Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion POLL: Tweaks to make the good ending less of a downer? (ENDING SPOILERS)

I'm lucky enough to be part of the patch 7 closed beta. New evil ending animations have been announced as part of that, but I was hoping against hope that there may also have been some tweaks to endings for good characters who aren't willing to kill Orpheus without trying to reason with him or let someone else (eg Orpheus, Karlach, Gale) sacrifice themselves when they can prevent it.

We've had threads critiquing the way that the plotting plays out with Orpheus and The Emperor and while I agree there are holes I'm not trying to reopen that debate here. And I'm sure there aren't going to be any significant changes at this stage.

But I do think that some relatively minor changes could make the end of the game feel just a bit less unremittingly bleak for a good, selfless character who has tried their best to help people. I know virtue is supposed to be its own reward and all, and I don't need a happy ending, but would appreciate at least a tiny glimmer of light or hope!

For me, the smallest possible change that would at least make me feel a little less like weeping at the end of my favourite characters' stories would be simply changing the ending animation with WIthers when a character chooses to ...


What about you folks? Do you agree the good ending is grim, and do you agree small tweaks like the above could help at least slightly, or do you have any other feasible (ie minor) tweaks that could improve it? Or have you managed to find happier endings for your good characters? And if so please tell me your secret!!!

Good ending attitude poll single choice
	The good ending is miserable but could be improved with some small tweaks
	The good ending is miserable and nothing short of a complete rewrite could make it any better
	The good ending is miserable and that's the way I like it
	I've found satisfying non-miserable endings for good characters
	That's what you get for being suckers! I don't care about endings for good characters
Votes accepted starting: 22/08/24 11:20 AM
View Results

I voted for 1: The good ending is miserable and could be improved with small twaeks

For me that would be:

I agree that Karlach's resolution one way or another should be earlier in the dock scene, fylimar. Good call!

I created this thread after reloading the ending of my first playthrough to see if anything obvious had changed, and the ordering went:

I voted 4, I wouldn't call the endings where Karlach transforms miserable, for example. If you know you know, what Karlach says about her experience as a mind flayer. All positive. And we all know what the Emperor thinks... I also think that leaving someone as scheming and megalomaniac as Emperor to live and even be perceived as a hero - is a great way to wrap up this story, but not THE story. Having a calculating megalomaniac walk free is a fantastic source material for the next villain and a solid cliffhanger for the next chapter, even if its the one we'll never see.

I guess a noble sacrifice type of ending could use some love, but tbh I never had it so can't pass a reasonable judgement.

I mean, I agree that your ending sounds kind of shakespearean and I don't need always a happy end. But it is unfortunate,

Yeah.... ending itself is not nearly the biggest problem I had during my playthrough (looking at Orpheus and EMperor that we shall not delve any deeper here). I am also not opposed to having to make a hard choice at the end, but it does feel hollow due to clunky nature of the characters we are not to discuss here.

In my playthrough Karlach took the tenticle fall, and while I don't think it worked amazingly due to clunky set up, it also seemed like a decent ending to her as a character. Larian made a decision to completely screw over one character that isn't a piece of shit, and that's a narrative choice. To me the grimness of the ending can't be change through subtle tweaks, but it is a logical end point of a rather grim outlook that BG3 has as a game.

I am not sure how I will feel an another playthrough when I will have to sacrifice someone else that Karlach, but I also think that other characters necessarily deserve a happy ending (maybe aside of Laez, who seems to be more a product of her enviroment with a capacity of change).

I voted for the second option. All companions should be able to survive unharmed, including Orpheus.

I voted 2nd even though it's not exactly what I think but the closest to how I feel about the ending.

I'm okay with the sadder tone or what transpires in it (Karlach dying, Astarion burning etc) but the way it's executed is so damn rushed there's barely any gravity given to breathe those moments in.
It'd need not only a rewrite but a complete structural change and way the animatics are executed. I actually think Gale exploding himself feels better than him not doing so because there's just more time spent with the ending as a result of getting a proper scene of him grappling with it, lol (also improves the pacing as well since the final battle is a massive drag)

I do think that, had it been executed better, even without any changes in what happens in it people would feel it's less miserable as well because it'd be more satisfying to sit through. This ending is a wet fart and I just remember finishing the game the first time (patch 1) and thinking "Wait... huh? that's it?". I don't even think the epilogue fixes that. Overall I consider all tweaks that have been made to the ending very band-aid-y in nature when in order to work it'd need a complete rehaul.

I went with option four. As long as I don't play Lae'zel, I am pretty alright with sacrificing Orpheus even though he deserves better. It scared me a little how easily Lae'zel redirected her devotion from Vlaakith to Orpheus, as soon as she heard that he was the "true heir". So I was relieved to have a hopeful ending that left the githyanki without a god-prince deciding their future. In a story that is focused in finding strength in yourself and your friends instead of looking to otherworldly or divine powers for help, it seems a fitting conclusion.

My main issue with the dock scene is its pacing. It seems to me that they wanted Karlach's explosion to be the emotional heart of the scene and everyone else is just a point on a checklist to get there. Which seems unfair to both the other tragic events that can occur on the dock, as well as the other stories that do not get resolved until the very end. All of them would have deserved to be handled with some sincerity, instead all emotion and introspection is saved for Karlach's scene, when the feels are amped up to maximum melodrama. I found that simply never recruiting Karlach solves many of my issues with the ending - though I understand that isn't a solution for everyone. ^^;

As for my satisfying, non-miserable ending: I am pretty happy with how the dock scene plays out for Spawn-Astarion-Avatar. When playing as him, the scene during which he burns up is narrated more atmospherically, the companion comments are neither over-the-top nor uncaring (apart from Minthy who gleefully roasts you) and you get a little hopeful moment in the sewers - though I could have done without the bound up victim guy. I don't think it's a miserable ending at all and I am quite happy with it.

This is difficult to answer since I feel like some good ending options are very o.k., while a few among them may be unsatisfying.

A must add: while the game builds Orpheus up as a good guy, some people feel releasing him is as dangerous as a Netherbrain on the lose. I would like some closure from Larian on that worry -- is this a releasing thousands of spawn scenario, where it somehow ends up well-ish, or a hidden disaster? Does not need an in-game explanation, I would just like some sort of official answer. Put that debate to rest. I understand the loss of rights to many things might make this difficult.

I feel as though we don't get enough time to really develop a strong connection with Orpheus, so choosing to sacrifice him doesn't hit as hard as it maybe should. Though his story and importance to the Gith is actually very compelling, he is still the new character that we just freed who is now selflessly offering to make the sacrifice. The first time I played when nothing of the story was spoiled to me I was very conflicted whether this was going to mean the rebellion against Vlakith would be over before it even began. But now that I know that the outcome for Lae'zel and the Gith remains a hopeful one, I am not very conflicted about it.

I think that's also a big flaw with the ending, if the interviews where Swen said the choice has to feel like a sacrifice is anything to go by. It doesn't feel like much of a sacrifice, considering most players will get the chance to either trust the Emperor with it or have Orpheus deal with it. If the task obligatorily fell to you or any of your (willing?) party members it'd feel different, or if you had any reason to give a lot of gravity to Orpheus being transformed, such as playing as a rebel Gith Tav.

Tbh, I don't care much for either the Emperor or Orpheus. The first one is manipulating us and is only showing his true face, when we reject him. The second one has not really a chance to win us over. I free him for Lae'zel, but I'm not going to become a mindflayer for him. Tbh, at least Lae'zel should step in and volunteer, if Orpheus says, he changes - that would be another small thing to change, give us more volunteers depending on how companion stories do go. It would make sense for Lae'zel, trying to save Orpheus.

I think the complete rewrite that it got before full release both made it "less miserable" and gave it the plotting problems we've had discussions about. If the direction we saw in Early Access was kept it probably would have been a lot harsher, but it also probably made a lot more sense. So thinking of it like that, I'd prefer they lean back into what it was originally supposed to be. So I guess I technically vote for complete rewrite but it's more like wanting to undo the complete rewrite.

That's super impractical though so there's a different minor tweak they could make.

I voted that the ending is in need of a complete rewrite.

If the next Larian is a game worth having I really hope they finally resolve to release a polished Act 3.

I liked the ending I got, although I can see why you didn’t like your ending, Red Queen!

Lae'zel’s ending was my favorite!

I really enjoyed my ending that I got on my first playthrough! True, I reached the ending already with patch 5, when the party was added to the ending, so the experience was great. The final scene at the docks just filled with a feeling of joy, elation, real victory. After the party there was a desire to go back to the game, which is very rare for me, usually, if I go through some particularly interesting games more than once, I always take a break for another game to forget a little bit of the story and avoid the feeling of repeating the same thing. But not in the case of BG3! Though I can see why, with certain choices or having a special affection for certain companions, a good ending can feel like a tragic ending to the player. In my case, all the companions were fine, only Karlach became an illithid. But I agree with neprostoman, she ends up being very positive about her experience as a mind flayer, even saying she wouldn't have chosen a different fate. Everyone else was happy and shared their stories with me at the party:


I don't perceive my ending as miserable at any point, but if Larian improves something about it at the request of other players, why not? Maybe I too would take advantage of that improvement in another playthrough. The story itself requires someone to become an Illithid anyway (well, or an alliance with the Emperor who already is), this can hardly be changed in any way. The Gortash-illithid option is an interesting one, but it looks too time-consuming to implement when the Larian are already finalizing game development. Plus, the alliance with Gortash that would be required to do this removes the player's ability to save Will's father, and would still result in one of the companions being upset (if you view this method as the key to making everything perfect for all companions).

I voted for option 4 because I'm happy with everything, but I'll never be against any change for the better. Option 5 is so fun that it's impossible to resist from voting for something, just for the sake of looking at the stats and seeing how many players chose that option.

I found the good ending to be quite good -
The other Origins were kicking up daisies.
I found the after party meh and needless.

So, I haven't played the ending that you were talking about in the first post. In my game
There's no obligation to have a fully happy ending, and I'd expect to have to make compromises. I haven't seen an ending that felt "unremittingly bleak" so I don't know how much my opinion relates to what you've seen. Maybe one for a future playthrough.

Definitely what counts as miserable is subjective, and it’s really interesting to read other perspectives. I’ll admit that the Karlach option could feasibly be taken by a good character …


I mentioned what happened in my first completed playthrough above. In my second …


The small tweak that would have helped me not feel quite as sad during act 3 and the ending for that playthrough would have been if my character could have appeared as her original self. It surely isn’t too much of a stretch to have an illithid power to project an image of how one wants to appear. My character approximated this by using the Disguise Self spell to appear as the halfling she started off as, but it’s not the same as having the appearance I’d carefully selected. And I know that’s shallow and cosmetic, but it would mean I wasn’t constantly reminded of the fate of my character, and I’m not ashamed to admit that a bit of denial would go a long way in helping me cope better with the ending