The madmen really did this. They broke their own narrative and a character for a meme. Let me explain.
Karlach mentions very expressively several times that it's better to die than return to Avernus. Before the update this narrative was consistent: she pretty much wants to die until you convince her otherwise. That dialogue option in the end really lacked persuasion check. And going to Avernus without a supervision from higher power and/or protection of one of the demon lords is just a hopeless suicide mission, especially for characters below 18-ish lvl. This is not doom, characters have fatigue and eventually hordes of hostile demons will end the party. That was the tragedy of that choice as she just decides how to die: - Sacrifice her life so the Larvae could take over and save everyone so noone else has to die - Just wait the engine to explode under the sky she was missing for 10 years - Go to hated Avernus to get overrun by hordes of demons with a unbelievably slim chance of survival, not long enough for it to matter and suffer more of a life she managed to escape. All these choices are valid for her "failed state" from her narrative. She prefers to die or turn squid (die) rather than return to hell and suffer more. Only saving grace in "return together" is that now she isn't alone, but now her mistress hunts her and I just don't see anything happy from this solution rather than prolonged suffering.
And Larians just came and shit all over the narrative they wrote themselves. Now "return to hell" is not one of sad but fitting endings, they turned it into a crossover between american dream jokes and doom game. Only things that were abscent from that ridiculous cutscene ware the flag in the background and eagle's screech when she hit that double cigars out of nowhere. I was damn speechless. Now there is no point to choose from any of her outcomes because "return to hell" isn't scary, it's just cheap comedic badassary all over fit for a game that doesn't take itself seriously. I would really prefer them to leave everything as it is than to turn this difficult ending into a meme. Nobody asked to change her narrative or expand any of her existing endings.
Now I'm convinced that Larian as a studio completely lacks any competent vision for their projects on their own. Combat systems in DOS games are questionable, BG3 has copypasted 5e rules not even fully implemented. Start of the game is awesome because of 3 years of early access, after that they had to write the story and ending themselves and see how it turned out. I guess they need another 3 years of full dev cycle based on extensive player feedback to fix the narrative and ending. Welcome to EA 2.0.
P.S. Oh and them cigars are just a cherry on top. I despise smoking and from my principles just can't romance her anymore I guess. Yeah maybe I'm being petty and nobody owns me anything and can write their character however they like but they just had to do it didn't they?
