Baldur's Gate 3 and Kara-Tur

[powerist]

So while Baldur's Gate 3 didn't have much Kara-Tur--or Fantasy Asia, but mostly Japan trapping, compared to BG 1 and 2, part of me is curious its connection to Kara-Tur lore after Early Access had Gale's using spices from that region (not sure if it's still there but I've seen a few in-game books being a dictionary and self-help book that felt like tongue-in-cheek parody and maybe in-universe scam book).

[[Ger] Daen]

We need another Yoshimo :D

[Toaster Maximus]

Don't think they ever really updated lore to much for those realms, the second sundering changed much of the world

[Aerohank]

Originally posted by Ger Daen:

We need another Yoshimo :D

Ugh, very well.
Hiiiyaaa!

[powerist]

Originally posted by Toaster Maximus:

Don't think they ever really updated lore to much for those realms, the second sundering changed much of the world

To be honest, even Baldur's Gate 3 seems to be "winging with the lore" that is shared in Baldur's Gate series and even later novels/weapon lore/modules (like some go for authentic to their analogs, but other had Japanese with Chinese names; or province names that didn't appear in original lore, or some even had western-themed class names BUT this might also had to do with "compatibility" since some of them were written for core rulebooks). One example being a demon who claim that his cod piece made from Kara-Tur warlord, so not sure if it was Samurai noble, or generic Asian noble who naively made a deal with devil or maybe some references to some obscure works, maybe horror hentai).
THAT and Baldur's Gate 3 tendency to have "color-blind" casting, even on non-Humans like Elves and Dwarves and Gnomes, so this kinda applied to Cazador Szass, who is Asian-looking and had Kozakura/Fantasy Japanese book. BUT he is also an Elf, which isn't native to Kara-Tur unless "winging with the lore" or went there for adventuring and took the book as souvenir/codebook.

[seeker1]

There is a katana in the game.

It's in Golbraith's Cellar in the Lower City. Golbraith also has Abdel Arian's Shield, and "Abdel Arian" seems to be the canonical name of the BG2 Bhaalspawn in BG3.

[powerist]

Also Ha-yoon Kim.
There is Koryo, which kinda show their creativity on Korea...if you ignore that only Korean signifier is Tae Kwando, Archery, and "willing to fault a foreignor other than their own" (proving that "this is pop culture of x" doesn't work in a time when K-Pop and K-Drama isn't a thing...and maybe taking cues from The Mikado since there is names like Crow Dz Pong and rest are generally vague descriptions that average readers at that wouldn't have any idea about Gat hat or Han-Bok) and only time it mentioned was Rabbit Hengeyokai in a magazine and nothing else (I mean even 3E have forum posts had complaints about non-Japanese being lacking or based on narrow narratives). Otherwise, plus Shou Lung, Tu Lung, Kozakura, and Wa being only consistent countries, few ever mention countries outside these four (also didn't help that OA's japanese theme often ended with everything being Japanese with facade like a katana made by a Chinese-coded character or a module having "samurai of a local jito" for Fantasy China).
As I stated before, I think it was best for Larian to "wing with the lore" (or based on Baldur's Gate).