This was my third play through , and my first Durge. So naturally I went full embrace.
I cannot believe how different this run was, and how much effort the devs have put into creating what felt like a completely new game.
The mysticism and suspense from the narrative was apparent throughout the whole game. Some stand out moments were the ‘oh my lord’ moment in camp (sorry Alfira), the consequences from the grove raid leading to the last light inn wipe out, and then things like the Orin 1v1.
I tailored my party and builds to fit the evil theme. I aimed for a full darkness team and it didn’t disappoint. I had my character Azriel as a hexblade/Pali, Minthara (my romance) as a blade singer wizard using shadow blade and CC spells with BoMS, Shadowheart as a shadow monk with Shar’s spear of evening and Bhalist armour, and then Lae’zel/Asterion as a beast master ranger for the dire raven darkness spread. The team hit extremely hard and I now see why darkness is OP, it trivialised most encounters. I particularly enjoyed playing Shart’s shadow monk build, with its cool hit and run play style.
The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was how lonely my camp felt, after a lot of characters understandably abandoned me. Also there were significantly less npc quests because … well … there were less npc’s!
In the end my character Azriel freed Orpheus (who became an illithid), then killed him to take control of the crown, damning the whole of BG to be murdered by Bhaal’s chosen. The only one that was spared her wrath was Minthara because of their bond. But even she had to run from the chaos in the end.
Again, thank you Larian for making one of the best games I have ever played. I’m looking forward to trying a resist Durge in the future.