Lack of consequences. Spoilers.

[DaniTheHero]

I loved playing this game. I have done ever piece of content I can possibly engage with in my journey, the characters. The story, the gameplay, it's all great.

However one major disappointing factor in Baldurs Gate 3, that turns the game from a 10/10 to a 8 or 9 for me, and in a way ruins repeatability for me, is the lack of actual consequences.

There's many decisions you can make during the game, from minor to major, that on paper seem to have a narrative and moral shifting point, but end up not mattering at all.

Reading the Necromancy of Thay.
Consuming the tadpoles.
Astorian ascending.
Certain ritual to 'evil' god.
Hag.
Sparing/killing certain characters.

These decisions that most 'Good aligned' wouldn't do, but in fact wouldn't effect the game negatively at all and you just end up missing on stats.
Even the actual ending of the game, is pretty much relegated to a dialogue choice, 1 second before the ending cut-scene.

The only things that seem to matter are companion quests, and even that is more about how their story concludes within the bounds of the game, rather than future prospects.

What makes this worse is that unlike other similar games, even ones made by Larian itself, there's no epilogue that shows the state of the regions, characters and even the world due to decisions you made. You could've slaughtered half the NPC's in the game, taken every single evil decision there is, and still be the "hero" that saved the city and that's it.

[Nox]

The tadpoles are the biggest bummer.

Back in EA there was no guardian. There was "daisy".
If you used Tadpole, she would appear in your dreams, if you did not, you would never meet her.

Daisy was the tadpole's trick. Taking a form of what attarcts you the most. Essentialy Daisy would try to seduce your psyche to stay with her "Down by the River" (yes down by the river and the power songs are her theme songs).

Your psyche (if you'd let yourself to be seduced) would esentially be stuck with this dream creature in a dream world, while your real body would transform.

She apparantly exchanged for guardian due to ppl complaining it's sexually offensive (duh...) but I can't find real proof on it besides on what ppl say.

I however disagree with Hag and sparing / killing characters.
If you save Mayrina she has a questline that continues in Act 3 with a reward.
Saving characters - Arabella, Alfira, Zevlor, Counsillor Florick (and I'm sure I missed more names) do consnatly make an appearane and have quests or can even aid you in the final battle.

[Ranpo]

Game favors being good more than being bad, you don't really get special weapons and armor for being a complete a-hole maybe except for Astarion's ascension, Duke Ravengard's armor and Isobel's robe.

Likewise when you play as Dark Urge, being a proper murderous Bhaalspawn locks you out of some really good armor.

[HandyVac]

If you consume tadpoles then you get psychic powers to use in combat & dialogues
throughout the game, but you end up turning into a half-Illithid in the final act.

If you don't consume tadpoles then you don't get any mind powers but you can win the final battle without ever transforming.

I'd call that a big important consequence.

[Nox]

Originally posted by HandyVac:

If you consume tadpoles then you get psychic powers to use in combat & dialogues
throughout the game, but you end up turning into a half-Illithid in the final act.

If you don't consume tadpoles then you don't get any mind powers but you can win the final battle without ever transforming.

I'd call that a big important consequence.

The transformation is choice dependant, it doesn't matter if you use or don't use powers.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by Shibendo Smilando:

The tadpoles are the biggest bummer.

Back in EA there was no guardian. There was "daisy".
If you used Tadpole, she would appear in your dreams, if you did not, you would never meet her.

Daisy was the tadpole's trick. Taking a form of what attarcts you the most. Essentialy Daisy would try to seduce your psyche to stay with her "Down by the River" (yes down by the river and the power songs are her theme songs).

Your psyche (if you'd let yourself to be seduced) would esentially be stuck with this dream creature in a dream world, while your real body would transform.

She apparantly exchanged for guardian due to ppl complaining it's sexually offensive (duh...) but I can't find real proof on it besides on what ppl say.

I however disagree with Hag and sparing / killing characters.
If you save Mayrina she has a questline that continues in Act 3 with a reward.
Saving characters - Arabella, Alfira, Zevlor, Counsillor Florick (and I'm sure I missed more names) do consnatly make an appearane and have quests or can even aid you in the final battle.

Oh wow, that sounds much better. Than what we go.

Some of these appear as buffs or summons in the final battle yes. But we don't get any real conclusion for them.
Arabela giving me a Buff for the last 2 fights in the game isn't really much of a conclusion for her character.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by HandyVac:

If you consume tadpoles then you get psychic powers to use in combat & dialogues
throughout the game, but you end up turning into a half-Illithid in the final act.

If you don't consume tadpoles then you don't get any mind powers but you can win the final battle without ever transforming.

I'd call that a big important consequence.

You can consume tadpoles without any consequences at all. Only the special tadpole you get at the start of act 3 alters your appearance and turns you into an Half-Illithid.

[Nox]

Originally posted by DaniTheHero:

Originally posted by Shibendo Smilando:

The tadpoles are the biggest bummer.

Back in EA there was no guardian. There was "daisy".
If you used Tadpole, she would appear in your dreams, if you did not, you would never meet her.

Daisy was the tadpole's trick. Taking a form of what attarcts you the most. Essentialy Daisy would try to seduce your psyche to stay with her "Down by the River" (yes down by the river and the power songs are her theme songs).

Your psyche (if you'd let yourself to be seduced) would esentially be stuck with this dream creature in a dream world, while your real body would transform.

She apparantly exchanged for guardian due to ppl complaining it's sexually offensive (duh...) but I can't find real proof on it besides on what ppl say.

I however disagree with Hag and sparing / killing characters.
If you save Mayrina she has a questline that continues in Act 3 with a reward.
Saving characters - Arabella, Alfira, Zevlor, Counsillor Florick (and I'm sure I missed more names) do consnatly make an appearane and have quests or can even aid you in the final battle.

Oh wow, that sounds much better. Than what we go.

Some of these appear as buffs or summons in the final battle yes. But we don't get any real conclusion for them.
Arabela giving me a Buff for the last 2 fights in the game isn't really much of a conclusion for her character.

Yeah I agree with the final buffs being meh.
But if we take into consideration how much Arabella as a character develops if you save her from the grove, then it isn't that lack of choice.

We more so are lacking true epilogues - seeing what happened to the world and characters after the battle.

What happened to characters we helped? What happened to locations we visited?

What happened to Druid Grove? Myconid Colony, Last Light Inn, Shadow Cursed Lands.

What happened to Arabella, Zevlor, Ironhand Gnomes etc.

[Mewsha]

Reading the Necromancy of Thay.

- True.

Consuming the tadpoles.

- True

Astorian ascending.

- To be fair the consequences of ascending Astarion are really only made obvious if you romance him, but you can tell even if you're just friends that he's worse off. His character doesn't grow or learn from his past. He's even more arrogant and selfish after ascending because he believes he's truly better than everyone else now whereas before he was hiding an insecurity. He's basically Cazador. In the romance you can actually read his mind and see that he doesn't see you as an equal and thinks you're degrading, likely he's just with you because you're the way to the crown. It's no longer true love. You can actually kick him in the balls if you pass that check to read his mind lmao, which obviously ends the romance.

Certain ritual to 'evil' god.

- Companions can leave, but it depends on your approval rating with them. Particularly with Wyll, Karlach, Gale, and Shadowheart if you convinced her to abandon Shar.

Hag.

- If you don't save Mayrina then you miss out on her quest in Act 3. You get a very good item for spellcasters from it as well. That stat increase is still better because it's a stat increase, but I always make sure that I can pass the stat check to get them both before I do the quest.

Sparing/killing certain characters.

- Minthara causes like three companions to leave and cuts you off from a huge chunk of the content in the game.

- If you tell Shadowheart to kill Nightsong because you want her to be a Dark Justiciar then everyone at Last Light Inn dies. Granted with this one I don't think the rewards that you get are that much better than when Shadowheart turns her back on Shar. They're still good rewards though. I respec'd Shadowheart to be a Paladin on one playthrough and that Shar spear was pretty nice.

I think it's more accurate to say there's almost always a loophole you can bypass most consequences if you prepare for it. You'd only know that on a second playthrough of course. On my first playthrough I ran into a couple other quirks too like Nere suffocating while I explored the Grymforge or the prisoners in Moonrise dying because I released Nightsong before I got them out.

Killing people or letting them die in general is bad though because a lot of people from the earlier parts of the game show up in the city and give quests/items. It's why even when I'm doing an evil playthrough I try to not mindlessly kill everyone, otherwise I realize I wanted something from someone who I killed or didn't help like 10 hours ago.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by Baby Ghoul:

Reading the Necromancy of Thay.

- True.

Consuming the tadpoles.

- True

Astorian ascending.

- To be fair the consequences of ascending Astarion are really only made obvious if you romance him, but you can tell even if you're just friends that he's worse off. His character doesn't grow or learn from his past. He's even more arrogant and selfish after ascending because he believes he's truly better than everyone else now whereas before he was hiding an insecurity. He's basically Cazador. In the romance you can actually read his mind and see that he doesn't see you as an equal and thinks you're degrading, likely he's just with you because you're the way to the crown. It's no longer true love. You can actually kick him in the balls if you pass that check to read his mind lmao, which obviously ends the romance.

Certain ritual to 'evil' god.

- Companions can leave, but it depends on your approval rating with them. Particularly with Wyll, Karlach, Gale, and Shadowheart if you convinced her to abandon Shar.

Hag.

- If you don't save Mayrina then you miss out on her quest in Act 3. You get a very good item for spellcasters from it as well. That stat increase is still better because it's a stat increase, but I always make sure that I can pass the stat check to get them both before I do the quest.

Sparing/killing certain characters.

- Minthara causes like three companions to leave and cuts you off from a huge chunk of the content in the game.

- If you tell Shadowheart to kill Nightsong because you want her to be a Dark Justiciar then everyone at Last Light Inn dies. Granted with this one I don't think the rewards that you get are that much better than when Shadowheart turns her back on Shar. They're still good rewards though. I respec'd Shadowheart to be a Paladin on one playthrough and that Shar spear was pretty nice.

I think it's more accurate to say there's almost always a loophole you can bypass most consequences if you prepare for it. You'd only know that on a second playthrough of course. On my first playthrough I ran into a couple other quirks too like Nere suffocating while I explored the Grymforge or the prisoners in Moonrise dying because I released Nightsong before I got them out.

Killing people or letting them die in general is bad though because a lot of people from the earlier parts of the game show up in the city and give quests/items. It's why even when I'm doing an evil playthrough I try to not mindlessly kill everyone, otherwise I realize I wanted something from someone who I killed or didn't help like 10 hours ago.

I'm sure there's both an implied and the blunt character change about him when ascending. It's clearly the "bad" choice, but in terms of gameplay and long term narrative, it doesn't actually matter.
Depending on the order if you doing things, it may be one of the last things you do before the final fight, there's barely any companion interactions left, no epilogue, no proper conclusion. If you use him as a companion, you'll just lose on him being stronger.
We don't get to deal with any fallout with that decision, we don't know what happens later on depending on the choice, nothing.

I meant the masochist ritual.
No one leaves if you abandon Shar, everyone is for that.

I recall you can save the girl and get the hair without killing the hag, no?

Regardless killing/sparing, it only matters to very certain characters, usually quest or achievement related ones. Not to most though.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by Shibendo Smilando:

Originally posted by DaniTheHero:

Oh wow, that sounds much better. Than what we go.

Some of these appear as buffs or summons in the final battle yes. But we don't get any real conclusion for them.
Arabela giving me a Buff for the last 2 fights in the game isn't really much of a conclusion for her character.

Yeah I agree with the final buffs being meh.
But if we take into consideration how much Arabella as a character develops if you save her from the grove, then it isn't that lack of choice.

We more so are lacking true epilogues - seeing what happened to the world and characters after the battle.

What happened to characters we helped? What happened to locations we visited?

What happened to Druid Grove? Myconid Colony, Last Light Inn, Shadow Cursed Lands.

What happened to Arabella, Zevlor, Ironhand Gnomes etc.

Yeah. An Epilogue is sourly missing.

[Solvem Probler]

The 17000 different endings or whatever they claimed were sweet little lies.

[❃ Galiäna Krüger ❃]

Originally posted by DaniTheHero:

I loved playing this game. I have done ever piece of content I can possibly engage with in my journey, the characters. The story, the gameplay, it's all great.

However one major disappointing factor in Baldurs Gate 3, that turns the game from a 10/10 to a 8 or 9 for me, and in a way ruins repeatability for me, is the lack of actual consequences.

There's many decisions you can make during the game, from minor to major, that on paper seem to have a narrative and moral shifting point, but end up not mattering at all.

Reading the Necromancy of Thay.
Consuming the tadpoles.
Astorian ascending.
Certain ritual to 'evil' god.
Hag.
Sparing/killing certain characters.

These decisions that most 'Good aligned' wouldn't do, but in fact wouldn't effect the game negatively at all and you just end up missing on stats.
Even the actual ending of the game, is pretty much relegated to a dialogue choice, 1 second before the ending cut-scene.

The only things that seem to matter are companion quests, and even that is more about how their story concludes within the bounds of the game, rather than future prospects.

What makes this worse is that unlike other similar games, even ones made by Larian itself, there's no epilogue that shows the state of the regions, characters and even the world due to decisions you made. You could've slaughtered half the NPC's in the game, taken every single evil decision there is, and still be the "hero" that saved the city and that's it.

SPOILER TAG EXISTS

The Emperor is breathing down smelly tentacle breathe down your stern neck

[Action Man]

What I read about Daisy (I did not play EA) was that she was cut because it was very apparent who she really was.

My thought on it is the NPC you encounter in the dream space should have been related to the background you chose. Let's say I take Folk Hero. You're a local hero somewhere, so in your dream, you interact with a person you saved. That person is the tadpole, trying to tempt you. Each background should have its own unique NPC to talk to. Yes, it would have taken more VA work, but I think linking the tadpole to someone in your past is better than a 'random' person.

Lack of epilogue in a game like this is always a let down. And my thoughts on the mind flayer decision...ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Ghazgh]

No epilogue was sad, spend so much time with the game and was kinda disappointed... I seriously thought about a second go right after this one, with other choices and stuff, but with an ending like this... i guess not. But i have to say, nice game until then (except for a few bugs, half baked third act and a romance i didn´t know i had. ^^ (Halsin wtf?))

[Izlude]

Like with Mass Effect 3 really nothing you do before the final act of the game matters at all really. 1700 hundred endings lol, more like 3 with variations of flavor text.