to say they can pray to him and he’ll ‘offer what encouragement he can.” He also has some specific follow-up dialogue for each. You can see the video below:

——— Romanced Responses

Here’s where Larian added a lot!

If Astarion Romanced Gale

Astarion can now ask about the extent of GodGale’s power:

“How far does your power extend? Can you let me walk in the sun again?”

And here’s Gale’s response:

“Why walk in the sun, when you could walk in the heavens themselves?”

He then continues with his usual “All in good time…” line that encourages the player to enjoy the party.

Later in the evening, when GodGale genuinely asks if Astarion wishes to join him and become a God at his side, Astarion can reply:

“If I do, I’ll no longer be a vampire spawn? I’ll be cured?”

And GodGale’s reply:

“You’ll be perfect, as you deserve to be. Freed from all the petty complaints of mortality, vampirism included.”

So—that’s a yes! And if you watch the video below (underneath Karlach section), you’ll notice that once GodGale has ascended him to godhood, Astarion’s skin tone is no longer pale/bloodless looking (which I believe existed previously to show he was cured, they just didn’t explicitly say it.)

— — —

If Karlach Romanced Gale

Karlach’s new dialogue is also in two parts. First:

“This heart of mine is still an issue. Couldn’t a God like you help me out?”

And GodGale’s reply:

“Yours is a heart I would never let break. But it is not time yet.”

(…which, can I just say, as a Karlach x Gale fan: 😭)

He then continues with his usual “All in good time…” line that encourages the player to enjoy the party.

Later in the evening, when GodGale genuinely asks if Karlach wishes to join him and become a God at his side, Karlach can reply:

“This will cure my heart…won’t it?”

And here’s GodGale’s (2-part) reply:

“Yes—it will cure your heart. You will be made perfect, as you deserve to be.”

“Zariel won’t be pleased, of course, but let her try and stop us. And your revenge on her, when you finally take it, will be divine. All you have to do is come with me.”

So, just like Astarion, that’s also a ‘yes’ for Karlach—she is cured once Gale ascends her. If you watch the video below, you’ll notice that once she has ascended to godhood, the flames/fire dancing on her skin disappears completely, showing that she is indeed cured. (This also existed previously before the patch.)

#I will ALWAYS prefer MortalGale #But GodGale’s lines are still sweet #Hope you all enjoy! I was curious to see what was added and I think Larian did a good job! #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #astarion #karlach #epilogue #spoilers

[kozh-lucium]

BG3 Patch 6 teaser

Sooo... yeah. About that tweet Larian dropped. The one with Astarion and Gale. You know, as someone who used to ship them, I FUCKING HATE IT. Wtf Larian.

Honestly, it's not the D/S nature of that kiss that bothered me, but the expression of Gale AND the fact that they use him to showcase this kiss. Gale looks like he's so scared and ready to cry.

I get they want to do the biggest ship on the fandom, since previously we get SH/Laezel and Halsin/Astarion, but c'mon, Gale, who has been on the groomed/manipulated relationship before? The guy who very much implied that d/s isn't his cup of tea? Sure let's use that guy (/s).

I mean... ugh I get it, I probably overthinking it and it's simply from marketing purpose. But sorry I can't change how I feel that easily.

Moreso when Gale has been the butt of so many (sometimes degrading) jokes, both from the community and Larian itself.

And of course many people love that kiss simply because "Astarion is so hot there uwu". Not that I disagree (about astarion in that regard) nor wanting to speak ill of them, but idk, it's just feel a bit hypocritical when they're picking pitchfork whenever Astarion is depicted is a slightly degrading manner but is okay with other companions (especially Gale) is on the receiving end.

Tl;dr I'm on overthinking mode and absolutely hate how Larian decided to throw gasoline to the fire and stoke the already horny BG3 fandom.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #sorry for always complaining #but I can't help it #I'm so feral with defending Gale it's not funny

[galedekarios]

I'm not sure if you've seen this going around, but apparently after the new patch, there are people going super pro Gale and Mystra getting back together and acting like she didn't abuse him??? And the worst part is people claiming the player is just who he settles for because Mystra won't take him back and he'll never love the player as much and. I'm going to have an aneurysm. The way I'm suddenly seeing people blaming GALE and calling MYSTRA a victim. Please keep in mind, he can only go back to Elysium if he is the players avatar. And they're saying this is the best ending for him and he was never abused.

I'm so sorry for this rant but I'm SO aggravated by this and I just know if this was a certain other character then this would get people torn to shreds. I'm tired.

don't worry, anon. you can always vent in my inbox. 🖤

as to your ask:

i did see the new added effects and animations to the ending. the ending for origin gale had existed prior to patch 6 already, but they expanded on it with vfx.

my opinion on this personally is:

overall, this changes nothing for me about how deeply imbalanced and terrible their relationship is, nor does it change what mystra did to him, or how she conducts herself within the context of game canon, the decisions she makes and the things she says.

larian can add as many purple sparkles as they want to it - make them heart-shaped next them, too. it changes nothing.

It doesn’t change the fact that she is a goddess. a goddess who sent her chosen to him at 8 years old and made him her lover at some point in time after that. it doesn't change the fact that she was his teacher first, then his mentor, and then changed that intrinsically already imbalanced relationship (which is not even touching on the divine aspect) into that of lovers. it doesn't change the history she has had with her other chosen and what she did to them.

it's an ending that is viscerally uncomfortable to watch in this context and to me, it’s an abuser regaining power over their victim. a victim who, by the end of the game, still hasn't fully realised what has happened to him. the player can set companion gale on the path to it, and some things he comes to see, but there's a lot of healing still left to do.

i also want to add that what people claim doesn't really matter to me in this context, especially if it's what you outlined. so many reads and takes of gale show a complete lack of reading and listening comprehension and general media literacy. a shiny 'new' cutscene tends to do that, too. it happened before when patch 5 and the epilogue released.

i do feel you on being tired though. they fumbled gale's storyline in act iii and it results in a complete 180 from act i and ii. this only adds to it.

other posts than mine have detailed it far better. i don't have to spoons at the moment to rehash it all, but i would recommend reading @messiahzzz's post on gale and mystra's relationship as well as this one here. i also have a post on mystra, elminster, raphael and gale with info from the epilogue here.

#i've come to expect nothing from larian at this point when it comes to characters with female abusers #or characters whose abuse was 'quiet' #again i don't want to always play this card but imagine they had expanded an end with c*zador taking ast*rion's hand to run off together #ch: gale dekarios #ch: mystra #vg: baldur's gate 3 #text: asks #series: baldur's gate #larian critical #bg3 critical #fandom critical #abuse cw #grooming cw

[autistichalsin]

In light of all the bitching about the upcoming patch, I was so happy to hear you’re also not… mad at Larian, I guess? I was wondering if I’m missing something, because for all its bugs, the game is fine the way it is, to me. More than fine, it’s a great game, the first that really means something to me since Dishonored. Idk, I’m literally over here just vibing, glad I’m not alone in that 😌

I noticed there's been a trend in recent years, I think started by those media that truly DID become horribly disappointing as it went on (last season of GOT, for example), and people started just... like

There is a phase most media get where they are the Best Ever, they Can Do No Wrong. And then one day that phase ends, and suddenly, that media Can Do No Right. Everything is a mistake, everything is wrong, everything is an attempt to cater to one group of fans (who are, of course, the wrong group to cater to) and/or an attempt to spite one group of fans. I think that in this day and age, people sometimes don't understand the difference between consuming media critically, I.E., using critical thinking to understand the themes, plot, and characters, and consuming media critically, I.E. criticizing everything the creators say and do.

So instead of looking for simple explanations, I.E., "different trainings and specialties mean that the division of labor at Larian has a team that works on new animations, but that team is not the same team responsible for bug fixes, so getting new animations from the former isn't why the latter hasn't repaired Polearm Master or Shield Bash or Raphael and Mol's scene yet" they instead assume "Larian only cares about Astarion and Halsin* and are catering to their fans again at the expense of literally everything else"

*The idea that Halsin fans are receiving any kind of special treatment is laughable, but that is very much the accusation being made- i want to see their reaction when they open up patch 6 and see that their fave has new kiss animations too tbh. As for the new scenes datamined for Halsin, those are all in response to complaints made by people who HATE Halsin, not complaints by his fans. A platonic confession scene? A version of the post-breaking the curse scene that doesn't involve flirting? The only two that were made for Halsin fans were fixing his post-Drow dialogue and the ability to go with him at the end, and the latter hasn't been fully implemented yet (you can get a flag saying you chose him, but you don't get to tell him and have him respond yet). But I have seriously digressed.

IDK, it just seems like we're in the phase of fandoms where, since the initial joy of discovering what the game has to offer has worn off, people are getting their dopamine from getting angry instead, and that means making a game of who can have the best hot takes, who or what is the most problematic and deserving of shunning, what have the creators done to fuck over us poor fans, etc.

There are many legitimate criticisms to be made against Larian, I want to be clear here- their treatment of Wyll's character has been horrific, and the interactions between Durge and Astarion should have been given for ALL characters. It is appalling that they have let Minthara's romance be bugged to the point that some people can only trigger it by modding the game because the flags are bugged and that they have allowed Halsin's voice lines to be bugged SINCE LAUNCH causing many to think they don't exist. All of these things deserve to be criticized. But ascribing malice to things like having separate work teams on the game, or the pile-on people started over that "we fixed it so a glitch can't cause Gale to leave your party" patch... Yeah.

It's never a good sign when a fandom starts to collectively chase the high that comes from being The Angriest. It doesn't seem to be as prevalent on here as on Twitter, thankfully (ironically, speaking as someone who was on this site since before Superwholock, the most toxic parts of Tumblr moved to Twitter after the porn ban, and now it's mostly rational people on here) but we are rapidly sliding towards the "do you people even like this game or do you like the version of it you created in your head?" phase of fandom that everyone dreads.

[coolfijiwater]

larian studios and wyll

so i’ve been meaning to make a post about wyll for a while now, and now is the time (lol). but i’ve been thinking and talking to friends about the lack of content wyll has in bg3, and it’s something that i think i noticed even when playing with early access. but the full game release really puts a giant spotlight on the content disparities between the main companions and even various npcs.

i don’t know if i want to fully list every single spot where wyll clearly lacks in content because i find that it’s incredibly obvious. but the few things i do want to mention are his romance/sex scene and his story line and beats being about practically everyone else. and i know that the second one is super vague and encompassing, but that’s the core of the issue. larian studios “rework” of wyll’s story line did nothing to fix it and, quite possibly, made it worse.

since i only had access to act 1 during early access, i can’t speak to act 2 and 3. but even the changes in act 1 are apparent. while i do think some of the changes larian made were good (especially changing wyll from being incredibly racist towards goblins to not), but most of the changes were just cutting content.

and then there's what was added - mizora changing wyll’s race and appearance against his will because he saved karlach. i feel people have talked about this trope around poc and black people before when talking about disney’s the princess and the frog or brother bear, and that is something that has been discussed as openly racist (here’s a mic article talking about this concept).

but beyond this, that scene isn’t really about wyll. it’s about karlach, if you really think about it. wyll is being punished because of his decision (which isn’t even really his decision because your tav makes the real decision) to save her. and this sidelining of wyll is constant throughout his story line. saving his dad (multiple times) gets sidelined with ketheric or saving the gondians, finding ansur on behalf of his ulder gets overshadowed by the emperor and ansur relationship, and so much more. there’s also the fact that to learn anything about his mom, you need to kill his dad. and don’t get me wrong, i hate ulder ravengard with a fucking passion, but i wouldn’t purposely kill him because it makes wyll hate you. to make that aspect worse, wyll isn’t even the one to tell you the lore surrounding his mom, it’s just flavor text from ulder’s sword. 

there’s definitely more to say about how larian studios treats wyll’s story line, but i do want to talk about his romance story line. just like his story line, wyll’s romance is so much less than any of the other companions or even npcs. wyll has a sex scene, but it’s a fade to black with no voice over, which is nothing compared to one of the only other fade to black sex scenes: the drow twins. the drow twins have a number of sex scene options, all of which have voice overs. wyll, one of the 6 main companions, doesn’t even get this.

and i think this all leads back to larian studios not wanting to admit that they’re racist. wyll has consistently gotten nothing, even after release with all of these updates and patches. like, let’s be real here, the reason wyll has gotten nothing is not only because of the fans or data points, it’s because larian studios is racist. it’s them, seemingly, not being aware that the fantasy genre is steeped in racism because they don’t need to think about racism because they’re european, they’re not racist because they’re not american.

i don’t even know what i want to happen with this post. i guess i just wanted to open up this discussion and maybe remind people that larian studios is not infallible.

also! i feel like i need to mention that i love wyll. he is genuinely one of my favorite characters in bg3, i want more content for him. but we need to be real about why that content isn't already in the game.

#idk #i have more thoughts this is just me wanting to get my thoughts out in the world #anyway #me when i'm a european game studio and need to make sure we don't get hit with racism allegations so we put 1 black character in the game #(it's now somehow equally if not more racist) #wyll ravengard #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #long post #puck posting

[insipid-drivel]

BG3's Hotfix 18: Fixing Broken Script Extender for Modders

So as of today (2/20/2024) Larian released Hotfix #18 to BG3. For those of you that are like me and enjoy modding the game, you've probably found Norbite's Script Extender is broken and a bunch of, if not all of, your mods are broken.

For those unfamiliar, Script Extender is what allows modders to use mods that use files, colors, commands, and models that aren't native to the innate code of the core game. Script Extender allows mod developers to extend the game's code so it will run normally alongside modded codes that alter, add, or remove features from the game.

Norbite has gone on-record saying that they do not know when they'll be able to fix this issue, as they had only just finished updating SE for Patch 6. Hotfix 18 changed some of the fundamental files within the game that will take longer and be more frustrating to fix, and there currently is no estimate for when SE will be fixed for Hotfix 18.

If you play using Steam, here's how you can roll back your game to Patch 6 and get Script Extender and your mods back:

Go into BG3's /bin folder. This is usually found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin on most default downloads for PC.

Save/back up the original files in there.

Open your PC's Run menu (Win+R)

Write in the command: steam://open/console

Press Enter

Steam's engine should open automatically. You should see a blank page with a text window at the very bottom. This is Steam's console command menu.

In the command line, type the command: download_depot 1086940 1419652 8231067205656009020 [<delta manifestid>] [<depot flags filter>] : download single depot

Press enter. Steam should begin to download a few MB's worth of files.

Once steam finishes downloading, the same command screen will show you the exact file route where the newly downloaded folders were placed.

Open the new folder. There should be multiple different files of different types.

Copy all of the new files (Ctrl+A + Ctrl+C works)

Go back to BG3's original \bin within your Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3 path (see Step 1)

Paste (Ctrl+V) the new files into your \bin folder.

You should receive a prompt asking if you want to replace the files. Choose yes. (This is why you backed up the original files)

Close out of the folder and run BG3. You should receive a Data Mismatch warning from the LariLauncher. Ignore this and launch the game.

You should be able to enjoy your mods again

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 hotfix 18 #bg3 script extender #modding #script extender

[lesfir]

Tired Jokes Astarion, harsh and fun in character.

Disclaimer: I don't separate Astarion "before" and "after" the ritual - Asc it's still him, canonically confirmed. I sure that Astarion's personality is not dictated by anything other than Astarion, himself.

I thought about Neil's Mask-talk - Lord Astarion, and how Astarion had lost some of the fun, which was a "distraction anyway". I agree, that's exactly what I thought and felt. Then I remembered what Cazador said, "your tired jokes". Cazador Szarr: No, you always had a gift for words. Cazador Szarr: I fondly remember your empty boasting, your tired jokes, your endless prattle...

Casador didn't finish, by the way, Astarion interrupted him. Cazador surprisingly let him prattle on. Astarion reacts very sharply - he doesn't like to remember it. He's sick of the way he acted as a slave. (it dawned on me that perhaps "empty boasting" refers to his past before slavery - "always had" "always had" "always had" I don't let myself think about it yet, this game is still being worked on I'm talking about the time of slavery here) I don't think Astarion doesn't like, on the whole, to joke and lie about it. No, he loves it. Just not the way he did when he was a slave. But after all, he was a Magistrate (I'm sure he remembers that until Larian told otherwise) this is a man of power, and he had to be able to be formidable when required. I think he liked to be formidable early on. Narcissus (yes, always), racist (quite), from the Upper City, a Magistrate with power, harsh, given what he said about criminals, merciless. Lord hints at this a bit what a Magistrate he was. When he became Cazador's slave, he couldn't afford to be powerful, not in any way at all. He had to be mindful of his status as a slave. And all he could afford was to joke-prattle around, like a jester. Being a jester is the only way to express yourself without "subordinate status", jokes blurred that Master-slave distinction a bit.

When he became Master, he doesn't need jokes anymore. However, there's still a fun in him by his personality. That's why he's been talking so loudly since gaining Lord status, he was only allowed to jump around like a buffoon before. He wasn't taken seriously. Astarion revels in his voice, which is finally not slavish. The voice of the Lord and I think the voice of the Magistrate. Now having paid the price, he can do what the hell he wants. Speaking of romance that's why: it's time to dominate Tav\Dark Urge. He can allow himself to do that, finally, openly. (Unless of course it's a bdsm-s\d-fanservice dropped from the sky, yes, patch 6?) In my humble opinion, given that his self-esteem has been humiliated for 200 years, someone who obeys him willingly, with trust and respect, will be very precious and loved, but he would clutch a person like a dragon in his clutches.

#astarion #ascended astarion #lord astarion #bg3 astarion #Astarion Analysis #astarion magistrate

[laubritter2]

Do you know if there's been anything further said about the apparently removed patch 6 Gortash lines? 👉👈

Not anything further said but they keep collecting save files (several people have written about it) and looking at HOW MUCH they fixed in the last Hotfix as a result of that patch (many characters got super buggy esp. Minthara) I believe they are on it and that it was a genuine mistake. Tbh if the Franc letters never happened, I would not have even second guessed it but yea, Gortashnation is a lil damaged when it comes to changing stuff around without notice lol.

I have also peeked into the discord server (although I don't really use it) and several people have brought it up there as well.

Someone from the Larian team directly commented on one such post about the missing lines.

(Like I don't think they would comment this if it was removed on purpose my hopes are UP).

#enver gortash #baldur's gate 3 #durgetash #reply

[crossdressingdeath]

Can I just... okay, there's something that's been percolating in my head ever since the Durgetash patch 6 crumbs dropped and I think I can finally put it into words. Because everyone was getting so mad about Durge (and it was about Durge, not Gortash; it was an origin character getting their backstory acknowledged in the game at a point where it should've been from the start, saying it was about Gortash is like saying... I don't know, any unique dialogue Cazador gets in Astarion origin runs is Cazador content) getting five or six new lines when Wyll got nothing and... well, personally I think that's a little silly, first because adding a few new Gortash lines to Durge runs would not be taking away from Wyll content (the two characters have different writers, VAs and mocap actors, for the most part they would not have been pulling from the same resource pool), but more importantly because... if you want to point at an origin character taking resources from Wyll, don't point at Durge. Point at Karlach.

I mean, think about it. Think about how the game runs with these two characters. You likely meet Wyll first unless you go out of your way to avoid speaking to him until you meet Karlach. He asks you to help him hunt down and kill a devil, and you go and you look and you find her and... now you're doing Karlach's quest. They interrupt Wyll's quest in the middle to do Karlach's quest. And she keeps piping up during the conversation with Mizora afterwards, and it turns out that Wyll got sent after Karlach to begin with because Karlach is Zariel's extra-special favourite mortal, and suddenly Wyll's sharing his post-quest transformation cutscene (something which I think we can all agree should be entirely about him) with a character who wasn't even playable until a ways into EA. You can't even properly commiserate with Wyll afterwards, you can only even be nice to him if you choose to read the lines that way; you spend more time chatting to Karlach about Wyll's transformation than you do Wyll! Wyll's act one quest gets almost completely taken over by Karlach, I'm honestly kind of surprised I haven't seen anyone else talking about it. Even him being turned into a devil is barely about him because Karlach's backstory is butting in! There is a reason why no other origins share villains, but where Karlach's connection to Gortash is overshadowed by Durge in a Durge run here she's overshadowing Wyll in every run except maybe (I say maybe because I haven't done it) a Wyll origin.

And it gets even better! Remember how originally you couldn't save Karlach at all? Remember when it was death or mind flayer? Remember what Larian did when people complained about that? I'm fucking amazed I didn't see more complaints about that, given the number of complaints I saw about Durgetash getting five whole lines. Do you want to keep Karlach alive? Do you want to end the game with all your companions still breathing and reasonably happy? Well then fuck what you think is a good, happy and/or narratively satisfying ending for Wyll; you're packing him off to the Hells, because that's the only way to keep Karlach alive if you don't want to go with her (which you probably don't if you romanced someone other than her)! Like, I want you to really let that sink in; they made Karlach's survival completely reliant on how you end Wyll's quest. If you want Karlach to survive and don't want your character's epilogue to be "go to the Hells" (which, again, odds are most players don't) you have to end Wyll's quest accordingly. They could've put that into Karlach's quest! Give her an actual character arc (instead of the line-with-maybe-a-slight-curve she got) where you can encourage her to choose life and go to Avernus on her own or... I don't know, go with Dammon or something! Especially since as it turns out Zariel apparently doesn't actually give a shit, which the PC should be able to point out given Zariel's track record in this game of giving barely enough of a shit to make a token effort at getting Karlach back or killing her! But instead the climax of Wyll's whole damn arc has to share space with Karlach. Maybe not in the game's text proper, but from a meta perspective? If the player doesn't want to go to the Hells but wants Karlach to live, that's likely going to be if not the deciding factor in Wyll's quest then certainly a major one in—as with the transformation cutscene—a situation that should be entirely about Wyll.

I don't really know how to end this. I guess... I fully admit part of it is me being super petty about the sheer number of posts I saw getting mad about Durgetash getting literally five or six lines (crumbs! Barely crumbs! Crumbs that didn't impact Wyll in any way!), but it also really is like... people complained about that but I haven't seen anyone complaining about how Larian warped Wyll's whole story around Karlach. And I think more people should complain about it. Wyll's story got dragged off-course the second they started rewriting it, but they wrapped the whole thing around Karlach when they made her an origin companion to the point where at times it feels like Wyll's playing second fiddle in his own arc, and that's... well, honestly it just pisses me off.

#bg3 #the fact that they sacrificed wyll being the main character in his own story for karlach's story when karlach's story isn't even that good #is. also a factor #to be clear it still would've been a problem if karlach's story WAS good #but they made wyll a supporting character in his own quest line and for WHAT? a basic revenge story? #'ooooh revenge didn't undo what had been done to her' LIKE HALF THE OTHER COMPANIONS TOUCH ON THAT #AND IT'S HER WHOLE STORY #THEY DID NOT HAVE A SINGLE ORIGINAL IDEA TO USE FOR KARLACH AND IT SHOWS #also zariel would've been a much more compelling villain for karlach than gortash #if she was too tough for the party the demon who karlach served didn't HAVE to be her #but that's a topic for another post