The problem is the story revolves around 'abuse tadpoles with risks or not' and in the conclusion it is, 'welp, if you take the tadpole it's a free upgrade anyway'. This is 'setting the expectation too high and the result is too low' writing problem.
The game hardly has any consequences for sure. You can always recruit people with Withers, so even if you stake Asterion, give Shadowheart to Shar, chop off Gale's arm, take Karlach's head or whatever, you can still recruit companions with Withers.
Sure, you can massacre the tiefling, but again, it makes the 'set the bar too high' problem. What is the consequences? Almost nothing except you may kill Dammon and piss of Karlach, but in the end, if you do not dominate the brain, congratulation you are Baldur Gate's hero now, even though you massacre everyone in the city, the grove and on the cursed island.
The game is advertised as 17000 endings, but for me, it only has 3: Gale explosion, hero of BG by rejecting Netherbrain, and conquer BG with 'in X name'. The other 17000 are just derivations. The choices that lead to the ending are also... right at the end as well, so there is absolutely no consequence.
Now let's take a look at Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.
Right at the middle of the game, it forces you to choose 1 out of 10 paths, and every path leads to different ending. If you choose Swarm-That-Walk, you literally get killed by gods and revived only to kill your companions and devour the world. If you choose Trickster, the Worldwound that connects from Hell to Material Plane becomes a gate connects to every plane, which threatens every planes identity and you make yourself an enemy of everyone. If you choose the secret ending, both you and the final boss ascend to godhood using that Worldwound. This is what I call multiple endings. Meanwhile, 'In Bhaals name' and 'In Shadowheart name' is just 1 ending where you swap the letters.
Don't do the quest to help the Tieflings / stop the ritual? They're doomed and you'll never see them again.
Fail the strength rolls to get Gale of the portal? You will go through the game without him.
Stake Astarion? That kills him. Permanently.
Don't intervene between Shadow and Lae'Zel? One of them dies. Again, permanently.
Allow a Hag to operate on you? Say goodbye to your pretty face [for some reason this isn't the case for Volo's surgery though]
Fail to Guard Isobel? All of the Harpers die.
Kill Mizora? Wyll's a goner.
-> Half of these are: companions leave the party permanently. Jesus, this is CRPG, every CRPG does this. This is not special. It is a requirement for every single CRPG that your companion may leave you permanently, either death or they leave by themselves, or you kick them out. In the old BG games, Jaheira and her husband Khalid will leave you if you reject them, and that's it, you lose your companions, just like you reject Gale.
-> Most Harpers die whether you kill Isobel or not. It's just about whether they die in Cursed Island or die later by Orin.
-> Say goodbye to my pretty face, Tiefling dead, or Harpers die, etc. Do these have any effect on the ending? Does Baldur Gate's citizen resent you because you killed their Harper? No. Is Emerald Grove even mentioned in the ending to show us about the Druid and Tiefling situation? No. Nothing.
-> Volo has been mentioned a lot and is an important character who links to Mystra. I let him explode with the Absolute group and nobody mentioned him later on. Mystra should have told Gale about Volo after they meet in Astral Plane, but again, nothing.
