Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Fixing Astarion's "Good" Ending

Yes, that hasn't been changed.

In his Origin it is - and you can still not save Karlach, when a spawn.

I expected this and yet I'm still disappointed.


So if you play Astarion and don't ascend Karlach just dies and none of the other companions try to convince her to go to Avernus?

Unfortunately. The characters have a line-up. Lae'zel leaves first, then Gale considers the Crown and gets taken away by Mystra in his Origin, then Astarion starts to feel the effects of the Sun. I don't know who comes next. If you play any of these characters you get taken out of the scene and Karlach's end sequence plays. She is having a monologue and goes up in flames - even if Wyll is the Blade of Avernus and stands right in front of her.

The patch yesterday changed the order in which Karlach and Mystra's scenes play, so I had hoped they had sussed something out for Astarion as well, unfortunately not. I think Githyanki players choosing to follow Lae'zel also can't save Karlach unless they have a bug, which forgets to take them away from the dock.

I found both Astarion and Gale's dock scenes hard to bear for that reason. Sitting behind boxes while your good friend goes up in flames must be pure horror and coming home from finally being freed off the bomb in your chest to find your lover with severe burning injuries doesn't sound great either.

Edit: I do also have the feeling, that Astarion's epilogue might be a little bugged. I tried three of the possible choices (let's be heroes together, sun protection and moving to a quiet home) but the epilogue assumes an adventuring live-style for all three of them in the narration. I might try the underdark one later and then write a ticket. It would make sense why his conversation is so short if the game assumes you have chosen nothing and thus can't give you any further dialogue.

Same.


I don't know if I'm being delusional for still hoping it'll get fixed one day?

Well done, Wyll. This is why he always stays in camp.


Well, at least Gale has a good reason not to be there. Tav/Durge just stands in place and watches.


I'd be very surprised if nothing was bugged after a patch.

Yikes, it's even worse than I thought. He needs all the hugs.

Yes, that's why Wyll has camp duty. *nods*

Origin Astarion is also very disappointed that Gale's blood is still poisonous despite the orb being removed - though I admit, this must be the nichest bug ever. Then again, Withers didn't provide any blood .....

What the. As if it's not his victory too. I think someone on the writing team might be a bit too much into angst.

Is it delusional to expect at least an option to go after him when Karlach got a whole cutscene added three patches ago?

Still, for me that line seems to put the blame (for hiding alone in the shadows) on Astarion. As if he had deliberately chosen it instead of the player being held hostage by the writing.

All I want for the dock scene is the companions to either say something helpful or say nothing at all and the option to follow him.

One would think a choice between following and not following him would be common sense in a roleplaying game. I'm honestly curious why we don't get it here. And then the writing throws us at Karlach.

A choice to follow Astarion? Perish the thought. Seriously though, no idea. But being forced to play through Karlach's scene (once I got myself halfway together which took way longer than I'd like to admit) made me so mad. As a consequence she isn't part of my current playthrough. Well, her head technically is.

It's like the writing says "this kind of person deserves all the attention while that kind of person deserves none", right? And it's unfortunate that they got so much of him right, and then the ending...well, practically needs a trigger warning for someone who can relate to him.

Poor Karlach. Through absolutely no fault of her own, she's never survived one of my runs intact. The universe must have it out for this tiefling...

So, instead of fixing the dock scene they made it even worse? This is heartbreaking.

Though I really like the new epilogue, so one loss, one gain I guess. (But why are there three different lines from him about the lack of fresh blood and I can't even offer?)

I personally felt his epilogue was nicely done. He acknowledges that he felt shame, but then talks about overcoming it. I am not surprised it hits some people wrong. I think the dock scene poisons the well.

Replaying the last battles for the epilogue, I got Astarion Bugged?

No, the tadpole's magic just needs a moment to wear off - I was wondering, is there any special cut scene if you did the worst possible thing and forgot to deal with Cazador?

It's very realistic, what he does. But he only has to do it because the game doesn't let us follow him on the docks.


On the docks it's the same as when he doesn't ascend.

Gonna jump back into the discussion again.


CONS:
the docks scene is the same
that line of dialogue when Astarion blames himself

PROS:
despite that one line there....what he says afterwards made me cry my eyes out (bravo, Neil!). he genuinely sounds so happy and at peace with himself, I especially love how he says he won't be defined by what Cazador did to him. and the fact that he can either be girlbossing the spawns in the Underdark or essentially becoming Deadpool vigilante is absolutely amazing and I love that for him

Exactly. I feel like you understand and share (some of) my thoughts and why the scene is such an issue. You have no idea, how much that means to me. Or perhaps you do, anyways, thank you.


At least it's not mentioned when he's in a romantic relationship. So I won't ever see that in any of my games.

He says that? Alas, Withers, what didst thee bethink?


This. He and the player were forced into the situation. I admit, Astarion handles it better than I'm able to. The point is, he shouldn't have to handle it in the first place. The way he's treated at the docks is horrible and the player should be given a choice to follow him.