Spoilers: Wait... that's not fair!

[atm]

Oh man, I'm annoyed about this.

Like 30 hours into my second playthrough, I discover that I can't get the Potent Robe (a freaking AMAZING piece of caster gear) because Alfira, *one* of the possible questgivers for the 'Rescue the Tieflings' quest in Act 2, was murdered in Act 1 during an unavoidable cutscene as the dark urge. I hadn't even encountered here before she turned up at my camp, and my guy proceeded to murder her in his sleep.

I'm just like... c'mon Larian, you just gated one of the best items in the game behind an event that my background locked me out of. In fairness, I did get a cape that turns Astarion invisible when he kills an enemy, but that's a poor substitute for a robe that adds +5 or more damage to every single eldritch blast ray - with a bit of haste and shenanigans that's so freaking much damage I now can't get.

And to make it even sillier, the 'rescue the tieflings' quest has more than one quest giver, all of whom can ask you to rescue their captured family/ friends. It's just that exact one (Alfira) that it turns out you needed for the item, which I got in my first playthrough and didn't stop to think would be inaccessible to me in my second. I'd probably have not taken the dark urge background if I knew it was going to block me from getting a key piece of build-around gear.

I have since read it's possible to cheese it by knocking her out at some key point early in the game or something, but after my first run I never even thought to check of something like that would be necessary (I mean, who would?).

I just feels like there's some slightly mean arbitrariness going on in the quest-giving here. At least make another of the tieflings give the reward; it's not like you didn't just do the exact same quest with the exact same challenge and outcome.

[Cuddle_Rat]

She had it coming with that bright eyed optimism and love of life, blegh...

[Hollywood]

Larian: "Dark Urge is a totally unique playthrough and it's going to have strange consequences and outcomes different than any other playthrough."

This guy: WTF MAN IT'S LOCKING ME OUT OF THINGS I GET FOR BEING A GOOD GUY!

[parent child bowl]

Shouldn't have tortured the squirrels.

[Cuddle_Rat]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Shouldn't have tortured the squirrels.

yeah she was a bit pitchy, they'll let anyone become a bard these days.

[Eddie]

Wait, I thought you could resist murdering people as the Dark Urge? I thought one of the strengths of their playthrough was murder hobo or becoming good?

[Estevan Valladares]

You have to understand that for most players, the games must be a safe space, in which there is not one situation that has no win-win scenario. They often call it "choice and consequence", but when the average players say it, what they are saying is that they want "varied good outcomes".

[Cuddle_Rat]

Originally posted by Ponky:

Wait, I thought you could resist murdering people as the Dark Urge? I thought one of the strengths of their playthrough was murder hobo or becoming good?

Some struggles are plot essential.

[jk2l]

Originally posted by Ponky:

Wait, I thought you could resist murdering people as the Dark Urge? I thought one of the strengths of their playthrough was murder hobo or becoming good?

unfortunately Alfira is one of the NPC you gurantee kill

[Eddie]

Originally posted by Cuddle_Rat:

Originally posted by Ponky:

Wait, I thought you could resist murdering people as the Dark Urge? I thought one of the strengths of their playthrough was murder hobo or becoming good?

Some struggles are plot essential.

Originally posted by jk2l:

Originally posted by Ponky:

Wait, I thought you could resist murdering people as the Dark Urge? I thought one of the strengths of their playthrough was murder hobo or becoming good?

unfortunately Alfira is one of the NPC you gurantee kill

man....that kinda bums me out, truly. I'll still give it a go of course, but I thought you'd be given more control. I suppose it's more of a lesson of who your character is?

[AlphaVictorKilo]

sneak up behind her, do a non lethal attack on her, so she is knocked out, THEN do a long rest, and you'll kill a different bard and Alfira will still be alive. Don't know if it saves the quest though

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

Originally posted by atm:

Oh man, I'm annoyed about this.

Like 30 hours into my second playthrough, I discover that I can't get the Potent Robe (a freaking AMAZING piece of caster gear) because Alfira, *one* of the possible questgivers for the 'Rescue the Tieflings' quest in Act 2, was murdered in Act 1 during an unavoidable cutscene as the dark urge. I hadn't even encountered here before she turned up at my camp, and my guy proceeded to murder her in his sleep.

I'm just like... c'mon Larian, you just gated one of the best items in the game behind an event that my background locked me out of. In fairness, I did get a cape that turns Astarion invisible when he kills an enemy, but that's a poor substitute for a robe that adds +5 or more damage to every single eldritch blast ray - with a bit of haste and shenanigans that's so freaking much damage I now can't get.

And to make it even sillier, the 'rescue the tieflings' quest has more than one quest giver, all of whom can ask you to rescue their captured family/ friends. It's just that exact one (Alfira) that it turns out you needed for the item, which I got in my first playthrough and didn't stop to think would be inaccessible to me in my second. I'd probably have not taken the dark urge background if I knew it was going to block me from getting a key piece of build-around gear.

I have since read it's possible to cheese it by knocking her out at some key point early in the game or something, but after my first run I never even thought to check of something like that would be necessary (I mean, who would?).

I just feels like there's some slightly mean arbitrariness going on in the quest-giving here. At least make another of the tieflings give the reward; it's not like you didn't just do the exact same quest with the exact same challenge and outcome.

I found out how to play as a Durge and didn't kill her. Its tricky, but doable.

When you get the long night scenario where she shows up at camp, reload to your last save where you aren't stuck in camp.

Go to Alfira and then bonk her on the head with NON LETHAL damage turned on.

Make sure she's unconscious and not dead.

At camp someone named Quil will show up instead, and the scene continues with you killing her instead. Alfira is still alive and well and you can talk to her at the grove.

And bam. You kill someone else instead of Alfira. I posted this process before, but most folks were still ******** about romances, so I doubt anyone saw it.

Hopefully this gets seen and others can avoid this in the future.

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

Originally posted by AlphaVictorKilo:

sneak up behind her, do a non lethal attack on her, so she is knocked out, THEN do a long rest, and you'll kill a different bard and Alfira will still be alive. Don't know if it saves the quest though

It does, you can complete the quest in Act 2 normally.

[Mizu]

Consider it a trade off for the cloak you get as Durge that lets you go invisible after killing someone or whatever it is the thing does.

[atm]

Originally posted by Hollywood:

Larian: "Dark Urge is a totally unique playthrough and it's going to have strange consequences and outcomes different than any other playthrough."

This guy: WTF MAN IT'S LOCKING ME OUT OF THINGS I GET FOR BEING A GOOD GUY!

My gripe is that I specifically built for a particular Act 2 item that I'd gotten in my previous playthrough, and it hadn't really occurred to me to even think that it was the bard Alfira that was the one that gave it.
By the time I got 30 hours in and completed the quest, and started looking around in confusion as to why I couldn't seem to get a robe from it, I realised what had happened. It seems like such a strange and arbitrary thing to deny me that exact item for taking Dark Urge. I haven't found a single other item in the game I can't get, just that specific (very powerful) robe.
It just kind of tastes like ashes because I've invested a lot into this playthrough, to get smacked down by such a blatantly random design choice.

[atm]

Originally posted by Mizu:

Consider it a trade off for the cloak you get as Durge that lets you go invisible after killing someone or whatever it is the thing does.

It's definitely a powerful cloak, but not really relevant to my character, who's an gish and really wants to tank, rather than go invisible.
As a warlock you can get double your charisma to every single eldritch blast ray, and at easy nine rays per round when you're hasted and using other tricks, that's like 50 or even more damage per round I now can't get. The ability to sometimes be invisible is a pretty poor substitute for that.