Baldur's Gate 3: Tav Edition (review)
!!!MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Well, I have returned after quite a hiatus. Life has been a bit rough for me, but man, am I glad I finally spent the time to play through this fantastic game. Baldur's Gate is a series that I had no idea about until the third game was released two years ago. Of course, I love fantasy games and adore the world of Dungeons and Dragons, despite the current owners' decisions as of late.
Regardless of that, though, I have always been a massive fan. I believe I have said it before, but if not, I have ADHD. Whenever I have tried to play DnD with a group, I would always get overwhelmed with possibilities, exploration, and would want to do my own thing a lot of the time. Sometimes, it's hard for me to pay attention and stick with the party without going, "I need to lockpick as many chests as humanly possible". To a few players, this can be annoying, but other players are patient. To be fair, I haven't played in a while and would always get crammed with big groups of six or even eight people at a time. Anywho, what I'm saying is that I'm so glad that games like Skyrim, Baldur's Gate, etc., exist for my fantasy-loving, multi-quest mind.
With that said, I will say that when Baldur's Gate 3 came out, I wanted to play it. I adored the characters from what very little dialogue I saw on YouTube Shorts, and a year later, I was gifted a Steam Deck. And now, after over one hundred and thirty-nine hours of exploring, smooching, drama, and cults, I can fully say that this game is fantastic and one of the best games I have played in 2025, hands down. From the companions, NPCs, the story, and world-building, this game had it all. Did I do everything? Sadly, I did miss quite a of things, such as the owlbear cub named Fierce and licking the dead spider. (Yes, I wanted to lick the dead spider, sue me.) On top of that, I was not able to save the rest of the tiefling refugees, slaughtered Minthara without knowing, hey, you can knock her out instead, amongst other things. She was a character I was interested in knowing, but to be fair, I'm glad I killed her in a whoopsie daisy fashion instead. I don't hate her; she scares me.
Now, let's talk about my campaign run. I originally started as a Dragonborn and went for a regular Tav run. This was back in late December of last year, and life sadly got in the way. Unfortunately, because I didn't know where I was and didn't know what was really happening, other than saving the Emerald Grove and the tiefling Refugees near the beginning of Act 1, I decided to restart and make a new save file. I'm glad I did that, honestly, after discovering that the Bhaalspawn default is a Dragonborn. If I want to play as the default, there's always that option, which is nice for special interactions later on in the game. Of course, I decided to be simple and go with a self-insert Original Character. I actually have an online-sona of what Celeste looks like as a reference.
I decided to be fun and go with a Tiefling Ranger/Bard. (My headcannon is that my character became a Ranger not to hunt people, monsters, or whatever, but to use their skills to become a professional treasure hunter and explorationist. They also took on multiple Bard gigs since it makes them happy to see people sing along to their Spider Lyre's strums. Also, Thomas, my beloved.) Originally, in my first save file, I had gone with a Druid based on a character I had made in one of my first DnD campaigns. But to be fair, I wanted to try something that was still within the nature realm while also having multiple opportunities to attack enemies, so I went for a Gloom Stalker Ranger to have the upper hand. And my God, was that a good call. As for my Bard subclass, I went with the College of Swords to have even more opportunities for attack. As for the other campainions, I did give some of them subclasses: Shadowheart being a Tempest Cleric/Monk with Open Hand for, again, more attacks, and Lae'zel as a Fighter/Barbarian. I did have Karlach as a Barbarian/Cleric, but changed it for later fights.
Speaking of the pookies, let's talk about the companions! I'm going to divide these up into their own sections because I have a lot to say about them, their stories, and all. Not to mention that they all made me emotional in one way or another. Important to note here is that I went into this game almost entirely blind! I did not know what to expect other than the basics of Astarion being a vampire, Laezel being a harsh warrior, and Karlach having something up with her chest.
Lae'zel was the one character that I found so annoying and insufferable, in a good way. Of course, I know she's had a rough upbringing, and learning about the Githyanki throughout the story makes sense as to why she is how she is, but my God, did she make me so angry to be around. Act 1 was where she got me the most riled up with her being racist, insulting Faerûn, and being aggressive. To say I didn't stare at her and ask, "Why are you like this?" multiple times would be an understatement. Of course, we have to bring up how she tries to kill us because she thought we were changing into Mindflayers. Like, girlypop, I get it, but we did just travel a long way and slaughter an entire Goblin settlement. We also have to mention how she and Shadowheart try to kill each other after the discovery of what the Artifact Shadowheart possesses really is: a stolen weapon from the Githyanki. Then, like some weird lesbian tussle, Shadowheart tries to slice Lae'zel up in her sleep and even calls her out on waiting until she was asleep and how cowardly it was. And like, I love Shadowheart, but Lae'zel is spitting facts. I'm glad they settled their differences eventually, though. During Act 2, I decided that before the fight with Moonrise Tower and discovering the Nightsong to head to the crèche. Thankfully, saving her from the psycho zaith'isk that Ghustil Stornugoss designed, we kill the crèche and eventually find out what Vlaakith really is as a Goddess: yet another tyrant. Lae'zel's wails of abandoning her goddess and being forever hunted by the Githyanki warriors for the Artifact hurt her as it did me. I honestly felt so horrible for her, but with convincing her a lot and reassuring her, I finally started to like her character. She didn't deserve to be treated as an outcast for seeking the truth, especially with Orpheus actually being in the Astral Prism. (No, I didn't free him; I freed Hope, though, and felt awful for doing that to Lae'zel. I couldn't risk it for the brisket.) But I'm glad she finds peace and new friends that she actually calls friends and doesn't hate us for our decision. In my Bhaalspawn run, I do want to see what happens when we free Orpheus, though. Lae'zel did a 360 on me with her character and attitude. I really do care about her and her weird Githyanki egg child.
Shadowheart put me on edge a bit right away, if I'm honest. Throughout my playthrough, I was very supportive and didn't care about her being a disciple of Shar, and loved her from the start, if I'm being honest. (Of course, I was actually planning to go for Astarion, but I'll talk about why I didn't soon.) I felt very sympathetic towards her, and while being even more on edge about whatever the Nightsong was and why it was important to get to it, I also knew how important it was for her in that moment during Act 2. She had been living a total lie her whole life; how was she supposed to know her Goddess was really a tyrant? Something about Shadowheart being in pain because of Shar punishing her, taking her memories and her family away from her, hurt me so much. She didn't deserve any of that, even before the truth was revealed about Shar's true intentions with her. In the end, I'm so happy that I was dedicated to helping her, save the Nightsong (Dame Aylin, my beloved), and save herself despite making such a hard decision. At least her parents are proud of her, no matter what, and that makes me feel bittersweet and happy for Shadowheart. At the part where they turned into two glowing orbs, floating off to watch over her, I teared up from how sad it made me. All my homies hate Shar. But either way, I love her glow-up at the beginning of Act 3, and I would be lying if I said I didn't squeal like Luz from 'The Owl House' when she saw Amity all dressed up. I love my goth/angelic girlfriend, what can I say!
Oh, Astarion, my sweet pookie. I adore him so much, first and foremost. As someone who plays and reacts in a chaotic neutral way almost every single time in DnD, sometimes having a complicated evil/not really evil character is so much fun to bounce back and forth between. As I said, I knew Astarion was a vampire. I mean, you're telling me a twunk with red eyes, pale and paper, flirty, and pansexual isn't? Anyway, Astarion was always an interesting character to me. I felt so awful for him, with not only being almost murdered by the Gur Hunters and forced to choose life or death, but also becoming a slave to Cazador while enduring unspeakable horrors. That's not to even mention luring people of all kinds to his master, only to realise their horrible demise wasn't so merciful and was a key component to his master's sick ritual. While exploring Cazador's palace, there are werewolves, willing servants to Cazador, and the Kennels. Godey, who is a skeletal sicko residing in the Kennels, was known to torture the Vampire Spawn for Cazador. I felt awful for Astarion and was very much for him to kill his master after everything he had done to him for two hundred years. Honestly, after finding out that the Gur "accidentally" caused his demise, I no longer felt bd about killing the random Gur near Auntie Ethel's place. Yes, I did sleep with him at the Tiefling party, but it made things very interesting. While Astarion is basking in the sun, we see those carved scars on his back. If you play as a Tiefling, you can see that it's Infernal but indescribable. That's when Raphael comes into play; we trick Commander Yurgir into taking his life back to Avernus, get Raphael, the devil of Hope, to read the inscriptions on Astarion's back and list some options, and Astarion breaks down more. I really wish we could just hug our companions, because my man needed one, and maybe a spa day at the Last Light Inn. When heading to Moonrise Towers, we meet yet another weirdo, this time, a Drow named Araj Oblodra. She desires to be bitten by a vampire, and Astarion tells her she's crazy and clearly doesn't want to. When she calls him my pet, I went, "Aw HELL naw," I told her he's his own person. I honestly don't care about the strength buff. If I wanted to change things around, that's what Withers is for.
Later at camp, Astarion calls my character kind after saving gnomes, refugees, etc., and I just need to say how much this scene changed my mind on romancing Astarion. Originally, I was going to go ahead and do it, and decided to go with the romantic dialogue, letting him see into my mind, too. But after Shadowheart told me how he and I fit together, I felt bad about not only leaving her and seeing where our relationship could have gone, but I also thought of it as a bit unhealthy to go ahead and hit that smash button with Astarion. I reloaded my auto save and decided to be his bestie instead, and for this campaign, I feel so good about that choice still. Sure, maybe in my Bhaalspawn run I'll go for him, but it felt wrong to abandon Shadowheart, and I didn't know what would come next, whether that would be for better or worse. (Thank God it doesn't really matter, only when you have him Ascend does he change, but I didn't know!) During the ritual, I was able to persuade him to go with it and free the other Spawn. The scene where he breaks down and sobs to the ground, honest to God, made me almost cry. After all of that suffering and struggle, that relief just had to be so good, but so devastating. Even afterwards, when he tells you he feels numb, I just wanted to hug him more than ever. Like, come on! Let me hug my buh-buh! I feel I should also mention that I feel Astarion on a deeply personal and sympathetic level, just like every character here, but Astarion is very different for me. I have PTSD and have suffered from abuse, so this story quest was hard for me to go through, as one can imagine. But on the other hand, I'm so glad that not only is there a male character getting spotlight in terms of PTSD and how it affects someone, but also to have it be a queer individual makes it feel more impactful. I'm not sure how else to describe it other than pure happiness that a popular character was able to make such a huge shift from the norm. I know this section for Astarion is long, but he really is just such a lovely character.
Mama Karlach can toss me over her shoulder, and I wouldn't mind getting burnt up. I love this buff woman so much. She's free-spirited, brutish in a good way, and makes my heart melt. When I first met her back in December, I felt like the little hamster meme looking up at her like, "Goddess…?" I mean this is a borderline demisexual way, of course. If I had known about the multi-romance mod sooner, I would have also dated her along with Shadowheart and one other I'll mention soon.
In terms of her and Wyll, I knew they would fall in love with each other fast. I mean, buff Tiefling woman who could put all fire elemental creatures to shame, has a big heart/engine of gold/infernal iron, and is extremely loving and kind? Sign me up with you, buh-buh! Karlach broke my heart at first when she told me about her engine, how it's killing her, and is overheating. I immediately went and did her quest as soon as we went into Act 2 and spoke with Dammon. But what hurt the most was when there really wasn't a way to fix her heart up, not in the base game, at least. What I didn't expect while exploring the graveyard was her dialogue about her parents. I felt awful that they had both been gone, but it's sweet that she talked to them about our journey and took a minute to be with them again. After the fight with the Elderbrain, Halsin, Jaheria, Wyll, and my character ran to her side at the dock while she was about to die. Of course, I stayed with her; I told her I would. I loved her way too much to go through something like that alone. I did look up before the final fight if she could go to Avernus, however, and I had her and Wyll go off together like the epic power couple they are. You know, a wise person once said, if you love something, set it free. I'm glad I let her go off with Wyll. Also, what do you mean she smokes and can flick fire from her thumb?! That's badass! Also, I adore her little teddy bear, Clive, that I somehow did a multi-glitch on. I still don't know how I did that, but I gave the other one to Wyll.
Wyll was the one character who gave me the "I peaked in high school" vibes at first. As I said, he is also kind of a hypocrite when it comes to Astarion and his own pact with his Warlock powers. Although if I were a monster hunter and did that kind of line of work for a long time, maybe I would understand his harsh treatment more. Maybe. Wyll had made a pact with a devil called Mizora, granting him Warlock powers to save Baldur's Gate from a dangerous cult. He paid the price of losing an eye, granting a stone eyeball, only to be tracked by Mizora and cast out by his father. Somehow, I was able to break the contract with the devil and Wyll, saved his father, and they gained an understanding toward each other again. I do feel bad for Wyll in that regard, being trapped in a contract without being able to say no due to devilish law. I still hate how dismissive and quick his father was to abandon his own son like that, but it surprised me that Wyll understood his father and didn't resent him. It's confusing, dukes and big top heroes are confusing, but he's a great character to chat with. I also find it interesting that he is the only character who is celibate and dismisses sexual interaction. Honestly, valid! We love a man with boundaries.
Gale of Waterdeep is a nerd, but my nerd. I love how much he yaps from the moment you talk to him, from the ruined portal to libraries, overall complicated explanations of Lanceboard, and the libraries of books and tomes. From the moment he was sickened at camp by the Orb, I gave him one or two enchanted items I didn't need immediately. In Act 2, we meet Gandolf the knock off, Elminster, who tells him, "Hey, man. Mystra will forgive you and redeem you as your chosen. All you have to do is blow yourself up at the Absolute. By the way, may I have a snack of cheese and wine?" If guns were in this game, I could have gotten my shotgun out, I swear. I was able to convince my pookie wizard not to go my Mystra's will. Mystra is one of the worst goddesses of all time. You're telling me that you're mad that he tried to retrieve a fragment of forbidden magic to impress you, it backfired horribly, and like the toxic cuck you are, you become exes and don't help Gale because magic could be endangered? My wizard deserves so much more than that; all my homies hate Mystra. Not to mention that Mystra knew that Gale had an unhealthy obsession with proving himself to her and to everyone around. He doesn't just want to be a simple man, and man, does that make me want to smack Mystra even more for even mentioning to blow himself himself up for "the greater good". Eventually, we get him his book from the Sundries vault after killing Lorroakan and looting everything inside his tower. Originally, Gale tells Lorroakan that he wants to retrieve the Crown of Karsus and give it to Mystra, silently hoping she may remove the orb. But what's interesting is that he instead desires to become ambitious and wants more, to make a new kind of magic. At the end of the game, I decided to let him ascend to Godhood and let him do his thing while I offered Tara to visit his mother every so often. I'm still very mixed about my choice of having him choose Godhood. On one hand, I'm glad he can inspire and make others chase ambition just as he had with his skills, but on the other hand, he becomes even more egotistical and can't help but agree with Tara about Gale not learning from his past follies. I'm still mixed on not persuading him away from not using the crown for his own gain, but damn, he does look good in silver.
Halsin is one of the hunkiest and sweetest companions in the entire game, even more so as a partner. Like I said before, Minthara creeped me out, so when Halsin said we had to kill the three leaders of the camp, including her, I didn't hesitate. His burden with the Shadow-Cursed Lands, along with Thaniel and Oliver, still tug on me, though. He may be a strong Arch-Druid, but he's just one guy. Bear. Both. In Act 2, it took me so many attempts and saves to finally be able to have him complete the ritual to retrieve Thaniel. Then, after getting a disapproval rating from Halsin, I decided to play hide-and-seek with Oliver, getting his trinket, and eventually convincing him to come back to Thaniel.
I felt so bad for him whenever he felt guilty and even responsible for what had happened with Thaniel and his fate. Of course, with Kethric causing so much chaos and destruction, he couldn't have known that so much would have happened all at once. Not to mention, he was enslaved for a few years at the noble Drow Lolth houses. My hubby needs more than a break. During Act 3, while in the city, I had him in my party, and he seemed so uneasy about being in a place with not much of nature's properties. Of course, there can be a balance, but man, is he right about the refugees struggling and being ignored on the streets when there could be so much more done? But if you know anything about city life, it just isn't that way. At least he's supportive and comforting when needed. (No, I'm not mentioning "the bear scene".)
Yes, I went with Halsin and Shadowheart. Honestly, their dynamic fits well together, considering Shadowheart didn't know what to do after the tadpoles were evaporated. I'd like to think that after our adventures against the Sharran followers, we go back to Reithwin and live with Halsin, and additionally help with development. I can see Shadowheart working with kids with hesitation, but growing attached.
Minsc, Boo, and Jaheira are all interesting characters, considering that they are from the original Baldur's Gate games. Jaheira is a strange character, considering she tried to ensnare me in vines and drink a truth wine to get information out about the tadpole. While being a High Harper and Act 2 being in an intense situation, I can't say I really blame her. After the big fight at Moonrise Tower, she asks us to look for Minsc, and we eventually do, only to find he's not only been infected but also finagling with a shapeshifter that's been manipulating him into thinking that they're the real Jaheira. This is where I wish we had a gun in this timeline again, because why the hell would The Emperor say Minsc is a lost cause? Sure, he may not be all there, but neither is The Emperor. He needs to look in a mirror. Anyway, we save Minsc and meet the oh-so terrifying Boo, the space hamster. (I'm still unsure how true that part is, but considering Boo talked with the squirrel that saw Halsin and me, I'm starting to believe in the space hamster.) Both of these characters are great and made me laugh. I love Jaheira's attitude and how Minsc, while seemingly dull in the head, is pure of heart. Also, the fact that he can just swing at brick walls and crumble them down into flour is insane to me. While I didn't use them very often in my adventure, I still enjoyed having them along for the ride, regardless.
As for the Chosen Three, I hate Orin and how dare she kidnap my daughter, Yenna, Gortash needs to be gored again after what he did to Karlach, and actually screw Kethric Thorm. I don't care if he wants pictures of Drider-Man, it ain't happening, psycho!
The one character I had a huge guard up to the whole time, literally until Act 3, was The Emperor. While he may "be just like you", I hated how he was so quick to dismiss and withhold so much information about himself, his partner, Ansur, holding Prince Orpheus bound, and so on. Still, I trusted him since I really didn't know what Orpheus would do once freed. Not to mention that I really didn't want to fight The Emperor along with the Elderbrain. I just did not feel like it, not after rizzing with him, getting the achievement, and regretting it literally minutes later. He's a complicated character who built the very foundation of Baldur's Gate and wanted to be a sea traveler, but man, I don't agree with his choices at all. Great loot, though!
Typically, NPCs are the least interesting to me in a few games unless done well. Would it be surprising to say that I loved all of them, except for Wulbren Bongle? I killed that man the second Barcus left. Volo, while yappy and a liar to land him in troublesome situations, I love him so much. He's just a silly guy doing diddies. I completely forgot about the bear cub, Fierce, but I did save Scratch at camp along with Us. Any moment that the best boy needed attention, I gave him it. He deserves it. And Us is just my baby, need I say more? Withers kind of startled me at first and left me skeptical. During Act 2, I explored the Ancient Tombs, from where you can encounter him for the first time, but honestly, I think the random encounter was funny and a fun surprise. A skeleton man that can change my class, revive others, and hire people for me? Epic. My point is, I loved these NPCs, and they were fun to chat with.
Like I said, I played this on the Steam Deck, so glitches were bound to happen. Some were funny, though. Sometimes a character, Wyll specifically, would repeat the same lines to Astarion about his "rAt DiEt" and how it's going. I'm not even lying when I say this happened three times during Act 1, and on the second time, I sent him back to camp like a grounded child. Like, dude, I don't care if you're a Warlock and all, but you're a hypocrite for judging Astarion, and you're in a time-out. In Act 3, after completing the Iron Throne quest, I had put him in my party while on the beach you can get washed up on if you don't make it back to the submarine in time. Sadly, it was Lae'zel and me who took the fall while Astarion and Shadowheart chilled out. Anyway, I talk to Wyll for a moment, only for him to demand we act fast in the submarine to save his father… On the beach? After saving his father and even talking with him about everything that had happened? To say I didn't die from laughter would be a lie. Like, Wyll, did you get food poisoning or something to lose your memory? Other than dialogue glitches, there would be moments where I would have to reset or go back to an auto save during a battle due to my turns not responding. I'm still not sure what causes this, but it happens a lot during the fight against the Sharrans and the end of Act 2 and beginning of Act 3 for me. There would also be times during Act 1 where certain assets wouldn't load in properly, causing my camp to be in the void, bridges to be straight up gone, and even a weird glance down at Goblin's feet during a conversation in Act 1 during the attack on the Goblin Camp. I have some screenshots saved of the glitches, but I wish I had recorded the Wyll dialogue glitch.
This game is phenomenal, and I cannot recommend it enough. Like I have already said, I already plan on going back into Baldur's Gate 3 and doing two Bhaalspawn runs because that's how much I adore this game. That, and I have also decided to try and complete all of its achievements on Steam. I do plan on writing another review in terms of how the Bhaalspawn runs went, however long that may take. Hell, I started my playthrough back at the end of August or so, but we'll see. As for a rating, an easy 10/10 game right here. While I did go in depth about the characters, how I felt about them, my own choices, etc, I highly recommend anyone to play this game if they enjoy RPGs and DnD or just fantasy in general. Believe me when I say that it's worth your time.
Now, if you'll excuse me, time to go Bhaalin'.