Spoilers below, I want to complain, not ruin anybody else’s experience with the game.

Okay, so. The main reason I play dungeons and dragons? Aside from the sense of adventure and the ability to write my own story? It’s the dragons.

Now my problem is that in any and all official DnD content (and most other media tbh), dragons get absolutely fucking screwed, ESPECIALLY the good ones. It’s why the ability to write my own stories with DnD appeals to me so much.

I didn’t go into Baldur’s Gate 3 with high expectations. I know that the idea of having a powerful force of good that isn’t under player control or completely useless is beyond the comprehension of most game/show/book writers (It’s really unimaginably fucking easy to have one that doesn’t destroy character agency btw, just putting that out there. I can write a whole god damn essay on how to have Big Good forces that aren’t fucking useless while maintaining narrative tension).

All I wanted, in the game that advertises itself on how lets you approach every problem from your own angle and with your own methods, was to be able to share a little conversation with a dragon and make sure they were okay. I didn’t have unrealistic expectations. I know games aren’t made around what one man wants, so I didn’t hope for more than maybe three lines of dialog and an ambiguous ending where they’re free and alive. I’d have been happy with that.

And Baldur’s Gate 3, despite allowing you to spare, or befriend, or protect, save, speak with or at least bring some hope to EVERY OTHER ENTITY IN THE GAME, doesn’t just give none of that to their one dragon that can speak. It actively goes out of its’ way to make it so that the dragon has the absolute worst fate possible, significantly worse than death, will never speak to you (only to another NPC), is killed pre-adventure, has their spirit tortured for eternity, and cannot be saved, helped, or even given a ray of hope. Just. Like. For FUCKS SAKE.

I wouldn’t be so pissed off it this wasn’t such a common thing in games like this! But I sunk 70 hours into this game intending a little interaction with a dragon as my reward, and as far as I’m concerned, I got a flaming pile of shit thrown in my face for making it to the end. It wouldn’t sting so much if they weren’t the only character to get screwed to anywhere near this magnitude. It wouldn’t sting so much if shit like this didn’t also happen so ridiculously frequently.

Please tell me I’m not the only one frustrated with how dragons (ESPECIALLY good dragons) get treated in any form of adult media. Is it really, really so much to ask for a story where dragons don’t get the deck stacked against them so unbelievably hard that even actual gods would be pretty much screwed?

    • Quokka
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      61 year ago

      Sorry just a furry whining they can’t fuck an animal?

      Makes sense, no normal person would have given this any thought.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -141 year ago

      But am I wrong? Making an unreasonable complaint?

      I know that most people don’t like dragons as much as I do, but… is it really that weird to want them not to get screwed to the Nth degree?

      • @False@lemmy.world
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        321 year ago

        Yes you are making an unreasonable complaint. You’re complaining that the story doesn’t include one particular niche element of interest to you and comparing it to having shit thrown in your face.

        • @TacticsConsortOP
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          -191 year ago

          Yes, but I was under the entirely reasonable expectation that I would indeed get my niche thing (that being three or four lines of dialog), given the game’s overall setup, mechanics, advertising and franchise. It wasn’t just not included, it was actively averted as hard as possible.

          Would you not be disappointed in the same circumstances?

          • Adlach
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            51 year ago

            no. i don’t play games for fetish purposes.

      • Black AOC
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        71 year ago

        ♪ And if you try to fuck with me then I SHALL FU~UCK YOU TOO ♫

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -111 year ago

      Seduction would have been like winning the Euromillions. Extremely nice, but totally unrealistic and I know it. I just wanted a nice chat and some pocket money after trekking all this way.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -61 year ago

      Probably the only thing that could convince me to head back and finish the game tbh.

      • dog
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        51 year ago

        So you were looking for Bad Dragons and Good Dungeons, huh. Just wait, someone will mod it all in.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -21 year ago

      If this becoming a copypasta is what it takes to get me some dragons who have happy endings, then Holy my Hell.

  • @Lufia@lemmy.world
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    101 year ago

    I always hate it when certain characters and quests in games don’t have as many options as other ones. It feels bad when you can’t save or help a character you really like, especially if there’s 100% a way it would work in the story, if it had been written in.

    It seems to happen more often with animals and beasts. I really like dragons too, so it sucks that the only dragon isn’t able to be saved. I haven’t played BG3 yet. I remember being able to help a dragon in Divinity II, and not too far into the game either. If you haven’t played that, you could give it a try.

    • VM_Abrantes
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      31 year ago

      Bethesda: Serana will refuse any marriage proposals because she’s a vampire. You can turn Serana back into a human, she’s still going to refuse, because fuck you.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -81 year ago

      I feel you. I REALLY feel you. I’d say more to commiserate, but everything I’ve got to say on the matter is already up there, and while I’m upset, I don’t want to rant everyone else into being frustrated. Best of luck to you finding someone you can save in your games?

      I could, but after getting burned so badly in BG3, I’m very much feeling cautious about touching anything else this studio’s made.

      • Adlach
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        1 year ago

        I don’t think you need to worry about anyone else being mad.

  • Aielman15
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    91 year ago

    The comment section has become a meme already, but this post reminded me of the pitiful amount of games focused on dragons.

    I wish there were more games akin to HttyD/Eragon where you play as a dragon knight, or games where you play as the dragon itself.

    • Maple
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      31 year ago

      People don’t typically do dragons well in general tbh. Even when dragons are secondary to the plot, opting for wyverns the no-armed beasts and calling them dragons. It sort of hurts me inside.

      But I agree I want more genuine dragons in my media.

      (Side note, I haven’t read the OP as to not spoil myself so for all I know OP could be arguing the same thing so sorry for the redundant point if that’s the case.)

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -41 year ago

      Thank you kindly. But I know that it’s just not a realistic expectation.

  • @BrilliantAhra@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    51 year ago

    There is at least one other dragon that you can talk to who doesn’t have a bad ending. Just because one got a raw deal in the game doesn’t mean the rest did.

  • @tburkhol@lemmy.world
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    21 year ago

    Gotta admit, I only went looking for the dragon because everyone in game said it’d be super helpful, and there’s a quest called “Gather your allies.” My talker had like 20 charisma and expertise in all the charisma skills…I resolved a lot of conflicts without violence. Disappointed to be forced into combat with the dragon by our guardian angel.

    Kind of disappointed with all the interactions with our ‘guardian angel’ once their true nature was revealed. Maybe I made wrong choices, but their guidance just seemed…off. Not wrong. Not evil. Just somehow not quite right. Maybe somehow inconsistent with their revealed nature, and pushing towards ex machina, like a number of things I don’t see how I’d have discovered if they hadn’t outright told me. The dragon interaction is part of that not-quite-rightness.

    I definitely found the ending to be the least satisfying part of the game. I went straight from the dragon to the final battle, and I think that sequence intensified the less-than-satisfying feeling.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      -21 year ago

      Boy he literally murdered his closest, oldest, and most well-intentioned friend in cold blood, threw the body in a dungeon, and let their soul find no rest for several centuries.

  • Black AOC
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    1 year ago

    Nah correct. We need more Eragons in this era. Saphira might be my single favorite dragon in fiction.

    • @TacticsConsortOP
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      11 year ago

      Yes, exactly! There’s nothing wrong with a tragic hero, but when every hero is not just tragic but tragic to a degree that I doubt most writers would even be willing to inflict upon human characters, then it’s clear that something else is needed to bring balance and freshness.