Find a random thing, bring it to the Smith, get some exposition.... Hardly the stuff that the not-last-minute Origin characters get.
That seems to be a bomb thing. "Find 3 random magical items." is much the same - though this seems to be a last minute change too, since you seem to have needed special items for him before.
Well, that *is* true, but you can resolve that bit welll before even meeting Karlach. Not to mention that Gale then has another quest in Act 3 with multiple things to do and multiple proper endings to his story. Comparing the two companion quests, Gale has a time-and-a-half as much content *in the first act*. Although he doesn't burn down tollhouses, granted.
Originally Posted by mattmcrich
things
I'll not debate the differences between Red Dead Redemption and Baldur's Gate, I'm very well aware; it was merely an example of how a character's death can be a fitting end to a story. I could have mentioned Mass Effect instead, but... well that wasn;t a good ending and then I'd have to defend that. Shepard dieing however, is not the reason for that ending to fail, is all I will say on the matter.
And I agree that we're led to believe we can find a solution for Karlach. And we can't. Not even Raphael offers this, which I find baffling. Raphael is supposed to offer us a tempting deal, and unless you're heavily invested in Githyanki society, he doesn't. We're also led to believe Zariel is important to the wider story..... But she's not. She's mentioned more than any other deity-type-character, but she has no stake in the conflict whatsoever.
Which in turn means that Karlach, Wyll and Astarion have no ties to the main plot. That's fine when they're companions, but they're supposed to be main characters, too. At least for Wyll you can argue he's there to save the city, but why are Karlach and Astarion even there?
Her doing her final thing and die at the end of that thing is actually fine with me. It would've been great if there was a mechanic that if you burn her up too quick, she wouldn't even make it to the end game. Because, as it is, if you skip the thing with Dammon entirely, she'll live to see the end regardless.
