Yes! After finishing BG3 I even told my husband I had 'ME3 release endings' flashbacks, back when they were really really bad. Kay, the tricolor is still bad, but it has been sort of remedied over the years... or people just gave up complaining about it cause Bioware's "original creative vision" wasn't subject to change.
The only thing I can say about BG3 endings is that they aren't as bad as ME3 release endings, but they're pretty close. At least Tav/Durge/Origin don't necessarily die unless you decide to off yourself at the very end under very specific circumstances. And that is the only redeeming quality BG3's release endings have over ME3's.
Altho, the illithid ending is comparable to ME3's control ending. For some it is fate worse than death... and the fact we're railroaded into someone HAVING to become a mind flayer. Regardless of choices made, like you guys said - BG3 offers an amazing adventure that is cut short by very binary sets of choices in the end. Emperor or Orpheus. MC/Karlach or Orpheus becoming a mind flayer. And the very last one: become the Absolute or order the brain to just delete all the tadpoles and then cease to exist.
And I don't understand why it has to be a mind flayer commanding the Triune Netherstone when we've got one of the most powerful psychic characters to ever have been born on our damn side - Orpheus. Like damn, there should be a condition under which nobody has to become a mind flayer - eg. make using tadpole powers matter and unlock an ending for people who used it maybe once or twice but have not absorbed any tadpoles. Like crap, being a purist comes up in conversation only 3 times throughout the game I think, then it's never ever mentioned again!
