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

Damn, I really don't have any of the issues with this you guys seem to have with it--this is the greatest thing I've ever seen and unironically my favorite companion ending by a MILE.

For those who are dissatisfied but are only going off of the patch notes, I encourage you to spoil the ending for yourself:
HAVING SAID THAT. There are solidly two schools of complaints I see with Karlach's quest/ending. Yes, I'm still a little miffed that I have a million infernal iron and nothing to do with it, or that her quest itself is still extremely linear and doesn't really have room for choices. But in terms of working with what's already there?? And getting us this ending in such a short time? I'm beyond satisfied. Sure, we can cross our fingers for an upper city heart repair in a Definitive Edition, but for now, I'm MORE than happy with

Either add to the existing tapestry an option for a cure, or make a "journey to Avernus" DLC to kick ass and tear hell apart until a cure is found. I want to see more of her fighting and indomitable spirit. Not extensions to the suffering of a terminal patient.

Well, looks like we're not going anywhere anytime soon. I'd like to say first and foremost that I appreciate that Larian has clearly noticed us, but, I think its doubly clear that we're still going to continue the fight to see Karlach get a proper "good ending" in the future. Understanding that it's going to take work, and time. Patience and respectfulness is still paramount.

But here's my statement.


We continue the fight until a day that we can see a true good ending.

#JusticeForKarlach!

"And don't forget, you asked for this."

Holy fucking shit, Larian.

Wow, Larian guys! I was prepared to forgive all the lackluster of the plot, boring quests, horribly shallows diaries and letters all around the game, sea of goblins and harrasing party members for a good happily ever after Karlach ending. You were asked specifically, someone from your studio created one of the best characters of RPGs ever. But you just couldn't do that ONE thing right. TWICE!

Please don't touch BG franchise ever again.

You don't have the Scenario Department to lift the load! Utterly dissapointed. Behind decent graphics there is nothing for the story.

I wouldn't look at it as Larian poking fun at the #JusticeForKarlach people. That scene was probably finished few months ago and Larian just ended up putting it back into the game to tame the waves of discontent.

Here's to hoping her quest and later the ending gets the improvement she deserves but I also hope they tone it down on the Marvel tier writing. (that scene was painful to watch, oh god the cringe)

Eh, more than good enough. It wouldn't fit a character like SH, but it's Karlach.

Please keep in mind that Larian must have wanted patch 2 out yesterday because of console sales. It says something that Karlach was a priority adjustment.

I don't expect the (lack of) epilogue/slideshow to be easily fixable. It still fixed 2 of my biggest gripes in the game (though the closet solution is actually camp and hilarious). To Narnia you go!

Honestly, if this was done months ago it makes it even more sad that the cutscene is a laggy mess. Also the random cigar smoking makes it even more weird and random, almost like they are actually throwing shade at Karlach fans.
"Here look at Karlach smoking a cigar like a total badass and running towards 0 enemies with 15 frames per second"

Yeah, I'm not sure I can even be bothered to comment. The previous ending was a random "fuck you" thrown at people who cared about the character. There's a problem, there's a whole host of solutions, but out of nowhere Larian decides that nope, you actually can't do jack shit about that problem, so fuck you if you cared about it.

Larian's response? Lol, this is totally how we wanted it, nothing got cut for time pressure, we always wanted to throw a massive red herring at the player, so have an "improved" ending that really underlines our "fuck you for caring" attitude.

Having more meat on that particular ending is an improvement, I suppose. But if the complaint was a rushed and lazily written ending then this update isn't really going to change that, is it?

THAT's the ending that she DESERVES? I really hope this is just a case of salvaging cut assets and throwing something together to bide time until Larian can give us the ending we all wanted to see. I just wish they would say if this is the case or not rather than get people's hopes up like this.

#JusticeForKarlach!

This is a patch. If we want real content, we're going to be best case waiting for weeks to months, and worst case the definite edition. The problem with the prior ending is that it was very much as if the player had failed her missions, not a neutral resolution.

Again, no other companion got this treatment. She is not the only character with a red herring problem. I don't think addressing the red herrings was the idea at all, but the tone of the ending. It seemed like certain death to many people before, and not "let's run amok until Zariel gets tired".

So I just saw the new ending and THAT's NOT THE ENDING SHE DESERVES and is definetly not a happy ending. I don't know why larian thinks that one of the best and nicest character deserves such a bad ending but she doesn't. I will keep fighting for her to get the happy ending she deserve but at this point I think that until the definitive edition we are not getting anything else for her when it comes to her ending but I can hope.

#JusticeForKarlach!

Yeah, i hope that a true new ending is in the works.
The new one dosnt change what most of us are talking about.
Its the sudden

So i hope there is still work being done

I just saw it again in all 3 variations. Yes it is far better than before, but
Again and again hoping for the future complete quest line with heart fix

I think I'm done... Between this "deserved" ending (which is clearly just content which should've been in the game to begin with) and the inconsistencies and half-truths peppered all over the last community update, I think I'm finally done...

And this isn't just about dearest Karlach anymore, it's about the whole thing.

I'll finish the game for the first and probably last time, I think, just to... stop, I guess.

And I'll leave my headcanon ending here, as a sort of exorcism...

I still maintain that this is more that we could've reasonably expected from a patch not even a full month in. Should it've been in the game since the beginning - probably, but so are many other things that get patched, that's the whole point of a patch. Now, if it was called a DLC - that would be a whole other thing (see plot-important characters being DLC-locked in Mass Effect for example).

The most frustrating thing here is the way they phrased it. We're also responsible for getting overhyped way too quickly, but the whole 'new and optional ending she deserves that will make a lot of people happy' phrasing was really unnecessary. As someone who has worked as a community manager before - not in the gaming industry, but still - I am really questioning that approach. Half of us are really more mad about that than the update itself.

I'll hold out hope for a new quest path for her later in DE or for a DLC or some other way to actually follow through on the leads. That desire haven't changed. Either give me the opportunity to work for it and fix her or truly make me feel like I did everything I could.

For the current state of things, however, I'm glad I at least won't be seeing cut to black once I reach the end.

(P.S. Did spoil the cutscene for myself and I have to say I don't understand why so many people are mad about the running at the end. It's clearly meant to be slowmo.)

Honestly, I didn't expect anything else from them, my hopes stayed the same throughout... But, as you've said, the way they presented things and the way they've handled pretty much every other complaint was... ill-advised, to say the least...

That sunk my hopes for the future below sea level, and I have no expectations anymore. I just feel that I want to put the entire thing behind me.

I don't have the energy to judge anyone for anything anymore, it's been an exhausting month as far as this game's concerned...

My view on BG3 as a whole is that if there's a game that has/had the potential to be truly great, this is it.

In between fleshing out Act 3 and improving the endings/epilogues, perhaps Larian could drop a notch on the "Larian way" of doing things. Not everything needs to be bittersweet and with a plot twist at every corner. There's plenty of that in this game that is actually very well made (Shadowheart's choices are very bittersweet but quite congruent in the existing universe). With Karlach? There's resurrection scrolls in the Frogotten Realms for pity's sake. Her possible endings don't compute in that context. Instead of player choice, we're funneled into a narrative swamp.

That, together with the nonsensical consequence of using the orphic hammer, have us players looking at the uncanny valley. Of course there would be backlash! Please fix this, Larian.

Larian: "Sorry, no can do. But we can offer you more colours for underwear or a duckling you can keep in your camp. Your call.

Hi everyone! Just like many here, I decided to join the forum because I feel that what we've been given in terms of Karlach's ending (even after Patch 2) is down right cruel and immensely disappointing. Just adding my two cents.

I think confirming that the HAPPY ending where we fix the engine and let her stay with the PC is coming would be good enough to help with this sheer dread I'm feeling haha