Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion [END SPOILS WARNING] Addressing Karlach (PLEASE PUT SPOILERS IN TAGS)

Even if we don't get anything more than "the ending she deserves" as they put it in the immediate future, I hope in the long term they finish developing the rest of her quest and properly use the items and characters clearly meant to have been part of finishing it, instead of ultimately leaving it as-is with Dammon shrugging and stealing an item from you.

Poignant? Not really a word I’d associate a happy ending with. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I’ve always been a pessimist. I hope I’m wrong, but I think they are going to expand on one of her tragic endings. So yay I guess?

Yeah, based on what Swen said about it featuring a cigar, and based on Larian specifically not using any words like happy to describe the new optional epilogue, I have the distinct impression it'll be something like 'you light up a cigar for Karlach to smoke on the pier as she goes up in flames.'

That, or you light up a cigar as you both walk off into Avernus.

All I need is a couple scenes with Karlach and tav side by side in Avernus, happy to be together regardless of where they are. NOT a cut to black, game over, back to the menu screen like what we got. Don't let me down Swen!

If getting into Hell is the only "Happiest" option we can get with Karlach, made it so it like what we get in Planescape Torment.

Getting into Avernus doesn't have to be all gloom.

This^ Like, seriously, wtf is wrong with Wyll, I didn't ask for his suggestions.
I'm even tempted to bug-report it.

as anyone here i am happy that we got heard. at the same time i am still sceptical if we get a new ending or just an "improvement" to the existing ones.

2 questions i have, maybe someone can answer them:

- when will patch 2 be released? on the console release?
- do you think we/i have to restart the whole game if i want the new/improved ending? last thing i did was entering the city, talking with raphael and declining his offer. before that the only quests i started wa the murder investigation and the circus.

So apparently I had already created an account so I didn't need to go through the trouble of creating one just to post on this thread, which i was about to do. I echo everything already stated in this thread. I am in act two and haven't gotten to the end of my initial 'good' play through but now i am second guessing things, both for this one because of Karlach, and my next/evil for Minthara. Wishing I didn't choose Karlach for my first round at this point and went with SH instead.

Don't get me wrong, i will still play the game if for no other reason than to see the Dark Urge options and SH and LZ story outcomes, but I may resort to ignoring Karlach and Minthara entirely on any future playthroughs and abandoning my current one all together (which, while still only in act two, already has over 100 hours. What can I say, I have to turn over every rock and look in every barrel!).

While it is great to hear that they actually acknowledged and are going to address the issues, "Poignant" is certainly not the descriptor i was hoping for and kind of leaves me with a knot in my stomach. Based on what I am reading though, it sounds like quite a bit could be improved even in its current state, and I am holding out hope that this patch has a "fix" for some of the mechanical quirks of the current implementation, and possibly lays the groundwork for a future "good" ending to be implemented later on/DE, if not immediately. The unutilized content/solutions actually present in act three that would resolve the quest alone is infuriating to read about and moreso to experience blind. This feels especially true for me since, as a sort of completionist, I would (and already have for a few things) torture myself trying to find the flag i missed to get the "good ending" (that doesnt exist), or for that matter, something like the Blade overwrite dialog issue. Those seem like such obvious possibilities given the rest of the stories... and it's D&D FFS! there are at least half a dozen options without trying, and seems like at least two or three were at least half way implemented anyway! I hope they don't resort to removing the "misleading" content rather than implementing it (no reason to think they would do that, but you never know).

While I am not a dev, I do work in the tech field. I am very familiar with projects (not to mention "small additions" to projects/scope creep) that sound/seem/look easy from the outside being an absolute PITA to implement. While it is easy to call something "Lazy", i am also almost certain there were reasons for things to be cut. But timeline/budget is also a depressing reason for the devs who invest themselves into its creation, as well as the players consuming the content. I am also certain that most of the people throwing "Lazy" are not meaning it as an attack on the devs either, nor i would think the writers given the otherwise seeming attention to detail for player agency in the rest of the stories. It just seems so hard to just "miss" those story beats that are half implemented, it feels like it has to have been a conscious decision by someone. Even if they are intended to be red herrings, there is no payoff for them and leaves the whole story feeling off (Chekhov's gun).

I doubt they will rewrite the game for Karlach the way they seem to have at least to some degree for Wyll (I dont think that drastic of a step is required, but if you do, don't you dare change the VA! :P), even with many/most of the story threads there, but I hold out hope they can and will for at least the DE. (If we are talking DE though, it would also be nice to have something to do with all that ore and the soul coins... Just saying, though I don't want to be greedy. :P)

regardless of my complaints though, the game is amazing and worthy of all praise. they just missed a few spots for the moment... at least, that is my story and i am sticking to it until it is proven otherwise!

EDIT: This ended up way longer than i expected when i started, and I tried to keep it as spoiler free as i could. hope i succeeded in that.

TL;DR
tried to create new account; oh look i have an account!
same as everyone else.
great game overall, feels like sore/incomplete companion story conclusions/implementations.
At least initial elaboration for endings needed, but REALLY want an actual good ending for Karlach.
Sooner than DE would be great, but at least give us that plz!
#JusticeForKarlach!

Well let me be clear for Larian's sake if they're reading this.

I want a Happy Ending for Karlach.

I DO NOT want an expanded explanation on why you think the current ending is any good/valid, it's not, I hate it.

Fix or add to her quest so we have the option to fix her heart so she can remain, with us, outside of Avernus.

My problem with Karlach was that the story was incomplete, not that there was no happy end (although it does clash somewhat with D&D lore).

I do hope that Laruan did not just cave to the shippers and add a cheesy happy end but instead stay true to their vision and instead add a better lead up to the ending.

Last time when they said that a patch was "around the corner" it dropped in like a week I think, so I wonder if we can expect the same this time.

However, if it does drop that quickly, that would definitely mean no big new questline-based endings 'cause I don't think enough time has passed since launch to add something like that in (especially with all the other post-launch work)

I will hold on to the "new" and "optional" wording there, 'cause "new" hopefully implies something more than just an expansion of an existing one, and "optional" kind of sounds like something you can optionally (duh) earn instead of being offered regardless of what you do (like the rest of her endings).

However, am wholeheartedly prepared (resigned more like) for and nothing more.

(Although will say, "caving to the shippers" would also be fine with me personally, ahah. Would not be that out of line with the way some other characters in this game can get downright fairytale-ish endings and the D&D-typical array of options at our disposal.)

I do hope for , but this will not probably be the case.

One month after the release it looks more like polishing actual ends with preparing for example for some kind of complete Avernus DLC or definitive edition.

or maybe I'm completely wrong and it will be something completely different

I've just updated my GOG game version to 4.1.1.3669438. And there IS immediate changes, I've got new dialogue after the battle with Gortesh:

That would imply that had a coherent vision and not just a "uh, we're in a hurry here, we need to drop some things"

Has anyone considered that Karlach could technically be brought back with

Yes. Folks have considered that. I've mentioned it in this very thread. There are other things which would work too.

Started a second "good" playthrough (with Drow-LoreBard) a few hours ago, am still arrived at the "blighted village".
Begin SPOILERS:
Karlach is already Member of my "Crew" and cleared some things with Wyll at the Camp, Wyll also just met his "Patron" just before the recent "LongRest". All the Dialoges in the Camp around this very Point at the "Timeline" of Progress through the Game points toward a "default" romantic relation between KArlach an Wyll (propably for the Case, that the PC itself does not interested in any romantic relations toward any of the two)... from this "Perpective" regarding of possible KArlach-Endings, the choice to go to Avernus together with Wyll seems the "good" Ending-Option for KArlach in Larians narrative "Line of Sight"...So i have low expectations regarding her more "fiery, poignant" Ending, especially if the PC build up romantic relations to Karlach...

^All the dialogues I saw

This. This is all I was hoping for!
The companion endings are too brief and a we needed SOME kind of closure even if it is open ended.

For those people that don't know, a new patch just dropped and with it came a 'new' ending for Karlach. And when I say new I mean an extension of a existing one (which isn't a bad thing in itself). But oh god, Larian really came back with a vengeance. If you missed the cringe from DOS2 you're gonna love it, if not...

That new scene is cringe inducing.