S tier character! but having him silent takes away a lot of his charm. Some cool roleplay ideas like if you want to play as a vampire, but honestly Neil Newbon crushed it and his voice needs to be heard
@@hashimpervase3950i dont think he should have had any accent i feel like theres a very specific "vamp" accent thats very commonly used when voicing vampire characters that its just too iconic not to do it and i think he did such an amazing job at it even though his normal voice sounds very similiar to it anyway.
The only reason I wont do an origin run as Astarion, otherwise he is my absolute favorite character. I also wish they allowed default urge to be a companion, he also is a great voice actor.
playing a normal tav and then playing urge after is so eye opening, the amount of context and reveals about the plot changes the whole story. it feels like dark urge is the intended main character since every other origin companion has their own thing going on and if you play as a normal tav it can feel a bit empty when all your character is worried about is the main quest for most of the game.
I agree. You can have all other characters as your companions but unfortunately u can't have dark urge. So my choice was obvious for the first playthrough.
My assumption was that the Dark Urge is the intended main character, and they set it aside as an Origin so people would have the option of having a predefined background or not. That would make sense as it's fully customisable and the series has a history with Bhaalspawn protagonists.
The biggest downside to playing an origin character, besides the urge, is that you loose some of the soul of the game cause you don’t get to hear them talk
Fun fact: a popular theory about the dark urge is that it was going to be the base tav character since the dark urge has more significance to the plot. Also the main character in BG 1&2 was a bal spawn like the dark urge is in BG3
One of my issues with the game's plot is the fact the game almost punishes you for not having Shadowheart (as much as I love her) with you 24/7, whereas with other origin characters you can kind of choose to have them there or not and it doesn't negatively impact the narrative TOO harshly. Act 1 you're spending half the time trying to figure out the relic and then go through an old Sharran temple. Then Act 2 is almost centered exclusively around her between the shadow curse, the shadowfell, and then ANOTHER temple of Shar with some other Sharran secrets hidden around the map. Act 3 finishes up her story arc with some really nice rewards depending which path you choose.
and here is why Shadowheart is my favorite character to have in my party, you can add to that the fact she's a cleric (and an OP one when you go light or tempest domain) just seal the deal for me.
Yeah that’s a good point Shadowheart is very integral to the plot as a good or evil aligned character. I really enjoy her character so I’m in the same boat as you, but if you disliked her as a character good luck. Thankfully she does change fairly drastically through the acts
You guys should watch the video "the box that broke baldur's gate 3", it has Swen and explanation for the artefact ("box") from a design/DM POV. In act1 Shadowheart isn't integral, the box is ;), and act3 just ties her story. Act1 Shadowheart is the chosen by DM vessel to provide a party with the box (it could've been Lae'zel, but the story would be much different if you know what the box is and where the story goes, Shadowheart is the easiest vessel to pick because less writing needed lol) Act2 tho, outside of Gauntlet of Shar/Shadowfell, is just player's perception of the need of Shadowhear. Tbf, the game doesn't dissuade player of that notion, but outside of the said location, you really don't need Shadowheart, and act isn't structured around her design wise, only perception wise (it might just be perceived as structured around Wyll trying to save his dad)
Your comment about wyll being the party face is so true. The main reason i have never played with wyll much or even Warlock in general is because he is conflicting my role as the party face Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin. I do plan to try out warlock(though i don't think their playstyle is as fun as just blasting the shit out of the enemy with a diverse arsenal of spells rather than Hunger of Hadar into Spamming EB or go melee
Fun fact! If you do not play as Durge and if you go to the room behind the alter in the Bhaal temple, you will not only get to speak to Orin's dead mother, you will see a dead dragonborn character on the floor of Orin's room, which is assumed to be the Dark Urge
In my Githyanki playthrough my Gith didn't like the way she talked to him on the shore so he beat her up and left her unconscious. Met her later but she still had an attitude, so we went on without her.
So true, my first playthrough was a loth drow / dark urge and it was INSANELY good! I resisted the urge, got myself a Paladin/Bard multiclass + Shadowheart, Astarion and Karlach in the team and omfg was it THE playthrough. It's so good that my current run with a no character origin feels almost off (still very good). But I gotta say man, the voice actors NAILED it. The writing is so captivating too. And I feel the same about Shadowheart, to me she's like the deuteragonist, she completes whoever you are playing, she NEEDS to be there, especially when you consider how ACT I is dedicated to understanding why you're not changing and the artifact (+ an old Selunite temple and searching for a Sharran temple). ACT II almost entirely dedicated to her + the Sharran Temple and the most consequential choices for her there (except you-know-what in act III). ACT III however rebalances the importance of the others characters, with less dedication to the story line and an emphasis on Karlach, Astarion and Jaheira, but still, the outcome of Shadowheart's storyline is just insanely good and SO coherent with what happened throughout the game. The others are very good too, Lae'zel and Astarion especially for me. But I find their story not as fleshed out as Shadowheart's. But thanks to your video, I'll have to do a Gale run, sounds very, very interesting indeed.
Yeah Shadowheart is an awesome compliment to a good or evil character with all the choices you get! Gale is great for an origin as well since he can go either way too and gets a lot of exclusive content for each because of Mystra
@@JasonDunna for me, resist durge is even better then evil durge. The murderhobo actually overcomes his evil heritage to make up for all his crimes and becomes at least an antihero. And as Lae‘Zel said, if the urge is too strong, they gonna find a goblin or 2
I did a Wyll play through and quite honestly that was a very rewarding experience. I romanced shadowheart with him and both of them had a very nice story by the end of the game. I tried to do Astarion but after a couple hours I felt like I needed to play with him in my party, his missing dialogue really does make an impact and that’s coming from me who barely used him at first. I am trying Shadowheart now because I feel like the idea of having little to no memory helps me pretend that it’s more relatable as the main character, plus having the prism that works only for me. Super fun game! I love it!
me and two other friends are thinking of doing exactly this, and we also want to do a dark and evil play through so at least one of us is probably going to be dark urge. I was wanting to be Dark Urged, Shadowheart, or Wyll. However, now that you said what you said about Gale, he seems cool too.
Gale has a lot of potential for an evil playthrough because Gale can become god of ambition! Dark urge is a really great playthrough though and I like the resist dark urge story the most
@@JasonDunna Thank you. I'm really considering Gale now, however, it's also really tempting to be either Shadowheart or Dark Urge and be a Tempest Cleric, because I'm a little addicted to the tempest power.
@@colbyrackler3915 Play Gale as a storm sorcerer (he is a Wizard but he is born with magic like a sorcerer) and pair it with Tempest Cleric Shadowheart and get the trident that applies wet on your martial class and you're set!
On my first playthrough I did a custom character wood elf and romanced Karlach, going for the standard good hero ending. On my second playthrough I played as Dark Urge and romanced Minthara, with the goal of being Bhaal's favourite kiddo and just embracing the evil. Anyways sorry so I just wanted to say that your take on Astarion rings so true with me; I got part way into a third playthrough as him (Underdark I think) and I gave up after awhile, and thinking back it's just because it felt wrong without hearing Neil Newbon! (oh and that I should get around to doing a trying-to-be-nice Dark Urge playthrough!)
I highly recommend trying out the resist dark urge! It feels like the definitive version of Baldur’s gate 3 since you’re still a hero and you’re tied to the plot more than as Tav. It’s a lot of fun
You mentioned romancing Shadowheart or Wyll as Karlach, but I'd also like to mention Astarion. He has a cool, unique dialogue about how it frustrates him that he can't touch you to seduce you. It tells you a lot about him and his motives early on
I love romancing Astarion as Karlach because they go so nicely together imo. She is really good for him. The only reason he does that is for his safety because, unfortunately, that's all he knows. His story is so complex and deep, I absolutely love it. Plus he has an amazing redemption arc
@@amberh709 great points! Astarion is such a deeply complex character and it’s sad some people don’t give him any attention because he’s trying to attack you at first
@@JasonDunna Then again, why the heck would they put the amnesiac serial killer who doesn't trust their own mind and might spontaneously kill people in their sleep in charge?
This is a veryyyyyyy interesting list. Right now, I’m thinking of trying to complete a Wyll Origin mainly to go Bardlock. But all of the companions voice actor’s did amazing so remember, if you do an Origin, you won’t hear them. So to me, the best Origin is Tav/Durge. That way you can interact with every character. Unless you want to embody the physical being of let’s say a companion like Astarion, then not being able to hear the voice but still make important decisions for the camp is ok. Can’t wait to see how you ranked them all!
Agreed! It’s sad missing out on the awesome voice acting. Originally characters were supposed to talk more if you played as them, but they changed it so you felt more like the character! I feel like hearing your character talk often would change the immersion a bit so I see why they did it
something i noticed after only playing dark urge and romancing every companion then going back to playing a normal tav is that tav talks way more than durge. so many more comments, little banter with the party and things like that. and honestly it really made me feel more in tune roleplaying a resisting durge more because it really felt like durge was biting their tongue a lot more to avoid saying any of the really odd or evil things you can say exclusively as them in dialogue. it’s something small i noticed but it definitely hits after only playing durge and then going back as an origin or tav character
Love this video. Very helpful in helping me figure out what my next run is going to be. I’m about to finish my 6th run and have played dark urge twice (good and bad), and custom every other time. I’m looking to try an origin character next time. Going to have to consider some of this when choosing. Although last run I said I’d choose an origin but didn’t cause designing a custom character is just fun 😅
I agree with how fun it is creating custom characters! You can customize hirelings at least. I recommend a Gale playthrough as there’s a ton of unique content, but Wyll is also a great choice
I recently finished my very first full campaign. Most attempts at starting the game ended with me giving up before resolving the conflict between the goblins, tieflings, and druids. But I finally completed it and it was actually a Wyll origin. Built him as a Fiend Warlock and College of Swords Bard, romancing Karlach, breaking his pact with Mizora, AND saving his father alongside the rest of the Sword Coast. It's a very unique, amazing experience from a Tav run and it deserves an S-tier on this list.
@JasonDunna Thank you! I appreciate the love. This video will definitely inspire me to try campaigns as a Karlach or Gale origin. Keep making great content!!
I have played as Shadowheart origin and Karlach Origin. Recommend both, especially Shadowheart going down the Dark Justiciar route. Karlach has the most voiced lines and Act 3 Gortash battle is amazing.
Oh man Karlach origin against Gortash would be nuts. Even her dialogue after beating him is incredible in the base game, really makes me feel sad for her haha
@@JasonDunna Yeah its very emotional. Playing Tav with Karlach, her dialog is 🔥 but playing as Karlach and hearing her inner thoughts is much worse. And the companions react to the situation as well. Shadowheart and Minthara have the best reaction.
@@angmarliche9187 Now you got me curious, I will have to try out a Karlach origin run. Minthara is the funniest person I know, Id love to hear her thoughts
I havent noticed it as much, personally, having Lae'zel in my party most of the time, but I recall a number of online posts where people thought she would be a good Origin just to shut her up. She seens ready to cover the elitism, in place of not starting with a Drow, and she can so easily aggro with Shadowheart, who I agree basically NEEDS to be in my party at all times, but if you play as her, you can change the basic Fighter to whsyevet class you like, lose the attitude, and romance Shadowheart, instead of instagate camp violence. Again, Lae'zel has actually kind of grown on me, with my Tav, even as I am trying to romance Shadowheart, so it feels like it could be really easy to side against Lae'zel, but I've been making it work, I guess. As for third, it bounces between Gale and Karlach. When I started, i knew I wasn't going to be able to get Minthara, I didn't want to use Wyll, and wasn't a fan of Gale's eating habits, so I run a female Lolth-sworn (but good) Drow Sorlock, and that mostly covers party face, Charisma caster, full caster, and such. I was curious about repentant Durge. For the most part, I feel BG3 is another example of "evil doesn't justify cost", as you could easily lose Wyll, Karlach, AND Gale, for the perks of getting Minthara, which you now can nab even Good, and what I've heard described as a dodgy transformation power, for a Player, so it's good to hear it can still be fun, even when you resist, since I assume that deprives you of stuff like the Slayer form. How about Minthara? Obviously not an Origin, but you can get her now, regardless of choices, so is she still good, if you are Good? Will she just get sick of your kindness, and bail? Is she still fun? I've heard a fair bit of her dialogue, and it sounds great, but I don't know how much of your play she might still force, in order to keep her?
I say Wyll because he's so most boring so you won't miss him lol. Also pact of the blade Warlock multiclasses and being a party face feel very Main character
this was my biggest and really, only, complaint about BG3 - that origin characters don't speak. they did in Divinity 1 and 2 but i think i understand the choice.
@@matthewloyd9357 I’ll definitely be doing one with encrusted with frost, chilled, frozen, reverb etc! Just trying to compile them all Appreciate your support brother!
Dark Urge is going to be a fun one. I building a Cleric 1/Warlock 11 Red Dragon. I am looking forward to seeing what the dice rolls decide for him. I planned on him being a follower of Bahamut and trying to resist the call of the Dark Urge. Tiamat is utilizing the god of murder to try and pull her chromatic dragonborn back to the dark side. My Dark Urge will attempt to resist and build on his new life following Bahamut. The back story is real on this go around!
Dragonborn: cons you only get 1 resist and 1 lackluster breath weapon. Pro: you aren’t horribly ugly or boring looking. Man it’s such a shame halflings and dark dwarves have such good passives. Because they are hella ugly!
Playing as a Tav and then doing dark urge the second time really changed the game for me! Honestly it feels like it’s the true definitive story of the game so that’s cool to pick it first
I'm making my way through the game for the first time. After many failed attempts at a custom character playthrough, my primary campaign became a Gale origin one. I'm in Act Three right now. As far as the other origin campaigns go, Wyll and the Dark Urge are on my list. I'm currently doing a secondary custom character campaign as well right now. Playing as a Cleric of Bane (thank you, mods) so I don't feel as detached from the story as I did during all of my failed attempts.
Shadowheart has the bonus that she is the only character who can actually worship shar in game, so she gets a lot of cleric and paladin dialogue options no tav or durge can.
I asked myself the question a while ago: if Baldur's Gate 3 was a JRPG, who would be the main character? And in my opinion Lae'zel would come closest because she is a blank slate and canonically would be the first character in the story if there is no self-created character. Even though Shadowheart has the ultimate JRPG cliché, memory loss...
Damn right wyll origin is S tier. He really does feel like a main character when you play as him. (Also yeah, I’ve done evil lolth-sworn drow dark urge, and the race-specific dialogue was always funny. I’ve done a duergar good dark urge as well, and it felt like a completely different story from my evil one.)
Yessir! If you go the good route his story makes full sense with the plot of the game. Evil Wyll also loses no companions! Since you have to get rid of karlach who you would lose
My Wyll playthrough was the first time the game held my interest long enough to finish. Before I'd always lost interest in Act 3 and restarted. Haven't finished any other origin run yet, but expect to do them all eventually.
I never had Shadowheart in my active party. Even the prism just spawned in my inventory. I like to believe the Emperor felt that I would never take her with me
so what I am hearing is: Astarion > Too good voice, missing out on his charm! Gael > Talks too much, better to play as him. You get pity bonus for going through it. OK! (All jokes aside, and putting words in your mouth you never said; I love all the characters but never warmed up to Wyll's character. I love the voice acting and the character is fine, but I am not into his story)
I’m doing a wyll origin run and it’s pretty interesting. Wish there was more of course. His vo did a great job but I can understand why it could come off cheesy but Wyll is such an earnest character it can read as cheesy bc we are too cynical for it. 😂
Lol. I got BG3 a few weeks ago. After trying a few different character types i finally settled on playing Wyll as a Bardlock. I had starting see Wyll snd Karlach as a natutal ship. I am also yrying on getting the more positive/heroic endings fir the characters. Probably playing a Dark urge for my second full play through. It feels like its the most unique playthrough.
Little secret you can steal her prism. Put her jn a box, pick up the box. Revive her after your first long rest at the Grove after speaking to Kahga. The result is hilarious, leave it for you to discover
Since i don't see myself doing 7 different playthroughs of this game, if i play any origin characters out of the companions it would probably be Astarion. As amazing as his voice acting is, as a character i'm just not much of a fan. I find him too obnoxious and whiney, and i would much rather shape him as my own character then have him around... If i get around to it, i will also incorporate 2 other playthrough ideas i wan to do into him - Cleric of Selune and a Druid playthrough. In my head, Selune would contact Astarion and offer power in exchange of him becoming her champion against the Absolute, and that power would manifest as the Moon Druid class. That way i get the Astarion origin story, the unique Selune reactivity, which i hear is quite extensive, and an early level Druid gameplay which can easily simulate Vampire powers, since druids and vampires can do a lot of similar things like turning into animals and mist, creating fog, charming people, summoning animal servants, and so on...
I absolutely love this idea! Astarion is an interesting character to play as because he has so many questions he needs answered. Cleric of Selune is genius and it actually works pretty well with the Druid. I like land Druid + tempest cleric but anything would work well. Let me know how it goes if you do that playthrough!
@@JasonDunna It's definitely not gonna happen any time soon. I kind of burned out on the game after getting to the mountain pass in my Githyanki Cleric/Paladin of Vlaakith playthrough, and i intend to finish that at some point too. But yeah, the Selune champion concept for Astarion works super well. She's the goddess of the moon, so associated with night time, and vampires are creatures of the night, so that connection makes sense. Goddess of the moon plus moon druid works well. Druid powers and Vampire powers overlapping works well. It just all fits perfectly.
@@JasonDunna I did enjoy making Astarion a Shadow Monk plus 3 levels Thief rogue in my first playthrough. The Druid powers correlating with vampires is cool, but Monk is my favorite option in D&D to simulate vampire powers. With the extra Bonus Action you get from Thief, you end up with that super fast, super strong kind of vampire, running around the battlefield at crazy speeds and stunning people with your 6 attacks plus sneak attack, teleporting through shadows and going invisible when needed.
Yea I see how Selune and Vampires would relate well and it could go very well on a good aligned Astarion trying to do right. Moon Druid is just the icing on the cake. That’s an awesome idea
Also what’s funnier than pushing a goblin off a cliff. Throwing them off. Or throwing a goblin at another one who’s standing next to the edge of a cliff and being tossed off from the other goblin being thrown at it.
I'm probably gonna do Karlach Origin soon. I figured I want to do a meathead party using 4 strength builds and the merregon masks so Karlach feels like a natural choice yo have there and trying an origin (other than thd dark urge) sounds neat even if I don't see myself doing it often.
I wish there were an option to hear the voice acting if you choose the options that the characters say when you don’t play as them. I get why they don’t do that cause it could be weird for some things to be said and some to be silent, but it would be fun for it to be an option because it’s so sad to not hear lines you pick that you know are recorded and in the game
Yeah I agree that would’ve been nice but I feel like it would’ve been a lot extra work for something people might not like. I know they were planning to do it but stopped at some point in development
Monk 9 rogue thief 3 ascended Astarion is so strong! Adding the 1d10 to attacks that hit twice effectively doubles it! You don’t have to play as Astarion to ascend though and his dialogue is so great
My first playthrough was as Astarion and whilst it was still fun getting those interaction with the Gur or other Spawn, what really surprised me was that the actual canon actions of his were pretty difficult skill checks (like grabbing the guy and pulling him into the sun or remembering his first mark). Now doing a Durge run and it's kinda aight, Act 1 and start of Act 2 are mostly the same but I'm looking forward to what comes after.
Oh wow first run as Astarion is interesting! I find the voice acting so good it would be hard to do without Durge run is mostly the same?? What do you mean! You should be afraid of your actions every long rest hahaha
@@JasonDunna I prefer playing as Origin Characters in Larian games, simply because Tavs tend to be bland and Astarion fit the bill Class-Wise. "Every long rest" might be the issue. I knew about the Alfira thing through spoilers, so made sure she survives but other than that, there's only been a few scenes that're specifically Durge. You get the occasional dialogue option but even then, it's 70% embrace and 30% resist.
Hot take: laezel is the worst origin character she’s the only who doesn’t get anything unique from her story quest it’s basically no different to playing a gith tav fighter other then slightly better armour
Hahaha yea exactly! The voice acting is hard to get rid of but that’s what multiple playthroughs are for. It’s also nice to get all the items that give benefits to Gith
Look, I’m still on my first play through. I restarted 5 times because I wasn’t ready to play Dark Urge right out the gate and creating a character no matter who/what I just wasn’t happy with it and didn’t feel as part of the story as everyone else. So then I decided to play an Origin Character and originally chose Gale cuz I liked him. But the closer I got to the end of act 1 I really missed hearing his voice and just having him around. So I restarted for the final time and chose Wyll (since I always kept him at camp anyways). He feels like playing a main character. That’s when I REALLY got into the game. Now I have 300+ hours in the game at the start of act 3 😂😂 and then I was like okay I need a break and now I’m afraid to get back into it cuz I don’t want it to end.
Dark Urge is just the perfect play character imo. everyone has something they struggle with throughout the story so being tav who has nothing to fight felt hollow. meanwhile with durge you get an extra layer of story and struggle while still being your very own custom character
I played as a dark urge rogue assassin in my first playthrough. It was on balanced, but I had a decent bit of trouble because I've never played a turn based game like this before. I think my character builds and team comp were pretty good for going in blind. Escpecially being able to sneak attack people, and once being caught, transforming into a beast, was a prety cool combo.
The way I see it the party has two leaders with one slightly above the other Dark urge who I named Tav as a good guy and Gale both powerful spell casters ones more charismatic if not a little bit scary and ones more intelligent if not a little bit too ambitious;)
IMHO it's Durge S, Tav B, all Gale C and others D. Playing any origin but Durge as MC basically kills them in your run, unlike in DOS 2 it doesn't open basically any choice and just removes their interactions, etc. If you REALLY want to do it, just play as Gale (because it has a BIT of stull, just a cat in camp and one bonus lv 3 spell slot TBH) or Wyll (because his personality is simply irrelevant anyway if he is a companion).
Gale can also ascend and gets some cool moments if you play as him where you can basically spit in Mystras face hahaha. Gale or Wyll are two great options but durge is the best
My first play through (tav) i got about 1/2 way through the second chapter and accidentally deleted my game 😅. Going to turn it up to tactical level and go dark urge for the second attempt
Waiting for the new patch to play an evil Wyll 😭 totally agree with the Astarion take. I couldn’t finish my origin play through cause I just miss the VA throughout the game.
@JasonDunna oooohhh thanks for the tip. Astarion is usually a staple on my team esp Act 1 for the lockpicking 😂 the only time I didn't have him was when I was experimenting if I "kill" him before triggering the recruit scene and will Cazador still get his body for the ritual
DARK URGE is supposed to be the intended main storyline for BG3. However in the studio they saw the problem with making Dark Urge the main story... Roleplay... and not being railroaded by the mandatory roll checks that Durge provides that can ruin many parts of the Illithid plot. Like getting everyone killed in ACT2. Anyone who knows the full Durge plot knows this story is a direct sequel to the previous Baldur Gates. Literally. But in order to not railroad the people that did not play the previous games the TAV exists.
100% Agree re Astarion's voice acting and lines. I was going to do a game with just two characters (Gale & Shadowheart), but decided to let Astarion tag along in the end.
Neil Newbon crushed it. The voice acting is too good to just ignore I think my favourite party is Gale Shadowheart and Astarion (until act 3 Jaheira and Minsc)
Being a good githyanki, freeing orpheus and riding into space with lazael on the back of a dragon feels like a really solid plot line and a satisfying ending for a npn dark urge character.
I've got the headcanon that Wyll is meant to be the real main character. Less interesting in many ways than the others, but ton of exclusive content when you play him, and has an altoghether "man of his time and place" vibe (eg. the only Baldurian playable character).
I played an evil playthrough as Durge and it honestly just left a sour taste in my mouth. I keep hearing “resist the Urge” is one of the best playthrough experiences ever, can someone explain that to me? Because if I want to play good, constantly having to pass dice checks to prevent myself from doing the most heinous psychopathic acts of cruelty just doesn’t sound like a good time to me.
Because its very similar to Shadowheart. If you like her character stories, you will find the resist durge similar but better. He had some insanely sad moments, and you would also wonder what would have happen to the Durge if the urge itself didn't exists, how different a person he would have been. I find it especially nice when you romance SH too, makes the most sense imo cause both licks each others wounds
The resist the urge is awesome to see all the companions help you be a better person. You get a lot of unique interactions with the companions and it feels like it’s the true definitive version of Baldur’s gate 3. It’s a blast
Both great responses, thanks guys! I guess one of the big things that disturbed me about my evil Durge run is I was intentionally doing the most evil things imaginable (betraying the grove, cut off Gale’s hand, killing all the animals, etc) and yet Shadowheart, Lae’zel and Astarion all still wanted to date me. When I started to date SH, she even referred to me as “sweet” and someone she could trust. Like…WHAT??? lol. I realized as long as I let her spare Nightsong, I could’ve continued the nice romance with her through the end of the game while still being as evil as possible in every other regard and still having very high approval with her somehow. It just felt gross in every way. It’s completely out of character for her to fall for someone like that considering how she reacted at the Goblin party. And whether you’re doing a good or evil Durge run, who in their right mind would let someone who randomly slaughters a poor girl in camp continue to be the leader, let alone stay in the group? Seriously, I don’t think a single character, even Astarion, would be okay with this revelation.
@@betweenthelakescinema7027 Hahahaha the part bout SH calling you sweet and trusting is so funny. Shadowheart is really evil though when shes guided by Shar. When you play Resist Durge your party sees that you're trying to overcome it and be a better person. You eventually do get rid of Bhaal's influence over you and are given a proper rebirth from Withers... its really cool to see!
@tranducquang5912 mine resisted his urge at times just to realise he was a pretty chill bad guy before so why not just make a change and go with the urge lmao
Maybe it's my taste, but I don't understand Dark Urge at all. First of all, I don't like Orin and the whole god of murder branch, to me it looks like a talentless way to write evil with no halftones. Orin is hard to imagine out of the frame in normal everyday life, same with all of Baal's followers. I don't believe in their story, and even though I like being able to play as someone who gains redemption (or not), Urge isn't for me. He only makes sense if you embrace your essence. Otherwise he's no different than a regular Tav who gets to choose a story. I finalized Tav's story on my own. And if you reject Urge's essence, you get the same new character. And in general I don't like the memory wipe trope, it's totally lame.
Yeah memory wipe tropes are incredibly common for plot convenience. Orin has quite a messed up life because Sarevok is her father, and her mother is… well, sarevok’s daughter. It’s messed up and explains why she is so evil in a way. The resist dark urge playthrough is what feels like the true BG3 playthrough
@@JasonDunna Yeah, well, Sarevok's her father, and that's it. She still doesn't seem like a real character with her own background that would make her the character she is now. I can understand who Gortash is besides the Chosen of Bane. Same with Keterik, he too has a long history and we understand why he's Myrkul's chosen one. He has a personality and character. Most importantly, he has a reason to serve Myrkul, which he chose himself. Did Orin choose anything at all? She was just born that way, she doesn't have a personality. Against that background Baal is faceless dumb evil, Baal's chosen just must be born, no personality and no conflict. Yes, you can resist, of course, but because of the erased memory as the main character, I personally felt it was strange. The main character started this mess, but we will forgive him, because for some reason his memory was erased and he helped fix it. And in the end, he can still kill everyone. And if his memory is erased again, we will forgive him once again. The great miracle of drama. In the game playthrough of resisting Dark Urge, it wasn't until the third act that I remembered I had a character who was Baal's child, not a regular Tav. Still don't consider this playthrough as cool and prescribed origins, Wyll is more interesting to play as, and so is any companion.
That comment on shadowheart is really funny because on my first ever playthrough i immediately killed her for no reason and went the entire game without ever knowing how integral to the plot she was.
Know what I noticed when you play as a salune cleric you and shadow heart will have some back and forth beefs like lazel and shadowhart because salunets worship saluna and Sharons worship shar the followers are rivals and hate each other just as much as the 2 goddess do. It’s intresting to see how charictors interact with you depending on what race you go and by what god you worship and sometimes by what class you are. Also you and Isabel will have some unique diolouge if you play as a salune cleric and speak with her
I played all origin up to act 3 and actually fi ished the game 2 times as durge once as gale and once as karlach. Gale deffinately feels like he was designed as the "canon" party leader.
I know everybody loves Durge, but I can't force myself to play it, the implied necrophilia and cannibalism gross me out too much. I feel guilty, I know that The Dark Urge origin has a lot of content, but I just don't think I would personally enjoy it. I do enjoy playing the other origins, better than Tav. I loved playing as Gale, Astarion and Shadowheart, next I want to try Karlach and Wyll.
I'm playing a multiplayer Durge honor run with 3 friends. We killed Shadowheart on the beach and took the prism. She didn't feel all that important to the story. :P
I like Shadowheart, but you do not need her in the party. You even get to talk to her in camp about how the Artifact choses to come into your possession instead and how you are responsible to keep it safe from there on. It would have been a bad design decision to force the need of a certain companion for the story. You only need to swap her into the party for the Nightsong encounter so she does not permanently leave, if you want to conclude her personal quest in Act 3. And on point with Astarion, it just does not feel the same without him as a companion. Now i really need to try Gale as origin. So far, it's difficult to pick Tav origin after experiencing Dark Urge.
Very true! Yeah it’s hard to go without Astarion as the voice acting is amazing. Gale origin is a ton of fun and you get some exclusive things for playing as him which is awesome
Dragonborne do have one buff that no other race gets. They look cool as fuck, seriously the game is easy enough i dont think the racial bonus dont matter to much lol
Forever bummed Durge isn't really his own character unless you play as him. The VA for his intro did such a good job for a murder-lizard he could have been the ultimate "influenced by player" companion. Confused and meek at first, then by act 3 you basically have Homelander for a genuine buddy humming to himself while making corpse effigies of people who look at you sideways.
It would be so cool if he was a character I agree! Legit homelander if you go evil but could be a cool influenced by the character to be a good aligned character
That kinda makes god Gale from a normal playthrough look really really bad. I've been wondering why tf is he becomes god doesn't he enen try to help Karlach and spawn Astarion since they desperately need some divine interventions but I have been told that god Gale cannot do it because Ao prohibits meddling in the affairs of mortal. Bit evidently that is not the case if you can heal Karlach in the origin
@@JasonDunna damn. This game is awesome... so much to do and can replay and have completely different scenarios.. way more than any game I've played. Great video.
On the age, Shart is canonically like 45 or something despite looking early 20s. I didn’t know Lae’zel is the youngest being that she is from the Astral Plane she could be 150 and look the same
Crapping on Canon Durge. Dragonborn gains resistance to whatever element of their choosing. Canon Durge is White Dragon. Don’t be dunking on my white Dragonborn storm sorcerer (also the Paladin oath of devo) is acceptable
I am playing Durge at the moment and i'm yet to decide if i wanna go full evil mode. And ater that i really wanna play Wyll i wanted to build warlock and also i wanna see interactions with Mizora
@JasonDunna the issue with this game is that i don't see reason to be complete evil. Killing Karlakh, slealing idle of sylvanus or killing the Nightsong are reasonable choices but let's say attacking the groove is just pointless
Here are the Strongest Subclasses to play as in BG3!
ua-cam.com/video/30EPK_dcbuI/v-deo.html
The Astarion take is so true though! His voice actor's insanely good and it's such a shame to not hear his voice lines
S tier character! but having him silent takes away a lot of his charm. Some cool roleplay ideas like if you want to play as a vampire, but honestly Neil Newbon crushed it and his voice needs to be heard
I think it’s a shame the VA is hiding his OG Brummie accent!
@@hashimpervase3950i dont think he should have had any accent i feel like theres a very specific "vamp" accent thats very commonly used when voicing vampire characters that its just too iconic not to do it and i think he did such an amazing job at it even though his normal voice sounds very similiar to it anyway.
The only reason I wont do an origin run as Astarion, otherwise he is my absolute favorite character. I also wish they allowed default urge to be a companion, he also is a great voice actor.
He’s too gay
playing a normal tav and then playing urge after is so eye opening, the amount of context and reveals about the plot changes the whole story. it feels like dark urge is the intended main character since every other origin companion has their own thing going on and if you play as a normal tav it can feel a bit empty when all your character is worried about is the main quest for most of the game.
I agree. You can have all other characters as your companions but unfortunately u can't have dark urge. So my choice was obvious for the first playthrough.
My assumption was that the Dark Urge is the intended main character, and they set it aside as an Origin so people would have the option of having a predefined background or not. That would make sense as it's fully customisable and the series has a history with Bhaalspawn protagonists.
@@theworksproject13 I agree!! I think that the resist dark urge is the true bg3 experience honestly
That's a Larian game for ya. Anyone who played Dos2 knows an origin character will always be more fulfilling then a custom.
I played durge first because I loved the thematics of that narrative. Now it feels so hollow as a regular tav 😂
“If you play with 3 other friends” - who the Hell has 3 friends?
Hahahah good point
Me, we went dark urge human, hafling rouge assassin, cleric wood elf, dwarf mage.
@@jessegraves6642 :0
I pay with randoms and usually that results in three new friends after the beating the game
Real
The biggest downside to playing an origin character, besides the urge, is that you loose some of the soul of the game cause you don’t get to hear them talk
That’s the biggest thing yeah, I’m doing Gale origin and I miss his dorky comments
That's why it's better to do the first run as a custom character.
Also besides Karlach, Durge is the only one you can hear speak when you play them - at an act 3 moment when someone… impersonates Durge.
@@kalbarnes2494 oohhh yes that’s a great point!!
@@kalbarnes2494 the game has been out over a year, why do you not just type Orin.
Seeing Laezel with Tav face animations just feels wrong, second to second. Blankly pleasant wheh she'd absolutely be scowling.
Hahahah yeah you know what, you make a really good point. The tav face animations are so goofy sometimes
Just finished a run with her. It's kind of sweet seeing her smile when playing with Scratch though.
Fun fact: a popular theory about the dark urge is that it was going to be the base tav character since the dark urge has more significance to the plot. Also the main character in BG 1&2 was a bal spawn like the dark urge is in BG3
Yeah it makes total sense I’d believe it! The way the dark urge is integral to the plot in their playthrough
Im also a ballspawn
@@AchillesofOblivion perrserker ballspawn
@@AchillesofOblivion lmfao
Its not theory, it is truth
I always was under an impression that Redeemed Dark Urge is the intended "main character" of the game. Absolutely fantastic story.
Fully agree it does feel that way!
the dark urge is literally the main character, i cannot play anything else. i played pure evil and the ending man! was so satisfactory.
Dark urge truly feels like the main character, with how involved in the plot they are. There’s more evil endings coming soon so save your save file!
Wyll is such a good origin as him being a complicated Hero fits him so much better than how he acts as a party member imo
Yeah I agree with you on that!
One of my issues with the game's plot is the fact the game almost punishes you for not having Shadowheart (as much as I love her) with you 24/7, whereas with other origin characters you can kind of choose to have them there or not and it doesn't negatively impact the narrative TOO harshly. Act 1 you're spending half the time trying to figure out the relic and then go through an old Sharran temple. Then Act 2 is almost centered exclusively around her between the shadow curse, the shadowfell, and then ANOTHER temple of Shar with some other Sharran secrets hidden around the map. Act 3 finishes up her story arc with some really nice rewards depending which path you choose.
and here is why Shadowheart is my favorite character to have in my party, you can add to that the fact she's a cleric (and an OP one when you go light or tempest domain) just seal the deal for me.
Finishing Shadowheart's quest no matter what you do is great rewards. Love that free ASI.
Yeah that’s a good point Shadowheart is very integral to the plot as a good or evil aligned character. I really enjoy her character so I’m in the same boat as you, but if you disliked her as a character good luck. Thankfully she does change fairly drastically through the acts
I have Shadowheart as a tempest cleric right now and the damage output is awesome
You guys should watch the video "the box that broke baldur's gate 3", it has Swen and explanation for the artefact ("box") from a design/DM POV. In act1 Shadowheart isn't integral, the box is ;), and act3 just ties her story. Act1 Shadowheart is the chosen by DM vessel to provide a party with the box (it could've been Lae'zel, but the story would be much different if you know what the box is and where the story goes, Shadowheart is the easiest vessel to pick because less writing needed lol)
Act2 tho, outside of Gauntlet of Shar/Shadowfell, is just player's perception of the need of Shadowhear. Tbf, the game doesn't dissuade player of that notion, but outside of the said location, you really don't need Shadowheart, and act isn't structured around her design wise, only perception wise (it might just be perceived as structured around Wyll trying to save his dad)
Your comment about wyll being the party face is so true. The main reason i have never played with wyll much or even Warlock in general is because he is conflicting my role as the party face Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin. I do plan to try out warlock(though i don't think their playstyle is as fun as just blasting the shit out of the enemy with a diverse arsenal of spells rather than Hunger of Hadar into Spamming EB or go melee
Check the death knight build I just posted, it’s perfect for Wyll! You get 3 attacks and spells
Warlock pairs great with sorcerer , bard and paladin though
Gale and Karlach are definitely the best origin runs! For the exact reasons you said - Gale for the cat and Karlach for the narration
Problem with evil wyll is that he always acts like “how could it come to this?!?” After making him insanely evil…
Hahahaha that’s a great point
Fun fact! If you do not play as Durge and if you go to the room behind the alter in the Bhaal temple, you will not only get to speak to Orin's dead mother, you will see a dead dragonborn character on the floor of Orin's room, which is assumed to be the Dark Urge
Yeah I love that little detail! The white Dragonborn was haunting when I first saw it and realized who it is
"You need shadowheart or it feels weird" The moment she said no to a loot chest we killed her
Hahahah
In my Githyanki playthrough my Gith didn't like the way she talked to him on the shore so he beat her up and left her unconscious. Met her later but she still had an attitude, so we went on without her.
was it the chest with the owlbear????
Shes the barracks bunny
So true, my first playthrough was a loth drow / dark urge and it was INSANELY good!
I resisted the urge, got myself a Paladin/Bard multiclass + Shadowheart, Astarion and Karlach in the team and omfg was it THE playthrough.
It's so good that my current run with a no character origin feels almost off (still very good).
But I gotta say man, the voice actors NAILED it. The writing is so captivating too.
And I feel the same about Shadowheart, to me she's like the deuteragonist, she completes whoever you are playing, she NEEDS to be there, especially when you consider how ACT I is dedicated to understanding why you're not changing and the artifact (+ an old Selunite temple and searching for a Sharran temple). ACT II almost entirely dedicated to her + the Sharran Temple and the most consequential choices for her there (except you-know-what in act III). ACT III however rebalances the importance of the others characters, with less dedication to the story line and an emphasis on Karlach, Astarion and Jaheira, but still, the outcome of Shadowheart's storyline is just insanely good and SO coherent with what happened throughout the game.
The others are very good too, Lae'zel and Astarion especially for me. But I find their story not as fleshed out as Shadowheart's.
But thanks to your video, I'll have to do a Gale run, sounds very, very interesting indeed.
Yeah Shadowheart is an awesome compliment to a good or evil character with all the choices you get!
Gale is great for an origin as well since he can go either way too and gets a lot of exclusive content for each because of Mystra
Durge is undoubtedly the best character to play. His story is so absolutely insane.
Agreed! Even the good dark urge is really well done
@@JasonDunna for me, resist durge is even better then evil durge. The murderhobo actually overcomes his evil heritage to make up for all his crimes and becomes at least an antihero.
And as Lae‘Zel said, if the urge is too strong, they gonna find a goblin or 2
@@PongLenis-zw8kv very well said! It really feels like the true story of BG3
I did a Wyll play through and quite honestly that was a very rewarding experience. I romanced shadowheart with him and both of them had a very nice story by the end of the game. I tried to do Astarion but after a couple hours I felt like I needed to play with him in my party, his missing dialogue really does make an impact and that’s coming from me who barely used him at first. I am trying Shadowheart now because I feel like the idea of having little to no memory helps me pretend that it’s more relatable as the main character, plus having the prism that works only for me. Super fun game! I love it!
I’ve been looking for a ranking just like this to help me decide on my first origin run, so thank you!
Happy that it was helpful! Let me know who you decide on
me and two other friends are thinking of doing exactly this, and we also want to do a dark and evil play through so at least one of us is probably going to be dark urge. I was wanting to be Dark Urged, Shadowheart, or Wyll. However, now that you said what you said about Gale, he seems cool too.
Gale has a lot of potential for an evil playthrough because Gale can become god of ambition!
Dark urge is a really great playthrough though and I like the resist dark urge story the most
@@JasonDunna Thank you. I'm really considering Gale now, however, it's also really tempting to be either Shadowheart or Dark Urge and be a Tempest Cleric, because I'm a little addicted to the tempest power.
@@colbyrackler3915 Play Gale as a storm sorcerer (he is a Wizard but he is born with magic like a sorcerer) and pair it with Tempest Cleric Shadowheart and get the trident that applies wet on your martial class and you're set!
On my first playthrough I did a custom character wood elf and romanced Karlach, going for the standard good hero ending. On my second playthrough I played as Dark Urge and romanced Minthara, with the goal of being Bhaal's favourite kiddo and just embracing the evil.
Anyways sorry so I just wanted to say that your take on Astarion rings so true with me; I got part way into a third playthrough as him (Underdark I think) and I gave up after awhile, and thinking back it's just because it felt wrong without hearing Neil Newbon! (oh and that I should get around to doing a trying-to-be-nice Dark Urge playthrough!)
I highly recommend trying out the resist dark urge! It feels like the definitive version of Baldur’s gate 3 since you’re still a hero and you’re tied to the plot more than as Tav. It’s a lot of fun
You mentioned romancing Shadowheart or Wyll as Karlach, but I'd also like to mention Astarion. He has a cool, unique dialogue about how it frustrates him that he can't touch you to seduce you. It tells you a lot about him and his motives early on
Interestinggggg thanks for sharing that Sly Cooper!
I love romancing Astarion as Karlach because they go so nicely together imo. She is really good for him. The only reason he does that is for his safety because, unfortunately, that's all he knows. His story is so complex and deep, I absolutely love it. Plus he has an amazing redemption arc
@@amberh709 great points! Astarion is such a deeply complex character and it’s sad some people don’t give him any attention because he’s trying to attack you at first
My first playthrough was dark urge then i attempted a tav character but i didn't like how detached from the plot tav feels by comparison.
Right! And everyone treats them as the leader for no real reason. At least with dark urge it makes more sense
@@JasonDunna Then again, why the heck would they put the amnesiac serial killer who doesn't trust their own mind and might spontaneously kill people in their sleep in charge?
This is a veryyyyyyy interesting list. Right now, I’m thinking of trying to complete a Wyll Origin mainly to go Bardlock. But all of the companions voice actor’s did amazing so remember, if you do an Origin, you won’t hear them. So to me, the best Origin is Tav/Durge. That way you can interact with every character.
Unless you want to embody the physical being of let’s say a companion like Astarion, then not being able to hear the voice but still make important decisions for the camp is ok.
Can’t wait to see how you ranked them all!
Agreed! It’s sad missing out on the awesome voice acting. Originally characters were supposed to talk more if you played as them, but they changed it so you felt more like the character! I feel like hearing your character talk often would change the immersion a bit so I see why they did it
@@JasonDunnai also think of all of the extra voice lines they would have had to record for everyone would have been overload.
something i noticed after only playing dark urge and romancing every companion then going back to playing a normal tav is that tav talks way more than durge. so many more comments, little banter with the party and things like that. and honestly it really made me feel more in tune roleplaying a resisting durge more because it really felt like durge was biting their tongue a lot more to avoid saying any of the really odd or evil things you can say exclusively as them in dialogue. it’s something small i noticed but it definitely hits after only playing durge and then going back as an origin or tav character
iiiiinteresting!! I’ll have to compare the two of them. I did two dark urges back to back so I didn’t notice but I’ll do another playthrough soon
Love this video. Very helpful in helping me figure out what my next run is going to be. I’m about to finish my 6th run and have played dark urge twice (good and bad), and custom every other time. I’m looking to try an origin character next time. Going to have to consider some of this when choosing. Although last run I said I’d choose an origin but didn’t cause designing a custom character is just fun 😅
I agree with how fun it is creating custom characters! You can customize hirelings at least. I recommend a Gale playthrough as there’s a ton of unique content, but Wyll is also a great choice
I recently finished my very first full campaign. Most attempts at starting the game ended with me giving up before resolving the conflict between the goblins, tieflings, and druids. But I finally completed it and it was actually a Wyll origin. Built him as a Fiend Warlock and College of Swords Bard, romancing Karlach, breaking his pact with Mizora, AND saving his father alongside the rest of the Sword Coast. It's a very unique, amazing experience from a Tav run and it deserves an S-tier on this list.
I love that playthrough great choices!! Bardlock is really fun
@JasonDunna Thank you! I appreciate the love. This video will definitely inspire me to try campaigns as a Karlach or Gale origin. Keep making great content!!
Thanks so much!! Gale origin has so much extra content it’s really cool
The dark urge is worth a play too!
I have played as Shadowheart origin and Karlach Origin. Recommend both, especially Shadowheart going down the Dark Justiciar route. Karlach has the most voiced lines and Act 3 Gortash battle is amazing.
Oh man Karlach origin against Gortash would be nuts. Even her dialogue after beating him is incredible in the base game, really makes me feel sad for her haha
@@JasonDunna Yeah its very emotional. Playing Tav with Karlach, her dialog is 🔥 but playing as Karlach and hearing her inner thoughts is much worse. And the companions react to the situation as well. Shadowheart and Minthara have the best reaction.
@@angmarliche9187 Now you got me curious, I will have to try out a Karlach origin run. Minthara is the funniest person I know, Id love to hear her thoughts
@@JasonDunna Even better: Karlach Origin romance Minthara 😁 .
I havent noticed it as much, personally, having Lae'zel in my party most of the time, but I recall a number of online posts where people thought she would be a good Origin just to shut her up. She seens ready to cover the elitism, in place of not starting with a Drow, and she can so easily aggro with Shadowheart, who I agree basically NEEDS to be in my party at all times, but if you play as her, you can change the basic Fighter to whsyevet class you like, lose the attitude, and romance Shadowheart, instead of instagate camp violence. Again, Lae'zel has actually kind of grown on me, with my Tav, even as I am trying to romance Shadowheart, so it feels like it could be really easy to side against Lae'zel, but I've been making it work, I guess. As for third, it bounces between Gale and Karlach. When I started, i knew I wasn't going to be able to get Minthara, I didn't want to use Wyll, and wasn't a fan of Gale's eating habits, so I run a female Lolth-sworn (but good) Drow Sorlock, and that mostly covers party face, Charisma caster, full caster, and such.
I was curious about repentant Durge. For the most part, I feel BG3 is another example of "evil doesn't justify cost", as you could easily lose Wyll, Karlach, AND Gale, for the perks of getting Minthara, which you now can nab even Good, and what I've heard described as a dodgy transformation power, for a Player, so it's good to hear it can still be fun, even when you resist, since I assume that deprives you of stuff like the Slayer form.
How about Minthara? Obviously not an Origin, but you can get her now, regardless of choices, so is she still good, if you are Good? Will she just get sick of your kindness, and bail? Is she still fun? I've heard a fair bit of her dialogue, and it sounds great, but I don't know how much of your play she might still force, in order to keep her?
Play a Githyanki Durge and have Lae'zel as a companion
Jesus the amount of inter story connections.
I say Wyll because he's so most boring so you won't miss him lol. Also pact of the blade Warlock multiclasses and being a party face feel very Main character
Yeah true that, him being a charisma class fits well
Been looking for this ranking! Ty for the video!
Glad you found it useful!! Cheers
this was my biggest and really, only, complaint about BG3 - that origin characters don't speak. they did in Divinity 1 and 2 but i think i understand the choice.
Yeah that was a nice thing about Divinity! It feels weird in this game but I understand their choice from experience
Love your content. Any hope for a “condition” tier list? Like reverberation, encrusted with frost, and what not
@@matthewloyd9357 I have this condition list but there’s SO many, I do plan on a future one too
ua-cam.com/video/z0GWHGgl4Zw/v-deo.html
Heck’s yeah. Thanks for the content. Keep up the good work 🫡
@@matthewloyd9357 I’ll definitely be doing one with encrusted with frost, chilled, frozen, reverb etc! Just trying to compile them all
Appreciate your support brother!
I can only imagine. Appreciate the responses and work you do. I subscribed just because of this interaction. 🫡
@@matthewloyd9357 engaging with others that are interested in the games I like is one of my favorite parts of content creation!
Dark Urge is going to be a fun one. I building a Cleric 1/Warlock 11 Red Dragon. I am looking forward to seeing what the dice rolls decide for him. I planned on him being a follower of Bahamut and trying to resist the call of the Dark Urge. Tiamat is utilizing the god of murder to try and pull her chromatic dragonborn back to the dark side. My Dark Urge will attempt to resist and build on his new life following Bahamut. The back story is real on this go around!
That’s a really cool back story! The dark urge is a ton of fun honestly. I think the resist dark urge is such a good story too
Don't forget the Happy buff Astarion get. Also ascended Astarion is the best monk in the game if you want to minmax
Oh yeah true the +1 from happy is nice. You can get a hireling for that too
Yeah ascended Astarion monk 9 rogue thief 3 is so strong !
Dragonborn: cons you only get 1 resist and 1 lackluster breath weapon. Pro: you aren’t horribly ugly or boring looking. Man it’s such a shame halflings and dark dwarves have such good passives. Because they are hella ugly!
Yea the breath weapon sucks!! But they sure are unique looking.
Yeah the Duergar has at will invisibility which is so powerful on a number of builds
put you in racist prison in wyrm rocks
I believe Dark Urge is the absolute best first playthrough of a video game in history. It’s such a roller coaster.
Playing as a Tav and then doing dark urge the second time really changed the game for me!
Honestly it feels like it’s the true definitive story of the game so that’s cool to pick it first
Did you resist the dark urge or go evil?
@@JasonDunna first go around I went full redemption. But literally not even 5 minutes later I had to start a new game to go full EVIL
Hahahah the resist dark urge is so good. Feels like the real story of the game
I'm making my way through the game for the first time. After many failed attempts at a custom character playthrough, my primary campaign became a Gale origin one. I'm in Act Three right now.
As far as the other origin campaigns go, Wyll and the Dark Urge are on my list.
I'm currently doing a secondary custom character campaign as well right now. Playing as a Cleric of Bane (thank you, mods) so I don't feel as detached from the story as I did during all of my failed attempts.
Cleric of bane sounds unreal!!! Gale origin is really cool I hope it’s going well
Shadowheart has the bonus that she is the only character who can actually worship shar in game, so she gets a lot of cleric and paladin dialogue options no tav or durge can.
That is very true president togekiss! I have a hard time playing without her as a side character hahaha
After bhaal killed my character and the skeleton revived me like "IT’S not your time” I felt like Talion in shadow of Mordor. Talion forever 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
Yooo I love the Mordor games! Great reference
I asked myself the question a while ago: if Baldur's Gate 3 was a JRPG, who would be the main character? And in my opinion Lae'zel would come closest because she is a blank slate and canonically would be the first character in the story if there is no self-created character. Even though Shadowheart has the ultimate JRPG cliché, memory loss...
Yeah I was thinking Shadowheart for similar reasons!! But even Wyll could be the JRPG protagonist given his back story and how he plays into act 3
Damn right wyll origin is S tier. He really does feel like a main character when you play as him.
(Also yeah, I’ve done evil lolth-sworn drow dark urge, and the race-specific dialogue was always funny. I’ve done a duergar good dark urge as well, and it felt like a completely different story from my evil one.)
Yessir! If you go the good route his story makes full sense with the plot of the game. Evil Wyll also loses no companions! Since you have to get rid of karlach who you would lose
@@JasonDunna Wouldn't you lose halsin? Or do you mean kill karlach but still side with the grove
My Wyll playthrough was the first time the game held my interest long enough to finish. Before I'd always lost interest in Act 3 and restarted. Haven't finished any other origin run yet, but expect to do them all eventually.
All origins would be cool! Gale has a lot of unique content for his origin which is nice
I never had Shadowheart in my active party. Even the prism just spawned in my inventory. I like to believe the Emperor felt that I would never take her with me
Hahaha what?! Dang. She’s an awesome character once you get past the first bit of her being brainwashed
so what I am hearing is:
Astarion > Too good voice, missing out on his charm!
Gael > Talks too much, better to play as him. You get pity bonus for going through it. OK!
(All jokes aside, and putting words in your mouth you never said; I love all the characters but never warmed up to Wyll's character. I love the voice acting and the character is fine, but I am not into his story)
Hahahah that was funny
I’ve played as Wyll and Astarion, both pretty cool
Wyll’s story is tied closely to the main plot, and he has interesting good and evil playthroughs
how exactly does it work when you play Wyll as an evil character? I really have to try it must be scary :D
@@MMORPGFreaky oh I played him doing a good run so Idk 😹😹
I’m doing a wyll origin run and it’s pretty interesting. Wish there was more of course. His vo did a great job but I can understand why it could come off cheesy but Wyll is such an earnest character it can read as cheesy bc we are too cynical for it. 😂
Hahahah yeah great points! He feels like a good character to play as actually since he’s a goody goody, but you can also be evil if you play as him
@@JasonDunna evil wyll is like when the cynical/jaded side wins.
Lol. I got BG3 a few weeks ago. After trying a few different character types i finally settled on playing Wyll as a Bardlock. I had starting see Wyll snd Karlach as a natutal ship. I am also yrying on getting the more positive/heroic endings fir the characters.
Probably playing a Dark urge for my second full play through. It feels like its the most unique playthrough.
Highly recommend the dark urge playthrough it’s incredible. So detailed and many changes from base game
I’m waiting for someone to do tier lists for gear. Gloves, boots, swords, light armor, etc. So many things to sort
Little secret you can steal her prism. Put her jn a box, pick up the box. Revive her after your first long rest at the Grove after speaking to Kahga. The result is hilarious, leave it for you to discover
Hahaha that sounds funny I can’t believe they thought of that situation happening. I’ll give it a try
Since i don't see myself doing 7 different playthroughs of this game, if i play any origin characters out of the companions it would probably be Astarion.
As amazing as his voice acting is, as a character i'm just not much of a fan. I find him too obnoxious and whiney, and i would much rather shape him as my own character then have him around...
If i get around to it, i will also incorporate 2 other playthrough ideas i wan to do into him - Cleric of Selune and a Druid playthrough. In my head, Selune would contact Astarion and offer power in exchange of him becoming her champion against the Absolute, and that power would manifest as the Moon Druid class.
That way i get the Astarion origin story, the unique Selune reactivity, which i hear is quite extensive, and an early level Druid gameplay which can easily simulate Vampire powers, since druids and vampires can do a lot of similar things like turning into animals and mist, creating fog, charming people, summoning animal servants, and so on...
I absolutely love this idea! Astarion is an interesting character to play as because he has so many questions he needs answered. Cleric of Selune is genius and it actually works pretty well with the Druid. I like land Druid + tempest cleric but anything would work well.
Let me know how it goes if you do that playthrough!
@@JasonDunna It's definitely not gonna happen any time soon. I kind of burned out on the game after getting to the mountain pass in my Githyanki Cleric/Paladin of Vlaakith playthrough, and i intend to finish that at some point too.
But yeah, the Selune champion concept for Astarion works super well. She's the goddess of the moon, so associated with night time, and vampires are creatures of the night, so that connection makes sense. Goddess of the moon plus moon druid works well. Druid powers and Vampire powers overlapping works well. It just all fits perfectly.
@@JasonDunna I did enjoy making Astarion a Shadow Monk plus 3 levels Thief rogue in my first playthrough. The Druid powers correlating with vampires is cool, but Monk is my favorite option in D&D to simulate vampire powers. With the extra Bonus Action you get from Thief, you end up with that super fast, super strong kind of vampire, running around the battlefield at crazy speeds and stunning people with your 6 attacks plus sneak attack, teleporting through shadows and going invisible when needed.
Yea I see how Selune and Vampires would relate well and it could go very well on a good aligned Astarion trying to do right. Moon Druid is just the icing on the cake. That’s an awesome idea
Also what’s funnier than pushing a goblin off a cliff. Throwing them off. Or throwing a goblin at another one who’s standing next to the edge of a cliff and being tossed off from the other goblin being thrown at it.
Throwing goblins around is a bunch of fun ahhaha
Yes
Karlach is special because everybody ask good ending for her
And Larian is actually already given that ending, on Karlach Origin
It’s awesome that they did that. Karlach deserves it
I'm probably gonna do Karlach Origin soon. I figured I want to do a meathead party using 4 strength builds and the merregon masks so Karlach feels like a natural choice yo have there and trying an origin (other than thd dark urge) sounds neat even if I don't see myself doing it often.
I am a fan of the big bonk meathead parties hahaha. Karlach is a fantastic choice for the leader of the brutes
I wish there were an option to hear the voice acting if you choose the options that the characters say when you don’t play as them. I get why they don’t do that cause it could be weird for some things to be said and some to be silent, but it would be fun for it to be an option because it’s so sad to not hear lines you pick that you know are recorded and in the game
Yeah I agree that would’ve been nice but I feel like it would’ve been a lot extra work for something people might not like. I know they were planning to do it but stopped at some point in development
Maybe just for major cutscenes or something would've been cool at least?
Loved playing as Astarion, most powerful potential as main character with that ascension, S tier for me. :)
Monk 9 rogue thief 3 ascended Astarion is so strong! Adding the 1d10 to attacks that hit twice effectively doubles it!
You don’t have to play as Astarion to ascend though and his dialogue is so great
My first playthrough was as Astarion and whilst it was still fun getting those interaction with the Gur or other Spawn, what really surprised me was that the actual canon actions of his were pretty difficult skill checks (like grabbing the guy and pulling him into the sun or remembering his first mark).
Now doing a Durge run and it's kinda aight, Act 1 and start of Act 2 are mostly the same but I'm looking forward to what comes after.
Oh wow first run as Astarion is interesting! I find the voice acting so good it would be hard to do without
Durge run is mostly the same?? What do you mean! You should be afraid of your actions every long rest hahaha
Act 3 is when the durge really picks up though
@@JasonDunna I prefer playing as Origin Characters in Larian games, simply because Tavs tend to be bland and Astarion fit the bill Class-Wise.
"Every long rest" might be the issue. I knew about the Alfira thing through spoilers, so made sure she survives but other than that, there's only been a few scenes that're specifically Durge. You get the occasional dialogue option but even then, it's 70% embrace and 30% resist.
Hot take: laezel is the worst origin character she’s the only who doesn’t get anything unique from her story quest it’s basically no different to playing a gith tav fighter other then slightly better armour
Lae'zel has great voice acting too so its a shame to lose that if you play as her
Playing Lae'zel right now and being that badass gith that can insult everyone and get away with it is so cool. Miss her voice tho
Hahaha yea exactly! The voice acting is hard to get rid of but that’s what multiple playthroughs are for. It’s also nice to get all the items that give benefits to Gith
@@JasonDunna never played as a Gith, but the gear sadly won't benefit my Lae'zel bard lmao
I think a playthrough as a Wyll main but perhaps an evil tragic downfall would be very interesting to me.
Yeah either way would make for a good story honestly!
Look, I’m still on my first play through. I restarted 5 times because I wasn’t ready to play Dark Urge right out the gate and creating a character no matter who/what I just wasn’t happy with it and didn’t feel as part of the story as everyone else. So then I decided to play an Origin Character and originally chose Gale cuz I liked him. But the closer I got to the end of act 1 I really missed hearing his voice and just having him around. So I restarted for the final time and chose Wyll (since I always kept him at camp anyways). He feels like playing a main character. That’s when I REALLY got into the game. Now I have 300+ hours in the game at the start of act 3 😂😂 and then I was like okay I need a break and now I’m afraid to get back into it cuz I don’t want it to end.
Dark Urge is just the perfect play character imo. everyone has something they struggle with throughout the story so being tav who has nothing to fight felt hollow. meanwhile with durge you get an extra layer of story and struggle while still being your very own custom character
I played as a dark urge rogue assassin in my first playthrough. It was on balanced, but I had a decent bit of trouble because I've never played a turn based game like this before. I think my character builds and team comp were pretty good for going in blind. Escpecially being able to sneak attack people, and once being caught, transforming into a beast, was a prety cool combo.
The way I see it the party has two leaders with one slightly above the other Dark urge who I named Tav as a good guy and Gale both powerful spell casters ones more charismatic if not a little bit scary and ones more intelligent if not a little bit too ambitious;)
Yeah that’s true!
IMHO it's Durge S, Tav B, all Gale C and others D. Playing any origin but Durge as MC basically kills them in your run, unlike in DOS 2 it doesn't open basically any choice and just removes their interactions, etc.
If you REALLY want to do it, just play as Gale (because it has a BIT of stull, just a cat in camp and one bonus lv 3 spell slot TBH) or Wyll (because his personality is simply irrelevant anyway if he is a companion).
Gale can also ascend and gets some cool moments if you play as him where you can basically spit in Mystras face hahaha. Gale or Wyll are two great options but durge is the best
My first play through (tav) i got about 1/2 way through the second chapter and accidentally deleted my game 😅. Going to turn it up to tactical level and go dark urge for the second attempt
Oh nooo!! Yeah the dark urge is a lot of fun
Waiting for the new patch to play an evil Wyll 😭 totally agree with the Astarion take. I couldn’t finish my origin play through cause I just miss the VA throughout the game.
Evil Wyll is a cool playthrough! It’s hard to play without Astarion though haha
@JasonDunna oooohhh thanks for the tip. Astarion is usually a staple on my team esp Act 1 for the lockpicking 😂 the only time I didn't have him was when I was experimenting if I "kill" him before triggering the recruit scene and will Cazador still get his body for the ritual
Hahahah that experiment is hilarious. I always have to have him around
Played through Shadowheart and finishing Karlach. Looove both. Have not been able to finish Astarian yet.
Oh, yes. And two Durge runs.
DARK URGE is supposed to be the intended main storyline for BG3.
However in the studio they saw the problem with making Dark Urge the main story...
Roleplay... and not being railroaded by the mandatory roll checks that Durge provides that can ruin many parts of the Illithid plot. Like getting everyone killed in ACT2.
Anyone who knows the full Durge plot knows this story is a direct sequel to the previous Baldur Gates. Literally. But in order to not railroad the people that did not play the previous games the TAV exists.
Now I’m thinking about doing a Mystic Gale Origin then Ascend him to God Hood. Lol
Thats the ultimate way to spite Mystra! hahahah
100% Agree re Astarion's voice acting and lines.
I was going to do a game with just two characters (Gale & Shadowheart), but decided to let Astarion tag along in the end.
Neil Newbon crushed it. The voice acting is too good to just ignore
I think my favourite party is Gale Shadowheart and Astarion (until act 3 Jaheira and Minsc)
Being a good githyanki, freeing orpheus and riding into space with lazael on the back of a dragon feels like a really solid plot line and a satisfying ending for a npn dark urge character.
I've got the headcanon that Wyll is meant to be the real main character. Less interesting in many ways than the others, but ton of exclusive content when you play him, and has an altoghether "man of his time and place" vibe (eg. the only Baldurian playable character).
@@AceOfClubsHUN yeah I agree with you there, Wyll is the most neglected by the fan base but he’s a great character. Even more so if you play as him
I played an evil playthrough as Durge and it honestly just left a sour taste in my mouth. I keep hearing “resist the Urge” is one of the best playthrough experiences ever, can someone explain that to me? Because if I want to play good, constantly having to pass dice checks to prevent myself from doing the most heinous psychopathic acts of cruelty just doesn’t sound like a good time to me.
Because its very similar to Shadowheart. If you like her character stories, you will find the resist durge similar but better. He had some insanely sad moments, and you would also wonder what would have happen to the Durge if the urge itself didn't exists, how different a person he would have been. I find it especially nice when you romance SH too, makes the most sense imo cause both licks each others wounds
The resist the urge is awesome to see all the companions help you be a better person. You get a lot of unique interactions with the companions and it feels like it’s the true definitive version of Baldur’s gate 3. It’s a blast
Both great responses, thanks guys!
I guess one of the big things that disturbed me about my evil Durge run is I was intentionally doing the most evil things imaginable (betraying the grove, cut off Gale’s hand, killing all the animals, etc) and yet Shadowheart, Lae’zel and Astarion all still wanted to date me. When I started to date SH, she even referred to me as “sweet” and someone she could trust. Like…WHAT??? lol. I realized as long as I let her spare Nightsong, I could’ve continued the nice romance with her through the end of the game while still being as evil as possible in every other regard and still having very high approval with her somehow. It just felt gross in every way. It’s completely out of character for her to fall for someone like that considering how she reacted at the Goblin party.
And whether you’re doing a good or evil Durge run, who in their right mind would let someone who randomly slaughters a poor girl in camp continue to be the leader, let alone stay in the group? Seriously, I don’t think a single character, even Astarion, would be okay with this revelation.
@@betweenthelakescinema7027 Hahahaha the part bout SH calling you sweet and trusting is so funny. Shadowheart is really evil though when shes guided by Shar.
When you play Resist Durge your party sees that you're trying to overcome it and be a better person. You eventually do get rid of Bhaal's influence over you and are given a proper rebirth from Withers... its really cool to see!
@tranducquang5912 mine resisted his urge at times just to realise he was a pretty chill bad guy before so why not just make a change and go with the urge lmao
Maybe it's my taste, but I don't understand Dark Urge at all. First of all, I don't like Orin and the whole god of murder branch, to me it looks like a talentless way to write evil with no halftones. Orin is hard to imagine out of the frame in normal everyday life, same with all of Baal's followers. I don't believe in their story, and even though I like being able to play as someone who gains redemption (or not), Urge isn't for me. He only makes sense if you embrace your essence. Otherwise he's no different than a regular Tav who gets to choose a story. I finalized Tav's story on my own. And if you reject Urge's essence, you get the same new character. And in general I don't like the memory wipe trope, it's totally lame.
Yeah memory wipe tropes are incredibly common for plot convenience. Orin has quite a messed up life because Sarevok is her father, and her mother is… well, sarevok’s daughter. It’s messed up and explains why she is so evil in a way. The resist dark urge playthrough is what feels like the true BG3 playthrough
@@JasonDunna Yeah, well, Sarevok's her father, and that's it. She still doesn't seem like a real character with her own background that would make her the character she is now. I can understand who Gortash is besides the Chosen of Bane. Same with Keterik, he too has a long history and we understand why he's Myrkul's chosen one. He has a personality and character. Most importantly, he has a reason to serve Myrkul, which he chose himself. Did Orin choose anything at all? She was just born that way, she doesn't have a personality.
Against that background Baal is faceless dumb evil, Baal's chosen just must be born, no personality and no conflict. Yes, you can resist, of course, but because of the erased memory as the main character, I personally felt it was strange. The main character started this mess, but we will forgive him, because for some reason his memory was erased and he helped fix it. And in the end, he can still kill everyone. And if his memory is erased again, we will forgive him once again. The great miracle of drama.
In the game playthrough of resisting Dark Urge, it wasn't until the third act that I remembered I had a character who was Baal's child, not a regular Tav. Still don't consider this playthrough as cool and prescribed origins, Wyll is more interesting to play as, and so is any companion.
That comment on shadowheart is really funny because on my first ever playthrough i immediately killed her for no reason and went the entire game without ever knowing how integral to the plot she was.
Know what I noticed when you play as a salune cleric you and shadow heart will have some back and forth beefs like lazel and shadowhart because salunets worship saluna and Sharons worship shar the followers are rivals and hate each other just as much as the 2 goddess do.
It’s intresting to see how charictors interact with you depending on what race you go and by what god you worship and sometimes by what class you are. Also you and Isabel will have some unique diolouge if you play as a salune cleric and speak with her
Selune clerics get a ton of extra dialogue it’s awesome. I’m a fan of them because it fits into the story well with Shadowheart
I played all origin up to act 3 and actually fi ished the game 2 times as durge once as gale and once as karlach.
Gale deffinately feels like he was designed as the "canon" party leader.
-looks at tier list- ... -looks at 6 Astarion campaigns- I should get that Wyll playthrough going I have been planning to do for a while now... XD
You know there’s a lot of fun doing a 7th Astarion campaign… you know lucky number 7 and alll…
I know everybody loves Durge, but I can't force myself to play it, the implied necrophilia and cannibalism gross me out too much.
I feel guilty, I know that The Dark Urge origin has a lot of content, but I just don't think I would personally enjoy it.
I do enjoy playing the other origins, better than Tav. I loved playing as Gale, Astarion and Shadowheart, next I want to try Karlach and Wyll.
Be a good aligned dark urge and you get the true story of the game, it’s really redeeming trust me!
I'm playing a multiplayer Durge honor run with 3 friends. We killed Shadowheart on the beach and took the prism. She didn't feel all that important to the story. :P
Hahahahaha I mean act 2 will be a lot quieter now!
I like Shadowheart, but you do not need her in the party. You even get to talk to her in camp about how the Artifact choses to come into your possession instead and how you are responsible to keep it safe from there on. It would have been a bad design decision to force the need of a certain companion for the story.
You only need to swap her into the party for the Nightsong encounter so she does not permanently leave, if you want to conclude her personal quest in Act 3.
And on point with Astarion, it just does not feel the same without him as a companion. Now i really need to try Gale as origin. So far, it's difficult to pick Tav origin after experiencing Dark Urge.
Very true! Yeah it’s hard to go without Astarion as the voice acting is amazing. Gale origin is a ton of fun and you get some exclusive things for playing as him which is awesome
I really think Durge resist is the canon story.
I think so too. It’s so fulfilling and it mirrors BG1 and 2
Dragonborne do have one buff that no other race gets. They look cool as fuck, seriously the game is easy enough i dont think the racial bonus dont matter to much lol
Yeah that’s a good point!!
Forever bummed Durge isn't really his own character unless you play as him.
The VA for his intro did such a good job for a murder-lizard he could have been the ultimate "influenced by player" companion.
Confused and meek at first, then by act 3 you basically have Homelander for a genuine buddy humming to himself while making corpse effigies of people who look at you sideways.
It would be so cool if he was a character I agree! Legit homelander if you go evil but could be a cool influenced by the character to be a good aligned character
Not including Durge, my personal best origin is Karlach, with all those inner monologues.
Hahaha there’s a good number of them yes!
I'm glad I played as a normal Tav THEN Dark Urge my second playthrough
*Spoiler*
I saw a scene that shows if you play as Karlach and romance Gale, Karlach is healed
Whaaaat like Gale can heal her? Does he have to be ascended
@@JasonDunna yep, in the ending camp kar can asks gale to be cured and ascend her i guess?
That kinda makes god Gale from a normal playthrough look really really bad. I've been wondering why tf is he becomes god doesn't he enen try to help Karlach and spawn Astarion since they desperately need some divine interventions but I have been told that god Gale cannot do it because Ao prohibits meddling in the affairs of mortal. Bit evidently that is not the case if you can heal Karlach in the origin
I killed everything in Act 1. And chreshe temple. Still have a faithful Laezel, Karlach and Wyll.
Hahaha Wyll is just happy you got rid of all the goblins
@@JasonDunna lol. I was just doing it for the exp. But, it was very fun 😂
You can get equal XP by the dialogue options!
@@JasonDunna damn. This game is awesome... so much to do and can replay and have completely different scenarios.. way more than any game I've played. Great video.
@@Badbandanaman it has endless replayability! That’s one of the best parts about it.
Thank you
I see not hearing astarion talk is a blessing
Hahahaha depends how you look at it!
@@JasonDunna After someone mentioned to me he's just stewie from family guy i cant ever unhear it
HAHAHAHA oh no. That’s hilarious but I might not I hear it now. I love Neil newbon
Dark Urge should always be in its own tier. It is not even remotely close in terms of writing to others.
Oh yeah I agree it’s S+++ and everyone should do a dark urge playthrough
I have +250 hours on this game. The only time I finished it, I did playing as Wyll
Wyll feels like a true main character, he’s so connected to the plot compared to others
On the age, Shart is canonically like 45 or something despite looking early 20s. I didn’t know Lae’zel is the youngest being that she is from the Astral Plane she could be 150 and look the same
The karlach minthara romance has some interesting dialoge
Oooh yea what happens??
Crapping on Canon Durge.
Dragonborn gains resistance to whatever element of their choosing. Canon Durge is White Dragon. Don’t be dunking on my white Dragonborn storm sorcerer (also the Paladin oath of devo) is acceptable
@@Dovadweebs not dunking on the Dragonborn they just don’t have the same benefits other races in the game have! I think they’re pretty cool
Evil Wyll is amazing route. Also the fact he is never tempted for a fall to evil was kinda annoying.
I am playing Durge at the moment and i'm yet to decide if i wanna go full evil mode. And ater that i really wanna play Wyll i wanted to build warlock and also i wanna see interactions with Mizora
I really like the good aligned dark urge playthrough
@JasonDunna the issue with this game is that i don't see reason to be complete evil. Killing Karlakh, slealing idle of sylvanus or killing the Nightsong are reasonable choices but let's say attacking the groove is just pointless
my first playthrough was a lolthsworn dark urge drow!
Ooohh nice! First playthrough dark urge is wild hahaha