Baldur’s Gate 3 will see players traverse lands of fantasy as they embark on a quest to remove or empower the Ilithid tadpole that is infecting their mind, and will soon turn them into a Mind Flayer. With many twists, turns, and freedoms of direction in Baldur’s Gate 3’s three acts, there is a lot of room for things that simply make no sense in the story.
There are many whimsical things in Baldur’s Gate 3. From the fact that players can kick squirrels or practically sleep with everyone (even if they can turn into a bear). Due to the large and impressive scale of Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s no surprise that the game has some elements that just don’t make a lot of sense to those more casual to Dungeons & Dragons.
Astarion is a vampire thrall, and perhaps one of the best characters in Baldur’s Gate 3. His charisma is limitless, and his cunning means that players should always keep a watchful eye on this seemingly neutral evil character. Astarion meets the player with mistrust and confusion due to the fact that he is secretly a vampire and one that is discovering new feats thanks to the fact that he is infected with an Ilithid tadpole that suppresses the burdens of vampirism.
Yet, these rules seem fairly selective. Whilst Astarion can clearly walk in the sun, and enter buildings without being invited in, it seems that he has many aspects of vampirism that are unspoken. Astarion cannot turn into a bat, yet he also has a craving for hunger, so the rules of vampirism seem fairly selective and confusing.
Tav is what the community has dubbed the player character in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Tav seems to have a fair amount of charisma, even if they aren’t even talking. Early into Act One of Baldur’s Gate 3, players can walk around their camp and celebrate their victory over the Absolute’s goblin army and their help of the Tiefling refugees. Yet, when they converse with party members that they have barely even interacted with outside of letting them stay there, they will all express a desire to sleep with Tav.
It's mighty strange that these characters all seem enthralled with a love potion, and will happily sleep with Tav or develop a relationship with them even if Tav has done nothing but introduce themselves. Whilst it’s nice that players can pick their romantic partner, it’s still strange that without even trying, most of these characters are willing to sleep with Tav depending on one action or two.
Parties in Baldur’s Gate 3 are limited to 4 members, Tav included. Players can pick three companions to follow them across their journeys, and they can swamp them out at any time from the camp. Yet, when players return to the camp to talk to companions that their last interaction involved “Sure, you can stay at my camp”, they seemingly know absolutely everything that happened. Whether it’s a deep-rooted emotional moment between another companion or a misdeed that Tav has committed.
It's a tad strange and doesn’t make a lot of sense that these party members just seem to know everything that has happened without being there for it. There are some impressive moments, like ignoring Astarion’s request to join the party and meet Raphael, or Lae’zel and the Githyanki Creche.
The Absolute’s brand is something that may bring out fear within Act One players as they are first asked in the goblin camp if they want to be branded. The mark is invisible to all but those who worship the Absolute, and players may even think that having such a brand is a good idea to infiltrate the Absolute cultists. Yet, the brand really doesn’t do much, if anything.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense that players can give themselves a brand of the Absolute, only to never end up using it. If they have aligned with the forces of good, then they cannot use this brand to simply act as a double agent, as their tadpole will just do that for them anyway.
Orpheus is an enthralling mystery in Baldur’s Gate 3, due to the fact that this prince has been forgotten to time and discarded due to the alleged betrayal of the Githyanki people. Yet, further into the story, players will find him trapped, and as the sole purpose as to why they have not turned into a dreaded Mind Flayer yet. Orpheus hates illithids like no other and will kill anyone infected no matter their story.
That, is why it is such a strange and disrespectful choice that if players free and team with Orpheus, that he would then sacrifice himself to become an illithid himself. It seems a strange choice indeed that the one so full of scorn for illithids would take the process himself just to help people he has barely any history with.
Mephistopheles was the architect of Cazador’s ascension, and that very ascension must be stopped. Teaming with the archdevil Mephistopheles, Cazador would be granted ascension as long as he provided him with 7,000 souls. Yet, if players stop this ascension for good, then Mephistopheles will never get his legion of 7,000 souls, so surely he would be mad about this?
There is not much consequence for stopping this evil ascension, and it seems strange, considering Baldur’s Gate 3 has players dabble and battle gods and devils alike, yet Cazador’s ascension is seemingly swept under the rug and dealt with rather quickly.
Ketheric Thorm may have started as a devoted family man, but in the death of his wife and daughter, he plunged his heart into darkness to commit the unforgivable. Thorm dedicated his actions, his cruelty, and his crimes all in the name of the Absolute and Myrkul. Yet, even within the harshness of Moonrise Towers, there is still a sense of a good man buried within the undead half-elf.
To those with high charisma and an act for persuasion, Ketheric Thorm can be talked down from his actions. The idea of having J.K. Simmons join the fight on the player’s side sounds like a dream, but even if players manage to pass all skill checks to talk Ketheric Thorm down, he will just skip his boss fight and kill himself rather than listening further to reason, which doesn’t make much sense in the long run.