Baldur's Gate 3 - Companion Alignment Analysis

hi my name is kyle and i'd like to discuss my analysis of what i think each companion's alignment is in baldur's gate 3. for the sake of this video i will only be discussing companions that are currently recruitable in early access at the time of me writing the script for this video that being shadowheart laizelle astarian gale and will although you can meet carlac in-game currently i will not be discussing her alignment because we do not currently have the tool we need to figure out her alignment this tool is the approval system [Music] the approval system is the main way i will be examining each companion's alignment as what they approve or disapprove of is very telling of who they are as a person for those who haven't played baldr's gate 3 yet the game has a system for tracking each companion's opinion on you based on the actions you take in game if you do something that they like you'll get a message saying that they approved and if you do something that they dislike you'll get a message saying they disapproved the vast majority of dialogue options do not have any changes in approval but the ones that do are very very telling of the party member's alignment for example a companion who approves of helping innocence with their problems even if it means putting yourself at risk can be assumed to be a fairly selfless person likewise someone who not only approves of watching a little girl get killed by a snake but actively disapproves if you save her can be assumed to be nowhere near good morally i won't be looking into every nuance of the approval system as some companions approve or disapprove of things that are unrelated to their alignment for example shadow heart disapproving if you ever agree with laezel fool no point in showing a mad dog kindness it'll still bite you in the end for the sake of this video i've edited my save file to allow larger party size so that every companion provo values show up all at once all gameplay footage is from patch 7. [Music] no disciplined mind would stoop to crime no disciplined criminal would dare be caught let's start with a companion whose alignment is hands down the easiest to narrow down weizel is definitely a lawful evil as all of her actions show her as looking through the world from the perspective of someone who dutifully follows the regulations of a ruthless conquering society everything she approves and disapproves if it shows her as being one of the more ruthless and cruel companions alongside histarian additionally she shows no respect for criminals specifically criminals who are caught she was caught foolish child let them judge her as she disapproves if you save arabella from kaga approves if you silently watch kalka kill her and that proves again if you tell her you're protecting your own sometimes cruelty is necessary the evil and lawful evil is definitely emphasized in her approving of far more senseless equal actions for example telling these teethwing children they're all going to die good job or roaring at this terrified man who thinks you're a mind player you're mind dripping flesh feeling my player what's more she disapproves of acts of mercy and her complaints if you do so seem to suggest she sees it as weakness your soft heart will be the death of us the lawful side of this comes into place as examining her actions in the context of githyanki society as laizelle's dialogue in our own interactions with the squad of githyanki in game showed that they are ruthless conquerors who prefer to subjugate others through force and they didn't cut you from navel to neck well perhaps they were otherwise occupied this is also evident in laizelle's approval as she always approves the shows of strength and prowess in battle whether that be minor shows of strength by teaching gwex how to use a sword like this you mean step step strike yes or choosing to attack others when in conflict with them when diplomacy is an option [Music] acts of explicit insubordination will also be a very easy way to earn her disapproval as it is clear she sees herself as the one in charge of the party the last time a subordinate questioned my judgment i ate tongue stew that very night and likewise approves if you follow her lead or otherwise defers to her judgment let us move quickly and find this zorro he will point us to a crash then lead the way you fit in here more than i so if you want to ruthlessly slaughter your way through the entirety of the goblin camp you can rest assured lazar will support you every step of the way i have seen the kithraki tear a screaming yogi's legs from its belly to fashion into blades yet they could not match your nerve today it was enough to drive me to madness [Music] all i want is a little thumb is that so much to ask astarian is by far the single most selfish and cruel companion we're able to recruit in early access even more so than laizel thus making him easy to pin down as chaotic evil agree to help most people for any reason and he'll disapprove really we're messengers now additionally he approves of almost every senselessly cruel option in game whether that be stealing the magic ring from a child in a grove hey hold on you gotta pay for that fine keep it and he disapproves if you choose not to torture the innocent man in the goblin camp even if you're threatening to torture the goblin torture instead [Music] you're one of that bad eh even more telling if you stand back and watch arabella die you can have a few options when talking to kaga afterwards if you talk if she's a monster or she was just protecting her own he'll have no opinion but if you tell her you were just enjoying the show he'll approve monsters both then viper to viper the more chaotic side of things is evidence in the fact he lacks the level of pragmatism that laissezel and shadowhart have oh you're not going to eviscerate him i was hoping for a show call your blood i'll indulge you soon enough additionally he's the only companion who is completely dissatisfied with saving the teethings as even the other two evil companions are generally okay with this outcome you know i never pictured myself as a hero i hate it this is awful it's clear he's simply out to enjoy himself and will ignore common sense and the objections of every other companion if it means he can have a little fun or even more importantly means he can gain even more power this is evident when the party learns the true nature of the illiterate tadpoles inside their head as histarian is the only member who insists they keep using them regardless of the consequences he is also the only companion who will approve if you state you'll keep using them and the only one who disapproves if you refuse to give in to the temptation these powers provide so in a way astrarian is like that one party member of a real dnd group who derails the party's plans with his antics yes and i thought you weren't any [Music] fun you chose well we have enough burdens as it is without taking on more moving on to the more complicated companions shadowheart is the last of the three evil companions as neutral evil however she wins far more neutral due to her focus on her own safety and that of the safety of the party she'll usually be the one to approve if you tell someone no i have my own problems and has reactions of varying disapproval to helping others with their problems if agreeing to help someone will put you in danger like with your green to help marina's brother save her from ethel she'll disapprove are you joking i ain't got a clue who you are if it won't put you in danger like agreeing to talk to kaga on zebra's path she won't disapprove but she'll usually complain let's not forget why we're here no point in wasting precious time on a lost cause the most important moral choices shadow heart will prove or disapprove me making art based on good or evil like the other companions but instead based on pragmatism a very clear example of this is her reactions to how you handle the goblin camp she won't care if you decide to kill the three goblin leaders on houston's behalf but she will care how you do it [Music] that's a bigger fight than we needed to pick what the subtlest of assassins are you the clearest example is if you decide to bring helsin with you then change your mind when he tells you you'll have to slaughter the entire goblin camp shadowheart will always approve of this even if she's not in the party the evil half of her alignment however is apparent in that she does have a cruel and vengeful sign to her according to the rifle system she'll approve of telling this tiefling that her friend needs to be avenged yes and also approves of throwing the goblin saza under the bus when she attempts to get you killed by menther they didn't tell me nothing a liar as well as a fool as well as approving of most of the same acts of cruelty that lays out an historian like the evil in neutral evil at least in shadowheart's case is still very subdued compared to liesel and histarian while she approves of standing by and watching arabella die her dialogue afterwards shows she is absolutely horrified and she even admonishes you if you tell her you're surprised she cares they killed a child for that let's get in and out of this place before any vipers decide to bear their fangs at us do you truly think i'm that callous a young life snuffed out isn't easily shrugged off this is also apparent in that she never approves of the cruel dialogue options chosen against the children grove although she never disapproves either she is also devastated if you decide to side with the goblins although she tries to hide it as best as she can why did killing those teeflings make me feel sick i've killed in her name before why now why isn't the wine helping [Music] guilty ridiculous what's that to be guilty for so while shadowheart is evil to an extent she ultimately is far more neutral than anything i think you'll find i've been showing ample concern for myself since the moment we met you ever felt so much hate it poisoned your blood these last two companions are the most complicated and in will's case it's because he puts on a front you would think from his actions in the grove that he's a waffle good character with him disapproving of every bit of cruelty that laizel and histarian approve of but you can see a hint of this when dealing with the goblin sazza he disapproves of saving her from the crossbow wielding teefling and disapproves again both times after you let her out once when you say you have a deal with her and then again when you offer to lead her out of the grove he also shows immense satisfaction if you stand by and let the teething kill her nice she saved us the work of killing that goblin ourselves however if you bring will with you to meet this goblin in the plighted village you start seeing will's true nature well i'll be the old friend captain failure you sing for me roach tell me everything you know will becomes entirely focused on his own personal goals that everything else becomes completely secondary hence why i classified him as neutral and not good it becomes very clear when you ask will but what about the gnome tied to the windmill the normal survive this cockroach comes first during the section of act one we can play in early access will has three priorities his fame which he gains through helping innocence his quest for vengeance against the goblins which you can choose whether or not you'll help him with his warband butchered a village and gouged out my eye he deserved to suffer and his desire to be released from his pact with his patron mizora when you get to the goblin camp this priority overrides everything else even his desire to help others i'm not here for you i'm here for the woman i know you took her where is she where is missouri and the chaotic side of him becomes very apparent in the goblin camp proper when dealing with the goblin leaders will has a lot of overlap with the starring emily zell preferring the direct brute force methods you were dead gods to me yes give in to your bloodlust and the neutral side is shown once again when you meet the goblin torturer spike the goblin will tell will that the only way he'll learn where mizora is is if he tortures an innocent man tied to iraq until he gives up the location of the druid grove will's reactions are very very selling of who he is as a person if you torture the man yourself and succeed in getting the information you need will approves if you tell will to torch the man he'll also approve and he disapproves if you either decide not to torture the man damn it or tell will to stop torturing the man if he is torturing the man already this combined with everything else perfectly shows will as a chaotic neutral character willing to do anything to achieve his own goals even if it goes against the law or even his own moral code [Music] we've our problems granted that there might be some merit in shutting down a local conflict no finally we have gail whose alignment was the most difficult for me to narrow down i had thought of many alignments that would fit gail such as chaotic good lawful good lawful neutral and true neutral however i have settled on neutral good as i think that alignment is the closest fit to who gail is what made gail so difficult to narrow down is that sometimes he seems strangely unopinionated compared to the other companions who are very clear on what actions they think you should take whereas gail seems at times to be a neutral bystander with no strong opinion on some of your more extreme actions whoa there are a lot of guts to go around in this place are you sure you never mind too late however gail is consistent in that he always approves of acts of mercy regardless of who they're directed at which seems to tie into both the neutral and good sides of his alignment he approves of saving arabella from kaga very well she may go break your word and my serpent shall feed commends you for rescuing the chiefly child mircon from a band of harpies at the beach anyway i'm glad we got that boy out of his predicament poor lad would have been happy feed if it wasn't for us and most tellingly also approves of you saving the goblin sansa [Music] both times [Music] i told you i was trying to follow orders best i could silence rich and he disapproves of acts of excessive cruelty such as helping will torture the innocent man in the goblin camp you become one with will and siding with the goblins over the teeth leans traitor the blade now comes for you unlike will who leaves the party immediately upon siding with the goblins gale stays though his dialogue at the celebration shows he is both distraught and furious showing a small clip wouldn't do it justice so here's the whole conversation this is the worst moment when the screams of the dying have faded and the conquering hordes howl and yelp as they come to their vile climax massacre a spectacle of slaughter and i participated what are these bloody stumps that used to be such delicate harpists of the weave no two shadows are darkening my soul the shadow within and the shadow without you you let me down this path don't blame me for detesting them i don't know myself anymore all this is not who i am around you i'm not who i want to be i should leave precious little love lost between us isn't there and finally gail's more selfless side is shown once again if he dies gale has the equivalent of a magical bomb in his chest that will cause an explosion the size of a large city and will explode if it isn't fed magic regularly when gail dies he could easily just assume he's failed and whatever consequences happen but instead he set up a protocol to resurrect him so he can continue to delay the bomb many lives depend on my return to the living within the span of two days while it is possible this is more selfish if you ask him what he'll do if he fails to stop the orb from exploding he'll say this i will find the remotest place on the surface of faerun or perhaps far below in the depths of the underdark and will await that death alone so it is clear he's thinking of innocent lives over his own hence the good part of his alignment so gail's more impartial stance on most of your actions combined with his desire to show kindness and mercy to others seems to fit a neutral good alignment very well that woman has more venom in her heart than a snake in its fangs but at least the child is safe what is youth if not a time to be forgiven for one's transgressions so these were my thoughts on each companion's alignment from the easiest to figure out to hardest to figure out thank you for watching

Channel: The White Pikmin

Views: 30,636

Keywords:

Id: hHkXYBdWbFU

Length: 19min 33sec (1173 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 13 2022