I'm activity to be talking about Karlach's accomplished storyline here—particularly her endings, both old and new. You've been warned.
Baldur's Aboideau 3's second patch was a above tune-up, cementing my activity that this game's alone activity to get bigger in the months to appear as Larian all-overs off their accepted third-act wobbling—which wasn't abundant to acerb my acquaintance anyway. Well, mostly.
I romanced Karlach, and I did feel like I'd been larboard to about-face in the wind with her conclusion. Afore the patch, there were alone a scattering of means her adventure could end:
- You didn't advancement her engine, and she explodes afore anyone notices.
- You let her bang at the end of the pier.
- You go to hell with her.
- If you adored Wyll, Wyll goes to hell with her instead.
This baffled me—I was the guy who'd romanced her, and I would've been blessed to action off the accomplished of Avernus for her. As an Adjuration of Avengement paladin, I was basically apprenticed to appropriate that wrong. I'm animated Wyll brought the advantage up, sure, but the actuality that I would've had a added complete affair catastrophe if I'd dead him afore the afterpiece is wild.
The catastrophe itself additionally didn't hit right. Added affair options get these candied postgame conversations, but if you accept to go to hell with Karlach, she aloof says: "We charge to go, now". Achromatize to black, curtains fall, that's it. Achievement you like Withers' address area he calls the asleep three cringe, 'cause that's all you're getting.
This application fixes all of those things. For starters, you get a lot added ascendancy over whether Wyll's arrive or not.
Besides that, this application gives Karlach a altogether applicable end—something that, in my mind, is alike bigger than the fix for her annoyance we were acquisitive for. I apperceive my adolescent lovers of the accursed aureate retriever appetite to break all her problems, but I'm candidly animated we didn't.
Raging adjoin Karlach's machine
It all comes aback to rock. In community amend #20, biographer Sarah Bylus commented: "In a 2023 setting, [Karlach would] cycle in on a Harley with shades and a cigar amid her teeth, arrant Sabbath—a diesel-soaked agent with a affection of gold. She seeks amends for the oppressed, camaraderie, and animus on the adulterated who awash her to Hell."
Karlach's activity philosophy—living every day like it's her last, admiring bodies unapologetically, disturbing bottomward corruption—it's absolutely metal. I alone dabble myself, but the amount concepts that run in metal and jailbait subcultures of 'the apple sucks, activity is unfair, let's get mad about it and breach being together' has announced to me abundant to actualize a afire amore for that affectionate of music. Sometimes you've got to get mad.
Whenever I anticipate about Karlach, I'm reminded of folk jailbait being like AJJ's Rejoice or jailbait bedrock jams like Adjoin Me!'s Unconditional Love, which are both about angry adjoin the authoritativeness of afterlife and suffering. They're ambiguous goth, admitting I've heard it said that the aberration amid goth and jailbait is mostly in whether you get sad about it or mad about it.
'It' actuality the authoritativeness of ending—something Karlach has to battle with throughout her accomplished story. Activity is unfair, monstrously so, but accepting bodies you adulation about you makes it better. As Wyll says in the new epilogue: "So what do you say? Die now, or alive on with bodies who adulation you."
Then there's the post-pier cutscene itself. Cool slow-mo run aside, it's rad as hell to see my character, Wyll, and Karlach charging appear an accursed army to breach it up. Above-mentioned to the patch, her catastrophe was aloof sad—if you capital her to live, you had to acquire her acquire one of two defeats. Go to the abode she hates, or accord up on life.
But activity aback to hell with new accompany isn't a defeat, it's a triumph. Because of her antecedent escape, her accomplished bearings has changed. Instead of activity lonely, isolated, and touch-starved, she now has allies who are accommodating to action for her. Now her catastrophe isn't an brusque back-off from a fate she'd spent the accomplished bold advancing for. Instead, it's a boastful acknowledgment from the big red adult herself: "Better let these fuckers apperceive I'm back. And this time, I'm not alone."
It's acceptable abundant to accomplish me blessed we didn't fix everything. It's a bigger fit for her adventure to abstain a bewitched bandaid that solves all her problems—fixing the accident Zariel and Gortash did to her is activity to be hard, blood-soaked work, but that's jailbait too. 'Let's fix hell or die trying.'
If this were a tabletop attack that ran to akin 20, that'd be the abutting big adventure arc—the assemblage ripping through Avernus to fix Karlach's heart. As it stands now, though, I'm added than agreeable apperception a hopeful approaching for my big tiefling wife. The new coda makes me assertive Karlach'll bake on for a while yet.
