Did we like. Try though? Was there a single dialogue option to ask a single Gondian? There's one line from a Steel Watcher about an old model and being dismantled, but do we, like, pursue that lead at all? Or do we take what a tin can said on face value? Sure, maybe they couldn't help, but how does our character know that? They can't ask ONCE. Like, respectfully, surely you can see the difference between "tried that option and it didn't work" (like with Dammon) and "didn't try at all".
Also, while I understand your general point in regards to the value of such stories, can we not pretend that V's "spent a whole game chasing leads, asked multiple different experts and organizations, got into multiple side-quests for the sheer promise of survival, and even so ended up with multiple endings, one of which sees them fleeing from their place of trauma permanently with a hopeful open ending and one of which now actually cures them, just with a heavy price to pay" is in any way comparable to "directly asked only one person and when he couldn't perform a miracle immediately just gave up, leaving only death and trauma central as options". That's like Cyberpunk being fixed into Arasaka and suicide endings only, regardless of what you did during the game.
There would be twice less complaints about Karlach if we could try like half as hard for her as V tries for themselves. (Obviously Karlach is not the main character and in that regard V's storyline is much more akin to Tav looking to get rid of the tadpole - now THAT'S where we ask multiple sources and try multiple approaches - so even a third of that effort for Karlach would be enough. But there's not even that).
Also, "a bit shorter" is an understatement. Is it a crime to point out that a great character got noticeably less content than other Origins? Her current questline in its length and player's input is more comparable to Halsin (kill goblins --> fetch a lute --> protect a portal --> find a kid vs. fetch iron --> fetch iron --> kill a guy) than any others. Maybe except Wyll, who also got the shorter end of the stick due to being rewritten and therefore developed less in this iteration than other EA peeps, but even with him we can still feel like we made a difference in the end. Accomplished something. Tried, you know?
(hell, to that end even Halsin by the end of the game ends up in a new place - not in the grove anymore, curse cured, new life awaiting. Karlach is still stuck in the same place between Avernus or death as when we first met her. Giving her touch back was a great thing, beautifully written thing, no notes, but it hardly feels like a whole quest done. Isn't this the genre where our choices should affect the outcome?)
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