I cannot BELIEVE this shiz!!! Shadowheart left me at Shar’s Temple, Astarion left me because I didn’t let him perform the ritual, Lae’zel left me to kill Vlaakith, Wyll and Karlach left to go fight in Avernus. And then there’s Gale. Stupid, stupid, love-of-my-life Gale. Who I was THIRSTING, DROOLING over, PINING for this WHOLE TIME. I did everything for him and HE HAS THE NERVE to not only leave and try to become a god but DIE TRYING! I tried to hug his spell version of him and I nearly cried. I JUST WANT TO HUG MY BOY ONE LAST TIME!!! And Raphael. Don’t get me started on Raph. ‘He didn’t even stain the crown’, ‘you’ll be seeing me’ ‘ta-ta!’. I’LL SHOVE THAT TA-TA DOWN YOUR THROAT!!!
I can’t believe THAT was the ending. Also. He said he’ll see me later. Is that true? I reloaded my save because it said ‘continue’ but is there actually more game left? Or is that it? Is that the end of my save after the party? I just want to know if I can leave it or if I’m actually missing like some big devil fight.
If the credits have started rolling, that's it.
But that's a truly 'cursed' run you've got there. Half the companions got a version of their bad ending (or at least not optimal), and the 'good ones' you got, were the ones that left you at the end.
But the thing is... the 3 'bad endings' you got, were from not following their personal stories properly.
Shadowheart left you in Act 2, because you either forgot to bring her to the thing she's been pining after all game, talking about every turn of the way.. or you brought her along, and tried to force her hand, instead of trusting her...
Gale blew up, because he tried to complete an ascension he didn't fully understand, because you didn't complete his quest in Act 3 (bringing him to the book-shop he's been talking about non-stop...), finding the book that would give him knowledge to proceed 'safely'...
Astarion left you, because you either failed to persuade him to see reason, or you just straight up refused him the 'one thing that could keep him safe, forever', without even trying to reason with him. The insight roll should have given you a hint that he wasn't thinking straight, with all the terror, blood and fear in the air...
I hope you give them (all) another shot next playthrough. Their endings are definitely worth it..
I’ll definitely try. I just thought keeping Gale away from anything related to the crown (and succeeding all the persuasion checks) he would just give up on the idea once the brain was defeated. Apparently not. And I COMPLETELY forgot about Shadowheart because I was very frustrated with the gauntlet and forgot that this was the gauntlet she was talking about. I thought it was just some random gauntlet. And, yes, I knew Astarion would be pissed I shut him down, but I didn’t think he’d be THAT pissed. Anyways, I’ll definitely try to rectify my mistakes on my next run.
The gauntlet. The gauntlet of Shar, the gauntlet made specifically for Shar. Shar’s gauntlet. That gauntlet?
Anyway congrats on your cursed run, you will probably have a whole different game if you play again!
I'm honestly astounded someone could get to the gauntlet and forget about Shadowheart, after presumably having her around all Act One
Ha this is is great, Shadowheart comes at them all pissed an op is just like "ohhhh THAT gauntlet, shit sorry 😞"
Gale is... very fickle. He has 8+ different endings, so unless you're very consistent with him, he'll easily get his flags in a bunch and pick an unfortunate ending (or at least an unwanted one). And that persuasion-check, at the very end, is broken. Always have been. It does NOTHING to change his mind, unless you mod it to work, that is.
The thing with Astarion, if you manage to talk him down, instead of just crossing your arms, saying 'No!', you'd gotten some really heartfelt conversations following. Especially if romanced..
Fingers crossed you'll make it next time 'round!
God damn it, EIGHT ENDINGS?
sighs and makes yet another Gale romance Tav
I can only think of
1) Chose to not attempt ascending
2) Chose to ascend, succeeds, becomes god of ambition (if you get him the book)
3) Chose to ascend, fails, explodes (if you didn’t get the book)
I think he can attempt to challenge Mystra and get smited, not sure if that’s origin Gale exclusive though
I think that’s all of it 😅
I haven't seen it myself, but I believe there's also adventurer Gale if you romance him but don't want to stay in Water deep.
I've gotten this one! He stays with me in Baldur's Gate and is an architect. Think of the buttresses!
Oh I need to try this one!!! 😁
Professor Gale who didn’t give the crown to Mystra
Is this just when you give someone else the crown? I assume he doesn't just wear it to lectures to scare his students?
Pretty sure it's just left to sink to the bottom of the sea
No it’s just him who doesn’t give AF about the crown and Mystra and let it sink 😁
But yes it also work with letting someone else taking it. 😉
There's another.
I really wish they would have let Durge run into him again and try to give it back
Got that ending in my last co-op run with a few friends, I had NO IDEA that this was a possibility. It was quite gut-wrenching, especially because his Tressym was in camp and was asking for him.
This is the 4 on my list 😉
8) Gale who fishes (I got this one where crown drops into water and he goes "well, I guess we fish now").
Oh nooooo I’ve already made the Tav so I guess I HAVE to romance Gale again anyways.
A tragedy.
From what I know:
Him choosing not to ascend can involve him either asking for Mystra's forgiveness or not, resulting in the orb either going away or staying dormant.
Him ascending can involve him becoming the god of ambition or challenging Mystra for the god of magic.
He can also either die on his own (the ending that OP got) or die killing the brain.
I think if you romance him, you can also alter some of his endings, especially the non-ascension ones, in various little ways, but I'm not actually sure, that's just the vibe I got.
Every ending/making him leave that I can think of:
I may have missed some though
I'll do anything for Gale xD
If you leave Gale to his own devices he will choose not to explode in Act 2, but will absolutely without a second thought make every grab for that crown. So unfortunately, by denying him access to the only thing that could enable him to control it, you ended up sealing his doom.
Talking to the prisoners outside of Cazador's ritual chamber and allowing Astarion to talk to Cazador instead of speaking for him can help you persuade him to give up ascension. I made the same mistake my first run and had to reload to keep him alive.
FYI, you can basically skip the trials. You need to get one umbral gem to get the elevator thing running, but that's it.
if you pit him against Mystra too much, it'll go to his pretty head and he'll try to become a god, regardless of other persuasion checks. you need to nudge him in the direction of a little humility 😉
Bro did everything possible to ignore companions lmao
Well if it isn't the consequences of my neglect coming to bite my ass.
The consequences of your own actions innit
As much as you hate this runs outcome...
Cherish it.
The next one you finish will have been planned and plotted out to avoid any and all of the heart break, misery, and loneliness. Youll might not get the same sence of discovery and wonder, or even the same feeling of loss. The perfect endings aren't the 100% good or bad endings. Its the endings you made through your choices. Cherish this run and remember it, because it is your run.
Or the choices made for you from bad dice rolls.
Just like real life.
That's what inspiration is for
what bad dice rolls? I reloaded the save 😘
Ah deus ex machina, if only that worked in real life too.
There are no bad endings. Only different paths you get to experience.
Journey before destination.
Try to plot as little as possible, read as little meta-internet about it as possible, and just make different RP choices based on a new character concept, you can still be surprised several more times!
The game is over once the post credits scene plays. If you wanted the big devil fight, then you should have gone to the House of Hope in Act 3.
Man, I nearly missed the House of Hope dungeon. I went early and chatted with the person, broke in, etc. She never mentioned going to Avernus and I moved on.
I thought it was weird that no quest was in an obviously set up space, but figured they must have run out of time.
Ah, I see. Honestly, I got bugged out when I was talking to the devil and then I just abandoned the quest line entirely because it wouldn’t let me interact with him.
I don't know why you're getting down voted. It's very easy to get him bugged out, but for what it's worth. I don't think you need to do much with him to get to the house of hope. Maybe talk to Moll, but truthfully? In my first play through, I had the same happen with Gale and even didn't get much good from the ending. It was before a lot of it got patched but it's so so easy to miss so much in this game. Sometimes dialog is ambiguous on how it may play out
This subreddit is merciless with downvoting if someone doesn’t make the most optimal choices about the game, or if they’re incorrect about something.
Yeah, it’s patently ridiculous.
The quest flag for getting into the house of hope can be started by reading various things mentioning Helsik, one in particular being found in the upstairs of Flymm's Cobbler's (where Gortash's parents are). It's a note in a locked chest. iirc that or it was the upstairs of that one book lady's place maybe both idk 💀 another one can be found in one of the same basements as one of the Dribbles pieces, the one with the big guy.
Idk if you can still trigger it if Raphael bugs out tho, I imagine you can but I've never encountered the issue so I can't say for sure. And a recommendation in case of future bugs: save frequently. Then if something bugs out you can just reload a recent save from before the bug, which generally resolves the issue, and you won't lose much progress.
Definitely the consequences of your own actions, all of this is very easily avoidable if you're paying attention to the game and the characters
Its almost impressive that not 1 companion wanted to stay lol.
(The everyone leaving me, however, is tragic but works PERFECTLY for my characters lore. An adventurer whose party members have all died and left them alone when the dust cleared has ALL their party members do the same like the other ones did twenty five years ago? Now THAT’S poetic.)
Great attitude. Even the "bad" outcomes offer interesting story potential.
That's heartbreaking. 🥺
I'm actually sorf of impressed. You got an ending hardcore players try to get and often fail at without even trying.
Wtf could you have possibly done to get negative approval with everyone at the same time?
Damn you really messed up!
Wait .... Gale can DIE while attempting becoming a God? I only ever get him back at the reunion with his smug attitude and glowing skin. As much as I hate that, I thought it was guaranteed!
I didn’t get him that book, apparently. He shows up as one of them spells ghost things and says basically “so sorry I couldn’t come, I straight up DIED trying to get the crown, sorry”.
And then he gives you a letter saying “if you’re reading this, I died, and I’m sorry I traded friendship for the sake of godhood”. It’s INCREDIBLY heartbreaking.
Lol you definitely didn't speak to them probably, that's why they all died or left you. You need to actually pay attention to what they say next time, however it is kinda easy to lose shadowheart even up to the very end of her story with Shar so careful what you say and quicksave before dialogue if you don't want to risk it
You dun fucked up
Did you build up good relationships (as defined by the approval gauge)/encourage any of them to make good choices?
Also, did you formally enter a dating relationship with Gale or work towards setting up Shadowheart to reject Shar by getting to know her better?
While the odd companion or two can wind up neglected/go astray (especially Astarion when one refuses the ritual or Shadowheart if one does not take care to build up Nightsong points or a good relationship then lets her choose whether to kill the Nightsong), it is very odd to have all of them go away, Karlach/Wyll to Avernus excepted. One would have to actively not interact with their companions and/or purposefully make bad dialogue choices to wind up like this, so kudos if that was not intended.
It was not intended, I think I’m just accidentally rude to my companions. And here I was wondering why none of them liked me. I guess I just kept picking the wrong dialogues. Withers was straight up like “bro, no one here likes you” and I’m like why?
For future playthroughs (should you decide to do another), the BG3 wiki has both specific options that appeal to each companion (ex. Gale) and also general dialogue/actions that endear yourself to them, as well as romance guides and tips for more specialty approval subsystems like Nightsong Points.
Also, generally one needs to lock down the companions they plan to romance by the end of taking out the Goblin camp, then talk to them during the celebration and visit them that night. So make sure to leave that as one of the last items for Act 1 to help build up as much approval as you can before then, assuming you do not trigger the option to date early.
Ohhhhhh, see, I didn’t hound on Gale because I was trying to respect his boundaries! I was like “I won’t come on too strong, he seems shy”. Bit of a dingus move on my end.
It happens. Also, a last note since I did not see them mentioned:
It is best to look up how to get each one, but Minthara, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc are all companions one can recruit Act 2 or later, with Minthara being the easiest (knock her out in Act 1 and save/get her out of Moonrise Towers in Act 2). The first two can be romanced, with Halsin being a poly option with some other companions (though not Gale).
Also, remember to finish out questlines and take the love test with whoever you are romancing at the Circus of the Last Days in Rivington (after using out two of Orin's disguises) for a large boost to approval.
I did do the love test with Gale, and I ACED that shiz, which is probably part of why I was confused there was no real romance. Tried to romance the man, did NOT work. I shall try next time.
I did the same thing on my first run! I thought it would give you more chances to pick up the romance later.
There are many other possible endings you can get. This is just one of many. Nw you get to make a new character and play a different playthrough! Just be sure you complete everyone’s story questlines and talk to everyone frequently.
Thou art alone
I got: "Gale tried to become a god after I tried to tell him not to, failed, LIVED, and STILL would not talk to me at the party, even tho he was my one true love on that run."
"Wonderful party"
Dude, really?
DEVASTATION.
That is amazing, I've actually thought about intentionally trying to do that and make everyone mad enough to leave but thought it might be impossible 😅
The only victory that felt worse was that one in Diablo 1. It truly made me think I had gone some wrong path to end up in defeat by being a fecking idiot and ram that soul crystal into my forehead.
I'm so terrified of the bad Gale endings. 😭
Ouch. Your next run will be better. Get that book for Gale and smack down any talk to becoming a god at every turn. Always take companions on their quests. If you leave Astarion to open the coffin by himself, with the rest of the team at the top of the stairs, you won’t be pulled into the cut scene and he won’t be able to ascend, and he won’t get mad at you.
This is amazing, I'm so sorry.
0 cha run