Why every choice is meaningless until the end

[NOD Flamer]

Finished my first playthrough yesterday and looked up alternate choices on the internet.

I looked at endings but also at what would happen if you side with the Absolute.

SPOILER ALERT you can't

If you try to side with Ketheric, he's going to fight and want to kill you. Doesn't matter if you're for or against him.
The only real impacting choice you somewhat have is if you betray Isebol or not, if you free Orpheus or not. Everything else doesn't matter.

This is very dissapointing as how much praise this game got. Because before this I played Fallout New Vegas again, and there are so many options and people to side with from beginning to end.

where as with BG3, you're locked into fighting against the absolute. And every other meaningfull choice hastily happens in the end of Act 3. Which makes me think that Act 3 was rushed, which isn't surprising considering thats'where i encountered most if not all of my bugs.

As a side note I think Act 1 is my favourite, Act 2 is boring as it's mostly just getting ambushed and fighting. Act 3 is where everything get's thrown at you at once.

IDK maybe im alone in this.

EDIT;

So apperantly in Act 3 there's Fist name "Rowan" who wants to massacre the refugees. And all 3 options in dialogue essentially is not agreeing to it.

Again forcing a certain narrative and playstyle; Not allowed to play as the bad guy.

[Professional Goat Lover]

Rowan is based writers are not.

[Etragorn]

This is true of most Larian games. You have the option of being a bastard, to a certain extent in their games. In BG3 you can really evil it up to a fairly decent extent, but you always have to take on the big bad in the end.

[Deus Vult]

Sadly, gamers’ standards are dropped heavily under the years.
This is a good example, wrapping a bland story into a fancy looking present.

[Underprivileged White Male]

Originally posted by SchizOrtho:

Finished my first playthrough yesterday and looked up alternate choices on the internet.

I looked at endings but also at what would happen if you side with the Absolute.

SPOILER ALERT you can't

If you try to side with Ketheric, he's going to fight and want to kill you. Doesn't matter if you're for or against him.
The only real impacting choice you somewhat have is if you betray Isebol or not, if you free Orpheus or not. Everything else doesn't matter.

This is very dissapointing as how much praise this game got. Because before this I played Fallout New Vegas again, and there are so many options and people to side with from beginning to end.

where as with BG3, you're locked into fighting against the absolute. And every other meaningfull choice hastily happens in the end of Act 3. Which makes me think that Act 3 was rushed, which isn't surprising considering thats'where i encountered most if not all of my bugs.

As a side note I think Act 1 is my favourite, Act 2 is boring as it's mostly just getting ambushed and fighting. Act 3 is where everything get's thrown at you at once.

IDK maybe im alone in this.

EDIT;

So apperantly in Act 3 there's Fist name "Rowan" who wants to massacre the refugees. And all 3 options in dialogue essentially is not agreeing to it.

Again forcing a certain narrative and playstyle; Not allowed to play as the bad guy.

I think too many people just confuse "options" with "choices," You have a ton of options to pick from.. but few actual choices. to make.

Why I say this game really has no reply. 95% of it is going to pan out the same way.

The actually gameplay isn't "fun" past the discovery point.

It's mostly just the old DM smoke and mirrors of "Do you take the road leading around the mountain, or do you continue on through the cave?

Both paths lead to a 4x40 encounter map with goblins with shortbows.

Larian went the "lazy DM" route with the majority of this game. As someone who has been the "lazy DM" more times than I can count, it's not hard to see it lol.

One NPC may die, or the other, but they both fill the same role in the plot. It all just leads to a small selection of ending options.

[ineptiae]

I sided with Ketheric and he committed suicide. You said you sided with ketheric but had to fight him?

[IvoryTemplar]

Originally posted by SchizOrtho:

I don't own the game, so I'm going to just say whatever I want while pulling up stuff I found online so I can to try to get free steam points.

Fixed it.

[ineptiae]

I’m a bard dark urge tho so idk if others were able to do what I did

[Etragorn]

Originally posted by ineptiae:

I’m a bard dark urge tho so idk if others were able to do what I did

Certainly sounds like the Dark Urge plays quite a bit differently. I would enjoy making that miserable bastard commit suicide.

[Chiffa]

Yeah they present you with a fair amount of fake choices.
I did my first playthrough as a typical good guy and now trying the alternatives playing somewhat evil Durge.
Want to kill tieflings to gain cultists trust? Well, nothing really changes in your encounters with them in Moonrise Towers, you even get crippled by not having an option to release the fairy from the lantern to have a permanent buff that allows you to move through the curse and have to keep a lantern on one of your companions who tends to get stuck behind losing the aura on your character. You also lose a vednor who sells very good items in acts 2 and 3. You lose three or possibly four companions to this decision only to gain only one that is bugged. And you still are forced in the same outcome of Act 2 no matter what you did beforehand, only a few dialogue lines change.
The story is railroaded as hell, which by itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the way it is presented as not railroaded is disappointing due to having your high expectations ruined.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by Chiffa:

And you still are forced in the same outcome of Act 2 no matter what you did beforehand, only a few dialogue lines change.

Not lifting the shadow curse is a pretty big difference if you ask me.

[Rabbit]

The game gives you several opportunities to submit to the absolute. They're just game overs because you cease to be you and become a thrall.

[Chiffa]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Originally posted by Chiffa:

And you still are forced in the same outcome of Act 2 no matter what you did beforehand, only a few dialogue lines change.

Not lifting the shadow curse is a pretty big difference if you ask me.

Except you never get to see it fully lifted apart from a short cutscene of some tree blooming, the only thing it changes is you keep Halsin and he has a few lines about how the land is healing and how he talks with the spirit boy. You only lift it after you are done with the main quest so there is no point in staying in the Act 2 zone. It doesn't affect Act 3 in any way. It's pretty much just his personal quest that doesn't affect main story.
Hell, I'd even take some slide at the end with narrator telling what's going on there and be happy, but there is absolutely nothing.

[Rabbit]

Originally posted by SchizOrtho:

So apperantly in Act 3 there's Fist name "Rowan" who wants to massacre the refugees. And all 3 options in dialogue essentially is not agreeing to it.

Again forcing a certain narrative and playstyle; Not allowed to play as the bad guy.

Also this is a lie. You can agree with Rowan. He's not a real fist though.

[Rabbit]

Originally posted by Chiffa:

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Not lifting the shadow curse is a pretty big difference if you ask me.

Except you never get to see it fully lifted apart from a short cutscene of some tree blooming, the only thing it changes is you keep Halsin and he has a few lines about how the land is healing and how he talks with the spirit boy. You only lift it after you are done with the main quest so there is no point in staying in the Act 2 zone. It doesn't affect Act 3 in any way. It's pretty much just his personal quest that doesn't affect main story.
Hell, I'd even take some slide at the end with narrator telling what's going on there and be happy, but there is absolutely nothing.

"Gamers": THE ENDING IS THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO BECAUSE THEY DON'T TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU LEFT PLACES
also "Gamers": THE CHOICE DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE THEY TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU LEFT PLACES
also "Gamers": THE CHOICE DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE ALL IT DID WAS CHANGE WHAT CHARACTERS ARE IN LATER PARTS OF THE GAME AND WHAT THEY SAY AND WHAT THEIR LIVES ARE LIKE

[Chiffa]

Originally posted by Boon: Safeword:

Originally posted by Chiffa:

Except you never get to see it fully lifted apart from a short cutscene of some tree blooming, the only thing it changes is you keep Halsin and he has a few lines about how the land is healing and how he talks with the spirit boy. You only lift it after you are done with the main quest so there is no point in staying in the Act 2 zone. It doesn't affect Act 3 in any way. It's pretty much just his personal quest that doesn't affect main story.
Hell, I'd even take some slide at the end with narrator telling what's going on there and be happy, but there is absolutely nothing.

"Gamers": THE ENDING IS THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO BECAUSE THEY DON'T TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU LEFT PLACES
also "Gamers": THE CHOICE DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE THEY TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU LEFT PLACES
also "Gamers": THE CHOICE DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE ALL IT DID WAS CHANGE WHAT CHARACTERS ARE IN LATER PARTS OF THE GAME AND WHAT THEY SAY AND WHAT THEIR LIVES ARE LIKE

Keep seething. Most of the choices are fake, and you malding on the internet won't change that.