My take on the trap scene:
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I don't mind it at all for a few reasons. I actually think it's pretty smart.

First, it is very easy to get sympathetic with monsters that have been crushed and forget that they're... well... monsters. That scene makes it abundantly clear that, despite being the victims of multiple attacks, including from red dragons and the literal denizens of the Hells, the Mind Flayers are *not* innocent. they're brain-hungry killing machines that will make a meal of you the second it becomes useful for them to do so. Once you get insta-gibbed from a pinned Mind Flayer you tried to save, you're never going to assume they're innocent again.

Second, it shows you that you're not always better off passing checks. You can get yourself in trouble very easily and that's very important to understand early on.

Finally, it shows that we're dealing with an unreliable narrator. The narrator paints the conflict very differently than how you see it play out on screen, talking about love and guilt in ways that shouldn't be applicable to the scene. You need to know that the narrator is going to tell it how you see it, not how it actually is, and that's going to be a recurring thing. I've seen at least two other places so far where what the game shows and the reality of the scene aren't the same and understanding that right up front is a valuable prize well worth the cost of a reload.


Also, I've found some really interesting things in the game so far. Is this a fair place to compare notes, or are we too shy on spoilers?