Baldur's Gate: The Zero Reload Saga

(Yes, I know there aren't any paladins in the party. Shut up.)

As expected, up pops a genie with a wish to offer us.

Just one wish? Yep. Apparently Kalah’s already used the other two wishes. One of them was for the power to influence people, in response to which the genie gave him the Ring of Human influence (a-ha). However, despite being able to boost his Charisma to 18 whenever he wanted, he still somehow managed to make a colossal mess of any and all social interaction and get ridiculed by everyone he came across, so he then made his second wish for the magical power of an ogre mage.

Yeah. Out of everything he could have picked, he opted for an ogre mage. Suddenly “misguided fool” is no longer sufficient; he has now transcended into the realms of “botched lobotomy victim”.

Still, we’ve got ourselves one wish, and that’s better than nothing.

Here’s how this works. You are offered a variety of wishes that are specific to this quest, (some of which are just there to tease you; you can try wishing for Imoen to be returned to you or for Irenicus to die, but it doesn’t work) or, if you don’t want any of those, you can decide to “choose a wish for yourself”, after which it functions exactly as if you had cast Limited Wish.

While taking the Limited Wish route would probably be more profitable overall, we do want to get some closure on the quest and we'll eventually be able to cast that anyway, so let’s take a look at our options.

As I mentioned, the wishes for Imoen’s return and Irenicus’ death don’t work, so those are out of the question. You can also wish to make yourself the new owner of the lamp and get as many wishes as you want; essentially “wishing for more wishes”, as the genie puts it. However, according to some arbitrary genie rule, you’re not allowed to do this. Damn it.

You can also wish to resurrect Kalah, wish to set the genie free, wish to imprison Kalah’s soul or wish for Jafir to die painfully. All of these ones actually work. However, the latter two would be stooping to Jafir’s level and being an arsehead just for the sake of it.

More importantly, we don’t get any reward for either of them.

Therefore, it seems that the only worthwhile choices consist of giving Kalah a second chance or releasing this genie from its endless wish-granting monotony. Both options give you a reputation boost and a small amount of experience, so it largely comes down to personal preference.

Hmm. Let’s see now. Who was it that tried to kill me and pissed me off by conjuring up a horde of fake werewolves that I had to pointedly ignore?

Yeah. Enjoy your freedom, genie.