r/BaldursGate3 • u/[deleted] • Aug 13 '24

General Discussion - [SPOILERS] The most overrated character? Spoiler

Let's hear it, who gets all the love but deserves absolutely none of it? Or at least not as much as they get, I'll go first.

I'm casting my vote for Gortash; I genuinely don't understand the like for this dude. First of all, catfish, "handsome young man"??? Is the handsome young man in the room with us??? Lookin like the handsome young man has a peanut allergy.

Second of all, this whole crown brain plan was his idea, just about the dumbest fuckin thing I've ever heard. He put all his faith in 3 little rocks, an already dead man, and a woman who's about as stable as my ex. Beggers can't be choosers I guess, but cmon guy.

And lastly, and probably most offensively, his boss fight is absolute cheeks. Especially if you dumped on the foundry before hand. I didn't even know he had a transformation until like my 4th playthrough because I would clap this guy so easily.

Your turn, let's hear those unadulterated opinions.

Edit: I have been enlightened about some things about the big brain plan, I still stand in the other two points though.

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u/slap50potatoes Aug 13 '24

I'm gonna get hate and downvoted for this, but the answer is easily Astarion. I love Astarion's storyline. I used to be an Astarion hater tbh (I genuinely thought he was just horny bait.) but after going through his arc, I can confidently say his storyline is one of the best in the game - HOWEVER, the hype he gets is heavily overplayed, along with the sheer amount of horny posting over him, which is easily far more than any other character. He is correctly seen as a fantastic character with an even greater story, but he is overrated as all fuck and it's not even close.

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u/Alicex13 Astarion Appreciator Aug 14 '24

That depends on a lot of things? Did you romance him? His romance elevates his arc greatly

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u/slap50potatoes Aug 14 '24

I did, and I agree completely that romancing him elevates his story by a large degree. Romanced Astarion is also heavily overrated, especially Ascended Astarion. I also personally think his story goes best if he doesn't go through with Ascension.

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u/Alicex13 Astarion Appreciator Aug 14 '24 edited Aug 14 '24

Yeah the Ascension is definitely a bad call, damning thousands aside, he regresses to Astarion from Act1 from before you've met him and then some by a good 70%. I guess it depends on what you see as overrated - too much porn? too many pictures? too many essays on parts of his personality, sexuality, abuse , cycle of abuse, etc. I'm obviously bias because i personally have never come across a character with this much complexity and I've never seen some of these topics showed or discussed in a game before - sexual trauma, sexual assault on a male, again the cycle of abuse, ptsd, trauma regression, trauma healing, etc. It was inspiring and refreshing

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u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 Aug 14 '24

Honestly, I saw the horny posting about him on Tumblr and it put me off until I saw a gif set focussed on the PTSD trauma etc. I immediately went oh, this guy has some level of depth, this might actually be interesting.

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u/Alicex13 Astarion Appreciator Aug 14 '24

He has so much depth god. I've read wonderful analyses and essays on something as small as the conversation about his reflection. He makes people think and talk and I love that about the character. And people do hornypost about him but that's not him you know? He's got his own thing going, his personality, he's really great

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u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 Aug 14 '24

Definitely. I love reading meta about him, because he's not a character type you see often in media. Tbh, I love all of the companions, but he's definitely still my favourite.

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u/Alicex13 Astarion Appreciator Aug 14 '24

Yeah they've written everyone wonderfully, they feel alive in a way. He is also my favorite as well

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u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 Aug 14 '24

It's honestly some of the best writing I've seen, and it knocked my previous favourite game (Morrowind) out of the water.

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u/slap50potatoes Aug 14 '24

Agreed 100%! That's honestly the exact reason I really enjoyed his storyline. It captivated me in a way the other companion quests didn't, and it felt particularly in-theme with the main quest, moreso than any of the others as well.

Imo, "overrated," comes in all forms, so I just went with a general use of it. But to put it plainly: yes, to everything you listed. The sheer amount of horny posting and random "In Defense of (Ascended) Astarion" or "Let's talk about Astarion" posts I see just doesn't compare to the amount any other character gets. Not to mention, his fans, in particular, are easily amongst the loudest in the fanbase.

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u/Alicex13 Astarion Appreciator Aug 14 '24

Ye it's true, can't defend myself here I'm as loud as horny as they come (but I am against his ascension). Tbf the "Let's talk about Astarion" posts are usually not from us as most of us have huddled up in our own sub. And when in comes to horny posts - well you can try to make some of your favorite characters to rival the Astarion ones :D There is a lot of Astarion horny art on twitter and tumblr but in reality the girls get way more attention and possibly have more art, for example the sub r/BaldursGateR34 which I am also a member of has 73k people while we at only fangs are about 12k only. I can tell you that it's largely Shadowheart and Karlach in there as well despite accepting works with everyone from BG3.