Baldur’s Gate 3 players wonder if the Emperor is as smart as he thinks
Larian StudiosThe Baldur’s Gate 3 community has always been divided over the Emperor, but now they’re beginning to question his intelligence.
The mindflayer chilling out inside the astral prism has always been one of the more enigmatic characters in Baldur’s Gate 3. From the moment he begins catfishing you as your guardian, the Emperor is always hiding information from you.
Sure, he’s a useful guy to have on your team, and the mindflayer powers he can grant you are definitely worth the strange eye makeover, but there’s something about siding with an illithid that is giving a few players pause for thought, especially when they break down the exact elements of his plan.
In particular, players aren’t quite sure how to approach the choice of dealing with Prince Orpheus, who’s also trapped in the prism, seeing as he is the only reason you’re not corrupted by the tadpole.
Baldur’s Gate 3 players still don’t know what to make of the Emperor
One player on the Baldur’s Gate subreddit claimed the Emperor was overselling himself, saying: “Both Orph and Empy require a leap of faith, even moreso if you’re siding with the Emperor. I always see the argument that choosing Emperor is apparently the pragmatist’s choice as he’s been ‘helping us’ right from the start. That without ‘metagaming’, there’s no reason to trust Orpheus.
“But at that point of the game, there’s also NO reason to trust Emperor and his decisions when it’s revealed that he was being played like a fiddle by the Netherbrain the whole time!
“He never had complete free will. He was an unwilling pawn to Netherbrain’s schemes all along. He’s NOT this brilliant grand strategist, puppet master pulling the strings as he liked to think himself as. All the Emperor made us do only served to make the Netherbrain stronger.”
Another player pointed out that the Emperor’s reading material didn’t make for the most trustworthy companion: “One of my favorite things is when you go down to his hideout under the Elfsong and it’s just full of books like ‘how to deal with your loss of Morality’ and ‘how to make friends and influence people with your psychic powers.'”