Perhaps the most annoying thing about Baldur's Gate 3 is that you spend all your time and effort creating a Dream Guardian only to have it turn into a self-centered illithid. The second most annoying thing is that if you refuse to eat the tadpoles, they turn on you. And the third time is when he appears on the Netherbrain side in the final battle. Basically, the Emperor is a really annoying person.
His lies and manipulation were so severe that few players chose to become an illithid with him, and those who did did so simply to see what would happen. I wish there had been some warning about his lying and gaslighting ways. Baldur's Gate 3 does indeed display warnings, but you'd have to be a bookworm to find them.
Baldur's Gate 3 warns not to trust the Emperor
As Reddit's Whyimhere1 discovered, there's a book called On Psionic Manipulations and Countermeasures that can be found throughout the game. Specifically, it can be found in Act 1 with the Githyanki Creche. Its sole purpose is to warn ignorant fools like Tav and the crew of the Illithid's ways of manipulating them.
If you read it, you will see that the Emperor has you carry out his orders using the exact methods mentioned in the book. Thankfully, when he wanted us to become illithids, most of us got away with it and sided with Orpheus. But maybe if we had read the book we would have been more careful.
“When dealing with mind players, remember that it is their nature to evaluate the usefulness, strengths, and weaknesses of those around them and manipulate them to get what they want,” the book says. This sounds right. It then lists several countermeasures. In other words, the assholes who tell you to pay attention to your actions rather than your words, strengthen your trust in your allies, and please don't sleep with them.
If you read the full description, it's pretty eye-opening, especially considering how he manipulated us on our second playthrough. Moral of the story: Read more and don't sleep with the illithid.
- released
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August 3, 2023
- ESRB
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M (Mature): Blood and gore, partial nudity, sexual content, strong language, violence.
- engine
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Divine 4.0
- multiplayer
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Online co-op, local co-op
- cross platform play
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Full cross-platform play.
