(...) becoming emotionally invested in the outcome of Karlach's story just feels bad.
Precisely. If I wanted to feel bad I'd ask my employer about my paid vacation.
Originally Posted by soyt
A secondary point here that confused me is the weird difference between the party's reactions when learning about Gale's impending death versus Karlach's. When Gale learns he has to blow himself up (and he seems resolved to do it), the party's reaction is generally "no way, we can't let him do that, we'll find some other way", but when Karlach discovers that she's on a clock, their reactions universally are "damn, that sucks, it's too bad there's nothing we can do about this". What? We didn't let Gale blow himself up, but we're supposed to be okay with Karlach exploding? We have exhausted literally zero options trying to save her.
I could not agree more with the point above. I think I mentioned it here. On top of Karlach's unfulfilling story, the (lack of) reactivity of the companions adds to the "it just feels bad" of it all. As you said, all companions immediatelly accept her inevitable death without a hitch, and their comments are completely lackluster, in a "well, too bad for you" kind of way. To add to the awfulness of the whole thing, Astarion has no comment on Karlach dying whatsoever. It feels like someone forgot to write it, or add it to the game - which if it's true, points to a concerning level of neglect to Karlach's story.
I should add that, whoever wrote Gale had better taken a step back and review his dialogue with Karlach. In my plays I found several moments where he comes across as an insensitive bastard towards Karlach. One such example is in Act 1, right here: Karlach Origin Part 01 - Gale Dialogue . In this moment he mentions he had seen ~real~ hell, while Karlach just stands there listening as if she hadn't JUST come out of it the very same day. There is another scene where Gale asks for companionship while he is depressed about dying/his short time left. Again, he comes across as extremely ignorant, since Karlach, as we know, is also inevitably dying (and arguably in a pit way deeper than his). In this second scene Gale says something that implies Karlach can't understand how it feels to be faced with impending death... It feels really awful, especially because the scene is suppose to provoke empathy towards Gale's predicament. The way these moments are written at the moment makes Gale deserve his own AITA moment.
I understand that it is the tav dialogue. But it does not work for Karlach, unless you want to paint Gale as a complete a-hole. I wish someone had spent more time in story focused QA for these sort of absurd moments to be avoided. If you add all these insensitive moments from the companions to the situation Karlach is in the game already, the narrative does not come as cathartic-tragic - it comes off as mean.
Last edited by sailorgundam; 22/09/2307:46 AM. Reason: grammar oopsie
