What happens if you let Gale destroy The Absolute in Act 2 | Baldur's Gate 3

Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power.
Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil.
From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
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Baldurs gate 3 bg3 early access Gameplay Walkthrough PS5 steam xbox No Commentary HD let's play playthrough guide side missions upgrades companions

[@frinkanoid]

To be fair to Mystra, she's the goddess of magic, not the goddess of good ideas.

[@e21big]

Can't deny that her plan's kind of magical

[@Kalenz1234]

The man she loved brought her a present and she cursed him for it. Like wth

[@Jhanneditor]

😂

[@JaWick_WitaStick]

It ended worse though wym?

[@talleywa5772]

Funnily enough, foolish ambition was the domain of Karsus.

[@Mediados]

The Sword Coast enslaved, the world in danger of being taken over. Mystra: "Well looks like we saved the day yet again!"

[@flauschigesbrot]

*Distant screaming and burning buildings in the background.

[@The_World_21]

We did it Patrick, we safed the world

[@suleyman2768]

larian studios showing why men should make the important world changing decisions

[@nagatouzumaki3492]

Well, mystra is lawful neutral so she probably doesn't give a too much f... as long main threat to the world is gone.

[@Robertward111]

@@flauschigesbrot "This is fine."

[@jazzoj5]

Well turns out Mystra's plan was rubbish

[@DarkDragonRus]

Nah, it worked, it's just SwordCoast that suffer attack of some not very competent newly transformed Illythids who act very uncordinated instead of the whole world facing coordinated attack lead by Gods. You also get the Hero of Forgotten Realms achivement which also confirms that you saved the world.

[@sombodi200]

Actually in act 3 its works perfectly and having to fight the final battle.

[@TheLeleo14]

Undrated

[@snappycenter7863]

Her plan was to ask Gale to go Jihadi for her as a suicide bomber.

[@winslycan1309]

@@DarkDragonRusagree. Even if you trigger the explosion in Act 3, the Illithids would rise as well. However, the later explosion only happens when people see the Elder Brain, so everyone is prepared. If you make the explosion goes off in Act 2, more people will die for sure, but the Illithids will be killed off afterwards. Mystra’s plan is just ‘in case you fail, break glass and become suicide bomber’.

[@PippoGameKingPOo]

Gale really said "It's Galing time"

[@WaterDrinker011]

And then he Galed all over everyone

[@g148b4]

And then he Galed on the Elder Brain

[@misterkid]

It's going to take a while to wash all this Gale out of my clothes

[@CircusofPython]

Good ol “save before f’ing around and finding out” lol

[@mal2ksc]

This is why there are so few epic moments in live D&D games -- no savescumming means players are a LOT less willing to take chances.

[@ironbriggz]

This is my finding out loophole so my MC doesn't have to do it 😁

[@FlashmanVC]

I bet there’s at least one person out there who will play this, not realize how much of the game was left, and miss the second half of the game entirely

[@Pessoaaqui]

I did this and after thinking the game was short, opened tiktok and saw that there was more. Then I just started a new game and am playing the act 3 now

[@123Peter]

I did it. Then I reloaded and went with the other choice :)

[@philiph1692]

I just got it last night and decided to another playthrough! its a good ending

[@UnkindPort84663]

I did this twice because of how funny it was to just kill the entire party, kill the dead 3 including aylin, and the elder brain on top of it whilst the dead 3 just look over at gale like ayo whats that li-

[@frankrupert6358]

Yep and the he talks shit like the Game is Bad 😂

[@alexisrios4991]

Gale: I need to blow up. Trav: Gale for the love of god at least let us evacuate!

[@Wanpeld1]

It's weird that he teleports you away in the third act (if choosing the same option of him blowing up) but doesn't do that here.

[@eyrthren]

@@Wanpeld1 maybe it's a level thing? like in act 3 final fight you're almost definetly lvl 11 or 12 and he can beam you out?

[@HaveYouMetLynk]

@@eyrthrencanonically Gale is already a well established archmage when we meet him, so in a cutscene he should still be able to teleport us at any point in the game. Cutscenes follow different rules than gameplay mechanics. For example, his astral romance scene, or the scene where he illusions the shadow curse into a magical sky. Neither of those he would be able to do if cutscenes followed the rules of “oh he’s a level 6 wizard”. He’s able to do that because he’s an archmage. Gameplay wise, it’s kinda like when a player in DnD makes a character with a super badass and accomplished backstory but the campaign still starts them at lv1 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@eyrthren]

@@HaveYouMetLynk canonically Gale also lost most of his powers due to his year of isolation and the tadpole (probably mostly tadpole but yeah)

[@HaveYouMetLynk]

@@eyrthren I don’t personally a year of being away from people would hurt his magic ability at all, wizard are very known for being reclusive. I’ll give you the tadpole theory though. I know Wyll has a line where he laments that he doesn’t have the same powers and capabilities as before the tadpole. I haven’t heard any other companion mention anything like that but if it makes sense for Wyll I suppose it makes sense for Gale

[@kruszewskimikoaj1200]

The way Gortash, Orin and Ketheric look is priceless.

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

"... wha-"

[@BloodyVoyager]

"Yo, what tHE FUCK?"

[@ironstranger314]

“What the fuck is going on over th-“

[@BurnedOutWeeb]

I mean they did just get tactical nuked.

[@shadowsage2636]

love that narrator "not the ending you were meant for, but it is one..."

[@bentarbbronze6048]

Sounds like something a DM would say after some player tomfoolery.

[@RegisTraiter]

Mystra once again proves herself a goddess capable of creating solid, well thought-out plans.

[@misterkid]

She got what she wanted out of it

[@ZhongliArchonofSwag]

Considering her plan was destroying the Karsas weave and stopping anyone from stepping on her turf, and she didn’t care even slightly about the humans in the mix, it actually was a pretty well thought out plan.

[@MundaneThingsBackwards]

LOL

[@m1.01zahranormansyah4]

But, weird tho, if the only thing she wants is karsus weave to be destroyed or take the crown herself why the fuck she ask gale to blow himself up? She can always just cure gale and be done with it (at that time when gale just get bricked and the crown is nowhere to be found/still in Mephistoteles vault), and ask elminster to take the crown (at the bg3 timeline). If she needs the crown to remove the orb, she just need to explain clearly it to gale when he is at his rock bottom depressed, I'm sure he would agreed in the heartbeat since in his perspective it's his own fault and there his lover still wants to help him but cant

[@RegisTraiter]

@@m1.01zahranormansyah4 Gods in Forgotten Realms are generally stupid. There's also a limit on how much direct intervention is allowed, and that in combination with the overall divine stupidity results in overly complex and failure-prone strategies like this one.

[@robozombie9026]

I did it, shocked I got an ending, accepted my choice and started a new character as the Dark Urge this time, met Gale and HOLY CRAP.

[@bukojoetheslapsoils8273]

So, how was your new hand? Spoiler: Don't throw it away. You can use the hand on Act 3.

[@theinsurgent7603]

Holy crap what? did something special happen encountering Gale after getting that ending and restarting the game?

[@Soradakanizat]

@@theinsurgent7603yeah you chop Gale’s hand off (or the other way around can’t remember exactly)

[@user-ng1xj5fj2n]

​@@bukojoetheslapsoils8273spoil it for me

[@dar_dar3655]

@theinsurgent7603 Durge can do a little trolling to Gale.

[@Kpsla]

Could have at least had Moonrise Tower collapse.

[@MisterLimeLemon]

That bothered me, too. I was expecting a nuclear BOOM

[@DamienLavizzo]

This felt like a completely rushed ending. There's not even a cutscene afterwards. I think they wrote themselves into a corner with Gale and had to quickly tie off that loose end.

[@whoami30204]

​@@DamienLavizzoevery ending is rushed and terrible

[@hopsys]

@@whoami30204 not true but ok go off

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

@@MisterLimeLemon "Where's the kaboom? There was meant to be a mighty, tower-shattering kaboom!"

[@Buswik]

Lol I got this because I thought that there has to be some plot armor that saves us but they just roll the credits. There was an option to continue in the main menu and it loads the save from the door so the devs propably knew people might regret doing that

[@anneelk9066]

If you'd ever use his detonation in combat, youd knew there is no plot armor lol

[@Skeletor2.00]

I was gonna ask if we could load back if we did this, thank you for saying this

[@Capodraste]

@@anneelk9066 wait we can do that ??

[@NameSpaceVoid]

@@Capodrasteyes it’s hidden in the action bar called netherese detonation or something, it’s just a slightly longer animation of him setting it off and then a game over screen lol

[@Capodraste]

@@NameSpaceVoid lol that's awesome because implementing a useless action for combat is just... Mad. Thanks for sharing !

[@monicabellu9566]

"Though not the one destiny had in store for you" aka you messed too much with the DM.

[@keeper21br]

to be fair, it's the DM's fault for giving the players such option in this case

[@Tlhague998]

Mystra: We did it Elminster! We saved Faerun!

[@It_Skitty]

"One last Gale to end them all" had me cracking up 😂

[@MytzerL]

The fact that you can simply blow up and end the whole game with just chosing a line of text it's as funny as incredibly well though. Props to you Larian!

[@misterkid]

No, it's rushed and unsatisfying. Same when you piss of Vlakith and she kills you with her anger. Just nonsense endings

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

Far Cry games are famous for having secret endings that basically let you skip the entire game.

[@Lazarultos]

@@misterkid It's just actions having consequences. If you tell the walking thermonuclear bomb to explode then he'll explode of course. If you piss off the Queen of a multi-dimensional military dictatorship while she's right in front of you, then of course she's not just gonna let you walk away. You bring those endings on yourself by fucking around and finding out.

[@Scagh]

​@@misterkid Vlaakith killing you is not an ending, it's a game over, just like dying in battle. THIS is an ending that gives the achievement for finishing the game.

[@MeidoInHebun]

@@misterkid It's not nonsense, actions -> consequences. I *wish* (ha) more games had the balls to do that sort of thing.

[@MatthewCampbell765]

I actually got this on my first playthrough. In-character, my Tav PC was largely...understanding of the plan, perhaps to a comical degree. Sure, he didn't want him or Gale to die, but hey, sometimes you got to commit sacrifices for the greater good, plus a literal deity is telling the party it's a good idea. Punch those numbers into a calculator and it works out. Out-of-character, I could tell the game wasn't over yet so I figured that the game would intervene and stop me in some way. I didn't expect it to actually let me go through with it just like that.

[@eleanorgreywolfe5142]

That was.. underwhelming. The tower still stands despite what the narrator says, even the explosion is underwhelming.

[@kathrynck]

Yeah, they needed a blinding white light, old guy using force bubble to survive the blast wave, and then a scene of a smoldering crater where the towers once stood. But it's a cool game option :)

[@MB-rt9dq]

Nearly all of bg3s cutscenes ar lacklustre …crazy how no one says anything about it

[@Mitchasauraus]

​@MB-rt9dq it's likley because no one else thinks they are lack lustre, your literally the only person I've ever seen comment it or say it.

[@kathrynck]

@@Mitchasauraus The "one last Gale" scene though, great when zoomed in on the characters, but the far-away shot was quite a "fizzle". When they go to the far-shot of moonrise, I was expecting a mushroom cloud with the noise on time delay. And then there was only a slight hint of light behind the building. But yeah, I like most of the cutscenes :)

[@sgtkort97]

i think they are lack lustre and rushed, all endings kind of are@@Mitchasauraus

[@Rev_Danielle]

Gale said "it's Gale-ing time" and Galed all over those fools

[@gendoruwo6322]

shall we regale the tales of Gale ?

[@karmana4712]

Speed runners take notes

[@kathrynck]

they already did. BG3 credits-ending in 9 min.

[@SlayXemnas]

I don't think there are many GMs out there accepting a backstory that goes "He eats magic items and can unleash an explosion from his body that is powerful enough to kill a demi god".

[@Birbucifer]

that's why this is a video game and not a tabletop campaign ya silly goose

[@KalashVodka175]

Why not, tbh? The explosion literally involves the death of the player. No return. It's a great send off.

[@chrisfrolik4014]

@@Birbucifer The best CRPGs are digital translations of tabletop campaigns, though

[@SlayXemnas]

@@Birbucifer Jokes on you. My monitor stands on top of a table making Baldur's Gate 3 a tabletop game.

[@SlayXemnas]

@@KalashVodka175 The explosion kills the player, the BBEG (which the GM spent in most cases a fair amount of time to create) and the rest of the party. Gale would get a no from me.

[@boof994]

I like how it says that all tadpoles will turn anyway but the actual ending when you kill yhe brain, they just dont for some reason

[@virplexer1428]

cuz in the actual ending you command the netherbrain to destroy all tadpoles and then itself

[@abduljah9355]

The tadpoles can only be destroyed by the Absolute. Killing the brain without asking if to destroying the tadpoles is a mistake, as the Dream Visitor tries to explain.

[@milaahrens9171]

Gale throughout the game :"My main goal, is to blow up hrahrahrahra"

[@thegoose8311]

Ah yes nuclear warfare such a whimsical spell

[@Nergalsama01]

Oh. So it's a non-standard game over. Good thing I talked Gale out of it.

[@Soradakanizat]

Yeah I used it in combat accidentally (why did they put it in my radials?!) and got a game over screen lmao

[@nagatouzumaki3492]

It's less of non-standard game over as much ending of the game and credits roll, naturally it ends it at the end of act 2 so you end 1 act earlier.

[@cillianik4303]

The way the Chosen Three looks at the elder brain like “wtf?” has me ROLLING 😂

[@kfcspartan]

it didn't even occur to me that once the elder brain is gone all the infected would transform

[@Erydanus]

To be fair at this point you didn't know that the mechanism preventing the tadpoles from maturing was magic derived from the crown enslaving it

[@lunarluger3498]

Wouldn’t they all have free will tho

[@kfcspartan]

@@lunarluger3498 for the brief fee moments it would take for the tadpole to transform, yes they would have free will

[@Mithcoriel]

So...the crown is sending out constant "don't transform" signals, and occasionally the brain sends out "transform" signals which are blocked off by the dream guardian. Kinda confusing.

[@debtmaster]

​@@Mithcoriel The Dream Guardian is blocking the brain's mind control, not transformation. None of the altered tadpoles transform the hosts (yet!).

[@michaelstar7556]

"We did it Elminster! We saved the world!" Elminster : 😧 Withers: "Art thou mad, woman?" Kelemvor when Gale arrives at the city of Judgement: "So...I...uh...I swear she was smarter than that once".

[@maxriley9540]

Hey thank you, i was super curious so I'm glad someone posted this scene.

[@digge2210]

He could at least wait to us to exit lmao

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

It's a massive radius, probably like a real nuke. You'd have to teleport the hell out of there, and waiting could ruin the chance of nuking the villains and the brain.

[@doransshield9176]

Elminster's like "fine, gotta do this shit again" 😅

[@peterhospodar7876]

Aaah, my first playthrough. My cleric of light pushed it a bit far. Lathander was not pleased that day! :D

[@AtomicTankGirl]

Elminster - "Oops... didn't quite think that one through, eh, Mystra?"

[@AurioDK]

I am at that moment and just came here to see what would happen if I pressed the alternative choice, guess it was a sort of a shitty ending.

[@kathrynck]

Hero of the Forgotten Realms achievement. can mop up a gang of newborn mind flayers a lot easier than the powers which were in moonrise. It's not 'bad-end', just not 'best-end' either.

[@bobowon5450]

I love the part where he says its galing time and gales all over them

[@DarthBlam]

Wow. Good one, Mystra

[@conitsha6793]

Was kinda hoping for a Nuclear explosion there

[@kathrynck]

ditto. old guy using force bubble to survive the shockwave, big smoldering crater, etc.

[@partialsun]

I did this in my first play through bc I didn’t read the text and realize it would kill everyone I died laughing when credits rolled

[@Preaplanes]

Question is- does this count as a completion of Honor Mode? I'd guess not, but they're pretty ambiguous about what ending they accept, and this is an actual ending. "of sorts."

[@MytzerL]

Please answer, I need to know

[@queen_pingu8929]

This does not count for Honour Mode, you have to do it in Act Three for it to count. Source: I tried it hoping it would count. It did not. 26 hours gone...

[@Dutchbrother07]

@@queen_pingu8929RIP, thank you for your service

[@Capodraste]

@@queen_pingu8929 real heroes do not, in fact, wear capes....

[@yharnamiyhill787]

Im surprised Orin didnt teleport and save themselves...

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

Probably didn't have time before she realized what was happening.

[@namethefifth7315]

Ive never even gotten this option because gale has never even been in my party for anything other then story momments in his quest in act 3

[@Frank-me2mh]

gale can be made pretty strong. but he dies really quickly. idk why, for me every enemy just has it out for him for some reason.

[@namethefifth7315]

@@Frank-me2mh they target spellcasters and people with consecration on spells

[@mAzDaR20]

Larian even thought of the current trends today by offering a choice to have content cut from the game. 😂

[@aliwantizu]

Gods Dammit Gale! 😠😡🤬

[@Pacifica_909]

I got this ending and kept it. I'm happy with my choice.

[@TheHawaiianMermaid22]

Well, I’m now officially glad that I didn’t bring Gale along with me to kill Kethric Thorm.

[@rafavilar7547]

The smartest man in the universe guys

[@kirikakirikakirika]

It's Mystra's fault. She told him to do it.

[@MrJustonemorevoice]

Mystra : We did it Patrick! We saved the city!

[@avathiana866]

0:15 Gale STFU you’re not dying here boi😂😂

[@ClarityPCGaming]

What happens if you only bring gale into that room and leave your party at last light?

[@bonifacioalfajor]

I think thats not posible because in this dungeon you can't go to the camp , and after to enter de dungeon you are limited to the shadow land only in this scneario the explosion end with all that

[@carloseduardomondragon8052]

Plus the tadpoles transform your other characters so it would end the same

[@BlameNate]

Lame sequence. There wasn't even an explosion. No indication that anything was destroyed other than a brief flash of white light. Glad you saved before.

[@Polomance862]

Well it’s not meant to be the perfect ending. It’s an ending but the bomb occurred deep underground. Nothing too glamorous since you’re supposed to stop him. As the narrator makes clear; it unleashes hell in a new way.

[@darthpanda3654]

The game literally tells you you done fucked up it isn’t supposed to be grandiose

[@VITAS874]

Man it's possible ending lol. A lot classic games have it as Easter egg.

[@GewalfofWivia]

It’s pretty epic if you explode the orb in the final standoff. But it makes sense if you are actually caught in the blast you wouldn’t see anything at all.

[@quanlinglingdingle6122]

Gale : "i could level the entire waterdeep if i explode!" Also gale when he "explode" :

[@ghostlyswat12]

My curiosity got the better of me so I saved my game and chose to let him blow up

[@bigshortstop1931]

This is the games way of saying "ummmm you've won i guess.....I suppose congratulations are in order?......do you feel proud of yourself?"

[@datboi4586]

kinda lame tbh, with how he was saying it was a explosion that would level a city it didnt even make it to the surface

[@youarebymyside]

And that's it? For real. Meh. I'm glad Gale wasn't there with me. I even completely forgot this was supposed to happen. Back on my way to the city I go. Thanks.

[@frostmagemarii]

The stupid thing is, is that the game like everyone was with you and that you had these choices. When you talk to people after all this is done, you get the second half of conversations like asking Gale if he regrets not blowing himself up and he talks like he was right beside you.

[@Alena-cz7hj]

@@frostmagemarii I mean surely he wasnt THAT far, maybe not in your party, but in the explosion range anyway

[@murishani047]

​@@frostmagemarii For me Gale specifically said he wasn't there, but could feel the presence of the netherese magic all the way from camp. He also said if he had been there he knew he wouldn't have been able to follow through and blow himself up.

[@Mithcoriel]

@@murishani047 Yeah, he gets one dialogue where he says he wasn't there. But after that, every time it comes up, people act like Gale was there and failed to go through with it.

[@barelypedestrian]

mystra, goddess of failing tasks successfully

[@jxrski]

Yoo this is wild, you can end your journey like this

[@endarus6053]

This was my first ending that i got. I was like “lets see what happens lol”

[@pbagosy]

Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your party's wizard?

[@DarthPrime52]

Welp real Gale I didn’t bring glad with me for that part now.

[@roqsan3513]

Mystra: I did it! I saved the world!

[@jonbaxter2254]

Incredible they put this in, just to see if it did anything

[@SpilcedJeans]

The funny part is if you convince gale to do this in act III it actually works which makes no sense. In both cases you blow up the elder brain lol

[@NPC_5439]

I did this expecting mystra to bring gale and friends back to thank them and what not, boy was I wrong

[@notabannedaccount8362]

Thousands vs Millions lost. Victory.

[@frenchtantan]

At that point in the game, Gale wasn't in my party, 'cause I had no idea I was going to meet the Netherbrain lmaoo. . . . . . He has since learned fireball.

[@Floaydi]

No cool cinematics? Come on larian...

[@SoulBrother_1]

Glad to know I made the right decision.

[@Loganjh1126]

Mystra really said "URETHA! if gale can just activate bomb around bad guys, then both bad guys and ex will be gone! I see no reason why this isn't the best fucking plan ever. ELMINSTER! GO FIND GALE FOR ME, IVE GOT AN IDEA."

[@MellowMink]

Why does this not also occur if Gale sacrifices himself in the third act, seeing as the brain still didn't get commanded to destroy the remaining tadpoles?

[@rettbull9100]

Isn't this the same out come of act 3 though. You kill the 3 chosen, and destroy the elder brain. Why isn't this the same? The Illithid are attacking the coast as we battle the elder brain in act 3. There would be even less illithid because there's no one to funnel tadpoles into the city. Misnc won't start the stonelord gang. Gortash won't be put in charge of the steelwatch, Orin won't going around killing, I guess Sarevok is still a problem. The flame fist won't have to worry about the army marching on the city. Those forces can just focus on the illithid that are leaderless now. This seems like the best outcome for the coast.

[@henriquegabriel798]

When i saw that not only gale was going to be killed but me too, i didnt let him blow up. If he was going to die alone then i would let

[@crimson86x92]

But wait why is it when we do this at the end of the game the tadpoles get burnt out?

[@agentwarz1292]

Remember to do this in honor mode since it’s one of the quickest ways to get your golden dice set.

[@MrFuggleGuggle]

A win is a win

[@KratosisGod]

That was underwhelming I thought the explosion was going to level the shadow cursed lands atleast and the fact that destroying the elder brain doesn't affect the remaining tadpoles doesn't make any sense.

[@hyp3rsqu1d81]

mindflayer tadpoles dont need an elderbrain to act. they can act on their own just like mind flayers can. This isn't explained in the game but it really dosn't need to be and its already established lore of the forgotten realms anyway

[@uselence]

​@@hyp3rsqu1d81BUT you can blow up Gale in the ending of the third act and they die! WHY

[@snowpoler]

That's it, Gale. No more Taco Bell for you

[@fluffernal]

i want to make a campaign set after this ending now-

[@darklight5271]

Mystra: "ah fk."

[@The1WeirdGuy]

did this is my very first playthrough after full launch before deleting the character

[@rohitjohn6180]

Where is the kaboom? There must have been a brain shattering kaboom.

[@angelsideuk6197]

no one talking about the almost 200hp by act 2?

[@PerfectParadox]

Mods. It was my second playthrough

[@warthoggoulags1679]

​@@PerfectParadoxwhat mods do you use ?

[@PerfectParadox]

@@warthoggoulags1679 I was using Wemod for infinite xp plus some other bits and pieces

[@warthoggoulags1679]

@@PerfectParadox I would like mods thah make you strong but not too invicible, maybe the unleashed mods are good for that

[@unbenanntunbekannt]

@@warthoggoulags1679 those metrics you provided depend entirely on you as a person, not the author of a mod. same goes with the basics of this game. its very easy if you "cheese and cheat" your way trough. balance it yourself

[@silverstrider2046]

My friend and I did this on our 1st playthru. Was so unsatisfied we reloaded and continued because that ending was disappointing as hell

[@aimeesygney6515]

Of course his last words are a pun

[@theopinson3851]

Ah. So…don’t do that.

[@WorldEaterFilms]

i was very very tempted to do this my first play through but im like "knowing larian it probably is a secret ending BUT i dont want to end the game yet" so i convinced him not to do it and went on to act 3

[@Apen_melker]

does this count as finishing the game? I want to do a playthrough on tactician for the trophy and am curious if this works

[@MandieCat]

I've heard someone say you get the achievement but haven't done it myself

[@capt.peehype]

I was getting kinda bored of my 3rd playthrough so when I got to this part, I commanded Gale to off himself, had this "ending" and just went with it

[@goosebish8646]

I let him do it on my first go thinking the game would pull a deus ex machina to keep it from happening but nah they just let him nuke the entire scene and rolled credits. Spent the entire credits sequence dying of laughter

[@demogorghon]

Ah yes. One of those endings I will never see in person :)

[@caithlienhart5454]

Mystra's plan sounds more like petty vengeance than a real "plan" . Mystra sucks anyway...

[@rendyandrian7149]

My guess is Gale is the most powerful character in this game. Only his action can bring out end credit scene before act 3.

[@LordOfTheNorthwoods]

During the fight against Balthazaar i used it (was being owned 13 times and frustratedly tried it)

[@gozzythebat]

*queue Seinfeld theme song*

[@jacobl2222]

Wow, lame explosion. The air just kind of turns purple? I was really hoping for like, a perfectly carved out spherical crater where Moonrise towers used to be.

[@pavelgrebnev3868]

Why do tadpoles survive in that ending and die if you kill the brain with an illithid?

[@Charon510]

Blowing up the brain frees the tadpoles to continue their life cycle. In the main ending you command the brain to destroy the tadpoles and itself.

[@uselence]

​​@@Charon510 but what about blowing up Gale in the 3d act? the tadpoles die for some reason..

[@Charon510]

@@uselence This is actually a good point. I’ve been trying to find an answer for this but there’s no definitive statement about it. My first guess was that Orpheus or a mind flayer with Orpheus’s powers being alive prevented it, because he and the Emperor likely die in the Act 2 explosion. The more likely conclusion I came up with is that psychic backlash from the Netherbrain’s death killed the tadpoles. Even fully grown Mind Flayers were left incapacitated by the Netherbrain’s death, so it’s not unreasonable to assume the tadpoles were killed outright. Either way definitely something that should have been addressed in game rather than left up to conjecture in my opinion.

[@uselence]

@@Charon510 the only difference between the situations I can see is the brain being controlled/free. But it doesn't make much sense either. Looks like they forgot they have this ending by the time they got to making the actual endings..

[@BingtheLizard]

Ain't Gale lucky I forgot to add him into my party for the Ketheric encounter, hey ;)

[@schelm6533]

Does anyone know if you get the "Critical Hit" achievement if you play the game in Tactician mode to this end?

[@RedBeardGuy4]

Now here's an important question. Can you get the trophy for beating Tactician mode this way? Technically you'd be killing the final boss... just early

[@delacroix5348]

Nope. I tried it and didn't get the achievement. You can use him in act 3 though to skip the final one but needs checks.