Endgame spoilers alert - Was my ending bugged? I have so many questions

[Jarmer]

I'm not going to spoiler tag the entire text, so be warned if you haven't finished the game: endgame spoilers everywhere!

So I have tried now for the umpteenth time to get a decent ending for my game but have come away astonished at how it actually played out and I have so many questions:

For starters, I turned orpheus into an illithid and destroyed the brain.

So then we all crash down into the sea, and walk to shore. Next, this is what happens:

1- I agreed to kill orpheus.
2- Laezel rides off to free her people from vlaakith on the dragons.
3- wyll says lets have a party
4- gale contemplates the crown, I convince him to give it to mystra
5- astarion (my main player character) cowers behind some boxes and bites a dude in a cave
6- karlach just explodes with absolutely no conversation prompts or choices or anything at all
7- credits

WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?!?!?

Why was I not prompted to do anything about Karlach? I thought she had an ending where she and wyll and the main character can go to avernus and kick some ass? All that happened is she fell down, said "I'm too hot" and then exploded and died. I never got a chance to say or do anything ... !!! Was this bugged? Or because this was after my main character Astarion had left maybe? I'm so confused?

Shadowheart got no dialog or choices or conversation or anything. None, not a single frame, nothing. Why did she get no ending whatsoever?

All Wyll said was that he wanted to have a beer. What happened to his ending? Nothing? He just wants to drink? I mean I can understand that, but beyond the next 5 minutes of having a beer, what then? nothing?

I'm so utterly confused, and I don't have it in me to play that awful endgame fight. The fight itself is so terrible. So I'm just asking you all what happened and mostly, why could I not choose anything for karlach and why shadowheart never even got a single frame at all.

[Caledor]

No bug. Ending ist just a bit disapointing

[Jarmer]

so there really is no ending screen time or story for Shadowheart at all? They literally didn't even write anything for her? How could this be?

And Karlach dies no matter what? Really?

[Moonbane]

You did not convince Karlach to go back to Avernus or become an illithid instead of the player when freeing Orpheus. Thats the alternatives. Not bugged.

You did get warned by Dammon that her heart would burn out if she did not return to Avernus.

But Wyll and the Player can opt to go to Avernus together with Karlach.

Becomming a mind flayer frees her from the curse of the heart.

[victorvnv]

Shadowhearth has an ending if she is your romance .

She also says a few words, I guess if she was in your final party she would say something , same with Karlach

Karlach and the player can only go to avernus if the player romance her

And wyll can only go with her if he is still under Mizora contract

[butbka]

If Wyll is Blade of Averno he can join Karlach in 9hells. If your main has romance or high attitude with Karlach he can join her in 9 hells.
Also Karlach can be saved by turning by illithid or by Durge taking the throne.

[Moonbane]

Originally posted by butbka:

If Wyll is Blade of Averno he can join Karlach in 9hells. If your main has romance or high attitude with Karlach he can join her in 9 hells.
Also Karlach can be saved by turning by illithid or by Durge taking the throne.

Durge taking the throne? What do you refer to? Havent heard of anything related to the dark urge and karlach's fate.

[Jarmer]

I'm still leaning towards my endgame was bugged because:

1- I did romance karlach
2- I did turn wyll into the blade of avernus
3- I never got any conversation or dialog or choices or anything for karlach - she just falls down and explodes and dies with no other options

Like for instance this guide:
https://gamerpillar.com/all-7-karlach-endings-in-baldurs-gate-3/

On almost all the endings it's saying to select dialog options. I never got a single dialog option, ever.

[butbka]

Originally posted by Moonbane:

Durge taking the throne? What do you refer to? Havent heard of anything related to the dark urge and karlach's fate.

They are all happy slaves:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2134202888455294897/A74F5D97F8DE1263B51E83DFA90F2444377FB961/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

[Gotte]

I think the ending can be bugged. I ended with having Karlach leving for avernus together with Wyll without me, by mistake. The video shoved Karlach and Wylls faces the music ran out and the end text never shoved, it was as if the game froze. But I could end it with ESC and load my last saved game and played through a part of the end battle again. This time it everything worked fine.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by Gotte:

I think the ending can be bugged. I ended with having Karlach leving for avernus together with Wyll without me, by mistake. The video shoved Karlach and Wylls faces the music ran out and the end text never shoved, it was as if the game froze. But I could end it with ESC and load my last saved game and played through a part of the end battle again. This time it everything worked fine.

I chose the option for Wyll and Karlach to go together, and then when it got to that scene in Avernus, it seemed like I had to hit Space (skip) to progress at the end of Karlach's lines of dialog. (As if it was waiting for me to respond, though I wasn't there and it wasn't presenting dialog options.)

[SoundsOfNight]

The ending is trash esp if you go the evil route. It's not quite ME3, but it's close.

[Liandri]

The thing with Karlach is strange. You should get the dialog options. Only thing I can think of is that you haven't met dammon in act 2 to fix her heart. But wouldn't surprise me, if it was bugged.

Evil ending is fine. The good ones are the ones that need help. But it's far away from a ME3 disaster ending.

[Jarmer]

I did meet dammon in all the acts. I fully upgraded her engine with dammon until he would just want to sell me stuff even though I had a ton of infernal iron.

I mainly was asking if my ending was bugged because it makes zero sense, and I already had another attempt at ending the game where I chose to have Gale explode, but he pops up in the next scene asking everyone how they are doing. Obvious bug there, so I just didn't know if there was an obvious one with Karlach and Shadowheart as well.