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

So you want Larian to start retcon D&D lore? Did you do a playthrough as Karlach being your protag, or just a love interest companion? Because there is a difference to that as well. What we wish for is not always within boundaries of what can be.

Hi folks, I�ve been struggling to get on the forums much over the past couple of days as on the limited time I�ve had available to do so they�ve almost always seemed to be timing out.

I�ve only a couple of minutes just now but while the forums are working, a quick reminder to everyone to keep it civil, avoid personal jabs, and make an active attempt to keep disagreements constructive. And given this is a point on which opinions are going to differ, recognise when you have made your point and that it is time to agree to disagree and move on.

I have also sent a couple of contributors here private messages when I�ve managed to get them to send. Let�s restore peace here, and where we do have different perspectives discuss them in a respectful way.

Even if that's the case, that's neither in the story, nor should it be how her story ends. She was a character who strived for freedom but the game didn't let you even work towards it (as a companion). It stopped you from even trying. Her getting out of her predicament on a technicality does not conclude her arc, it just bypasses it.

It can't be the case that every other character can complete their arc but her. There is no narrative justification for that.

And the fact that playing as her does conclude her arc means that it is in fact possible to do so as a companion.

That's the point, I don't call for retcon, just for a possibility to try something that was hinted. And if that doesn't work I want to know why

I agree.
I get it, everyone associates the character with their lives, but the worldwide trend of the perpetually disadvantaged is not going to help anything here. What does lesbianism, pansexuality, personal speculation and other stuff not related to the underdeveloped storyline have to do with it.

Which is exactly why I want the plot holes and hints to be addressed. If avernus is our only choice I don't think it's unresonable to know why. There are enough hints to belive something can be done, not to mention she does nothing in act 3. We don't even get to try and fail, which just can't be intentional

exactly, we don't try to search the solution in act 3, because we're not allowed to by the game.

And yet, you all seem to have missed what Karlach wanted herself.... She wanted to go out on her own terms.

I think going out on her own terms can be (and IMO should be) considered a failed state. Like once somebody knows there's nothing else to be done to fix the issue, obviously they would want to go on their own terms. The issue is that there's no in-between, like a huge chunk of narrative is just missing

I'm not sure. If we have cure for her, why would she left? We cannot resolve this until we know the whole story, which is not completed in actual state obviously.

You can turn her into a mindflayer, from one sorry state into another.
You can persuade her to go back to Avernus, a place she truly hate.
Or let her live life to the fullest the time she got left, and just be there for her in the end as she asked if you would.

Larian expanded on going back to Avernus so it became a better, not the perfect rose smelling some want, but yet a better one. If you check the latest interview with Swen, and where he talk about how that was done. I don't really see any other game studio out there do this fan service in such a short amount of time.

I'm sure in due time modders will offer up a lot of endings that will suit everyone's whims. They just won't have the VA work to go with it.

My god this is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start. At no point in the game she's suicidal, at no point in the game she gives up, she literally cries that she wants to live, and we can't even try and fail. And with no other option she would just rather die than go back to hell, which makes "the best ending" even worse because what? She's supposed to just swallow the pill and don't care? Okay she goes back with her beloved and possibly with a friend, but still is forced into a place she hates the most. Again without any real good explanation

Yeah, except she literally doesn't. She wants to fix herself but if that's impossible she'd rather die than go back to avernus. And it's "impossible" because out of like 5 ways to fix that, game doesn't allow us to try any of them

Exactly, how can anyone defend a "tragic ending" when solution is right in front of us. It's not like we are failing, we aren't even allowed to try, and that's simply not a good writing and storytelling. This game literally lets you do anything, which is exactly why it's sooooo good. But then suddenly you're not allowed to do anything, this simply needs to be addressed

I mean... if you use some imagination, remember all in game situations and use some knowledge about DND... its 9 ways to fix here. 9 ways and we can try 0.
"We did everything we could for Karlach" (�Game), yes, we truly did everything.

And props to Larian for that. The fact that they recognized that there is a problem and took action is a very good sign. Even though I personally dislike the new "ending" and don't see it as something game changing, I appreciate the effort. It's not that people are mad / upset / disappointed because "what the hell Larian, we want more NOW!". I think most of us are upset because of
1). How poorly it was advertised in Community Update (the wording was just not good: "the ending she deserves" and "new optional ending")
2). There are at least 4 legit ways to save Karlach (I'm not talking about wish spell, true res etc), none of them are functional and Larian won't let us try them.

Like a lot of people here said, let us try at least.

And yeah Raz, we got you. You are pleased with what we have now. That doesn't mean that everyone else here has to accept that, it's not your job to prove us otherwise, mate

Also really. There's nothing for Karlach to do in Act 3 except for flattening a certain guy we would've flattened without her anyways. And the biggest point nobody can really argue with is that Karlach survives and carries on just fine if you play as her. Cheers for bringing that up Nary a Care

Let's ignore all the true ressurection scrolls and all that. We still have Dammon, Steel Watch, Gondians, pact with Mizora or Raphael. Why wouldn't at least one thing from this work? Why can't we even try? As someone mentioned above, if I was playing without any guides or something I literally would have thought I missed some quest and got a bad ending. Something simply needs to be done with this, it ruins the immersion

Like OP said, we just need to be patient and see what Larian comes up with next. I'm pretty sure they have their hands full with a PS5 release and Patch2 being not as good for some. I think we are definitely HEARD and they are aware that we still want a fix.

But yeah, I so agree that it ruins the immersion. I even decided to put my new playthroughs on hold until the issue is resolved. I just can't continue playing knowing what will happen

Well I still belive in them and I absolutely understand they can't perform miracles. Yesterday in an interview Sven confirmed that adding the epilogue in patch 2 took them 3 weeks, and obviously they will have to work incredibly hard on ps5 release, considering the pre-access had a rough start. I absolutely get all of that, which is why im not being unresonable, which is why im not toxic, which is why I simply want to discuss what we have, what we can expect and what we want. They must have heard us, and this is a reason why Im still here, because I want us to be heard. We just want the story we love to have a proper ending