I've never quite understood people talking about Gale wanting too much or it being too costly... He only responds to a small set of very specific items, so as not to completely undermine your ability to gear your party... and those items are deliberately very varied in their use and function, such that it's almost a guarantee that you'll have one or two of them that your party is simply not ever going to be using... In every play through so far I've always had at least one item that no-one in my party will use, and that one has been the one I give him... and honestly it feels like it's designed that way specifically so that the sacrifice is really very minor.
