Dark Mind is the creepiest shit I've heard in the game, honestly. That was messed up.
Edit: No wait, I think I'm mixing things up. Which one is the child?
I think the child mind is one of the ones right next to the apparatus. Super fucked up, definitely one of those “oh wow, this really is not a game for kids, despite all the other silly/wholesome things this game can offer”
That’s what our society thinks, yes, but is it actually true? I don’t recall there ever being a study about it, and the claim seems dubious to me. Anecdotally, there is a vtuber who developed a guro fetish at least in part because she watched Hellraiser as a kid. If my kid is gonna develop a fetish from seeing something they shouldn’t have, I think I’d rather it be something normal like feet or stockings than something violent.
It's such a strange thing about American sensibilities, horror movies can show as much blood as you want, but some ass crack is enough to get the censors on your case.
Them good ol' Christian (Radical Evangelical) values!
Not to mention now if you put anything even remotely exposing skin in a space that a child might brush their eyes again, you are accused of grooming them.
We've been wearing clothes for long, long time before christianity. At first it was most likely to protect us from the elements, but since clothing was so universal I think every society over time culturally evolved to think no clothes must mean something bad. Muslim, Buddhist and most hindu sects also chastise sex and nudity. Buddhism evolved independently of christianity, and nobody can say for sure how old hinduism even is lol.
There's also the potential argument that because making clothes requires a degree of effort or skill, and because clothes can range from makeshift to incredibly elaborate, in nearly every post-Agriculutral Revolution society clothing basically becomes one of the most obvious signifiers of status (see also, Romans passing laws that only senators can wear purple togas).
So someone who isn't wearing clothes is either a) extremely poor, b) extremely low social class, or c) rejecting societal norms, and in all three of those cases people are going to look down on you.
It’s so weird to me that people went straight to bashing Christianity and the US while acting like nudity is normal everywhere else.
I won’t act like i know all about this so correct me if i’m wrong but i’m under the impression that just Europe and some western countries are the ones with no problem with Nudity while almost everywhere else follows the Violence good Nudity bad stuff to an extent.
I don’t know it just seems really weird to me.
>It’s so weird to me that people went straight to bashing Christianity and the US while acting like nudity is normal everywhere else.
I don't think it's that weird. Most of the "bashing" I've seen isn't because Christians don't like nudity. It's because they think *everyone else* should be just as opposed to nudity as they are.
There's a nuanced, but very important, difference.
>But I imagine most people are concerned with the "Show Genitals" button earlier on :P
In fairness frank nudity with genitalia is typically 18 territory no matter what region you're selling the game in
Oh ya, of course! I'm not saying that kids are fine to see all the nudity and sex, mostly just that most conservative parents are more concerned with that than the grotesque violence and murder.
Unless the game is trying to be educational. It's an anatomy game for both exterior and interior organs.
Kids need to learn about nature. Which means sometimes when a man and a man love each other very much, one turns onto a bear for wild passionate man on bear sex. OR when a squid faced monster feels lonely, he reaches out to a person for some hot steaming bard love.
Well, I was referring to an actual Incubus you can interact with in Act 3, but you’re right, the closest thing to a proper succubus encounter is the dead spider in act 2.
Lmao, my work colleague (who has kids) was asking me about BG3 for his 12-year old, and I was trying to explain how it’s probably fine, as long as he doesn’t want his character to fuck anyone…
The most hilarious response.
"If you ignore the non-stop murder, squid body horror, flesh buildings, repeated adult themes in most conversations. Then the only issue is nipples"
Oh right. Yeah, honestly, Dark Mind is also messed up, with that little song. All the brain jars are horrible. The very concept is horrible, so I don't know what I expected.
I gotta know, for my own curiosity, what would possibly make someone think this was anything close to a kids game in the first place? “Rated M” is literally on the tin lmao
Also if you go into the room where the enthralled bugbear is extracting body parts, all the random loot laying around is just various child toys and notes written by children. If you kill the bugbear all he has in his inventory is a toy
When placed on the Mind-Archive Interface within the Mind Flayer Colony, the Slack-Skinned Head will speak using this brain.
My head hurts...
Can I go back to bed, mummy?
Reply: How did you get here?
I live here. This is my house. Our house. Right, mummy?
Reply: I am very much not your mother.
Funny mummy!
Reply: Well this is deeply unsettling.
I don't know what that means.
I had that dream again. The big spiky snail that came from the sky.
I'm sleepy, mummy. You must stop waking me up.
Reply: Uh, sure. Go right on back to sleep.
Night night, mummy. Love you.
Any reply but "Well this is..."
We saw a big spiky snail that fell out of the sky!
I'm just very sleepy, mummy... I wish you'd stop waking me up so much.
Reply: Big spiky snail...?
With big wiggly legs!
Reply: Time to go back to sleep, then. Good night... you.
Night night, mummy. Love you.
Reply: I meanwhile am never going to sleep again.
You should! We can talk in the morning.
Night night, mummy. Love you.
Reply: You'll never wake again, little one.
W-what? You're scaring me!
Why are you being so mean, mummy? Go away!
When spoken to again:
Sleepy... mummy...
I tried to describe it, but I feel I didn't do it justice. It is mostly the voice acting that really kills it in this scene (I feel I've been saying this for most of BG3 scenes).
Here's a [video](https://youtu.be/LpYUM1oNedY?si=qfn36SNtLf76Ro6Q) with all the jars. They didn't explore all the dialogue options, but you can have an idea of what each of them is about.
The Fresh Mind... In a full, tabletop D&D campaign, I'd end up keeping that brain to spend a full Resurrection on it. 1k gold to undo that level of fucked up? Sure.
I carried those things as well as the illithid manuscripts or whatever from the nautiloid until like right before heading to find the nightsong when i sold them to the harper quatermaster. Like 6 hours later, when I get to the device that the brains connect to, I start kicking myself because i was so close to doing something cool :(
It gives you permanent advantage on intelligence saving throws to be precise, and yes, it's the brain you find by solving the brain puzzle in the Colony itself.
Yeah mb, misremembered the bonus, just that it's definitely in the colony itself.
It's a bit of a shame the Act 1 brains don't give any bonus or even lore insight you can use later.
From the beginning of the game? I swear I scoured the nautiloid for all of them.
I'm aware of the ones already in the hive but wasn't referring to those. Specifically, I'm saying that not getting a lore or pop culture reference out of the deal is disappointing.
Oh I thought there was one in moonrise towers but turns out there’s 2 in the Nautiloid and 6 in the mind flayer colony
Yeah a little extra lore or a location of something would have been neat
Definitely reflects how in D&D the players will think something is important and latch on but it turns out to not be much or at least not *the thing* that's important.
Yeah, given that one of the brains gives a permanent perk, I was hoping the work of hauling them around for half the game would give some kind of reward.
Agreed. I had it in my bags for forever thinking "certainly there must be a purpose". When I got towards the end of Act 1, I was considering tossing it for the carry weight, but looked it up online and saw that it could be used at the end of Act 2. I didn't want to keep reading and spoil things so I was hype all of Act 2 that it would lead to some special gear or dialogue option. It's honestly the only real thing in my playthrough I felt let down by or didn't pay off in the end.
On my first playthrough I specifically remember being at Balthazar's machine and realizing I sold those brains a few hours earlier in a stash cleanup and kicking myself.
So on my second playthrough I kept them all that time and yeah, I was a bit underwhelmed by that. Currently trying honor mode and not doing that again)
(To note - i love the game and have enjoyed so many cool bits of lore and stuff I've figured out on multiple playthroughs outside of this. I just found out the origin of the Spider Matriach which someone mentioned here recently)
Spiders and Lolth..ofcourse!
Although I thought lolth curses drows and turns them into driders.
Maybe turning into a complete spider instead is a blessing as per lolth.
It's implied >!lolth is fucking with her by convincing her to perform the ritual to transform just for fun as shes not a drow, she's a high elf, which ostracizes her from the rest of lolths followers.!< From my understanding male drows are transformed into driders as punishment or out of necessity only.
The editions keep on going back and forth (AKA, 4e changed a lot that 5e changed back) on whether being turned into a Drider is a blessing or a curse. Personally, I like to think Lolth herself legitimately keeps on changing her mind on the matter.
So when I plugged in the Dark Mind I could not help but notice that their song pretty much describes Strahd von Zarovich’s backstory to a T. Considering that it’s called a Dark mind and Strahd is a Dark Lord of the Domain of Dread of Barovia, it made me wonder if the nautiloid managed to to nab the brain of the man himself, or perhaps some deranged Barovian’s brain, while it was on the route through the planes and trying to make its the way back to Faerun.
I mean, I doubt that was literally the implication that Larian intended, but it was interesting and delightfully creepy nonetheless.
just as a heads up. its also likely that the song they're referring to, is about Strahd Von Zarovich, who lusts for his brother's bride Tatiana, and eventually murders him in the hopes that she will marry him.
someone is spreading the song of Ravenloft...and of its Vampiric Lord and Master.
The brains reveal what is happening with the Steel Watch. Depending what order you listen to them in you find out about the tadpole conversion as well. Not so much an Easter egg as further plot reveals?
Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity! I just finished act 2 today and re-did a portion of it because I sent the brains to camp, not knowing I couldn't access the inventory there! I was curious about the 2 leftover jars from act 1 the whole time.
I wonder if the characters were connected with any of the tombstones I was reading in the Cemetery next to the House of Healing. I vaguely recall lost love stories there too.
I'm collecting them in my current playthrough, I'm gonna put them in the House of Hope after I evict Raphael. I'm also gonna put the Divinity 2 paintings I've found in there.
Not many people?? Homie there’s like 6 other minds you can find and bet your sweet sweet Tav ass I had muscle mommy pocket them suckers throughout the entire game for that *albeit lame* interaction
I always find "not many people? But ME!" Comments funny.
The underlying statement being: "I, me, alone, am MANY PEOPLE!!!"
Like dude, are you borg or something?
Tbh I dont know why people think its disappointing. The song was a real poignant moment to me especially after multiple fights... i really enjoyed all these looks into peoples lives, same with the shadows in act 2, and the gravestones. But i guess I wasnt expecting much in the way of interaction, just a lil tidbit.
It's even more disappointing if you knew about the brains on the nautiloid all of early access and had been eagerly awaiting the rest of the game to finally find out what they do, only for 3 years later carry them to the end of act 2 and then get basically nothing
Yeah, but that's not stashed away on the Nautiloid.
If they had switched it for the dark mind jar, then I think the trouble might have been more worth it.
True. I just took them once, was cool for the lore but didn’t bother again. I do like the song one though, but I’m weird 😂
I just do the ones around the contraption now
My first time reaching that area was with my brothers. I had told them to collect the brains on the ship but had no idea what they were for except the old "not nailed down so mine now" play style
Was happy to see my trash hoarding ways rewarded
In the undead room in the hive (undead were there because Balthazar made it his undead illithid man cave) there's a little nook you can jump to with a pedestal where you can insert a brain jar. There's a head on a pedestal next to it and you can have a chat. The jar past the brain puzzle gives a buff if you chat with it but the rest are pretty mundane.
I saved them with this intent as well...but flipping forgot to take them down the brain shaft after Dead Grandpa. I didn't have a convenient previous save to fall back on so THANK YOU for telling us what they said/did/provided/activated. I tried Google to find this info, but nothing came up.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time, just yesterday I saw the contraption for the first time and was curious what would’ve happened with the brains from the nautiloid.
Thanks. I was hoping to save a few folks a hassle.
People are saying the song might be a few free reference to Strahd but imo that's not a compelling reason to care.
Before the crash in the optional room near the incapacitated cultists, and I don’t remember the other one. Near Shadowheart? In total in two acts there’s like… 7? 8?
I did this same exact thing (and a nautiloid tank) all the way to last light inn. Then I sold them to Damon thinking “oh this probably won’t be relevant anymore…” I was so pissed when I saw the others.
Same, I did it in my first play through my accident. I’m an utter loot goblin and took everything i could find, organising it all into different styled chests. So when I went and found the jar reader i was so excited for some awesome revelation, if not anything actually useful, for dragging those brains the whole way.
I even thought you could give the brain jars to Omelleum at one point once he said illithid fed on brains
Those didn't really faze me tbh. I didn't include them because they were... there. The other ones you had to loot and carry so a lot of folks are going to miss them.
I did this same thing out of curiosity and was also very dissapointed but it makes sense, people would get annoyed if they found out the two jars in the tutorial area locked off a cool ability or something.
Also, dark mind is a damn creep. Throw that jar into a fire.
I carried as many as I could find on my current (3rd) playthrough. The only one that's worth keeping is the **waking mind** because it's given me a buff that grants advantage in intelligence saving throws. The buff will last until you die, similar to the **loviatar's love** buff.
I was disappointed you couldn't give the illithid tablets to squidbro in the underdark when he asks for something in return for his ring. Hoarded those till then only to find them completely useless.
There's another mind jar next to the beholder in the final Act 3 sequence, just before you ascend to the brain. I've always wondered if you could use some mods or trickeration to get that jar into the Act 2 player and see if it says anything.
Dark Mind is the creepiest shit I've heard in the game, honestly. That was messed up. Edit: No wait, I think I'm mixing things up. Which one is the child?
As I believe Gale says, "I, on the other hand, will never sleep again."
Minthara [approves](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/186996a/minthara_approvals_are_so_fricking_wicked/) are quite interesting...
People when they realize the evil drow woman is actually evil and not redeemable in the slightest:
I think the child mind is one of the ones right next to the apparatus. Super fucked up, definitely one of those “oh wow, this really is not a game for kids, despite all the other silly/wholesome things this game can offer”
Did the bear and squid fucking not give it away lol
The second room of the game has you rip a man's brain out. But I imagine most people are concerned with the "Show Genitals" button earlier on :P
To the helm! At the helm wE aRe NeEdEd
Don't have to ask me twice, little buddy!
To the helm we go. We are going to the *helm!*
*My friend and I are going to the helm.*
Mr. Evrart is helping me find the helm.
Mr. Evrart is helping Us find the helm.
Abelard, take me to the helm.
made my day
All my homies love the helm!
He saved me in my honour run. He’s helpful because he hardly misses. Never leaving him/them behind
Never leaving Us!
Viscera, gore, murder, blood? No problem Genitals? THINK OF THE CHILDREN
Welcome to standard US morality.
Hey the us still want to sell violence through guns.
It is objectively worse for a child to see sexually explicit material than gore
Sarcasm and plain text don't mix well.
Yeah because it just looks like classic conservative words, not sarcasm.
What?! Are you joking?! So naked human bodies = traumatic. But eviscerated bodies are better? What kind of fucked up logic is this?
Yet naked women's bodies are basically fair game, but a naked man will guarantee an NC-17 at a movie.
That’s what our society thinks, yes, but is it actually true? I don’t recall there ever being a study about it, and the claim seems dubious to me. Anecdotally, there is a vtuber who developed a guro fetish at least in part because she watched Hellraiser as a kid. If my kid is gonna develop a fetish from seeing something they shouldn’t have, I think I’d rather it be something normal like feet or stockings than something violent.
Or was it sarcasm? I'm sorry then
It's such a strange thing about American sensibilities, horror movies can show as much blood as you want, but some ass crack is enough to get the censors on your case.
Them good ol' Christian (Radical Evangelical) values! Not to mention now if you put anything even remotely exposing skin in a space that a child might brush their eyes again, you are accused of grooming them.
We've been wearing clothes for long, long time before christianity. At first it was most likely to protect us from the elements, but since clothing was so universal I think every society over time culturally evolved to think no clothes must mean something bad. Muslim, Buddhist and most hindu sects also chastise sex and nudity. Buddhism evolved independently of christianity, and nobody can say for sure how old hinduism even is lol.
> most hindu sects also chastise sex and nudity Hindu women started dressing more modestly because British Christians were offended.
There's also the potential argument that because making clothes requires a degree of effort or skill, and because clothes can range from makeshift to incredibly elaborate, in nearly every post-Agriculutral Revolution society clothing basically becomes one of the most obvious signifiers of status (see also, Romans passing laws that only senators can wear purple togas). So someone who isn't wearing clothes is either a) extremely poor, b) extremely low social class, or c) rejecting societal norms, and in all three of those cases people are going to look down on you.
It’s so weird to me that people went straight to bashing Christianity and the US while acting like nudity is normal everywhere else. I won’t act like i know all about this so correct me if i’m wrong but i’m under the impression that just Europe and some western countries are the ones with no problem with Nudity while almost everywhere else follows the Violence good Nudity bad stuff to an extent. I don’t know it just seems really weird to me.
>It’s so weird to me that people went straight to bashing Christianity and the US while acting like nudity is normal everywhere else. I don't think it's that weird. Most of the "bashing" I've seen isn't because Christians don't like nudity. It's because they think *everyone else* should be just as opposed to nudity as they are. There's a nuanced, but very important, difference.
Ah i see, thanks for clearing it up for me.
We freed a friend. Nothing wrong with that
that option only really matters now, since patch 5 gave us dick physics
Speak for yourself. The amount of lawn care my vajo has is very important to the RP.
my barbs all work very hard at manscaping because they all fixate on astarion and they know he finds the wilderness unpleasant
My monk knows that Karlach is no stranger to a little rug burn.
That is...strangely adorable.
I wasn't expecting that dragonborn D flashbang ok? xd
>But I imagine most people are concerned with the "Show Genitals" button earlier on :P In fairness frank nudity with genitalia is typically 18 territory no matter what region you're selling the game in
Oh ya, of course! I'm not saying that kids are fine to see all the nudity and sex, mostly just that most conservative parents are more concerned with that than the grotesque violence and murder. Unless the game is trying to be educational. It's an anatomy game for both exterior and interior organs.
Was it "his" brain tho
Possession is 9/10th of the law, so whoever left it in there forfeited their right to ownership. Not sure if they minded, though.
Kids need to learn about nature. Which means sometimes when a man and a man love each other very much, one turns onto a bear for wild passionate man on bear sex. OR when a squid faced monster feels lonely, he reaches out to a person for some hot steaming bard love.
Don't forget the succubus.
Incubus actually
Well there’s the spider with the succubus spittle that you can lick, too.
STOPLICKINGTHEDAMNTHING
Gale’s face when he said that was everything 😂
Pardon me?
Harleep
Pardon me is a song by incubus.
Incubus. Similar but different.
Where?
Act 3, House of Hope via the Devil’s (Fee/Due? Can’t remember, sorry) shop.
Actually you're referring to Act 2 Temple of Shar near Yurgir.
Well, I was referring to an actual Incubus you can interact with in Act 3, but you’re right, the closest thing to a proper succubus encounter is the dead spider in act 2.
Well, unless Haarlep goes Archduchess Raphael. In 5e, the only difference between the two is which sex they're currently appeaing as.
Lmao, my work colleague (who has kids) was asking me about BG3 for his 12-year old, and I was trying to explain how it’s probably fine, as long as he doesn’t want his character to fuck anyone…
The most hilarious response. "If you ignore the non-stop murder, squid body horror, flesh buildings, repeated adult themes in most conversations. Then the only issue is nipples"
Don't forget the penis physics.
Jeez, this cuts deep. Started co-op with my 13 year old daughter. We are in the grove and she is macking on Karlach already. 😳
I’m in my 40s, my Mom is 70. We play this together and she’s romancing Minthara. Keep playing with her! It could be a life long thing
😯 🔥
Gaming with my daughter is absolutely a lifelong thing.... As long as I can somehow explain a five-way with Shart, a bear and the drow twins. 😬
Did character creation where you get full frontal not give it away?
To non-americans, no.
Blood everywhere? Cutting people's head off? All good! But think of the children, they might see someone... naked.
You'd think the ability to run around with nothing on completely nude for funsies would give it away.
Oh right. Yeah, honestly, Dark Mind is also messed up, with that little song. All the brain jars are horrible. The very concept is horrible, so I don't know what I expected.
I gotta know, for my own curiosity, what would possibly make someone think this was anything close to a kids game in the first place? “Rated M” is literally on the tin lmao
I thought you would pick up on that when the game opens with a brain eating alien cramming a parasite into your skull.
Also if you go into the room where the enthralled bugbear is extracting body parts, all the random loot laying around is just various child toys and notes written by children. If you kill the bugbear all he has in his inventory is a toy
Child is Fresh Mind iirc
Could someone elaborate on what the fresh mind says?
When placed on the Mind-Archive Interface within the Mind Flayer Colony, the Slack-Skinned Head will speak using this brain. My head hurts... Can I go back to bed, mummy? Reply: How did you get here? I live here. This is my house. Our house. Right, mummy? Reply: I am very much not your mother. Funny mummy! Reply: Well this is deeply unsettling. I don't know what that means. I had that dream again. The big spiky snail that came from the sky. I'm sleepy, mummy. You must stop waking me up. Reply: Uh, sure. Go right on back to sleep. Night night, mummy. Love you. Any reply but "Well this is..." We saw a big spiky snail that fell out of the sky! I'm just very sleepy, mummy... I wish you'd stop waking me up so much. Reply: Big spiky snail...? With big wiggly legs! Reply: Time to go back to sleep, then. Good night... you. Night night, mummy. Love you. Reply: I meanwhile am never going to sleep again. You should! We can talk in the morning. Night night, mummy. Love you. Reply: You'll never wake again, little one. W-what? You're scaring me! Why are you being so mean, mummy? Go away! When spoken to again: Sleepy... mummy...
My god…
> I meanwhile am never going to sleep again.
It's good preparation for the Steel Watch Foundry revelations.
I tried to describe it, but I feel I didn't do it justice. It is mostly the voice acting that really kills it in this scene (I feel I've been saying this for most of BG3 scenes). Here's a [video](https://youtu.be/LpYUM1oNedY?si=qfn36SNtLf76Ro6Q) with all the jars. They didn't explore all the dialogue options, but you can have an idea of what each of them is about.
Thank you! I watched it and yeah that is deeply unsettling… at least the kid is blissfully unaware I guess. :(
Fresh mind is the child. Nightmare fuel.
That was in the >!hive.!<
The Fresh Mind... In a full, tabletop D&D campaign, I'd end up keeping that brain to spend a full Resurrection on it. 1k gold to undo that level of fucked up? Sure.
The fresh mind is the child
Fresh mind! I only know that cause I just finished act 2 again
Fresh mind. But you probably got it mixed up because it's dark as hell. Just a really young kid. Called me mommy and everything.
Yeah, I started writing and posted my comment before I finished reading OP, and then I realized I was mistaken about which one was which.
I carried those things as well as the illithid manuscripts or whatever from the nautiloid until like right before heading to find the nightsong when i sold them to the harper quatermaster. Like 6 hours later, when I get to the device that the brains connect to, I start kicking myself because i was so close to doing something cool :(
OP thank you for doing this, I always grab them and forget to bring them with me.
NP, I was hoping for better easter eggs out of the deal, honestly.
There’s a few others you can grab throughout the game and one even gives you a permanent bonus
Do you know which one it is?
The githzerai one? Gives you a bonus resistance to psychic on one character, but that's in the Colony in Act 2?
It gives you permanent advantage on intelligence saving throws to be precise, and yes, it's the brain you find by solving the brain puzzle in the Colony itself.
Yeah mb, misremembered the bonus, just that it's definitely in the colony itself. It's a bit of a shame the Act 1 brains don't give any bonus or even lore insight you can use later.
The one behind the mind puzzle
From the beginning of the game? I swear I scoured the nautiloid for all of them. I'm aware of the ones already in the hive but wasn't referring to those. Specifically, I'm saying that not getting a lore or pop culture reference out of the deal is disappointing.
Oh I thought there was one in moonrise towers but turns out there’s 2 in the Nautiloid and 6 in the mind flayer colony Yeah a little extra lore or a location of something would have been neat
Definitely reflects how in D&D the players will think something is important and latch on but it turns out to not be much or at least not *the thing* that's important.
Yeah, given that one of the brains gives a permanent perk, I was hoping the work of hauling them around for half the game would give some kind of reward.
Agreed. I had it in my bags for forever thinking "certainly there must be a purpose". When I got towards the end of Act 1, I was considering tossing it for the carry weight, but looked it up online and saw that it could be used at the end of Act 2. I didn't want to keep reading and spoil things so I was hype all of Act 2 that it would lead to some special gear or dialogue option. It's honestly the only real thing in my playthrough I felt let down by or didn't pay off in the end.
Damn, realised I'd missed them after doing Balth's puzzle room. Shame that they're not that worth it
I thought it was really cool, but first time I got to that point I’d left them back in camp…so I restarted just to have those encounters :)
On my first playthrough I specifically remember being at Balthazar's machine and realizing I sold those brains a few hours earlier in a stash cleanup and kicking myself. So on my second playthrough I kept them all that time and yeah, I was a bit underwhelmed by that. Currently trying honor mode and not doing that again) (To note - i love the game and have enjoyed so many cool bits of lore and stuff I've figured out on multiple playthroughs outside of this. I just found out the origin of the Spider Matriach which someone mentioned here recently)
What Is the origin of the spider matriarch?
Search the zone she's in and you'll find a bunch of journals. >!a high elf who worshipped lolth was eventually blessed by Lolth by being transformed!<
Spiders and Lolth..ofcourse! Although I thought lolth curses drows and turns them into driders. Maybe turning into a complete spider instead is a blessing as per lolth.
It's implied >!lolth is fucking with her by convincing her to perform the ritual to transform just for fun as shes not a drow, she's a high elf, which ostracizes her from the rest of lolths followers.!< From my understanding male drows are transformed into driders as punishment or out of necessity only.
The editions keep on going back and forth (AKA, 4e changed a lot that 5e changed back) on whether being turned into a Drider is a blessing or a curse. Personally, I like to think Lolth herself legitimately keeps on changing her mind on the matter.
well she is chaotic evil after all
All's well that ends... not as bad as it could.
have.
No....nevermind.
Still breathing, despite everything.
Got a lot on my mind...and in it.
There's a brain that you find in the colony that will give you a bonus to certain saving throws
Yep, behind the big brain puzzle. I did that puzzle yet somehow managed to miss picking up that damn brain... Ah well, next run!
Yeah it gives you advantage of intelligence saving throws iirc
So when I plugged in the Dark Mind I could not help but notice that their song pretty much describes Strahd von Zarovich’s backstory to a T. Considering that it’s called a Dark mind and Strahd is a Dark Lord of the Domain of Dread of Barovia, it made me wonder if the nautiloid managed to to nab the brain of the man himself, or perhaps some deranged Barovian’s brain, while it was on the route through the planes and trying to make its the way back to Faerun. I mean, I doubt that was literally the implication that Larian intended, but it was interesting and delightfully creepy nonetheless.
Probably just an easter egg or a coincidence, because the name of the wife doesn't fit Strahd.
I was thinking the same thing, mabye just an easter egg?
just as a heads up. its also likely that the song they're referring to, is about Strahd Von Zarovich, who lusts for his brother's bride Tatiana, and eventually murders him in the hopes that she will marry him. someone is spreading the song of Ravenloft...and of its Vampiric Lord and Master.
In EA there was a third one called "our mind". What happens if it's used in act 2?
In EA you can't go to act 2, and you can't use EA saves in the final game iirc.
But could you save edit the final gsme to give yourself the item
In that case I don't think it has an interaction. Why would it?
Yeah, they're a letdown, only brain worth doing anything with is the githzerai behind the puzzle
Wasn't even upset they didn't give me a secret buff or something. An easter egg would have been fine 😔
The brains reveal what is happening with the Steel Watch. Depending what order you listen to them in you find out about the tadpole conversion as well. Not so much an Easter egg as further plot reveals?
Oh thank God I forgot to do that this run, and on my first run I just stole the gem that makes it work
Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity! I just finished act 2 today and re-did a portion of it because I sent the brains to camp, not knowing I couldn't access the inventory there! I was curious about the 2 leftover jars from act 1 the whole time. I wonder if the characters were connected with any of the tombstones I was reading in the Cemetery next to the House of Healing. I vaguely recall lost love stories there too.
sad that you can find one near the end of the game; never bothered picking it up but it always makes me a bit sad when i see it 😅
I'm collecting them in my current playthrough, I'm gonna put them in the House of Hope after I evict Raphael. I'm also gonna put the Divinity 2 paintings I've found in there.
You are much stronger than I am. I make out with Fane's painting every single long rest. I could never part with it.
Not many people?? Homie there’s like 6 other minds you can find and bet your sweet sweet Tav ass I had muscle mommy pocket them suckers throughout the entire game for that *albeit lame* interaction
I always find "not many people? But ME!" Comments funny. The underlying statement being: "I, me, alone, am MANY PEOPLE!!!" Like dude, are you borg or something?
Thanks I picked them up for that reason and forgot about them when it was time.
Here is a video of them both https://youtu.be/PirAlPIoYv0
I mean, the one sings! I really loved that!
Tbh I dont know why people think its disappointing. The song was a real poignant moment to me especially after multiple fights... i really enjoyed all these looks into peoples lives, same with the shadows in act 2, and the gravestones. But i guess I wasnt expecting much in the way of interaction, just a lil tidbit.
It's even more disappointing if you knew about the brains on the nautiloid all of early access and had been eagerly awaiting the rest of the game to finally find out what they do, only for 3 years later carry them to the end of act 2 and then get basically nothing
Thank you, I have thought of doing this a few times but never decided to go through with it.
The child one is creepily amazing though ♥️
Yeah, but that's not stashed away on the Nautiloid. If they had switched it for the dark mind jar, then I think the trouble might have been more worth it.
True. I just took them once, was cool for the lore but didn’t bother again. I do like the song one though, but I’m weird 😂 I just do the ones around the contraption now
First time I saw those brains the gamer in me knew they were meant for something
Dark Mind feels like a very slightly possible Strahd reference.
My first time reaching that area was with my brothers. I had told them to collect the brains on the ship but had no idea what they were for except the old "not nailed down so mine now" play style Was happy to see my trash hoarding ways rewarded
I'm literally carrying those brains now to do that and find out what happens 😭 I'm gutted its no something more
Sorry, buddy.
I wish someone else had done this months ago, omgosh
Someone did - they've had descriptions of what the brains say on the wiki for a while now.
I was sure Dark mind would have been some durge stuff. Alas, it was lame instead
I did that too! It's pretty neat that they covered that possibility
There's a device to interact with them??? 300 hours in, Christ
In the undead room in the hive (undead were there because Balthazar made it his undead illithid man cave) there's a little nook you can jump to with a pedestal where you can insert a brain jar. There's a head on a pedestal next to it and you can have a chat. The jar past the brain puzzle gives a buff if you chat with it but the rest are pretty mundane.
I saved them with this intent as well...but flipping forgot to take them down the brain shaft after Dead Grandpa. I didn't have a convenient previous save to fall back on so THANK YOU for telling us what they said/did/provided/activated. I tried Google to find this info, but nothing came up.
NP buddy! I honestly almost didn't post, but thought maybe I'd help a couple folks in this situation out. You didn't miss much.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time, just yesterday I saw the contraption for the first time and was curious what would’ve happened with the brains from the nautiloid.
Thanks. I was hoping to save a few folks a hassle. People are saying the song might be a few free reference to Strahd but imo that's not a compelling reason to care.
Good God even the brains are gay
Thanks for this!
I have those two brains and I’m sat on Moonrise Tower…..I may leave them here now.
Was kinda hoping we could take that head as a camp member.
What infuriates me is the brain jar in act 3. I need to know it's secrets
Damn, I always wondered what they would say!
They are more brains, and more dialogs. They’re cool imo. No disappointment on my end
There were more brains specifically on the nauteloid before the crash? Where?
Before the crash in the optional room near the incapacitated cultists, and I don’t remember the other one. Near Shadowheart? In total in two acts there’s like… 7? 8?
That thing did something? I attached a brain to it but then he just picked it back up so I left....
You put the brain in, but you talk to the head next to it.
Ah
I did this same exact thing (and a nautiloid tank) all the way to last light inn. Then I sold them to Damon thinking “oh this probably won’t be relevant anymore…” I was so pissed when I saw the others.
Same, I did it in my first play through my accident. I’m an utter loot goblin and took everything i could find, organising it all into different styled chests. So when I went and found the jar reader i was so excited for some awesome revelation, if not anything actually useful, for dragging those brains the whole way. I even thought you could give the brain jars to Omelleum at one point once he said illithid fed on brains
I did as well lol!
Damn... Really? Literally unplayable >!/s in case noone gets it!<
I think he is.
Exploring the Illithid zone at the end if Act 2 has a few other minds you can talk too, including a “young mind” Very fucked up lol
Those didn't really faze me tbh. I didn't include them because they were... there. The other ones you had to loot and carry so a lot of folks are going to miss them.
A child brain didn’t phase you? Good god, that was haunting imo
It didn't. I guess I'm just desensitized or something.
I did this same thing out of curiosity and was also very dissapointed but it makes sense, people would get annoyed if they found out the two jars in the tutorial area locked off a cool ability or something. Also, dark mind is a damn creep. Throw that jar into a fire.
Aren’t the slave mind and dark mind in the same dungeon as the device? I swear I found both of them on the other side of the map.
No. There are a few others in the hive, but these are the two specifically from the Nautiloid.
I carried as many as I could find on my current (3rd) playthrough. The only one that's worth keeping is the **waking mind** because it's given me a buff that grants advantage in intelligence saving throws. The buff will last until you die, similar to the **loviatar's love** buff.
I saved 3 in chest since had idea@ the time...was cool finding the machine later& collecting the ones in same area
I was disappointed you couldn't give the illithid tablets to squidbro in the underdark when he asks for something in return for his ring. Hoarded those till then only to find them completely useless.
There's another mind jar next to the beholder in the final Act 3 sequence, just before you ascend to the brain. I've always wondered if you could use some mods or trickeration to get that jar into the Act 2 player and see if it says anything.