Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle and I don't think the narrative will ever change now. People will keep expecting 'fully implemented Karlach good ending any day now!' and Upper City etc.
The Karlach thing is just kicking the can a bit further down the road. People want a happy ending, they don't want a better executed "poignant" ending. I think a lot of people are just going to end up more upset than they already are, and I think Larian -- if they truly aren't going to deliver it -- should just come out and say it, instead of letting people hype themselves up like 'aaaa, good guy Larian listened to us, #justiceforkarlach, happy ending incoming!'
And if they are going to give her a happy ending, then why not just come out and say so?
This is a sobering read. While AAA companies are bemoaning that BG3 has too much content, and will thus make players expect more from their flashy yet oftentimes rushed and content-starved games, this game was clearly intended to be even bigger. As is the game has impressed me in so many ways, bugs be damned, but if a later "definitive edition" would add some of the things cut out (most likely due to time constraints than anything else) that would be fantastic indeed.
BG3 EA was generally doing things no other CRPG has really tried to do before. It was understandable when everyone from indie developers to Josh Sawyer started to sweat, and why so many fans got so fired up. I genuinely can't think of any CRPG that had a party member like Gale. One who needed significant resources from you to solve a personal crisis and, if they didn't get it, would go on to sign a deal with an antagonist. Especially when it seemed like you, the player, might've been able to make a similar deal with that same antagonist to solve your own crisis. And that was just Gale! And before you ever left Act 1!
That's the thing that I don't like about that list. It focuses on a lot of big flashy things that sound good and grab attention, but doesn't actually get into the nuts and bolts of what we lost, because Larian cut a lot more than they let on, and that you only really realize if you played EA extensively.
