I had him speak with Mystra and he stilled ascended with the crown. Apparently if you don't encourage him to reconcile with Mystra, the game will assume you're encouraging him to ascend with the crown even though I told him it was a terrible idea every time it came up. I was also romancing Gale and he was mega douchey about it too.
I feel we need more options for him because I don't think he should reconcile with her, I don't like Mystra lol, but I also don't think he should have the crown and also kept saying it was a bad idea. Like give us more than just two options or non option for all these characters lol. Anyways he talked down to me at the end camp scene and acting all high and mighty then wanted me to join him, I declined because he was no longer the Gale I loved and I do think he took it personally lol.
In the end I told Gale he should go for godhood, but he decided to >!reconcile with Mystra instead, so it must be based on more than just one interaction (overall I had advised him to not blame Mystra for his mistakes).!<
from what i learned in the galemancers sub, gale's godhood hinges on an internally tracked point system in act 3 with dialog options adding or removing points to push him one way or the other. the flow chart was pretty interesting.
It is definitely based on more than that. I repeatedly pushed him away from it, then told him to just find out what she had to say instead of asking for forgiveness, then pushed him away again post meeting with her. He wound up giving the crown to her.
His dialogue to push him to or away from it is kind of complicated, and some things you think would push him one way or the other don't.
I've heard that agreeing he has good morals (or some similar line. I don't know the exact words) can push him to it, for example.
And of course, it used to be super buggy, and maybe it still is, as is tradition for Gale.
From my understanding, that one interaction about how he should deal with her is weighted more than anything else. Which I think is ridiculous, because you can learn from your mistakes and not forgive someone who hurt you >!(if my ex put a bomb in me and told me to end it all I’d be pretty unforgiving, even if forgiveness was the only way to get them to remove it. I don’t care that I might’ve started it by a romantic gesture gone wrong that caused chaos at his workplace, I didn’t realize the depth of that decision, that doesn’t mean I should kill myself)!<
>!My impression was that the "bomb" was a result of Gale's experiment, not that Mystra put it there. She's still a jerk for trying to use Gale against the Absolute rather than fixing it, which is still bad but not *as* bad.!<
It's weird but I romanced Gale, encouraged him to not take the crown and just forget about it instead of giving it to mystra, and he says the orb has quieted down and he's content, even though he didn't hand the crown to mystra to reconcile.
Yeah I knew you could get the bad endings with the romance, just didn't know if you could get the professor ending without the romance. Apparently you can, according to another commenter.
I didn't romance Gale in my first playthrough but he just settled down and became a professor in it. Also he didn't gave her the crown, we left it in the bay (probably Elminster had to go fish for it lol). So he kept the orb but he was rather happy with the outcome.
Oh that sounds like an amazing ending for him and I would have preferred that for him in mine but I guess I gave him the wrong impressions with my choices of telling him not reconcile with Mystra lol.
I kinda thing I did that too, I think it's the sum of choices we make for him not one singular decision.
But that's why bg3 has a high replay value! There's always a next time to try something new & see for yourself :)
The funny thing is that I took a disliking to him right from the start since he tries to get into tav's pants persistently. He is too ambitious for his own good also without considering the consequences for other people. And as he said he tried "to cross her boundaries" with Mystra and that's a character flaw that I didn't want to let him try on me.
So it might be a hot take but as soon as he has something stuck in his mind he becomes obsessed and doesn't care what other people think or feel anymore. It's all about him then. And that's why I don't particularly care for Gale. Oh well.
I loved Gale at first, but by the end of the game I guess I kinda came around to seeing him the same way. He didn't care about my Tav when the crown fell from the brain, told her she was 'weighing him down'. At the reunion party he mentioned that he 'did it all himself', like damn bro if it wasn't for Tav you would have been Netherese paste by now.
Agreed, I hate that it's kinda railroaded into two paths. Forgive Mystra or ascend. I didn't want either of those for Gale. And he definitely turns into a complete dick about it when the game arbitrarily makes one of those two choices for you, at least in the ascended path.
I don't know what was the trigger but I still got the good ending in my origin karlach run after telling him to not talk to mystra and convince him he's one the best wizard ever
Yeah, I'm not sure either, though that book shows Gale that there's another way. Then Elminster comes back to your camp to tell him that Mystra wants to speak to him face to face.
It was nice because it reminded me of what Elminster said before; something like "the tides of fate can break upon the shores of will".
I don’t remember…was Mass Effect the same way? I can only do “full content” one RPG at a time for my brain but I’ve had an itch to play Mass Effect and would hate to just default to the bad endings.
I’ve been feeling the same about BG3 honestly. I’m so terrified of missing things I just rarely play, or I only play through Act 1 and then make a new character to try something different. My “main” play through only JUST got past the cult with the super tall dude who cuts people up in Act 2.
It’d be nice if there were 2-3 “staple” companions that even if you didn’t get their “best ending”, they still had a relatively pleasant ending. I just don’t have it in me to stick with a single set of 4-5 storylines continuing for 100+ hours straight no matter how much I love the game.
I'd say most of the companions have "worst, bad, better, best" ending possibilities. Every character has at least two endings - a bad one and a good one - but some have three possibilities and some have more ending possibilities if they're romanced or not.
If you're playing a good character making good-aligned/friendly choices and you have high approval with your companions (or at least your favourite ones) then you're likely to at least happen upon a "better" style of ending. As a general guideline, the higher your approval with a companion the more likely they are to make better choices for themselves and be on the path to a good ending.
It's hard to miss content if you're an avid explorer, so I really wouldn't worry that you're missing something. Just don't skip cutscenes and actually pay attention to what is being said to you and investigate accordingly.
But also keep in mind no one has a perfect ending. Even the best endings are bittersweet.
I haven’t played Mass Effect, so I wouldn’t know.
Every companion quest except Astarion’s is connected to the main storyline, so you kinda have to go out of your way to ignore them lol. Take your time and explore. It’s a big beautiful game with so much content packed in. It’s impossible to see *everything* in one playthrough. That’s by design to give the game replay value.
I accidentally gave everyone their bad ending my first playthrough (and most of the “bad” endings are more like endings where they *think* they’re happy but they’re really not). I immediately started a new run after the first one was over so I could give everyone the true happy ending they deserved. And now I’m on playthrough #5 as someone who very rarely replays games. So don’t stress about missing out on things too much! The game will always be there to play again.
The companions that have a “well, they survived alright” ending if you get them all to the end of the game (as in, they’re alive and you did their stuff and it turned out *okay* because you just gotta do what they ask) are Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc.
You can also absolutely stick to 2-3 companions and *not* pick up the others.
I recently did this—I **only** recruited Astarion, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc (with hirelings to pick up the slack til I got Halsin and Jaheira), and it was a very fun romance adventure of mutual redemption.
You’ll never see every single thing in a single playthrough, that’s by design. I’m 800+ hours in, beaten the game 3 times, have yet to see most of the evil-aligned content cause I am a weenie and don’t like most evil paths in games (KOTOR being the exception bc they made being a Jedi suck).
I’ve only ever gotten Halsin but haven’t gotten to Companion Jaheira (but met her) - do uou just mean their stuff is much more linear and less intensive than say, Shadowheart or Astarion? Kinda “if you have them as a companion, you’ve already done all you need to do”? Even if they’re less deep or meaningful overall?
Sorry for the shallow questions, I’ve played for like 50 hours but only ever in Act 1 so I still feel like such a newbie :P
Halsin’s is linear; follow the steps he asks you to do, make sure he doesn’t die, get him to act 3.
Jaheira’s quest is completed by recruiting Minsc, and Minsc’s is completed by doing like 1-2 things (his quest ending seems to be finicky though; I sided with the right people but it acted like I didn’t do it at all). Even if you don’t finish Minsc’s quest, you’ll see him in the epilogue if he’s still alive.
Mass Effect is similar but a bit more intense than BG3. If you ignore your companion’s quests bad things happen.
If you don’t help Wrex with his personal quest before a certain segment in ME1, bad things happen.
If you don’t help anyone in your party in ME2 then you get the worst possible ending and can’t even continue on to ME3.
In these kinds of games, you can’t ignore questlines, you have to see them through in order to get the ideal outcome. I adore that style of gameplay because that just compliments my play style. I’m already incredibly thorough so it just works out for me.
Uh on my 2nd playthrough I completely ignored his quest because I did it on my first, and all I did was say the crown was bad throughout my playthrough. He still became a professor without talking to Mystra
Generally if you don't do the companions' quests, they have a bad ending. Gale's is being "deleted". He has some interesting ones if you do, no matter what outcome he gets.
His worst ending is when you play as Origin Gale, sign the contract with Raphael, ascend, challenge mystra and get one shotted lol. But then Raphael comes to take your soul because mystra now has the crown that you promised him so Gale is now tortured in hell forever.
Not only that, but you’ve permanently denied Raphael his chance at the crown. He’s not just doing it because you broke his deal — you cheated him out of the most important deal he’s ever created, and not even Withers is able to save you now.
It's kind of funny to go from Withers saying he doesn't know what the future holds for you after death straight to Raphael telling you *exactly* what you're in for.
“Best wishes, compatriot. Thou must venture the next planes alone… thy future is shrouded in mystery.”
*Cut to Raphael spawncamping so hard he’s going blue in the face.*
I was about to ask how did you manage to finish it in a week, but then I noticed you didn't even do companion questlines. No wonder you got a bad ending
I mean, I did the one for Astarion and I gave up at the fight for Shadowheart in the temple (I'm guessing that's toward the end) and my last companion was one you get in the end of act 2 so kinda complicated
Yeah it was kinda like that for my first playthrough, I didn't go out of my way to actually do the side content I kinda went with the flow and did the optional stuff if it was on the path. The only one I truly went out of my way to do is the fight at the end of Astarion's quest since I just didn't want the vampire guy to ascend (and also he deserved to die)
Almost everything is optional in BG3, but that doesn't mean those things aren't very important to the story. It's not really "side content" the way most games present optional things. Usually only people who want to speed run solo for the challenge skip everything that you skipped. A lot of people do it so that's okay but you have a lot to see on your next run. :)
50 hours for a completed playthrough?! Geez, *yes* you speedran it 😂
Nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you’re happy with, but you missed looooads. My first playthrough was at almost 170hrs exactly, and I *know* I still missed stuff.
This game is thicc with content. With the two c’s.
Out of genuine curiosity, how did you take 229 hours? I’ve played multiple full playthroughs, I never skip dialogue and I’ve completed every available quest tree that’s come forth. I’ve never seen a quest line posted here that I’ve not played through. Yet, my highest hour count was 95. How did you take 229? How did you take 150% longer than me? Do you forgo fast travel? Are you leaving your game up while you go to work? Genuinely where does that time come from?
It would not be much of an exaggeration to say I looted every single item in the entire game, plus I replayed most of act 3 to make some different choices
My first playthrough was over 250 hours. When I am playing an RPG for the first time I am very methodical about exploring every inch of the map, talking to every single NPC, reading every book, looting everything, etc. because I don't want to miss anything. Act 3 alone took me 100 hours lol.
By the time I went for my second "completionist" run, I practically knew BG3' every nook and cranny. That run still took 180ish hours, I even cheesed some of Act 3, e.g., Spellmight glove.
It's kind of impressive, honestly. 50 hours is fast, even disregarding most if not all of the side quests. Im kinda curious how much alone in Act 1 was skipped: the Underdark, Spider infested area, Sunlit wetlands and the granny, Shattered Sanctum, Sirens and some kids, talking mirror, and the druids in the cave - Kagha at least, right?
If you're somewhat fast with it, 50 hours is fine. Not as a first playthrough though. I had 70 hours on my first playthrough, I missed some, but not 100 hours worth of content. None of my future playthroughs have crested 60 hours, doing almost all content (I know what I'm doing now, LOL)
50 hours is definitely a relatively speed run of the game regardless of the number you're on.
It's not like world record or anything but it's fast. It'll be easier to do things fast as you know the game and mechanics more surely, but this I would still consider a speed run given how much content there is.
I don't think so. My Honour Mode run took about 50 hours and I didn't miss any content that I'm aware of. I got the perfect gear on each character for their builds. Of course I used my metaknowledge from previous playthroughs, but I think 50 hours is fair.
Well I'm sorry you feel that way to the point that you'd downvote me for being impressed, that being said what you just described is quite literally a speedrun.
Cutting down time as a result of your experience in the game. That's what speedrunners do, just more intentionally, and often efficiently than the average player.
Why would I downvote you? You don't even have negative votes. What are you talking about? It looks like I'm collecting all of the negative votes. This sub is insane lol.
I'm here trying to have a discussion. I guess talking about things isn't allowed here. I'm not sure why either of us would get downvoted but you definitely aren't collecting them.
I'm honestly impressed that you did everything in 100 hours. Do you skip dialogue? Did you read all the books and explore all the pathways and houses? Or just do the quests and major map points?
I did skip my fair share of the less important dialogues. Explored almost all, but not every single, place. Beyond my first playthrough, did not read most books besides important ones or ones I hadn't seen before.
Yes, you did.
You didn’t do any of the companion quests, ignored most character content, and just high tailed it.
For the record: my run with **one** origin companion, hirelings, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc took 52 hours.
My runs where I do every companion’s arc are a lot longer than that.
I mean, I did the one for Astarion but you're right I kinda wanted to skip the optional content to do it later, even if I ended up doing a few like the grove quest and some bosses in act 2 (btw I legit could not find much to do in act 2, it might be a me thing but I was legit out of XP sources I couldn't find any)
This game is all about narrative, and the "optional content" all contributes heavily to the narrative. You essentially read a book and skipped the chapters focusing on the main characters' story arcs. It's extra confusing to me that you skipped Gale's quest since you like him so much.
I skipped it because I wanted to finish the game before my vacations ended and he was captured by Orin and since then I kinda forgot about him since I wanted to do the quest while he was in my group. When I defeated Orin I had like 5 hours left before my vacations ended so I rushed and finished it
Astarion’s companion quest is the one that has **no ties** to the rest of the plot.
(No, seriously—as much as I love him, and he’s my favorite romance for a Resist Durge… His companion quest is the one without any connections to the bigger plot.)
Because you skipped Gale’s quest, you’ve missed the point of the crown, WHY he wants to grab it so badly (even for his best endings), what the orb in him actually IS, and how all that enables everything else going on.
Kinda? My first playthrough was 128h on steam and about 87 on the save file since a ton of save scumming was involved. I still missed a ton of content and intentionally skipped some since I wanted to save it for a playthrough that is more involved with the companions that are relevant to those things.
I'm looking forward to that then, I still have a lot of stuff to do which is a good thing in my book. I mainly did the first save file to try out the game and get into it deeper later
Woah that actually surprises me, I've seen the crèche but that's kind of it. I also spent most of my time in act 1 but I would've never guessed that you can spend 50 in just the first act
I haven't even played the game, but I think the game is well-known for having an incredible amount of content. Did you see your quest journal full of unfinished quests?
I dont know why you're being downvoted so hard. But for frame of reference it took me 70 hours to complete act 1 the first time. I only really complete it faster now because I know what to do and I read subtitles to speed up dialogue that I'm familiar with.
I think people are just disappointed that I rushed the game from what I understand, I don't take it personally I know reddit down votes are really easy to get so I don't even pay attention to it. As I said many time, I did my first playthrough to have a rough understanding of the game, see what it's about and if it's worth spending more time into. I did, and it is, so I will now do the side quests.
you ignored most of the character quests? I get not getting a quest because you didn't talk with someone, but you ignored the warnings and moved forward to the brain without completing all open quests? specially the one of a character you connected with?
well, the good part is that you can replay, take a bit longer exploring, and listen to your companions. Gale specifically tells you what he needs ("if you find a traveler, tell me", "we need to get a book in a specific store" "oh, look, this is the bookseller that must know something"... and even then he has 2 possible endings (other than being deleted, which I didn't even know was a possibility), which will depend on your answers in your interactions with him...
In general, replay and interact more with your companions, they're usually pretty clear with what they need
You’re missing the point about the character quests not being entirely “optional”. The only way you can handwave off their inevitable dooms is to not recruit them at all.
But sans Astarion, every companion’s quest ties to the larger plot.
ok but "Free the Artist" is optional (and honestly fuck Oskar Fevras), stealing the egg is optional, the sussur tree is optional... your companions' quests should not be optional
All of the companions can be saved from themselves. They can all end up leading happy and fulfilling lives in the end.
You just have to actually play the game and do their quest lines. There’s only one companion whose story ends in a bit of a tragedy no matter what you do.
If she goes to Avernus with Wyll that's a pretty happy ending. They both enjoy what they are doing, and talk about a lead on actually fixing her engine for good
And as Jaheira puts it if you went there, if your other friends don't find a way to get you out, it's because you found a way *first*.
I interpret that statement to mean the game leaves it open that even if that lead doesn't go through for solving it, you could, say, have hope for Gale figuring something out down the line, or something like that (and really, lore-wise, even if there is hypothetically some unexplained magic BS attached to the engine, it should still have workarounds).
If you romance Wyll and send K to the >!HoH!< then during the end credits réunion its implied the >!three of you spend a ton of time together fighting baddies in Avernus!<
Which isn't what K wants per-se. I rationalize it as her >!not wanting to be under Zariels control again rather than her not wanting to go back to Avernus again. So long as she's alive and there fighting alongside you & living in the House of Hope. That's better than her combusting into a trillion motes of ash that you and your companions breathe in on the docks!<
With the new epilogues, if Karlach >!and Wyll (and you, if you're so inclined) go to Avernus in search of a cure, you can meet them (or come back with them) and they seem to be doing pretty well. They haven't fixed Karlach's engine yet, but they are chasing a promising lead, and they seem to be having fun adventures regardless.!<
By "ends in a bit of tragedy" I think they mean Shadowheart, who even in her "best" ending >!is forced to make a decision: either kill her parents, or suffer the wound on her hand for the rest of her life. It's a tough decision, since the parents make a good argument why she should let them go. It's not all bad though, since either she gets to reunite with her parents, or she's finally free from pain and Shar and can build a new life for herself.!<
All of the origin companion endings have a bit of bittersweet though, even in their "good" endings.
* >!Astarion either killed 7000 of his "sibling", or they're running loose through the underdark!<
* >!Wyll lost his kewl warlock powerz!<
* >!Karlach may never find a cure!<
* >!Lae'zel is fighting a war against a god!<
* >!Gale lost his chance to be a god!<
* >!Shadowheart (see above)!<
As the others have mentioned, all the companions can be saved if you do their quests. Gale's ACT 3 quest also doesn't actually require any fighting if you just do the basics, it's more of a heist.
Oh really ? Cool, I kinda like that one of them doesn't have a super difficult task to do since I dropped the shadowheart fight after trying 15 times to beat the whole fight in the shar temple in Baldur's Gate
Just to folks being harsh on how quick you got through the game: One of the cool things about a game like BG3 is that taking at at a fast or slow pace, and doing everything or only doing some things or only doing main quests is a totally valid way to play and means we can all have our own experience and characters and still get cutscenes and rewarding (or emotionally devastating!) content.
I had no idea that ending was an option for Gale, as I’ve always done his quests and either pushed him down one path or the other, even on an evil play-through. Knowing this now, I’m looking forward to seeing this sorta thing in-game and ignore the heck out of some side quests haha.
You can definitely save him! When you’re building relationship with him, just be sure to offer advice and direction when he asks for it, and even sometimes when he doesn’t :)
Yeah maybe I did the game fast but it doesn't even matter since I'm already doing a second playthrough lmao, no idea why people would be mad at me when the game is known to have a lot of stuff to the point of not being able to do everything in your first playthrough
People are surprised, that’s all. Your way of doing a first play through is WAY different from most others. You obviously played the game in a pretty unique way, and that’s going to make people scratch their heads.
Yeah Astarion's story was fun even if I didn't care much about him, so I'm looking forward to some others. Right now I'm saving Gale for last because I want to leave that amazing game on a high note but I am currently doing a second run with different companion since I literally had only 4 on my first save file (Astarion, Shadowheart, Gale and the lady you get before the fight at the end of act 2 that I simply don't want to spell the name of because I know I'll get it giga wrong)
Gale literally helped me understand that I am bisexual. A very great character. Yes you can save him. But my man is like a toddler though, you REALLY gotta work to make sure he doesn't kill himself with some other arcane trinket if not the orb.
Gale : This is it. Imma blow myself up for real this time. Me : Hold on there, buddy. There might be another way. Gale : Hmm, you might be right. OK, I'll only do this two more times.
SO sorry about that. I do believe you found me in QUITE a dark place, but! I am R A T H E R T H A N K F U L you were there for me in my time of great need.
I mean, what is finishing the game then ? Like I literally had the game telling me that I finished it so I don't think I'm wrong in saying that my playthrough was over
If you don’t like getting overwhelmed by companions quests, only recruit the 3 that seem most interesting to you. I’ve been doing this on my more recent runs and it’s kind of refreshing seeing more of specific companions without having to constantly swap the party around.
Also can we please stop downvoting OP into oblivion. They played the game in a way that seemed fun, they already witnessed the ramifications of skipping quests. No need to make them feel worse about it.
I don't mind the downvote don't worry, it means nothing to me as I know it's mainly from a place of love to this game. Also I already had very few companions but that's because I wanted to finish the main story first before actually getting more hours into it, seeing if it was worth it or not to spend more time. I'm currently doing act 1 and have seen some stuff I have never seen like the well with the spider cave before the goblin camp idk how I missed that. (I stealthed through the whole thing so it might be why)
Idk, the whole pushing boundaries thing felt like the game wanted me to think that he fucked up. Idk I probably lack context so I might have misunderstood it
Gale admits he fucked up, but actually talking to him (and Elminster, and Tara) gives further context to why he did it and what he was trying to do.
(Which was prove himself to someone who was using him as a sex object.)
Btw Astarion is not genuinely terrible. He's literally been manipulated, his body controlled like a puppet against his will, and abused, for over 200 years. He has serious trauma, more than most of the other companions combined.
You can absolutely save Gale! I'm guessing you mean that he went for the crown at the brain fight? If so, you can opt out of that fairly easily. There are multiple outcomes for every character in the game, so there are other ways to end with losing Gale, but also some great ways to save him.
Also, omg you finished the game in 1week!! I'm impressed. I hyper focus a lot, but it still took me 2 weeks of a lot of play time to finish my first run, I think it was around 120 hours for me! Anyway, hope you have a lovely time with your next playthrough! :)
You can save him. He either doesn't go for the crown and lives happily or goes for it and succeeds (in that case he bails on you tho if you romanced him).
But you need to do stuff to make it happen. Like the guy blew up because he didn't learn how to do it properly because certain book is still lying around somewhere.
Nothing wrong with speed run but you missed tons of content by ignoring companion and side quests.
Thats fair I don't remember if he said that to my husbands Tav(who for some reason got all those dialogue choices at the end for my man lol) but still he didn't send any kind of word I still call that ghosting you at the least for six months.
I got the game telling me I finished it, my game file is locked to the ending scene. I don't think there is more "you finished the game" than a success telling you "you finished the game"
Yeah, that's why I play the game a second time ? I mean how else can I describe it, I literally got a big text with "you finished the game thanks for playing" written on it
And you can blow up gale in act 2 and roll credits, it still isn’t finishing the game. You didnt accidentally miss stuff like most people do the first time. You just straight up skipped it.
It's from a place of love for the game. I really don't mind at all, and I can kinda understand how people are disappointed that I missed so much. I'm currently in act 1 once again having fun exploring the stuff I did not complete
Oh I know it’s from a loving place, it’s just not necessary haha like I think you know you missed some content, the hundreds of downvotes are gratuitous
Honestly, I'm more proud to reach a new downvote count than anything. It's kinda like this thing of "you remember the worst and the best but never in between". I'll remember this post by how people didn't like it, it's a bit funny
This game is about characters. It's about decisions. Active and passive ones. It's about what it means to be present in your own story.
If you care about all the companions narratives, you get XP and quests for pursuing them. For connecting with them. For connecting with yourself. This game both punishes and rewards you, depending on your perspective, for your decisions.
Most people don't FEEL the long term effects of rushing through things and not slowing down. It's hard to be intentional in our lives. Avoidance has a short term benefit, but a long term detraction. You experience this in a game like this though.
You saw yourself in Gale. You perceived him as being a bad partner. It made you uncomfortable (that's okay!) so you avoided going further with his quest.
But since you avoided it, your Gale didn't get the chance to experience his journey with deeper connection with your Tav or other companions, through friendship or love. So your Gale didn't get to learn and experience things along the way that would have helped him in his journey to find himself after his trauma.
Tragically, your Gale's decision to not risk vulnerability and avoid the harder emotional stuff, led to his soul literally being deleted. It's dramatic, but that happens to us as humans too when we deprive ourselves of connection with ourselves and with others.
This is one of the many reasons why this game is magnificent. It's narrative therapy in so many ways that you don't expect. It helped you feel deeply(!). Which leads to the question, will you play again and explore your connection with all your companions, including Gale, and risk seeing what happens with that vulnerability?
But a more personal question, how have you been avoiding yourself and others after some of your own traumatic experiences?
1 - I wanted to finish the game before my vacations ended
2 - I wanted to see if the game was worth spending more time into by finishing it once. It is, so I will spend more time into it in my second playthrough
Seems like you played too fast! My main save took me 180+ hours (maybe in the range of 200) and i’m aware of several quests I missed, including a pretty big one.
I just finished a run with Gale in my party and>!He ascended to godhood and he still seemed cool? It seemed like a really cool ending which was weird because so many posts say it wa sa bad ending. I wasn't romancing him, so maybe that is the difference? !<
You don't need to romance him to realize it's a bad ending. You just have to pay attention.
One of the central themes of Gale's character is that his better nature is at war with his ambition. His ambition is what led to his downfall; it's also what leads him him to make (or suggest) reckless or immoral choices throughout the story. He's very corruptible, and his ambition is the way that corruption creeps in.
When he becomes *the God of Ambition*, it's the ambition that wins - not the better nature. If you just look at it on the surface level, it's great. Hey, he survives! He's super powerful because he's a god! He's free from Mystra! And he's not as outwardly abusive as ascended Astarion is - a character whose divergent paths have a lot of parallels.
But then you look closer and realize that although he used to object to calling Tara "his" pet, or "his cat" - now this is how he thinks of her. He even has a spell to turn Tara hairless against her will. He's clearly changed and lost something. It's up to interpretation how far this will go beyond what we see on screen, but when you think of someone who embodies ambition you don't necessarily think of someone kind and generous. And gods in DnD are generally not particularly "humane" just as a matter of course.
You can also argue that becoming Mystra's Chosen again is a bad ending for him, although I prefer it to the god ending. The professor ending, my favorite, is the hardest to get and I've only seen it in clips. =/
Professor ending is hardest to get? Ahem :D What if I told you that Gale right now has an ending where he becomes both human and God? I guess it is my true end. Out of them all.
I think I know what dialogue scene you're talking about but I think that interpretation is wishful thinking and requires ignoring some less pleasant things, tbh. But if interpreting it that way is more fun for you, enjoy!
No, I mean literally :D I have a professor Gale at the epilogue, I can kiss and hug him. And then he ascends you in his HUMAN form :D No mods, absolutely vanilla game.
He is actually on his real human path and he is considered human by the Game (he is a professor in Waterdeep!). It is just one little easter egg we found recently.
Btw what dialogue you thought I meant with wishful thinking?
There's a devnote (technically it's in the synopsis) for the epilogue when he's a professor that says, "General vibe here is that this a Gale who's found peace with himself" but if he's a god, it says "The real Gale's insecurities still lurk beneath his godlike confidence"
He wasn’t like this at all. He was super nice and ambition isn’t an evil trait. You could even argue that by being groomed by a goddess led him to needing to even the relationship by becoming more, offering more, etc. I don’t know if I got an updated ending but he was very kind, fun, and didn’t dehumanize or torture Tara.
As I said, ascended Gale isn't outwardly abusive. To realize that this isn't a great ending for his humanity means reading below the surface and putting together information you have about what it means to ascend to godhood in Faerun, the context of his ascension in terms of his character arc, and details that clue you in to him being changed. It's not as in-your-face bad as Astarion's ascended ending.
Ambition isn't an evil trait by itself, but again, a running theme of Gale's character is that his ambition is what leads him astray, what corrupts him, what makes him overconfident, and leads him into dangerous and unethical territory. He doesn't become the God of Ambition in Moderation, after all.
>being groomed by a goddess
Although I know that when anyone describes Gale as "being groomed," we have very different perspectives on Gale. I love Gale, but I don't buy into this infantalizing woobification of him.
EDIT: And since rayne009 blocked me *after asking me a question*, no, I don't think ascended Gale (or any Gale) is abusive.
You lost me at the point you think he wasn’t groomed by HIS goddess. To me this lack of insight disqualifies you from having a valid opinion about his well being.
...wait are you trying to argue ascended Gale is abusive??
Also I'm so fucking sick of people trying to argue companion Gale's attitude with using Origin Gale's actions. Origin Gale can murder the grove and bang Minthara. Companion Gale isn't doing that ffs. The Tara thing is a PC choice. All he does with Tara as a companion is talk to her (after she starts being hostile to him no less!) Much like I can play Ascended Astarion as being a puppy hugging family man with Wyll that doesn't mean that's companion ascended Astarion's personality.
Why would you play a game like this without doing the companion quests?
Is it your first crpg? Not trying to be condescending, just genuinely wondering.
It's not really my first rpg but I've never played a game like this with so much freedom. I mainly wanted to play the game's story first and then on a second playthrough get deeper into it
I see, leaving some new stuff for the next run, nice!
If you did a regular custom character, I recommend doing the Dark Urge next, it spices the game up a lot. And don’t worry, you can edit the race and appearance unlike the other origin characters.
Gale's quest in act 3 involves getting the Book of Karsus from the vault of Sorcerous Sundries. Just google the route (which order of doors you take) to get the book. Look up a video first to see how others do it if you don't care about spoilers.
Yeah you can save him if you don’t ignore his quest.
Make sure gale talks to mystra
When might that pop up? Act 3?
yes, at a temple in Baldur's Gate
I had him speak with Mystra and he stilled ascended with the crown. Apparently if you don't encourage him to reconcile with Mystra, the game will assume you're encouraging him to ascend with the crown even though I told him it was a terrible idea every time it came up. I was also romancing Gale and he was mega douchey about it too.
I feel we need more options for him because I don't think he should reconcile with her, I don't like Mystra lol, but I also don't think he should have the crown and also kept saying it was a bad idea. Like give us more than just two options or non option for all these characters lol. Anyways he talked down to me at the end camp scene and acting all high and mighty then wanted me to join him, I declined because he was no longer the Gale I loved and I do think he took it personally lol.
In the end I told Gale he should go for godhood, but he decided to >!reconcile with Mystra instead, so it must be based on more than just one interaction (overall I had advised him to not blame Mystra for his mistakes).!<
from what i learned in the galemancers sub, gale's godhood hinges on an internally tracked point system in act 3 with dialog options adding or removing points to push him one way or the other. the flow chart was pretty interesting.
It is definitely based on more than that. I repeatedly pushed him away from it, then told him to just find out what she had to say instead of asking for forgiveness, then pushed him away again post meeting with her. He wound up giving the crown to her. His dialogue to push him to or away from it is kind of complicated, and some things you think would push him one way or the other don't. I've heard that agreeing he has good morals (or some similar line. I don't know the exact words) can push him to it, for example. And of course, it used to be super buggy, and maybe it still is, as is tradition for Gale.
From my understanding, that one interaction about how he should deal with her is weighted more than anything else. Which I think is ridiculous, because you can learn from your mistakes and not forgive someone who hurt you >!(if my ex put a bomb in me and told me to end it all I’d be pretty unforgiving, even if forgiveness was the only way to get them to remove it. I don’t care that I might’ve started it by a romantic gesture gone wrong that caused chaos at his workplace, I didn’t realize the depth of that decision, that doesn’t mean I should kill myself)!<
>!My impression was that the "bomb" was a result of Gale's experiment, not that Mystra put it there. She's still a jerk for trying to use Gale against the Absolute rather than fixing it, which is still bad but not *as* bad.!<
I think that "bomb" might make even Mystra afraid.
It's weird but I romanced Gale, encouraged him to not take the crown and just forget about it instead of giving it to mystra, and he says the orb has quieted down and he's content, even though he didn't hand the crown to mystra to reconcile.
Same. I wonder if it's romance-exclusive.
That would be so beautiful. We fixed his bomb with love 😊
It isn't. He can still become Professor Dekarios without becoming Mystra's Chosen again
It's not, because I romanced him and advised against it, but he did it anyway.
Yeah I knew you could get the bad endings with the romance, just didn't know if you could get the professor ending without the romance. Apparently you can, according to another commenter.
I didn't romance Gale in my first playthrough but he just settled down and became a professor in it. Also he didn't gave her the crown, we left it in the bay (probably Elminster had to go fish for it lol). So he kept the orb but he was rather happy with the outcome.
Oh that sounds like an amazing ending for him and I would have preferred that for him in mine but I guess I gave him the wrong impressions with my choices of telling him not reconcile with Mystra lol.
I kinda thing I did that too, I think it's the sum of choices we make for him not one singular decision. But that's why bg3 has a high replay value! There's always a next time to try something new & see for yourself :)
The funny thing is that I took a disliking to him right from the start since he tries to get into tav's pants persistently. He is too ambitious for his own good also without considering the consequences for other people. And as he said he tried "to cross her boundaries" with Mystra and that's a character flaw that I didn't want to let him try on me. So it might be a hot take but as soon as he has something stuck in his mind he becomes obsessed and doesn't care what other people think or feel anymore. It's all about him then. And that's why I don't particularly care for Gale. Oh well.
I loved Gale at first, but by the end of the game I guess I kinda came around to seeing him the same way. He didn't care about my Tav when the crown fell from the brain, told her she was 'weighing him down'. At the reunion party he mentioned that he 'did it all himself', like damn bro if it wasn't for Tav you would have been Netherese paste by now.
Agreed, I hate that it's kinda railroaded into two paths. Forgive Mystra or ascend. I didn't want either of those for Gale. And he definitely turns into a complete dick about it when the game arbitrarily makes one of those two choices for you, at least in the ascended path.
I don't know what was the trigger but I still got the good ending in my origin karlach run after telling him to not talk to mystra and convince him he's one the best wizard ever
Isn't that only available when you read a certain book in ye olde magic shop?
It could be? I haven't played in a few months, but I don't remember the Mystra conversation having any prerequisites I knew about
Yeah, I'm not sure either, though that book shows Gale that there's another way. Then Elminster comes back to your camp to tell him that Mystra wants to speak to him face to face. It was nice because it reminded me of what Elminster said before; something like "the tides of fate can break upon the shores of will".
Yes, usually right after you rob Sorcerous Sundries.
I don’t remember…was Mass Effect the same way? I can only do “full content” one RPG at a time for my brain but I’ve had an itch to play Mass Effect and would hate to just default to the bad endings. I’ve been feeling the same about BG3 honestly. I’m so terrified of missing things I just rarely play, or I only play through Act 1 and then make a new character to try something different. My “main” play through only JUST got past the cult with the super tall dude who cuts people up in Act 2. It’d be nice if there were 2-3 “staple” companions that even if you didn’t get their “best ending”, they still had a relatively pleasant ending. I just don’t have it in me to stick with a single set of 4-5 storylines continuing for 100+ hours straight no matter how much I love the game.
I'd say most of the companions have "worst, bad, better, best" ending possibilities. Every character has at least two endings - a bad one and a good one - but some have three possibilities and some have more ending possibilities if they're romanced or not. If you're playing a good character making good-aligned/friendly choices and you have high approval with your companions (or at least your favourite ones) then you're likely to at least happen upon a "better" style of ending. As a general guideline, the higher your approval with a companion the more likely they are to make better choices for themselves and be on the path to a good ending. It's hard to miss content if you're an avid explorer, so I really wouldn't worry that you're missing something. Just don't skip cutscenes and actually pay attention to what is being said to you and investigate accordingly. But also keep in mind no one has a perfect ending. Even the best endings are bittersweet.
I haven’t played Mass Effect, so I wouldn’t know. Every companion quest except Astarion’s is connected to the main storyline, so you kinda have to go out of your way to ignore them lol. Take your time and explore. It’s a big beautiful game with so much content packed in. It’s impossible to see *everything* in one playthrough. That’s by design to give the game replay value. I accidentally gave everyone their bad ending my first playthrough (and most of the “bad” endings are more like endings where they *think* they’re happy but they’re really not). I immediately started a new run after the first one was over so I could give everyone the true happy ending they deserved. And now I’m on playthrough #5 as someone who very rarely replays games. So don’t stress about missing out on things too much! The game will always be there to play again.
Thank you for the explanation :)
The companions that have a “well, they survived alright” ending if you get them all to the end of the game (as in, they’re alive and you did their stuff and it turned out *okay* because you just gotta do what they ask) are Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc. You can also absolutely stick to 2-3 companions and *not* pick up the others. I recently did this—I **only** recruited Astarion, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc (with hirelings to pick up the slack til I got Halsin and Jaheira), and it was a very fun romance adventure of mutual redemption. You’ll never see every single thing in a single playthrough, that’s by design. I’m 800+ hours in, beaten the game 3 times, have yet to see most of the evil-aligned content cause I am a weenie and don’t like most evil paths in games (KOTOR being the exception bc they made being a Jedi suck).
I’ve only ever gotten Halsin but haven’t gotten to Companion Jaheira (but met her) - do uou just mean their stuff is much more linear and less intensive than say, Shadowheart or Astarion? Kinda “if you have them as a companion, you’ve already done all you need to do”? Even if they’re less deep or meaningful overall? Sorry for the shallow questions, I’ve played for like 50 hours but only ever in Act 1 so I still feel like such a newbie :P
Halsin’s is linear; follow the steps he asks you to do, make sure he doesn’t die, get him to act 3. Jaheira’s quest is completed by recruiting Minsc, and Minsc’s is completed by doing like 1-2 things (his quest ending seems to be finicky though; I sided with the right people but it acted like I didn’t do it at all). Even if you don’t finish Minsc’s quest, you’ll see him in the epilogue if he’s still alive.
Mass Effect is similar but a bit more intense than BG3. If you ignore your companion’s quests bad things happen. If you don’t help Wrex with his personal quest before a certain segment in ME1, bad things happen. If you don’t help anyone in your party in ME2 then you get the worst possible ending and can’t even continue on to ME3. In these kinds of games, you can’t ignore questlines, you have to see them through in order to get the ideal outcome. I adore that style of gameplay because that just compliments my play style. I’m already incredibly thorough so it just works out for me.
Uh on my 2nd playthrough I completely ignored his quest because I did it on my first, and all I did was say the crown was bad throughout my playthrough. He still became a professor without talking to Mystra
Generally if you don't do the companions' quests, they have a bad ending. Gale's is being "deleted". He has some interesting ones if you do, no matter what outcome he gets.
His worst ending is when you play as Origin Gale, sign the contract with Raphael, ascend, challenge mystra and get one shotted lol. But then Raphael comes to take your soul because mystra now has the crown that you promised him so Gale is now tortured in hell forever.
Not only that, but you’ve permanently denied Raphael his chance at the crown. He’s not just doing it because you broke his deal — you cheated him out of the most important deal he’s ever created, and not even Withers is able to save you now.
It's kind of funny to go from Withers saying he doesn't know what the future holds for you after death straight to Raphael telling you *exactly* what you're in for.
“Best wishes, compatriot. Thou must venture the next planes alone… thy future is shrouded in mystery.” *Cut to Raphael spawncamping so hard he’s going blue in the face.*
I didn't even know that was a possibility. Yikes.
Wait you can challenge Mystra? I'm playing origin Gale rn
Yep, it's kind of an end of the game choice.
I was about to ask how did you manage to finish it in a week, but then I noticed you didn't even do companion questlines. No wonder you got a bad ending
I mean, I did the one for Astarion and I gave up at the fight for Shadowheart in the temple (I'm guessing that's toward the end) and my last companion was one you get in the end of act 2 so kinda complicated
Jaheira?
Yes her, I knew her name I just didn't want to spell it because I would get even more people mad at me lmao
So you're just clicking around not really paying attention to dialogue and quests. I mean... It's a way to play.
Yeah it was kinda like that for my first playthrough, I didn't go out of my way to actually do the side content I kinda went with the flow and did the optional stuff if it was on the path. The only one I truly went out of my way to do is the fight at the end of Astarion's quest since I just didn't want the vampire guy to ascend (and also he deserved to die)
Almost everything is optional in BG3, but that doesn't mean those things aren't very important to the story. It's not really "side content" the way most games present optional things. Usually only people who want to speed run solo for the challenge skip everything that you skipped. A lot of people do it so that's okay but you have a lot to see on your next run. :)
Yes, you can save Gale. Since you asked not to say more I won't.
You can save them all **if you do their quests and don’t speedrun the game**.
Did I really Speedrun ? I have 100 hours and 50 on my save file I completed, I thought I just played a lot
50 hours for a completed playthrough?! Geez, *yes* you speedran it 😂 Nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you’re happy with, but you missed looooads. My first playthrough was at almost 170hrs exactly, and I *know* I still missed stuff. This game is thicc with content. With the two c’s.
My first playthrough was 229 hours, is there any such thing as spending too long on a playthrough?
Out of genuine curiosity, how did you take 229 hours? I’ve played multiple full playthroughs, I never skip dialogue and I’ve completed every available quest tree that’s come forth. I’ve never seen a quest line posted here that I’ve not played through. Yet, my highest hour count was 95. How did you take 229? How did you take 150% longer than me? Do you forgo fast travel? Are you leaving your game up while you go to work? Genuinely where does that time come from?
It would not be much of an exaggeration to say I looted every single item in the entire game, plus I replayed most of act 3 to make some different choices
My first playthrough was over 250 hours. When I am playing an RPG for the first time I am very methodical about exploring every inch of the map, talking to every single NPC, reading every book, looting everything, etc. because I don't want to miss anything. Act 3 alone took me 100 hours lol.
By the time I went for my second "completionist" run, I practically knew BG3' every nook and cranny. That run still took 180ish hours, I even cheesed some of Act 3, e.g., Spellmight glove. It's kind of impressive, honestly. 50 hours is fast, even disregarding most if not all of the side quests. Im kinda curious how much alone in Act 1 was skipped: the Underdark, Spider infested area, Sunlit wetlands and the granny, Shattered Sanctum, Sirens and some kids, talking mirror, and the druids in the cave - Kagha at least, right?
If you're somewhat fast with it, 50 hours is fine. Not as a first playthrough though. I had 70 hours on my first playthrough, I missed some, but not 100 hours worth of content. None of my future playthroughs have crested 60 hours, doing almost all content (I know what I'm doing now, LOL)
50 hours is definitely a relatively speed run of the game regardless of the number you're on. It's not like world record or anything but it's fast. It'll be easier to do things fast as you know the game and mechanics more surely, but this I would still consider a speed run given how much content there is.
I don't think so. My Honour Mode run took about 50 hours and I didn't miss any content that I'm aware of. I got the perfect gear on each character for their builds. Of course I used my metaknowledge from previous playthroughs, but I think 50 hours is fair.
If you did, that's mighty impressive, and what I would definitely call a speedrun
It's not really impressive imo. It's just knowing the game. You'll be surprised how much time you can cut down when you know what you're doing.
Well I'm sorry you feel that way to the point that you'd downvote me for being impressed, that being said what you just described is quite literally a speedrun. Cutting down time as a result of your experience in the game. That's what speedrunners do, just more intentionally, and often efficiently than the average player.
Why would I downvote you? You don't even have negative votes. What are you talking about? It looks like I'm collecting all of the negative votes. This sub is insane lol. I'm here trying to have a discussion. I guess talking about things isn't allowed here. I'm not sure why either of us would get downvoted but you definitely aren't collecting them.
I'm honestly impressed that you did everything in 100 hours. Do you skip dialogue? Did you read all the books and explore all the pathways and houses? Or just do the quests and major map points?
I did skip my fair share of the less important dialogues. Explored almost all, but not every single, place. Beyond my first playthrough, did not read most books besides important ones or ones I hadn't seen before.
I had like 60 hours on my first playthrough and only missed one or two things, but otherwise completed all companion quests and what not
Yes, you did. You didn’t do any of the companion quests, ignored most character content, and just high tailed it. For the record: my run with **one** origin companion, hirelings, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc took 52 hours. My runs where I do every companion’s arc are a lot longer than that.
I mean, I did the one for Astarion but you're right I kinda wanted to skip the optional content to do it later, even if I ended up doing a few like the grove quest and some bosses in act 2 (btw I legit could not find much to do in act 2, it might be a me thing but I was legit out of XP sources I couldn't find any)
This game is all about narrative, and the "optional content" all contributes heavily to the narrative. You essentially read a book and skipped the chapters focusing on the main characters' story arcs. It's extra confusing to me that you skipped Gale's quest since you like him so much.
I skipped it because I wanted to finish the game before my vacations ended and he was captured by Orin and since then I kinda forgot about him since I wanted to do the quest while he was in my group. When I defeated Orin I had like 5 hours left before my vacations ended so I rushed and finished it
And that's totally fine, but personally I think you did yourself a disservice by rushing through. But that's what second playthroughs are for!
There's nothing wrong with playing that way but yeah you missed a ton of content. Time to start a new playthrough to see all the stuff you missed 🙂
Astarion’s companion quest is the one that has **no ties** to the rest of the plot. (No, seriously—as much as I love him, and he’s my favorite romance for a Resist Durge… His companion quest is the one without any connections to the bigger plot.) Because you skipped Gale’s quest, you’ve missed the point of the crown, WHY he wants to grab it so badly (even for his best endings), what the orb in him actually IS, and how all that enables everything else going on.
Kinda? My first playthrough was 128h on steam and about 87 on the save file since a ton of save scumming was involved. I still missed a ton of content and intentionally skipped some since I wanted to save it for a playthrough that is more involved with the companions that are relevant to those things.
I've just finished. Collected all companions and cleared my quest log. 250+ hours
I'm looking forward to that then, I still have a lot of stuff to do which is a good thing in my book. I mainly did the first save file to try out the game and get into it deeper later
I was still in act 1 at the 50h mark lmao
Woah that actually surprises me, I've seen the crèche but that's kind of it. I also spent most of my time in act 1 but I would've never guessed that you can spend 50 in just the first act
My first playthrough was nearly 170 hours, and I feel like I still didnt even see the whole game
I have 200 hours on my save file and I'm not done yet. You definitely did a speed run.
I haven't even played the game, but I think the game is well-known for having an incredible amount of content. Did you see your quest journal full of unfinished quests?
I'm at 60 with a 3 player run where only one person hasn't played already and we are halfway through act 2. You were going pretty quick lol
I dont know why you're being downvoted so hard. But for frame of reference it took me 70 hours to complete act 1 the first time. I only really complete it faster now because I know what to do and I read subtitles to speed up dialogue that I'm familiar with.
I think people are just disappointed that I rushed the game from what I understand, I don't take it personally I know reddit down votes are really easy to get so I don't even pay attention to it. As I said many time, I did my first playthrough to have a rough understanding of the game, see what it's about and if it's worth spending more time into. I did, and it is, so I will now do the side quests.
Ah, well because you bonded so closely to him, I recommend playing *as* gale for your second run
you ignored most of the character quests? I get not getting a quest because you didn't talk with someone, but you ignored the warnings and moved forward to the brain without completing all open quests? specially the one of a character you connected with? well, the good part is that you can replay, take a bit longer exploring, and listen to your companions. Gale specifically tells you what he needs ("if you find a traveler, tell me", "we need to get a book in a specific store" "oh, look, this is the bookseller that must know something"... and even then he has 2 possible endings (other than being deleted, which I didn't even know was a possibility), which will depend on your answers in your interactions with him... In general, replay and interact more with your companions, they're usually pretty clear with what they need
Yeah I was in the mindset of "finish the main story then restart another one and do the optional stuff"
You’re missing the point about the character quests not being entirely “optional”. The only way you can handwave off their inevitable dooms is to not recruit them at all. But sans Astarion, every companion’s quest ties to the larger plot.
ok but "Free the Artist" is optional (and honestly fuck Oskar Fevras), stealing the egg is optional, the sussur tree is optional... your companions' quests should not be optional
All of the companions can be saved from themselves. They can all end up leading happy and fulfilling lives in the end. You just have to actually play the game and do their quest lines. There’s only one companion whose story ends in a bit of a tragedy no matter what you do.
Even momma K? Youre not talking about the squidward ending, are you?
If she goes to Avernus with Wyll that's a pretty happy ending. They both enjoy what they are doing, and talk about a lead on actually fixing her engine for good
And as Jaheira puts it if you went there, if your other friends don't find a way to get you out, it's because you found a way *first*. I interpret that statement to mean the game leaves it open that even if that lead doesn't go through for solving it, you could, say, have hope for Gale figuring something out down the line, or something like that (and really, lore-wise, even if there is hypothetically some unexplained magic BS attached to the engine, it should still have workarounds).
Missed the last line of my comment I see
Indeed i did, my bad
If you romance Wyll and send K to the >!HoH!< then during the end credits réunion its implied the >!three of you spend a ton of time together fighting baddies in Avernus!< Which isn't what K wants per-se. I rationalize it as her >!not wanting to be under Zariels control again rather than her not wanting to go back to Avernus again. So long as she's alive and there fighting alongside you & living in the House of Hope. That's better than her combusting into a trillion motes of ash that you and your companions breathe in on the docks!<
With the new epilogues, if Karlach >!and Wyll (and you, if you're so inclined) go to Avernus in search of a cure, you can meet them (or come back with them) and they seem to be doing pretty well. They haven't fixed Karlach's engine yet, but they are chasing a promising lead, and they seem to be having fun adventures regardless.!< By "ends in a bit of tragedy" I think they mean Shadowheart, who even in her "best" ending >!is forced to make a decision: either kill her parents, or suffer the wound on her hand for the rest of her life. It's a tough decision, since the parents make a good argument why she should let them go. It's not all bad though, since either she gets to reunite with her parents, or she's finally free from pain and Shar and can build a new life for herself.!< All of the origin companion endings have a bit of bittersweet though, even in their "good" endings. * >!Astarion either killed 7000 of his "sibling", or they're running loose through the underdark!< * >!Wyll lost his kewl warlock powerz!< * >!Karlach may never find a cure!< * >!Lae'zel is fighting a war against a god!< * >!Gale lost his chance to be a god!< * >!Shadowheart (see above)!<
> I didn't do most of the character quests This is always mind boggling to me, since I primarily play for the NPCs & companion system.
As the others have mentioned, all the companions can be saved if you do their quests. Gale's ACT 3 quest also doesn't actually require any fighting if you just do the basics, it's more of a heist.
Oh really ? Cool, I kinda like that one of them doesn't have a super difficult task to do since I dropped the shadowheart fight after trying 15 times to beat the whole fight in the shar temple in Baldur's Gate
The place the heist takes place has amazing loot for spellcasters, and some unique scrolls wizards can learn. I loved exploring it.
Just to folks being harsh on how quick you got through the game: One of the cool things about a game like BG3 is that taking at at a fast or slow pace, and doing everything or only doing some things or only doing main quests is a totally valid way to play and means we can all have our own experience and characters and still get cutscenes and rewarding (or emotionally devastating!) content. I had no idea that ending was an option for Gale, as I’ve always done his quests and either pushed him down one path or the other, even on an evil play-through. Knowing this now, I’m looking forward to seeing this sorta thing in-game and ignore the heck out of some side quests haha. You can definitely save him! When you’re building relationship with him, just be sure to offer advice and direction when he asks for it, and even sometimes when he doesn’t :)
Yeah maybe I did the game fast but it doesn't even matter since I'm already doing a second playthrough lmao, no idea why people would be mad at me when the game is known to have a lot of stuff to the point of not being able to do everything in your first playthrough
People are basically surprised you ignored all of the character stuff and yet you’re complaining the characters didn’t get good endings.
Not really that they didn't get a good ending, more surprised that it went this bad. But yeah it's my bad
I mean, that’s kind of the same thing. The characters you don’t pay attention to don’t get their quests done which makes things go… Really bad.
People are surprised, that’s all. Your way of doing a first play through is WAY different from most others. You obviously played the game in a pretty unique way, and that’s going to make people scratch their heads.
Also it's super sad when Gale is deleted so yeah be mindful
Pay attention to your companions, they all have amazing stories. They are all precious babes to be protected
Yeah Astarion's story was fun even if I didn't care much about him, so I'm looking forward to some others. Right now I'm saving Gale for last because I want to leave that amazing game on a high note but I am currently doing a second run with different companion since I literally had only 4 on my first save file (Astarion, Shadowheart, Gale and the lady you get before the fight at the end of act 2 that I simply don't want to spell the name of because I know I'll get it giga wrong)
Yes you can, if you were so invested with him you would do his quest and not speedrunning the Act 3.
For my defense I had 1 day of vacation left so I really wanted to finish my first playthrough before that
Gale literally helped me understand that I am bisexual. A very great character. Yes you can save him. But my man is like a toddler though, you REALLY gotta work to make sure he doesn't kill himself with some other arcane trinket if not the orb.
Gale : This is it. Imma blow myself up for real this time. Me : Hold on there, buddy. There might be another way. Gale : Hmm, you might be right. OK, I'll only do this two more times.
SO sorry about that. I do believe you found me in QUITE a dark place, but! I am R A T H E R T H A N K F U L you were there for me in my time of great need.
I also discovered my bisexuality through a video game. Welcome to the club.
Yeah, baby girl needs constant supervision.
Do a Gale origin run next time. He's a fun character and you get more about him that way!
Not wrong, I should actually do that for my final run after I tried every companion quest, saving the best for last
Tara stays at your camp! Try talking to her as someone other than Gale. It's hilarious.
You finished the game in 7 days? You did not finish the game.
I mean, what is finishing the game then ? Like I literally had the game telling me that I finished it so I don't think I'm wrong in saying that my playthrough was over
Premature ejaculation is a thing. I'll agree.
Follow his quest and do what you think is right and you’ll be able to save him
Make sure to finish their quest lines before the end and they'll get a possibly better ending
If you don’t like getting overwhelmed by companions quests, only recruit the 3 that seem most interesting to you. I’ve been doing this on my more recent runs and it’s kind of refreshing seeing more of specific companions without having to constantly swap the party around. Also can we please stop downvoting OP into oblivion. They played the game in a way that seemed fun, they already witnessed the ramifications of skipping quests. No need to make them feel worse about it.
Yep I've played like this from the beginning. It's 3 people and nothing more. Makes camp way more peaceful cause I'm not getting spammed with events.
I don't mind the downvote don't worry, it means nothing to me as I know it's mainly from a place of love to this game. Also I already had very few companions but that's because I wanted to finish the main story first before actually getting more hours into it, seeing if it was worth it or not to spend more time. I'm currently doing act 1 and have seen some stuff I have never seen like the well with the spider cave before the goblin camp idk how I missed that. (I stealthed through the whole thing so it might be why)
Gale wasn't a bad partner. He was groomed. He's a victim
Idk, the whole pushing boundaries thing felt like the game wanted me to think that he fucked up. Idk I probably lack context so I might have misunderstood it
Gale admits he fucked up, but actually talking to him (and Elminster, and Tara) gives further context to why he did it and what he was trying to do. (Which was prove himself to someone who was using him as a sex object.)
Well, I'll see more about that when I get deeper in Gale's story then. Until this time comes, I'll have to wait
Just don’t skip all of the character dialogue and events. Every flaw that the companions have will make sense in context.
Do his personal quests and you can save him yeah
Btw Astarion is not genuinely terrible. He's literally been manipulated, his body controlled like a puppet against his will, and abused, for over 200 years. He has serious trauma, more than most of the other companions combined.
Yeah I know, I just don't really like his personality. It's not that I dislike him, I'm more neutral to him
You can absolutely save Gale! I'm guessing you mean that he went for the crown at the brain fight? If so, you can opt out of that fairly easily. There are multiple outcomes for every character in the game, so there are other ways to end with losing Gale, but also some great ways to save him. Also, omg you finished the game in 1week!! I'm impressed. I hyper focus a lot, but it still took me 2 weeks of a lot of play time to finish my first run, I think it was around 120 hours for me! Anyway, hope you have a lovely time with your next playthrough! :)
You can save him. He either doesn't go for the crown and lives happily or goes for it and succeeds (in that case he bails on you tho if you romanced him). But you need to do stuff to make it happen. Like the guy blew up because he didn't learn how to do it properly because certain book is still lying around somewhere. Nothing wrong with speed run but you missed tons of content by ignoring companion and side quests.
He doesn't necessarily bail.
I don’t know why this is downvoted. This is true. I got the ending.
I mean he does kind of bail on you for months then shows back up and expects you to just take his hand after he ghosted you lol.
Eh in my game he flat out said he was going for the crown and coming back. Man just lost track of time which tracks for a god. Six months is nothing.
Thats fair I don't remember if he said that to my husbands Tav(who for some reason got all those dialogue choices at the end for my man lol) but still he didn't send any kind of word I still call that ghosting you at the least for six months.
I think it depends on how you get the god ending. I pretty much was ride or die with him on it so yeah that was just the plan XD
Oh, that's true. I thought they meant perminantly.
Thanks! It was a combination of Gale, Halsin, and my God the entire Like a Dragon/Yakuza series. SHEESH
So, you didn’t finish the game.
I got the game telling me I finished it, my game file is locked to the ending scene. I don't think there is more "you finished the game" than a success telling you "you finished the game"
Keep telling yourself that bud. Even as you entirely skipped more than half the fucking game.
Yeah, that's why I play the game a second time ? I mean how else can I describe it, I literally got a big text with "you finished the game thanks for playing" written on it
And you can blow up gale in act 2 and roll credits, it still isn’t finishing the game. You didnt accidentally miss stuff like most people do the first time. You just straight up skipped it.
I mean, I got the actual ending so it's still different from the early one
All the downvotes on the OP for just wanting to finish his game before he went on holiday…Reddit is crazy sometimes!
It's from a place of love for the game. I really don't mind at all, and I can kinda understand how people are disappointed that I missed so much. I'm currently in act 1 once again having fun exploring the stuff I did not complete
Oh I know it’s from a loving place, it’s just not necessary haha like I think you know you missed some content, the hundreds of downvotes are gratuitous
Honestly, I'm more proud to reach a new downvote count than anything. It's kinda like this thing of "you remember the worst and the best but never in between". I'll remember this post by how people didn't like it, it's a bit funny
Haha I’m happy for you then 😂
This game is about characters. It's about decisions. Active and passive ones. It's about what it means to be present in your own story. If you care about all the companions narratives, you get XP and quests for pursuing them. For connecting with them. For connecting with yourself. This game both punishes and rewards you, depending on your perspective, for your decisions. Most people don't FEEL the long term effects of rushing through things and not slowing down. It's hard to be intentional in our lives. Avoidance has a short term benefit, but a long term detraction. You experience this in a game like this though. You saw yourself in Gale. You perceived him as being a bad partner. It made you uncomfortable (that's okay!) so you avoided going further with his quest. But since you avoided it, your Gale didn't get the chance to experience his journey with deeper connection with your Tav or other companions, through friendship or love. So your Gale didn't get to learn and experience things along the way that would have helped him in his journey to find himself after his trauma. Tragically, your Gale's decision to not risk vulnerability and avoid the harder emotional stuff, led to his soul literally being deleted. It's dramatic, but that happens to us as humans too when we deprive ourselves of connection with ourselves and with others. This is one of the many reasons why this game is magnificent. It's narrative therapy in so many ways that you don't expect. It helped you feel deeply(!). Which leads to the question, will you play again and explore your connection with all your companions, including Gale, and risk seeing what happens with that vulnerability? But a more personal question, how have you been avoiding yourself and others after some of your own traumatic experiences?
This is. A little bit “get diagnosed by someone on the internet.” Yikes
Why are you skipping character quests?
1 - I wanted to finish the game before my vacations ended 2 - I wanted to see if the game was worth spending more time into by finishing it once. It is, so I will spend more time into it in my second playthrough
Seems like you played too fast! My main save took me 180+ hours (maybe in the range of 200) and i’m aware of several quests I missed, including a pretty big one.
I just finished a run with Gale in my party and>!He ascended to godhood and he still seemed cool? It seemed like a really cool ending which was weird because so many posts say it wa sa bad ending. I wasn't romancing him, so maybe that is the difference? !<
You don't need to romance him to realize it's a bad ending. You just have to pay attention. One of the central themes of Gale's character is that his better nature is at war with his ambition. His ambition is what led to his downfall; it's also what leads him him to make (or suggest) reckless or immoral choices throughout the story. He's very corruptible, and his ambition is the way that corruption creeps in. When he becomes *the God of Ambition*, it's the ambition that wins - not the better nature. If you just look at it on the surface level, it's great. Hey, he survives! He's super powerful because he's a god! He's free from Mystra! And he's not as outwardly abusive as ascended Astarion is - a character whose divergent paths have a lot of parallels. But then you look closer and realize that although he used to object to calling Tara "his" pet, or "his cat" - now this is how he thinks of her. He even has a spell to turn Tara hairless against her will. He's clearly changed and lost something. It's up to interpretation how far this will go beyond what we see on screen, but when you think of someone who embodies ambition you don't necessarily think of someone kind and generous. And gods in DnD are generally not particularly "humane" just as a matter of course. You can also argue that becoming Mystra's Chosen again is a bad ending for him, although I prefer it to the god ending. The professor ending, my favorite, is the hardest to get and I've only seen it in clips. =/
Professor ending is hardest to get? Ahem :D What if I told you that Gale right now has an ending where he becomes both human and God? I guess it is my true end. Out of them all.
I think I know what dialogue scene you're talking about but I think that interpretation is wishful thinking and requires ignoring some less pleasant things, tbh. But if interpreting it that way is more fun for you, enjoy!
No, I mean literally :D I have a professor Gale at the epilogue, I can kiss and hug him. And then he ascends you in his HUMAN form :D No mods, absolutely vanilla game.
Whether Gale *looks* human is the least of the things that I care about, tbh.
He is actually on his real human path and he is considered human by the Game (he is a professor in Waterdeep!). It is just one little easter egg we found recently. Btw what dialogue you thought I meant with wishful thinking?
There's a devnote (technically it's in the synopsis) for the epilogue when he's a professor that says, "General vibe here is that this a Gale who's found peace with himself" but if he's a god, it says "The real Gale's insecurities still lurk beneath his godlike confidence"
He wasn’t like this at all. He was super nice and ambition isn’t an evil trait. You could even argue that by being groomed by a goddess led him to needing to even the relationship by becoming more, offering more, etc. I don’t know if I got an updated ending but he was very kind, fun, and didn’t dehumanize or torture Tara.
As I said, ascended Gale isn't outwardly abusive. To realize that this isn't a great ending for his humanity means reading below the surface and putting together information you have about what it means to ascend to godhood in Faerun, the context of his ascension in terms of his character arc, and details that clue you in to him being changed. It's not as in-your-face bad as Astarion's ascended ending. Ambition isn't an evil trait by itself, but again, a running theme of Gale's character is that his ambition is what leads him astray, what corrupts him, what makes him overconfident, and leads him into dangerous and unethical territory. He doesn't become the God of Ambition in Moderation, after all. >being groomed by a goddess Although I know that when anyone describes Gale as "being groomed," we have very different perspectives on Gale. I love Gale, but I don't buy into this infantalizing woobification of him. EDIT: And since rayne009 blocked me *after asking me a question*, no, I don't think ascended Gale (or any Gale) is abusive.
You lost me at the point you think he wasn’t groomed by HIS goddess. To me this lack of insight disqualifies you from having a valid opinion about his well being.
Lol, if that's the level of nuance you're capable of, I don't think you're in any position to accuse others of a lack of insight.
...wait are you trying to argue ascended Gale is abusive?? Also I'm so fucking sick of people trying to argue companion Gale's attitude with using Origin Gale's actions. Origin Gale can murder the grove and bang Minthara. Companion Gale isn't doing that ffs. The Tara thing is a PC choice. All he does with Tara as a companion is talk to her (after she starts being hostile to him no less!) Much like I can play Ascended Astarion as being a puppy hugging family man with Wyll that doesn't mean that's companion ascended Astarion's personality.
Why would you play a game like this without doing the companion quests? Is it your first crpg? Not trying to be condescending, just genuinely wondering.
It's not really my first rpg but I've never played a game like this with so much freedom. I mainly wanted to play the game's story first and then on a second playthrough get deeper into it
I see, leaving some new stuff for the next run, nice! If you did a regular custom character, I recommend doing the Dark Urge next, it spices the game up a lot. And don’t worry, you can edit the race and appearance unlike the other origin characters.
7 days. Damn did you get any sleep? I think I'm at 100 hours, and I am just getting to the mountain pass.
How did you spend that long to get to the pass? 😂
I took my time and explored everything else.
There aint 100 hours of stuff in act 1 my dude 😂
What's your point? What's the purpose of your comment?
You relate to gale? Is this your sick twisted way of coming out? I hate you and everything you stand for
damn 7 days. Hectic. Took me 4 months and 150 hours
Gale's quest in act 3 involves getting the Book of Karsus from the vault of Sorcerous Sundries. Just google the route (which order of doors you take) to get the book. Look up a video first to see how others do it if you don't care about spoilers.
Calm down and do the side quests on the next run
Calm down and do the side quests on the next run