Your post is so well written, Crimsonrider, that I feel the need to write a reply. I'm not a beta tester, so I don't think I should post much about the endings, that's why I'll simply agree with your review and emphasise the things you mentioned.
This also could've been a chance to bring Gortash back; to have an actual ending with him, to surprise your audience who are investing their time into a significantly underdeveloped evil playthrough. "Hey remember Gortash, that amazing character voiced by Jason Isaacs? Yeah he now has an actual ending and Bane shows up in it. GO WILD GUYS!". But no... as always just frantically kill off everyone tied to the evil journey the instant they start to display any interesting branching story on the evil path. You had Gortash as a villain right till the very end and chose to kill him off. What a waste.
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However these extended end-cutscenes for the evil playthrough are merely the equivalent of the good playthrough's end-cutscenes at the dock during launch ("Yay the Absolute is dead, nice job everybody... GG, ROLL CREDITS!"). They were not satisfying conclusions for the good story back then and they certainly are not satisfying conclusions for the evil story today regardless of how visually impressive they are.
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Where's our evil epilogue? Where's our actual evil aftermath? Where's our satisfying ending where we get to see what our power accomplishes on a grander scale? Where is our evil post-credit scene with the Dead Three taunting Withers instead?
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These extended evil cutscenes as they stand are ultimately the final nail in a coffin that shows just how uncared-for and poorly thought-out the evil journey in BG3 is from start to finish where every potentially branching evil story is immediately killed off in its infancy in order to save budget, cutting off all its branches at every corner before they even had a chance to grow. I won't even bother amusing the idea that taking control of the Absolute could have been used for good. To rebuild or create a better world by getting rid of evils such as Vlaakith, Zariel or Lolth, something that Minthara implies with her own good ambitions on the good path. An actual pragmatic would use the Netherbrain as a tool to help or improve reality and we could have been the next Gortash.
THESE especially!
Gortash is the biggest wasted potential in the game for me. I was quietly hoping for him to show up after all, but I guess that's it for him.
The endings are indeed just extra scenes with no proper aftermath. They're gimmicky and some of them are really fun, but it's just not enough to be a satisfying conclusion to such a long game.
That's how I was thinking of roleplaying my Seldarine Tav - to destroy Lolth and also Vlaakith for Lae'zel (and for my own satisfaction because she made things personal), then get rid of the untrustworthy and obnoxious brain and proceed to the normal good ending with Ascended Astarion.
I also felt emotional reading the description of your proposal for a fourth Durge ending. This would be such a wonderfully dark and powerful ending!
You've written so many extensive and insightful posts, pointing out plot shortcomings and have given so many great ideas how to improve the game for people who don't want to play as a heroic knight in shining armour and prefer to hang out with morally ambiguous characters, I applaud you. It's a shame you don't work for Larian.
