Originally Posted by mattmcrich
Originally Posted by claudee0
Adding my 2 cents on the salt pile, 'cause if I had to make a headline for my BG3 playthrough it would be something along the lines of: "Gamer sets out on a 200 hours-long quest to fix a broken heart, gets heartbroken instead". I was honestly SO sure her quest could be resolved well, especially seeing all the other origin companions' stories unfolding...anyways, rant below, ye be warned

All origins follow a similar thematic pattern: they each struggle with an abusive figure/negative force that has had a significant impact in their lives (and, in a way, even made them who they are at the beginning of the game). Depending on the player's choices they can either succumb to it, walking down the path of self-destruction until their literal or metaphorical death, or choose to break free from it, at the cost of giving up a significant part of themselves (usually a power, belief or personality trait strongly influenced by the aforementioned force/figure); this compromise prevents the better endings from feeling either "tragic for the sake of tragedy" or "too perfect and "Disney-like"

I thought the formula above would apply to Karlach's story as well, and I was dead wrong.

In Act 1, her outburst post-Anders encounter is met by present companions with a shared, ominous sentiment of: "if she keeps letting it get too far, this power will be her undoing", an idea which I thought nothing of, at least until the matter of infernal coins (specifically, overusing them) and the "btw you're dying" reveal came up, because by the end of Act 2 I had already gotten plenty of chances to influence (or at least challenge) the other companions' personal choices (and thus, control their questlines) via dialogue, something the game had only let me do with Karlach when it came to her usage of her engine and the consumption of soul coins. I thought her "narrative split" was gonna revolve around those issues, but as it turns out there was never any splits or routes to begin with.

By the time in Act 3 when I was completing the first few companions' questlines, I was still convinced someone in Baldur's Gate was gonna offer her a permanent solution to the engine problem, with the drawback of rendering it powerless: you can live, just not as Zariel's supersoldier (which in hindsight I think would've been a meaningful bargain, considering how much she loves fighting and feeling powerful). I'd get to save her life and unlock a hopeful ending, just like I did for every other companion, or I'd do something wrong/evil and doom her to a bad fate, just like I could do to every other companion: with this thought in my silly silly brain I carried a shitload of infernal iron pieces all throughout the final stretch of the campaign, only in the end to get completely proven wrong. I finally finished the game this Saturday and was so upset at the endings that I bailed on that evening's plans (with an excuse, mind you: "no clubbing tonight, my virtual girlfriend died" didn't have a nice ring to it)

TLDR: making hopeful predictions about the plot backfired in my face horrendously lol. Also #JusticeForKarlach

I never used those soul coins during the whole game cause those just seemed like they'd make her condition worse

I was set on not using them for your same reason, meanwhile a buddy of mine let her eat every soul coin he came across in his save,
even got a cutscene of the engine overloading BADLY,
and still no further changes or consequences whatsoever frown cut content I guess?

Originally Posted by WildOrchid
Originally Posted by claudee0
Adding my 2 cents on the salt pile, 'cause if I had to make a headline for my BG3 playthrough it would be something along the lines of: "Gamer sets out on a 200 hours-long quest to fix a broken heart, gets heartbroken instead". I was honestly SO sure her quest could be resolved well, especially seeing all the other origin companions' stories unfolding...anyways, rant below, ye be warned

All origins follow a similar thematic pattern: they each struggle with an abusive figure/negative force that has had a significant impact in their lives (and, in a way, even made them who they are at the beginning of the game). Depending on the player's choices they can either succumb to it, walking down the path of self-destruction until their literal or metaphorical death, or choose to break free from it, at the cost of giving up a significant part of themselves (usually a power, belief or personality trait strongly influenced by the aforementioned force/figure); this compromise prevents the better endings from feeling either "tragic for the sake of tragedy" or "too perfect and "Disney-like"

I thought the formula above would apply to Karlach's story as well, and I was dead wrong.

In Act 1, her outburst post-Anders encounter is met by present companions with a shared, ominous sentiment of: "if she keeps letting it get too far, this power will be her undoing", an idea which I thought nothing of, at least until the matter of infernal coins (specifically, overusing them) and the "btw you're dying" reveal came up, because by the end of Act 2 I had already gotten plenty of chances to influence (or at least challenge) the other companions' personal choices (and thus, control their questlines) via dialogue, something the game had only let me do with Karlach when it came to her usage of her engine and the consumption of soul coins. I thought her "narrative split" was gonna revolve around those issues, but as it turns out there was never any splits or routes to begin with.

By the time in Act 3 when I was completing the first few companions' questlines, I was still convinced someone in Baldur's Gate was gonna offer her a permanent solution to the engine problem, with the drawback of rendering it powerless: you can live, just not as Zariel's supersoldier (which in hindsight I think would've been a meaningful bargain, considering how much she loves fighting and feeling powerful). I'd get to save her life and unlock a hopeful ending, just like I did for every other companion, or I'd do something wrong/evil and doom her to a bad fate, just like I could do to every other companion: with this thought in my silly silly brain I carried a shitload of infernal iron pieces all throughout the final stretch of the campaign, only in the end to get completely proven wrong. I finally finished the game this Saturday and was so upset at the endings that I bailed on that evening's plans (with an excuse, mind you: "no clubbing tonight, my virtual girlfriend died" didn't have a nice ring to it)

TLDR: making hopeful predictions about the plot backfired in my face horrendously lol. Also #JusticeForKarlach

that's basically why she got the engine in first place. To be a powerhouse to smack strong devils as Zariel's little pitbull - it's no wonder why Zariel likes her specifically of all the other strong warriors of hers.
She'll be sad she won't kick ass anymore, but to get her life back? Perfect tradeoff imo because even with the tadpole gone, Karlach is still strong mainly because of her infernal engine.

Now that I think about it, wouldn't a power nerf also permanently get Zariel out of the picture? We know from Mizora that the Absolute is the reason why Zariel stops sending people on Karlach's trail after act 1 (because what use is there in trying to wrestle her back in the Blood War, when taking out the Absolute takes priority?), but post-epilogue she'd probably try to bring her back to Avernus again, UNLESS Karlach lost just enough power to stop being seen as an asset in Zariel's eyes. As you said, perfect tradeoff.

(Or maybe Zariel is so petty she'd try to get her back regardless, I'll leave that for the dnd lore experts to decide lmfao)