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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2020
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I am fine with the ending, really you saved the world who cares what happens My problem was, I wanted to take over the world with my friends. But that wasn't an option, me and the other party members spent all this time planning all these cool things only to be forced to be "The heroes of Baldurs Gate" or Just me executing the mindflayer grand plan with them as mind slaves for no reason YOU may be happy with saving the world. But there are hundreds of options in this game, they should not lead to a binary black or white ending. especially when seconds before the binary false choice, the game is still presenting you with alternatives in dialogue from your companions and then, literally nothing either way and no conclusions
Minthara is the best character and she NEEDS to be recruitable if you side with the grove! Also- I support the important thread in the suggestions: Let everyone in the Party Speak
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2023
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My first playthrough was excellent up until I reached the ending part. It was like experiencing all the best seasons of Game of Thrones and then the last season happened. The datamining confirmed my impressions and has put me off from going at it again. It was a great honeymoon but then the bucket of cold water thrown in act 3 drastically cooled off my enamourment. I mean, it's a long game with a good amount of extraordinary parts, but then the ultimate reward is a rushed act 3 and finale? It's a damn shame. I really don't feel like going through again the now glaring inconsistencies, lack of reaction in choices made, large swaths of cut content, and near-complete absence in denouement (no epilogues, really?).
"It's about the journey, not the destination" - is too much of a bad vibe from the disastrous ending in Mass Effect 3.
Fix this, Larian. You owe it to yourselves and the players. Unless it's preferable to only start buying your games when an enhanced edition is released, one year after launch.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2023
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I really can't stand the "It's about the journey not the destination" talking point, or the "Well you obviously can't say you were enjoying the game if the last 5 minutes ruined it for you."
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member
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member
Joined: Aug 2023
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ok, I've finished it. So my feedback: 1. Of course, the 17000 endings claim is not true, as these are technical endings. In general, there are 2 endings, and they are ok.
2. What's not ok are the details to those endings. They are nor revealed. Most of your actions are for nothing. Even such a major thing as companions are not narrated - aside from Karlah, partially Will and Gale as well as a bit of Astarion, you don't see the fates of anyone else, even if you have completed their quests. And now THAT'S what really pisses me off
Last edited by Faust-RSI; 27/08/23 05:02 PM.
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member
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member
Joined: Aug 2023
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I just refuse to believe these endings as real.
Well, the "bad" ending is, just as any other ending when your party just dies, or when you choose to kill Emperor too early. But the good one... It SHOULD be just one step to the REAL ending. There should be something about Karlach's saving, Gale's quest to divinity (well, you can have that if he is your main character) or githyanki rebellion. The game is just not complete without these.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2020
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I can't believe Halsin just dumped me at the end to go be Mother Theresa to refugees and bring them to the cured Shadow Lands without even offering for me to come with him. So bad and anticlimatic.
Not even an epilogue about what happens with all the allies that join you before the final encounter.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2020
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I can't believe Halsin just dumped me at the end to go be Mother Theresa to refugees and bring them to the cured Shadow Lands without even offering for me to come with him. So bad and anticlimatic.
Not even an epilogue about what happens with all the allies that join you before the final encounter. hey atleast your romantic interest spoke to you in the ending scene! Minthara and Astarion romancers don't always get that as it's all down to random chance cos the ending is RNG one liners
Minthara is the best character and she NEEDS to be recruitable if you side with the grove! Also- I support the important thread in the suggestions: Let everyone in the Party Speak
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addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2020
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I can't believe Halsin just dumped me at the end to go be Mother Theresa to refugees and bring them to the cured Shadow Lands without even offering for me to come with him. So bad and anticlimatic.
Not even an epilogue about what happens with all the allies that join you before the final encounter. hey atleast your romantic interest spoke to you in the ending scene! Minthara and Astarion romancers don't always get that as it's all down to random chance cos the ending is RNG one liners I'd rather not get a romance talk if it involves breaking up with me to go do what the monks of Ilmater or Duke Ravenguard and Councilor Florrick can do far better than a single Archdruid for refugees. Hell, all these refugees are from Elturel and Rivington, they're city people. If they wanted to go live in nature with Thaniel and Halsin they would have stayed in the druid grove in Act 1 to begin with. Halsin's resolution literally makes no sense and is this garbage forced polyamory free strings diversity checkbox they wanted to tick at the expense of most people who see the value in long term committed relationships. Virtually no other romance breaks up with you and states they'll see you as an occasional fling every now and then.
Last edited by Zenith; 28/08/23 10:24 AM.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Jul 2023
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Agree completely. After spending 230 hours in this game I wanted so much more from the ending. Dialogues, short clips, just to be able to walk around camp and the city etc. But then I thought to myself: well actually maybe there is a very good reason for this. Maybe the story is not over. If an expansion or such, was to be added, it would be a bit early to show all the endings yet. I find console in this idea, for now.
Last edited by Lyzrl; 28/08/23 06:38 PM.
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Oct 2017
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did he really break up with you? I've seen on twitter that his ending is bugged because his romance flag isn't triggered.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2020
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did he really break up with you? I've seen on twitter that his ending is bugged because his romance flag isn't triggered. No, he speaks to you romantically, but the options are basically you tell him his sweet sentences sound like a goodbye, or you try to convince him to stay with you and forget the world. Either way, he declines. He says your hearts are free to roam, and he hopes you will visit because he longs to see you. But it's always this noncommittal poly garbage they forcefed on us. His priority is the city refugees, not being a loving companion to you. It's so aggravating. Meanwhile all the straight men and lesbians get committed, monogamous women who make plans to be with you in the post game, but they went and made a male companion a no strings attached free love Mother Teresa.
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Oct 2017
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[quote=Zenith][quote=Madguise]did he really break up with you? I've seen on twitter that his ending is bugged because his romance flag isn't triggered.[/quote]
No, he speaks to you romantically, but the options are basically you tell him his sweet sentences sound like a goodbye, or you try to convince him to stay with you and forget the world. Either way, he declines. He says your hearts are free to roam, and he hopes you will visit because he longs to see you. But it's always this noncommittal poly garbage they forcefed on us. His priority is the city refugees, not being a loving companion to you.
It's so aggravating. Meanwhile all the straight men and lesbians get committed, monogamous women who make plans to be with you in the post game, but they went and made a male companion a no strings attached free love Mother Teresa.[/quote]
oh i see. btw, halsin is'nt polyamous. polyamous implies that you commit and want a relationship with two or more people,that's not how they wrote halsin. the dude doesn't even believe in relationships. they wrote him being horny for the player and leaving the relationship open ended since they added him so late in the game, and assumed the players might've already had a romance going on. regardless, definitely let swen or the team know about your disappointment in halsins romance. i already did days ago, they read feedback i was told. i agree that all the other companions have a more fulfilling romance, even minthara, who was the same late addition as halsin, and is "polyamous" a.k.a can be with your tav plus another character, they did her romance well from what i've read in the datamined info. yet for halsin, he's the worst romance option.
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Volunteer Moderator
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Volunteer Moderator
Joined: Feb 2022
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Folks, please remember your spoiler tags.
"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"
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addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2020
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did he really break up with you? I've seen on twitter that his ending is bugged because his romance flag isn't triggered. No, he speaks to you romantically, but the options are basically you tell him his sweet sentences sound like a goodbye, or you try to convince him to stay with you and forget the world. Either way, he declines. He says your hearts are free to roam, and he hopes you will visit because he longs to see you. But it's always this noncommittal poly garbage they forcefed on us. His priority is the city refugees, not being a loving companion to you. It's so aggravating. Meanwhile all the straight men and lesbians get committed, monogamous women who make plans to be with you in the post game, but they went and made a male companion a no strings attached free love Mother Teresa. oh i see. btw, halsin is'nt polyamous. polyamous implies that you commit and want a relationship with two or more people,that's not how they wrote halsin. the dude doesn't even believe in relationships. they wrote him being horny for the player and leaving the relationship open ended since they added him so late in the game, and assumed the players might've already had a romance going on. regardless, definitely let swen or the team know about your disappointment in halsins romance. i already did days ago, they read feedback i was told. i agree that all the other companions have a more fulfilling romance, even minthara, who was the same late addition as halsin, and is "polyamous" a.k.a can be with your tav plus another character, they did her romance well from what i've read in the datamined info. yet for halsin, he's the worst romance option. I put in my feedback report and tweeted at them. Sadly, with the amount of tweets Sven and his PR director get, the chance of tweets being seen is near zero,e specially since I don't have Twitter sub so my replies get downplayed by the algorithm. So I have to trust that the Feedback Report forms we send them via their website actually get looked at after release and don't just go into the bin while they mostly stick to streamers and reddit. I despise reddit, it's such a populist cesspit where you have to imitate the groupthink or you get downvoted into censorship for a single criticism.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2023
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The whole game has an impressive depth and the ending as it is now is quite fast in regards (after the last fight) in pace or content. Each character is in queue for its ending and the player needs to carefully think the last choices so I get it why Larian wanted it to be quicker overall. What I would have really loved in the end : A last camp scene (in ruins of course) where every survivor gather as there is no more rush and it would feel so much more natural.
If anything stayed in rush (I obviously don't know every ending) and had to be taken care of asap, it could be done before last camp scene.
In the camp the player could launch the bit of ending wanted with the related character(s) in the order and pace desired (maintains agency).
Then a proper romance night/scene conclusion in its coherent atmosphere.
Ultimately the next day you get the epilogue with departing members or other non party NPC giving farewell/resuming their life.
And an overall conclusion by the narrator. That is in my opinion the dream ending befitting that incredible game all along for a final edition.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2023
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So, I have been trying to think about how I felt about the ending of Act 3 and it definitely feels rushed and not at all like how I would have imagined it going, especially given the ways I played the game. My biggest issue is the choices you're given because I feel like there should be another option, especially with how I did play. It made it feel like a lot of the choices I did make didn't matter, nor did my playstyle matter. The fact that my only options within the Astral Plane after the first confrontation with the Elder Brain are: Let the Emperor/you become a Mindflayer and kill Orpheus, Free Orpheus and you or Karlach become a Mindflayer while the Emperor just leaves to join the Netherbrain, just...Didn't sit right with me. The whole playthrough I refused to eat any other parasites, despite much prompting from the Emperor. I kept making it clear that I would not become a Mindflayer, nor my friends. I also promised to free Orpheus. Now, the other thing I did though WAS to basically make the Emperor trust me. So when it comes to the Orpheus decision, my only options are to kill Orpheus or tell the Emperor I don't trust him so he immediately leaves and sides with the Netherbrain (which seems like a weird choice on his part since he's spent so long NOT wanting to be under its thrall again), and it really sucked as well as doesn't make sense. Not even a single option to TRY and convince him to stay and keep working together with Orpheus? We STILL NEED A MINDFLAYER, and Orpheus knows that and is obviously capable of putting aside his hatred of illithids to defeat the Netherbrain. Keeping the Emperor with us would easily solve the issue of Tav/Karlach or Orpheus becoming a Mindflayer. And even still, the option should have been there even if it did fail. The fact that we couldn't even TRY to get the Emperor to stay is really baffling to me. Not even a high-level persuasion roll?
Even if it didn't work out, I should have been able to try and talk the Emperor into it, since until this point I had basically been playing him somewhat (at the very least letting him think he was in control etc.). I would have thought especially with "romancing" him that he'd be more willing to listen to you. He even says that to defeat the brain we have to do the unexpected, and despite everything I keep managing to succeed when I shouldn't. But when I don't immediately agree with him he goes, "Never mind then, I'll go join the thing that will control everything I do - something I made very clear that I despise." WHAT WOULD BE MORE UNEXPECTED/SUCCESSFUL THAN ACTUALLY GOING ALONG WITH *MY* PLAN????? Truly truly truly infuriating. All the "scheming" on my end, and I can't even utilise it. My playthrough involved convincing people to do stuff constantly, even the Emperor. So, it's strange to me that I don't even get to attempt to persuade him to join us and a freed Orpheus. Whatever beef Orpheus and the Emperor have could have been sorted out AFTER the brain is defeated. I got so instantly deflated by this that I ended my streak of playing every day since launch and just didn't feel the incentive to "complete" the game. In the end, I did finish it just to finish it a few days later, but I didn't enjoy it at all.
The blow is even greater when there's no real way to save Karlach *except* letting her become a Mindflayer, and my game just...Didn't show me any of my friends' epilogues except Astarion who I romanced (I also romanced Halsin but I guess I only get ONE epilogue). Not even a way at the end of the game to go around and talk to your friends afterwards? No little party scene like after you help the Tieflings in Act 1? Just credits, Wither's scene and if you want to play you go back to whatever your last load is. It feels like such a letdown. There just feels like so much is missing and rushed with Act 3, particularly towards the end. And I guess that's very much true considering that there has been a lot of content just taken out. At this stage, to me, this feels like an unfinished game. It should not have been released when it was. It's such a disappointment because until a certain point, I was marvelling at how fantastic the game was, but after a semi-strong start with Act 3 and the starting area of Riverington and Wyrm's Crossing, and the excitement of getting into I just remember feeling constantly like I was doing something wrong, something was missing, some cutscene never played, some bug stopped me doing something, suddenly everything storywise was seeming less finished, more rushed etc. Time and patches will tell if Act 3 improves at all I suppose. I'm just immensely disappointed with the ending of the game, and I know that I am one of many saying the same thing.
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member
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member
Joined: Sep 2023
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Ok so I'm probably the ancient hag of gaming, not some airy fairy type who can't separate fiction from reality and I have been playing computer games for a VERY long time - I know whereof I speak I can't remember another game that I had so much fun playing, so fully invested in the characters and companions and then was so let down by the ending. Games that released 10 years ago had better resolutions on character arcs and what happens next. Especially for my romanced character (not Karlach). My romance was with Astarion from the very begining of the game, he was funny, snarky and very well written and acted. The game gives him a possible redemption arc which my Astarion went for, good options all the way, other companions respected him after his personal quest, the Gur leader thanked him etc etc. He was always in my party and I had become quite invested in what happened to him. In literally the last few minutes of the game all of his redemption arc was ripped away and he runs away burning whilst another character makes some tasteless quip about it. His comment when I affirmed that we were staying together was so sad  and I had to reload several times to get even that much. This is a guy whose personal backstory is 200 years of misery and torture, not much different to Karlach but lasting far far longer. He's suffered enough Larian. He had a brilliant character progression throughout his good story, turning into a reasonably caring honourable person and I might as well not have bothered. He deserved better especially as a possible better soluution was presented about 5 seconds before he had to run off and that previous games in the series have a cure, never mentioned in this game. Redemption arcs should be just that not played as a joke by another character I was left very sad instead of bouyant. And the other characters I had in my camp or who I knew very well? little to no clue what happened to most of them. Many personalities, animals and friends and i got a couple of lines on some of them and that was it. What sort of ending do I get? What closure?
Credits roll. Game over. Thats simply not good enough to end a progression that can easily last 100 hours. Instead of feeling hopeful and pleased we had dealt with an all encompassing threat - instead I was left sad and deflated and know that my plans for another playthrough will have to be curtailed to Act 1 and 2 only - because honestly I would rather not have these endings at all and will be happier walking away while the shadowed lands behind me start to come to life. Other story beats in the game have had camp parties, get togethers of a sort. We need something like this at the very end of the game or at the very least some voice over slides. What we actually get? Very lackluster all round and the dialogue writing at the very end seemed to be of far lower quality than it had been in previous story beats. I'm very glad Karlach is now getting some love in the latest patch, but others need it as well.
# Justice for Astarion
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member
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member
Joined: Nov 2020
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This looks like an excellent summary, I'm going to reread (alot of text, still), but for now it seems to hit the nail. Thank you, you've probably saved me alot of time by saying things I agree with. Especially the "what with the consequences" part. Even illithid enjoyer sees how strangely it all turns out! And closure-closure-closure.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Sep 2023
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Act 1 and 2 is by far the best game I've ever played, and I thank you all for giving me that. I have to admit, I am struggling to finish act 3 because it's just not the same. I find myself wanting to go back to try different stories with act 1 and 2. Act 3 is just........nothing.
As I said in another post, it's like watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and getting to the last one only to have it wrap up in 10 minutes. What just happened?
I can only hope that now that the game is out and perhaps the pressure is off, they can go back and give act 3, the ending, and the companion stories the depth of the rest of the game.
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Aug 2023
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Just finished the first playthough myself. I've.. mixed feelings.. about the endings. This is less in part about "what happens" to my companions, but more about the "screen time" some of them get for their departure scenes.
Note: I went with the killing the Netherbrain and Tadpoles ending.
Lai'zel
I left her at camp pretty much the whole time, allowed The Emperor to eat Orphius's brain. So I got a short "The Gith are going to be hunting me, but at least I'm free" conversation and then she was gone. For what I had seen of the character this felt like a decent ending.
Gale:
I was a but of a wuss in talking him down from taking the crown all game, I'd start to object but then be all "ok fine take the crown for yourself", so at the end of the game I ended up with the "dont forget me when you become a god" option. This was followed up by a number of comments from the others about what kind of god he might be. Generally I felt this was the right level of attention his ending deserved.
Karlach
This was the only ending I wasnt so happy with the "what happens" part - but not for the reason everyone else seems to be. I completely missed the Dammon was at the Last Light Inn until it was too late and Isobel had been taken and I'd slaughtered everyone. So when she collapsed on the docks saying her infernal engine was giving out and that was that, I had assumed it was because I'd missed out on her Act II story. But given she was my front line fighter for the entire game (well since I met her half way through Act I) I actually thought her dying here was the right, good (and actually quite emotional) ending for her. So was disappointed that I got the whole "hey you can go to Avernus and live" bit (the way I was playing my character I had to select the option that she lives)... Although the final scene of her and Wyll was a also good ending in my book
Astarion
Since I was a Ranger and took on the sneaking and lock-picking duties I left him in camp as soon as I had a choice of 4 companions. He is definitely the most hard done by in terms of screen time and attention. I didnt even take him with me to face Cazador, so I wasnt expecting much.. but I was expecting more than I got, "oh look sun, now I must run away" was hardly the attention he deserved, even though I had ignored him all game.
Wyll
No real complaints on this one. But no real idea of what to expect on this one either - he probably got the "attention" he deserved, but I found it hard to be interested in him or his ending.. and I dont know why.
Halsin
Was he a companion, was he an NPC that just tagged along in your camp.. I could never work that bit out, I got a bit bored of trying to get him to come with early Act II so the fact his only appearance was to comment on Gale's potential Godhood doesnt really bother me.
Shadowheart
This one irks me the most. I did originally try romancing Gale, but at the druid party he told me his "condition" meant we could be together I took Shadowheart up on her offer of a quiet evening together and things just went from there. I "saved" her from Shar and had her allow her parents to "move on". So to just get a "hey we had sex, I miss my parents, no more camping or people trying to kill us" was thoroughly disappointing. She was my "love interest" thoughout the game, so her ending definitely needed more time than it got.
And being my love interest, the ending should be the two of us walking off together, discussing the farm she wanted... or something. A bit more of a connection was needed.
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