Topic: Baldur's Gate 3

@HallowMoonshadow It’s a tough problem to have so many good games to play… 😄
Believe me, I know!

And yeah, I guess the entire time abroad you weren’t going to be playing any games, at least not on your console. Sounds like Japan was a great time nonetheless.

I hope Silksong is as good as anticipated. I expect it will be. And it’s probably a really long experience also, as I recall the first game was quite lengthy

I realized that I haven’t dropped any updates on my BG3 experience lately. Some of that is due to stagnation of my gaming in general, but some of it is my laziness.

Also, I’ll say that Act 3 has been quite a lot to take on. I know @BearsEatBeets and @Thrillho had mentioned just how much content Act 3 had, but I was still not mentally prepared for the complexity of it all. It’s really great but intimidating nonetheless.

I’m trying to keep to finishing up one quest line before pursuing another, but it’s really difficult because so many quests reach a point where you have to explore further into the city to progress, and there’s a lot of overlap. No sooner have I mopped up the suspicious toys, and then I have a new quest dropped in my lap with trying to find Jaheira’s mate Minsc. As soon as I confront Gortash, I am tasked with tracking down a doppelgänger. I’m trying to deal with the Steelwatch and the Gondian issues and there’s still a Bhaalist murderer on the loose. Not to mention trying to find all the pieces of Dribbles strewn about. So many of the quests are multi-faceted and have small incremental advancement before having to proceed to a totally new area to get another small piece of it… and so on, and I’ve not really completed most of the tasks/quests but I sure have opened up more and more the further in I go!

Some of this is a monster of my my own making because I’m being so obsessive about exploring and trying to uncover everything. Wandered into a couple of thieving factions and before I know it I’m on the lookout for a person named Nine-Fingers. Good grief, another questline to pursue! 😅. And all my blasted companions have questline resolution to pursue as well. I need to find a Vampire party now? Where are these Sharran pursuers and Shadowhearts parents? Oh, and Wyll… sheesh there’s a whole mess to deal with for his plot. And this kid in my camp… what’s her deal? Surely she has her own questline that will be emerging, not to mention I haven’t seen hide nor hair of Mol in a while. Shes still out there somewhere. Is all this going to culminate at once?

It’s definitely the most overwhelming part of the game. In Act 1, you don’t really know anybody and so your interactions are mostly limited to whatever situation you uncover at the time. Act 2 is mostly isolated to issues going on in the Shadow Cursed lands and Moonrise. Act 3 just has a million tangled narrative pathways and trying to follow one of them takes you off course to another.

I know it might sound like I’m complaining, but it’s not a criticism, more of an observation. It exceptional writing and planning, on the part of Larian. It’s just making it difficult for me to feel like I’m making any progress. 😄

Perhaps @Ravix can talk me down and help me see that there is conclusive endpoints to these never-ending quest lines.

Also, @Kraven how are you getting along with the game? Did you complete it yet?

@Th3solution I loved Act 3 and don't remember it being overwhelming. The city itself was super chill, and the journal is expansive enough to keep track of open threads. I don't think I ever saw it as: "I must complete this and this" though, it was just more natural "things are happening. Can I deal with this yet? Yes or No?" I suppose you could make a simple flow chart with that kind of question for every task you get, if that helps? 😁 by then the game had already taught me to be patient, as we pick up that quest from the explorers in the Grove, and then finally meet the quest giver in a shop half way through act 3. But the quest had been active in my log with only slight advancements for most of the 200+ hours. With the odd significant event.

Trust that it will come naturally to you as you move through the city and explore as you did in Act 1. It isn't a checklist game, even though there are a lot of icons. It's just like Act 1, but this time you know there are some resolutions coming, along with your new tasks.

Can't wait for you to tie up some of the main companion storylines, though, that is the real meat of the area. But again, only when the time is right.

I feel like Act 3 is kind of split up into a little mini (mini in terms of BG3's massiveness) intro to Act 3, and then the full Act 3 follows after that. I probably spent quite a long time in the intermediary area between act 2 and 3. I feel like that is maybe where you are at the moment, so don't feel like you need to be finishing everything off, I guess would be my advice. Keep on absorbing it, and see where it leads you.

@Ravix Thanks, I think that helps to know it will be unraveling at a good clip over the ensuing hours. I guess I’m slightly paranoid about missing something or locking myself out of something cool, and that adds to my anxiety. Because yes, I think I’m in that introductory area you’re referring to, and am about to go into the lower city, which I gather is where the meat of the act lies. I think I’ve uncovered all of the current area map, so I should be jumping into lower city soon.

Another thing I might be behind on is the camp events. I’m trying to avoid long resting as much as possible. I don’t know why, I guess it’s just gamers instinct to go as far as I can until my last sliver of health. Unfortunately doing that has delayed all the story events that take place a camp. Also, I currently have a buff on my Tav (I forget what it’s called) that I got from a nymph that I walked in on at the brothel and it’s proven to be a really awesome and useful buff that I don’t want to lose when I long rest. 😅

@Th3solution ah, just long rest. And then long rest some more. Can't take those camp supplies with you in the end anyway 😂

All Act 3 places I think you can move in and out of freely anyway, so you can probably go back to the first area if ever you feel you missed a thing. It might even be encouraged 🤷‍♂️

@Th3solution I'm pretty sure Act 3 was supposed to be split into two parts of the upper and lower city but time constraints made them make it into one bigger area so it does feel a little messy in places.

There are so many amazing sequences though in the late game as you finally get to go big in battle and it's great to wrap up the characters' storylines. Just go with the flow and you'll stumble onto these soon enough and some of them are fairly chunky areas.

Minsc is such an excellent character too, even for me as someone who isn't aware of him from previous games in the series.

As you say, act 1 and 2 are quite focused and narrow in scope that it can be overwhelming to suddenly hit such a huge open area where everything is supposed to finally come together. And it really does

love the idea of the game, but the pace is slow, real slow, and it kind of threw me off. its on the back burner and ill get back into it eventually

@Th3solution Yeah Act 3 is certainly got a lot of intertwined stuff going on but as the others have said just explore and it will all resolve itself eventually.

All I'll say is if you start the 'BG Gazette' mission, it's beneficial to resolve that before long resting (If I'm not already too late mentioning this). And your best leaving Gortash/Orin and the 'Hammer' until last.
Other than that explore thoroughly and take your time with plenty of rests.

I'm currently in Act 3 of my Dark Urge tactician run and I have just hit level 12. I'm currently weighing up whether to complete all the quests or just concentrate on doing what's needed to finish now and get the Platinum complete.
This is my third playthrough and it's crazy all the new things I've found/seen this time. Had an extra bit to the murder quest I've never gone though before which resulted in me getting a 100 approval trader as a reward which was very handy for selling all my stuff for maximum profit. Damon who I've been slowly bartering up approval through all 3 acts is only up to 83 approval.

@Th3solution That buff always comes a time when I get the least out of it. I keep forgetting to maybe hold off going in there until right near the end.
It's similar to those temporary buffs you can get underneath the crossing in the main street of Act 2. I remembered to hold off getting those until going for the main fight at Moonrise.

@BearsEatBeets Thanks for the heads up. I just ran into the Gazette quest after you mentioned it and was able to clear it out before doing a long rest and so thankfully avoided the negative outcome.

And thanks @Thrillho @Ravix for the advice as well. I’m trying to just go with the flow and head toward the nearest quest marker and not get too overwhelmed. But on the way I like to explore every house and business and have unfortunately (or fortunately) unlocked even more tasks and so my quest log continues to grow rather than shrink! 😅

I think my downfall is there’s not a lock in the game that I can’t pick because of my build and the bonuses I have on my character. I have advantage on lock picks so I get to throw 2 dice, as well as dexterity, and double sleight of hand bonuses, have Rapture still, and Guidance on top if I want. Plus, if by some chance I do fail I get 4 extra rolls due to inspiration, on top of a huge stockpile of lockpicks at this stage of the game. I think with bonuses I’m already starting on average at about 18ish, so it’s not uncommon that my lock pick roll ends up around 30+. So I’m just opening all these doors that I probably shouldn’t have access to, or that most players don’t go into during a first run. It’s been fun to explore, but some of the places I’m going I don’t think I’m supposed to be accessing yet (or at all). I think yhat’s partly why I’m ending up opening loads of quests and dotting my map with more and more. I need to be more disciplined and just go to the markers and not get too curious of what’s behind door number 3 on the way. 😅

One lock I picked landed me in with an undead dude and it brought up the Necromancy of Thay book that I had completely forgotten about from Act 1. So now there’s another whole questline I wasn’t planning to do that is unveiled. Not to mention that I just had to choose the dialogue option “Is there anything I can help you with” (or something like that) and of course, there is and I have a whole other enemy to track down and hunt for him. So in my efforts to close out one quest (on my way to finally resolve the explosive teddy bear quest) I stopped along the way and instead added two more. The map is starting to look so busy with markers that it would make an Assassin’s Creed game blush.

However, it’s all good. The content is consistently interesting. But Act 3 really does feel like an entire sequel of its own with the more dense content and multi-layered storytelling and exploration.

I am curious what other people experienced regarding Orin and which party member was kidnapped by her. For me it was Lae’Zel, who’s someone I only use when the story moment demands, but I do like her as a character. So I hope I am able to save her. I don’t want to have to raise this Githyanki egg on my own 😂. I took Orin’s deal just to be sure she doesn’t kill her and so I’m hoping I can pull a double cross on Orin and save Lae’Zel while still nabbing Orin’s netherstone. If the companion who was kidnapped had been Wyll or Halsin then I’d have felt less inclined to worry about it. 😅 Is the person abducted always random? I’d be curious to know from those who’ve played the game more than once.

@Th3solution mine was Halsin. So I just carried on as normal 😁 honestly. It sounds like you are causing the issue for yourself by being nosey, instead of trusting the game will take you to these places on its own. You don't have to pick every lock you see, remember, you can wait until there is a reason to access that area. The city area acts more like, well, a city. So you will be going back and to once you establish yourself as "living" there. So it isn't like exploring the wilds where you have to nose around every part while out there in the wilderness. You have arrived in Baldur's Gate, the place your quest always lead you towards, so settle in and take your time, and don't worry about clearing area a, b and c. Treat it like you are part of it, learn the areas.

I remember the city functioning well this way. I'd go past the same areas a lot by doing various quests, learning my way around while doing these other things, and then later i'd think "ooh there is a reason to go in this area i'd seen now, i'll go and take a look"

I might not have explained it well, but think of it in more realistic terms. In the wilderness an ancient ruin is worth looking around, because it stands out as unique, so you explore it and find stuff. In a city, door number 34 is just a door, until someone says "someone mught be up to no good in there, maybe it would be worth checking out"

A good example would be the sewers. There are sewers in the city areas. But why would I go into the sewers? Unless I had very good reason to do so 😂 think of the game in this way, perhaps, and it might help

@Ravix Yeah, it’s a gaming reflex to want to clear an area as you move through because often you advance the game to a point of no return as you work through a map, and/or have a lack of fast travel points such that it’s cumbersome to return to prior areas.
So far I’ve unlocked two fast travel points and so I assume there’s sufficient ones to make return easier the further I go.

I just can’t help myself from wanting to clear things out in an obsessive-compulsive nature. 😅 I’m going to have to be more disciplined though.

Speaking of sewers though, I have gone down there whilst just following my nose at some point and found myself down there and unclear whether I should be there. That’s when I ran into Orin and found out about what’s she’s been up to.

Regarding that so now that I have lost Lae’Zel (hopefully temporarily) I assume that puts her whole story in jeopardy and so I should avoid advancing the storyline for freeing (or not freeing) Orpheus. Will the game keep me from locking myself out of her story if I don’t get around to freeing her quickly?

@Th3solution Don't worry I'm similar in that if I see somewhere I can explore I will. It's only when it's red and risky to do so unnoticed I might leave a locked area. It's pretty common to find locks easy to deal with late game. Usually rolling 1 (crit) is about the only way to fail most locks. I only discovered during my second playthrough, that locked chests can be just smashed open. It's been occasionally handy on my third run as I need Astarion for locks this time and I do swap him out sometimes.

As for the other thing, on my 3 runs the character affected has been Lae'zel, Halsin and Halsin. Going by what we all have experienced it seems like these seem to be the main default characters for it to happen to. Although considering it can be possible to have neither at this point there must variables for it to be others.
When it was Lae'zel I tried to get her back asap as she has always been one of my main team members and does most damage in a lot of cases. When it's Halsin I tend to forget he's gone 😄.
I'm pretty sure they are safe for as long as you need and only really in jeopardy when facing Orin. Plus I think the choice of what to do with Orpheus is one of the last things you do.

@BearsEatBeets Hmm.. I wonder if there’s some kind of limiter so that certain party members are not ever chosen so as to keep the narrative possibilities open still. I wonder if it’s possible for one’s romantic partner to be abducted, which would really make things distressing.

@Th3solution Orin took Halsin for me which was very much;

@Thrillho Lol, poor Halsin. He’s alright, but he is one of my party members who I would be okay without, especially now that I have Jaheira for my Druid needs. Halsin is just so thirsty that I can’t even be nice to the guy because he thinks I’m hitting on him if I just check in with him. So I have to avoid him entirely. I’m sure he was propositioning Orin the whole time he was imprisoned. 😂

My Durge run is complete. Durgon the half-Orc finally went from this

to this

I held off embracing the evil side until as late as possible. 3 of my companions didn't survive my turn, 2 killed by my own hand and 1 by Orin (sorry Halsin). Plus the ending cutscene is pretty brutal as well.

So, as I posted on the trophy thread, I've now got the platinum done on this. I'm tempted to go back to a save I made near the end and try finishing without embracing the Urge and see how that all plays out for some other things I did differently this time.

After all this BG3 has become my most played game of the last 2 generations now, overtaking RDR2 with over 700 hours in it. I'm bound to play it more in the future too. Now trophies are done I can try a load of mods and maybe try a fully evil run from the get go (on easy). Maybe try some different classes/races. I'd certainly recommend that every fan gives a Dark Urge run a try as it has some really unique story beats, especially in the final act.

@BearsEatBeets Nice one on the platinum! I'd love to go back for it but would probably need two runs to do so. I'd love to even do one more run but with limited gaming time these days it would take me at least 3 months to get through another run and there are too many games I haven't played at all.

700 hours is insane though!

@Thrillho Yeah it's what makes seeing all the different story variations very tricky when each run takes so long. Although I'm sure it can be done a lot faster than the way I play - exploring everywhere and micromanaging inventory/trading/action wheels etc.
It's why I think I'll redo the final stretch from a certain save to see different endings for a few characters I've not done before.

So after playing a few other games I have found myself back in Faerun. I went back to a late save just before embracing my 'Urge' and played out not accepting it. For a moment I thought it was going to be a 'Gale using his orb in Act 2' scenario but got to see a great cutscene and continue the story to the end. I really recommend the Dark Urge playthrough to everyone as it's such a unique playthrough.

With that done I loaded up a few mods (mostly cosmetic/inventory organising) and decided to do a run where I try my best to do every major story choice I've never done. This mostly means being absolutely evil and I do find it tricky to do at times. Today it has led to me doing what I consider my worst ever gaming deed.

After seeing how this plays out for Wyll that night at camp I considered undoing it but helping Minthara execute her plan later will lose me companions anyway.

I've added a mod that lets me slightly alter the companions for a bit of a change this run.

some quite subtle, some not.

I'm doing a custom difficulty as well, nothing drastic but getting fair prices from vendors without messing with attitude. I might have to tune that back a bit as getting wealthy fast but I am going to lose some traders this run. 😬

I've only made slight tweaks to the companions classes but might completely mix them later to try new classes.

@BearsEatBeets You animal! 😭
I made the mistake of clicking on your spoiler. I may never recover.