Hey y'all it's time for my favorite segment "I had a thought and I need to vent it out among like-minded people in a lot of letters".
I think it suddenly dawned on me why Karlach's doomed story feels so much worse narratively for some players (like us) than other doomed videogame characters, lacking quest being just an additional insult to injury. This little something that I think a lot us mean when we say "it's unfair", but not really articulate. hence people thinking we just want sunshine and rainbows.
Will hide under a spoiler 'cause it's big, likely spoilery, and also, well, heavy death-related topic incoming.
[snip]
I would put a TL;DR here but I'm not sure how to even phrase it. "Actually, if you think about it, Karlach's tragedy feels worse than some other similar characters or even real situations not just because of the quest lacking or there not being a happy ending, but because it's multiple incredibly heavy tragedies stuck on top of one another in a tower higher than any other character and it's too much when you can't do a thing about any of them"? Something like that.
You're absolutely right that the compounding tragedies make her story feel that much more unsatisfying. Both the "make the most of your finite time" and the "salvation against all odds" plotlines have particular highs that we don't get to experience with Karlach because they're striking a middle ground. They're doing so by taking the lows of the two narratives -- realizing the finality of one's predicament and failing the first two times (before succeeding the third) -- and combining them into one awful experience.
In other words, by the time you've realized you should make the most of your limited time with Karlach, you've wasted most of it by running around trying, and failing, to fix her. So in the end, you've done neither.
I hope the mod who drops by this thread to antagonize us from time to time realizes how frustrating this is.
On an unrelated note, according to the code commit page patch 4 is almost here, and photo mode has been confirmed by the devs. Just in case anyone is worried that they're not working on the game anymore.
Just to post the current Karlach Discord posts, older ones that had even more upvotes have sadly passed on to the realm of non-existence. Those, along with hug option, Minthara and Halsin fixes, polyamory reworking and epilogues are the most upvoted and so on a regular. It'd be really out of the blue for Larian to give time to every other feedback/wish but not the biggest ones.
Lmao '' hug option '' wat?
Jesus christ tho you can't escape Karlach xD. Sorry but I just can't understand the obsession with her, but I guess she just attracted a more '' social media/ online '' crowd that are very VERY active or something...
I always wondered what the infernal iron was even for, I just kept it around the whole game thinking it'd be used to craft something. Didn't even know it had to do with her, feels kinda pointless in the end even if I had liked her and had her in my party.
I am obviously biased but imo I do think it's a bit annoying how pushy some people are with acting like Karlach is the biggest issue and the number one priority with the game. Even before the Minthara fix and even then Minthara and others have way bigger issues still lol. Karlach is even the only character who has an actual '' ending '' every other character just got some lame camp dialogue, when I beat the game it just cut to a random room I had never seen before and Shadowheart repeated dialogue I had already heard before with maybe one or two more lines. ( I get she doesn't have a complete story like Shadowheart does, but she's not really the only character that applies to )
Just to post the current Karlach Discord posts, older ones that had even more upvotes have sadly passed on to the realm of non-existence. Those, along with hug option, Minthara and Halsin fixes, polyamory reworking and epilogues are the most upvoted and so on a regular. It'd be really out of the blue for Larian to give time to every other feedback/wish but not the biggest ones.
Nice,
maybe here we're only a small group of fans, but overal we're definitely not alone in this.
So maybe someday in the future we will see the results.
You know what, actually, if for people "on the outside" (as in, not actively invested in this issue) it seems like people talking about Karlach are inescapable and even pushy - then we're definitely not as little and quiet as some would have us believe I'll write that down as a good thing, I think.
Jesus christ tho you can't escape Karlach xD. Sorry but I just can't understand the obsession with her, but I guess she just attracted a more '' social media/ online '' crowd that are very VERY active or something...
Funny you say that, when all i see on SM is Astarion. He's way more popular than every single companion and his fans are louder. I think the reason you say this is because of your dislike to her and not notice the sheer difference she has with the other companions. The reason why her fans are loud is because she, of all companions, got nonexistent quests and doomed endings.
You know what, actually, if for people "on the outside" (as in, not actively invested in this issue) it seems like people talking about Karlach are inescapable and even pushy - then we're definitely not as little and quiet as some would have us believe I'll write that down as a good thing, I think.
Jesus christ tho you can't escape Karlach xD. Sorry but I just can't understand the obsession with her, but I guess she just attracted a more '' social media/ online '' crowd that are very VERY active or something...
Funny you say that, when all i see on SM is Astarion. He's way more popular than every single companion and his fans are louder. I think the reason you say this is because of your dislike to her and not notice the sheer difference she has with the other companions. The reason why her fans are loud is because she, of all companions, got nonexistent quests and doomed endings.
I second this. The majority of fanart, videos, etc I see online is Astarion. No other companion gets even remotely close to that.
But as tarraxahum said - It's a good thing if the talk about Karlach gets noticed, it gives me hope.
Oh I'm totally on board with this. Also yes I second the fact that Astarion is everyone's social media meow meow, with fanart and cosplays left right and center. No issue with that, but would definitely love to be treated as well as his fans are instead of being called damanding or irrational.
Also, fun note. It randomly hit me that with all the gold we earn throughout the game, we could just ask Withers (y'all know who, really) to revive Karlach after she explodes. He does after all have the power to bring them back even when the bodies melt in lava! Here buddy, 10k gold, just bring my wife back and I'll be off.
It never ceases to amuse me how from time to time someone who actively dislikes Karlach comes here to chime in. LOL I wonder if they'd feel the same if we swapped the questline of SH with Karlach's. I bet he'd throw the biggest tantrum.
Anyway, I see quite a constant fan movement of Astarion, as other's said, and followed (not closely though) by Karlach - but I don't frequent some mainstream SM platforms where opinions might differ. Also, my algorithm knows me too well.
Fact is that Karlach is very, very likeable for a majority of people, and her personality does bring a nice change of pace to the companions. I had no idea who she was until I was already 80h in the game and then she popped up and I was like ...WAIT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME and she's be with me ever since.
Okay folks lets calm down, personal insulting is a no no as it attempting to provoke. This thread has already run it's course in my opinion so lets not give us a reason to lock it down.
I am obviously biased but imo I do think it's a bit annoying how pushy some people are with acting like Karlach is the biggest issue and the number one priority with the game. Even before the Minthara fix and even then Minthara and others have way bigger issues still lol. Karlach is even the only character who has an actual '' ending '' every other character just got some lame camp dialogue, when I beat the game it just cut to a random room I had never seen before and Shadowheart repeated dialogue I had already heard before with maybe one or two more lines. ( I get she doesn't have a complete story like Shadowheart does, but she's not really the only character that applies to )
You don't get why a wholesome character would be popular? I can't help you there, mate.
As for being "pushy", considering that Karlach got the shortest end of the stick in terms of content, I think us wanting a bit more than that is warranted. It's also warranted that we ask for a meaningful conclusion like the others had.
The others may have gotten "camp dialogue" but what they also got were meaningful conclusions to their much more robust questlines. All Karlach has is two fetch quests and an option to die or go to hell. If that happened to your favorite, you would be very disappointed, too.
It never ceases to amuse me how from time to time someone who actively dislikes Karlach comes here to chime in. LOL I wonder if they'd feel the same if we swapped the questline of SH with Karlach's. I bet he'd throw the biggest tantrum.
Anyway, I see quite a constant fan movement of Astarion, as other's said, and followed (not closely though) by Karlach - but I don't frequent some mainstream SM platforms where opinions might differ. Also, my algorithm knows me too well.
Fact is that Karlach is very, very likeable for a majority of people, and her personality does bring a nice change of pace to the companions. I had no idea who she was until I was already 80h in the game and then she popped up and I was like ...WAIT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME and she's be with me ever since.
From my observations, Astarion and Shadowheart dominate all social media, but Karlach has a very strong presence on YouTube and Twitter. Reddit has perhaps the most robust Lae'zel following from any of the platforms. Karlach has a respectable showing there.
I'll write that down as a good thing, I think.![[Linked Image from tarraxahum.neocities.org]](https://tarraxahum.neocities.org/buttons/2rdo1pL.png)
