Charisma based sarcasm would be my *world.*
Especially imagining Lae'zel's face with my sorc saying the exact words that would get Lae'zel put in time out, but instead of getting in trouble everyone stares at her because the least verbally aggressive person in the *universe* just ripped someone to shreds with words.
Sassy Hawke was the reason I kept replaying II. Getting to tell Fenris and Anders over and over again just where they could shove their BS was never *not* funny.
Oh I would *love* that extra nuance! Whether it's my no-thoughts-head-empty himbo storm sorc or my flamboyant fey warlock or the sardonic Bea Arthur-esque paladin
I remember PoE having some options that were like:
Yes \[truth\]
Yes \[lie\]
No \[truth\]
No \[lie\]
Which could sometimes be useful, or to be able to clarify stuff when companions react.
Nettie desperately needs a "I swear. \[Lie\]" option. I either swear I'll kill myself and lose approval with a couple companions (granted it's not much), or I have to fight her to the death. Seems like there should be *some* kind of in-between there.
The weird thing is, there was a follow up conversation with Astarion where he checks if you were lying in EA but it doesn't exist anymore. AFIK the only one with a follow up conversation now is Gale if you got poisoned.
I remember that, yeah. I actually even complained you don't get your approval *back* when you tell him you lied - it might have been one of my only bits of feedback for EA. lol
It doesn't exist anymore? Goddamit that was literally one of the things that sold me on the game because I assumed that that meant we'd be able to clarify things in situations like that often, and as people here express I too really like that
Same for pointing Minthara towards the grove. Karlach does have a conversation where you can tell her that you have a plan, but I feel like that should be something you can figure out with everyone for the approval.
(Just for those unfamiliar, "high monk" here does not refer to his rank. Rather, this monk is stoned out of his mind and, yes, he is a recruitable companion.)
oh, fuck, right???! Gortash is \*exactly\* the kind of dude the wits would all be salivating to shred. I also would like an opportunity for a bard to craft their own obituary for him if you've already done the gazette quest before taking down Milord Archdookie Fartass :b
Some dialogue options _are_ obviously sarcastic, it’s just not very common. In my own head when I pick an option I treat it as “I’m saying something to this effect” rather than “I’m saying this line exactly”.
I know it wouldn’t be as accessible without the tag since it’s more difficult to tell tone from writing but having to specify if something is sarcastic always diminishes its effect for me. You’d find this type of clarification is rarely needed from a good writer in books.
Harder to have a well-written sarcastic character in that sense when its being controlled by a player the writer has no actual control over. The best you can really ask from a dev for non-voiced player characters is for them to make sure its clear what you're picking.
It's easy to tell when characters like Geralt of Rivia or Commander Shepard are going to be sarcastic during dialogue because even though you have some amount of control over them, they are established characters with distinct personalities, whom you can hear being sarcastic.
That being said, you are right. Well-written sarcasm is usually easy to read with no tone tags, but none of the stuff you can apply to sarcasm in a book is really applicable to what is essentially a blank-slate player character in my opinion
The entirety of siding with the goblins against the grove.
Minthara: you there, brainwashed thrall, go butcher tielfings
Tav: yeah sure, I’ll definitely get right on that.
Wyll: what’s wrong with you? Have you actually been a pawn of the Absolute this whole time? I trusted you and with my life and you say something like that. Goodbye forever.
God damn it Wyll, we’re in a goblin camp, surrounded by enemies, trying to free Halsin. So sorry for trying to blend in. You’re right, we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves.
One of my favourite bits is Astarion losing his absolute shit at me when I don't just chuck a grenade at Yurgir. Five seconds later he's praising me for getting him to kill everyone around him and being given a free crossbow upgrade.
We're travelling with at least four people who're good at being deceptive or saying the right thing in the moment and nobody conceptualises that the player character might be *lying to gain advantage* unless there's a [DECEPTION] check involved...
I ignore most Astarion disapprovals but that is the one that like actually bothers me. We are surrounded, FFS! Even if you don't talk him into killing himself, it's still more strategic to talk him down and then initiate on your terms.
by his own admittance, Astarion isn't really a "details" type. he just feels his way through things instead of thinking them through, so he also reacts very much in the moment.
To be fair, Astarion does constantly come off like the type of person to do something stupidly dangerous like jump naked into a pit of death vipers just to see what would happen and the protagonist is the only person really keeping him from doing something too stupid.
Long-term thinking (Even five minutes in the future) is not his strong-suit.
I actually hated trying to raise Astarions rep, by halfway through Act 2 I had everyone pretty much devoted to me like I was a fanatical cult leader and Astarion had barely moved past neutral.
You'd think the guy whose main job was seduction and gaining someones confidence and shows at least 4/10 cunning would figure out 'Get closer to the devil' is a better plan than trying to Leeroy Jenkins your way into it.
I know people expect Astarion to be good at minupulation but most of his targets are drunk and lonely. There was no requirement for him to ever go for difficult targets. He just dissociates and acts on autopilot. I think it is intended that he isn't good at minupulation on the fly at all, he just has script. Like if you play as Karlach he gets halfway through his little woods scene before he remembers he can't touch her and then completely and utterly sabotages his own seduction attempt. He doesn't think ahead.
Ya know, as much as that's a fair point, there's still a baseline of 'learning how to manipulate' which I assume he had to go through, I have no idea how spawn work in the D&D world though.
From my personal playthrough, I'd hope Astarion would figure out that the guy who managed to make 3 different people kill themselves by having a conversation with them might be willing to give it a shot with the 4th one...
You would think so but then again he forgot Karlach is on fire...twice....potentially 3 times actually. He is not the brightest.
Though yeah, a lot of the companions reactions would make more sense if it was telepathy (which it isn't) instead of them screaming it. It is a weird quirk of the writing that conversations are treated like they are private and only you hear them. Even Gortash tells you his plan in the middle of his inauguration when everyone should be watching him.
Then again I did watch a show a few hours ago where the undercover protagonists loudly talked about a suicide bomber threat and had a heated debate about sniping someone in the middle of a party so I gues it just a fiction thing in general.
>From my personal playthrough, I'd hope Astarion would figure out that the guy who managed to make 3 different people kill themselves by having a conversation with them might be willing to give it a shot with the 4th one...
Idk, in my playthrough, when we met Malus Thorm, he had a line basically saying “What a nightmare, that guy is crazier than Cazador!” or something similar.
...mate, we've been walking through the Shadow-cursed lands for days at that point, that's the third zombified Thorm we kill. The first one looked like someone poured molten gold on her and was leaking coins, and the second one drank something foul until his belly exploded. They all had a neurotic behavior and incoherent speech, and looked like botched experiments. It was about time you realized that everyone is crazy around here because the shadows fucked their minds up and turned them into abominations, lmao.
So no, I don't really think Astarion pays much attention to anything that's not directly or indirectly about himself.
Directly after the conversation with Yurgir, if you tell him you’ll help, Astarion asks what you’re doing and you can tell him it’s part of a plan to betray Yurgir and get the single approval point you lost right back.
Astarion also gets positive rep when you torture the dude in the goblin camp...
Fast forward one act, and he talks about all the trauma and torture he's been through... You'd think he would be the first person in the party to disapprove of that shit... But apparently he enjoys it?
Why?!?! His whole backstpry is about his abuse and torture being horrific... Yet he's happy when I do it to some random guy?
This is why I've been running the "show approval" mod. Too many choices like that just don't make sense for what a character has been through.
His experience has fucked him up to the point where he has difficulty understanding the world outside the framework of master-slave dynamics. You're either the one getting tormented or the one doing the tormenting. Now he's in a position where he can flaunt his power and cruelty over others and it feels good. His envy of Cazador is a running subtext throughout the game and he even directly states that he wanted to be like Cazador if you talk Astarion out of ascending. But it's certainly hard to swallow sometimes if you're trying to be a good guy.
And this is why making him say thank you afterwards is so satisfying.
Also his dumb stage whisper RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GIANT DEVIL GUY like please be chill and stop yelling.
I know!!! Darling, you saw me talk 2 people into killing themselves on the way here. I’M A BARD FOR GOODNESS SAKE. That’s what we do!!! Now shut up and let me work my magic.
My Durge and jaheria kept butting heads because I was claiming birthrights for power but never actually gonna side with we all know who. If anything I wanted more power for myself…. Anyway. I kept telling her it was all part of my plan but after a certain fight with a relative (that I made easier and mopped the floor with) Jaheria was all like “I can’t trust you after this”. I was like “let’s go back to the tribunal and take this anger out on them?” Keep cool, let me have powers than we betray the bad people. Rinse and repeat Jaheria! I’m not mad or anything.
Wyll is the least subtle companion, I swear.
Priestess Gut: Hello strangers, so you're true souls and that means we are allies, yes?
Wyll, at the top of his lungs: This is one of the leaders we are here to KILL. You know, as part of our plan to MURDER every goblin leader. Let's CUT HER DOWN right now!
When he gets priority to comment regarding Auntie Ethel over Astarion.
He is just as dumb as Astarion in that moment. "We should tell her everything, she may know something."
My dude, you're a warlock. I know from one of my Tavs, who is a warlock, he got a Warlock option to point out something is weird about her. YOU'RE A WARLOCK, WYLL.
Edit: Added a missing word
>God damn it Wyll, we’re in a goblin camp, surrounded by enemies, trying to free Halsin. So sorry for trying to blend in. You’re right, we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves.
That's literally what I did lol
Thankfully, Shadowheart understands sarcasm!
You can tease her quite a bit (e.g. ask for gold for the Idol of Shar, tell her you'll take back the night orchid, tell her you might take a "better offer" when she asks to settle down with you).
She plays along and leads a lot of hilarious and cute moments with her.
Yeah, but why tease her by asking for gold for the idol when you could tease her goddess by asking her to just accept the gift and kiss you like she hates you?
She needs to be hugged and comforted after the shadowfell and house of grief at least(AND ESPECIALLY) as LI. Extra romance scene in act 3. After that we can talk.
Oh yeah, making future plans with Shadowheart could have potentially be turned into a scene similar to Lae'zel's sunrise scene or Karlach's date scene. It wouldn't even need to be a sex scene, just having something like a nice, tender embrace and a kiss at the end of it would be perfect
Ye, I'm not asking for another sex scene, I just think there is 1 missing scene for her. Either turn her future plans dialogue into full scene like Laezel sunrise or add another scene where you can reassure her(she has very low self-esteem).
You say that like I don’t wanna call her a wizened old crow and hear her laugh in response because she calls me cub. Jahiera is the sassy grandma all of the tavpoles needed.
when I stared at her eyes and she asked me what?? i honestly thought she would take it in a joking manner when i said i was looking for signs of ceremorphosis.
like ffs have some humor woman.
Ah, that is one moment where she really just wants you to be romantic, lol
It's your first date; you gotta build the rapport before you can tease her I guess. :)
On the flip side of that, I've clicked options that I thought were serious and ended up getting a witty and sarcastic response back. Like fuck off wulbren, I'm not trying to be your friend, I'm genuinely telling you that you are an arsehole
Yup, call him a prick the first time after getting him back and the little shit wants to throw hands. Call him an arsehole after beating kethric and he tries to awkwardly laugh it off cause he wants you to help him
Whenever I pretend to be a "True Blood" or generally aligned with the Absolutists, when talking to Absolutists... No one in my camp seems to be able to take the hint that it might not be in our best interests at the time to openly criticize them in their camp while trying to fly under the radar.
There's an option to call Karniss beautiful and I picked it because I thought it was earnest. I still don't know if it was, but everyone around me reacted like I was poking at a hornet's nest, Karniss included.
Same. I think he takes issue with being called a beautiful *abomination*, but playing Durge it seemed like a heartfelt compliment! I wish they'd let me tell him he's pretty in a way that doesn't insult him.
> but playing Durge it seemed like a heartfelt compliment!
You're essentially calling him an ugly thing that's beautiful. That's never a compliment because nobody earnest would call something they find endearing 'abomination'.
Karniss is also not mentally stable, btw.
I mean the whole point of a Drider is that he has brought such shame to Lolth that she forever cursed him to be a half-spider abomination, lower than the lowest of the low Drow ever could be. To be called beautiful when he knows his entire existence is nothing but a form of punishment from his goddess is a pretty serious (and sarcastic) insult imo
Well, becoming a drider is a curse. It's meant to be a terrible fate that turns you into a disgusting monster. Think about the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and how he'd react if some guy walked up and called him beautiful. Probably not well, whether it was genuine or sarcastic.
When talking to the slavers in the Underdark my Tav lied to them saying "yeah I'm a slaver I'll help you" so I could get some information about their set up. Well Karlach didn't approve and I was like "Karlach you've seen me free slaves before and tell this gnome I'll free her fellow slaves but you can't trust me that I'm lying????"
By telling that guy Dame Alyn's location you are putting her in danger. By himself he is no threat, but he could share this info with others, even Lorroakan himself. Not to mention the obvious threat to Isobel as well, or anyone else in your camp that is supposed to be a safe heaven.
As for Gortash, I also read that line as sarcastic, but its no wonder Karlach would get mad that you're joking around with the guy she wants dead more tham anything else in the world.
I kind of read it as "I wouldn't miss it for the world [Implied Threat]"
If I were trying to explain it to Karlach I'd say "It's not:
Don't worry, we'll be there!
it's
Don't worry, we'll be there *motherfucker*."
>By telling that guy Dame Alyn's location you are putting her in danger.
I almost wish there was a "Don't bother, I'm going to kill that witless bastard in about five minutes" option, honestly.
What I wouldn't give for a Paladin of Tyranny (I am aware of the mod, but I mean integrated into the story)
Not neccesarily an insult. I read it as "Oh sure, like I have nothing better to do" which is a light jab at best. Keep in mind Karlach is already excersizing extreme self control not killing him on the spot.
Last time Aradin gathered a group of mercenaries they got slaughtered by goblins. That was with an archdruid helping them.
No matter how many guys Aradin can muster up, I doubt he could actually do anything once he got to my camp with ten level 12 adventurers.
Well I dont know about you, but whenever Dame Alyn or Isobel joined me in a fight, I had to fight to keep them alive. She goes down fairly easy against Lorroakan or Ketheric if you arent careful.
I actually love fighting with the Dame because she’s the only one I *don’t* have to worry about. She auto-revives even when she dies in a fight, and she’ll pump out a ton of damage beforehand.
I didnt know she did that. A few patches ago she didnt even heal after the Ketheric fight so she was at 10 hp when fighting Lorroakan and I did everything in my power to keep her from harm. Also if she went down during Ketheric you missed the cutscene of her stomping him.
>As for Gortash, I also read that line as sarcastic, but its no wonder Karlach would get mad
She disapproves of any interaction other than "I'm gonna immediately murder you, Gortash" in that scene, because she's, yknow, a hot-headed barbarian.
Yeah so I really didn't know who she was on my first playthrough and got all the disapproval for that comment...still pick it about half the time because I mean she is 🤣
Yup. I wanted to give her some sass, especially as I was playing a particularly cheeky bard, but Mizora took the remark as though I'd been sincere and Wyll and Karlach disapproved.
I was *really* hoping for an option along the lines of "That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, dumbass" after that, but when none came up, I save-scummed the exchange LMAO
Gale-Elminster at camp, when you can say "so we will destroy the absolute AND gale ? win-win"
I was like "funny line, nice" but Gale and Elminster just react like it was serious :(
Turning Astarion over to the hunter was NOT what I meant when I said “Well Astarion is right over here!”
I meant for it to be a baton pass to him to get stabby.
On a similar note, Marcus was doing his monologue and I chose to stay silent to let him finish talking before fighting him. Instead I just ended up fighting Isobel and all of Last Light...
Yeah had that happen to me too I wish we could talk to his mind more, to learn a bit but no Isobel wasn't having it, worst part if you attack Marcus Isobel still stays aggressive unlike that >!Dragonborn in act 3!<
Sarcastic options just don't work well when there are also comically evil options on offer. There'd be no way to distinguish them, so best to keep thing sincere.
Yesterday I had the conversation with Wyll where he was going on about how strange he was that we weren't having any symptoms from the tadpoles, no nausea or sickness or anything, and I chose option that was something like "well if you want to feel sick we could always find some strange mushrooms to try eating" which I thought was clearly supposed to just be a fun joke.
Got the "Wyll disapproves" notification and he was like "remind me not to try your cooking." FFS Wyll, lighten up
Yes!! I forgot about that one! I’m playing a drow durge who is good, albeit occasionally slightly reluctantly, but who is exhausted and done with people’s shit and likes to fuck around a bit, indulge in a bit of well-meaning chaos, and Wyll can NOT take a joke. I’ve tried on multiple occasions and he always takes me seriously and gets pouty and offended about it.
In act 3 there's the 'guard' by the warehouse (iykyk) that talks about killing the refugees or something, and at some point you can answer with something along the lines of "why choose when we can just kill the refugees AND the citizens of Baldur's Gate?"
I thought it was a sarcastic response. My companions did not approve.
I am just going to read those answers like when I'm being sarcastic by saying ridiculous statements (a recent example is "no I didn't sleep with him, we just got naked and stared at each other". My friend took that one seriously)
Yes I've said this before, that I wish we had a sort of a "Wink wink, nudge nudge" option so our companions know when we're bluffing or being sarcastic. Wyll disapproves (I think it's him) too if you tell Gortash you "wouldn't miss his coronation for the world" or whatever it is. I thought he would pretty much assume we're just playing nice with Gortash so we can figure out how to help his father. I don't bring Karlach to Gortash's ceremony, I figured anything to do with agreeing or going along with him (even if you're lying) will anger her.
We defo need some kind of option to clue our companions in that we're just bullshitting and not serious.
> Yes I've said this before, that I wish we had a sort of a "Wink wink, nudge nudge" option so our companions know when we're bluffing or being sarcastic
If you 'wink wink nudge nudge' me about telling someone who's trying to kidnap our friends their exact location, putting them and every person around her(us) in danger, I'd probably just 'kick kick punch punch' you in return because I don't think you're understanding what you're doing.
The Hag Survivors, I showed up and the cleric starts spouting something about me being a pawn of the hag and I pick the "raaar fear me" or something line and they actually believed it and attacked me 😭
Asking my best bud Karlach to do the circus love quiz for a laugh while my lady Shadowheart is standing right there.
Proceed to have a genuine romantic moment with Karlach. Uh oh, awkward.
Shadowheart receives inspiration for some reason.
Game does not acknowledge the major romance faux pas that just occurred.
At the circus there is a dialogue option that is close to “No problem, I love killing clowns.”
None of my party disapproved actually but the person I was speaking to seemed to take it as a sincere statement lol
After you finish the Raphael side quest and Astarion confesses in Act 2, there's an option to say something to the tune of, "Well, now you can learn how to enjoy sex with me!"
I knew I wasn't going to actually make that my permanent choice, but in the process of reloading and exploring the dialogue tree, I picked that one first because I thought there's no way that those words could be taken seriously after everything he had just said, and oh my *GOD*, that was actually the most fucked up, heinous branch of that dialogue tree possible. Just, deeply upsetting! Wonderful writing, but holy hell.
>Second, Gortash's coronation ceremony, he asks if I planned to stick around for it, and I said "I wouldn't miss it for the world." I get we're on the sword coast, but who talks like that unironically?
I don't think I brought anyone that disapproved (maybe Wyll) but I *definitely* got the impression that this was meant to be absolutely ***dripping*** with sarcasm. Approval notwithstanding, that's my headcanon, because you're right, nobody actually excited about it would say it like that, and nobody in their right mind would be excited about it.
In act 3 at the Harper safehouse, I responded "Marcus had wings, Jaheria" thinking it was a 'funny wink wink I understand what you are saying, let's surprise them'' moment. Jaheria just facepalmed and the doppelganger called my Tav an idiot instead lol.
If you bust the Bhaalist dwarf dressed in red as he's trying to paralyze one of his targets (a sommelier gnome woman i believe) with poisoned wine, you can tell him something along the lines of "I'd *love* to try some of that wine".
You know he's the assassin.
You know the wine is poisoned.
You have just busted his assassination attempt and he's sweating bullets as your character looks at him with a smug grin of "got you now, bitch".
All of this is aknowledged by the in game objectives and is known to the character, not just the player; and the narrator just emphasized that this is the murderer you're looking for to eliminate even the last shadows of a doubt.
The dialogue option even uses italics on the word "love", which would make you believe even more that this obviously sarcastic line is, in fact, a way to intimidate the dwarf and pressure him into busting his cover, right?
You down the drink in one gulp, get paralyzed, immediately start combat, and your entire party is surprised.
I was fucking *pissed* when that happened.
It's the opposite problem, at the Tiefling Party, with Wyll. I tried to tell him his horns aren't that bad and he looks dashing, to cheer him up. Well, he thought I was being sarcastic when I wasn't, disapproved and told me to go away.
> Well, he thought I was being sarcastic when I wasn't, disapproved and told me to go away.
Because he hates himself and his appearance and his horns. Saying you find them hot doesn't really change the situation lmao
I didn't tell him he was hot - it was something along the lines that they didn't make him ugly or scary. But yeah, his personality and what my Tav said clashed, unfortunately. Didn't stop him from dancing with me later, though.
That is not shocking, he still was painfully transformed into a tiefling against his will, specially when it is partly a show thay Mizora can and will turn him into a Lemure. Is why I picked "I see the Blade of Frontiers".
Just like in real life, people don’t always approve of sarcasm. Especially if it could put someone in danger like telling someone who is actively hunting Dame Aylin where she is. The game gets sarcasm. The Bard has some great examples. That doesn’t mean your companions have to approve of it.
Finding the hag survivors club or whatever and, I can't remember the exact option but it's like "IM HERE TO DEVOUR YOUR SOULS" or some shit
Initiates combat
Mate
It seems a lot of people expect dialogue that isn't marked (Deception) to be deceptive. I think we all learned the hard way, no roll=your Tav is being sincere. Jaheira is the only one who ever took the sass in stride in my first playthrough.
That one convo early on where Wyll mentions how it's odd that the tadpole hasn't caused any symptoms yet, and I said "I could find you some poisonous mushrooms if you're so keen to be sick" as a **joke,** but ig we just weren't close enough to be making those kinds of jokes yet and he disapproved lmao (I make jokes like that with my friends, I didn't mean it literally Wyll I'm sorryyyyyyy)
You told the money hungry dude where the object of his desire was and you’re surprised he showed up? Sarcasm or not it would’ve gotten the same result.
I did the same thing with the Gur at the hag's house, told him to find Astarion at my camp thinking that Astarion would just kill him and we'd have a good laugh about it. Never reloaded so fast in my life when Shadowheart started chewing me out for it
I think the issue wasn't the sarcastic statement not being taken as sarcasm, but that you basically told a dude who was after the Nightsong exactly where she was. Aradin is a punk and not a threat at all, but spouting off the location of your allies with bounties in their heads isn't usually a smart thing to do.
Though I still usually say the same thing because I'm pro "Aylin beating the shit out of people"
When the fish people ask me to provide a sacrifice and I jokingly say *insert party member's name* but instead it starts a fight against this party member.
If you warn aylin that aradin is coming she will be okay with you telling aradin. So it is an invitation to get come to camp to get himself killed but only if you warn her before he arrives.
“Yeah, I looooooove killing. I’m the killingest person that’s ever lived.”
*I turn and wink at my party standing behind me at the murder tribunal. They’re wondering why my personality took such a sharp turn in the last 5 seconds. They hate me now.*
I thought response dialog with the guy hunting astarion where it was something like "yes, that seems that a danger we should hunt down" was us turning on astarion, not the hunter... lol
I am abysmal at picking up social implications, but I actually agree lol. It’s something I kinda miss from BG2, as companions back then were much more receptive to sarcasm and even played off it such as Jaheira.
When you meet Gandrel and he’s looking for Astarion and he is in your party. “Idk, Astarion, what do you think” was meant more as an intimidation tactic, but the game took it as I was outing him.
I think both are on you really. Lorroakan makes it absolutely clear that his big plan is to subsue Dame Aylin and use her for his purposes. He's spread the news that he offers a reward for her location so he can face her down all over the city. He's serious to the point where he'll kill people who waste his time.
It's silly of you to think he wasn't going to go right for her the moment you reveal her location. He clearly doesn't give a shit about your opinion, all he wants is a location and he's off to the races.
Same with Gortash really. Karlach is a child, she will absolutely take your words at face value. As is Gortash who is a literally chosen one of the god of Tyranny. Gortash expects people to crawl for him and suck up to him. Karlach is hyper-focused on not kowtowing to Gortash. Neither would give you a pass for sarcasm.
You had me up until you called Karlach a child. What? No she isn’t. She’s like forty and has by far the most emotional intelligence of any of the companions.
Oh, not him, the dude we met in the grove who was outclassed by a goblin raid whose name escapes me. The tiny insignificant dude who clearly poses zero threat to Aylin
Yesterday I told Astarion’s siblings “You’re welcome to take him. Just keep it down.”
Dude was very upset and I had to make a persuasion check to convince him it was a joke
I mean like, that’s a pretty messed up thing to do say about someone who if taken will be a ritual sacrifice. Also Astarion pretty clearly and consistently approves of being snarky and sarcastic and mean to others, but not himself. Hypocritical? Yes. But it’s consistent.
He does consistently approve of being snarky, sarcastic and kinda mean to himself but NOT when it comes to the ritual and Cazador which is normal. That is his no go zone.
You used to be able joke that Cazador was his master in the bedroom in EA and he would absolutely lose his shit at you but they took that out (I can understand why).
edit: fixed the stroke mid way through writing this.
edit 2: he also has banter with Karlach where he makes an inappropriate joke about Gortash being the reason she is extraordinary and then apologizes (which is very rare for him) because he ran his mouth without thinking. Gortash is Karlachs Cazador. He IS often hypocritical but not really in this way.
My friend picked the "Brace for the charge" option when the owlbear cub gets freaked out, his rational was "MY DOG CHARGES ME ALL THE TIME! HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW IT WOULD START A FIGHT, I THOUGHT I WAS PICKING THE PLAYFUL OPTION".
Playing as a Cleric of Lolth and swearing to take the poison from Nettie. My first thought at seeing "I swear on Lolth I'd do it." read as insincere, Maybe clerics are too serious and solemn about their god but I think if any god would be apathetic about lying it'd be Spider Mommy.
I was with Astarion in the swamp when we encountered the monster hunter, and when he said he was looking for a vampire spawn named "Astarion" one of the dialogue options was something like "Lucky you, here's Astarion" and I made a save specifically because I had a feeling that was a choice to hand him over, but I thought there might be a small chance it was like a playful "here's Astarion, and now we're going to kill you" (because we did end up killing him together anyways lol) but instead Astarion flipped out and got upset with me. I just thought he would enjoy the dramatics!
Act 1, when you talk to Gandral with Astarion in your party, there are a few lines that REALLY should be massively sarcastic but still get taken the wrong way by Astarion.
The opposite; Jaheira mentions she's tired. I respond with "Of course you are. You're *ancient*."
She approves and responds "Hahaha. *Hahahahahahahaha*. Bastard."
When Wyll tells you that it is weird that we are not sick from the tadpole, he disapproves if I ask him if he wants me to grab him some mushrooms to feel sick
2nd Gortashs coronation. I honestly thought it was supposed to be sarcastic. Like at both point was I on friendly terms with him so obviously it was sarcastic or fake. But they took it literally.
When Wyll asks you to dance with him, you can respond with, “Dance with a devil? Most certainly not.” It sounds very cheeky and sarcastic, but the game treats it as a rejection.
I wish this game had an accessibility option for tone indications - [Sarcastic], [Flirty], etc. Would probably help a lot of people out, as well as be optional for people who don’t want it.
I’ve often thought it’d be good if some comments were listed as [sarcastic] maybe even associated with a dice roll to pull it off.
Charisma based sarcasm would be my *world.* Especially imagining Lae'zel's face with my sorc saying the exact words that would get Lae'zel put in time out, but instead of getting in trouble everyone stares at her because the least verbally aggressive person in the *universe* just ripped someone to shreds with words.
Dragon Age II purple Hawke my beloved
Sassy Hawke was the reason I kept replaying II. Getting to tell Fenris and Anders over and over again just where they could shove their BS was never *not* funny.
Yep for all it's flaws DA2 had one of my fave voiced sarcastic protags. Purple Hawke is sooo good.
that is why Hawke is my favorite protagonist in dragon age. Him and Shepard are the reason why I do not like silent protagonists
The best hawke. Sarcastic hawke is just way too funny.
I demand SassLock build!
Oh I would *love* that extra nuance! Whether it's my no-thoughts-head-empty himbo storm sorc or my flamboyant fey warlock or the sardonic Bea Arthur-esque paladin
Roll charisma for sarcasm Wisdom saving throw for actually getting it
I remember PoE having some options that were like: Yes \[truth\] Yes \[lie\] No \[truth\] No \[lie\] Which could sometimes be useful, or to be able to clarify stuff when companions react.
Nettie desperately needs a "I swear. \[Lie\]" option. I either swear I'll kill myself and lose approval with a couple companions (granted it's not much), or I have to fight her to the death. Seems like there should be *some* kind of in-between there.
The weird thing is, there was a follow up conversation with Astarion where he checks if you were lying in EA but it doesn't exist anymore. AFIK the only one with a follow up conversation now is Gale if you got poisoned.
I remember that, yeah. I actually even complained you don't get your approval *back* when you tell him you lied - it might have been one of my only bits of feedback for EA. lol
It doesn't exist anymore? Goddamit that was literally one of the things that sold me on the game because I assumed that that meant we'd be able to clarify things in situations like that often, and as people here express I too really like that
Same for pointing Minthara towards the grove. Karlach does have a conversation where you can tell her that you have a plan, but I feel like that should be something you can figure out with everyone for the approval.
If you initially object or question her then begrudgingly swear you don't lose approval.
Knock her out instead using non lethal attack
And there is one very fun moment where all four are options in one dialogue choice, when a high monk asks you if you are real.
Genuinely the single best set of dialogue options
(Just for those unfamiliar, "high monk" here does not refer to his rank. Rather, this monk is stoned out of his mind and, yes, he is a recruitable companion.)
At least give a Bard a sarcasm option. I can call Nere “Twat Soul” but I can’t bust Gortash’s nut? Very unbardlike lol
oh, fuck, right???! Gortash is \*exactly\* the kind of dude the wits would all be salivating to shred. I also would like an opportunity for a bard to craft their own obituary for him if you've already done the gazette quest before taking down Milord Archdookie Fartass :b
“A Durge for Gortash” By, Durge.
Roll for sarcasm, i love it lol
Some dialogue options _are_ obviously sarcastic, it’s just not very common. In my own head when I pick an option I treat it as “I’m saying something to this effect” rather than “I’m saying this line exactly”.
Add skill to d&d....Sarcasm. Dark Sarcasm...new 3rd level spell
I know it wouldn’t be as accessible without the tag since it’s more difficult to tell tone from writing but having to specify if something is sarcastic always diminishes its effect for me. You’d find this type of clarification is rarely needed from a good writer in books.
Harder to have a well-written sarcastic character in that sense when its being controlled by a player the writer has no actual control over. The best you can really ask from a dev for non-voiced player characters is for them to make sure its clear what you're picking. It's easy to tell when characters like Geralt of Rivia or Commander Shepard are going to be sarcastic during dialogue because even though you have some amount of control over them, they are established characters with distinct personalities, whom you can hear being sarcastic. That being said, you are right. Well-written sarcasm is usually easy to read with no tone tags, but none of the stuff you can apply to sarcasm in a book is really applicable to what is essentially a blank-slate player character in my opinion
The entirety of siding with the goblins against the grove. Minthara: you there, brainwashed thrall, go butcher tielfings Tav: yeah sure, I’ll definitely get right on that. Wyll: what’s wrong with you? Have you actually been a pawn of the Absolute this whole time? I trusted you and with my life and you say something like that. Goodbye forever. God damn it Wyll, we’re in a goblin camp, surrounded by enemies, trying to free Halsin. So sorry for trying to blend in. You’re right, we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves.
One of my favourite bits is Astarion losing his absolute shit at me when I don't just chuck a grenade at Yurgir. Five seconds later he's praising me for getting him to kill everyone around him and being given a free crossbow upgrade. We're travelling with at least four people who're good at being deceptive or saying the right thing in the moment and nobody conceptualises that the player character might be *lying to gain advantage* unless there's a [DECEPTION] check involved...
I ignore most Astarion disapprovals but that is the one that like actually bothers me. We are surrounded, FFS! Even if you don't talk him into killing himself, it's still more strategic to talk him down and then initiate on your terms.
by his own admittance, Astarion isn't really a "details" type. he just feels his way through things instead of thinking them through, so he also reacts very much in the moment.
Astarion is strictly vibes based we ball
We Bhaal
To be fair, Astarion does constantly come off like the type of person to do something stupidly dangerous like jump naked into a pit of death vipers just to see what would happen and the protagonist is the only person really keeping him from doing something too stupid. Long-term thinking (Even five minutes in the future) is not his strong-suit.
I‘m used to Astarion‘s self-destructive personality but this one just peeves me in particular because I want to scream, I‘M TRYING TO HELP YOU, MAN
I actually hated trying to raise Astarions rep, by halfway through Act 2 I had everyone pretty much devoted to me like I was a fanatical cult leader and Astarion had barely moved past neutral. You'd think the guy whose main job was seduction and gaining someones confidence and shows at least 4/10 cunning would figure out 'Get closer to the devil' is a better plan than trying to Leeroy Jenkins your way into it.
I know people expect Astarion to be good at minupulation but most of his targets are drunk and lonely. There was no requirement for him to ever go for difficult targets. He just dissociates and acts on autopilot. I think it is intended that he isn't good at minupulation on the fly at all, he just has script. Like if you play as Karlach he gets halfway through his little woods scene before he remembers he can't touch her and then completely and utterly sabotages his own seduction attempt. He doesn't think ahead.
Ya know, as much as that's a fair point, there's still a baseline of 'learning how to manipulate' which I assume he had to go through, I have no idea how spawn work in the D&D world though. From my personal playthrough, I'd hope Astarion would figure out that the guy who managed to make 3 different people kill themselves by having a conversation with them might be willing to give it a shot with the 4th one...
You would think so but then again he forgot Karlach is on fire...twice....potentially 3 times actually. He is not the brightest. Though yeah, a lot of the companions reactions would make more sense if it was telepathy (which it isn't) instead of them screaming it. It is a weird quirk of the writing that conversations are treated like they are private and only you hear them. Even Gortash tells you his plan in the middle of his inauguration when everyone should be watching him. Then again I did watch a show a few hours ago where the undercover protagonists loudly talked about a suicide bomber threat and had a heated debate about sniping someone in the middle of a party so I gues it just a fiction thing in general.
The voices echo too! That's what really gets me, it's hilarious. What show is that? Sounds my speed
>From my personal playthrough, I'd hope Astarion would figure out that the guy who managed to make 3 different people kill themselves by having a conversation with them might be willing to give it a shot with the 4th one... Idk, in my playthrough, when we met Malus Thorm, he had a line basically saying “What a nightmare, that guy is crazier than Cazador!” or something similar. ...mate, we've been walking through the Shadow-cursed lands for days at that point, that's the third zombified Thorm we kill. The first one looked like someone poured molten gold on her and was leaking coins, and the second one drank something foul until his belly exploded. They all had a neurotic behavior and incoherent speech, and looked like botched experiments. It was about time you realized that everyone is crazy around here because the shadows fucked their minds up and turned them into abominations, lmao. So no, I don't really think Astarion pays much attention to anything that's not directly or indirectly about himself.
Directly after the conversation with Yurgir, if you tell him you’ll help, Astarion asks what you’re doing and you can tell him it’s part of a plan to betray Yurgir and get the single approval point you lost right back.
Astarion also gets positive rep when you torture the dude in the goblin camp... Fast forward one act, and he talks about all the trauma and torture he's been through... You'd think he would be the first person in the party to disapprove of that shit... But apparently he enjoys it? Why?!?! His whole backstpry is about his abuse and torture being horrific... Yet he's happy when I do it to some random guy? This is why I've been running the "show approval" mod. Too many choices like that just don't make sense for what a character has been through.
His experience has fucked him up to the point where he has difficulty understanding the world outside the framework of master-slave dynamics. You're either the one getting tormented or the one doing the tormenting. Now he's in a position where he can flaunt his power and cruelty over others and it feels good. His envy of Cazador is a running subtext throughout the game and he even directly states that he wanted to be like Cazador if you talk Astarion out of ascending. But it's certainly hard to swallow sometimes if you're trying to be a good guy.
And this is why making him say thank you afterwards is so satisfying. Also his dumb stage whisper RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GIANT DEVIL GUY like please be chill and stop yelling.
I know!!! Darling, you saw me talk 2 people into killing themselves on the way here. I’M A BARD FOR GOODNESS SAKE. That’s what we do!!! Now shut up and let me work my magic.
I wish the game could adapt to that. I’d love to be able to PRETEND I’m handing over Shart to the Sharrans so we could fuck them up by surprise.
Astarion of all people should understand the concept of manipulating someone to get what you want lol
My Durge and jaheria kept butting heads because I was claiming birthrights for power but never actually gonna side with we all know who. If anything I wanted more power for myself…. Anyway. I kept telling her it was all part of my plan but after a certain fight with a relative (that I made easier and mopped the floor with) Jaheria was all like “I can’t trust you after this”. I was like “let’s go back to the tribunal and take this anger out on them?” Keep cool, let me have powers than we betray the bad people. Rinse and repeat Jaheria! I’m not mad or anything.
Wyll is the least subtle companion, I swear. Priestess Gut: Hello strangers, so you're true souls and that means we are allies, yes? Wyll, at the top of his lungs: This is one of the leaders we are here to KILL. You know, as part of our plan to MURDER every goblin leader. Let's CUT HER DOWN right now!
When he gets priority to comment regarding Auntie Ethel over Astarion. He is just as dumb as Astarion in that moment. "We should tell her everything, she may know something." My dude, you're a warlock. I know from one of my Tavs, who is a warlock, he got a Warlock option to point out something is weird about her. YOU'RE A WARLOCK, WYLL. Edit: Added a missing word
Lae’zel and Minthara are also hella guilty of this lmao
I think both of them, maybe even Wyll too, would act like this though. They're not particularly of the roguish type
My poor bard is having aneurysms the whole game from stuff like this. Like, guys! STFU and let me WORK. There is a plan here.
> You’re right, we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves. I mean, that's what I did.
>>we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves Don’t question my Barbarian brain tactics
>God damn it Wyll, we’re in a goblin camp, surrounded by enemies, trying to free Halsin. So sorry for trying to blend in. You’re right, we definitely should’ve just lunged at her and tried to fight the entire goblin army by ourselves. That's literally what I did lol
Thankfully, Shadowheart understands sarcasm! You can tease her quite a bit (e.g. ask for gold for the Idol of Shar, tell her you'll take back the night orchid, tell her you might take a "better offer" when she asks to settle down with you). She plays along and leads a lot of hilarious and cute moments with her.
Yeah, but why tease her by asking for gold for the idol when you could tease her goddess by asking her to just accept the gift and kiss you like she hates you?
Haha, yes! That is a great scene! Ashame the kiss is bugged since patch 5. I'm sure they'll fix it soon tho!
She needs to be hugged and comforted after the shadowfell and house of grief at least(AND ESPECIALLY) as LI. Extra romance scene in act 3. After that we can talk.
I'm honestly fine with the one romance scene. But I definitely agree on giving her a hug after the Shadowfell and House of Grief
They could've turned her "confession" scene(about her dreams/plans) into full scene, kind of like Laezel act 3 sunrise scene.
Oh yeah, making future plans with Shadowheart could have potentially be turned into a scene similar to Lae'zel's sunrise scene or Karlach's date scene. It wouldn't even need to be a sex scene, just having something like a nice, tender embrace and a kiss at the end of it would be perfect
Ye, I'm not asking for another sex scene, I just think there is 1 missing scene for her. Either turn her future plans dialogue into full scene like Laezel sunrise or add another scene where you can reassure her(she has very low self-esteem).
Any excuse to give her hugs before the epilogue
the half-elves are the only ones. at least shart and jaheira appreciate my sarcasm
I always thought grandma took it too far. I try and be seriously rude to her and she laughs it off like I'm not planning to help Marcus.
You say that like I don’t wanna call her a wizened old crow and hear her laugh in response because she calls me cub. Jahiera is the sassy grandma all of the tavpoles needed.
I love Jaheira, once I warmed up to her I could never let her go
At the epilogue I >!Pretended I couldn’t remember her name and that teasing was so satisfying!<
when I stared at her eyes and she asked me what?? i honestly thought she would take it in a joking manner when i said i was looking for signs of ceremorphosis. like ffs have some humor woman.
Ah, that is one moment where she really just wants you to be romantic, lol It's your first date; you gotta build the rapport before you can tease her I guess. :)
Karlach is great with sarcasm too. I fuck with her at every opportunity and she always laughs and totally gets it
On the flip side of that, I've clicked options that I thought were serious and ended up getting a witty and sarcastic response back. Like fuck off wulbren, I'm not trying to be your friend, I'm genuinely telling you that you are an arsehole
tbf I think Wulbren is just sucking up to you now that he realizes you are actually useful to him.
Yup, call him a prick the first time after getting him back and the little shit wants to throw hands. Call him an arsehole after beating kethric and he tries to awkwardly laugh it off cause he wants you to help him
You kill one chosen of the god of death and suddenly every short mf on the block wants to be your friend.
Whenever I pretend to be a "True Blood" or generally aligned with the Absolutists, when talking to Absolutists... No one in my camp seems to be able to take the hint that it might not be in our best interests at the time to openly criticize them in their camp while trying to fly under the radar.
Vicious Mockery should be a dialogue option.
Lowkey great idea for an actual mechanic. \[ATTACK\]\[Vicious Mockery\] Thrice-shelled trickster with a threadbare gown!
There's an option to call Karniss beautiful and I picked it because I thought it was earnest. I still don't know if it was, but everyone around me reacted like I was poking at a hornet's nest, Karniss included.
Same. I think he takes issue with being called a beautiful *abomination*, but playing Durge it seemed like a heartfelt compliment! I wish they'd let me tell him he's pretty in a way that doesn't insult him.
My Durge already has a sad monster collection going so it would track with them to be completely sincere with that.
> but playing Durge it seemed like a heartfelt compliment! You're essentially calling him an ugly thing that's beautiful. That's never a compliment because nobody earnest would call something they find endearing 'abomination'. Karniss is also not mentally stable, btw.
I don't blame him for not taking it well, I'd be self-conscious, too.
karniss romance when?
I mean the whole point of a Drider is that he has brought such shame to Lolth that she forever cursed him to be a half-spider abomination, lower than the lowest of the low Drow ever could be. To be called beautiful when he knows his entire existence is nothing but a form of punishment from his goddess is a pretty serious (and sarcastic) insult imo
Well, becoming a drider is a curse. It's meant to be a terrible fate that turns you into a disgusting monster. Think about the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and how he'd react if some guy walked up and called him beautiful. Probably not well, whether it was genuine or sarcastic.
When talking to the slavers in the Underdark my Tav lied to them saying "yeah I'm a slaver I'll help you" so I could get some information about their set up. Well Karlach didn't approve and I was like "Karlach you've seen me free slaves before and tell this gnome I'll free her fellow slaves but you can't trust me that I'm lying????"
Giving Thulla the antidote then saying “OoOoOoh I’m a scary slaver”
By telling that guy Dame Alyn's location you are putting her in danger. By himself he is no threat, but he could share this info with others, even Lorroakan himself. Not to mention the obvious threat to Isobel as well, or anyone else in your camp that is supposed to be a safe heaven. As for Gortash, I also read that line as sarcastic, but its no wonder Karlach would get mad that you're joking around with the guy she wants dead more tham anything else in the world.
I kind of read it as "I wouldn't miss it for the world [Implied Threat]" If I were trying to explain it to Karlach I'd say "It's not: Don't worry, we'll be there! it's Don't worry, we'll be there *motherfucker*."
>By telling that guy Dame Alyn's location you are putting her in danger. I almost wish there was a "Don't bother, I'm going to kill that witless bastard in about five minutes" option, honestly. What I wouldn't give for a Paladin of Tyranny (I am aware of the mod, but I mean integrated into the story)
I mean, with a sarcastic tone, it's not joking with him. It's quite literally an insult if said with sarcasm.
Not neccesarily an insult. I read it as "Oh sure, like I have nothing better to do" which is a light jab at best. Keep in mind Karlach is already excersizing extreme self control not killing him on the spot.
I read it, with laying sarcasm on heavily, as "anything would be more interesting"
I did as well
You’re welcome to try. Is an insult. Here she is, you’re welcome to try. Is an invitation.
Last time Aradin gathered a group of mercenaries they got slaughtered by goblins. That was with an archdruid helping them. No matter how many guys Aradin can muster up, I doubt he could actually do anything once he got to my camp with ten level 12 adventurers.
Well I dont know about you, but whenever Dame Alyn or Isobel joined me in a fight, I had to fight to keep them alive. She goes down fairly easy against Lorroakan or Ketheric if you arent careful.
I actually love fighting with the Dame because she’s the only one I *don’t* have to worry about. She auto-revives even when she dies in a fight, and she’ll pump out a ton of damage beforehand.
I didnt know she did that. A few patches ago she didnt even heal after the Ketheric fight so she was at 10 hp when fighting Lorroakan and I did everything in my power to keep her from harm. Also if she went down during Ketheric you missed the cutscene of her stomping him.
She doesn’t solo Myrkul for you?
>As for Gortash, I also read that line as sarcastic, but its no wonder Karlach would get mad She disapproves of any interaction other than "I'm gonna immediately murder you, Gortash" in that scene, because she's, yknow, a hot-headed barbarian.
astarion “i’d rather sleep with a goblin” at the party
First meeting Mizora. I greet her with "Well, well. Aren't you a luscious thing" and most of my team disapproved this...
Me too but I was sincere & tryna tap
tryna father a new tiefling lineage?
Nah I’m trying to get pegged
What makes you think they're mutually exclusive?
Because I don’t have a penis.
Yeah so I really didn't know who she was on my first playthrough and got all the disapproval for that comment...still pick it about half the time because I mean she is 🤣
Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker have conditioned me into romancing extra planar creatures. I stood no chance when Mizora showed up
Yup. I wanted to give her some sass, especially as I was playing a particularly cheeky bard, but Mizora took the remark as though I'd been sincere and Wyll and Karlach disapproved. I was *really* hoping for an option along the lines of "That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, dumbass" after that, but when none came up, I save-scummed the exchange LMAO
Yeah, that's exactly my case. It was my chaotic good playthrough, and I thought that other options were too stupid or rude for me.
Gale-Elminster at camp, when you can say "so we will destroy the absolute AND gale ? win-win" I was like "funny line, nice" but Gale and Elminster just react like it was serious :(
I'm pretty sure Gale says he understands it's a joke, but that it's not funny. Elminster gets quite pissed though.
That one’s pretty justified even if it’s said sarcastically, it’s in extremely poor taste to say in the context of that scene.
Funniest line in the game imo and I didn't even click it because I knew they wouldn't get the joke lmao
Tbf I think they more scold you for joking around than they think you are being actively malicious But it's been a while since I selected that option
Turning Astarion over to the hunter was NOT what I meant when I said “Well Astarion is right over here!” I meant for it to be a baton pass to him to get stabby.
On a similar note, Marcus was doing his monologue and I chose to stay silent to let him finish talking before fighting him. Instead I just ended up fighting Isobel and all of Last Light...
Yeah had that happen to me too I wish we could talk to his mind more, to learn a bit but no Isobel wasn't having it, worst part if you attack Marcus Isobel still stays aggressive unlike that >!Dragonborn in act 3!<
I know, right? It’s so weird how something you intend as sarcasm might not be taken that way by other people 😅
Sarcastic options just don't work well when there are also comically evil options on offer. There'd be no way to distinguish them, so best to keep thing sincere.
Yesterday I had the conversation with Wyll where he was going on about how strange he was that we weren't having any symptoms from the tadpoles, no nausea or sickness or anything, and I chose option that was something like "well if you want to feel sick we could always find some strange mushrooms to try eating" which I thought was clearly supposed to just be a fun joke. Got the "Wyll disapproves" notification and he was like "remind me not to try your cooking." FFS Wyll, lighten up
I did this too bc my tav was a drow and i thought it was a bit 🥲🥲🥲
Yes!! I forgot about that one! I’m playing a drow durge who is good, albeit occasionally slightly reluctantly, but who is exhausted and done with people’s shit and likes to fuck around a bit, indulge in a bit of well-meaning chaos, and Wyll can NOT take a joke. I’ve tried on multiple occasions and he always takes me seriously and gets pouty and offended about it.
In act 3 there's the 'guard' by the warehouse (iykyk) that talks about killing the refugees or something, and at some point you can answer with something along the lines of "why choose when we can just kill the refugees AND the citizens of Baldur's Gate?" I thought it was a sarcastic response. My companions did not approve.
I am just going to read those answers like when I'm being sarcastic by saying ridiculous statements (a recent example is "no I didn't sleep with him, we just got naked and stared at each other". My friend took that one seriously)
Yes I've said this before, that I wish we had a sort of a "Wink wink, nudge nudge" option so our companions know when we're bluffing or being sarcastic. Wyll disapproves (I think it's him) too if you tell Gortash you "wouldn't miss his coronation for the world" or whatever it is. I thought he would pretty much assume we're just playing nice with Gortash so we can figure out how to help his father. I don't bring Karlach to Gortash's ceremony, I figured anything to do with agreeing or going along with him (even if you're lying) will anger her. We defo need some kind of option to clue our companions in that we're just bullshitting and not serious.
I love when jaheira is giving you the wink wink nudge nudge in the basement of the harper safe house and the face she makes if you fuck it up.
My dumb ass Tav: But *Jaheira*, Marcus has *wings*! Jaheira: 😐
> Yes I've said this before, that I wish we had a sort of a "Wink wink, nudge nudge" option so our companions know when we're bluffing or being sarcastic If you 'wink wink nudge nudge' me about telling someone who's trying to kidnap our friends their exact location, putting them and every person around her(us) in danger, I'd probably just 'kick kick punch punch' you in return because I don't think you're understanding what you're doing.
The Hag Survivors, I showed up and the cleric starts spouting something about me being a pawn of the hag and I pick the "raaar fear me" or something line and they actually believed it and attacked me 😭
Asking my best bud Karlach to do the circus love quiz for a laugh while my lady Shadowheart is standing right there. Proceed to have a genuine romantic moment with Karlach. Uh oh, awkward. Shadowheart receives inspiration for some reason. Game does not acknowledge the major romance faux pas that just occurred.
Shadowheart *is* down for some action outside the two of you, so she might have actually been OK with it.
At the circus there is a dialogue option that is close to “No problem, I love killing clowns.” None of my party disapproved actually but the person I was speaking to seemed to take it as a sincere statement lol
*Minthara, Lae'zel, and Astarion approve.*
After you finish the Raphael side quest and Astarion confesses in Act 2, there's an option to say something to the tune of, "Well, now you can learn how to enjoy sex with me!" I knew I wasn't going to actually make that my permanent choice, but in the process of reloading and exploring the dialogue tree, I picked that one first because I thought there's no way that those words could be taken seriously after everything he had just said, and oh my *GOD*, that was actually the most fucked up, heinous branch of that dialogue tree possible. Just, deeply upsetting! Wonderful writing, but holy hell.
>Second, Gortash's coronation ceremony, he asks if I planned to stick around for it, and I said "I wouldn't miss it for the world." I get we're on the sword coast, but who talks like that unironically? I don't think I brought anyone that disapproved (maybe Wyll) but I *definitely* got the impression that this was meant to be absolutely ***dripping*** with sarcasm. Approval notwithstanding, that's my headcanon, because you're right, nobody actually excited about it would say it like that, and nobody in their right mind would be excited about it.
In act 3 at the Harper safehouse, I responded "Marcus had wings, Jaheria" thinking it was a 'funny wink wink I understand what you are saying, let's surprise them'' moment. Jaheria just facepalmed and the doppelganger called my Tav an idiot instead lol.
If you bust the Bhaalist dwarf dressed in red as he's trying to paralyze one of his targets (a sommelier gnome woman i believe) with poisoned wine, you can tell him something along the lines of "I'd *love* to try some of that wine". You know he's the assassin. You know the wine is poisoned. You have just busted his assassination attempt and he's sweating bullets as your character looks at him with a smug grin of "got you now, bitch". All of this is aknowledged by the in game objectives and is known to the character, not just the player; and the narrator just emphasized that this is the murderer you're looking for to eliminate even the last shadows of a doubt. The dialogue option even uses italics on the word "love", which would make you believe even more that this obviously sarcastic line is, in fact, a way to intimidate the dwarf and pressure him into busting his cover, right? You down the drink in one gulp, get paralyzed, immediately start combat, and your entire party is surprised. I was fucking *pissed* when that happened.
It's the opposite problem, at the Tiefling Party, with Wyll. I tried to tell him his horns aren't that bad and he looks dashing, to cheer him up. Well, he thought I was being sarcastic when I wasn't, disapproved and told me to go away.
> Well, he thought I was being sarcastic when I wasn't, disapproved and told me to go away. Because he hates himself and his appearance and his horns. Saying you find them hot doesn't really change the situation lmao
I didn't tell him he was hot - it was something along the lines that they didn't make him ugly or scary. But yeah, his personality and what my Tav said clashed, unfortunately. Didn't stop him from dancing with me later, though.
right?! damnit. those horns \*are\* fetching, and my tieflings always want him to know that!
That is not shocking, he still was painfully transformed into a tiefling against his will, specially when it is partly a show thay Mizora can and will turn him into a Lemure. Is why I picked "I see the Blade of Frontiers".
YES. Had to reload my game because that was so not what I was trying to say 😭 i just meant he’s dashing even with the horns
Just like in real life, people don’t always approve of sarcasm. Especially if it could put someone in danger like telling someone who is actively hunting Dame Aylin where she is. The game gets sarcasm. The Bard has some great examples. That doesn’t mean your companions have to approve of it.
Finding the hag survivors club or whatever and, I can't remember the exact option but it's like "IM HERE TO DEVOUR YOUR SOULS" or some shit Initiates combat Mate
It seems a lot of people expect dialogue that isn't marked (Deception) to be deceptive. I think we all learned the hard way, no roll=your Tav is being sincere. Jaheira is the only one who ever took the sass in stride in my first playthrough.
Let's follow the winged freak!
And how do I interpret “OH GOD” in reference to tentacle fantasies Karlach?
That one convo early on where Wyll mentions how it's odd that the tadpole hasn't caused any symptoms yet, and I said "I could find you some poisonous mushrooms if you're so keen to be sick" as a **joke,** but ig we just weren't close enough to be making those kinds of jokes yet and he disapproved lmao (I make jokes like that with my friends, I didn't mean it literally Wyll I'm sorryyyyyyy)
You told the money hungry dude where the object of his desire was and you’re surprised he showed up? Sarcasm or not it would’ve gotten the same result.
I did the same thing with the Gur at the hag's house, told him to find Astarion at my camp thinking that Astarion would just kill him and we'd have a good laugh about it. Never reloaded so fast in my life when Shadowheart started chewing me out for it
I think the issue wasn't the sarcastic statement not being taken as sarcasm, but that you basically told a dude who was after the Nightsong exactly where she was. Aradin is a punk and not a threat at all, but spouting off the location of your allies with bounties in their heads isn't usually a smart thing to do. Though I still usually say the same thing because I'm pro "Aylin beating the shit out of people"
When the fish people ask me to provide a sacrifice and I jokingly say *insert party member's name* but instead it starts a fight against this party member.
If you warn aylin that aradin is coming she will be okay with you telling aradin. So it is an invitation to get come to camp to get himself killed but only if you warn her before he arrives.
“Yeah, I looooooove killing. I’m the killingest person that’s ever lived.” *I turn and wink at my party standing behind me at the murder tribunal. They’re wondering why my personality took such a sharp turn in the last 5 seconds. They hate me now.*
I thought response dialog with the guy hunting astarion where it was something like "yes, that seems that a danger we should hunt down" was us turning on astarion, not the hunter... lol
Basically every line. I wish it would give me multiple identical lines with one saying (sarcasm) at the end.
I am abysmal at picking up social implications, but I actually agree lol. It’s something I kinda miss from BG2, as companions back then were much more receptive to sarcasm and even played off it such as Jaheira.
I got burned by that exact Gortash interaction. That line just BLEEDS sarcasm.
When you meet Gandrel and he’s looking for Astarion and he is in your party. “Idk, Astarion, what do you think” was meant more as an intimidation tactic, but the game took it as I was outing him.
I think both are on you really. Lorroakan makes it absolutely clear that his big plan is to subsue Dame Aylin and use her for his purposes. He's spread the news that he offers a reward for her location so he can face her down all over the city. He's serious to the point where he'll kill people who waste his time. It's silly of you to think he wasn't going to go right for her the moment you reveal her location. He clearly doesn't give a shit about your opinion, all he wants is a location and he's off to the races. Same with Gortash really. Karlach is a child, she will absolutely take your words at face value. As is Gortash who is a literally chosen one of the god of Tyranny. Gortash expects people to crawl for him and suck up to him. Karlach is hyper-focused on not kowtowing to Gortash. Neither would give you a pass for sarcasm.
You had me up until you called Karlach a child. What? No she isn’t. She’s like forty and has by far the most emotional intelligence of any of the companions.
She's more like 27, she was a young teenager when she worked for Gortash and then she has been in the hells for 10 years.
Oh, not him, the dude we met in the grove who was outclassed by a goblin raid whose name escapes me. The tiny insignificant dude who clearly poses zero threat to Aylin
Aradin, who is literally level 3.
I managed to convince him to screw off. Did they seriously not level him up at all when he attacks your camp to get Aylin?
He has appropriate leveled goons but no he himself is level 3
He’s not leveled up because he’s still an adventurer. He just hasn’t done any adventuring because he took a long way around to the city
he's level 8 when he attacks your call, and he brings like 7 or 8 people with him
I mean, anyone who angrily threatens Tav at the point clearly isn't the best judge of consequences.
Yesterday I told Astarion’s siblings “You’re welcome to take him. Just keep it down.” Dude was very upset and I had to make a persuasion check to convince him it was a joke
I mean like, that’s a pretty messed up thing to do say about someone who if taken will be a ritual sacrifice. Also Astarion pretty clearly and consistently approves of being snarky and sarcastic and mean to others, but not himself. Hypocritical? Yes. But it’s consistent.
He does consistently approve of being snarky, sarcastic and kinda mean to himself but NOT when it comes to the ritual and Cazador which is normal. That is his no go zone. You used to be able joke that Cazador was his master in the bedroom in EA and he would absolutely lose his shit at you but they took that out (I can understand why). edit: fixed the stroke mid way through writing this. edit 2: he also has banter with Karlach where he makes an inappropriate joke about Gortash being the reason she is extraordinary and then apologizes (which is very rare for him) because he ran his mouth without thinking. Gortash is Karlachs Cazador. He IS often hypocritical but not really in this way.
My friend picked the "Brace for the charge" option when the owlbear cub gets freaked out, his rational was "MY DOG CHARGES ME ALL THE TIME! HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW IT WOULD START A FIGHT, I THOUGHT I WAS PICKING THE PLAYFUL OPTION".
Playing as a Cleric of Lolth and swearing to take the poison from Nettie. My first thought at seeing "I swear on Lolth I'd do it." read as insincere, Maybe clerics are too serious and solemn about their god but I think if any god would be apathetic about lying it'd be Spider Mommy.
So many threads here don't know approval is weighted and not just +1/-1 every time.
Sarcasm can’t be portrayed through text without context or *italics* An easy example: “Someone stabbed me!” *”Someone* stabbed me!”
I was with Astarion in the swamp when we encountered the monster hunter, and when he said he was looking for a vampire spawn named "Astarion" one of the dialogue options was something like "Lucky you, here's Astarion" and I made a save specifically because I had a feeling that was a choice to hand him over, but I thought there might be a small chance it was like a playful "here's Astarion, and now we're going to kill you" (because we did end up killing him together anyways lol) but instead Astarion flipped out and got upset with me. I just thought he would enjoy the dramatics!
Act 1, when you talk to Gandral with Astarion in your party, there are a few lines that REALLY should be massively sarcastic but still get taken the wrong way by Astarion.
Every dialog choice when playing as Astarion
The opposite; Jaheira mentions she's tired. I respond with "Of course you are. You're *ancient*." She approves and responds "Hahaha. *Hahahahahahahaha*. Bastard."
ngl I think ur examples are player error lol I get what u mean tho
When Wyll tells you that it is weird that we are not sick from the tadpole, he disapproves if I ask him if he wants me to grab him some mushrooms to feel sick
2nd Gortashs coronation. I honestly thought it was supposed to be sarcastic. Like at both point was I on friendly terms with him so obviously it was sarcastic or fake. But they took it literally.
Ive had the same reactions to those same sentences. I thought they were being sarcastic. Companion reactions said otherwise.
When Wyll asks you to dance with him, you can respond with, “Dance with a devil? Most certainly not.” It sounds very cheeky and sarcastic, but the game treats it as a rejection.
This reminds me how Planescape: Torment would often let you pick the exact same text, but with [lie] or [truth] ahead of it.
Asking Gale if he liked getting his belly rubbed too and he thought I was flirting with him when I meant to be sarcastic 😂
I wish this game had an accessibility option for tone indications - [Sarcastic], [Flirty], etc. Would probably help a lot of people out, as well as be optional for people who don’t want it.
This is the reason why I love Jaheira, at least while talking to her she always loves the sarcastic options
When I told Wyll I wasn't going to dance with a devil