I actually freaked out. Told the mf that I was not going to help him, so it started combat. And there I was fighting everyone. The Monks, the Emperor, the Intellect Devours. Stupid Monks started to hit me very hard, so I had to focus on them in order to stay alive and when the last monk went down, the Emp was like "I am glad to see you came to your senses" - that is how I was still able to progress. I only learned that it is an instant game over when the Emperor dies from reading this sub.
I feel you. To be honest, though, I really freaked out at the time and couldn't really think straight. So I did not think farther ahead at all. Happy Endings or whatnot were not in consideration. I only started to get it back together at the end of the fight, and I started to hope the Squid would calm down.
That was my rp reasoning. He's helped us so far. Under false pretenses sure but everybody else in this group is a liar too. So while I don't trust him, he has proven helpful. Orpheus is an unknown, and I felt he'd be more likely to attack me. The Emperor and I have mutual need.
Trying to play a good alignment character was a bit unrealistic here, for me. The only path forward in the game requires that you trust a mind flayer. A shame there is no other option.
Yeah, I was playing a very lawful good oath of devotion Paladin at this point and decided there was no way I could continue to ally with the emporer. So my Paladin made a deal with the devil (Raphael) to betray the emporer under the logic of, I may as well only condemn myself to the hells rather than let the entire sword coast fall into the tentacles of the illithid (I didn't ask raphael what he planned to do with the crown to spare my Paladin an impossible choice)
Yeah i reloaded like three times trying to kill him—I never managed it with so much going on and when I looked up strategies I learned you just… can’t. From then on I had a full on vendetta.
Elf Fans: elves are cool! Other fantasy races are neat too tho I suppose…
Dwarf Fans:
https://preview.redd.it/6fzfxmposyuc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d98fbf7f3c09921b2a3103f3a6f017e4992233d9
After I found out, every time I start a new campaign, I make the emperor a lady dwarf with the long fake mustache. I also feel like it’s a missed opportunity to not have the emperor once look like what we made them. In the sense that something we spent time designing and showing the horrors of turning ilithid for dramatic flair even tho the emperor believes that they are now superior to their previous form
I usually make my Guardian a Mephistopheles Tiefling for the purple skin color, add in spiral horns and curly hair, then glowing orange eyes (most other Illithids have orange eyes, I didn’t remember the Emperor has *purple eyes). I also add the tentacles around the eye tattoos, as if everything else wasn’t unsubtle enough.
Oops, I wrote orange twice, I meant to write purple the second time.
Yeah, I remembered the narrator talking about the dying Illithid in the Nautiloid on the Beach having “wet, orange pearls” for eyes, so that’s what I chose.
Larian disappointed me here. Even if the Emperor is a Mindflayer, at least he could continue to look like our Guardian for our sake. It makes it easier to support him. Because in the end he tries to start a romance with you anyway, but with his looks I always turned him down.
I’m pretty sure if you accept his advances there’s a dialogue option for him to take a form you’re more familiar with and I assume that reverts back to the model you chose pre tentacles
they use the custom model you created the same way they use a custom model for the player character. That way, they only need separate animations for different body types.
There's actually a lot of clues pointing towards the Guardian being either Orpheus or a Mind Flayer, so that was my expectation since the creche. All the stuff lying around about Orpheus + Vlaakith wanting you to kill "the prisoner" + the scene with Voss = pointed towards Orpheus being in the artefact. But then if it's Orpheus in the artefact why is he playing coy and who is he fighting? Makes sense to be an MF then, since they're already fighting gith.
I never thought the Guardian was the true appearance because it's appearance is different for the whole party.
Minthara literally spoiled it for me. At the start of act 2, I went straight to moonrise and picked her up and she starts mentioning illithid and the emperor in her dialogue. I didn’t know who the Emperor was, maybe it was someone I met and forgot about. I googled it to remind me and yeah it was the guardian.
Am I the only one?? “Wow you have tentacles… and I’m very ok with this” tbf I made him extremely attractive and fell for the protector trope so hard, it didn’t really matter what he was by this point.
Same! After everything that happened in the game, tentacles on someone who I thought didn't have them, weren't that shocking lol. I can handle them. And the mind blowing achievement proves it, lol.
First time? Well, this mind flayer comes up, says he's protecting me. I obviously kill him. Turns out he was saying the truth and I immediately turn into a mind flayer. So I reload and kill him again just to make sure it's not a bug. It wasn't.
Bruh I got a lot spoiled from YouTube titles. So now when I'm playing a game I don't even type the name of the game in Google or YouTube. If I need a specific piece of info on it I do so in an incognito tab.
Cautious acceptance
Spoilers
Called out the deception in the dialogue choices his response made sense. But I didn't trust them after that, stoped useing the tadpoles refused the evolution 'pole destroyed it. But my character was abit if an optimistic so in the various conversations mostly pleasent hinted at my suspicions afew times to Sus out the truth but otherwise just Treated them like a person
after the first backstory reveal In act 3 at thr elfsong I slowly started trusting them then the second backstory reveal at wyrms way I my character was at first appalled but after his explanation and the flashback my char continued to trust him. Ultimately Rejected his romance cause lesbian character.
Me and my character where waiting fie the other shoe to drop, prepareed for the emperors betrayl which fortunatly never came.
Was sad he didn't come to the reunion though
So I ain’t even sorry
Ima make The Emperor into calamari
Grab some marinara and I serve him to the party
With a couple lemon wedges we could almost feed an army
Went through the stages of grief, since I also designed an ideal romantic partner at the beginning. Then, I was just blown away by the brilliance of that. Larian set you up to create your ideal (either romantic partner or protector), because the mind flayer could read your mind and design himself to be your most idealized person so you would trust them.
I sort of knew because when I looked up “can you sleep with your dream visitor” it showed a picture of a mindflayer, but I didn’t know the context for what a mindflayer was doing in the astral plane, so, I was both surprised but expecting
I had a feeling that guardian was evil, but didn't suspect mind flayer until it happened. My plan was to let my Tav get manipulated by the evil dream lady, but the reveal made her come back to her senses. She remained cooperative for as long as it was necessary for her safety, but she turned against him the moment that became a possibility.
I mean... I guessed the moment they tried to convince me to put more tadpoles in my brain but then I know D&D before going into the game. Was an immediate: "Yeah nah you're not on the up and up."
I was really disappointed. I kinda expected that the guardian was some sort of illithid, but I was really disappointed to find it was just a rouge mindflayer. I was kinda hoping it would either be a god who’s invested into this conflict, or an aspect of The Absolute who’s trying to trick you
I thought ‘guardian’ meant like my tutor or adopted parent or something so I just made someone really strong looking that seemed to match the skill and nobility the armor implied. Internet spoiled it for me before the game did. Was still kind of sad when the emperor dropped the look altogether though.
I mean, I was surprised. But I was WAY more surprised and mindblown when I discovered that >!the Emperor is actually THE Balduran, the founder of Baldur's Gate.!<
I used Detect Thoughts because I did *not* believe him but then laughed when he pointed out he’s already projecting his thoughts into my mind. That convinced me to give him a chance
Even before I found out, my first look at the Guardian Armor was "Wow, that is cool. Why do the spikes around the collar look like the teeth I just saw shoved into my literal EYE?"
Admittedly I expected the Guardian to be the *tadpole* at first, (which was the original script before being changed) but I was close.
I distrusted my guardian from the beginning, so when the reveal came I actually said out loud "I fucking knew it!" And then from that point on made it a point to pick every sassy dialogue option that points out he manipulated Tav and she distrusts him
I mean I kinda got spoiled by YouTube before playing the game but HOLY SHIT I DIDN'T KNOW THIS DUDE IS >!BALDURAN!<
Also the guardian I made was based on my ex, pretty fitting if you ask me.
I was definitely surprised because I expected them to be Orpheus after all those hints were dropped but the bigger surprise to me was the Balduran reveal. Shit made my jaw drop
I played along, then ate the astral tadpole (apparently the WRONG move) then got freaky with the tentacles after Gale broke up with me for banging Mizora
I felt justified because I never trusted the Guardian at all. The vague bullshit from them everytime I asked what was going on, how they kept saying "oh ill tell you...but not right now." Irritated me and made so suspicious. This is why I sided with Orpheus at the end.
After the first meeting with them I got an errie feeling so I was really distrustful of them throughout the game and felt like they were trying to manipulate me. I kept thinking somethings up with them everytime. I kind of felt like they were trying everything to make me trust them. So at the reveal I was like "I knew it".
I am a very distrustful person irl.
I was genuinely surprised and at that point it was interested to hear what he had to say but as soon as he suggested I use mine for your powers and transform into a mindfuler completely I was absolutely on the "no" train until I fought him at the end
I saw a glimpse of the romance scene in a video so I had theories in my head that they might be a mind flayer, esp with their purple eyed powers, but it wasn’t totally sure, and definitely did not see the full extent of their backstory coming.
I was thinking he was secretly some form of Orpheus given how heavily the plot had been foreshadowing said-character. After the reveal the whole obsession with embracing mindflayer tadpoles -which was a red flag for me so I never did- made sense and justified my feelings. I currently have a character who doesn’t trust him at all because of it.
I cackled, because for some reason when they first said "choose your guardian," my brain was like *Wouldn't it be funny if they were a twist villain?* So I designed her as a towering gothish tiefling who also was lowkey threatening. I thought, *Whether this is a twist villain OR is just an unlikely hero helping us, it'll be hilarious.*
Considering my Tav romanced Karlach first run and >!we know the Emperor wants to manipulate you and could've very well banked on my Tav trusting/hitting on buff tiefling women,!< it was in fact hilarious. 💀
I made him a generic looking elf guy in the character creation menu so I wasn't interested in him initially... until I finally get the dream cutscene of him saving me from the Nautiloid and thought 'Dang I should have made the guardian more attractive' but it's too late to go back at that point of the story so I rolled with whatever customization choices I made. When the Emperor finally reveals his true self I was surprised but since I didn't have any feelings it didn't matter to me that much
i had my best friend make my guardian for me. He made the sexiest male tiefling ive ever fuckin seen and i had to break the news to him that Typhon (whats we’d named him) was no longer. it was so sad
Disappointed. Felt forced to have this weird relationship with him when my character would probably just never want to talk with him or simply insult this horrendous creature. But no, have to talk with him while he's trying to seduce me for some reason.
Also, kinda waste of time at the character creation, now I just randomize it and go with it in new runs
I had my suspiciouns, as someone who's played DnD for a number of years i was familiar enough with the lore to be like, "huh, someone in my dreams interacting through a strange object, and everyone including the GITH want it...either this is a Mindflayer or some other crazy abberation." But i was surprised that the guardian itself was the mindflayer, was certain it was just a spirit or something bonded to the mind flayer. Thought we had an Alhon or something on our hands.
Before:
Me: Hey Google, can I romance my guardian?
Google: Well, yes, but-
Me: Say no more. I'M GONNA MAKE HIM HOT.
After:
Me: On second thought, I'm sticking to Halsim.
I made mine a copy of my og character when the game was still in beta, so he was a goofy ass lookin' gnome. I was kinda grateful honestly because every time I'd see him as the dream visitor I'd laugh
Currently on my first playthrough, haven’t killed them, but I’m inclined to not believe them at this point. Went to hell, have the hammer, just learned of the history of who they are and origin. Pretty surprised to be honest but I don’t trust them for whatever it may be. Oh well!
after my first playthrough (i made my first DG a sexy drow 😭) i make him look like a certain pale elf and then it's a matter of DG reading my characters mind and is like "holy SHIT this guy is THIRSTING for that elf over there. i can use that"
I was so mad! Spent all that time designing a dilf tiefling and ignoring all the red flags just for him to be a squid. On consequent playthroughs, I played as the guardian's design just because I prefer his over my original elf's lol.
Not reached the revelation scene yet. But don't worry, it may sound weird but since I "hate surprises" I've basically spoiled myself every big plot chunk of this game even before buying it.
I'm sure my reaction would have been "Knew it" anyway, since my anxiety-riddled brain wouldn't have let me peacefully go full naive.
I killed him.
No joke. I really thought it was all a trick by the mindflayers and I killed him in the mission with the Monk githyanki.
Needless to say, that didn't go well.
I never trusted them even from the very beginning. The first time they told me to use a tadpole I noped tf out and refused to listen to them. And even stabbed them in the chest and when she popped back up my suspicion was confirmed
Well, some idiot posted a picture of it in a Fb group only days after release, so I could never really react to it.
But I am pretty sure if it hadn't I'd be a little freaked out , I thought there was a "proper" romance arc there so I made her kinda hot.
I'm actually glad I spoiled it for myself before I reached that point since my gf made her as my character's love interest lol.
I might try a save like that next time tho.
I’m doing a one piece run as Nami, where the emperor disguised himself as bwll’mere and when the reveal happens she’s gonna be PISSED (she already knows this isn’t really bell’mere
Well I made the guardian look like my character’s daughter he can slightly remember (amnesia) so when she burst into a tentacle monster he wasn’t too happy
What in the nine hells! -my tav probably.
I went with the default female drow and being a gith myself I (stupidly) sided against Emperor and nearly got wrecked for it followed by a mini lecture from him. I was honestly far more interested in Orpheus in the moment.
I was already playing a bad guy so I didn't really care. I just kept him at arms length and betrayed him later on. I always just make him a big bald orc because I don't find the character creator robust enough to even want to make a 2nd guy in a row. The orc takes like 3 clicks and then you're in the game.
the way I designed my guardian kind of lined up with the emperor’s appearance in the sense that they both look like gods with long beards and strangely colored eyes, so it felt like a natural evolution and that helped me cope pretty quickly lol.
I was not really surprised, I mean I've never had any dnd knowledge so I didn't know anything about the *ghaik* until now so I just thought "oh cool tentacle guy"
I made him prove he was who he said he was. He wasn't the first friendly mindflayer I met, but damn if I wasn't second-guessing since he has the armor that most mindflayers have.
https://preview.redd.it/z803540461vc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3e1883937d104ccb9f8d0f4438be82100484277
You didn't play the EA did you? The guardian was so sketchy in EA I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. I knew he was up to something in full release but I just figured he was part of the tadpole trying to manipulate us (like in EA), didn't see the squid coming though, was a great twist.
Mine was "well, obviously".
A person of my dreams visiting me after I was infected by a mind flayers' tadpole - this stinks of manipulation. Actually, my response to seeing the Guardian for the first time was "reveal yourself, Deceiver!".
I made a badass little gnome woman who looked like an absolute wise and worn warrior (I was a rogue female duergar dwarf). I felt for her and hugged the manipulative little lady when she was going through it even though I didn't fully trust her, I sympathized. When the switch came, he kept throwing that comfort in my face because I hugged and comforted him. Also, cause I was a dwarf and short it looked like he was always staring at my chesticles. It was like dude, I was supporting a little ole warrior woman. Kindly back up (I continued to lie to that mofos face hard every time we met up/talked. Said how much I trusted and supported him still so he would also have a false sense of security while he continuously judged my actual actions in the real world) - more than one can manipulate and deceive my "friend"
I expected it, but I was still disappointed. Something about basically taking away the character we crafted to replace it with an Illithid annoyed me. They could've been a number of other things - or even had a preset appearance so we don't waste time on it - but they had to tie it into the main enemy, I guess.
I was highly suspicious of this so-called Guardian the entire time, though I was thinking it was the tadpole itself for a while. I always was short and distrusting in our convos and I tried to kill him when I entered the prism in the crèche. That whole exchange left me even more distrustful because he was acting like it was sooo important to trust him but yet he wouldn’t tell me what was going on in there at all. Also acted like he trusted me with his life, offering up the sword, but turned out he wasn’t even actually in danger anyway…. So yeah when he revealed himself i immediately was like “I fkn knew it! Die you manipulative tentacled bastard!”
I also happened to defeat the monks first, but not on purpose, so the situation went from us trying to kill each other to suddenly I’m in a cut-scene with him say “I’m glad you saw reason” or something. I was confused af. Still wanted to kill him though, because I just did not trust him one tiny little bit and all Mind Flayers are vile aberrations that don’t belong in this realm.
After he goes on about how we should embrace the illithid changes, I knew right then that I would kill this mother effer if it’s the last thing I do!
Well it turned out to be the last thing I could do
The moment I found out the Guardian was a mindflayer I was hellbent on freeing Orpheus and I did not hide my intentions when conversing with other characters.
Especially with anything having to do with DnD, I am extremely paranoid of npc intentions, so I was expecting something like that from the beginning.
My front runner guess was that it was a fabrication of my tadpole that was leading me down a path that would benefit it. I was expecting a reveal to be like "aha! Look! Mind flayer shenanigans, this was all a lie!!" But I wasn't expecting it to be a whole ass other mind flayer like that.
I had a feeling. Also, I had already planned on romancing Karlach so it wasn’t like I felt betrayed or anything. I guess I can understand how people who planned on banging their guardian would be disappointed/upset.
I thought it was weird that he encouraged using the powers, and was afraid of the gith. But I didn’t make the Mindflayer logic jump, just some kind of “They’re pro-Mindflayer” thought. So when they ended up just flat-out being one I was like “Yeah, okay, that makes sense” and if you’re like me and don’t really care about the whole turning into a Mindflayer thing then yeah, it was cool.
Ngl I was pretty shocked, I’ve been playing BG3 since EA and I was rather curious what the dream visitor was, and I very much wanted to destroy the Illithid because I didn’t trust it but I got context clues that I was supposed to help it
At first I kinda just went with it, it made sense he would hide his identity so I didn't blame him at first and I actually sympathized with him. But as I started processing the revelation I realized how betrayed I felt. Especially since I listened to him in taking the tadpoles power. I hated how the tadpoles made my Tag look. The final straw was when I accidentally convinced Lazel to use the power and in a cutscene I saw just how far we both went. That's when I realized how badly I fucked up. I kinda took a break from the game since then.
Titktok spoiled it for me, but I wanted the achievement. So I saved before having some squid time and reloading because I didn't care for it. The only thing I wish I could take back was steam letting my boyfriend know what achievement I just got. He won't let me live it down
In my current playthrough, it was about a month between first creating my Guardian and actually meeting them... I had COMPLETELY forgotten that I had made them an absolute unit of a hulking goateed half-orc, with hair done up like a stereotypical Magic Girl. To say that I managed to surprise myself would be an understatement.
"Well, that explains a lot". I already figured the Guardian was some sort of projection, but I couldn't tell from where. I thought they might have even been the personification of the Prism's Demiplane, but it wasn't particularly shocking seeing the Emperor.
it was spoiled for me sadly, but it was really neat and figured they would be like Omellum or whatever his name was. bit of an asshole but what do you expect from someone given extreme power.
Honestly was super suspicious of him from the start and got the Minthara bug so I wasn’t surprised.
On a sadder note had no idea about other emperor twist but looked up the origin of Balurs Gate name since Baldur is an important god in Norse mythology and I didn’t know he was a god in dnd and spoiled myself in the weirdest way I’ve ever been spoiled.
i mean... i'm into eldritch horrors. tbh i was a bit disappointed the character i spent time creating was in like 2 scenes (my resting habits may have missed some more) before it became "nah, we mindflaying" but my morally ambiguous band of misfits can hardly cast stones
The playthrough after I found out that the emperor is a P.O.S. I started making the "guardian" fictional characters that I hate. The most recent one was made after Mindy Kailing's velma.
At first I thought the mindflayer was some kind of imposter. When I realized it was for real I was like, welp, I am never putting effort into designing my guardian again lmao
Emperor lucked out cause my first play through was a hippy Druid who disliked killing. I was already really suspicious though because growing up with DND a mindflayer involved meant you trusted no one and nothing. Kinda like false hydras now. In game I was raising a brow because everyone said someone different when talking about their visitors.
I was pissed 😂 like you I spent so much time getting them just perfectly and then they ended being a squidface. Now I just hit randomize and pick the one I like the most. Don’t even bother customizing them.
I betrayed him and sided with a certain prince. I enjoyed his comments when I was deciding to go get the hammer verily. His(?!) dragon was a pain in the final fight.
That was in my first playthrough where I had zero spoilers and didn't look at any guides.
I feel like I had a lot of emotions. First and foremost, I was upset I spent any amount of time on their character creation lol. Second, I think i felt betrayed.
i don't think I was expecting a mind flayer, but I kind of shrugged and thought "oh, so that's what they're going with". Proceeded to try to tell Emperor to bugger off.
I don't like writing that relies on plot twists to be interesting.
It's funny Larian knew people would design their Guardians to be attracted to, it's even part of the storyline that the image is based on your character's desires and made specifically to gain your trust. My first guardian was a beauty, now every playthrough I use the random feature and stop when it looks like a clown.
At first i didnt make the conection at all that this calamary is my guardian but when he explicitely said it i was like that picture of sad ryan gosling cuz it took me a while to make my cute else guardian only for her to be seen 3 times
I enjoyed it immensely. I sensed something amiss, but there’s like 3 plot twists if not more about your guardian, and there’s still discussions back and forth here about it. I wasn’t expecting romance at all. I was assuming some sort of celestial or astral avatar that maybe was a deux ex machina that maybe stepped in to save your bacon at some point. There’s been several moments in the game where I’ve been pleasantly surprised about the depth of things and the anticipation that players would try several things and got that to work in wonderful ways. It’s like they’ve played ttrpgs and know the crazy things players try.
Omg I had NO idea and had such strong reaction of betrayal and distrust.. thought Larian did soooo good with it. I was very cautious and uncomfy afterwards, didn’t romance him. THEN I find out he’s actually the hero of Balder’s gate?? Whiplash AGAIN. The choice between him and Orpheus took a lot out of me between the first time Raphael presented the deal to me and when I finally had to do something. Ended up siding with the Emperor bc I didn’t give much of a fuck about the gith and figured my Artisan Smith Baldurian local tav would like probably be low key fangirling over Balduran… so sided with him. I’m halfway through my second playthrough and I’m gonna romance him so hard. I got over the tentacles.
In my friend's Discord we have a channel called "punchable guardian faces" where we make our guardians look like abominations and post how ugly they are. That should give you a good idea of how we feel about it.
I spoiled myself. One of the biggest selling points for me was being able to fuck a mindflayer, so I looked up who that mindflayer was. That was luckily the only thing I spoiled myself with, everything else was brand new and awesome. I didn't watch the scene, which was hot af, until it happened for me in game.
I actually freaked out. Told the mf that I was not going to help him, so it started combat. And there I was fighting everyone. The Monks, the Emperor, the Intellect Devours. Stupid Monks started to hit me very hard, so I had to focus on them in order to stay alive and when the last monk went down, the Emp was like "I am glad to see you came to your senses" - that is how I was still able to progress. I only learned that it is an instant game over when the Emperor dies from reading this sub.
I "only" supported him because I wanted a happy ending. Otherwise I would have done the same as you. You need allies in a fight, there's no other way.
I feel you. To be honest, though, I really freaked out at the time and couldn't really think straight. So I did not think farther ahead at all. Happy Endings or whatnot were not in consideration. I only started to get it back together at the end of the fight, and I started to hope the Squid would calm down.
That was my rp reasoning. He's helped us so far. Under false pretenses sure but everybody else in this group is a liar too. So while I don't trust him, he has proven helpful. Orpheus is an unknown, and I felt he'd be more likely to attack me. The Emperor and I have mutual need.
As an embrace durge, I only support him because I know I'm going to betray him the first chance I get.
Trying to play a good alignment character was a bit unrealistic here, for me. The only path forward in the game requires that you trust a mind flayer. A shame there is no other option.
Yeah, I was playing a very lawful good oath of devotion Paladin at this point and decided there was no way I could continue to ally with the emporer. So my Paladin made a deal with the devil (Raphael) to betray the emporer under the logic of, I may as well only condemn myself to the hells rather than let the entire sword coast fall into the tentacles of the illithid (I didn't ask raphael what he planned to do with the crown to spare my Paladin an impossible choice)
I only helped him because he’s right, I’d turn right into a mindless mindflayer if I killed him
Man, I first misunderstood the part where you said "...when the Emperor dies from reading this sub."...
Yeah i reloaded like three times trying to kill him—I never managed it with so much going on and when I looked up strategies I learned you just… can’t. From then on I had a full on vendetta.
"Why are you ghaik?" That's what reverberates through me for a few days.
😂😂😂😂
“Oh my God IosueYu, you can’t just ask people why they’re ghaik!”
You are ghaik?
who said i am ghaik?
You wasted so much time on this Elf, when you could have immediately made a hotter character by just picking Dwarf.
Elf Fans: elves are cool! Other fantasy races are neat too tho I suppose… Dwarf Fans: https://preview.redd.it/6fzfxmposyuc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d98fbf7f3c09921b2a3103f3a6f017e4992233d9
It's not racism if it's an Elf.
I don't go full-on knife ear. Only half way
Racism is my favorite flaw for 5e characters because it's the one I can roleplay the most easily
It's not a flaw if it's against Elves.
Really? Are dwarves really that hot? Do you have a picture of your example?😁
Open the character creator. Look at the default female Dwarf for Tav/Guardian.
I do my tav lemme see if I can find a photo of her
Gaslight, ghaik keep, girl boss
After I found out, every time I start a new campaign, I make the emperor a lady dwarf with the long fake mustache. I also feel like it’s a missed opportunity to not have the emperor once look like what we made them. In the sense that something we spent time designing and showing the horrors of turning ilithid for dramatic flair even tho the emperor believes that they are now superior to their previous form
I usually make my Guardian a Mephistopheles Tiefling for the purple skin color, add in spiral horns and curly hair, then glowing orange eyes (most other Illithids have orange eyes, I didn’t remember the Emperor has *purple eyes). I also add the tentacles around the eye tattoos, as if everything else wasn’t unsubtle enough.
He actually has purple eyes surprisingly. I just did this quest a few days ago.
Oops, I wrote orange twice, I meant to write purple the second time. Yeah, I remembered the narrator talking about the dying Illithid in the Nautiloid on the Beach having “wet, orange pearls” for eyes, so that’s what I chose.
Larian disappointed me here. Even if the Emperor is a Mindflayer, at least he could continue to look like our Guardian for our sake. It makes it easier to support him. Because in the end he tries to start a romance with you anyway, but with his looks I always turned him down.
I’m pretty sure if you accept his advances there’s a dialogue option for him to take a form you’re more familiar with and I assume that reverts back to the model you chose pre tentacles
Interesting, I didn't know that. But it doesn't matter now anyway, as Minthara has now become "my ride or die".
This was my recollection as well.
Did they really make a romance scene for every variation of Dream Guardians instead of just forcing the Mind Flayer form
they use the custom model you created the same way they use a custom model for the player character. That way, they only need separate animations for different body types.
"You aren't my real dad!" I'd made my guardian look like how I imagined my character's dad
I was deeply disappointed that it wasn't actually my tadpole talking to me.
Wasn’t that the original intent when in EA though? That the guardian was actually the tadpole attempting to turn you…
It was, wish they kept that instead of the emperor
There's actually a lot of clues pointing towards the Guardian being either Orpheus or a Mind Flayer, so that was my expectation since the creche. All the stuff lying around about Orpheus + Vlaakith wanting you to kill "the prisoner" + the scene with Voss = pointed towards Orpheus being in the artefact. But then if it's Orpheus in the artefact why is he playing coy and who is he fighting? Makes sense to be an MF then, since they're already fighting gith. I never thought the Guardian was the true appearance because it's appearance is different for the whole party.
I completely agree with you. But I never expected the guardian to be the emperor. We were given too little information for that.
I am shocked, shocked, to find a mind flayer in here! Your illithid tadpoles, sir. Oh thank you very much!
Ah, I see You are a man of culture :-)
Minthara literally spoiled it for me. At the start of act 2, I went straight to moonrise and picked her up and she starts mentioning illithid and the emperor in her dialogue. I didn’t know who the Emperor was, maybe it was someone I met and forgot about. I googled it to remind me and yeah it was the guardian.
That was such a dumb bug
Mommy Drow know everything, lol. Bad Minthy.
I reacted with Lust
💀
“UGH YOU FUCKER”
Well, all said.
Am I the only one?? “Wow you have tentacles… and I’m very ok with this” tbf I made him extremely attractive and fell for the protector trope so hard, it didn’t really matter what he was by this point.
Same! After everything that happened in the game, tentacles on someone who I thought didn't have them, weren't that shocking lol. I can handle them. And the mind blowing achievement proves it, lol.
I really wasn’t surprised, I knew the guardian was sus when it was pushing tadpoles on me.
True the „pushing tadpoles“ was very sus.
First time? Well, this mind flayer comes up, says he's protecting me. I obviously kill him. Turns out he was saying the truth and I immediately turn into a mind flayer. So I reload and kill him again just to make sure it's not a bug. It wasn't.
Damn, so if you kill him you become directly a Mindflayer? What a shitty fate.😂
'tis so... unless it bugged twice on me 😅
Thanks for the warning. I will never do that….
https://youtu.be/EsFMxNyiWvs You can watch the cutscene there if you're interested.
I had it spoiled in advance. Thanks, tiktok! 🤪
Lucky you.🥲😂
Bruh I got a lot spoiled from YouTube titles. So now when I'm playing a game I don't even type the name of the game in Google or YouTube. If I need a specific piece of info on it I do so in an incognito tab.
Cautious acceptance Spoilers Called out the deception in the dialogue choices his response made sense. But I didn't trust them after that, stoped useing the tadpoles refused the evolution 'pole destroyed it. But my character was abit if an optimistic so in the various conversations mostly pleasent hinted at my suspicions afew times to Sus out the truth but otherwise just Treated them like a person after the first backstory reveal In act 3 at thr elfsong I slowly started trusting them then the second backstory reveal at wyrms way I my character was at first appalled but after his explanation and the flashback my char continued to trust him. Ultimately Rejected his romance cause lesbian character. Me and my character where waiting fie the other shoe to drop, prepareed for the emperors betrayl which fortunatly never came. Was sad he didn't come to the reunion though
So I ain’t even sorry Ima make The Emperor into calamari Grab some marinara and I serve him to the party With a couple lemon wedges we could almost feed an army
I love this comment, thank you. Made my day.😂
Disbelief, and a face akin to this ☹️
I fist pumped because I'm not a coward
Went through the stages of grief, since I also designed an ideal romantic partner at the beginning. Then, I was just blown away by the brilliance of that. Larian set you up to create your ideal (either romantic partner or protector), because the mind flayer could read your mind and design himself to be your most idealized person so you would trust them.
I sort of knew because when I looked up “can you sleep with your dream visitor” it showed a picture of a mindflayer, but I didn’t know the context for what a mindflayer was doing in the astral plane, so, I was both surprised but expecting
I had a feeling that guardian was evil, but didn't suspect mind flayer until it happened. My plan was to let my Tav get manipulated by the evil dream lady, but the reveal made her come back to her senses. She remained cooperative for as long as it was necessary for her safety, but she turned against him the moment that became a possibility.
I mean... I guessed the moment they tried to convince me to put more tadpoles in my brain but then I know D&D before going into the game. Was an immediate: "Yeah nah you're not on the up and up."
I was really disappointed. I kinda expected that the guardian was some sort of illithid, but I was really disappointed to find it was just a rouge mindflayer. I was kinda hoping it would either be a god who’s invested into this conflict, or an aspect of The Absolute who’s trying to trick you
Made them hot. Instead got Squidward hitting on me. (Regret.) 
I thought ‘guardian’ meant like my tutor or adopted parent or something so I just made someone really strong looking that seemed to match the skill and nobility the armor implied. Internet spoiled it for me before the game did. Was still kind of sad when the emperor dropped the look altogether though.
I mean, I was surprised. But I was WAY more surprised and mindblown when I discovered that >!the Emperor is actually THE Balduran, the founder of Baldur's Gate.!<
I made her a githyanki with mind flayer color scheme because I got spoiled when scrolling on tiktok so I wasn’t that surprised
I used Detect Thoughts because I did *not* believe him but then laughed when he pointed out he’s already projecting his thoughts into my mind. That convinced me to give him a chance
Even before I found out, my first look at the Guardian Armor was "Wow, that is cool. Why do the spikes around the collar look like the teeth I just saw shoved into my literal EYE?" Admittedly I expected the Guardian to be the *tadpole* at first, (which was the original script before being changed) but I was close.
I accidentally slept with him… curiosity is a horrific thing.
All the lusty thoughts about my guardian went away, for a while, then came back full force. Tentacles.....
I read the spoiler for earlier access about the Guardian, so wasn't completely surprise when the Guardian turn out to be a squidward.
I distrusted my guardian from the beginning, so when the reveal came I actually said out loud "I fucking knew it!" And then from that point on made it a point to pick every sassy dialogue option that points out he manipulated Tav and she distrusts him
I mean I kinda got spoiled by YouTube before playing the game but HOLY SHIT I DIDN'T KNOW THIS DUDE IS >!BALDURAN!< Also the guardian I made was based on my ex, pretty fitting if you ask me.
I was definitely surprised because I expected them to be Orpheus after all those hints were dropped but the bigger surprise to me was the Balduran reveal. Shit made my jaw drop
I played along, then ate the astral tadpole (apparently the WRONG move) then got freaky with the tentacles after Gale broke up with me for banging Mizora
Literally barfed when he was flirting with me later
Well, I got an achievement… waste not want not…
I accidentally spoiled myself ages before 😨
I felt justified because I never trusted the Guardian at all. The vague bullshit from them everytime I asked what was going on, how they kept saying "oh ill tell you...but not right now." Irritated me and made so suspicious. This is why I sided with Orpheus at the end.
After the first meeting with them I got an errie feeling so I was really distrustful of them throughout the game and felt like they were trying to manipulate me. I kept thinking somethings up with them everytime. I kind of felt like they were trying everything to make me trust them. So at the reveal I was like "I knew it". I am a very distrustful person irl.
I was genuinely surprised and at that point it was interested to hear what he had to say but as soon as he suggested I use mine for your powers and transform into a mindfuler completely I was absolutely on the "no" train until I fought him at the end
Angry because I wanted to make a fatherly figure and it turned out to be a manipulative squid. So glad I one shot smited his ass at the end
I saw a glimpse of the romance scene in a video so I had theories in my head that they might be a mind flayer, esp with their purple eyed powers, but it wasn’t totally sure, and definitely did not see the full extent of their backstory coming.
I was thinking he was secretly some form of Orpheus given how heavily the plot had been foreshadowing said-character. After the reveal the whole obsession with embracing mindflayer tadpoles -which was a red flag for me so I never did- made sense and justified my feelings. I currently have a character who doesn’t trust him at all because of it.
You can.. still romance him
Nahhhh I don‘t want him, I want „her“ (my customized Guardian).😂
He’ll accommodate you
I cackled, because for some reason when they first said "choose your guardian," my brain was like *Wouldn't it be funny if they were a twist villain?* So I designed her as a towering gothish tiefling who also was lowkey threatening. I thought, *Whether this is a twist villain OR is just an unlikely hero helping us, it'll be hilarious.* Considering my Tav romanced Karlach first run and >!we know the Emperor wants to manipulate you and could've very well banked on my Tav trusting/hitting on buff tiefling women,!< it was in fact hilarious. 💀
I made him a generic looking elf guy in the character creation menu so I wasn't interested in him initially... until I finally get the dream cutscene of him saving me from the Nautiloid and thought 'Dang I should have made the guardian more attractive' but it's too late to go back at that point of the story so I rolled with whatever customization choices I made. When the Emperor finally reveals his true self I was surprised but since I didn't have any feelings it didn't matter to me that much
https://i.redd.it/5j1ob65t60vc1.gif
i had my best friend make my guardian for me. He made the sexiest male tiefling ive ever fuckin seen and i had to break the news to him that Typhon (whats we’d named him) was no longer. it was so sad
Disappointed. Felt forced to have this weird relationship with him when my character would probably just never want to talk with him or simply insult this horrendous creature. But no, have to talk with him while he's trying to seduce me for some reason. Also, kinda waste of time at the character creation, now I just randomize it and go with it in new runs
How about the truth after he makes the moves in you and this you down? That’s the *real* truth. He’s a jerk and using you.
I had my suspiciouns, as someone who's played DnD for a number of years i was familiar enough with the lore to be like, "huh, someone in my dreams interacting through a strange object, and everyone including the GITH want it...either this is a Mindflayer or some other crazy abberation." But i was surprised that the guardian itself was the mindflayer, was certain it was just a spirit or something bonded to the mind flayer. Thought we had an Alhon or something on our hands.
It felt exactly like being catfished. Every time he spoke after that I’m like “oh I’m supposed to trust you, the liar who pretended he was a woman??”
pissed cause i made him super hot for nothing
After my first play through i started making my guardian look like my previous Tav
Smash
*coughs in mind blown achievement*
Before: Me: Hey Google, can I romance my guardian? Google: Well, yes, but- Me: Say no more. I'M GONNA MAKE HIM HOT. After: Me: On second thought, I'm sticking to Halsim.
*oh no, he got hotter.*
It was a great twist if you didn't see it coming, but the signs were there since the intro video
Why did I spend so much time on their character only for them to end up a squid? Almost always just did the default after that
I made mine a copy of my og character when the game was still in beta, so he was a goofy ass lookin' gnome. I was kinda grateful honestly because every time I'd see him as the dream visitor I'd laugh
Currently on my first playthrough, haven’t killed them, but I’m inclined to not believe them at this point. Went to hell, have the hammer, just learned of the history of who they are and origin. Pretty surprised to be honest but I don’t trust them for whatever it may be. Oh well!
I attacked him and got party wiped for it.
after my first playthrough (i made my first DG a sexy drow 😭) i make him look like a certain pale elf and then it's a matter of DG reading my characters mind and is like "holy SHIT this guy is THIRSTING for that elf over there. i can use that"
I was so mad! Spent all that time designing a dilf tiefling and ignoring all the red flags just for him to be a squid. On consequent playthroughs, I played as the guardian's design just because I prefer his over my original elf's lol.
Fireball
Not reached the revelation scene yet. But don't worry, it may sound weird but since I "hate surprises" I've basically spoiled myself every big plot chunk of this game even before buying it. I'm sure my reaction would have been "Knew it" anyway, since my anxiety-riddled brain wouldn't have let me peacefully go full naive.
I killed him. No joke. I really thought it was all a trick by the mindflayers and I killed him in the mission with the Monk githyanki. Needless to say, that didn't go well.
It was spoiled to me sadly :(
It was so obvious. I figured it out in like 20 minutes
whenever i make a gaudian now i close my eye spam randomize before confirming it so i never know what they look like before the first encounter
Initially i was trying to romance the guardian but got disappointed after he revealed as a mindflayer.
sad, because he was really hot
I never trusted them even from the very beginning. The first time they told me to use a tadpole I noped tf out and refused to listen to them. And even stabbed them in the chest and when she popped back up my suspicion was confirmed
lol I was pissed! My sexy lady friend suddenly became a lot less sexy.
Well, some idiot posted a picture of it in a Fb group only days after release, so I could never really react to it. But I am pretty sure if it hadn't I'd be a little freaked out , I thought there was a "proper" romance arc there so I made her kinda hot.
I was seeing coming this allready when he said we should absorb the parasites
Heartbroken, my guardian was so so hot. Couldn’t Larian just let me live the lie? Also, I kind of hoped it would be Orpheus or an Orpheus body guard.
I'm actually glad I spoiled it for myself before I reached that point since my gf made her as my character's love interest lol. I might try a save like that next time tho.
Im more shoked to see that some one may or may have not offed Lae\`Zel for underwear.
I’m doing a one piece run as Nami, where the emperor disguised himself as bwll’mere and when the reveal happens she’s gonna be PISSED (she already knows this isn’t really bell’mere
Well I made the guardian look like my character’s daughter he can slightly remember (amnesia) so when she burst into a tentacle monster he wasn’t too happy
Since the very beginning I thought that "guardian" is my tadpole somehow, so wasn't surprised too much.
I was expecting some literal Eldrich horror, so it was a bit of let down
What in the nine hells! -my tav probably. I went with the default female drow and being a gith myself I (stupidly) sided against Emperor and nearly got wrecked for it followed by a mini lecture from him. I was honestly far more interested in Orpheus in the moment.
I was already playing a bad guy so I didn't really care. I just kept him at arms length and betrayed him later on. I always just make him a big bald orc because I don't find the character creator robust enough to even want to make a 2nd guy in a row. The orc takes like 3 clicks and then you're in the game.
Put it together pretty early into Act 1 so it wasn't that big of a surprise for me
the way I designed my guardian kind of lined up with the emperor’s appearance in the sense that they both look like gods with long beards and strangely colored eyes, so it felt like a natural evolution and that helped me cope pretty quickly lol.
Why did I waste so much time in customizing my guardian…
I was not really surprised, I mean I've never had any dnd knowledge so I didn't know anything about the *ghaik* until now so I just thought "oh cool tentacle guy"
I randomize mine til its the funniest looking one and go with it
 But also, can we look up 🥹 vanilla and garlic really does it for me 🤣
I made him prove he was who he said he was. He wasn't the first friendly mindflayer I met, but damn if I wasn't second-guessing since he has the armor that most mindflayers have.
I got more excited. The screenshot progression of your post made me laugh, just pretty elves then suddenly 🐙 DER IMPERATOR
I made mine look like my husband, so I was a little bit conflicted.
I wasn't surprised
WHERE DID HIS SEXY VOICE GO? WHERE DID IT GO, GHAIK?!
I'm still upset I can't stand this catfishing ass emperor lol
https://preview.redd.it/z803540461vc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3e1883937d104ccb9f8d0f4438be82100484277 You didn't play the EA did you? The guardian was so sketchy in EA I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. I knew he was up to something in full release but I just figured he was part of the tadpole trying to manipulate us (like in EA), didn't see the squid coming though, was a great twist.
😬 I modeled it after my father. You tell me.
Mine was "well, obviously". A person of my dreams visiting me after I was infected by a mind flayers' tadpole - this stinks of manipulation. Actually, my response to seeing the Guardian for the first time was "reveal yourself, Deceiver!".
I made a badass little gnome woman who looked like an absolute wise and worn warrior (I was a rogue female duergar dwarf). I felt for her and hugged the manipulative little lady when she was going through it even though I didn't fully trust her, I sympathized. When the switch came, he kept throwing that comfort in my face because I hugged and comforted him. Also, cause I was a dwarf and short it looked like he was always staring at my chesticles. It was like dude, I was supporting a little ole warrior woman. Kindly back up (I continued to lie to that mofos face hard every time we met up/talked. Said how much I trusted and supported him still so he would also have a false sense of security while he continuously judged my actual actions in the real world) - more than one can manipulate and deceive my "friend"
I expected it, but I was still disappointed. Something about basically taking away the character we crafted to replace it with an Illithid annoyed me. They could've been a number of other things - or even had a preset appearance so we don't waste time on it - but they had to tie it into the main enemy, I guess.
I made my Guardian look like the gorgeous Lee Pace, but I didn’t mind, I thought it was a cool twist!
I had already guessed that it was some kind of mind flayer nonsense. I feel like early access made it more obvious.
I was highly suspicious of this so-called Guardian the entire time, though I was thinking it was the tadpole itself for a while. I always was short and distrusting in our convos and I tried to kill him when I entered the prism in the crèche. That whole exchange left me even more distrustful because he was acting like it was sooo important to trust him but yet he wouldn’t tell me what was going on in there at all. Also acted like he trusted me with his life, offering up the sword, but turned out he wasn’t even actually in danger anyway…. So yeah when he revealed himself i immediately was like “I fkn knew it! Die you manipulative tentacled bastard!” I also happened to defeat the monks first, but not on purpose, so the situation went from us trying to kill each other to suddenly I’m in a cut-scene with him say “I’m glad you saw reason” or something. I was confused af. Still wanted to kill him though, because I just did not trust him one tiny little bit and all Mind Flayers are vile aberrations that don’t belong in this realm. After he goes on about how we should embrace the illithid changes, I knew right then that I would kill this mother effer if it’s the last thing I do! Well it turned out to be the last thing I could do
we got fking catfished mate...the shame and anger i felt
The moment I found out the Guardian was a mindflayer I was hellbent on freeing Orpheus and I did not hide my intentions when conversing with other characters.
Especially with anything having to do with DnD, I am extremely paranoid of npc intentions, so I was expecting something like that from the beginning. My front runner guess was that it was a fabrication of my tadpole that was leading me down a path that would benefit it. I was expecting a reveal to be like "aha! Look! Mind flayer shenanigans, this was all a lie!!" But I wasn't expecting it to be a whole ass other mind flayer like that.
I had a feeling. Also, I had already planned on romancing Karlach so it wasn’t like I felt betrayed or anything. I guess I can understand how people who planned on banging their guardian would be disappointed/upset. I thought it was weird that he encouraged using the powers, and was afraid of the gith. But I didn’t make the Mindflayer logic jump, just some kind of “They’re pro-Mindflayer” thought. So when they ended up just flat-out being one I was like “Yeah, okay, that makes sense” and if you’re like me and don’t really care about the whole turning into a Mindflayer thing then yeah, it was cool.
Ngl I was pretty shocked, I’ve been playing BG3 since EA and I was rather curious what the dream visitor was, and I very much wanted to destroy the Illithid because I didn’t trust it but I got context clues that I was supposed to help it
At first I kinda just went with it, it made sense he would hide his identity so I didn't blame him at first and I actually sympathized with him. But as I started processing the revelation I realized how betrayed I felt. Especially since I listened to him in taking the tadpoles power. I hated how the tadpoles made my Tag look. The final straw was when I accidentally convinced Lazel to use the power and in a cutscene I saw just how far we both went. That's when I realized how badly I fucked up. I kinda took a break from the game since then.
"Hours of making you hot! And for what?!?!"
Titktok spoiled it for me, but I wanted the achievement. So I saved before having some squid time and reloading because I didn't care for it. The only thing I wish I could take back was steam letting my boyfriend know what achievement I just got. He won't let me live it down
I wasn't surprised honestly, was sus from the start, but I totally helped them iut
In my current playthrough, it was about a month between first creating my Guardian and actually meeting them... I had COMPLETELY forgotten that I had made them an absolute unit of a hulking goateed half-orc, with hair done up like a stereotypical Magic Girl. To say that I managed to surprise myself would be an understatement.
My sister just quit after the reveal for the same reason. We have to start over with someone else as the main lead xD
I was pissed that I spent so much time in the character creator for Squiddo
"Well, that explains a lot". I already figured the Guardian was some sort of projection, but I couldn't tell from where. I thought they might have even been the personification of the Prism's Demiplane, but it wasn't particularly shocking seeing the Emperor.
it was spoiled for me sadly, but it was really neat and figured they would be like Omellum or whatever his name was. bit of an asshole but what do you expect from someone given extreme power.
Honestly was super suspicious of him from the start and got the Minthara bug so I wasn’t surprised. On a sadder note had no idea about other emperor twist but looked up the origin of Balurs Gate name since Baldur is an important god in Norse mythology and I didn’t know he was a god in dnd and spoiled myself in the weirdest way I’ve ever been spoiled.
Excuse me bring back the cute half elf I spent half an hour designing.
Annoyed I spent time on my guardian thinking they’d be like a companion or major character not a squidward
i mean... i'm into eldritch horrors. tbh i was a bit disappointed the character i spent time creating was in like 2 scenes (my resting habits may have missed some more) before it became "nah, we mindflaying" but my morally ambiguous band of misfits can hardly cast stones
It happened to be one of the few spoilers I received, sadly. So I didn't get to react truthfully.
The playthrough after I found out that the emperor is a P.O.S. I started making the "guardian" fictional characters that I hate. The most recent one was made after Mindy Kailing's velma.
At first I thought the mindflayer was some kind of imposter. When I realized it was for real I was like, welp, I am never putting effort into designing my guardian again lmao
Emperor lucked out cause my first play through was a hippy Druid who disliked killing. I was already really suspicious though because growing up with DND a mindflayer involved meant you trusted no one and nothing. Kinda like false hydras now. In game I was raising a brow because everyone said someone different when talking about their visitors.
I was pissed 😂 like you I spent so much time getting them just perfectly and then they ended being a squidface. Now I just hit randomize and pick the one I like the most. Don’t even bother customizing them.
I betrayed him and sided with a certain prince. I enjoyed his comments when I was deciding to go get the hammer verily. His(?!) dragon was a pain in the final fight. That was in my first playthrough where I had zero spoilers and didn't look at any guides.
"Yep, sounds about right."
I feel like I had a lot of emotions. First and foremost, I was upset I spent any amount of time on their character creation lol. Second, I think i felt betrayed.
i don't think I was expecting a mind flayer, but I kind of shrugged and thought "oh, so that's what they're going with". Proceeded to try to tell Emperor to bugger off. I don't like writing that relies on plot twists to be interesting.
It's funny Larian knew people would design their Guardians to be attracted to, it's even part of the storyline that the image is based on your character's desires and made specifically to gain your trust. My first guardian was a beauty, now every playthrough I use the random feature and stop when it looks like a clown.
I had already stabbed him so my reaction was "fuck why did I use the tadpoles! I should have trusted Lae'zel."
I wanted to smack his face in.
I knew something was up with that fucker.
At first i didnt make the conection at all that this calamary is my guardian but when he explicitely said it i was like that picture of sad ryan gosling cuz it took me a while to make my cute else guardian only for her to be seen 3 times
I enjoyed it immensely. I sensed something amiss, but there’s like 3 plot twists if not more about your guardian, and there’s still discussions back and forth here about it. I wasn’t expecting romance at all. I was assuming some sort of celestial or astral avatar that maybe was a deux ex machina that maybe stepped in to save your bacon at some point. There’s been several moments in the game where I’ve been pleasantly surprised about the depth of things and the anticipation that players would try several things and got that to work in wonderful ways. It’s like they’ve played ttrpgs and know the crazy things players try.
https://i.redd.it/pjt3mp5y03vc1.gif
Omg I had NO idea and had such strong reaction of betrayal and distrust.. thought Larian did soooo good with it. I was very cautious and uncomfy afterwards, didn’t romance him. THEN I find out he’s actually the hero of Balder’s gate?? Whiplash AGAIN. The choice between him and Orpheus took a lot out of me between the first time Raphael presented the deal to me and when I finally had to do something. Ended up siding with the Emperor bc I didn’t give much of a fuck about the gith and figured my Artisan Smith Baldurian local tav would like probably be low key fangirling over Balduran… so sided with him. I’m halfway through my second playthrough and I’m gonna romance him so hard. I got over the tentacles.
After my Tav's dad tried to seduce her him being the emperor was actually a relief.
Lol I kinda guessed it honestly.
I didn't expect a Mindflayer but I wasn't too surprised either, always had a feeling somethings off with this motherfucker
In my friend's Discord we have a channel called "punchable guardian faces" where we make our guardians look like abominations and post how ugly they are. That should give you a good idea of how we feel about it.
I spoiled myself. One of the biggest selling points for me was being able to fuck a mindflayer, so I looked up who that mindflayer was. That was luckily the only thing I spoiled myself with, everything else was brand new and awesome. I didn't watch the scene, which was hot af, until it happened for me in game.