First off there are a ton of spoilers for everything story related here!
I am (was?) one of the biggest Larian supporters you could find. DOS2 is still one of my all time favorite rpg's. I was beyond excited for them to do a Baldurs Gate game. Now ... after having "finished" it, I will have to think twice on buying another Larian product again.
It's simple, the ending, or utter and complete lack thereof is a complete slap in the face to all the gamers out there who spent TONS of hours falling in love with the characters they spent so much time with. Honestly I'm astonished they can even sell this game as a complete game. It's not.
In my game, I was Astarion as a main player character, and romanced Karlach and nobody else. She had a fully upgraded engine and I had exceptional relationships with everyone else.
In the final battle (omg so bad, but that's another thread) I chose to have Opheus become the Illithid, and once we killed the brain, here's what happened:
1- I agree to kill orpheus 2- Laezel rides off into the sunset on a dragon to liberate her people from the lich queen (this was great, loved it!) 3- Gale contemplates using the crown, I convince him otherwise, he agrees and says he'll turn it over to Mystra (okay boring but makes sense) 4- Wyll says he wants to have a party and drink a beer at a tavern 5- Astarion suddenly turns light sensitive and ABANDONS the love of his life and all his companions and goes to live in a cave without a single word to anyone, most importantly the woman he loves Karlach 6- Karlach says "I'm getting hot" and falls down and explodes. I was given no dialog choices, no conversation choices, nothing whatseover. I had zero options to choose anything for her. The game forced her to explode and die. 7- credits
WHATTTTTTT???????????????????????????????? I just don't even understand. I have so many emotions. Anger. Confusion. I feel betrayed. I love these characters. The ending simply didn't even exist. There was nothing.
So to summarize:
There are 13 members of my camp, only 4 of which have any ending at all, and only 2 of those endings make sense. So 2/3 of the entire camp is just completely missing from the endgame, and of the 4 who have screen-time, half of that is either bugged, or doesn't make any sense at all.
Astarion - makes zero sense, so confusing, is this a bug? Or just horrifying writing?
Karlach - I know there's supposed to be some way to get her to go to Avernus with Wyll and myself, but I have no idea how to choose that. And I even had Wyll become the Blade of Avernus specifically for this. NEVER got any options with her. Forced death. Awesome.
Laezel - makes sense, good ending!
Gale - boring, but makes sense, good ending!
Shadowheart - totally 100% missing. Never had a single cutscene or dialog ever. What happened? Bug? Just totally unfinished? Completely missing content?
Wyll - says he wants to drink a beer at a local tavern. That's it. Nothing else. What happened? Bug? Unfinished?
Duke Ravengard - nothing whatsoever.
Minsc - nothing whatsoever.
Jaheira - nothing whatsoever.
Halsin - nothing whatsoever.
Aylin & Isobel - nothing whatsoever.
Arabella - nothing whatsoever.
Mizora - nothing whatsoever.
This is a MASSIVE amount of missing content that simply DOES NOT EXIST in my ending. This isn't even a complete game. How can they sell it as such? Why did I even bother doing ANYTHING at all with all those people in my camp?
Astarion would never Abandon Karlach like that. Karlach should have had some option to NOT DIE. Gale and Laezel are fine, and then literally zero content for anyone else. WHAT? I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone play this game and will have to think extremely hard on future Larian developments.
Has anyone else had any content for Shadowheart or any of the other missing people I never got anything for?
Last edited by The Red Queen; 07/11/2311:50 PM. Reason: Added spoiler tags
If you can spare the time and energy, I'd encourage you, also, to make sure you send this feedback to Larian directly through their official feedback form Here. While they do receive the feedback on this forum in some fashion (I believe it's a case of community managers forwarding thread summaries of points, rather than individual readings), it's more of an 'every voice counts' situation and sending it to them directly makes sure that your personal experience and feelings are read by at least one set of official eyes.
If you can spare the time and energy, I'd encourage you, also, to make sure you send this feedback to Larian directly through their official feedback form Here.
Thank you so much for this! I just did. I edited my post to make it more succinct and submitted. Hopefully it adds to the otherwise enormous pile of upset messages like mine. I know in reading through the steam posts, it's just one after another "please give us a real ending" ... I have just never experienced a completely missing unfinished ending like this to a game ever before. Amazing.
But be ok man.. if that can easy your pain a Litle Bit. yu Are not alone. the endings sux.haha
Thank you. That makes me feel better a bit. I just had to vent a bit since I loved Astarion & Karlach together, and Shadowheart was so wonderful, and Gale the obnoxiously arrogant wizard (but with his own flaws) and then to get to this ending and have absolutely nothing whatsoever. Just soul crushing.
I specifically loved that one scene in act 3 where astarion and karlach go out on a date in baldurs gate. Fancy dinner, wine, all of it. It was so heartwarming! And they end the date with astarion saying he'll do anything for her, they'll find some way to do something to help her.
That almost made me cry how just simply wonderful it was. Then I was so excited to get to the end ......................... And astarion runs away from her without a word and karlach blows up and dies. I felt like a dagger had been run through my heart.
Yeah i understand.. im a Shadow Fan.. i only romance her or Minthara in evil paths.. but i always endup going with her.. and the endings.. are like that for all of then.. it sux.. i really only enjoy the evil ones.. will not spoil but i really liked a lot, feels like thanos.. but as Hero felt like Nothing a did during the entire run was rewarded felt empty like worth nothing i did at all. like incomplete. left a F. Hole in my Heart thats it.. i get so Pissed of that i just made two runs after thinking i miss something that maybe it was my foult that shit ended this way.. and it hit a lot harder after 300 hrs and the endings were just that.
its two ways.. or yu go with the Squid or someone turn into a Squid then deck,romance scene and fuck off please enjoy the game.. thats it the hero path.
(just try what i did.. Go Full evil, Full dark and Slay, betray and shit in evrybody i bet yu will vent off the pissed off feeling and will enjoy a lot playing like a Doomslayer guy.) i really lought a lot more been evil and enjoy a lot more been evil in this game then the hero.. thats what pissed me off so much i guess.. becouse i love the Two sides when comes to games like these.
Has anyone else had any content for Shadowheart or any of the other missing people I never got anything for?
Yes, there's content for the other companions, but certain events - like the one you had with Karlach - cut off subsequent scenes. Non-companions don't get any content.
The issue is lack of epilogues and supposedly Larian is working on them so hopefully it's a matter of time as it would fix most of the issues you mentioned. As for Karlach, I'm pretty sure she can be convinced to go back to Avernus so maybe you messed up something with her questline
The issue is lack of epilogues and supposedly Larian is working on them so hopefully it's a matter of time as it would fix most of the issues you mentioned. As for Karlach, I'm pretty sure she can be convinced to go back to Avernus so maybe you messed up something with her questline
Playing as Astarion you probably can't convince her because he's too busy burning in the sun himself.
The issue is lack of epilogues and supposedly Larian is working on them so hopefully it's a matter of time as it would fix most of the issues you mentioned. As for Karlach, I'm pretty sure she can be convinced to go back to Avernus so maybe you messed up something with her questline
Playing as Astarion you probably can't convince her because he's too busy burning in the sun himself.
And his garbage ending has its own thread too.
No idea about that as I only played as Tav, picking premade character just didn't feel right in dnd-like game. About Astarion's ending, wasn't it something about possibility of two of you going to the Underdark together?
About Astarion's ending, wasn't it something about possibility of two of you going to the Underdark together?
That's possible in the romance epilogue (which is bugged to hell right now too). But if you don't romance him the last you see of him is that scene at the docks where he has to run and you can't react in any way.
As stated, there are dedicated threads to just about every variation of ending. I can't think of an ending that people actually like and I personally haven't liked any of the endings I've seen (over 400 hours, seen 3 different endings).
Here's how my first ending went as it was somewhat similar to yours and this was the first "dagger in the heart" moment for me with this game:
After a lackluster Act 3 with little to no reactions from companions, the thought was "well this is rushed, but maybe they stick the landing with the ending." Couldn't have been more wrong. I went with a custom Tav. She was a drow sorcerer that romanced Astarion. I LOVE Astarion. He's the best, most well-written character in any game I've played. I know you played his origin but I highly reccomend trying him as a regular companion because you won't get anyone more cheeky, sassy, complex, emotional, or with depth of character. I was completely enthralled and excited to see what ending they had cooked up for us. I convinced him not to ascend, like you did, and we got to the docks after beating the elder brain. I was waiting for an ending moment with him. Something poignant and meaningful and some sort of end romance scene to cap off the experience. No. Nothing. He burns up, runs off, and my character just sits there dumbfounded while one of the other companions, in my case Wyll, says a snarky and annoying comment about him "remaining in the shadows" or some shit. So basically, I just watched the love of life who redeemed himself in every way to the others at this point, stumble and fall in a comical fashion as he burns up, and my Tav, what, doesn't care?? Doesn't run after him?? Doesn't even wrap a cloak around him?? Nothing?! Not only that but, while I was able to convince Karlach to go to Avernus, her ending was only one who got any attention. I wanted Gale to get the Crown and his ending was just "Okay. I'll do that. I'll become a god." And then he walks off... Then, Shadowheart is there, my second favorite character, and I was interested in what she was going to say. Guess what? Same as you. Nothing. She says literally nothing. In addition, I learn nothing else about any of the other companions, learn nothing about my impact on anything, no final cutscene or party. It was absolutely the most unsatisfying ending to any game I've played. The only solace was, I did get a final conversation with Astarion (you know, after finding out through no effort on my character's part that he didn't, ya know, DIE) but even then, you and Astarion stand ice cold, 10 feet apart, show absolutely no affection while he basically reaffirms "Do you still like me??? You sure??" And that was it.
Complete and utter bullshit at every turn. I hate that you had to enter the endings without a forewarning. It really is, as you stated, a slap in the face.
I think the problem you have is the fact that Astarion, even if played as the player character, will always run off to the shadows (if you didn't ascend, and it sounds like you didn't) before Karlach explodes. So there is no chance for Astarion to say his final goodbyes or to convince her to go to Avernus. What is at fault in this scenario is the timing, it always happens like that, in both versions. If played as Astarion and if played as anyone else.
But you should see this cutscene as his proper ending:
Which I am betting you didn't get to see either (it's either this or going to Avernus with Karlach) because patch 4 messed up a lot of ending epilogue sequences.
The only way for Larian to fix this shit is to rearrange the dock cutscene sequences, so Astarion doesn't fucking burn at all (it is sunset/evening after all) or he runs off AFTER the big Karlach choice.
As stated, there are dedicated threads to just about every variation of ending. I can't think of an ending that people actually like and I personally haven't liked any of the endings I've seen (over 400 hours, seen 3 different endings).
I liked the ending to
turn yourself into a mindflayer and then kill yourself.
Not for everyone, but it felt deeply compelling and the perfect resolution for a repentant DU.
But how it would work with the whole
Jergal
situation is a tangled mess of lore I can't figure out.
The rest of the endings, no, I don't like them. I guess if your character trusts the Emperor and hates the gith,
trusting him with the stones makes sense.
All difficult choices and bad endings are fine with me, but they just don't resolve satisfactorily.
Yes, there's content for the other companions, but certain events - like the one you had with Karlach - cut off subsequent scenes. Non-companions don't get any content.
there is SO MUCH in-game time devoted to helping all the non-companions, and they really felt like part of my camp. And then at the end they get ...... NOTHING. Simply stunning. So there's basically no point whatsoever doing anything with any of them. Since I spent MOST of act 3 at max level, it'd actually be better NOT to help any of them at all. Nothing you do with them matters at all, and they have no ending segment at all, so having less xp all throughout act 3 would be more fun. It wasn't fun to spend the entire act 3 with zero character progression. What a disaster.
Originally Posted by vx_phoenix_vx
The endings are awful.
Here's how my first ending went as it was somewhat similar to yours and this was the first "dagger in the heart" moment for me with this game:
After a lackluster Act 3 with little to no reactions from companions, the thought was "well this is rushed, but maybe they stick the landing with the ending." Couldn't have been more wrong. I went with a custom Tav. She was a drow sorcerer that romanced Astarion. I LOVE Astarion. He's the best, most well-written character in any game I've played. I know you played his origin but I highly reccomend trying him as a regular companion because you won't get anyone more cheeky, sassy, complex, emotional, or with depth of character. I was completely enthralled and excited to see what ending they had cooked up for us. I convinced him not to ascend, like you did, and we got to the docks after beating the elder brain. I was waiting for an ending moment with him. Something poignant and meaningful and some sort of end romance scene to cap off the experience. No. Nothing. He burns up, runs off, and my character just sits there dumbfounded while one of the other companions, in my case Wyll, says a snarky and annoying comment about him "remaining in the shadows" or some shit. So basically, I just watched the love of life who redeemed himself in every way to the others at this point, stumble and fall in a comical fashion as he burns up, and my Tav, what, doesn't care?? Doesn't run after him?? Doesn't even wrap a cloak around him?? Nothing?! Not only that but, while I was able to convince Karlach to go to Avernus, her ending was only one who got any attention. I wanted Gale to get the Crown and his ending was just "Okay. I'll do that. I'll become a god." And then he walks off... Then, Shadowheart is there, my second favorite character, and I was interested in what she was going to say. Guess what? Same as you. Nothing. She says literally nothing. In addition, I learn nothing else about any of the other companions, learn nothing about my impact on anything, no final cutscene or party. It was absolutely the most unsatisfying ending to any game I've played. The only solace was, I did get a final conversation with Astarion (you know, after finding out through no effort on my character's part that he didn't, ya know, DIE) but even then, you and Astarion stand ice cold, 10 feet apart, show absolutely no affection while he basically reaffirms "Do you still like me??? You sure??" And that was it.
Complete and utter bullshit at every turn. I hate that you had to enter the endings without a forewarning. It really is, as you stated, a slap in the face.
Man I absolutely loathe how this is all turning out, but at least it makes me feel a bit better that I'm not the only one. I'm sorry that you had that experience, same as I did.
Originally Posted by Nicottia
I think the problem you have is the fact that Astarion, even if played as the player character, will always run off to the shadows (if you didn't ascend, and it sounds like you didn't) before Karlach explodes. So there is no chance for Astarion to say his final goodbyes or to convince her to go to Avernus. What is at fault in this scenario is the timing, it always happens like that, in both versions. If played as Astarion and if played as anyone else.
But you should see this cutscene as his proper ending: ... Which I am betting you didn't get to see either (it's either this or going to Avernus with Karlach) because patch 4 messed up a lot of ending epilogue sequences.
The only way for Larian to fix this shit is to rearrange the dock cutscene sequences, so Astarion doesn't fucking burn at all (it is sunset/evening after all) or he runs off AFTER the big Karlach choice.
No I definitely didn't see any ending whatsoever for Astarion, or Karlach, or Wyll, or Shadowheart. Only got a boring useless "ending" for Gale and a good ending for Laezel. Which is hilarious for me because I hated Laezel and never used her in my party ever. LOL so she's the ONLY one that got anything. Of course.
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I have been gaming for going on 35 years now, must've played thousands of them over the years. This is BY FAR AND AWAY the absolute worst ending to any game I've ever seen. There's not even a close second place. I guess it's difficult to even have a second place, because here, there was no ending at all for almost everyone. Just totally missing.
Yup like a Said Before.. the Hero Path Ending is Disrespectifull with the amount of time e effort yu put in the Game.. and after 11 games my friend.. i can say this for sure.. the Only Decent Ending in this Game is the Evil One.. Meaning.. i Bet when they make this game they wanted yu to go the evil path.. Just take a Look on what i Coment in other Posts.. haha and yu are not Alone bro.. there are a LOOOOT of people that are finishing the game now and coming to this realization.. when i talked the first time about this.. yu know what people call me ? Hatter or that i was Been to Harsh and the game is a Masterpiece.. get it ? Most of then never even had finished the game so many times like me..haha
(i kinda Gave up in the Game since the last patch came out becouse of this.. i dont have a CHoice in the game anymore.. i can only go evil becouse theres no F. Meaning in waste my time again playing a Hero.)
Personally I'm quite disappointed with how little meaningful interactions you have with your companions/partner in Act3 given how much there is in Acts 1 & 2, there isn't much that happens in Act 3 that feels like it's meaningful e.g. the almost utter lack of reaction to killing the other two bosses.
I'd expected at least some group interactions after each fight - and pre the final fight I'd expected some meaningful interaction with my partner given we were heading into a fight where we stood a good chance of dying.
I've said elsewhere that Act 3 should have been split into 3.
Personally I'm quite disappointed with how little meaningful interactions you have with your companions/partner in Act3 given how much there is in Acts 1 & 2, there isn't much that happens in Act 3 that feels like it's meaningful e.g. the almost utter lack of reaction to killing the other two bosses.
I'd expected at least some group interactions after each fight - and pre the final fight I'd expected some meaningful interaction with my partner given we were heading into a fight where we stood a good chance of dying.
I've said elsewhere that Act 3 should have been split into 3.
And the epilogues - pah they're just weak.
It's hard to call them epilogues if they are just few words shared with companions before the game fades to black. With Lae'Zel it's passable, especially if you romanced her (I don't see any other option, she's way too perfect) but with others it goes from pathetic to none existant. But hey, it's GOTY candidate, right?
I think it's a testament to the writers' abilities that they got us to care for their characters so much that we feel hurt for them. I suspect the way Act III unfolded was out of their control. The game was in development for a long while and the studio was pressed for time.
Now that Larian has breathing room, they're hard at work patching up the missing pieces. They're constantly recording new lines and adding features. They even added a missing cutscene for Karlach's Avernus ending on very short notice. So I'm positive they'll work something out for all companions.
