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I find Gale problematic
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this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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I feel like he's a well written character, and people underestimate how much he changes based on player choices.
When you first meet him he's desperate and clearly hiding something, but a nice enough fellow. Then you learn he used to be a REALLY big deal (ie. Level 20 Wizard) but flew too close to the sun. Fair enough, a megalomaniac who has learned his lesson.
Then he's offered a deal: sacrifice yourself to save the world, absolve yourself of your sins, die a hero. The the thing is at first he's ON BOARD with this. The first time this solution is proposed, he can totally see the logic of it. And on face value, blowing up the Absolute right there in act 2 is the best case scenario for everyone. The enemy and all their army wiped out in one hit, without risking it all trying to fight them one by one. He has a chance to die a hero and save literally thousands of lives with his own.
But what happens is that players want to play the game. They want to see Baldur's Gate. So they convince Gale not to sacrifice himself, to make the selfish choice and choose to live. So they miss their chance to kill all three and the brain in one spot, and have to traipse around the city gathering allies for a super risky final battle.
In the process, the players turn Gale BACK into the megalomaniac he started as. Because we coached him into ignore the advice of his (very wise) peers like Mystra and Elminster, he starts thinking he's God's gift all over again. Starts coveting power, first to save his own skin, but then just for power's sake. And in the end, if you let him, he learns absolutely nothing from his whole saga: he's the same power tripping manchild he started as.
I think if theres poor writing, it's having the choice of blowing himself up in act 2. That's way too soon: if you want to see a third of the game, you HAVE to convince him to ignore him most treasured mentors and be selfish. It feels very railroady and the only version of Gale you can play as/with in act 3 is someone who has turned completely away from the path to redemption
I disagree with your last point. Yeah, you convince him to not blow himself up, but for my Tav it amounted to "we'll find another way where you don't die." He does get pretty power hungry, but a few persuasion checks and he realizes he was backsliding and agrees with you to cut that shit out. He decides to get the crown for Mystra without seeking its power and she agrees to heal him.
There's redemption there, you just have to push him.
My point was that to enter act 3 at all, you have to have made a very big choice with Gale that can only go in one direction. That feels railroady to me.
I agree that you can put the effort in later to turn him away from temptation, but the fact that you are forced to put him in that position to even be in act 3 is bad writing.
I would much preferred to have been given the chance to go supernova as an option to solve the crisis in act 3. Destroy the brain and all of Baldur's gate with it, to save the continent. Or lure the brain elsewhere and destroy it there.
As it stands it actually makes no sense why all three of the big baddies AND the brain would be in moonrise tower all at once at the end of act 2. It's almost as though they were written that way JUST for Gale's choice.
I feel like they had a chance to do a better job of the pacing and really have a proper struggle in act 3 in Gale having to choose between personal power and redemption.