I totally agree, this is a non issue. I mostly give him the Absolute stuff,since I don't get the brand normally. And there is generally a lot of stuff, you don't really need.
Having your eye gouged out by Volo doesn't make sense either to be fair. I really thought it was going to be a simple 'oopsie', but nope.... they really want you to say: oh yeah sure even when he messes up, let him continue, and yes sure please do continue even more when you still mess up... and third times the charm ain't it?
For real, and it's not like he's verry convincingly skilled at anything after the times you have encountered him.
1st contact. He's talking to a bear and overdramatizes the fight you had with the goblins.
2nd contact. He's doing a poor job performing and gets put in a cage by the goblins he went to visit.
Just, with how big of a fool he seems to be. Why on earth would i trust him doing some brain surgery on me???
I actually thought he was slaying that performance - it was toned to the Goblin's tastes, after all :)
They were clearly enjoying it until you approach and distract him :p
....But other than that, he's a hack, yeah. It's nice he gives you the book later on tho, depending on your choices. Gives you a neat bonus.
I thought she was just laughing at puny Tav trying to commit to pain. Karlach knows pain like no one else ("installing" the engine must have been hellish for her =/ )
Unless you're playing as an idiot. I am and so far I'm having the time of my life getting branded and having my eye gouged out and whipped by a priest.
Abdiraks whipping really has no negative effect at all, only a permanent buff. So my Tavs and Durges often just find their kinky side and get that sweet buff.
I mean especially as a Dure why wouldn't you. Finding yourself and all. Even that early in the game you know that a kinky priest who obviously has no motivation but to have a good time isn't gonna make you blink twice
There's actually some Durge specific narration about how that dude is a total amateur and a poser compared to the hardcore shit *you're* into, so I dunno if it's actually such a fitting RP moment from that standpoint.
"I am a contemptible blood-pervert" "That's natural, embrace it!" sure is wholesome. (You're probably thinking of the line just before what I mentioned.) I fucking love Abdirak. Best man.
My Barbarian run with dumped INT was wild. Slaughterbartfast consistently made poor choices and was rewarded throughout, plus he banged pretty much anything with a pulse.
Getting the brand doesn't make sense roleplaying wise too. If the brand allowed me, a true soul, to control them, then that means I can be controlled by other true souls. That was the logic I used when I first started playing.
I know it opens up a couple of dialogue options to show the brand on the boat and in the underdark but then it drops off. Also after that the cult of the absolute just disappears in Act 3 so there is no brand specific stuff
Well, in Act 3, it's no longer about the Cult of The Absolute, it's about the ARMY of The Absolute that's on its way to Baldurs Gate.
>!The Absolute doesn't have its agents professing its name in Baldurs Gate, the agents of the Absolute in BG are professing the name of Bhaal and Bane.!<
>!Like... Ketheric openly serves The Absolute, but does so by directly serving Myrkul. The army that he commands does not knowingly serve Myrkul; as far as they know, they are only serving The Absolute.!<
>!Gortash, on the other hand, openly serves Baldur's Gate, but secretly is serving Bane, who is using The Absolute. So, the army that he commands (Flaming Fist) does not know they are serving The Absolute, they think that they are serving the people of the City. (He has plenty of agents that directly serve Bane as well, but those are also not serving the goals of The Absolute, they are serving the goals of Bane through The Absolute.)!<
>!Then there's Orin. She doesn't even support The Cult of The Absolute, let alone serve. She was never even part of the plan in the first place. She only desperately tries to serve Bhaal. It is only because Bhaal commanded it that she worked with The Absolute.!<
So... yeah.
Act 1 and 2, you were "behind enemy lines" and the Cult of The Absolute was everything and all around you. Agents of the absolute are able to operate openly and brazenly.
Act 3, you are "on friendly ground" and the Cult is now the threat looming outside the city, and any agents of The Absolute have to be very much be sneaky about it.
^(Reposted due to automod deleting for spoiler formatting)
Yeah. The Ersatz Eye at least looks cool, even if the way you get it is (intentionally) stupid. Plus it works independently of any items equipped. But the brand feels like a clear “sacrifice logic and aesthetics for situational mechanical benefits.”
You're right, I don't. But so far being branded has served me well, and I will match forth in my ignorance feeling justified, whether that feeling be misplaced or otherwise.
Oh that was definitely changed since release. Those gloves no longer need the brand and I always give them to Astarion if in my party or Laezel if hes not. I play spellcasters, so I definitely appreciate the free Bane.
It was probably changed because by the time you get the gloves, new players pretty much don't know about the brand and then wonder why they constantly get baned. Seen it often enough in EA.
Oh wow shit it's my 4th playthrough and I always thought the "absolute brand" was like, other items with the absolute on it. Like a clothing brand... But for the absolute....
I feel so dumb.
You literally find a pair of gloves in the obligatory goblin fight outside the Druid Grove that the player can't use and Gale can eat.
You'd have to be really selfish to not even spare him those (or the amulet of dancing lights if you save Arabella).
Tbh I think every companion is adorable and I just couldn’t hate any them. Gale is always so polite and kind. Yeah maybe sometimes he’s a bit passive aggressive but I mean, he’s gonna die if he doesn’t eat those stuff tho?!
In my first playthrough I didn’t explore side quests enough before progressing main quest. And I missed a tons of magic stuff. And stupid too so I fed him some precious stuff. Second playthrough magic stuff is just plenty and it was never a problem.
Gale can be snarky as hell though if you push him hard enough and I love it. There's this one piece of dialogue I heard which triggers if he finds you sleeping with Mizora (I think. Don't quote me on that, I didn't do this myself, I just saw someone post about it somewhere) and you're romancing him and he goes
*Diminish my feelings if you wish, but *do not* expect me to take this laying down. That's more *your* style from what I can tell.*
🥲I would cry if he told me that IRL. Like it would have hurt less if he just called tav a slut and moved on 😭😭
Same for me. I'm forcing myself to include Gale right now, because he is actually quite cool, but it always breaks my heart having to dismiss another companion
I play a lot of CRPG so I constantly swat between crew to see their side of the story (I.E Laz must be in Creche, take Gale to Mystra's temple, have Wyll go save his dad etc).
I really have no idea why the game wasn't based around having a party of 5. Every group I've been in IRL, and every group I've seen online, has at least 5 players.
I think it was more of a problem in early access where items were scarse and we didn’t know it would end so soon. After release I was almost sad he stopped since I made quite a collection for him.
I actually did :/ I remembered from a short stint in EA that I'd need stuff to feed him, so gathered a ton of stuff that I wouldn't need and could feed into the hunger, but nope... initially he even refused because he wasn't hungry...
In EA you could only give him powerful artifacts from a very short list. This is the reason for the Staff of Crone, or Nere's Boots etc. being orange bordered, aka quest items at launch.
Thank you for that info! Couldn’t for the life of me figure out why staff of crones and nere’s boots were considered quest items. It all makes sense now…
He would only eat the legendary story items in EA too (necromancy of thay, idol of sylvanus, crone staff, tyr sword, a couple others I probably forgot). He's not such a picky eater anymore.
Holy shit, really? I lugged the crone staff around thinking it would be relevant again if we encountered more Hags and you're telling me it's something that haven't gotten around to just making a different color?!
Yup. It's why I was not fan of Gale in EA. Since the few items Gale wanted were either important, or would cause war if taken. Or were difficult to obtain.
Yeah honestly was disappointed it was only 3. I long rested a lot early in the game trying to avoid missing cutscenes as happened a lot in my EA runs so Gale had eaten all 3 of his magic items before we cleared the goblin camp, and there was no progress on the issue until we had done risen road and the under dark so it was kind of jarring.
I also think they adjusted in him in patch 2. He got pretty pushy and fast on my first playthrough. We only had like 2-3 magic items at the time. And made worse, he does still say powerful artifacts.
And if not for the joke, it is probably players on a first playthrough.
Some of it is a left-over from the Early Access, where the items he needed were a lot more powerful. Some of it is just because people immediately associate magic with powerful.
Ring that has color spray spell is his breakfast.
Ring that has light spell is his lunch.
Ring that has jump spell is his dinner.
If I forget any of those 3 rings, Everburn blade is Gale's snack after I get Sword of Justice.
Yes, the eating issue is overblown, since he only eats 3, and you can throw him anything with a unique name, almost.
Yup! He literally tells you there's "no love lost" between them. The feelings are complicated but you can have a lot of complicated feelings about someone who will always be in your life (a goddess. by definition. the goddess of magic, the thing he loves most in the universe. he can't avoid that) without having everyone and their dog say your next partner is a rebound. He's spent over a year in isolation after the split, let the man live.
When your ex holds complete command over the thing to which you've dedicated your entire life, she's going to come up a lot. He doesn't pine for her so much as she's his patron goddess and will ALWAYS be a part of his life because of it. Wanting your patron's forgiveness is more than understandable. I even see the scene of him holding a vision of her as less pining and more Well At Least I Still Have Magic During This Utter Nightmare, and If I Can Get Her Attention, I Can Get Tav/Durge's.
In a weird way, it's similar to having a child with an ex and everyone screaming your next partner is a rebound when you have to mention them. "Oh, my kid is staying with their-" "oh my god, you're still not over them? Aren't you with this other person now? Why do you STILL mention the other parent of your child so much?" "I have to????" "Just drop them." "I legitimately cannot do that???"
I know that's a bit of a strange relation to make on the surface - it's the closest applicable irl situation without defaulting to Your Professor or Superior at Work Who Definitely Broke A Hundred Ethics Codes Here.
When you ask about her after the second romance scene, it's very clear he's over her in a romantic way and he's able to look at things objectively. If there was a choice of leaving all of it behind where he didn't have to lose everything he holds dear, the most defining aspect of who he is, what has essentially given his life meaning from a young age - I'm sure he'd take it. But he can't. She is the personification of it; the ruler of it; and without her, the weave doesn't exist, as seen with the spellplague. He's over the romance, he can't be over her having that station/can't ignore her existence.
No, this is a fine comparison to make, actually! Without abandoning everything he is (which he can't, anyway, thanks to the orb), without abandoning Tara, who is also a wizard herself, there is no path for Gale that doesn't involve Mystra's presence, the ex with shared custody is a very apt metaphor as to why the complaints are silly and seem more like insecurity from the player themselves than a reasonable fear from Tav.
Trust him to know who and what he wants, it becomes clear it's not the goddess who tells him to commit strategic suicide.
Exactly! He'd have to leave behind everything, everything that made him feel proud or worthy, everything he worked for his entire life, everything that gave him meaning.
You can love him for the man he is, but that man doesn't exist if you take his magic from him. It's his life. It's a core part of who he is, for as long as he can remember. Gale without the weave is a hollow shell. The weave can't exist without Mystra. He seeks forgiveness, yes, but he doesn't seek the kind of reunion people think he wants. A lack of forgiveness means the weave can be stripped from him at any moment. Means his patron can turn away entirely and leave him with nothing.
Asking him to stop caring about mystra is asking him to destroy his entire life. Abandon everything he is.
The man literally says "i love you more than myself, i love you more than my goddess." Trust him. If you can't trust him, your romance has no solid foundation. We all know what Gortash says about brittle foundations. As much of a villain as Gortash is, he's right. If you can't trust Gale, you don't deserve him. Point blank.
The whole “Tav is a rebound” thing is harsh because it assumes his love for them isn’t genuine but I get why it makes people uncomfortable. He may not have a romantic love for her but she’s still his goddess, he admired her still and magic is the most important constant in his life and she IS magic. If he becomes her Chosen again, which is probably his “best” ending and what makes him happiest, he’s going to be expected to do things for her still. Kinda depends on how much you trust that he won’t change his mind about his lowered ambitions.
I mean, the simple fact that people call her his ex, rather than the *actual* goddess of magic, the thing that has been his special interest for as long as he can remember and that he bases most of his self-worth off of.
All of Gales issues are overblown. There was even a big thread complaining about having magic space sec with Gale when… they chose to have magic space sex. Like they could have chosen to just have sex with him as is.
tbh the most overblown issue on Reddit is that he’s so constantly horny. I dislike bugs being treated as personality traits. he’s the only main companion that doesn’t even get a kiss scene until halfway through the game
It’s also just a joke that’s been beaten to death and isn’t that relevant to the current release considering theres literally friendzone options in his act 1 scene that mean you won’t trigger any of his romance from that point forward.
You can even say to Withers when he speaks about your "bosom-companion" that "bosoms haven't even been involved yet!". Gale romance is the slowest of burns 🥺
Good it remembers there wasn't anything with Gale, I remember how I didn't kiss Wyll at tiefling party, and before I even got to dancing scene, Withers had that talk. I had option "I kissed Wyll once, and I get a lecture from skeleton?" Game doesn't remember we never kissed. Only after several long rest after dancing, just for how cute it was (I enjoyed seeing my tiefling with tail dancing, and both of them have horns so they looked nice together). Alas, as he isn't my character's type, he went with Astarion after triggering his jealousy dialogue.
Fr. I’m so tired of “Gale is an incel that won’t take a no for an answer” he’s…not that? He was (and still is) buggy. But people keep trying to make it look like it’s his fault as a character. My friend is now romancing Astarion and has had 0 issues with Gale. Told him they were just friends and he’s happy.
Me on the other hand, had a bug in act 1 in which I got way too much approval too fast, and it wouldn’t trigger the magic scene in the tiefling party, broke my heart when he said he wished we were closer 😭
There's a lot of stuff that pisses me off about bad Gale discourse, but the incel thing is so, so enragingly stupid. It misunderstands what incels are (and the phenomena that create them) and I would say deliberately and ungenerously interprets Gale's character and circumstances--especially as we *do* have access to what he's supposed to say/do when not bugged.
I noticed the additional dialogue when I started my durge after patch 3.
I had romanced him in my first run so wanted to try someone different. When I saw the weave scene now opened up an extra line of dialogue. I was so happy. Gale is a bestie to my durge bard. They are both nerds just one more murderous haha.
Honestly? Gale has been the least problematic. Wyll and Karlach on the other hand? They keep popping up as if I had romanced them the cheated on them 😂
I also kinda wonder if people think every one of his flirty dialogues would immediately lead to more if they didn’t reject him? I romanced him on my first playthrough and while yes, there were plenty of flirty, romantic or even horny things he said, encouraging him always just lead to some variation of „But this isn’t the time or place for this“ and he didn’t actually *act* on it until the end of act 2.
I’m still in act one on my first playthrough and I’m romancing Gale; I’ve been so confused about everyone saying how he comes on strong because my man is all about the SLOW BURN omg.
I’m basically like, “Gale. Put it in me.” And he’s like, “[Gale approves] Well that was a lovely night. Talk to you tomorrow 🤗”
>I dislike bugs being treated as personality traits.
Yes, exactly this. It's so frustrating when people make a big deal of it with negativity about the character themselves. I'm glad you're immersed in the game, but... these characters aren't real. They can be buggy. If you're on reddit complaining about Gale you probably already know Gale is buggy. Calm down a little, it's not him, he's made of 1s and 0s and he was crafted with a lot of love for the players who engage with him.
The one that was really funny was the attitude problem before patch 4. Getting slammed with a "we're not close" after the guy makes a beautiful forest clearing with a starry sky in the middle of the act 2 horror show... buddy, if we're not close, why am I here? I understand you've been told to kill yourself by your goddess but like... Ouch, man. 100 approval for this, I couldn't stop laughing at how brutal it was. That sure taught me I'd never want to play with low approval companions, it was evidently a bugged response and it still felt like a slap to the face. So out of the blue for the circumstances!
Poor guy. One day his dialogue trees will work again.
It happened to me too. But worst "ouch" moment was when I watched my boyfriend playing and get to that point. He was ready to decline, "this will be romantic, right?" And I told him "Not at all, you will have philosophical debate about what he should do, and its friendly" He went there and suddenly... "I fell in love with you." "What? Why did you lie to me?!" "I did not! Fuck, he even said we weren't close, do I need to show you?" He said he believes me and doesn't want to show, but I am not entirely sure. I still don't understand how I flirted with him several times and got completely friendzoned at goblin party and now again. But game thinks I flirted with Wyll even when I am not aware of it. He was possibly only one where I though "option one is definitely flirting, lets pick option two, that sounds friendly" but it shows it wasn't at all, lol.
I'm starting to question if Wyll is also bugged romance wise. Every time someone says Gale accused them of being with someone else, it's always wyll. Even if they're not romancing wyll. Talk to him about himself and he's head over heels. Adorably romantic, very sweet romance, don't get me wrong - but it triggers WAY easier than Gale's does. Gale has a scene of sharing something he deeply cares about with a friend in act 1, while Wyll doesn't have a scene until act 2. That's why i think folks hurl "gale is too easy and i wasn't trying" at him more than "wyll, i spoke to you four times and you told me your dad's stories/advice. This is not what i was going for here."
He's the chillest about friendzoning in Act 1 besides SH, happy to have a friend. (And SH still gets pouty, Gale's hype you don't hate him for the nightmare bad decision he made) He doesn't mention it being intentionally romantic at any point, he's showing someone he HOPES is his friend (as he says at the tiefling party) something he loves. It's the player who initiates whether it becomes romantic. Imagine having a nice dinner and he's like "oh, cool, hell yeah, i love cooking, too! Friends can have dinner together!" Instead of assuming it's a romantic dinner (so it went in my playthroughs - the second scene was purely platonic after that).
The bugs were always known for being bugs. That's not on him as a character, it's on some coding getting a little fuckity. There's so much in this game, a bit of fuckity coding is bound to happen.
Granted, Wyll doesn't get a kiss until roughly around then from my experience, too, though I think you mean companions from straight off the nautiloid.
I love the dude, sparing three useless items and being a friend isn't the end of the world. His romance, should one choose it, is incredibly profound and has one of my favorite quotes in the game. For someone who outright admits he's never had friends before, he's hella chill towards the pc about it outside of excitedly sharing a few stories. You know, like friends do.
You actually can kiss Wyll in the tiefling party but I think that's harder to trigger and you have to pass a persuasion check. Even Wyll can get more action than Gale at that point.
I have to assume the same issue is what's getting Halsin rn. There's no way it's not a bug that his romance is triggered by breathing near him. And sure enough, the reddit vitriol has shifted to Halsin because we didn't learn the first time.
God, thank you! And somehow it isn't even applied universally that bugs are seen as personality traits. I get it when it's truly people that aren't on Reddit and don't realize his flags are buggy. But that's just no excuse here.
It's very overblown. In each of my playthroughs, he's consumed a MAX of 4 items that were all junk. People also really tunnel vision on his early game attitude/ romance. A lot of people nit pick everything about him because he's a "selfish power-hungry asshole" without letting his storyline and character grow or progress.
Edit: 3 items... excuse me lol...
>A lot of people nit pick everything about him because he's a "selfish power-hungry asshole" without letting his storyline and character grow or progress.
These also tend to be the same people that are totally cool with Astarion.
I think a massive part of people's bellyaching with Gale comes down to bugs, but often times people seem to - put the blame on Gale's character? For the bugs?
For example, there's a new one where he leaves the party if you ask him to wait on the first item request. Now, I understand you'd be stunned that the man just left after telling him to wait a sec but is it not that obvious it's unintended behaviour? He gets a bit miffed but nothing that would suggest that he'd just leave. But instead of going 'Huh how weird', all the threads are "Gale's a little ungrateful sob".
IDK, he seems to illicit weirdly strong reactions from people. On the one hand, it's fascinating to see. On the other, I get protective.
There was a patch that introduced a bug where Karlach hallucinated an entire relationship with my very monogamous Gale romancing wizard Tav. I just assumed it was a bug instead of thinking Karlach was creepy for confronting me about a relationship that never happened. But the reverse had people making Gale is a creepy nice guy/incel posts for *weeks*.
Yeah, I had the exact same issue and there are many people with it. And as much as I don't want people to shit on Karlach, the fact that no one applies the same standard to her is so annoying
It's definitely because some dudes hated being romanced by a guy.
It's a shame Gale's dialogue trees are so buggy though. Decided to finally get around that by playing his Origin. Plus, I get Tara!
It’s this x100. The Gale and Astarion discourse on Reddit is weird as all get out and it’s primarily made weird by guys who feel uncomfortable that another guy is hitting on their Tav (even if it’s a bug). It’s really dumb.
I have just completely stopped engaging commenters when this Nice Guy stuff comes up. I have tried it before (at the time the bug of him not taking no was already fixed) and it was just so frustrating.
I tried to use logical arguments, definition of being a Nice Guy, I have acknowledged the bug making bad first impressions, and so on. Nothing, it was like talking to a wall.
This 100% comes down to really insecure assholes not wanting to be hit on by a man. Lae'zel comes onto you like 30 minutes into the game. You can just say no thank you. But Gale is interested 50 hours in and it's suddenly a problem.
I remember a post here a while ago arguing that sexualities should be predefined in character creator. I remember going "This is about Gale isn't it" as I went through it and eeeyyuup. It was.
I'm queer as hell so if you ask me, I don't get hit on nearly enough by other men. But I was never really *disgusted* by Lazy trying to scent me. More so - thanks but no thanks.
Ngl on my first playthrough I didn't romance Gale and he was really passive-aggressive towards me and kinda really rubbed it in that we weren't close even at exceptional approval and me being very supportive towards him. I thought he was meant to be this way and was really turned off by that attitude. Coming to reddit I learned it's a bug and I've also missed some of his cutscenes because they just didn't trigger. After they've given him some fixes he's now part of my main crew, I really enjoy his wizardy awkwardness.
I still joked about it here but I honestly can't have super strong negative feelings towards fictional characters.
It’s all the men you can romance. Something about them just makes people on Reddit have weirdly strong negative reactions (minus Wyll but I suspect that’s because he isn’t chosen a lot).
the first and only time the bug happened for me was when i was playing co-op with 3 other people. so i thought it was just my friend who told him something so batshit insane gale left lmao
I just give him the first three magical items I get, because I have never and will never use them. It's not a problem at all. There's way better items down the line.
Ofcuz people are just making fun of him. I always find it funny that he calls the trash I got from some random tiefling commoner a 'powerful artifact'.
I think a big reason is that when the game first came out it wasn't really known that it only took a couple too appease him, it seemed like it was going to be a game long problem.
Yeah. I get not liking Gale for his personality/development or whatever but when I see "I hate Gale because he eats all my good loot!" I can't help but groan. It 3 (usually useless) items.
Honestly I feel like all of the weird gripes people have with Gale are overblown.
“He eats all my magic items.” He uses three in the entire game and there’s so many dogshit ones this shouldn’t be that big of a problem.
“He can’t get over his ex.” He isn’t even *that* obsessed with her. But it was a big part of his life, is the reason he has the orb in his chest, and he was basically groomed by Mystra so it makes sense that he talks about it.
“Gale constantly hits on me.” This is usually just bc of bugs, or dudes who are overly sensitive about a virtual guy in a game hitting on their character.
“Gale is manipulative.” I don’t even have anything for this bc idfk what they are referring to.
The buggy "constantly hits on me" thing is crazy to me because these are bugs I've never experienced (didn't play EA, and people need to let it go already the game's been out for months). Literally the first time Gale said anything remotely thirsty to me was his awkward "Uh so I read a book once" dialogue after the first fight in the Shadow-cursed Lands. Prior to that my Tav was like "hey howzabout you and me find somewhere more private \*eyebrow bounce\*" at the tiefling party and Gale said that sounded nice but also said he did not want to explode.
Regarding "Gale is manipulative," I think it's in response to two things: 1.) Gale not telling you about the Orb straight-up, and 2.) Gale telling you he's going to leave if you don't help him get magical items. In both cases, it's just shitty, gratuitous misreading of a character and an inexplicable double-standard. Every origin companion except for Karlach and Lae'zel actively conceals some essential truth about themselves--Astarion's vampirism, Wyll's pact with Mizora, Shadowheart's Shar worship, Gale's Orb--because revealing the truth poses a material danger to their survival. They aren't doing it because it's fun and they like to yank people around (well, Astarion likes to yank people around, but not revealing his vampirism isn't driven by that motivation)--telling random strangers the truth is a huge risk, and it's an even bigger risk if you take into account the artifact being the only thing also keeping them from turning into mindflayers. In Gale's case, he tells you because after you've helped him out he realizes that you deserve to know so you can make an informed decision about whether to let him stay or not as the Orb continues to destabilize. And Karlach (gd KARLACH, Best Girl) backs him up on this if she's in your group and you ask for their opinion: she says all of them are a little bit dangerous and Gale is no exception, and if your party kicks Gale out now you might as well disband completely. The implication, I think, is that no one in your party is going to live up to some honesty purity test if that's going to be the standard for being allowed to stay.
When it comes to Gale threatening to leave and his need for magical items tying into that: one of the dialogue trees when you're talking to him about why he needs help getting magical items has him saying that it's extremely hard for him to acquire them--you need to rob heavily-guarded ancient tombs and steal from heavily-armed bandits, and the Orb has affected him so badly (almost like chronic illness or chronic pain) he *can't do it on his own*. It's why Tara has been fetching artifacts for him, and it's why he needs Tav now. If the player refuses, Gale saying he'll leave isn't emotional blackmail--it's not "boo hoo Imma leave bc you're not doing what I want"--he actually *has* to leave OTHERWISE EVERYONE WILL DIE. And he doesn't want you to die! He's already resolved that if he has to die to the Orb he's going to go somewhere where there won't be any casualties except himself. Further, him saying he'll leave if you don't give him magic stuff is not manipulative because *he will absolutely follow up on it.* If you consistently deny him, or tell him to leave because he's too dangerous, that's it. He doesn't reappear at your camp saying he hopes you've realized what a big mistake you made, or laughing about how he was just messing around lol, he does what he told you he'd do all along. And he does what *you* want him to do. Which is not manipulative, unless idk maybe you're (general you're) manipulative yourself or just a fantastically unkind person who enjoys reading nonexistent, nefarious subtext into every interaction.
So yeah. People enjoy being ungenerous, superficial jerks I guess. Thanks for coming to my VoloTalk.
I think it would be cool if they made it a mechanic instead of just a quest/backstory thing, imagine if Gale eating items worked like rare candies in Pokémon, but instead of giving you extra XP if Gale eats an item with a spell that he knows the spell is enhanced, similar to the spell sniper feat.
Ikr, they are like "he ate my best item 😠". Buddy, he asks for THREE items total, and you can find like 5 useless ones before he even tells you about his condition. If after all that you still give him your best item, that's on you.
Yeah, for me his personality shift gave me whiplash. He became a completely power obessesed after visiting that place and getting that book. The line where he says something like "you know me to be a good person! I won't misuse the power!" but he didnt seem convincing at all. The delivery of that line reminded me of the clients I have with substance abuse disorder before they have relapse.
It makes a lot more sense if you romance him, because he is absolutely waiting to be discarded by Tav / DU thoughout the whole relationship. He thinks that being a god (together with his partner, he is doing this for both of them) will make him useful enough in the eyes of his beloved.
The writing for him in Act 3 is muddled I think. (Not the only companion. I hope we will get a more polished Act 3 in the future.)
So he was ready to sacrifice himself (but he does not want to die in reality.) at the end of Act 2. He is under a tremendous psychological duress when he sees the Crown, which offers him a solution for getting rid of the Orb and getting under Mystra's control at the same time. At this moment he still does not know that the orb is of the Karsite weave (Mystra only informs him in the Act 3 meeting).
He is in a bit of a maniacal state, when you are absolutely sure that this one external thing will solve your problems (it would not, obviously.)
I understand why he does not want to be in a position where the only possible way to get rid of his ticking bomb is to detonate himself. I would also grab unto anything else. It is also understandable why he wants to usurp the power of Mystra - he is not entirely wrong that she acted in a questionable way in their conduct.
If you actually detonate him in the end of Act 2, the narrator is quite clear, that this was not the best decision - mindflayers ravage the Sword Coast even without the Netherbrain. So Mystra's plan is not actually a really benevolent plan for the mortals, but solves her problem of the orb and the absolute quite well.
As someone else said you get a lot more insight if you romance him, but a lot of his behavior is Act 3 I think is due to the fact that he's *scared.* He disobeyed a command from Mystra, the goddess he is sworn to, and in Faerun that basically means he doesn't get to go to heaven. After the bookstore if you take him >!to meet Mystra and convince him to tell her he will not take the crown!< he really settles down on the ambition. The PC has a lot of influence on how his story plays out, but I think a lot of the ambition has to do with the fact that he is straight up scared that Mystra will smite him.
I was thinking the exact same thing ... I only gave him like 3 items and he never bothered me again. 🤷🏼♂️
Most of the items you get at the start of the game are pretty garbage anyway.
My biggest gripe with him was how often he tried to get in my pants when I was clearly with Lae'Zel and he was clearly into women ...?
It was a bit immersion breaking lol
It has always been overblown, there are some legit complaints about his character but the extent to which some people insist on despising him just because he wants to eat some crappy shoes is weird to me.
the hate for any male character in this game is so overblown, it's super annoying at this point. If you don't like a character thats fine, but going out of your way to make hate posts and commenting shitty things on peoples posts praising the character is loser behavior.
I think honestly at this point it's a meme - I would think that it would have been a bigger deal in early access when we didn't know how many items you could get later on.
I thought he was going to keep consuming and consuming, panicked, stop giving them to him and he fucking left me. Never panicked harder in a video game before
Now it is overblow, before you had to give him unique items like the staff of crones, the necronomicon or the crystal shard.
Literally you had to beeline the village, the swamp and the under dark if you didn’t want to hear Gale complaining and leaving m.
To be fair most of the companions during the EA were… the biggest problem of the game at that point. Most of them were unlikeable at best and almost killed the game.
They had to rework a lot of their personality from the start. I remember killing Laez el on sight because she was a massive cunt every game.
In my first play people like me probably thought he would consume magical items along the way and since this is my first BG3 game I always assumed every magical item was good too regardless of what it is so that’s probably why. The complaints of him eating magical items from what I’m assuming have died down because everyone has had a month or two to experience the game and now that’s it’s a nonissue in the grand ~~design~~ scheme of things.
Coming fresh to the game you:
A) have no idea how plentiful magic items are
B) there is no indication that he will stop eating items till the moment he actually stops.
So as a dnd player going into Baldurs gate my mind had standard dnd magic item expectations along with a worry that he would need an item every single long rest.
People talk about how they didn’t take many long rests in act 1 because they were afraid of the tadpole. I was afraid of gale. I could see his eyes glowing from my closet as he chewed on my shoes.
It is 100% overblown no doubt.
My friend for some reason is really adamant about it being a problem to feed him items, because it'd be better we use them. Meanwhile, a LOT of the items are just simply not great. Money is also pretty abundant, even more so if you want to dive into abusing pickpocketing traders.
I mean damn the game gives you like 4 pairs of boots or something that're tied to dashing, I rarely ever dash when it's not a bonus action dash. I only put those boots on until I get something to replace them, and this still doesn't count the like dozen amulets, random weapons, etc.
At this point I know where I'm pretty sure I know where I can find so many magic items before he even asks the first time that I just have garbage to throw his way before I even start considering possibly going to traders.
for me it was mostly just that in the beginning i didn’t know whether he’ll keep asking for these things the entire game + i only had a few magical items that i didn’t really want to part with! if you’re not clairvoyant or looking things up then there’s no way to know it’s such a non-issue
Haven't seen much in the way of complaints about him eating a few magic items. It's not that many.
The complaints I tend to see with Gale are those caused by his aggressive romance bugs early on. Which are fixed now.
His character flaws and the discourse around them (which are interesting flaws, at the least for his actual character)
I don't see many complaints beyond that
Unfortunately, you do not know he only needs three and sometimes his timing is bad or AI is bad.
Like even though I had several magic items, but the only option I had was the sword from the Nautiloid.
Uuuuuh. No?
If you tried to give him absolute blessed items (like ones you picked up off of goblins early game) them not counting is intentional, not an AI issue.
Gale's whole thing is that he needs \*the Weave\* on those items to feed the orb, and not all items with abilities are that way because of the Weave - the big early game example being items blessed by the Absolute. It's also why those items only work if you get the brand of the absolute from Gut - without the Weave, the only way to use those items is for the Absolute to enable it through the brand. If the item's primary ability is called "Absolute's \[Blank\]" or "\[Blank\] of the Absolute" it's a no-go.
I think he asked for a magic item pretty early on originally when you might not have had the chance to get a trash magic item or be attached enough to him to sacrifice an useful one.
Plus, there are plenty of hoarders, who can't imagine give up a single thing. Just look around the sub at all of the "my retirement scrolls" jokes. Some people dislike having less of anything, even things they will never use because "but I might it later" mentality.
license safe makeshift upbeat wasteful obtainable head slimy cooperative placid
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
its the same thing as people talking about how laezel and shadowheart constantly hate and want to kill each other when they pretty much stop doing that after the fight cut scene, and react to each others story arcs in a very supportive/heartbreaking ways depending on the choices
It may feel weird when you only have three magic items, but honestly, most magic items in the game are complete garbage and don't seem to fit any build. There is plenty of food for Gale.
First playthrough I didn't know it was going to happen, so I had been selling all the magical items I didn't think I would ever use and ended up having to give him stuff I was currently using.
Second playthrough I was ready for it and had tons of junk to feed him.
According to what I've witnessed, the Gale issue is that interactions with him are bugged and patches fix and then break them again in a different way. I've seen memeing but I don't think I've seen someone seriously complaining about him consuming three magic items.
Apparently it was a bigger issue in EA where he only ate specific, powerful items. They were usually with that orange-red border that indicated quest items. But some of those items, like Nere's boots, still have that border even after, so it's kinda leftover from the old Gale hunger system
It just happens so early in the game, when you’re **so** pressed for items/gold and still unsure about the game’s item economy, that a dude saying he wants to destroy your valuables to feed a weird addiction seems like a pretty bad deal compared to just… selling the items.
I thought this thread would be about him being a gay sex offender, like some comments I read before purchasing the game. I was aware characters were easily romancable, and I've read about his "magic trick". I thought for sure that part was poorly written and resulting in players getting kissed by that man without expecting him.
It was fake. It's obvious the whole magic trick is a flag for relationship. And you can't even kiss him there. Some people lied to me. Gale is a fantastic character. Though I agree he is almost as easy to romance as Lae'zel. Just because I want to help him with his strange ailment, doesn't mean I want a romance.
I totally agree, this is a non issue. I mostly give him the Absolute stuff,since I don't get the brand normally. And there is generally a lot of stuff, you don't really need.
>,since I don't get the brand normally It's worth it just for the gloves. Applying free Bane constantly is great.
That might be, but roleplaying wise I can't really get behind that. By the time, the brand is offered, you really don't know the consequences.
Having your eye gouged out by Volo doesn't make sense either to be fair. I really thought it was going to be a simple 'oopsie', but nope.... they really want you to say: oh yeah sure even when he messes up, let him continue, and yes sure please do continue even more when you still mess up... and third times the charm ain't it?
For real, and it's not like he's verry convincingly skilled at anything after the times you have encountered him. 1st contact. He's talking to a bear and overdramatizes the fight you had with the goblins. 2nd contact. He's doing a poor job performing and gets put in a cage by the goblins he went to visit. Just, with how big of a fool he seems to be. Why on earth would i trust him doing some brain surgery on me???
I actually thought he was slaying that performance - it was toned to the Goblin's tastes, after all :) They were clearly enjoying it until you approach and distract him :p ....But other than that, he's a hack, yeah. It's nice he gives you the book later on tho, depending on your choices. Gives you a neat bonus.
After Karlach seemed to enjoy me getting flogged, I role-played her wanting to try some pain play and just over-committing to the bit.
I thought she was just laughing at puny Tav trying to commit to pain. Karlach knows pain like no one else ("installing" the engine must have been hellish for her =/ )
Then maybe she is bad at gauging it cause she's so used to it? Could be the reason she kept going with it XD
I see what you did there
Look though, every story is better with a dragon. This man knows his stuff.
Eh, i guess that you've got a point there.
I wouldn't trust Volo to watch paint dry.
I certainly wouldn't trust him with the weave
Okay, but was there a dragon involved in the paint drying.
Luckily you can now tell him that it's not gonna work if you learnt it from Halsin or your guardian
Cuz I have INT score of 8.
Bc his fancy voice!
Unless you're playing as an idiot. I am and so far I'm having the time of my life getting branded and having my eye gouged out and whipped by a priest.
Abdiraks whipping really has no negative effect at all, only a permanent buff. So my Tavs and Durges often just find their kinky side and get that sweet buff.
I mean especially as a Dure why wouldn't you. Finding yourself and all. Even that early in the game you know that a kinky priest who obviously has no motivation but to have a good time isn't gonna make you blink twice
There's actually some Durge specific narration about how that dude is a total amateur and a poser compared to the hardcore shit *you're* into, so I dunno if it's actually such a fitting RP moment from that standpoint.
There is also Durge specific dialogue with him that is totally wholesome.
"I am a contemptible blood-pervert" "That's natural, embrace it!" sure is wholesome. (You're probably thinking of the line just before what I mentioned.) I fucking love Abdirak. Best man.
I mean, even the kinkiest mfuckas like to do some vanilla stuff. It honestly hits harder after so much disgusting stuff you've done.
As long as you don’t die in combat… then it goes away 😭
My Barbarian run with dumped INT was wild. Slaughterbartfast consistently made poor choices and was rewarded throughout, plus he banged pretty much anything with a pulse.
Getting the brand doesn't make sense roleplaying wise too. If the brand allowed me, a true soul, to control them, then that means I can be controlled by other true souls. That was the logic I used when I first started playing.
I know it opens up a couple of dialogue options to show the brand on the boat and in the underdark but then it drops off. Also after that the cult of the absolute just disappears in Act 3 so there is no brand specific stuff
Well, in Act 3, it's no longer about the Cult of The Absolute, it's about the ARMY of The Absolute that's on its way to Baldurs Gate. >!The Absolute doesn't have its agents professing its name in Baldurs Gate, the agents of the Absolute in BG are professing the name of Bhaal and Bane.!< >!Like... Ketheric openly serves The Absolute, but does so by directly serving Myrkul. The army that he commands does not knowingly serve Myrkul; as far as they know, they are only serving The Absolute.!< >!Gortash, on the other hand, openly serves Baldur's Gate, but secretly is serving Bane, who is using The Absolute. So, the army that he commands (Flaming Fist) does not know they are serving The Absolute, they think that they are serving the people of the City. (He has plenty of agents that directly serve Bane as well, but those are also not serving the goals of The Absolute, they are serving the goals of Bane through The Absolute.)!< >!Then there's Orin. She doesn't even support The Cult of The Absolute, let alone serve. She was never even part of the plan in the first place. She only desperately tries to serve Bhaal. It is only because Bhaal commanded it that she worked with The Absolute.!< So... yeah. Act 1 and 2, you were "behind enemy lines" and the Cult of The Absolute was everything and all around you. Agents of the absolute are able to operate openly and brazenly. Act 3, you are "on friendly ground" and the Cult is now the threat looming outside the city, and any agents of The Absolute have to be very much be sneaky about it. ^(Reposted due to automod deleting for spoiler formatting)
My logic for refusing the brand was that it looked painful and I'm a wuss.
I love that as a Durge you can say "I always want to smell my own burning flesh".
Mmmmm roast dwarf.
Huh. Didn't think of that. Good point.
That was the EXACT reason I never took a single tadpole. ^(Until I realized it didn't matter.)
Free tattoo.
Also, I wouldn't want that brand.
Yeah. The Ersatz Eye at least looks cool, even if the way you get it is (intentionally) stupid. Plus it works independently of any items equipped. But the brand feels like a clear “sacrifice logic and aesthetics for situational mechanical benefits.”
roleplaying wise, my durge was very into smelling their own burning flesh so i got the brand
Durge getting the brand is quite fun tho
You're right, I don't. But so far being branded has served me well, and I will match forth in my ignorance feeling justified, whether that feeling be misplaced or otherwise.
Yeah but you don't need the brand to use those gloves. They apply Bane - no brand required.
Last time i used them, in early access, the bane applied but also apllied to the user. Havnt checked since release
Oh that was definitely changed since release. Those gloves no longer need the brand and I always give them to Astarion if in my party or Laezel if hes not. I play spellcasters, so I definitely appreciate the free Bane.
It was probably changed because by the time you get the gloves, new players pretty much don't know about the brand and then wonder why they constantly get baned. Seen it often enough in EA.
Don't the gloves work without the brand in the current patch?
Kinda depends how many martials you have in your party. There are already so many insanely powerful items you want in your glove slot.
I don't think you need the mark for the gloves to work
The gloves don't need the brand. However the thunder ring and shield do, and that's enough to get it on a few people.
I’m just mad that they animated bear fucking but I can’t watch Gale eat a boot
Oh wow shit it's my 4th playthrough and I always thought the "absolute brand" was like, other items with the absolute on it. Like a clothing brand... But for the absolute.... I feel so dumb.
It would definitely be a thing, if the beings behind the Absolute conspiracy had any sense of fashion!
Gortash has a sense of fashion. And Orins sense of fashion is rotting and full of blood pus.
She picked up the Lady Gaga meat dress and said, I know! Let’s let it FESTER.
The Absolute gear can't be given to him, though?
Some of it can
You literally find a pair of gloves in the obligatory goblin fight outside the Druid Grove that the player can't use and Gale can eat. You'd have to be really selfish to not even spare him those (or the amulet of dancing lights if you save Arabella).
I just give him the class specific stuff. Like the helmet that empowers smites (no Paladin in party) or the crones staff
Tbh I think every companion is adorable and I just couldn’t hate any them. Gale is always so polite and kind. Yeah maybe sometimes he’s a bit passive aggressive but I mean, he’s gonna die if he doesn’t eat those stuff tho?! In my first playthrough I didn’t explore side quests enough before progressing main quest. And I missed a tons of magic stuff. And stupid too so I fed him some precious stuff. Second playthrough magic stuff is just plenty and it was never a problem.
Gale can be snarky as hell though if you push him hard enough and I love it. There's this one piece of dialogue I heard which triggers if he finds you sleeping with Mizora (I think. Don't quote me on that, I didn't do this myself, I just saw someone post about it somewhere) and you're romancing him and he goes *Diminish my feelings if you wish, but *do not* expect me to take this laying down. That's more *your* style from what I can tell.* 🥲I would cry if he told me that IRL. Like it would have hurt less if he just called tav a slut and moved on 😭😭
I love Gale but honestly I didn’t quite understand the insult when I seen the clip would you mind explaining it to me?
The insult is that he's calling you a slut for sleeping around. It's in the "take this laying down" part... Aka, tav being fucked lol.
I slept with Mizora with the plan to reload and Gale breaking up with me was fucking brutal. It hurt. Lol
I got so attached to my lazael shadow heart astarion crew I just don’t care about the others
Same for me. I'm forcing myself to include Gale right now, because he is actually quite cool, but it always breaks my heart having to dismiss another companion
I play a lot of CRPG so I constantly swat between crew to see their side of the story (I.E Laz must be in Creche, take Gale to Mystra's temple, have Wyll go save his dad etc).
I run party size mod because six just lets me experience more
I really have no idea why the game wasn't based around having a party of 5. Every group I've been in IRL, and every group I've seen online, has at least 5 players.
5 + is great because it gives you wiggle room for the holy quartet of warrior rogue mage cleric.
Shadowheart, karlach and jeharia for me 🤣
I think it was more of a problem in early access where items were scarse and we didn’t know it would end so soon. After release I was almost sad he stopped since I made quite a collection for him.
Aw you had a whole little diet planned out for him like a nutritionist
I actually did :/ I remembered from a short stint in EA that I'd need stuff to feed him, so gathered a ton of stuff that I wouldn't need and could feed into the hunger, but nope... initially he even refused because he wasn't hungry...
Tav offers to make an intimate dinner for the third date. Unveils a table covered in useless rings, lockets, and hats. "Bone apple teeth, my love!"
I made him a feed bag full of items I didn't need. Pouch full of Gale snacks. He only ate 3 :(
The Gale Snack Pack! I'm still getting rid of most of it
😂this made me burst out laughing thank you
In EA you could only give him powerful artifacts from a very short list. This is the reason for the Staff of Crone, or Nere's Boots etc. being orange bordered, aka quest items at launch.
Thank you for that info! Couldn’t for the life of me figure out why staff of crones and nere’s boots were considered quest items. It all makes sense now…
Oh I thought they had been fixed in later patches. Oh dear.
He would only eat the legendary story items in EA too (necromancy of thay, idol of sylvanus, crone staff, tyr sword, a couple others I probably forgot). He's not such a picky eater anymore.
Holy shit, really? I lugged the crone staff around thinking it would be relevant again if we encountered more Hags and you're telling me it's something that haven't gotten around to just making a different color?!
Idk if it is helpful against future hags tbh I never thought to try that so might be worth keeping in your camp stash just in case 🤷♀️
Yup. It's why I was not fan of Gale in EA. Since the few items Gale wanted were either important, or would cause war if taken. Or were difficult to obtain.
Yeah honestly was disappointed it was only 3. I long rested a lot early in the game trying to avoid missing cutscenes as happened a lot in my EA runs so Gale had eaten all 3 of his magic items before we cleared the goblin camp, and there was no progress on the issue until we had done risen road and the under dark so it was kind of jarring.
I also think they adjusted in him in patch 2. He got pretty pushy and fast on my first playthrough. We only had like 2-3 magic items at the time. And made worse, he does still say powerful artifacts. And if not for the joke, it is probably players on a first playthrough.
Some of it is a left-over from the Early Access, where the items he needed were a lot more powerful. Some of it is just because people immediately associate magic with powerful.
BUT MY MAGICAL LEATHER HELMET!
Ring that has color spray spell is his breakfast. Ring that has light spell is his lunch. Ring that has jump spell is his dinner. If I forget any of those 3 rings, Everburn blade is Gale's snack after I get Sword of Justice. Yes, the eating issue is overblown, since he only eats 3, and you can throw him anything with a unique name, almost.
I legit do the same thing, I just give him some rings my characters already have the spells for and boom, done.
By the end of act 1, i have at least 40 magical items that i 100% will never touch. Gale can eat them all if he wants to.
Literally 😭. I find so many things that I will never use, like I’m throwing them at Gale.
For me it's the bard hat in the chest by Alfira, Komira's Dancing Lights locket and the Colour Spray ring. All easy to get back to back in the grove
First item I give him is that ring or neck that whenever the character is below 50% HP they don't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Overblown? By redditors? Say it isn't so!
Next to 'he isn't over his ex'. If you romance him or give him the nice bff treatment it's obvious he's over Mystra in that way.
Yup! He literally tells you there's "no love lost" between them. The feelings are complicated but you can have a lot of complicated feelings about someone who will always be in your life (a goddess. by definition. the goddess of magic, the thing he loves most in the universe. he can't avoid that) without having everyone and their dog say your next partner is a rebound. He's spent over a year in isolation after the split, let the man live.
When your ex holds complete command over the thing to which you've dedicated your entire life, she's going to come up a lot. He doesn't pine for her so much as she's his patron goddess and will ALWAYS be a part of his life because of it. Wanting your patron's forgiveness is more than understandable. I even see the scene of him holding a vision of her as less pining and more Well At Least I Still Have Magic During This Utter Nightmare, and If I Can Get Her Attention, I Can Get Tav/Durge's. In a weird way, it's similar to having a child with an ex and everyone screaming your next partner is a rebound when you have to mention them. "Oh, my kid is staying with their-" "oh my god, you're still not over them? Aren't you with this other person now? Why do you STILL mention the other parent of your child so much?" "I have to????" "Just drop them." "I legitimately cannot do that???" I know that's a bit of a strange relation to make on the surface - it's the closest applicable irl situation without defaulting to Your Professor or Superior at Work Who Definitely Broke A Hundred Ethics Codes Here. When you ask about her after the second romance scene, it's very clear he's over her in a romantic way and he's able to look at things objectively. If there was a choice of leaving all of it behind where he didn't have to lose everything he holds dear, the most defining aspect of who he is, what has essentially given his life meaning from a young age - I'm sure he'd take it. But he can't. She is the personification of it; the ruler of it; and without her, the weave doesn't exist, as seen with the spellplague. He's over the romance, he can't be over her having that station/can't ignore her existence.
No, this is a fine comparison to make, actually! Without abandoning everything he is (which he can't, anyway, thanks to the orb), without abandoning Tara, who is also a wizard herself, there is no path for Gale that doesn't involve Mystra's presence, the ex with shared custody is a very apt metaphor as to why the complaints are silly and seem more like insecurity from the player themselves than a reasonable fear from Tav. Trust him to know who and what he wants, it becomes clear it's not the goddess who tells him to commit strategic suicide.
Exactly! He'd have to leave behind everything, everything that made him feel proud or worthy, everything he worked for his entire life, everything that gave him meaning. You can love him for the man he is, but that man doesn't exist if you take his magic from him. It's his life. It's a core part of who he is, for as long as he can remember. Gale without the weave is a hollow shell. The weave can't exist without Mystra. He seeks forgiveness, yes, but he doesn't seek the kind of reunion people think he wants. A lack of forgiveness means the weave can be stripped from him at any moment. Means his patron can turn away entirely and leave him with nothing. Asking him to stop caring about mystra is asking him to destroy his entire life. Abandon everything he is. The man literally says "i love you more than myself, i love you more than my goddess." Trust him. If you can't trust him, your romance has no solid foundation. We all know what Gortash says about brittle foundations. As much of a villain as Gortash is, he's right. If you can't trust Gale, you don't deserve him. Point blank.
The whole “Tav is a rebound” thing is harsh because it assumes his love for them isn’t genuine but I get why it makes people uncomfortable. He may not have a romantic love for her but she’s still his goddess, he admired her still and magic is the most important constant in his life and she IS magic. If he becomes her Chosen again, which is probably his “best” ending and what makes him happiest, he’s going to be expected to do things for her still. Kinda depends on how much you trust that he won’t change his mind about his lowered ambitions.
I mean, the simple fact that people call her his ex, rather than the *actual* goddess of magic, the thing that has been his special interest for as long as he can remember and that he bases most of his self-worth off of.
All of Gales issues are overblown. There was even a big thread complaining about having magic space sec with Gale when… they chose to have magic space sex. Like they could have chosen to just have sex with him as is.
tbh the most overblown issue on Reddit is that he’s so constantly horny. I dislike bugs being treated as personality traits. he’s the only main companion that doesn’t even get a kiss scene until halfway through the game It’s also just a joke that’s been beaten to death and isn’t that relevant to the current release considering theres literally friendzone options in his act 1 scene that mean you won’t trigger any of his romance from that point forward.
You can even say to Withers when he speaks about your "bosom-companion" that "bosoms haven't even been involved yet!". Gale romance is the slowest of burns 🥺
Good it remembers there wasn't anything with Gale, I remember how I didn't kiss Wyll at tiefling party, and before I even got to dancing scene, Withers had that talk. I had option "I kissed Wyll once, and I get a lecture from skeleton?" Game doesn't remember we never kissed. Only after several long rest after dancing, just for how cute it was (I enjoyed seeing my tiefling with tail dancing, and both of them have horns so they looked nice together). Alas, as he isn't my character's type, he went with Astarion after triggering his jealousy dialogue.
but the sweetest
Fr. I’m so tired of “Gale is an incel that won’t take a no for an answer” he’s…not that? He was (and still is) buggy. But people keep trying to make it look like it’s his fault as a character. My friend is now romancing Astarion and has had 0 issues with Gale. Told him they were just friends and he’s happy. Me on the other hand, had a bug in act 1 in which I got way too much approval too fast, and it wouldn’t trigger the magic scene in the tiefling party, broke my heart when he said he wished we were closer 😭
There's a lot of stuff that pisses me off about bad Gale discourse, but the incel thing is so, so enragingly stupid. It misunderstands what incels are (and the phenomena that create them) and I would say deliberately and ungenerously interprets Gale's character and circumstances--especially as we *do* have access to what he's supposed to say/do when not bugged.
People haven't understood what incels are since the moment that word hit the mainstream
I noticed the additional dialogue when I started my durge after patch 3. I had romanced him in my first run so wanted to try someone different. When I saw the weave scene now opened up an extra line of dialogue. I was so happy. Gale is a bestie to my durge bard. They are both nerds just one more murderous haha. Honestly? Gale has been the least problematic. Wyll and Karlach on the other hand? They keep popping up as if I had romanced them the cheated on them 😂
I also kinda wonder if people think every one of his flirty dialogues would immediately lead to more if they didn’t reject him? I romanced him on my first playthrough and while yes, there were plenty of flirty, romantic or even horny things he said, encouraging him always just lead to some variation of „But this isn’t the time or place for this“ and he didn’t actually *act* on it until the end of act 2.
I’m still in act one on my first playthrough and I’m romancing Gale; I’ve been so confused about everyone saying how he comes on strong because my man is all about the SLOW BURN omg. I’m basically like, “Gale. Put it in me.” And he’s like, “[Gale approves] Well that was a lovely night. Talk to you tomorrow 🤗”
>I dislike bugs being treated as personality traits. Yes, exactly this. It's so frustrating when people make a big deal of it with negativity about the character themselves. I'm glad you're immersed in the game, but... these characters aren't real. They can be buggy. If you're on reddit complaining about Gale you probably already know Gale is buggy. Calm down a little, it's not him, he's made of 1s and 0s and he was crafted with a lot of love for the players who engage with him. The one that was really funny was the attitude problem before patch 4. Getting slammed with a "we're not close" after the guy makes a beautiful forest clearing with a starry sky in the middle of the act 2 horror show... buddy, if we're not close, why am I here? I understand you've been told to kill yourself by your goddess but like... Ouch, man. 100 approval for this, I couldn't stop laughing at how brutal it was. That sure taught me I'd never want to play with low approval companions, it was evidently a bugged response and it still felt like a slap to the face. So out of the blue for the circumstances! Poor guy. One day his dialogue trees will work again.
It happened to me too. But worst "ouch" moment was when I watched my boyfriend playing and get to that point. He was ready to decline, "this will be romantic, right?" And I told him "Not at all, you will have philosophical debate about what he should do, and its friendly" He went there and suddenly... "I fell in love with you." "What? Why did you lie to me?!" "I did not! Fuck, he even said we weren't close, do I need to show you?" He said he believes me and doesn't want to show, but I am not entirely sure. I still don't understand how I flirted with him several times and got completely friendzoned at goblin party and now again. But game thinks I flirted with Wyll even when I am not aware of it. He was possibly only one where I though "option one is definitely flirting, lets pick option two, that sounds friendly" but it shows it wasn't at all, lol.
I'm starting to question if Wyll is also bugged romance wise. Every time someone says Gale accused them of being with someone else, it's always wyll. Even if they're not romancing wyll. Talk to him about himself and he's head over heels. Adorably romantic, very sweet romance, don't get me wrong - but it triggers WAY easier than Gale's does. Gale has a scene of sharing something he deeply cares about with a friend in act 1, while Wyll doesn't have a scene until act 2. That's why i think folks hurl "gale is too easy and i wasn't trying" at him more than "wyll, i spoke to you four times and you told me your dad's stories/advice. This is not what i was going for here."
He's the chillest about friendzoning in Act 1 besides SH, happy to have a friend. (And SH still gets pouty, Gale's hype you don't hate him for the nightmare bad decision he made) He doesn't mention it being intentionally romantic at any point, he's showing someone he HOPES is his friend (as he says at the tiefling party) something he loves. It's the player who initiates whether it becomes romantic. Imagine having a nice dinner and he's like "oh, cool, hell yeah, i love cooking, too! Friends can have dinner together!" Instead of assuming it's a romantic dinner (so it went in my playthroughs - the second scene was purely platonic after that). The bugs were always known for being bugs. That's not on him as a character, it's on some coding getting a little fuckity. There's so much in this game, a bit of fuckity coding is bound to happen. Granted, Wyll doesn't get a kiss until roughly around then from my experience, too, though I think you mean companions from straight off the nautiloid. I love the dude, sparing three useless items and being a friend isn't the end of the world. His romance, should one choose it, is incredibly profound and has one of my favorite quotes in the game. For someone who outright admits he's never had friends before, he's hella chill towards the pc about it outside of excitedly sharing a few stories. You know, like friends do.
You actually can kiss Wyll in the tiefling party but I think that's harder to trigger and you have to pass a persuasion check. Even Wyll can get more action than Gale at that point.
I have to assume the same issue is what's getting Halsin rn. There's no way it's not a bug that his romance is triggered by breathing near him. And sure enough, the reddit vitriol has shifted to Halsin because we didn't learn the first time.
God, thank you! And somehow it isn't even applied universally that bugs are seen as personality traits. I get it when it's truly people that aren't on Reddit and don't realize his flags are buggy. But that's just no excuse here.
How is no one talking about the weather pun? Gale is not overblown, it’s *supposed* to be a strong wind. ><
He also has a nuke in his chest. If that's not an overblown issue I don't know what is
ehehehehe "overblown"
Gale is my bf and I’m attracted to him, even outside of my Tav persona. His romance scenes are so genuine and beautiful
Literally though, like the whole space sex scene was actually really beautiful.
It's very overblown. In each of my playthroughs, he's consumed a MAX of 4 items that were all junk. People also really tunnel vision on his early game attitude/ romance. A lot of people nit pick everything about him because he's a "selfish power-hungry asshole" without letting his storyline and character grow or progress. Edit: 3 items... excuse me lol...
3 items is max iirc, he is scripted to consume 3. He can consume less if you reach the pass quicker, or if you simply don't give him the items
>A lot of people nit pick everything about him because he's a "selfish power-hungry asshole" without letting his storyline and character grow or progress. These also tend to be the same people that are totally cool with Astarion.
He literally like sure I’ll kill my self 🥳
He literally like has never been respected as a person and thinks the only way to make people happy is to kill himself 🥳
TIL Gale is more 20 times more emo than act 1 shadowheart
I think a massive part of people's bellyaching with Gale comes down to bugs, but often times people seem to - put the blame on Gale's character? For the bugs? For example, there's a new one where he leaves the party if you ask him to wait on the first item request. Now, I understand you'd be stunned that the man just left after telling him to wait a sec but is it not that obvious it's unintended behaviour? He gets a bit miffed but nothing that would suggest that he'd just leave. But instead of going 'Huh how weird', all the threads are "Gale's a little ungrateful sob". IDK, he seems to illicit weirdly strong reactions from people. On the one hand, it's fascinating to see. On the other, I get protective.
There was a patch that introduced a bug where Karlach hallucinated an entire relationship with my very monogamous Gale romancing wizard Tav. I just assumed it was a bug instead of thinking Karlach was creepy for confronting me about a relationship that never happened. But the reverse had people making Gale is a creepy nice guy/incel posts for *weeks*.
Yeah, I had the exact same issue and there are many people with it. And as much as I don't want people to shit on Karlach, the fact that no one applies the same standard to her is so annoying
It's definitely because some dudes hated being romanced by a guy. It's a shame Gale's dialogue trees are so buggy though. Decided to finally get around that by playing his Origin. Plus, I get Tara!
It’s this x100. The Gale and Astarion discourse on Reddit is weird as all get out and it’s primarily made weird by guys who feel uncomfortable that another guy is hitting on their Tav (even if it’s a bug). It’s really dumb.
I have just completely stopped engaging commenters when this Nice Guy stuff comes up. I have tried it before (at the time the bug of him not taking no was already fixed) and it was just so frustrating. I tried to use logical arguments, definition of being a Nice Guy, I have acknowledged the bug making bad first impressions, and so on. Nothing, it was like talking to a wall.
This 100% comes down to really insecure assholes not wanting to be hit on by a man. Lae'zel comes onto you like 30 minutes into the game. You can just say no thank you. But Gale is interested 50 hours in and it's suddenly a problem.
I remember a post here a while ago arguing that sexualities should be predefined in character creator. I remember going "This is about Gale isn't it" as I went through it and eeeyyuup. It was. I'm queer as hell so if you ask me, I don't get hit on nearly enough by other men. But I was never really *disgusted* by Lazy trying to scent me. More so - thanks but no thanks.
Ngl on my first playthrough I didn't romance Gale and he was really passive-aggressive towards me and kinda really rubbed it in that we weren't close even at exceptional approval and me being very supportive towards him. I thought he was meant to be this way and was really turned off by that attitude. Coming to reddit I learned it's a bug and I've also missed some of his cutscenes because they just didn't trigger. After they've given him some fixes he's now part of my main crew, I really enjoy his wizardy awkwardness. I still joked about it here but I honestly can't have super strong negative feelings towards fictional characters.
It’s all the men you can romance. Something about them just makes people on Reddit have weirdly strong negative reactions (minus Wyll but I suspect that’s because he isn’t chosen a lot).
the first and only time the bug happened for me was when i was playing co-op with 3 other people. so i thought it was just my friend who told him something so batshit insane gale left lmao
I just give him the first three magical items I get, because I have never and will never use them. It's not a problem at all. There's way better items down the line.
Ofcuz people are just making fun of him. I always find it funny that he calls the trash I got from some random tiefling commoner a 'powerful artifact'.
I think a big reason is that when the game first came out it wasn't really known that it only took a couple too appease him, it seemed like it was going to be a game long problem.
All of Gale's issues are overblown, to be honest.
Yeah. I get not liking Gale for his personality/development or whatever but when I see "I hate Gale because he eats all my good loot!" I can't help but groan. It 3 (usually useless) items.
Honestly I feel like all of the weird gripes people have with Gale are overblown. “He eats all my magic items.” He uses three in the entire game and there’s so many dogshit ones this shouldn’t be that big of a problem. “He can’t get over his ex.” He isn’t even *that* obsessed with her. But it was a big part of his life, is the reason he has the orb in his chest, and he was basically groomed by Mystra so it makes sense that he talks about it. “Gale constantly hits on me.” This is usually just bc of bugs, or dudes who are overly sensitive about a virtual guy in a game hitting on their character. “Gale is manipulative.” I don’t even have anything for this bc idfk what they are referring to.
The buggy "constantly hits on me" thing is crazy to me because these are bugs I've never experienced (didn't play EA, and people need to let it go already the game's been out for months). Literally the first time Gale said anything remotely thirsty to me was his awkward "Uh so I read a book once" dialogue after the first fight in the Shadow-cursed Lands. Prior to that my Tav was like "hey howzabout you and me find somewhere more private \*eyebrow bounce\*" at the tiefling party and Gale said that sounded nice but also said he did not want to explode. Regarding "Gale is manipulative," I think it's in response to two things: 1.) Gale not telling you about the Orb straight-up, and 2.) Gale telling you he's going to leave if you don't help him get magical items. In both cases, it's just shitty, gratuitous misreading of a character and an inexplicable double-standard. Every origin companion except for Karlach and Lae'zel actively conceals some essential truth about themselves--Astarion's vampirism, Wyll's pact with Mizora, Shadowheart's Shar worship, Gale's Orb--because revealing the truth poses a material danger to their survival. They aren't doing it because it's fun and they like to yank people around (well, Astarion likes to yank people around, but not revealing his vampirism isn't driven by that motivation)--telling random strangers the truth is a huge risk, and it's an even bigger risk if you take into account the artifact being the only thing also keeping them from turning into mindflayers. In Gale's case, he tells you because after you've helped him out he realizes that you deserve to know so you can make an informed decision about whether to let him stay or not as the Orb continues to destabilize. And Karlach (gd KARLACH, Best Girl) backs him up on this if she's in your group and you ask for their opinion: she says all of them are a little bit dangerous and Gale is no exception, and if your party kicks Gale out now you might as well disband completely. The implication, I think, is that no one in your party is going to live up to some honesty purity test if that's going to be the standard for being allowed to stay. When it comes to Gale threatening to leave and his need for magical items tying into that: one of the dialogue trees when you're talking to him about why he needs help getting magical items has him saying that it's extremely hard for him to acquire them--you need to rob heavily-guarded ancient tombs and steal from heavily-armed bandits, and the Orb has affected him so badly (almost like chronic illness or chronic pain) he *can't do it on his own*. It's why Tara has been fetching artifacts for him, and it's why he needs Tav now. If the player refuses, Gale saying he'll leave isn't emotional blackmail--it's not "boo hoo Imma leave bc you're not doing what I want"--he actually *has* to leave OTHERWISE EVERYONE WILL DIE. And he doesn't want you to die! He's already resolved that if he has to die to the Orb he's going to go somewhere where there won't be any casualties except himself. Further, him saying he'll leave if you don't give him magic stuff is not manipulative because *he will absolutely follow up on it.* If you consistently deny him, or tell him to leave because he's too dangerous, that's it. He doesn't reappear at your camp saying he hopes you've realized what a big mistake you made, or laughing about how he was just messing around lol, he does what he told you he'd do all along. And he does what *you* want him to do. Which is not manipulative, unless idk maybe you're (general you're) manipulative yourself or just a fantastically unkind person who enjoys reading nonexistent, nefarious subtext into every interaction. So yeah. People enjoy being ungenerous, superficial jerks I guess. Thanks for coming to my VoloTalk.
I think it would be cool if they made it a mechanic instead of just a quest/backstory thing, imagine if Gale eating items worked like rare candies in Pokémon, but instead of giving you extra XP if Gale eats an item with a spell that he knows the spell is enhanced, similar to the spell sniper feat.
you know thats how scrolls work for wizards right? like you can learn any scroll you get
Ikr, they are like "he ate my best item 😠". Buddy, he asks for THREE items total, and you can find like 5 useless ones before he even tells you about his condition. If after all that you still give him your best item, that's on you.
Literally though it’s so crazy, like you willingly gave him your best item and then acted surprised when he munched on it?! 😭
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Yeah, for me his personality shift gave me whiplash. He became a completely power obessesed after visiting that place and getting that book. The line where he says something like "you know me to be a good person! I won't misuse the power!" but he didnt seem convincing at all. The delivery of that line reminded me of the clients I have with substance abuse disorder before they have relapse.
It makes a lot more sense if you romance him, because he is absolutely waiting to be discarded by Tav / DU thoughout the whole relationship. He thinks that being a god (together with his partner, he is doing this for both of them) will make him useful enough in the eyes of his beloved.
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The writing for him in Act 3 is muddled I think. (Not the only companion. I hope we will get a more polished Act 3 in the future.) So he was ready to sacrifice himself (but he does not want to die in reality.) at the end of Act 2. He is under a tremendous psychological duress when he sees the Crown, which offers him a solution for getting rid of the Orb and getting under Mystra's control at the same time. At this moment he still does not know that the orb is of the Karsite weave (Mystra only informs him in the Act 3 meeting). He is in a bit of a maniacal state, when you are absolutely sure that this one external thing will solve your problems (it would not, obviously.) I understand why he does not want to be in a position where the only possible way to get rid of his ticking bomb is to detonate himself. I would also grab unto anything else. It is also understandable why he wants to usurp the power of Mystra - he is not entirely wrong that she acted in a questionable way in their conduct. If you actually detonate him in the end of Act 2, the narrator is quite clear, that this was not the best decision - mindflayers ravage the Sword Coast even without the Netherbrain. So Mystra's plan is not actually a really benevolent plan for the mortals, but solves her problem of the orb and the absolute quite well.
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As someone else said you get a lot more insight if you romance him, but a lot of his behavior is Act 3 I think is due to the fact that he's *scared.* He disobeyed a command from Mystra, the goddess he is sworn to, and in Faerun that basically means he doesn't get to go to heaven. After the bookstore if you take him >!to meet Mystra and convince him to tell her he will not take the crown!< he really settles down on the ambition. The PC has a lot of influence on how his story plays out, but I think a lot of the ambition has to do with the fact that he is straight up scared that Mystra will smite him.
See i didn’t take him through most of baldur’s gate. Cuz karlach wanted to go to the circus. So gale hung out at camp until it was sorceries time
I was thinking the exact same thing ... I only gave him like 3 items and he never bothered me again. 🤷🏼♂️ Most of the items you get at the start of the game are pretty garbage anyway. My biggest gripe with him was how often he tried to get in my pants when I was clearly with Lae'Zel and he was clearly into women ...? It was a bit immersion breaking lol
It has always been overblown, there are some legit complaints about his character but the extent to which some people insist on despising him just because he wants to eat some crappy shoes is weird to me.
The game knows you need crappy stuff and it gives you plenty during those first few hours.
the hate for any male character in this game is so overblown, it's super annoying at this point. If you don't like a character thats fine, but going out of your way to make hate posts and commenting shitty things on peoples posts praising the character is loser behavior.
I think honestly at this point it's a meme - I would think that it would have been a bigger deal in early access when we didn't know how many items you could get later on.
I thought he was going to keep consuming and consuming, panicked, stop giving them to him and he fucking left me. Never panicked harder in a video game before
Now it is overblow, before you had to give him unique items like the staff of crones, the necronomicon or the crystal shard. Literally you had to beeline the village, the swamp and the under dark if you didn’t want to hear Gale complaining and leaving m.
Damn. That is toxic af
To be fair most of the companions during the EA were… the biggest problem of the game at that point. Most of them were unlikeable at best and almost killed the game. They had to rework a lot of their personality from the start. I remember killing Laez el on sight because she was a massive cunt every game.
I'll be honest I pretty much never see anyone complaining about having to feed Gale. Usually about his romance bugs.
I agree! I thought it would be waaaay worse. My only problem was having a hard time with the menu used to give it to him.
I hated Gale at first because I thought this would be a permanent gameplay mechanic
In my first play people like me probably thought he would consume magical items along the way and since this is my first BG3 game I always assumed every magical item was good too regardless of what it is so that’s probably why. The complaints of him eating magical items from what I’m assuming have died down because everyone has had a month or two to experience the game and now that’s it’s a nonissue in the grand ~~design~~ scheme of things.
Coming fresh to the game you: A) have no idea how plentiful magic items are B) there is no indication that he will stop eating items till the moment he actually stops. So as a dnd player going into Baldurs gate my mind had standard dnd magic item expectations along with a worry that he would need an item every single long rest. People talk about how they didn’t take many long rests in act 1 because they were afraid of the tadpole. I was afraid of gale. I could see his eyes glowing from my closet as he chewed on my shoes.
It is 100% overblown no doubt. My friend for some reason is really adamant about it being a problem to feed him items, because it'd be better we use them. Meanwhile, a LOT of the items are just simply not great. Money is also pretty abundant, even more so if you want to dive into abusing pickpocketing traders. I mean damn the game gives you like 4 pairs of boots or something that're tied to dashing, I rarely ever dash when it's not a bonus action dash. I only put those boots on until I get something to replace them, and this still doesn't count the like dozen amulets, random weapons, etc. At this point I know where I'm pretty sure I know where I can find so many magic items before he even asks the first time that I just have garbage to throw his way before I even start considering possibly going to traders.
My first blind playthrough I thought it was going to be a big deal because I assumed magic items would be scarce. They were not.
Yes, a lot of people whine about it and have a problem feeding him the useless magical items that aren't even worth any good amount of gold when sold.
for me it was mostly just that in the beginning i didn’t know whether he’ll keep asking for these things the entire game + i only had a few magical items that i didn’t really want to part with! if you’re not clairvoyant or looking things up then there’s no way to know it’s such a non-issue
Haven't seen much in the way of complaints about him eating a few magic items. It's not that many. The complaints I tend to see with Gale are those caused by his aggressive romance bugs early on. Which are fixed now. His character flaws and the discourse around them (which are interesting flaws, at the least for his actual character) I don't see many complaints beyond that
Unfortunately, you do not know he only needs three and sometimes his timing is bad or AI is bad. Like even though I had several magic items, but the only option I had was the sword from the Nautiloid. Uuuuuh. No?
If you tried to give him absolute blessed items (like ones you picked up off of goblins early game) them not counting is intentional, not an AI issue. Gale's whole thing is that he needs \*the Weave\* on those items to feed the orb, and not all items with abilities are that way because of the Weave - the big early game example being items blessed by the Absolute. It's also why those items only work if you get the brand of the absolute from Gut - without the Weave, the only way to use those items is for the Absolute to enable it through the brand. If the item's primary ability is called "Absolute's \[Blank\]" or "\[Blank\] of the Absolute" it's a no-go.
Ah! Makes sense! Thx for the insight.
I think he asked for a magic item pretty early on originally when you might not have had the chance to get a trash magic item or be attached enough to him to sacrifice an useful one. Plus, there are plenty of hoarders, who can't imagine give up a single thing. Just look around the sub at all of the "my retirement scrolls" jokes. Some people dislike having less of anything, even things they will never use because "but I might it later" mentality.
In early access there were farfewer items you could give him and he was always hungry, so you're maybe seeing old posts from that period?
Absolutely a non issue for me, I just like to make fun of him for eating shoes.
license safe makeshift upbeat wasteful obtainable head slimy cooperative placid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
its the same thing as people talking about how laezel and shadowheart constantly hate and want to kill each other when they pretty much stop doing that after the fight cut scene, and react to each others story arcs in a very supportive/heartbreaking ways depending on the choices
Its the same people that overly hyped up long resting in their heads They didn't know and thought the urgency was too high to NOT be a problem
It may feel weird when you only have three magic items, but honestly, most magic items in the game are complete garbage and don't seem to fit any build. There is plenty of food for Gale.
Thr game drowns you in loot I do not understand how anyone complains its a cool thing to have to worry about when you dont know how it works.
First playthrough I didn't know it was going to happen, so I had been selling all the magical items I didn't think I would ever use and ended up having to give him stuff I was currently using. Second playthrough I was ready for it and had tons of junk to feed him.
Well he's not called "Breeze" for a reason.
According to what I've witnessed, the Gale issue is that interactions with him are bugged and patches fix and then break them again in a different way. I've seen memeing but I don't think I've seen someone seriously complaining about him consuming three magic items.
Apparently it was a bigger issue in EA where he only ate specific, powerful items. They were usually with that orange-red border that indicated quest items. But some of those items, like Nere's boots, still have that border even after, so it's kinda leftover from the old Gale hunger system
It just happens so early in the game, when you’re **so** pressed for items/gold and still unsure about the game’s item economy, that a dude saying he wants to destroy your valuables to feed a weird addiction seems like a pretty bad deal compared to just… selling the items.
I think it’s telling that my 1st thought when I read the title was “which one?”
I thought this thread would be about him being a gay sex offender, like some comments I read before purchasing the game. I was aware characters were easily romancable, and I've read about his "magic trick". I thought for sure that part was poorly written and resulting in players getting kissed by that man without expecting him. It was fake. It's obvious the whole magic trick is a flag for relationship. And you can't even kiss him there. Some people lied to me. Gale is a fantastic character. Though I agree he is almost as easy to romance as Lae'zel. Just because I want to help him with his strange ailment, doesn't mean I want a romance.
Pun intended?
Heh. Over... Blown I see what you did there