Anyone else hate The Dark Urge?

[Platostotle]

I just started a play as the DU and I hate how the dialogue options will sometimes lie, and take agency away from my decisions. I thought I'd get a chance to resist temptation, but no, I'm just walking around kicking woodland animals to death and hacking off my own companion's hands.

[45ay3asdasd]

I don't think dark urge playthrough is even worth it, I'm almost through it as my 2nd playthrough and there's only a few notable changes and the rest is just dialogue fluff. I wish I just watched a YouTube synopsis for durge and played an origin instead lol

[KingOfFriedChicken]

Originally posted by foxes:

I don't think dark urge playthrough is even worth it, I'm almost through it as my 2nd playthrough and there's only a few notable changes and the rest is just dialogue fluff. I wish I just watched a YouTube synopsis for durge and played an origin instead lol

Noticeable differences? What about the "rewards" I mean common they are sweet as hell! Not to mention unless you save scum the crazy amount of trouble it gets you in with your party lol

[Powercrank]

i used to wonder why modern games seemed like they were all made for idiots;
then i started visiting the steam forums and all was made clear

[Xenomorph Kitty]

Originally posted by mutantbeth:

having speak to animals makes it so you dont just kill the squirell. the only forced kill in my entire playthrough (in act 3 now) as DU was that bard chick. Im enjoying it

This

[Giggity]

I was sad and shocked when I killed Alfira but that's what I signed up for when I read the history of Dark Urge before making my character. If you don't like the flavor it adds, that's fine, but you'd realize that like 30 minutes in to the story and it's easy to just....not play it. and play one of the other near infinite possibilities.
You not liking it is hardly cause for complaint.

[Platostotle]

Originally posted by AiaBella:

I was sad and shocked when I killed Alfira but that's what I signed up for when I read the history of Dark Urge before making my character. If you don't like the flavor it adds, that's fine, but you'd realize that like 30 minutes in to the story and it's easy to just....not play it. and play one of the other near infinite possibilities.
You not liking it is hardly cause for complaint.

Not liking a thing is usually the cause for complaint. At least I don't recall ever complaining about something I liked, and if I did it was about some small aspect that I disliked. Kind of like how I love this game, but I dislike the lack of agency in playing the DU.

[Deathbypopup]

Originally posted by Platostotle:

Originally posted by Seri:

Yeah, there are literally options to ignore those urges and they're pretty clearly written

There are literally times when your character acts without any player input, and many of the options actually lie about what you're choosing, so no, I don't agree with this take

Hey, Playing a DU Paladin of Devotion. I have been forced to kill exactly one person. Which broke my oath but i paid my dues and did good so got it back. All others i have managed to resist/avoid. You in fact have a great deal of agency, You just chose things that led you down that path instead of resisting and fighting it. So yeah, Maybe don't blame the game for choices you make.

[Tenor Sounds]

Just so we're clear, I'm pretty sure the way it works is that if you keep resisting every DU option, there's a hidden counter in the background that increases the chance that you will succumb to the Dark Urge without making the conscious choice. So the play here is to give in sometimes so you can resist when it's something you really don't want to do.

So, ironically enough, if the player is constantly resisting the DU they will actually lose control of their character more often.

As others have said, DU is not just a custom character with some extra toppings, it's not a matter of picking DU so you get extra content. If anything, DU should probably be after a regular custom playthrough since it significantly affects almost every major dialogue in the game (and plenty of minor ones, too). Part of a DU playthrough is playing around with the idea of losing agency in the first place.

[Sterling]

Originally posted by Deathbypopup:

Originally posted by Platostotle:

There are literally times when your character acts without any player input, and many of the options actually lie about what you're choosing, so no, I don't agree with this take

Hey, Playing a DU Paladin of Devotion. I have been forced to kill exactly one person. Which broke my oath but i paid my dues and did good so got it back. All others i have managed to resist/avoid. You in fact have a great deal of agency, You just chose things that led you down that path instead of resisting and fighting it. So yeah, Maybe don't blame the game for choices you make.

Same I had exactly one instance of game forcing the DU plot without my control. Everything else was skill-check/dialogue based. That one instance did give me a case of paranoia of inviting people in the camp which lead to Arabella's death in Act 2 since I did not invite her in the camp and she went on to be killed by a shadow, lol.

[Platostotle]

Originally posted by Deathbypopup:

Originally posted by Platostotle:

There are literally times when your character acts without any player input, and many of the options actually lie about what you're choosing, so no, I don't agree with this take

Hey, Playing a DU Paladin of Devotion. I have been forced to kill exactly one person. Which broke my oath but i paid my dues and did good so got it back. All others i have managed to resist/avoid. You in fact have a great deal of agency, You just chose things that led you down that path instead of resisting and fighting it. So yeah, Maybe don't blame the game for choices you make.

One person is one too many for my taste in an RPG. Waking up after committing a grisly murder is a great way to start a game, it provides a mystery and a problem to solve. It's horrible midway through when it robs you of agency.

Anyway, your experience differs from mine because I have in fact been forced to do things 3 separate times, twice with no input, and once with misleading dialogue. More power to you if you're just along for the ride of the story, but I want agency over my character's actions in an RPG.

[Tenor Sounds]

Originally posted by Platostotle:

Anyway, your experience differs from mine because I have in fact been forced to do things 3 separate times, twice with no input, and once with misleading dialogue. More power to you if you're just along for the ride of the story, but I want agency over my character's actions in an RPG.

Are you constantly resisting, or are you choosing to give in sometimes?

[Platostotle]

Originally posted by Tenor Sounds:

Just so we're clear, I'm pretty sure the way it works is that if you keep resisting every DU option, there's a hidden counter in the background that increases the chance that you will succumb to the Dark Urge without making the conscious choice. So the play here is to give in sometimes so you can resist when it's something you really don't want to do.

So, ironically enough, if the player is constantly resisting the DU they will actually lose control of their character more often.

As others have said, DU is not just a custom character with some extra toppings, it's not a matter of picking DU so you get extra content. If anything, DU should probably be after a regular custom playthrough since it significantly affects almost every major dialogue in the game (and plenty of minor ones, too). Part of a DU playthrough is playing around with the idea of losing agency in the first place.

THAT is what I signed up for. Unfortunately there are several instances where it simply isn't the case. Sometimes DU just does things because the writers said so, not because the player resisted too much and can't hold back any longer.

[Sterling]

Originally posted by Tenor Sounds:

Just so we're clear, I'm pretty sure the way it works is that if you keep resisting every DU option, there's a hidden counter in the background that increases the chance that you will succumb to the Dark Urge without making the conscious choice. So the play here is to give in sometimes so you can resist when it's something you really don't want to do.

So, ironically enough, if the player is constantly resisting the DU they will actually lose control of their character more often.

As others have said, DU is not just a custom character with some extra toppings, it's not a matter of picking DU so you get extra content. If anything, DU should probably be after a regular custom playthrough since it significantly affects almost every major dialogue in the game (and plenty of minor ones, too). Part of a DU playthrough is playing around with the idea of losing agency in the first place.

I sincerely doubt that this is the case. I have resisted every DU instance and have encountered exactly 1 forced murder in my playthrough. In fact, I have the DU casualty rate at 1 person. There is a romance-related trigger that makes you make something like a series of 3 rolls in Act 2, but it's still not pre-determined.

[Tenor Sounds]

Originally posted by Sterling:

I sincerely doubt that this is the case. I have resisted every DU instance and have encountered exactly 1 forced murder in my playthrough. In fact, I have the DU casualty rate at 1 person. There is a romance-related trigger that makes you make something like a series of 3 rolls in Act 2, but it's still not pre-determined.

Hm...I thought this was something Larian said themselves about how it worked, but I may be misremembering an anecdote I heard in a podcast or something.

[The Old Song]

First I can just say that I don't presently have complaints about Dark Urge.

And, given the narrative nature of the origin, I think there *should* by multitudes of moments where you, as the player, have no choice, while the character proceeds to take a forced action. Regardless of whether or not there are such moments, I say their should be.
[Additionally, I think this arguably could/should be the case for *every* origin character. Certain forced choices based on who you're supposed to be playing. The forced choices just happen to be, well Dark Urgey for Dark Urge.]

Secondly I can confirm that yes absolutely there have been moments where I was offered no choice as player. Spoiler here. Moments that were either a cut-scene, or when a list of options should have shown, there was only "1. Continue..." and it led to something Urgey.
- Kicking the squirrel was non-optional. The narrator just droned on about how cute it was then it suddenly got punted.
- The goblin that tells you to kiss its feet. Only option was "continue" and it led to biting off the goblins toe.
- The long rest interrupt murder any Urge player knows about.

Lastly I was under the potentially incorrect impression that whether or not you can resist the urge at given points was based on past moments.
That letting the urge do as urge does makes you less able to resist later, potentially making future choices not be choices when you could have resisted if you had resisted more earlier.
Some hidden plotflag system or something.