Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Justice for Gale

What if you reverse the situation, and play a human wizard Tav (or a githyanki warrior, since you also named Lae'zel)? What I find problematic is not the companions as characters, but their origins.

When playing as Gale, you can learn that So I can see how people can arrive at the conclusion that these characters were written mostly as protagonist. I think as with any impressions, this is of course very subjective, and dependent on your own experience, but it is not without substance.

On a side note, I also found the throwbacks to the original BG games in Gale's origin a bit of a weird choice, considering who DU is.

I do really like Gale's writing and voice acting, especially the more playful dialogues have great flow, it does feel like a conversation. Very charming, there often is a teasing note to it and I don't mind that all, he has some good comebacks to it too. I also like, that during the epilogue kiss, he gets to tease the PC for once which was a nice gesture and very cute.

I might be willing to bet a soul coin that the Quill dialogue and the brothel dialogue were written by the same person, there seems to be one or more writers who's mind and loins are captivated by Halsin often and they seem to like playing the same tune over and over again. Also while Astarion doesn't get mocked as much, he does get sexualised often and I feel that is just as bad. (And poor Halsin deserved better than to bear such a load of questionable content too.)



I am generally bitter if characters are made to hijack scenes they have no business hijacking, the second Emperor reveal is another one of those. I didn't need him there, the situation was good without him. But other than that, yes she gets a lot of special treatment - but fortunately, one can exchange her for a rather fine garment. That's how one gets accustomed to a mercenary's life.

When the writing tries so hard to make you like someone it backfires.

Also, this is an RPG, you're supposed to be able to be a piece of shit to your companions, but in BG3 those opportunities can feel unequal for different characters.

I see what you did there.


Or you can both be ambitious wizards, supportive of each others' plans and wreak havoc together. Fun times.

Gale may be mocked because ageism is alive and well in this world, and he is arguably the most mature member of the party before Jaheira. I respec him to be my cleric ASAP so that he can stay with me throughout. He's my Durge's voice of reason because she's so clueless. (This is probably a recipe for disaster but it will be a fun ride.)

Sh***yfart and Karlach never leave camp in my game because ain't nobody got time for annoying teenage girls. Halsin seems so nice at first, but after reading how disgusting he is once he becomes a companion, he can also stay in camp and amuse the girls with his slutty tricks.

If Jaheira doesn't have Sleight of Hand I'll respec her once I can recruit her so I can dump Mr. Twilight in camp as well.

Signed, a cranky old female gamer.

I did this this, but did you realize you didn´t kill the *real* Elminster? If you examine him, you'll notice he counts as a construct. When you kill him, he dissolves into a puddle of water.

He's a simulacurum, and Mystra is not impressed.

[I might have misspelled that, but that is a rather complicated word, lol]

What I meant specifically is that Gale never has any unique interactions until Act 3. Karlach has some fun introspective moments, Shadowheart has a fair amount of scenes in Act 1 and LOTS in Act 2. Laezel has lots of things to do in every act, because of the GIthyanki plot. Gale has the Tressym scenes in Act 1, and that's it. Whereas, as you take him as a companion, he's literally the exposition character that discusses and explains the main plot.

I actually like how things can play out different if your MC is a certain origin. For that matter, I am one of those who actually likes Karlach's ending, too. All game long you're told you're gonna bite the dust, until you do. Really sad, but it would've been a cop out if that didn't happen.

And the Shadowmagic spellslot thing in Act 2, though that feels minor compared to what you say about Shart. I was surprised that the people who comment on the strange magic of the tadpole don't notice that the whole wizard is full of this strange magic. Especially Aunty Ethel has such a strong aversion to the netherese magic that I would have expected a stronger reaction - even more so since she does have a mockery line about the wizard being rot and ruin.




A Gale thread needs puns! I just had him comment on Clowns being 'armless when finding Dribbles's arm.


That is of course very true. Please hunt down all the rogue shadow mages and then pilfer their secrets to your heart's content.

Yeah exactly. Like I don't have a problem necessarily with the player character being able to take the piss out of Gale--if someone wants to do that playthrough, that's cool. The problem comes when Gale-related options (especially re: being in a romance with him) are limited to only insulting choices and the fact this treatment doesn't extend to the other characters.

About the soul-spoiler...



I like to keep him intact because then

Wow, I just saw this alternative outcome with heroic Gale and it's so sad! It's a shame the other companions in the group have nothing to say. The epilogue party plays out differently too.

I just wish he had a proper character-quest-ending cut scene that didn't require his death - or the death of the party. But I do like his orb scene very much.

I don't even understand the "boring sex" line. Gale has one of the most elaborate and over-the-top sex scenes in the game. Yes, you can choose "boring" sex instead (and I do), but that doesn't seem to be what the line is referring to. Is it implying he's out of practice or something?

My guess would be, it either refers to him disliking the whole orgy business or to the "it was fine" after the act 2 romance scene which you can use either as real answer or to tease him. I like the Weave scene for what it represents even though it does look funky.

The thing where she's immune to the curse, the whole Gauntlet section, she has her own lines when facing 'The Doctor' and inside the little tob thing, and the big choice to be made, the reveal of her true nature - the whole of Act 2 is kind of made for Shadowheart. Gale doesn't have anything a Human Tav Wizard doesn't get until Act 3.

Yes, there is Elminster and Tara - but that's just some exposiotion and it happens in camp. He has nothing to *do*. That said, Astarion gets nothing until then, either, but at least you can try and bite people as Astarion. There is *some* agency.

Now, that said, Gale gets the *best* Act 3 and the coolest finale out of everyone

Now that I think of this, I think it is bloody retarded that a *vampire* takes necrotic damage from a shadow curse. Astarion should be immune, or at least resistant to necrotic damage and vulnerable to fire. But, tadpoled. That explains it.

While it might not be much compared to what you describe for Shart, you only get the option to cleanse/absorb the body of one of the Thorm siblings with Origin-Gale. Also you generally don't get reminded that Mystra would not approve of Tadpole absorbtion.



Do you mean blowing up with the coolest finale? I think that is a rather depressing finale, just as the whole God-affair is. What makes Act 3 special for you?

Eh, I think God Gale is a badass. He can own Raphael so bad.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EXlNeMrXxdE

Gale is always badass even as a human!

I think he may be *way* more entertaining as companion, than as an Origin. As an Origin I found him depressing under a thin coating of hilarious. ^^;

Edit: I don't think he has a bad Act 3 or a bad finale, just that for me it mostly felt satisfying which his companion arc does not because it lacks closure. Even with the Epilogue it's like the final page of the actual story is missing.

I've wondered if it has something to do with him being monogamous as well? I am not entirely sure where the idea came from Gale is "vanilla" when 1) the weave sex scene is incredibly wild where he essentially triple-teams the player character and 2) he even implies him and Mystra got up to some kinky stuff with her sounding him with weave, like... It doesn't seem factual at all and just a way to be mean to Gale when in a relationship with him.

I don't agree with this? Gale only gets a cinematic ending if he opts to kill himself. Otherwise his other endings basically happen off-screen (until the epilogue, if not playing Gale origin, it was legitimately a mystery what happened to him if he chose godhood/wasn't in a relationship with the player).

Even in Act 3, Gale's arc is just finding out more about the Karsite Weave and then making a choice on what to do about the Crown. If the player opts not to kill Gale, he doesn't have much else to do. It feels a little incomplete.

Not to mention to mention that he seems to have a bit of a thing for danger in more than one respect: Doing bloody battle in a grim, dark cursed land at your side is what makes you proposition you, while forbidden, dangerous magic is also always a temptation. Excluding the brothel situation, I had thought someone had taken "still waters run deep" as a guideline for him, very nice and polite on the outside but once you start looking, there are layers.

I hadn't been at the brothel with him as a companion for a while because I had played his origin, but looking at it again now, you cannot even get out of the conversation with the Drow without being mean, bordering on cruel, to him. The option that on the surface seems to be the "nicest", the persuasion, leads to the worst outcome by far. And apart from being cruel to your partner, it also does not allow you to play your own character as kind or clueless and not interested in the whole thing yourself. If you are in the same situation with Astarion however you can be considerate of his feelings and are not forced to make fun of them instead. Apparently having body image issues is a thing to be mocked for now, thank you very much.


Also, yes, the tressym is a winged cat in form but as a character Tara is very much treated as a maternal friend, so I don't even see the issue. I think it's cute how during the epilogue kiss, Tara is pointedly not looking at the couple but cleaning her paw.

Lol wtf are those options. Seriously, who writes dialogue like that.

With Astarion you're considerate up until the end when the narrator tells you he's been dissociating and you couldn't be bothered.