Although Baldur’s Gate 3 is often praised for its story and romantic storylines, the community believes that Larian should not change its text just to please players in the future.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was in Early Access for about three years before its full launch in 2023. During that time, Larian made many changes based on player feedback, be it in terms of dialogue, graphics, combat, or many other aspects.
A year after the game’s release, Larian is still dedicating itself to fixing various issues and listening to the community. Although many players praised the game in response, a part of the community wished that they wouldn’t change some of the in-game texts to please players.
In a Reddit thread, a user claimed that it “makes no sense” for companions to stay with a Mind Flayer Tav, excluding Astarion’s spawn.
Larian StudiosBaldur’s Gate 3 players think Lae’zel should break up with Mind Flayer Tav.
“I’m sorry, but I think this is just too much ‘fanservice,'” the player claimed, pointing out that given Lae’zel’s position as a Githyanki, he shouldn’t be “so easily persuaded” to love a mind flayer Tav.
To them, it felt like Larian forced them to do it “because they wanted a fairytale ending like ‘Will you still love me if I become a worm?'” Many other players who participated in the comments also agreed with this sentiment.
“Lae’zel used to refuse to stay with you if you turned into an Illithid, which I felt was more in keeping with his character and hit harder. I was disappointed they changed it in a patch and tend to agree that the change was made for fanservice reasons,” one user commented.
Another user mentioned that Shadowheart’s romance in Act 1 in Early Access was “so good,” adding, “I really wanted to see how it continued after it was such a slow build, but now it feels more like a Skyrim NPC romance.”
One user, meanwhile, wrote, “I’m so sick of them softening the characters for fanservice reasons instead of staying true to their opinions, honestly.” This includes making Shadowheart and Lae’zel “less mean at the beginning,” with the latter being made to “abandon all her principles.”
“Now in beta, they’ve changed Ascended! Astarion’s kiss animation so the player looks happy instead of scared… All of this really weakens the text and makes the characters and story less unified,” they added.
Some players would like there to be an option to make the new expressions optional.
