this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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Trying to get into Act 2 (startrek.website)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/baldurs_gate_3
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I scoured all the Act 1 areas (probably still missed stuff) but finally decided to jump into Act 2. I'm struggling to feel "connected" to it, to be honest. I went down the ladder into the Underdark and just sailed my way across to some ancient Shar-worshipper place and I feel... lost?

I remember this was exactly the issue I had with D:OS2 as well. Played Fort Joy, loved it, made it off the island and couldn't figure out where to go, what to do, etc. The sense of direction left me.

I feel similar vibes here arriving in Act 2. Anyone have any tips or advice, or is it just a case of "stick with it, you'll be all right"? I'm asking because I've played a lot of Act 1 and barely touched the game since making it into Act 2 a few weeks ago.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago

So if you're in the Underdark, you're not actually in Act 2 yet. If you need the main story to drive you forward, you have a little further to go. The Underdark doesn't advance any personal quests, at least not in a major way, even though there's plenty to do.

The difference between this and D:OS2 is that while Reaper's Coast felt open, the level scaling still had the zone on rails, more or less. Here, you have a couple different ways to go. If you want to move on (I suggest level 5 if you aren't already first), there is a way forward to find. If you want a more straightforward road, try the path on the surface.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The Underdark itself is super disconnected from the rest of the game. Grymforge is also kind of weird. When you get to the Gith creche you'll pick up the main story again. That crech is part 1 of act 2, and then the Shadow-Cursed Lands are the main part of act 2. The Shadow-Cursed lands are IMO the best part of the entire game.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I’m at the Grymforge right now and Nere needs to be freed so I can stay safe in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. I’ll persevere, good to hear I’m getting close to your fave bit!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Nah stick with it. Back up and explore a bit more to find alternative routes. It gets great but the atmosphere is EXTREMELY different than act 1

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Sadly

I hate act 2's athmosphere

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Stick with it, it's worth it.

[–] Transcendant 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm feeling the same in act 3 tbh. I stopped playing for 3 weeks as I moved and didn't have my pc setup, now I'm struggling to get back into it.

Feel a bit overwhelmed, lost, lots and lots of different threads and not sure now which to pull on.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There was so much going on in act 3 I started to get really annoyed as new quests were constantly added. Like my favorite thing is to do durge so I can kill Gale first thing because talking to him about his bullshit is such a time sink plus he's insufferable anyway. I could give two fucks about Karsus and fucking Mystra. In fact, beyond Astarion, Shart, and Lae'zel I'd rather not have anyone else in my camp at all because they are so fucking needy. Karlach is an exception because she's awesome, but still needy as fuck. I tag her in for important moments but otherwise leave her in camp. I wonder if it's possible to avoid Wyll altogether.

I know I could just ignore them and all the side quests except I'm not psychologically built like that. The quests need closure of some kind - I can't just leave people hanging when they are... Well I'm not going to get any more spoilery but there are a lot of folks in a bad way in LLI and BG and they need help, and the game is always showing you people paying the price of your action or inaction.

I just looked earlier and I have 450 hours in (I have no idea how that's possible) and I've only finished a playthrough once. This game is brutal if you are emotionally invested in it.

I'm doing an honor run now. Hopefully I can tell my brain to be more utilitarian about just doing the things that will actually help me succeed. Brain worms, here I come.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You don't actually need to be durge. If you never interact with the portal Gale is in, you never meet him again and all of the content related to him is skipped. I don't think there's a way to do the same with Wyll though he just randomly shows up if you don't talk to him in the grove.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I'm in a durge playthrough and never talked to Wyll. When I raided the Grove he was among the defenders (near Dammon's shop) and I just killed him there. He just wanted to talk to me after I helped Florick in Waukeen's rest but I ignored him.

[–] papalonian 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I recommended this the other day, but for act 3 I highly recommend RP'ing a bit and only focusing on what your character/ party would focus on, and save the rest for another playthrough. There's just so much going on that it feels like more completing a checklist than playing an RPG, at one point I'm asking myself "why would anyone in this party be interested in doing this when XYZ is happening?" so I just decided not to do it on that playthrough.

[–] Transcendant 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Good advice. I probably need to adjust my mindset, as a general rule I don't replay games as I find it boring... but this one has so much replayability. Instead of my usual "do all sidequests, complete, uninstall" maybe I should just finish the game proper, then start a new run through and continue exploring.

From everything I heard about Karlach, I massively fucked up by... how do I say without spoilers... decidedly not including her in my party. I done goofed.

[–] papalonian 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I'm the same way as you in most games, I'll do as much as possible in one playthrough and then ignore it for a while until I decide to play again and make different decisions.

This game you simply cannot play it that way. Too much story is locked behind decisions and there's huge parts of the game you'll never see if you only play it once, even if you try to do everything you can. I'm doing a Dark Urge playthrough right now and making most of the decisions I wouldn't make in a "normal" playthrough and it's a bunch of fun. Also doing this one on tactician difficulty which makes things a bit spicier.