I have been taking the evil path with my drow in Baldur’s Gate 3, and it has made me realize how undercooked the general choice and consequences are in this game – especially for everything that can be considered “evil”. I have already talked about this in my countless Baldur’s Gate 3 articles, but I felt I just had to point out the faults once again with some added notes.
The game lets you play evil, and that is good and all. However, at the same time, it punishes you for doing so. There is nothing to be gained here – you don’t get more power, you get less loot, you get no followers (usually the path of evil consists of you taking power for yourself). It’s lackluster, and it makes more of a path of retarded. You are actively gimping yourself, which means you will have less of a gaming experience. You will also lose companions, while you only get one that is semi-broken, as she loses all kinds of interaction after a while.
This is somewhat of a retread, however, my main point with all this is that both paths are disappointing. In the sense that the good path has no sacrifices to be made, except for that specific companion as mentioned. Not too unexpected perhaps, but this also means that replayability is almost zero except for the ending, and the “grove” decision in Act 1 (which makes no sense in general as an evil guy). The ultimate way to play evil in Baldur’s Gate 3 is to take the good path but pretend in your head that you doing it for evil deeds. With that I mean, if you want to be something beyond an evil murder hobo that is something more than chaotic retarded, this is your best way path forward. If you want the story to make any kind of sense, that is. By having the evil path not giving any apparent bonuses, the best action to take is just to play a good boy since the good path comes with no drawbacks or sacrifices. However, playing evil to pretend to be good must be the lamest thing ever. And in the end, it makes the whole thing incredibly pointless.
You don’t even have to play evil to get the choice of picking the evil ending, so why even bother? Just reload and experience an alternative timeline where your hero is a villain instead. Everything about this made me realize that the different paths are just an illusion of choice. For example, destroying the grove and killing the refugees in Act 1 gives you nothing, while destroying the goblins gives you plenty of loot, XP, and story beats. On top of this, which is the crucial point that breaks the illusion is that both paths come with zero reactivity in the form of factions actually distrusting you. The Absolute treats you the same regardless, and the same goes for Jaheira and the Harpers. This makes the C&C utterly pointless and very bland since the paths are the same in the end, except that you cripple yourself by playing evil, as mentioned.
Not exactly the epitome of roleplaying here, which was something that Larian Studios promised – to make both roads unique and viable throughout the campaign. That is not the case, as I just pointed out. Eating tadpoles like candy makes no difference when it comes to the finish, as you are cured regardless. This fact symbolizes everything wrong with the story to me. It’s all just a deception, which means there is only blandness to be found when you realize it’s all smoke and mirrors.
Thanks for reading.
/Thomas
Tom's Gaming Vault 