Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Cut Content Hopeful Thinking and Misunderstandings.

Recently it's come to my attention that much of the supposedly 'proven' cut content that people are talking about doesn't actually exist. In particular the way people have latched on to claims about Karlach are an excellent example of a kind of, frankly, groupthink and somewhat delusional levels of what the kids call 'hopium'.

Fact - while people keep referring to 'fully voiced and implementation-ready' Karlach 'good ending' content, nobody has yet produced anything of the sort. In fact, the most concrete product of datamining so far, the Withers epilogues, mentions nothing of the sort and refers only to her three existing endings.

Fact - while people keep referring to red herrings that supposedly prove that she was meant to have these good endings, most of them say the opposite of what they claim. The Steel Watch doesn't say she can be repaired - they say that repair is impossible and she has to be decommissioned.

Does this mean that a 'Karlach survives' ending won't be added? No, it certainly will be, as Larian is nothing if not submissive when it comes to fan demands (even if as I suspect it is another loud minority situation). People need to learn to be a bit more critical about claims like this - and stop saying that the existing endings are 'oBjEcTiVeLy bad' writing (which doesn't exist) or otherwise trying to bully anyone who disagrees.

^But you are the only one here bullying everyone who disagrees with Larian's "vision'

"I could not disagree more with this bad bad take.

I Unapologetically Unabashedly Deny ANY sad ending here. I'm sick of it, I'm not interested in it, and I'm doubly sick of people trying to claim there's any reason or value to having forced upon us. The game has enough trauma, I want the happy ending now.

I hope we do in fact end up coercing the devs to make the ending we want, especially if they were not planning on it originally. "

Meanwhile in the Karlach thread, people are talking about being 'sick' of anyone who doesn't hate the ending, saying it's objectively 'bad writing', and that they want to 'coerce' the devs. But yeah, no bullying going on.

Other comments in the subreddit (way worse than this place):

"If [thinking a current ending isn't bad] is what you need to get you through the day, you just keep holding on to that buddy."

"Some people here seem to like bad writing... and are very defensive of the status quo"

Anyone who disagrees with the consensus gets heavily downvoted, etc. It is a hivemind like all big subs. But when I get told that after seeing people hysterically say that they 'can't play the game' because of it and accuse anyone who isn't similarly freaking out of 'liking bad writing', I don't really care if pointing out reality gets me called the 'bully'.

You are too obsessed with Karlach and/or people who are too obsessed with her or her story.
Try to see a broader picture. Maybe then you will see bad game design and bad writing. There is just not enough RPG both technically-wise and story-wise. There is just some drama in the name of there being some drama. And this is exactly why it's bad.

This has nothing to do with agreeing or disagreeing with Larian’s vision.

It’s more about trusting or not trusting unverified claims being posted around the internet.

I’m largely with the OP in that I’m highly sceptical of much of this list. Frankly, I was starting to wonder if I was the only one.

Yeah, nothing about Karlach seems to suggest she has a happy ending sitting there but unimplemented. I've mentioned before that Karlach's ending is tragic but fits much better with the themes of BG3 back in EA than it does in release -- what is the worth of surviving if you sell your soul to do it? Karlach is the one character who would choose not to compromise her morality and ethics just to live longer, and, so, gets to die surrounded by her friends after having saved the day. This is really powerful! Her ending is tragic and memorable, the one bit of my BG3 ending that I can recall vividly. If anything, the issue is not that Karlach has a sad ending but that she's the only character to be forced into a sad ending.

As someone who dabbled in EA and datamining I can say without a doubt that certain things that were supposed to be in the game were cut.

Are all of those things mentioned on the cut content list things that were supposed to be in the game/cut before launch ? I doubt it, it's clear that some of them changed during the development and took on another form when Larian decided to go into another direction.
But at the same time there are things that just stand out, unfished quest/storylines etc. that other datamined info shines some light on.

When it comes to Karlach can you really say you are surprised that people are getting emotional over romances in RPGs (I still remember that post on the old BSN forums where some guy wrote a whole book about Talis sweat, people are weird man)

I do agree with you that there is no clear proof that there are any cuts in regards to her story but is there a feeling of a rushed story? I would say yes but then again I can say that about the whole game.

And the reddit part, that place is an echo chamber lol. I wouldn't take it too seriously.



I agree with this but only in part. My issue with her story isn't the sad ending (death or Avernus) but the lack of exploring the choices that the game gives you in trying to help her. After the second conversation with Dammon her storyline just ends despite there being other smiths/wizards/etc. in that game that could at least try even if they end in failure.

"Forced" is the key word here, key in this whole situation.


Exactly. But they chose to force all this "drama" on us. And most people usually don't like being forced.

Everyone is of course entitled to their views, but let’s not have a proliferation of threads on similar topics. Let’s keep discussion of Karlach’s ending in https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=887360.

I’ll lock this thread to help cut down on branching and duplicate discussions. What we’re aiming for is everyone respectfully and civilly discussing topics, even when the have differing perspectives.