#you're lucky cuz you get way more in-game and fandom content!

[eff-plays]

What is it that you struggle with in the vanilla durge story?

OUGH I just about stopped bleeding followers, now I'm gonna start again.

Oh well RIP in piss me 😔 You're my sweet cheese though so I'll answer 💖

Basically I find that Durge (as far as I know) actually having a pretty good time before Orin put a worm in his dome undercut a lot of the "oughough I'm struggling against my nature" storyline they're going for. Because Durge never chose to try to leave before being forced to, him attempting to redeem himself basically happened by chance, without any sort of motivation. And that makes sense for a video game character with amnesia, but that's where the "set backstory" clashes against player choice. What in-universe reason does Durge even have for trying to resist his urges? Just like ... an innate feeling of wanting to be good? But why? How? If he's made from Bhaal's flesh, why is that instinct even there at all? If he's a thinking independent being, why didn't he try to leave before Orin did the worm thing?

I'm not even particularly against the Urge itself, even if the way its presented is very edgy and juvenile at times. But the fact that it's implied the Urge was SO strong before but now is just gone and been replaced with a new personality just doesn't mesh with me.

Either Durge had some agency before and chose to be a serial killer horny for murder, and that's why his not remembering shit makes it possible for him to prioritize doing good now that his Urges are suppressed/forgotten. OR he's Bhaal's own flesh and the Urge is an intristic part of him and he physically cannot comprehend doing good.

But because the player needs to be able to choose whether to indulge or redeem Durge, why Durge is choosing/capable of doing good is left to the player. And that just doesn't mesh with the backstory they set up. The Urge was so strong before that he was gleefully a serial killer, but now it's so weak that he's able to resist? Why? What changed? Why was there a personality below the Urge at all? What use does Bhaal have of a puppet who is, on some level, able to think for themself? And if Durge was always able to think for himself, why didn't he rebel sooner? Well, because what if the player wants to play Evil!Durge, then it wouldn't make sense for Durge to rebel in his backstory!

My friend said it's basically a factory reset, and that's what's bothering me. It's unmotivated, it's chance, it's not Durge acting on his own accord. Larian are trying to have their cake (protag with a set background) and eat it too (protag is vaguely enough defined that you can just insert your own motivations into them).

Idk ... Does that make sense? It's a very difficult sort of incongruence to explain, so I'm sorry if I rambled a bunch and said fuck-all.

I'm considering making Phoebus into a classic Bhaalspawn from the previous games, but I'd have to do a bit of research to make that work.

#bg3 #durge critical #i guess?? #bleh #i don't actually care if ppl play durge or anything #i'm not actually like 'DURGE SUCKS' or whatever #it's just like a personal issue i have with the way it's presented #so if it work for you? great! #you're lucky cuz you get way more in-game and fandom content! #and that's not me being sarcastic it's just an observation #i would love to join but it just doesn't do it for me