Okay, so this is a different issue with Gale, but I've just come across it in my current playthrough and it felt related enough not to start a new thread.
In my latest run, I didn't walk along the roadside cliffs and so meet Gale until after the goblin leaders were already dead and the party had happened. Even after I met him, I never had him as an active party member. Same for Astarion.
I recruited them both the day after the party. Gale didn't have much to say until I'd had a few interactions with Astarion, including his bite scene. Then, the night after Astarion's hand mirror scene Gale asked for one of the magical artefacts I'd already picked up. He didn't give me the deer stew speech or any context, just out of nowhere said he needed one of the artefacts to consume, which feels like a bug.
But once I'd given him one artefact his quest kicked off as normal, and I could give him another artefact, and after another couple of nights he had the Mystra and then the loss scene, and it was possible to agree the possibility of becoming "more than friends" with him. I don't expect it will be possible to go any further in EA given I believe that the party night is the only opportunity to actually spend the night with someone, but hopefully in the full release there will be later chances.
Gale asking for artefacts the night after Astarion's hand mirror scene is a pattern I've noticed in quite a few variations I've tried in patch 9, so I'm wondering if there might now be some programming that will trigger his quest to progress at this point if it's not previously been activated.
