It does seem like the game itself punishes the player for romancing Gale--or at least second-guesses their choice and shames them for it. Between the "mock me if you will but I have a thing for Gale" being a player choice when romancing him to also telling Sorn that if the player wants boring sex they can ask Gale (when in a romance with him), when there's none of these kind of dialogue options when romancing other characters. It's... off-putting. Like *why*? Why have this if not to just dunk on Gale needlessly?
I get Gale was bugged on release and that led to the player-base memeing him as a horny, pushy guy and what-not, but the game beginning to reflect the more meme'd aspects of Gale's character and how fans responded to him because of bugs leaves a bad taste.
And then to see the IGN interview also just entertain his "blow up" ending and call it "right" and continue calling him "annoying". I don't know. Especially when I don't get why people complain so much about giving Gale 2-3 magical items when no one complains to the same degree about needing to fetch Karlach's internal iron. Just double-standards.
Exactly this. I started this thread in the hopes of shedding some light on Gale and how the community treats him. I see now that some people just don’t get his character at all. Him being reduced to just being the annoying one takes away the impact of his arc, everything he stands for, and labels his fans as annoying too. This is not to say he is free of fault or that we see him as some “poor me” baby, quite the opposite. The man is quite literally paying for his hubris and has acknowledged it multiple times in the game, where the players can even weigh in and give him shit for it too. My point was, however, that the game and the writers focus too much on mocking him and making him look like a joke during a lot of his pivotal moments that we don’t get with the other companions. I feel ashamed to be a Gale fan at times because the game makes me feel this way. I constantly have to defend why I like him. Not even Gortash fans have to fight for their lives like we do lol.
Not to mention the countless times I’ve come across videos and livestreams of players making fun of Gale and hacking his hand off for the fun of it just because he wants a few magic items, as if the other companions don’t ask you to do deadlier things for them. Also what precedent does this set for people who relate to him because he has a chronic condition or even depression? That they’re annoying and should kill themselves? That interview was just so dismissive but we don’t see that treatment with any of the other companions and their tragic backstories. They’re validated and seen but god forbid you relate to Gale. I can’t tell you how many discussions I’ve seen that show people don’t take Gale’s story seriously and that they’ve missed the point completely. And I guess I can’t blame them, because even the game doesn’t take him seriously and that’s where the issue lies.
Does Gale have a huge ego? Sure, but honestly who else in the game doesn’t? That’s not a really good reason to constantly be the only character that has opportunities to dunk on him. Other companions don’t have half as much of the mean dialogue you can say to or about them like you can with Gale. All I’m really saying is, Gale is a great character with an amazing storyline and it’s a shame it doesn’t get recognized by the players or the writers. I don’t think a lot of players get to experience his story because of all this bias around him, and all these jokes are only adding to this. And if Larian put as much supportive dialogue options for him in the game as much as they’ve put mean ones, then that’d be great too.
My current pet peeve is Karlach's dialogue after the Elminster visit. It is unproportionally long compared to that of the other companions, centers on her, breaks the mood of the scene with funny lines and worst of all, while all the other companions question Mystra's or Gale's motivations, Karlach tells the player what to think, that wizards are stupid and finishes with a joke at his expense. In his scene, of which he has not many.
By contrast during Karlach's big scene everybody is very moved, Jaheira's dialogue is long but focuses on Karlach's feelings and while Minsc also has a humorous line, it is one that reflects sincere concern. Double standards. And a double shame because the writing and performances of the Elminster scene are beautiful.
Still so bitter that a late addition character has better treatment, unique dialogue and cutscenes, and support from the companions than Gale does. Granted, her story is still not finished but everyone’s so nice to her right off the bat. Imagine if Karlach had the same dialogue options that Gale had… can you imagine the outrage?
