Mod support has definitely been mentioned as an eventual goal, IIRC though they didn’t have plans to implement an official DM mode.

The VA for Laezel (Devora Wilde) has actually seen this meme and read it in-character. :P You can find it on YouTube.

The rarities do somewhat correlate with power in a vacuum, but synergy>raw stats, generally.

I suspect it’s been cut. Either that, or it’s just meant to be a sort of “yeah, Moonhaven was always kinda fucked, between the swamp hag, incognito Red Wizard and Underdark entrance right next to the water source, not exactly safe for children.” :P

Maybe once upon a time they were part of some sidequest connected to Ethel, the Red Wizard or the invading Sharrans, or maybe it was just atmosphere, who knows. /shurg

Eh. I haven’t seen his dialogue since they apparently tweaked it, but I didn’t find it that bad to begin with. There was a bit of a vibe in act 2 like “sorry you’re hurt, didn’t mean to lead you on, was just being nice” but thats life sometimes. /shurg

The RPGHorrorstory element… eh. I somewhat agree, mostly just in exactly how far along/established in his journey of magic he was. A young prodigy attracting Mystra’s attention, and then ruining himself (and endangering others) in pursuit of more, is an interesting twist on the traditional exploration of a Wizard’s hubris, the issue comes more from like “yeah, I didn’t just attract Mystra’s attention, I was a peer of Elminster and one of Mystra’s Chosen” (conspicuous failure to mention the magical institutions of his home, EG, the Blackstaff, Vajra, Larael, etc., aside). TBH, just changing his interactions with Elminster to either double down on the implicit arrogance of assuming himself Elminster’s peer, or have him be more of a fanboy, a la Karlach to Minsc and Jaheira, would’ve gone a long way.

You have okay options to play an ace/aro character, you have options to form close bonds with most of your companions without sex for sure. (Was pleasantly surprised that as horny as Karlach is, you have very clear options to set boundaries there and still have that relationship. ) And of course, you don’t have to romance anyone, but can still raise their approval and earn their trust/friendship.

Admittedly though, there isn’t really any representation from non-player characters, which is unfortunate.

There’s a lot of griping about the third act, and yeah, I get it, it’s incomplete and comparatively poorly optimized. But it’s still really good. :P They clearly bit off more than they could chew with the City, that maybe they could’ve solved with another year or two of dev time. (Hopefully, will be solved in a Def Ed a year or two down the line.) That isn’t necessarily dev time they had, though. Not without taking out a ton of loans (do you really want tencent to own more than 30%?) and risking ill-will with consumers and WotC. (The game was meant to come out over a year ago.)

Well… it is a Baldur’s Gate game (as much as I’ve seen claimed otherwise), so the story is centered around the usurper gods of death, their legacy and their attempts to gain power and influence in the world.

The first act is reasonably light (with exception of mindflayers and some light occular body horror :P), just normal dnd stuff, goblins, druids, etc.

The second… well, to avoid spoiling too much, let’s just say it goes dark. :P Haven’t seen the third yet, personally.

Doesn’t help that a lot of this gets internalized, I think. Like, fuck, there are plenty of terms that seem reasonably descriptive of me (bi, demi, enby, etc.) but… I’m super straight passing, and not super driven by sex or romantic relationships, so it’s like… I never really have to deal with these labels in my day-to-day? I stick he/they in stuff when people ask for pronouns, style myself somewhat androgynously, am well aware 90s David Boreanaz is objectively eye-candy, and I haven’t gone on a date in… years, because I just don’t really care. But claiming those labels feels improper, somehow. Both from a “born and raised christian, que toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia” perspective and a “I am in a position of extreme privilege where I haven’t had to face many of the struggles common to the LGBTQIA+ community, claiming a place there seems insulting” perspective. /shurg

Conflict drives storytelling. /shurg Internal, character-focused stories require internal, character-focused conflict. The good ending will be that much more satisfying I’m sure, if you achieve it after supporting the characters through their issues and personal growth. :P And if there is pain or heartbreak along the way, that’s just part of telling an impactful story. :P