So I've run a couple separate saves/playthroughs now and there seems to be one bug in the game that breaks the game for me and makes it unfinishable, namely
Why in the nine hells' name is there no implemented way to stabilize her infernal engine for good?!Okay I finally got your attention there didn't I. No, but seriously Larian, what the genuine quack is going on with Karlach's story.
Here's what happens when you deal with the other Origin characters throughout Act 1-3:
Lae'zel
You uncover the truth about the Githyanki people, Vlaakith and Orpheus and get to decide wether she should stay on Vlaakith's side or get on with the revolution and freeing her people from her grasp. You either get to pick one of the multiple ways to spare Orpheus and have him free their people, with Lae'zel either going to help or staying in BG to aid there, or sacrifice Orpheus and have Lae'zel be the face of the revolution.
There's so many layers to her questline that you can mix and match the outcomes in multiple ways, as well as have multiple ways of wrapping her story by the game's finale.
Shadowheart
Do I need to say, Shar vs Selûne? Because you have another gigantic plotline for an Origin character here dealing with uncovering her past in every act, adding layers and layers to it, getting to choose from two very different paths of either Dark Justiciar or Selûnite, sparing the Nightsong or not, saving her parents and ending with Shar being pissed af at you, inflicting pain for years to come, or sacrificing them and having her alive and well with regrets instead.
Once again another questline filled with journal entries, details to uncover throughout the game and multiple ways to wrap up her story by the game's finale.
Gale
This wizard boy decided he'd bang a goddess, but that wasn't enough so he consumed a ticking bomb of an orb that in Act 1 is said to be able to destroy everything in its wake, but hey ho look! A way out! If he detonates at the end of the game and sacrifices himself as a way of redeeming his bad boy actions and regaining Mystra's favor. His ticking time-bomb situation is very akin to Karlach in the way he's dealing with acceptance of having to die soon because of his actions but getting to do so throughout the game because she was kind enough to stabilize it for him. Then it is enough for him to want to do it, and woah! He's saved! By Mystra's grace he gets to live and doesn't have to detonate at all. Did I mention him carrying a scroll of True Rez in case he dies too early on?
Anyway that guy, however whipped he's been for his Goddess, gets to choose and his choice may grant him his freedom and further health. How kind.
Astarion
Ya boi Astarion is a big topic to cover because along with the girls, he's the most substantial Origin in terms of plot, and THE most substantial in terms of voiceline time and scenes, both romantic and non. This guy gets to pick quite a few ways to wrap up his biggest wishes, but the big paths here as compared with everyone else, is that he either kills Cazador and ascends, or decides not to go on with the ritual and stays a spawn without the means to stay in the light when the tadpole dies off.
Either way, this fella has as much content in-game as Karlach and Wyll combined and that is more than enough to have some people's eyebrows rise.
Wyll
Wyll is along with Karlach the last one to be added and edited and this shows in the amount of lines and scenes he gets. However, compared to Karlach, at least he gets to make some choices and come out of it alive and well. We can either follow his oath to Mizora and kill our babygirl early on, or spite her and get punished for it. Later on, we can save the Duke or fail with that, and if depending on further choice with the throne, become the new Duke or Blade of Avernus. I wish he got more love as well, both as a guy of color and a wonderful chap at that, but at the very least his endings feel appropriate to me and most of the fans out there.
It's not as much the content that's in the game that's the issue with Wyll, but the lack of more content, more quality time with him, compared to the others.
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Now let's talk about what options already exist IN the game, i.e. are implemented and ready to be taken further to actually help Karlach more than the two measly fetch-me-some-infernal-iron slapfest that only ever helps if you want to romance her and doesn't change jackshite for her story:
> Enriched infernal iron and infernal metal are both better alloys than the ones we give to Dammon
> The infernal forge in BG where steel watchers (who btw
run on infernal engines 2.0
are made both have the skilled people AND the magic coolant to help with Karlach's engine
> Divine intervention and True Rez are both nerfed down hard for the sake of the game but they both exist and could easily help if written the way they are in D&D 5e
> Saving/freeing the Gondians seems like one way to ask for help as payback
Now, other than that, Dammon is a damn good smithy, but I'm sure he too has a master he could ask for help. We know he had a forge in the hells, there's multiple ways of telling that in a bit of dialogue and seeing if anything can be done. Master's apprentice, right?
Clerics of particular deities should be able to aid as well given that's literally their oath, to help or to take a person's pain onto themselves.
The list goes on. Right now it just feels like the character that did the very least to deserve a shitty fate, a character that is the most lovable and means a ton to the community and fandom, gets the shitty route out. Because yes, our choices don't matter, we get the three options for her no matter what we do. All other Origins get multiple very poignant story points that will affect their story and ending; everyone but Karlach. And don't get me started on the short end of the straw with Minthara and Halsin, I leave that to their already loud defenders (I see y'all!).
Either way, as it stands right now, we have a tragedy trap story for a character that is desperately written as terminal and coming to terms with that - in a world full of gods, deities, magic and options as well as really powerful allies. The entire game, she talks about never wanting to return to Avernus and yet that seems to be the ending choice Larian has taken to the most? Yes, we now have friends/a lover with her, so that definitely helps, but she will be fighting every day to stay out and away from Zariel's grasp in the place that has tormented her for a decade.
Otherwise? She painfully explodes in front of us and all we see in the journal is "we did everything we could for Karlach".
No. No the fuck we didn't.
It's a CRPG game. It's my favorite genre for many reasons. I want to get away from reality, from the pain it brings and the loss we have to endure. I wanna play my goodie-two-shoes playthrough and save everyone. I want to give them the happiest ending possible because we are the masters of the playthrough and should be given equal option for everyone. No, life isn't equal. But this is a game and there's so many of us here on the forums, on reddit, on Discord and on Twitter, talking about this every day.
Give us a way to properly stabilize her so she can run her tavern in Baldur's Gate and wreck some havoc when otherwise possible. She's suffered enough already.
As it stands, the game is unfinishable for me. Yes, it is. I refuse to force her back to the last place she'd want to be because she tells me not to the entire game. I won't let her die, either, because she deserves to be more than a Greek tragedy. And Mindflayers aren't their former selves so that is not even an option.
I hope to see our voices heard. I hope to see as much love for this character as for the nudity of His Majesty.
We want choices. We want to matter. We want to fight and work to heal her. She's lost her parents, she's lost half her life to slavery. Enough is enough.
