What Happens in Baldur's Gate 3 Without A Player?

Shadowheart's disapprovement might not mean she wouldn't group up with Lae'zel. She just doesn't like Tav's (or Durge's, or other avatar's) decision, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't be willing to go with it. If strength in numbers means anything, you may not like the company, but you would still team up with them to rise up your survival chances. Seeing Lae ignore her in the pod earlier is another thing, so I give you that. Still there could be at least a discusion about it with the two, seeing reason in continuing together.

My first playthrough I was confused. "Why the hell is there a dude on the title screen of the game that literally just dies in the first encounter you meet him"...Poor Wyll.

More of a shadow heart role play playthrough, really. But really nicely done.

I just finished my first playthrough, and I have no recollection of ever meeting or interacting with Gale. I assume he is the guy that I can never identify in the first loading image close to Karlach.

Imagine if dark urge never lost their memory

i fucking hate shadowheart my god

This video was awesome!
Can you do this style video from the perspective of all the origin characters? I love the way you tell stories and this was mainly focused around Shadowheart, for good reason. If you were to do Wyll, for example, for RP reasons start at the Druid Grove Gate battle and say he survives (The Blade of Frontiers should be able to take on a few goblins) and from there you could say he went to the goblin camp in search of Karlach and got the Artifact that way. Or maybe he teamed up with Shadowheart at the grove. Seeing how they would go throughout act 2 and 3 the way you did with Shadowheart would be sooo good. Anyways Thanks again for the great videos!

Killing karlach has always been an easy choice

I can only guess Wyll didn't expect to be so measly in combat, since the tadpole crippled his powers and this could be his first big fight since the infection.

It’s actually possible to save Lae'zel from the shadow curse now with the goblin Shadowheart to walk around with a torch there is a fair chance she would’ve walked around with the torch not knowing she would be protected and hearing cry’s of pain Run to investigate before realizing it’s Lae'zel And because Lae'zel Physically can’t move 10 feet away from her or she’ll die. They would be forced to team Or at the very least, Shadowheart would donate her torch And Lae'zel would survive

Watching this truly felt like a movie of bg3 without the player, awesome

theres a chance astarion could pull it off, assuming he kills shadowheart in the original meeting

Truth is, had they decided to show any sort of fate for her after you ignore her in the main story long enough, it would probably be a death. It's not really possible to do so without having the player kill her, though, because she needs to be the one to encounter the Nightsong and make her choice, but the player always interferes, hence messing up any sort of conclusive answer for what would happen even if you let her go. I doubt she would make it so far as to slay the Absolute.

But it's a far more interesting hypothetical if not every companion dies through sheer incompetence, so I'm not complaining about the theory.

Not only would Shadowheart not turn away someone saving her life, as shown with our act of aiding her in the beginning, she actually genuinely appreciates it despite her... unique temperament. So yeah, that tracks.

Shadowheart stocks skyrocketing after saving Minthara. You love to see it

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THAT SHORT CUT FOR THE FINAL ACT!! That will be great for when I want to skip that long, endless battle.

I think you missed something important. Without a player to actually land a hit, Shadowheart would have no offensive capabilities 😂

I feel like using shadowhearts disapproval of YOU as a basis for her decisions wasn't the right move.

When she makes these disapprovals they are done with the power of the mc backing her up and without the desparation of being alone and directionless. Shadowheart is the first one to offer that you stay together after the crash, she is practical to a degree and does look for allies to help her accomplish her mission.

Lae'zel, I can see her not working with but her going into the grove before the gate battle will mean meeting Wyll, who she has no reason not to work with to find a cure, I feel like that's a missed opportunity.

Once you get Wyll then the motivations all change and he could probably convince her to save Halsin and defend the grove etc... which she is not necessarily against as the case with the MC

doesnt shadowheart succomb to the tadpole if u ignore her

I feel like Shadowheart would have found and entered the Shar temple in the Shadow Cursed lands as well, gaining that gear and those blessing buffs.

Hehehe love the divinity music

On Shadowheart choosing to kill Aylin if the player doesn't intervene, I've actually found it to be the opposite. When I choose to remain silent and do nothing to influence the outcome, she literally always chooses to spare Aylin, which seems to be her actual moral compass.

On My First Run, My Lae' zel Got Fucked Over By The Gith At The Bridge In The First Area. Didnt Even Know She Made It To The Shadowcursed Lands '>_<

My boy Gale killed by a portal 😢

As a Minthara stan, I approve of her being the only other companion to survive. I knew she was the best

I'm actually playing a playthrough where I play as a Tav who's just an obstinate loner. She's a Cleric of Kelemvor and only takes help from Withers' hirelings. I free and help the companions along the path (free Gale and Laezel, save Wyll from the goblins and Karlach from the 'paladins)' but don't welcome any into my party. Excited to see what this results in.

well done..

This was a very engaging video, thank you. Personally i think Karlach is the most likely candidate to be the "canon" origin character. To me, the only reason she isnt in the pod that the player is in, is because a TAV/Durge exists. So if we consider that karlach was in the starting location for Tav, its more than likely she would save both shart and lae'zel, recruit wyll and astarion and proceed to a fairly normal karlach playthrough doing good and kicking ass. she would save the grove, definitely kill minthara, definitely end up with shadowheart and convince her to give up shar (a LOT of evidence for this because of how karlach responds to a tav encouraging Shart along a good path). its a way less fun theory than what you put, so im glad you had an alternative.

Wyll mentions before the tadpol he used to be more powerful. So he probably jumped down thinking he was like level 15ish and then got a rude awakening

Cool!

Have to say, I believe in her pursuit for a healer, Shadowheart would most likely end up imprisoned by Gut, allowing her to find the under dark selenite outpost and eventually end up in Grymforge with the tease of the Dark Justiciars down there. Just my logic. Otherwise I think this is pretty spot on for a non-Tav playthru of the game. Well done!

Edit: I tried it this way myself and when in dialogue with Gut, Shadowheart triggers into combat instead of passing out due to her high elf bloodline, causing Gut and the other goblins to attack her.

HE TURNS INTO A ZOMBIE?????? MY HEART BREAKS

shadowheart and durge are the cannon lovebirds

Glad to see the default state of the most popular dnd game is “evil lesbians”

Dragon Age Origins had a DLC that explored this concept. Darkspawn Chronicles. You play as the villians in the final battle and get to see what kind of defense your allies, from the main story, are able to muster without the MC.

I would totally watch a movie like that.

If you let Shadowheart decide what to do she always leaves the nightsong alive.

In my first playthrough i managed to somehow go through almost the entirety of act 1 without finding gale. So when I finally found him inside the rock, he had managed to survive in there for about a week of in-game time... needless to say i felt a bit guilty.

Amazing shadowheart defeated Sarevok and the Brain, didnt think she had in her

ive had zevlor jump down from the gate for the grove gate fight, he kicks ass in melee

Chadowheart

the way you edit the voice lines you get with Companion Shadowheart just makes me BEG Larian for an Origin Mode where the dialog choices are fixed but fully voiced.

I'd play 6 "Fixed Story" Baldur's GAte Runs if I can get loads more of that wonderful voice cast.

I didn't know that Shadowheart were the secret protagonist of the game.

Great video by the way, you mentioned various details and secret I never knew. This game always surprises me ❤

I feel like it’s a really good working theory, but if it cant be done in an honor run can it really call itself tested? I don’t doubt you for not doing it because, my God, but I wonder how far can you really go with the legendary actions given to bosses you are forced to fight while under leveled? There are 4, if I counted right, boss fights in this run that have legendary actions so it does make me wonder if it can still be done with that as a true run since it is by definition a single run.

Wait, wouldn't Nettie at the Grove have killed Shadowheart when she went there looking for a cure?