Baldur’s Gate 3 players beg Larian to stop “softening characters for fan service”

While Baldur’s Gate 3 is often hailed for its story and romantic plotlines, the community thinks Larian shouldn’t change their writing for the sake of pleasing players moving forward.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was in early access for about three years before fully launching in 2023. During that period, Larian made many changes based on player feedback, whether related to dialogue, graphics, combat, or many other aspects.

A year after the game was fully released, Larian is still dedicating time to fixing various issues and listening to the community. While this has led many players to sing their praises, a portion of the community has wished that they wouldn’t change some of the writing in the game to appease players.

In a Reddit thread, one user claimed that companions staying with a Mind Flayer Tav, excluding spawn Astarion, “doesn’t make sense.”

“Sorry, but it just feels very ‘fanservicy’ to me,” the player claimed. They pointed out how at least Lae’zel, given the circumstances as a Githyanki, shouldn’t be “so easily persuaded” to love a Mind Flayer Tav. 

To them, this ended up feeling like “something Larian made them do because they wanted this ‘Will you still love me if I become a worm?’ fairy-tale endings.” Many other players who jumped in the comments also agreed with this take.

“Lae’zel used to refuse to stay with you if you turned Illithid which I think was more in character and hit harder. Was disappointed to see they changed it in a patch and tend to agree that the change was for fan service reasons,” commented one user.

Another user mentioned how Shadowheart’s Act 1 romance in early access “was so good.” They added, “I really wanted to see where it went after such a slow build, but now she feels more like a Skyrim NPC romance.”

Meanwhile, one user wrote: “I’m so sick of them softening characters for fan service reasons instead of sticking to their guns, honestly.” This includes tweaking Shadowheart and Lae’zel “to be less mean in the beginning,” the latter making her “abandon all her principles.”

“Now in the beta they’ve changed ascended! Astarion’s kiss animation so the player looks happy instead of scared… All of these really weaken the writing and make the characters and story less consistent,” they added.

Some players wish that there would be an option to make the new expressions optional.