So I'm here on this thread to vent because I'm extremely upset about how Karlach as a character is handled. It stresses me out to a huge degree. I decided to play as a female elven bard on a 1000% good, straight-laced playthrough. You know, a fun, goofy kind of character so as to have the most fun! The kind of character who can and will smear warg droppings on her face if it gets her out of a pickle, and then walk around with that on all day. And at first I was dedicated, gotta romance Shadowheart, she's the safe bet. And that was all fine and well until I *accidentally* triggered Karlach's first romance scene. Not to spoil at all but, compared to Shadowheart's first romance scene, Karlach's COMPLETELY blew me away and my bard fell, like, in love. It was so sweet, real, raw, natural and comfortable.


Karlach was the perfect romance partner for my chaotic good bard OC-- she was THE only clearly and unambiguously good-hearted character out of all Act 1 origins, fun and goofy, trying to get everything out of life, dancing when everybody's watching. And like... playing as a heroic character on an intended playful/fun playthough... then thinking it's a great idea to romance the irrepressible gal who catches your eye.... who is pretty much the only person who's wholeheartedly enthusiastic about you from the beginning... who makes you laugh, whose positivity and zest for life is infectious...... then...... OMGGGGGGGGGGG. The level of heartbreak. We all know. Whoa. It's kind of ruining the game for me. And 10000% ruining that playthrough. When you think about who's going to romance Karlach, it IS a million percent going to be someone going down a good/heroic route. Somebody who plays games for a remotely happy ending, you know? Me personally, I play games to heal my heart, not to feel vicariously traumatized by them.


Karlach doesn't NEED to tell a story about terminal illness and trying to make the most of life in light of that. If that's the story that's being told. It's gratuitous, wildly unnecessary. AREN'T THERE ENOUGH PEOPLE WITH TERMINAL ILLNESSES IN REAL LIFE that we don't need to have the trauma reiterated in a video game??? Why shouldn't you be able to make your own fantasy a safe place if you want it to be? Same as, you should be able to make your fantasy horrific if you want it to be. But your own fantasy shouldn't make you stressed and upset and reiterate tragedies that we see every single day.


And I'm also speaking as someone who HAS lost somebody to a terminal illness. And to see it again in a game with someone who is so easy to feel deeply attached to.... no, no, no. Please, NO.


My one last point, and I hope this one is cogent and well-taken. Remember that movie Get Out? Yeah the one directed by Jordan Peele. END SPOILERS for that if you don't want the end of that movie spoiled for you, okay? I'm going to talk about the end. So Jordan Peele had two prospective endings lined up. Ending one is what we saw in theaters. The main character (a black guy) has just killed bloodthirsty white lady, who turned his life into a freakish horror movie, and a police car pulls up, lights flashing. For a moment you CRINGE so hard.... OMG the cops have come and we're going to see our hero killed or thrown in jail when he did nothing wrong. But thank GOD, it turns out to be his friend and they escape together. HUGE sigh of relief.


BUT there was an alternate ending that never aired. The cops did show up. The hero was thrown in jail. And he talks to his friend on a phone in prison and says that he's glad that he at least ended the horrors of that bloodthirsty white lady etc. OUCH CRINGE CRINGE. The worst. But THERE'S A REASON Jordan Peele chose the FIRST ending. And it's because we see enough pain, suffering, injustice, in real life. We see ENOUGH horrifying things happening to good people. We see enough tragedy. So Jordan Peele chose to give viewers a path beyond tragedy. A happy ending. And personally I'm so grateful he did.


I hope that folks can see the comparison here with the story of Karlach. What happens to her almost makes the game unplayable for me, straight up. And I'm just some random person who completely lost herself in Divinity Original Sin 2, LOVED the romance of Sebille by Lohse and its conclusion, and was SO excited about Baldur's Gate 3. I still think it's amazing. Of course. But like... if you want a heroic playthough with a thoroughly good-hearted romance partner, it'll break your heart and be so painful that you question whether it was worth it. :'(


Shadowheart is fine and all but for a chaotic good character like mine, a silly bard taking every opportunity to be pleasantly ridiculous, having my girlfriend threaten to GUT me is an enormous turn-off. And Karlach would never dream of threatening that, let alone doing it, to my character. Those are my thoughts/vent. I hope that this vent, adding to the upsurge of voices recorded here, contributes to Larian re-considering how they handle Karlach. Her newest ending definitely included. Yeah it was better. But still. I'd like to see something significant done about her problem BEFORE we have to see her literally dying.


Thanks for reading, folks. Yeah, justice for Karlach.