Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion [END SPOILS WARNING] Addressing Karlach (PLEASE PUT SPOILERS IN TAGS)

It would be one of the first interviews, idk exactly which one, but there was definetely a quote that was something like "it's the hope that kills you" Well if you somehow can convince me it's not about Karlach then go on. But as it is now it seems they had it planned

Also no she's nowhere near as popular as you claim, 4th most popular at best

Perhaps in your circle that may be the popular opinion, but it's not at all the case in any open forum space. The problem here is that you're not allowed to try. For every other companion, their fate was earned. Ours was not. I don't want to play a visual novel when I play with Karlach. I want to play the choose-your-own-adventure that I was promised.


Here's Swen on DLCs.

The devs did add a few lines about Karlach despairing about her fate. All of that is to flesh out her existing plotline because prior to that it felt bare-bones on that front. However, an alternative pathway would have different lines.

I don't think they have any intention of releasing a Definitive Edition or any separate purchasable DLC or expansions, however they've been very open that whatever their roadmap for patching the game is, they will be implementing feedback for changes into them. They weren't specific about how wide a net they're casting with that, and given how quickly they changed one of her ending cutscenes to take some of the edge off of the dissatisfaction it's clear they're at least open to this sort of content change. They've also said they'll work on implementing content they at least started to make and decided not to use for the type of post-ending sequence most CRPG players expect so new content isn't out of the question, they just won't be selling it separately and we shouldn't expect anything like a $30 expansion-sized addition I think is what they mean.

Are you one of those conspiracy theorists who claim her content was cut? Pretty sure dataminers have found nothing

Absolutely not. Seems like you haven't been on Twitter or YouTube. Try searching for her content there, and then for the others and see what you find.

Absolutely yes, sure cool that artists can get something from this but in game stats say otherwise and that's what important to devs

Dammon's voice actor admitted to having recorded lines about finding a fix for her, so that's no longer a hypothesis. It's a fact.

And the fact is it's not in the game and I can't imagine adding one line being impossible, so if it's not in the game that means they made a concious decision to remove it. That's a fact

Sure, if in-game stats is what you want, here you go: https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1690016466454577152/photo/2


So it's cut content. Glad we came to an agreement.

And the contect is cut for a reason, it's not some game breaking hellhole, it's literally a quote from something that looks like a fetch quest, so if they removed it clearly they didn't wanted it, not because they had to. Also please explain how some chart from august, that shows Karlach is second most picked origin character proves anything? Frankly how does info from august proves anything?

Do you have any more recent data? I would love to see it.

Why they removed it is anyone's guess. Could be they had no time to finish up that questline. Could be that they didn't want it. No use in pretending like you know.

My bet is still on it wasn't removed. They left everything they developed for it and pivoted away from finishing it because of looming deadlines. There's TONS of cut content left in the files so in Karlach's case it's more likely the content was never finished and implemented in a way that needed to be cut. Which is all the more reason they should finish developing it.

Can try to look up something maybe they don't release it anymore. Last time I saw it it would be a september if I rember correctly, and she wasn't doing nearly half as well as you would suspect given all the controversy that was going on back then. Hell Gale of all people was ahead of her and by much so once again - she isn't nearly as popular as you claim her to be

But there were never any plans for "alternative" patch. This is just your opinion (shared by maybe 3 more people here) literally everyone everywhere have different opinion about her questline. Hate to break it out to you guys but you're the minority and now even particularly loud one. The other one corrects him that this is what's already in the game, he clearly meant the scene in act 2 where Dammon makes it so Karlach's touch doesn't burn people.

You really want to compare yourself to some twitter weirdos that complain about literally everything and do it for the sake of complaining? They always find problems and reasons to be mad, don't go this way

So... You're saying that they didn't cut any of her content but should re-add it? What?

Well it's an easy guess actually, considering everything you told be, it was supposed to be same thing like her previous 2 quests, so if they removed it, it's because they didn't wanted it. Simple as. And they won't and shouldn't change their mind because few players are mad

There are no September stats. You're conflating that with the August stats where Gale is in fact ahead of her. I don't think it was surprising that he was the default pick for most players, given the player demographic. But Karlach coming in second, beating out everyone other than Gale, is a very strong testament to her appeal.

I work in a media analysis company. Social media trends are part of what we track for a living, and it's how I know Karlach is very popular to this day.

What Larian showed in their August data was that Karlach was immensely popular out of the gate. I doubt that trend has changed much, given Karlach's sustained popularity on all social media platforms.

Karlach's strongest platforms are YouTube and Twitter (I hear Tumblr as well, but I can't confirm that). Her cutscenes on YouTube have massive viewership, beating everyone else including fan favorites Astarion and Shadowheart. She is repeatedly the most requested character for fanmade content on that platform, too, having two songs produced by popular YouTube musicians (and a third one on the way). She was prominently featured in Larian's first promotional animation after the game's release. That's not an accident.

As for Twitter, fan content shows what people are excited about. Fanart is perhaps the most important metric in that regard. There's an old meme about how Overwatch's popularity is sustained by its Rule 34 content, and there's a lot of truth to that. You can draw a direct line between how popular a character or a game is and how much fan content is being made for that character or that game as a whole. If a given character consistently gets a lot of fan content that is highly liked, that shows you who the most engaged players gravitate towards.

On Reddit, Astarion and Shadowheart are unquestioningly the most popular. Lae'zel also had a very strong presence up until recently, but Karlach content is consistently seeing posts with thousands of upvotes. I haven't checked recently to see if their spots may have reversed.

I won't bring up the Discord thread, or this one, because they're a different kind of data point.

Lastly, two of the three patches have been Karlach-themed. You can chalk that up to August's excitement. However, Karlach is still the most featured character even in Patch 3.

All of these are things you can check for yourself using the corresponding search functions. You don't need to take my word for it.

So she's sooooo popular as a origin character. And like 7% of players went for origin characters, instead of creating their own? So what are you talking about exactly. And well actually I agree 2 patches were related to her. Or rather related to proving my point, unless you haven't seen the cinematic they added in patch 2. Also I don't really care about twitter or tumblr content as most of it is fetish porn, and I doubt devs care either. 2 songs are nice I guess though but I don't see how they are supposed to change anything

I would love to know how you figured that out when on any social media platform, our view is by far the most popular one regarding Karlach's predicament.


No. You're completely wrong. Here's what's happening:

Dammon's VA mentions how Dammon figured out a solution. Then he says he wasn't expecting him to come up with that solution because beforehand Dammon said he couldn't do anything else for her -- that's the second time you meet Dammon. When Sam reminds him that that is what's in the game right now, that's the moment Dammon's VA clasps his mouth having realized he said something he shouldn't have. They played it off, but the truth is out there.


It has nothing to do with complaints, and everything to do with fan content and engagement. Even if you disregard the entire user base, if you only check Larian's official Twitter, you'll see their Karlach tweets are some of the most popular ones.