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

Well, they said in one of the patchnotes that they will be working on adding "extended" epilogues for all the characters so let's see. But I wouldn't get the hopes up, just as Rae said, I don't think there will be any new content in the coming patches (aside from epilogues maybe).

Would be glad to be wrong though

Also, it looks like they haven't fixed Minthy at all, I haven't tried it myself (all playthroughs are on hold until Karlach gets what she truly deserves) but a lot of people say that there are literally no changes to Minthara dialogues. Damn, I wish there was more transparency but it feels that all latest posts from Larian are a bit sketchy.

When Larian fixed the ending for a character in DOS2, was it a similar situation to Karlach?

If I recall correctly it was very similar. Beast had a fairly underdeveloped questline and disappointing ending that really didn't tie into the main story at all, mostly because (just like Karlach) he was a late addition to the Origin roster and didn't have much as much time as the other companions. Another origin character, Fane, also had a pretty shitty ending choice that was basically choosing from "bad" to "less bad but still pretty bad". Both of these were updated for the Definitive Edition after the community gave their feedback on them. Now I may just be misremembering because of my inherent pro-Karlach bias, but I think she's way more popular of a character than Beast was and opposition to her ending has been rather heated (pun intended).

Anyway, I think I'm safe in saying that based on Larian's track record and how disgruntled everyone is, it's not so much a matter of if they give her a better ending, but when.

She's definetely one of the most popular characters and her ending is pretty easy to fix, at least for now to calm down the storm. Which is why I still have my hopes up

I'll eat yours with you.

Absolutely agree with this. It needs a FULL QUEST equal to other ORIGINS. "Small" tweaks will seem like a band-aid like patch 2, most won't be satisfied with that.

Funny side note: how is Karlach petting Scratch? Is the dog fireproof?

Let's you listen to other opinions as well. I don't see any "quick fix ending" options. A small quest in my mind will not fix poor character development over the course of 3 acts. You need to do an extended full quest for her. That's a lot of time

Karlach doesn't need a good ending

She needs a good story with quests and a logical good ending. I wrote such a clickbait for a reason. Such a wonderful character Karlach has 2 big problems and a small one.
1. Narrative integrity and content fleshing out throughout the three acts
2. Weak endings that you don't expect to see because of the many hints of a resolution to her problem.
3. A community that wants a simple solution that in my mind won't work

Opinions.
From this comes the 2 opinions I want to write.

Opinion 1.
Need to flesh out her stories in every act with decent content and some great choices. What ideas I have. I agree with the author of the post at this link https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=893181#Post893181.
My ideas:
1. Throughout the game we hear about engine overheating issues. Also, we find the Soul Coins. I thought maybe it's a trick like with the maggots in my head: if I use them, the heart will wear out from overheating and something bad will happen towards the end of the game. I decided right away that I wasn't going to use them. It was also said that they are valuable currency in Avernus, so I decided that I would exchange them there (as you know, there is no location in Avernus). As a result, at the end of the game I have 13 soul coins and a strange ending, which you already know about. What can be done?
a. Long-term consequences from using Soul Coins, which wear down the engine and lead to difficult choices.
b. Give the ability to somehow use the coins alternatively
c. Add Avernus and use the coins somehow there. (Buy her out from Zariel with soul coins) An unlikely scenario due to the sheer amount of work involved, but possible in DLC. I would buy
2. Stalking by Zariel's fighters. From the beginning of the encounter, she mentions that she's being chased by Paladins of Tyr in addition to Will, that Zariel won't let up on her and will send her fighters. Where are they? They're gone. I thought there would be some content related to this. This content would have filled the void in the first and second act quests.
3. Because of the lack of content I thought it would be related to demonic creatures: Tieflings from the Grove (actually there is just a dialog with Dammon), Rafail (she just knows him in absentia, a few phrases about him), Yurgir (she just knows him in absentia, a few phrases about him), Helsik (nothing), portal to hell (I think finally there will be something for Karlach, maybe even meet Zariel. nothing) and so on. There is no content. Accordingly, you can think of something in this direction.
4. I wouldn't want to reduce her storyline to "either revenge on Gortash and Zariel or death". I don't think revenge is a weakness, revenge takes strength and Karlach has enough. I propose a general development like this. Pursuit by Zariel fighters - Some quests up to act 3 (not just "bring hell iron") - place Gortashu/Zariel - mend the heart in the bad and good 1000 ways written about earlier. This is nothing more than an idea, my 2am fantasy can't come up with much more, so suggest options.

Opinion 2.
Only after the storyline is fixed will we see the character's growth, the development of her story. And only on that basis will the Good ending everyone is asking for become logical.

To summarize the options are two
1. Creating a well-developed story and quests over the course of three acts. I'm in favor of this option and if you put a Like here, it means you want this option too. I'm willing to wait as long as it takes and I realize it's a lot of work. I would even buy it as DLC, but that's just my personal opinion
2. A "small quest" in the third act that would give an option to fix the engine somehow. These are some of the 1000 named options.
Ask Dammon for help, as he promised
Steal tech from Steel Watchers
Ask Gondians for help.
Make a pact with Mizora.
Make a pact with Raphael
Ask Gale or any sorcerer to conjure some spell
Buy her out from Zariel with soul coins

Disagreement
The main fan requests that I disagree with:
1. "Add a small quest/just a new ending" It won't solve the problem. The strength of the game is that there is more or less a coherent story and character growth. In my understanding Karlach has a problem with this. We need to create clear scenarios from the first act to the third act so that the new solution doesn't look like a "Band-Aid". That's the kind of thing I see Karlach Justice as, and that's a lot of time. I think it's gonna take at least a year.
2. "fast. Fast. FAST." No, better slow and deliberate.
3. "Needed instead of a bad ending." The current endings are not bad. There just aren't any others.

I will not miss the opportunity to express my gratitude to the development team, all voice actors, especially Borislav Slavov and all involved in the creation of the game.
Well, and thanks to ALL who participate in the campaign "Karlach. Karlach. Karlach. JUSTICE!!!". I was very happy to see that I was not alone.
"Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome."

Of course, but adding one small quest would make the story tolerable, after you invested 50 hours into the character and travelled with her you actually get the ending you were working for. Sure maybe in DE they gonna rewrite her story completely, for now I just want ending that actually rewards me for the past dozens of hours I invested in the game, and not laughs at my face with "we did everything we could". This can't be that much of work, which is why Im pushing for it

I agree that Karlach undoubtedly deserves a quest line no worse than Shadowheart and Laezel, what we have now is not worthy of the Original character. I would also be willing to wait for the Definitive Edition, BUT the main problem is that, alas, we do not have any evidence that in DE our beloved Karlach will actually receive an improved quest line and a good ending, depending on the player’s actions. Alas, I don’t remember what the story was at the release of Original Sin 2 with the Beast and Fane, but as I understand it, the situation was similar to Karlach.

I know what you mean, but it's a band-aid. They've already tried one and no one was satisfied

Some of us are more desperate than others and would be satisfied with scraps thrown at them. I might be one of them.

Unfortunately, at the moment this is true, yes. Karlach's new dialogues, full of doom and hopelessness, do not make us optimistic about her future in the Definitive Edition...

But as everyone knows, “Hope dies last”.

Because they were talking about new ending she deserves. Not only it wasn't new ending because we already had that option but was bugged and overriden by Wyll, it definitely isn't what she deserves, unless you think escaped slave being forced to come back to the place where she was abused is what she deserves. They also added new hopeless voice lines for her, this is why people are upset. We'd rather wait two more weeks for band aid solution with new quest and one extra line of dialogue than this bullshit. The avernus cutscene made the whole thing somewhat tolerable, but the new voice lines ruined the whole thing. Plus, we don't even need another solution (still, one quick quest would be welcomed), just a statement that we will get it once it's done

What this new voice lines about is? I`m trying but cant find it in game.

I'm with you and support this 100%. Well written!

The new voice lines are added in act 2 and 3. Basically Karlach gives up and is ready to die which not only wasn't the case before patch 2, but also is a spit to the face alongside "we did everything we could" because we literally didn't try a single thing

Hh, so in this case Tav should try even harder if he cares about Karlach, but he's obviously not allowed in act3. This is exactly why I would like to wait until DE with proper questline, than quick hotfix quest.