I've always had a pretty clear answer in mind for what the best video game level is. Video games don't often have 'levels' in the traditional sense anymore, but regardless I always look to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tali's loyalty mission from Mass Effect 2. The entire game is built around recruiting squadmates and then aiding in their struggles, and the way Tali's mission uncovers truths about herself, her race, and her family, while tying into core ethical and existential questions that run deep throughout 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mass Effect, makes it a crucial part of the game. The fact Tali is the only character alongside Garrus to fight with you every game, and the way this mission includes stealth, intense combat, and courtroom drama, only makes it better. But 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3 may have just beaten it.
In Act 3, as you explore the city of Baldur's Gate itself, you can encounter a funeral at the Water Queen's house, where you'll be allowed to participate and offer a prayer to the fallen. Here, you will discover the woman was killed by a beast in the water, which 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:starts the mission Avenge the Drowned. If you haven't played that mission and are planning to, a) it's great, hope you enjoy it, and b) here be spoilers.
You'll learn that these gatherers are Umberlee worshippers, and that the dead woman is a priestess, but you won't get an awful lot of direction beyond that. After a few conversations with various hands at the dock, you'll realise you're not dealing with a beast at all, but a machine. This trail leads you to a submersible ship, where the guard can be deceived or intimidated into taking you down to the Iron Throne prison it guards. It turns out the priestess was killed accidentally by the dwarf's reckless driving when returning to the surface, rather than deliberately.
Umberlee is an evil sea goddess sometimes known as The Bitch Queen due to her notoriously destructive urges. And if that's what her followers call her, just think what her enemies might...
Unfortunately, once you arrive there, you are greeted by a message from a vision Gortash. It's his prison, and rather than allow you to rescue those within it, he will blow it up, drowning them. This is where the battle gets especially interesting. As the prison is blowing up and sinking, you will only have a set number of turns to do everything (five on the hardest difficulty, eight on the easiest), putting you against the clock in ways Baldur's Gate 3, and indeed most video games, rarely challenge you with.
How Avenge The Drowned Changes The Rules On You
It also forces you to question everything you know. Usually, you win fights by killing everyone. Sometimes you might want non-lethal damage in order to keep people alive for later, but that's the only decision you'll make. In this mission though, that's the last thing you should do. Initially, the prison has no enemies in it, but as the sides buckle and it floods with water after the first explosive charge, sahuagins pour in. These will keep coming no matter what, so just fighting them is useless. Instead, you need to caref🌳ully navigate the prison to complete everything in time.
My tactic was to take Shadowheart, Jaheira, and Karlach. Shadowheart knows Dimension Door (as do I), Jaheira has clothing that gives her Misty Step, and Karlach, well, she's Karlach. No spells, but with Dash she could run the length of one of the Iron Thrones four corridors, and was perfect for drawing ire. In that vein, I summoned an Elemental while Jaheira had her Dryad and its Lover tanking hits for us too.
My Avenge The Drowned Dream Team
Shadowheart and I could take two corridors between us, me using my Dimension Door spells to get us up one and back, and she using hers to do the same for me. Jaheira's Misty Step did a third, and Karlach running really, really quickly did the fourth. But to outline it like that doesn't do credit to how difficult it is to pull all this off, and how rewarding it is when it all works. At three of the four corridors there are a variety of prisoners to free, and at the fourth, there is treasure.
Why The Iron Throne Is Baldur's Gate 3's Deepest Mission
Just freeing prisoners and getting loot isn't the full story though. One of the prisoners is Duke Ravengard, Wyll's father. Freeing him will also mean defying Mizora, who summons fiery spiders to attack him. He is weak and the curse on him means he cannot be teleported, so needs to be healed and escorted out - a job for Shadowheart and myself. Another prisoner there is Omeluum, one of the few nice mind flayers you meet in the game. He too can be rescued, and then will teleport you to safety himself.
Every step counts in this fight, especially on harder difficulties, and you need to think beyond who can kill the fastest. It asks questions of you that the best sorts of fights in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons do, and it's still not over. Once you free the prisoners and return, you're still left with a dilemma. The Umberlee worshippers arrive, demanding you hand over the dwarf running the submersible itself. On the one hand, he works for Gortash and knew people were being kept prisoner, and he killed the priestess. On the other, Gortash is respected in the city as a lawkeeper, the dwarf had no objections to driving the ship and the fleeing prisoners to safety, he didn’t mean to kill her, and Umberlee is an evil deity.
There's no right answer. No choice between good and evil. Not even a deal sweetened by the evil side tempting you with a reward. The Umberlee worshippers do have armour for you, but it's less useful than other armours you'll either have at that point or get soon. Much like the fight asks you to think more cleverly, the choice asks you to consider more deeply. Hand the dwarf who looked the other way while his all-powerful master jailed some criminals over to the evil priestesses who will kill him, or slay the priestess themselves for wanting revenge on the man who killed their friend in the service of evil himself? Everyone loses. That's what makes the quest such a winner.
Both this and Tali's loyalty mission are hard sells. Other levels I might hold up as being the 'best' in gaming would be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot 3's Tomb Wader, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spyro 2's Skelos Badlands, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Red Dead Redemption 2's My Last Boy, or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider Legend's Tokyo. These are short bursts that sum up the best parts of the game in one easy bite. Both Avenge the Drowned and Tali's loyalty mission only work so well once you're engrossed in the game already. But that also makes them more than a passing fancy, and instead a major pillar of what their games do so well.
Avenge the Drowned is my favourite Baldur's Gate 3 mission, and might be one of the best missions I have ever played - which is handy, since I needed to play it over five times to get everyone out alive.
