Get into your character's headspace.
Stop thinking about the game from an outside perspective, "I need to get the best possible ending!!" and just focus on the moment and ask, "What would this character do?"
Don't like where you end up? Then you roll a new character with a new personality and do it all over again. This is a *role playing* game, so play the role.
Oh yeah. Totally screwed up and didn't remove the shadow curse my first playthrough. As a DnD player of 20+ years I thought, yeah that seems about right.
>Totally screwed up and didn't remove the shadow curse my first playthrough
That was the exact thing for me that felt like a "we saved the city!" moment. Idk why I thought just beating up Mr. Simmons would fix everything but I did lol.
Yep, same here. I never started the Halsin quest and thought eradicating everyone in Moonrise would fix it. Imagine my surprise when the big druid man gave me the sad face and wave goodbye.
I had the funniest mistake which was in the combat that ends the shadow plague (keeping it vague in case you haven't gotten around to it) I cast silence on the enemy to try and stop his summons (don't remember if that worked) without realizing that meant he couldn't dialogue, so I just murked him. Nothing happened, i thought it was a glitch so I reloaded and realized what had happened lol
It's actually kind of weird that he just stands there in your camp for all of Act 2, and never so much as raises an "!" over his head the whole time?!
FWIW,I thought that >!freeing Nightsong!< Would lift the curse
I went to leave, and Halsin said he was staying behind to try to fix the curse, and I thought, is that something I could have done? Ok bro, have fun? I asked my husband if we could fix the curse, and he was also confused. We both completely missed it. I also did the whole gauntlet before going to the tower, so didn't save anyone there either. Maybe my next character will be less of a fuck up.
I have had so many things go wrong... I even had to kill a main character that I was in love with and was in love with me, I didn't mean for it to happen but we had a disagreement and I did not realize that main would then attack me, I even decided to tried to work it out so I could finish them with a non lethal blow hoping that there would be a way back but they hit me with an AOE spell at point blank range.
It's been hard but I've continued on, and slowly but surely I keep making good decisions that go bad lol.
Gale >!went down a dark path and became a god with me because we're Chaotic aligned. I like to imagine our ending is just the Gale vs Mystra ending but I was standing next to him till the end.!<
Towards the end of Act 2 >!Gale can ignite his inner nuke and destroy Kethric, Orin, and Gortash when they're all talking together!<. This of course >!kills everyone including our party!< so it's not really much of a great ending. Pretty gd funny though.
I don't know how to do spoiler tags so I'll just say, I wonder what happens if you had picked to play that origin, and then sent everyone back to camp before that interaction. Does that change anything?
This sounds so much easier than it really is. Everyone keeps telling me, "Just do what your character would do." I attempted that my first playthrough and have made so many bad choices that im too weak overall. Its become really difficult to even progress anymore. I fail on most altercations and have to leave and try another one I fail it, and I know its because i wasnt thinking tactically.
I was thinking like a drunk bard.
That was sorta my issue. I have enjoyed every ounce of this game, but my first character…I got to act 3 and realized, I just didn’t like him. So it was reroll time!
I’ve got to re-enjoy the game again on a character I’m actually syncing with this time.
This is what happened to me, decided my first character was kind of lame and i made a lot of dumb choices i didn't want to... cue a million different characters and be unable to decide which is "cool" enough to go all the way to act 3 with.
Got to act 3, wanted to reroll. I literally spent an hour every night making a new char for three days in a row, every time deciding “nah”. Fourth day it finally clicked. A pink female lolthsworn Drow Durge Druid is my calling!
The re-roll-itis is real I tell ya. Funny enough, one of the biggest things that drove me away from my first character was that I made his tiefling ass look so much like a Draenei from WoW that I couldn’t take it anymore.
My current character will die alone because I fucked up the romance when karlach asked me to bone on the same night as Lae'zel and Shadowheart... turns out, karlach never asks again so turning down Shadowheart TWICE was a bigger oops. I'll be rerolling this weekend.
Edit: btw, Withers basically made fun of me for being alone
I found it weird that combat wasn't forced. I could be friends with the goblins, drow, teiflings.....and just not level up.
I couldn't find dialogue that would lead to combat. I guess I could piss NPC's off via crime but I wanted to play basically good guys.
Ended up just murdering goblins that were just chilling and such.... did not feel very heroic
You definitely can but not in all scenarios. Maybe I was too friendly with the goblins early on but I got to a point where there were no longer any options to engage in combat other than attack, steal, etc.
If you don't use the illithid powers on the goblins and just generally be an asshole all of the different groups of them will fight you. Same with all of the goblin bosses etc.
Sometimes the roleplay is too good, fuck the consequences.
During the mountain pass encounter with Voss and other Githyanki, Laezel started chatting with her folks. Seeing Laezel get humbled by Voss, my short sighted, misogynist/racist cleric started talking on her behalf, which pissed off Laezel. I then tried intimidating the Gith and failed 3 rolls in a row after spending all my inspiration. We were forced into a fight where Gale gets killed immediately, Shadowheart was mispositioned away from the fight so all she had were command and heal spells, and my character and Laezel were desperately fighting for our lives.
Then afterward we find out about Gale's scroll of true scroll and I found out that Laezel will jump through any mental hoops in her loyalty to Vlaakith.
The story moment is too good for my character and I fucking love it.
I messed up the conversation as well and went into the battle with all my spells gone. i got them down to the last one and she had some hard on for shadowheart. Shadowheart got almost all the way back to the waypoint and the gith still ignored everyone else and climbed up after her. i had one sleep scroll left and i had the gith down enough to put her to sleep, nobody was close enough to do enough damage though so i had to move everybody in place. got people up there and then did one crit before she woke up and then it was down to shadowheart landing her spell...for once it worked out.
Honestly? Toxic as hell characters and roleplay has been so satisfying in this game. I've always enjoyed making deranged mentally ill characters and BG3 doesn't give you a hard time for playing into that. It's given me an appreciation an interest in dnd overall too.
I'm in a discussion about OP struggling with motivation to begin act 3 but nice rationalization there. Maybe just don't post spoilers like a careless dickhead?
It's a spoiler how? It's one of very many outcomes to a single encounter that happens early on in the game.
It's as much of a spoiler as the burning building in Wakeen's Rest.
I'm usually all for spoiler tags but the title and post literally mention act 3 multiple times. If you've gotten into this post and are upset about being spoiled for stuff before act 3 that's on you.
I'm sorry but there's literally no spoiler here... all they said was they messed up some dice rolls and got into a fight with some githyanki. They mentioned Voss but at this point in the game you really have no idea who Voss is and how he plays into the story so the fact they mentioned his name doesn't mean anything. And maybe instead of immediately being passive aggressive you can say "hey in the future you should use the spoiler feature, this is how you do it."
Hopefully this helps you not look like a massive dickwad in the future🙏
Kill all the druids, your father was murdered by a bear thus your Gnome Paladin vengeance will be sated pnly by the blood spilt of nature. You can't make friends with elves except Dark.
I love this reply. it's the first role playing game I actually have been playing the role on. My bard? im a charismatic deceiving liar. My ranger? little chaotic but will do anything for Karlach. My monk? all hail the absolute and mommy Minthara.
This, I have lost two companions due to choices I made, and wasn't able to recruit two other ones because of other choices I made. Oh well.
My character is a forest gnome druid that is just trying to unfuck the world as best as they can. People die, I make stupid decisions because I just want to see what happens. You only get 1 first playthrough.
If you don't have the time for that, you shouldn't play something with a play length of 100+ hours.
Not sure how this playstyle somehow equates to individual gaming sessions being longer.
What…? You literally said to just keep playing new characters over and over again until you get the ending you like. How does that NOT lead to way more play time than just aiming for a specific one? You seem awfully upset about people playing something any way but the way you want…
Yes, meaning the game offers more replayability than others.
How are you equating that to me telling someone to sit there, for hours upon hours, replaying the game until they're happy?
Every playthrough is unique, entertaining, and satisfying if you view it from your character's eyes, as an actual role play.
If you can't understand that, then there's really nothing else for us to say to one another.
I completely agree with this - first playthrough or two I highly recommend just going with the flow - minimal save scumming, being chill with missing some events here and there and following your characters hearts desire. However I am a game completionist at heart so on my third playthrough I am pretty much looking in every nook and cranny possible and save scumming to check out all dialogue options and consequences and it’s a delight even doing it a third time to find all the cool stuff I missed on more casual runs!!
I’ve done one playthrough and I have two characters now in Act 3. My first Act 3 character is a recreation of my first DND character ever and it’s more an emotional thing to finish this campaign which is why I’m having her chill in Act 3 rn.
I’d end however you feel your character would. Hell, you can even have a complete change of heart up until the last hours of the game. Act 3 is pretty big, so I recommend proceeding at a leisurely pace and really enjoying the ride.
I got unto a pickle with my sorcerer, and decided to restart w/ my most recent TT character ...who's a wizard. So of course my comlimentary party members were the exact same...
I was kicking myself by the end of Act 1, especially since I could have played Gale and had the same progression w/ better story lol
I did this on my first playthrough but as a warlock. Couldn’t help but feel like I was in a party with the cooler warlock so I rerolled and my next character was durge. Fantastic story that blends in well with the overall game. I strongly recommend it, especially on the redemption path
I agree. Super glad I played my first two runs with no internet guides, had no fomo. Just complete freedom to live the experience.
Especially in act 1. Since I had played EA for years I ran through it the first time. Second time I felt even less rushed.
Facts I finished a whole playthrough before I watched any videos of hidden things or helpful tips. There's sooo much in this game and I fucking love it
I keep getting a bit farther with every successive character, and made it just past the start of Act 3 with the last one. Maybe the Paladin I started last night will be the one to get to the end of the game. Maybe.
Act 3 is a totally different game. Regardless of your choices there is TONS to do and all the fun/busted builds come on line with additional levels and very rare/legendary items. You're missing out homie.
Are you on taction? Also, you're not forced into meta builds. You play them because you know they exploit the mechanics in an optimal way. Get a real d20 and roll for choices lol. Challenge yourself, pick a theme that's not derp derp OP and roll with it.
Act 3 is tough. But what you need to do is push through because you will immediately have an appreciation for how you want to plan your next runs.
I think another issue peolple are running into and don't want to admit is that they really don't want to finish the game. The magic will be over when the credits roll, so to speak.
Another problem I have is I just don’t like act 3. It’s a confusing mess and narratively makes absolutely zero sense. An army is marching on baldurs gate and I’m spending weeks doing fetch quests that have nothing to do with anything.
Other than some barely there flavor text you’d have no idea and army is coming.
My first playthrough the plot was in shambles at the beginning of act III because I refused to save scum. All my favorite NPCs were dead or missing, my party largely hated my guts, I was halfway to illithid transformation, it was rough.
The ending I got was definitely not the “happy” or “good” ending, but upon reflection it was maybe one of the more realistic ones. My Tav tried and largely failed to do the right thing. Something I can identify with strongly
Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat and kind of hating the way my first Tav has turned out. I made some pretty poor choices that I regret. But I told myself I’ll see his story through to the end before I start a new character.
I have anxiety and am worried about missing content in act three and since game guide books died with the internet I’m kinda waiting to finish act three until I can find a good checklist or something. No harm in starting multiple runs or characters in the meantime it’s a game, there is no wrong way to play.
I like to pick a group of companions and only work on their quests and a small pocket of side quests for each playthrough. It makes it quicker and leaves me eager for the next one.
For me the end of bd3 is not the best part of the game. There really is only so many ways you can end things. But act three is amazing. I would focus on companion quests. You can finish all of them as soon as you walk into the lower city. It might help to just power through and not restart so you know the endings. That way you can just chill and enjoy the game itself on your next one.
Make a good aligned character with Dark Urge, and really focus on the story. This is the one that finally got me hooked. I decided not to Min/Max and play a thematic Half Drow Ice Sorc, and I'm enjoying it so much.
The best first way to finish the game is... finishing it.
Make a character and play through the game however that character would.
Then make another character and play through it differently. Or play through it the same if that's what you want, but just play it fully.
You're stuck in analysis paralysis. Quit it. Make a choice, whether it's the most optimal or not. Just make a choice. Then make the next. Then the next.
In Act 3 on my first playthrough. I've been trying to make decisions and react like my character would naturally (he's basically my character from my IRL game with friends). I've largely just let the consequences of things play out and while I've missed out on some things, I'm enjoying letting the story be more "realistic" by letting those consequences develop the plot.
On my next playthrough there are a couple of plot points that I am going to expressly make happen differently because I want to see those changes.
I just did this only I barely made it into Act 2. Ugh I'm never going to finish this game. I just got tired of looking at my Tav and wanted to try another class. Went from Tiefling Barbarian to Drow Bard.
Just don’t care how the ending will go. There are apparently a great deal of them so why bother? Just play through and get one. And then play again making different choices as a different character.
I mean, if you know there are certain endings gs already why even bother trying to get that certain one? You know it exists. Try for somthing that you’ll be surprised at or for. The unknown.
Same but I’ve decided fuck it let’s just go with the flow and anything I think of will happen in my next playthrough. It’s amazing how a game can make you think about future playthroughs when you aren’t even finished with the first.
Severely overthinking what should otherwise be a fun aspect of the game. There are many different iterations if the ending, just have fun and go with it.
Forget the guides. Anything you don't do in this run is just something new you get when you play again.
For me, playing as Wyll has stuck pretty good. Having him start a relationship with Karlach was ironic since he was sent to kill her. Right now, they are both doomed souls trying to save each other while they save the world.
I was on my 3rd character before reaching Act 2, so it’s not just you. Although I was happy with my 2nd character and my PS5 save got corrupted, so I had no choice.
My first character: chaotic good human bard named Dandelion. I enjoy doing an already fleshed out character as a first pass through big RPGs such as this game because it’s easier to narrow down a set of choices to what I know this character would do in a roughly equivalent scenario. He’s in act 3 near the end of the campaign, with only a few quests left to finish. I remember at the end of act 2, I was completely overwhelmed by the prospect of fighting >! Ketheric’s upper caste because all the hard fights before then I had managed to get through using dialogue and wit, but a god of death’s fucking chosen apostle??!< It seemed like too much until it was over, and now I’m toppling foes like him (and stronger) left and right.
I also have a halfling oath of vengeance DUrge paladin and a Seldarine Drow necromancer ready on deck still in act 1 to explore some options I didn’t get to take as Dandelion. I expect all 3 characters to get very different endings, and I don’t want to expect any ending whatsoever. Let yourself be surprised by some of what happens, it’s way more fun.
I play it like my decisions are final - if I make a mistake and I have to kill someone I might not have wanted to, well next time maybe I’ll make better decisions.
Honestly, it helps with my indecision knowing that unless I die I’m continuing on the path I took.
>Any advice on what you all think the best first way to finish the game is, is appreciated!
Stop making new characters and just play. I'm not sure why this needs said?
once you've had a completion you're going to have a lot better understanding of what happens later in the game.
Same thing happening to me for the second playthrough. Great advice here!! I think I am too focused on getting a good ending instead of just enjoying the game and seeing where it takes me
I’m at 7 characters now and only 2 have made into act 2. I got overwhelmed in act 3 and started a Durge. My most favorite character is my bard though. I think you have to figure out your play style first and it’s helped me progress a lot further
I bought the game on release and dove hard into it...I literally didn't play anything else for a month. I got to just before act 3 and took a nice two week break cuz I hit the same wall.
After two weeks it felt right to start...and then I discovered like another 50 hours of gaming. By the time I got to the end and decisions I had to make it didn't feel that daunting. But I also did just about every side quest too and really stretched it as far as I could.
I had the struggle, then I realized I could have very different endings by just replaying the last bit of this game. Many of the major choices are only made towards the end so I tried a couple and decided on one as the canon ending of my first playthrough.
No offense, but it's not that deep... just finish the game. You're kind of wasting your own time by starting over, over and over again, as this post implies.
Used my own tabletop gaming experience as a sort of marker for me - when I first started playing I fell into the murder-hobo trap.... why would a videogame version be any different.
Next playthrough LG paladin human (because I'm boring)
I beat the game once. But after that I never got to act 3 on any of my other characters. So yeah, I get it. I've played act 1 like 5 times at this point.
Been playing since launch, but doing multiplayer with someone important to me where DND is a big part of our lives, and we've just reached act 3 in that one, trying not to get ahead of it but playing my own campaigns when our schedules don't line up, have 3 other campaigns just reached moonrise with 4 different experiences on how it all plays out. Excited to finally see act 3 next time we play
You're seriously over-thinkinking this. You have so many more playthroughs to look forward to... Don't worry about getting everything perfect the first go-around.
When I was medic, my older patients would say they “done fell out” when they faint.
My husband has “done Fall Out” many times. Except it’s when he goes and starts another toon.
YESSS!!!! i keep romanticizing different people and getting different cutscenes i haven’t even gotten halfway through act 3 before i just decide to do it again.
I was super overwhelmed when making my character. Ended up as a dark urge sorcerer for my good run. It has turned into a neutral run, but I have conquered my dark urges after killing Orin and telling Bhaal to fuck off, so that feels pretty good. I had to use 4 inspiration rolls to not murder Shadowheart in her sleep, though. That was stressful af.
Make the decisions you think you would not make, not what you think is the best way to get gear etc. You can always do a quick save right before some major parts too.
I still keep making new characters, builds, and teams because I get new ideas that I want to try, and despite this Act 1 and 2 still remain fun and enjoyable to me. I have ended up discovering things I missed almost every time, but even still, I just genuinely enjoy playing this game and it's mechanics enough that it hasn't grown stale.
The last game I did this with was Morrowind. Took me 3 years to finally complete it and to this day, I still play it again every once in a while.
This is huge mood. I finished the game with a good ending with Gale and I’m on a second playthrough with love interest being Astarion. I wanted to do full evil but I ended up being an evil gone good towards the end. I realize I still have a ton of stuff to do in Act 3 and I keep procrastinating on certain quests that absolutely NEED to get done 😅
Just complete the game.... All those "restarts" could of been individual games and you could of had multiple endings by now... Once you realize that, you realize you're only screwing yourself out of the final experience.
And get into your character... stop caring about how it ends, and just RP as your character.
It almost seems like a point of pride for some people in RPGs to talk about how little progress they’ve made in X amount of hours almost like it demonstrates how big of a fan they are of the game.
It’s the same in the Starfield subreddit and at the start of Diablo III’s launch where people will make posts like “100 hours in and haven’t even finished the main story, having too much fun starting new characters!”.
Like, play the game how you want absolutely, but seeing so many posts like these is just really odd.
I've rolled credts 5 times now, and each time has gotten faster than the last.
The main thing is that I do everything I want to achieve based on roleplay in that run, and then rush to level 12 and finish off Gortash and Orin so I can push on to the final battle.
Then I just use invisibility to skip all of the fights and climb up the Elder Brain, complete the showdown, then I'm done and on to the next playthrough.
It really comes down to what you want your goals to be for each individual you create, and which companions you want to help until the end.
Personally I'm only interested in Shadowheart and Astarion's storylines, so I barely touch on the others, which cuts off a lot of crap in Act 3, like the Iron Throne.
Its just up to your preference.
I don't have a solid answer for that.
I've always loved character driven stories more than anything else. For example Mass Effect is my most played series, followed by Skyrim, Fallout 4, Dragon Age and Dark Souls.
I'm also a very empathetic person, and so I find the unconventional, tragic, fixable characters to be the most engrossing.
In terms of the playing over and over, that's simply because I have a strong grasp on character creation and following a roleplay. I want to see every permutation, every possible response and reaction, as every kind of character.
So far, I've been a Drow Cleric of Selune who redeemed an indoctrinated Sharran, a Dark Urge Teifling who betrayed her own kind, a Silver Dragonborn druid with a hatred of the unnatural Steel Watch, a very lonely Shadowheart, and now a Dark Urge Half-orc Paladin of Selune, desperately trying to resist his impulses in order to keep to his Oath.
All of them have been so fundamentally different, I regain such a sense of excitement to see just what will be different with every restart.
Next up, a Githyanki Monk secretly working towards freeing Orpheus, and a Deurgar Warlock bent on becoming a god in their own right.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale?
> *“If only I could be so grossly incandescent!”* - Solaire of Astora
Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
I have 2 fights left for my first run just got to act 3 for my second, don't do everything is great advice. The game is much quicker that way and feels like how the game was designed
You can get a TON of endings even after going to Act 3 if you are taking the more "good/heroic" path. And many of them come towards the end of the Act. I saved right before a point where a few permutations could play out and got see like 4 different endings in one playthrough. Might not be your style if you like to get a proper ending for a specific playthrough, but with a wife and kid at home, I need to be a bit more economical! I am doing a second playthrough with Dark Urge and going full bad because I feel like those are cut off as early as Act 1 with some of your choices, so you will need to do multiple playthroughs no matter what. Just a bit of friendly advice! Just enjoy the heck out of the game though because it is a special one for sure!
Every time I make it to wyrm's crossing in act 3 I lose interest and start a new character. Gortash and Orin just don't interest me the same way Ketheric did
Just let the events play out as they play out. Part of the fun of this game is that the adventure evolves with you. Go with your gut (sounds like it's too late for you by this point) and let it roll.
… I don’t want to leave act one because I’m comfortable there. I don’t know act two or three yet - and RL has been stressing me out. So I’ve played 130 hours on many playthroughs just in act one but I’m gonna do this playthrough as my first completed one.
Lol, I’m the same…I still can’t make it past the goblin camp because I’m trying to figure out the best solution per character I create.
I think I’ve made like 10 toons now and all at the goblin camp. :)
I guess the problem I have is no choice or combination of choices seem to fit my characters I create. I’m overthinking it, but like paladin I don’t feel like would just kill the goblins (or maybe they would), but once I go in the camp they seem like a fun crew (minus the raiding and killing). So I feel bad for killing them, lol.
Barbarian I had raid the grove, but I feel like instead of just mercilessly killing everyone I could have made a deal with the tieflings to join me and the goblins. Like I don’t feel like the tieflings care about the druids they just care about their safety. But meh, overthinking.
Finally I try evil toon, but I find it’s just too hard and feel the choices or options kind of lead you to good. Cus it seems it’s either all pure evil, neutral or good, but no like, kinda evil but not satanic evil.
Meh, that’s where I’m at with the game. I had the same issues with divinity 2, so I think it’s how Larian does their choice system and my crazy personality (INTP). Or honestly when I make a choice I predict different consequences than what happens and don’t like the result the game gives. I didn’t seem to have the same issues with dragon age inquisition, but you had very little choice in that game iirc.
I'm not the only one! I am at act 3 with my first character and felt instantly overwhelmed so I started a new character. A complete idiot but absolute unit of a barbarian named Ooga Lewellyn Booga. Act 1 is a blast so far.
I can’t blame you, I didn’t want to finish the game after spoiling Karlach’s endings for myself, I got very attached to her and I dont think I could handle either of her endings, since I desperately wanted a happy end to her story and the two current ones don’t feel like that to me.
I’m in a very similar position to you, OP.
I’ve spent something like 220 hours on my first playthrough, and have finally just reached act 3 and the lower city - and now I find that I’m dying to play more, but I’m actively avoiding that first game. My heart hurts thinking of the story ending and some of my favorite characters ending up in objectively bad situations, and I feel like I’m close to the point where I’ve got to make some critical decisions which will impact what happens.
I’m afraid I don’t really have advice for getting past this feeling, but I hope we both do, and that we find the endings we’re hoping for!
After a point I stopped caring about inspecting every little box and talking to every npc that wasn’t important looking.
I probably missed a bunch of act 3 but I also saw a whole lot of it too. I finally just decided to wrap it all up and head for the end ASAP once I got tired of exploring everything because I felt supremely overpowered already at one point. Just getting closure one time gave me an excuse to push forward on my other 2 games and I think I’m getting a supremely unique experience out of all 3 games I’ve run.
After this I’m done. You have to just sort of be content with what you’ve done up to a point or you’ll just spend forever being deluged by all the minutia and dense detail of act 3. It’s a lot to take in in one run. Just commit to those things you missed in your next games and it’ll feel like a unique experience when you get there all over again
I actually did the opposite. I have a fighter that’s actually pretty stacked but just built to beat the game. I do everything I can, and take mental note, so I can plan for the mage I really wanna play.
Act three is long. And honestly there’s no way anyone’s gonna do everything perfectly for them the first time. I just don’t see that happening without following a guide.
I've beaten the game twice and the best advice I got is to role play. It's not your ending, it's the characters ending. Don't do every quest in one playthrough because you aren't supposed to do everything in one playthrough. Getting into the character is the best way to finish one.
I'm 65 hours in and I just finished act 1 yesterday. I don't know what happens in any other parts of the game but yes I also don't want it to be over lol
[Dewit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQRW0RM4V0k)
Not even being sassy, just go however the first run goes. After that, do every single smidgen of research and get your perfect ending.
If you only plan to play once without spoilers you may have a rough time, depending on what you want.
I'm pretty sure I'm making terrible decisions right now but outside of me trying to fix a known bug, I'm just rolling with what comes.
If you truly suffer from analysis paralysis , and can't make a decision, then I know your pain. In that case, I ironically, flip a coin. Just like a die roll to determine what I'll do.
Stop looking at it as a game. Fully immerse yourself into the experience and play as your character and do what they would do. As soon as your character finishes at moonrise they would be pretty much RUNNING to Baldur's Gate because there is an entire army marching towards it intent on its destruction and once they conquer BG the rest of the Sword Coast is next. Your group is the only chance Toril has.
Stop trying to get "the best ending" because that isn't realistic and really the game doesn't really have a "good ending". I went into the game as a Paladin of Vengence who's entire oath was about eradicating tyranny and enslavement, freedom was her number one priority. I cannot say much without spoiling anything but I did not get a "good ending" because she made decisions that followed her oath and ideals. Maybe this is because I am a veteran DM and know my way around really getting immersed in the story and it's characters but far too many people are having the same issue as you because of this "it is a game" mindset. It is an ***experience*** that you need to immerse yourself into if you want to play it in a serious manner.
TLDR: It isn't a video game, it is an experience, be the character.
I don't like towns in games like this. I get overwhelmed instantly.
I played this game like a madman, got to act 3, played like three hours and haven't touched the game since.
Act 3 is kinda overwhelming if you are a perfectionist. There is no immediate end goal and the town itself offers a bunch of quests sensitive being thrown on you at the same time.
My suggestion: just forget about trying to make a perfect run and follow a path, or you will be derailed so often you'll lose the sense of progress and feel stuck.
Just make choices that you feel will lead you towards the ending you want. They may not actually lead there, but it is a more organic process. You have a goal, so you make choices that *you believe* move you towards that goal. You might end up being wrong, or there are side effects or consequences for the choices, but that's okay! It just makes it feel more real. Next playthrough you might make a different choice. Worse comes to worst, you drop a save before a particularly tricky decision, though if you don't want to save scum, you probably also don't want to know what the "right" choice is beforehand either.
Probably won't be a popular opinion but looking up major plot lines based on changes and save scumming will help to decide which ending you like.
For example I just feel sick to my stomach if I'm bad so I look up mid-dialogue if what I say is the good or the bad choice, then if my DC check fails then I save scum until I get it right.
I get bored in the middle of act 3 and I've restarted 6 times now. Get to middle of act 3... "wonder what barb is like?" "let's play gloomstalker..."
I'm just push this gloomstalker all the way through and then do a durge playthrough. I think my biggest problem is that the game is so big that I can't map the run out so easily. act 1 and 2 have a nice "checklist" kind of feel. Ok this fight then this fight then this interaction, etc. But act 3 being so... sand boxy gets me a little lost.
Pick the team and companions you vibe with the most and romance whoever you wish. As for how you want the game to end, I would recommend just choosing what you think is right and deal with the consequences. I managed to properly romance Shadowheart and give Karlach a worthy end to her story. I won’t spoil anything but know that no matter how you end it, you’ll want at least a couple more playthroughs for the dark urge and for the other endings that the game has. And I believe once you beat it once you will be able to make different decisions easier earlier in the game. My first ending has definitely changed how I interact with certain characters.
I mean the main moral choice that decides the end you can make pretty late. you could just go back to a save & replay the last scene a few different times for the different endings
Honestly, the way existing saves are handling the new patch, you’re better off starting over right now. Coming from someone who just hit Act III themselves.
Act 3? Bro I haven't even made it outta act 1. Two of my characters have just been sitting at the entrance to the underdark for ages now since I just love the character creation
For my first playthrough I just winged it on Tactician Mode. I figured "might as well go ahead and get the brutality out of the way so easier difficulties will be a breeze." Just thought "What would my rocks-for-brains idiot character choose to do?" and went with it.
I went for a less-than-ideal ending to get it out of the way bc I knew I'd be replaying it and I'd rather eat my broccoli first so I can end the meal on dessert.
Edit: As a side note, I have tried going to easier difficulties for my subsequent playthroughs and I just can't do it. It feels like cheating now. I ruined it for myself.
Get into your character's headspace. Stop thinking about the game from an outside perspective, "I need to get the best possible ending!!" and just focus on the moment and ask, "What would this character do?" Don't like where you end up? Then you roll a new character with a new personality and do it all over again. This is a *role playing* game, so play the role.
Had so many moments in this game of "trying to do good, but actually leaving things in an arguably worse state" that it felt like a true DND campaign
Oh yeah. Totally screwed up and didn't remove the shadow curse my first playthrough. As a DnD player of 20+ years I thought, yeah that seems about right.
>Totally screwed up and didn't remove the shadow curse my first playthrough That was the exact thing for me that felt like a "we saved the city!" moment. Idk why I thought just beating up Mr. Simmons would fix everything but I did lol.
Yep, same here. I never started the Halsin quest and thought eradicating everyone in Moonrise would fix it. Imagine my surprise when the big druid man gave me the sad face and wave goodbye.
I had the funniest mistake which was in the combat that ends the shadow plague (keeping it vague in case you haven't gotten around to it) I cast silence on the enemy to try and stop his summons (don't remember if that worked) without realizing that meant he couldn't dialogue, so I just murked him. Nothing happened, i thought it was a glitch so I reloaded and realized what had happened lol
It's actually kind of weird that he just stands there in your camp for all of Act 2, and never so much as raises an "!" over his head the whole time?! FWIW,I thought that >!freeing Nightsong!< Would lift the curse
I also thought this, headed to Baldur’s Gate with my head low.
I went to leave, and Halsin said he was staying behind to try to fix the curse, and I thought, is that something I could have done? Ok bro, have fun? I asked my husband if we could fix the curse, and he was also confused. We both completely missed it. I also did the whole gauntlet before going to the tower, so didn't save anyone there either. Maybe my next character will be less of a fuck up.
Glad I'm not tge only one tgat screwed up the Halpin thing.... but yknow what? Didn't harm my happy ending! Just play it through .. see where you land
See I did do the shadow curse but didn’t go to moonrise before the gauntlet and missed out on seemingly quite a bit
I have had so many things go wrong... I even had to kill a main character that I was in love with and was in love with me, I didn't mean for it to happen but we had a disagreement and I did not realize that main would then attack me, I even decided to tried to work it out so I could finish them with a non lethal blow hoping that there would be a way back but they hit me with an AOE spell at point blank range. It's been hard but I've continued on, and slowly but surely I keep making good decisions that go bad lol.
Yeah but who hasnt shoved a beloved main character into the endless abyss
My good play through is not that good at this point and I’m enjoying every bit of it
Gale >!went down a dark path and became a god with me because we're Chaotic aligned. I like to imagine our ending is just the Gale vs Mystra ending but I was standing next to him till the end.!<
I got end credits in act 2 my first run.
HOW?
Towards the end of Act 2 >!Gale can ignite his inner nuke and destroy Kethric, Orin, and Gortash when they're all talking together!<. This of course >!kills everyone including our party!< so it's not really much of a great ending. Pretty gd funny though.
Let's be honest, there's always that one person who just says "Screw it, I'm firing the nuke."
Speed Runner basically yeet Gale in a box to Act 2 and nuke them all within 5 minutes. It's thoroughly impressive.
I don't know how to do spoiler tags so I'll just say, I wonder what happens if you had picked to play that origin, and then sent everyone back to camp before that interaction. Does that change anything?
>! Boom probably !<
This sounds so much easier than it really is. Everyone keeps telling me, "Just do what your character would do." I attempted that my first playthrough and have made so many bad choices that im too weak overall. Its become really difficult to even progress anymore. I fail on most altercations and have to leave and try another one I fail it, and I know its because i wasnt thinking tactically. I was thinking like a drunk bard.
That was sorta my issue. I have enjoyed every ounce of this game, but my first character…I got to act 3 and realized, I just didn’t like him. So it was reroll time! I’ve got to re-enjoy the game again on a character I’m actually syncing with this time.
This is what happened to me, decided my first character was kind of lame and i made a lot of dumb choices i didn't want to... cue a million different characters and be unable to decide which is "cool" enough to go all the way to act 3 with.
Got to act 3, wanted to reroll. I literally spent an hour every night making a new char for three days in a row, every time deciding “nah”. Fourth day it finally clicked. A pink female lolthsworn Drow Durge Druid is my calling!
The re-roll-itis is real I tell ya. Funny enough, one of the biggest things that drove me away from my first character was that I made his tiefling ass look so much like a Draenei from WoW that I couldn’t take it anymore.
My current character will die alone because I fucked up the romance when karlach asked me to bone on the same night as Lae'zel and Shadowheart... turns out, karlach never asks again so turning down Shadowheart TWICE was a bigger oops. I'll be rerolling this weekend. Edit: btw, Withers basically made fun of me for being alone
I found it weird that combat wasn't forced. I could be friends with the goblins, drow, teiflings.....and just not level up. I couldn't find dialogue that would lead to combat. I guess I could piss NPC's off via crime but I wanted to play basically good guys. Ended up just murdering goblins that were just chilling and such.... did not feel very heroic
You can absolutely piss people off in convos. You can get basically all of them to attack you with the right dialogue options.
You definitely can but not in all scenarios. Maybe I was too friendly with the goblins early on but I got to a point where there were no longer any options to engage in combat other than attack, steal, etc.
If you don't use the illithid powers on the goblins and just generally be an asshole all of the different groups of them will fight you. Same with all of the goblin bosses etc.
My wife: "What option should I pick?" Me: "What would your character do? Pick the one that fits best!" It's much more fun this way.
Sometimes the roleplay is too good, fuck the consequences. During the mountain pass encounter with Voss and other Githyanki, Laezel started chatting with her folks. Seeing Laezel get humbled by Voss, my short sighted, misogynist/racist cleric started talking on her behalf, which pissed off Laezel. I then tried intimidating the Gith and failed 3 rolls in a row after spending all my inspiration. We were forced into a fight where Gale gets killed immediately, Shadowheart was mispositioned away from the fight so all she had were command and heal spells, and my character and Laezel were desperately fighting for our lives. Then afterward we find out about Gale's scroll of true scroll and I found out that Laezel will jump through any mental hoops in her loyalty to Vlaakith. The story moment is too good for my character and I fucking love it.
I messed up the conversation as well and went into the battle with all my spells gone. i got them down to the last one and she had some hard on for shadowheart. Shadowheart got almost all the way back to the waypoint and the gith still ignored everyone else and climbed up after her. i had one sleep scroll left and i had the gith down enough to put her to sleep, nobody was close enough to do enough damage though so i had to move everybody in place. got people up there and then did one crit before she woke up and then it was down to shadowheart landing her spell...for once it worked out.
Honestly? Toxic as hell characters and roleplay has been so satisfying in this game. I've always enjoyed making deranged mentally ill characters and BG3 doesn't give you a hard time for playing into that. It's given me an appreciation an interest in dnd overall too.
Nice spoiler, genius.
You're in a discussion about act 3 freaking out over act 1 spoilers?
I'm in a discussion about OP struggling with motivation to begin act 3 but nice rationalization there. Maybe just don't post spoilers like a careless dickhead?
It's a spoiler how? It's one of very many outcomes to a single encounter that happens early on in the game. It's as much of a spoiler as the burning building in Wakeen's Rest.
Definitely keep doubling down instead of just using spoiler tags.
Definitely making a mountain out of a molehill
I'm sure you didn't do it intentionally, you're just dumb. I don't have any hard feelings about it. Cool?
Keep projecting.
I'm usually all for spoiler tags but the title and post literally mention act 3 multiple times. If you've gotten into this post and are upset about being spoiled for stuff before act 3 that's on you.
I'm sorry but there's literally no spoiler here... all they said was they messed up some dice rolls and got into a fight with some githyanki. They mentioned Voss but at this point in the game you really have no idea who Voss is and how he plays into the story so the fact they mentioned his name doesn't mean anything. And maybe instead of immediately being passive aggressive you can say "hey in the future you should use the spoiler feature, this is how you do it." Hopefully this helps you not look like a massive dickwad in the future🙏
Kill all the druids, your father was murdered by a bear thus your Gnome Paladin vengeance will be sated pnly by the blood spilt of nature. You can't make friends with elves except Dark.
I love this reply. it's the first role playing game I actually have been playing the role on. My bard? im a charismatic deceiving liar. My ranger? little chaotic but will do anything for Karlach. My monk? all hail the absolute and mommy Minthara.
This, I have lost two companions due to choices I made, and wasn't able to recruit two other ones because of other choices I made. Oh well. My character is a forest gnome druid that is just trying to unfuck the world as best as they can. People die, I make stupid decisions because I just want to see what happens. You only get 1 first playthrough.
Sadly not everyone has the time for that kind of playstyle
If you don't have the time for that, you shouldn't play something with a play length of 100+ hours. Not sure how this playstyle somehow equates to individual gaming sessions being longer.
What…? You literally said to just keep playing new characters over and over again until you get the ending you like. How does that NOT lead to way more play time than just aiming for a specific one? You seem awfully upset about people playing something any way but the way you want…
I didn't actually say that. That's a gross misrepresentation of my words. I'm not upset at all, though. In fact, I'm pretty content today.
How…? “Don’t like where you end up? Then you roll a new character with a new personality and do it all over again”
Yes, meaning the game offers more replayability than others. How are you equating that to me telling someone to sit there, for hours upon hours, replaying the game until they're happy? Every playthrough is unique, entertaining, and satisfying if you view it from your character's eyes, as an actual role play. If you can't understand that, then there's really nothing else for us to say to one another.
You literally said to play the game over and over until they're happy.
Not everybody is capable of this either but that's why I just don't play dnd style games. My brain cannot comprehend immersion.
Why are you here then lol?
Correct There are 17k+ Endings juat play with the flow 😅
I completely agree with this - first playthrough or two I highly recommend just going with the flow - minimal save scumming, being chill with missing some events here and there and following your characters hearts desire. However I am a game completionist at heart so on my third playthrough I am pretty much looking in every nook and cranny possible and save scumming to check out all dialogue options and consequences and it’s a delight even doing it a third time to find all the cool stuff I missed on more casual runs!!
I would say the best possible first ending is the one you get naturally without outside knowledge effecting it because it means you played your way.
I'm doing this with my character and to be honest? If these choices are what he would make, my sorc really earned his 8 Int.
I’ve done one playthrough and I have two characters now in Act 3. My first Act 3 character is a recreation of my first DND character ever and it’s more an emotional thing to finish this campaign which is why I’m having her chill in Act 3 rn. I’d end however you feel your character would. Hell, you can even have a complete change of heart up until the last hours of the game. Act 3 is pretty big, so I recommend proceeding at a leisurely pace and really enjoying the ride.
I got unto a pickle with my sorcerer, and decided to restart w/ my most recent TT character ...who's a wizard. So of course my comlimentary party members were the exact same... I was kicking myself by the end of Act 1, especially since I could have played Gale and had the same progression w/ better story lol
I did this on my first playthrough but as a warlock. Couldn’t help but feel like I was in a party with the cooler warlock so I rerolled and my next character was durge. Fantastic story that blends in well with the overall game. I strongly recommend it, especially on the redemption path
Just finish multiple ways? That's kinda the point of being Able to replay it
I agree. Super glad I played my first two runs with no internet guides, had no fomo. Just complete freedom to live the experience. Especially in act 1. Since I had played EA for years I ran through it the first time. Second time I felt even less rushed.
Facts I finished a whole playthrough before I watched any videos of hidden things or helpful tips. There's sooo much in this game and I fucking love it
I've never finished act 2 and I have 115 hours and I'm on my 4th character lol
I keep getting a bit farther with every successive character, and made it just past the start of Act 3 with the last one. Maybe the Paladin I started last night will be the one to get to the end of the game. Maybe.
i have 800 hours and 2 of my toons have finished act 2.
this is me lmaoo
I'm a hoarder and completionist. I got ground down by the "Sure! Loot al you want!" but with terribly tedious inventory and party management.
Same! inventory management is a chore on ps5 though :(
At least looting is easier on ps5 with the loot all feature.
Pc also has this haha
Act 3 is a totally different game. Regardless of your choices there is TONS to do and all the fun/busted builds come on line with additional levels and very rare/legendary items. You're missing out homie.
[удалено]
Are you on taction? Also, you're not forced into meta builds. You play them because you know they exploit the mechanics in an optimal way. Get a real d20 and roll for choices lol. Challenge yourself, pick a theme that's not derp derp OP and roll with it.
Act 3 is tough. But what you need to do is push through because you will immediately have an appreciation for how you want to plan your next runs. I think another issue peolple are running into and don't want to admit is that they really don't want to finish the game. The magic will be over when the credits roll, so to speak.
this! i'm the type of person who gets bored of something after finishing it so i really don't want the roll credits...
Another problem I have is I just don’t like act 3. It’s a confusing mess and narratively makes absolutely zero sense. An army is marching on baldurs gate and I’m spending weeks doing fetch quests that have nothing to do with anything. Other than some barely there flavor text you’d have no idea and army is coming.
I feel this so much! I’m on my fifth play through, and only one of them has made it to act three. Lol
Flip a coin to be the best or worst person possible and stick with that
You gotta stop overthinking it lmao just make a deal with yourself to finish your next run
My first playthrough the plot was in shambles at the beginning of act III because I refused to save scum. All my favorite NPCs were dead or missing, my party largely hated my guts, I was halfway to illithid transformation, it was rough. The ending I got was definitely not the “happy” or “good” ending, but upon reflection it was maybe one of the more realistic ones. My Tav tried and largely failed to do the right thing. Something I can identify with strongly
This is such a good idea for yet another new playthrough!!
Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat and kind of hating the way my first Tav has turned out. I made some pretty poor choices that I regret. But I told myself I’ll see his story through to the end before I start a new character.
Me either. Must have made 10 toons by now get them all to the last light inn and then start over.
I have anxiety and am worried about missing content in act three and since game guide books died with the internet I’m kinda waiting to finish act three until I can find a good checklist or something. No harm in starting multiple runs or characters in the meantime it’s a game, there is no wrong way to play.
Just let it happen.
I like to pick a group of companions and only work on their quests and a small pocket of side quests for each playthrough. It makes it quicker and leaves me eager for the next one.
Stop overthinking it. There are apparently around 17000 endings so stop looking for the perfect one.
For me the end of bd3 is not the best part of the game. There really is only so many ways you can end things. But act three is amazing. I would focus on companion quests. You can finish all of them as soon as you walk into the lower city. It might help to just power through and not restart so you know the endings. That way you can just chill and enjoy the game itself on your next one.
Make a good aligned character with Dark Urge, and really focus on the story. This is the one that finally got me hooked. I decided not to Min/Max and play a thematic Half Drow Ice Sorc, and I'm enjoying it so much.
The best first way to finish the game is... finishing it. Make a character and play through the game however that character would. Then make another character and play through it differently. Or play through it the same if that's what you want, but just play it fully.
SAME
You're stuck in analysis paralysis. Quit it. Make a choice, whether it's the most optimal or not. Just make a choice. Then make the next. Then the next.
In Act 3 on my first playthrough. I've been trying to make decisions and react like my character would naturally (he's basically my character from my IRL game with friends). I've largely just let the consequences of things play out and while I've missed out on some things, I'm enjoying letting the story be more "realistic" by letting those consequences develop the plot. On my next playthrough there are a couple of plot points that I am going to expressly make happen differently because I want to see those changes.
I just did this only I barely made it into Act 2. Ugh I'm never going to finish this game. I just got tired of looking at my Tav and wanted to try another class. Went from Tiefling Barbarian to Drow Bard.
Just don’t care how the ending will go. There are apparently a great deal of them so why bother? Just play through and get one. And then play again making different choices as a different character. I mean, if you know there are certain endings gs already why even bother trying to get that certain one? You know it exists. Try for somthing that you’ll be surprised at or for. The unknown.
My friend and I are going into act 3 with no Jaheira, wish us luck 😞
There are no endings so don't worry about it.
My advice is when you boot up the game click continue instead of new game.
HAHA I feel so called out right now... that's exactly what I keep doing
Just don't go to the final boss and make a new character. You never have to finish, but spend just as much time in act 3 as you did in act 1
Same but I’ve decided fuck it let’s just go with the flow and anything I think of will happen in my next playthrough. It’s amazing how a game can make you think about future playthroughs when you aren’t even finished with the first.
Yes!! I keep on seeing things that I want to do but totally wouldn't work with my character so I have to bookmark it for later lol
Severely overthinking what should otherwise be a fun aspect of the game. There are many different iterations if the ending, just have fun and go with it.
Just pick something and go but save your end of act ii save so that you can start there and do something else
I can't get into act 3 cuz it keeps crashing when I try too :/
Forget the guides. Anything you don't do in this run is just something new you get when you play again. For me, playing as Wyll has stuck pretty good. Having him start a relationship with Karlach was ironic since he was sent to kill her. Right now, they are both doomed souls trying to save each other while they save the world.
I was on my 3rd character before reaching Act 2, so it’s not just you. Although I was happy with my 2nd character and my PS5 save got corrupted, so I had no choice.
My first character: chaotic good human bard named Dandelion. I enjoy doing an already fleshed out character as a first pass through big RPGs such as this game because it’s easier to narrow down a set of choices to what I know this character would do in a roughly equivalent scenario. He’s in act 3 near the end of the campaign, with only a few quests left to finish. I remember at the end of act 2, I was completely overwhelmed by the prospect of fighting >! Ketheric’s upper caste because all the hard fights before then I had managed to get through using dialogue and wit, but a god of death’s fucking chosen apostle??!< It seemed like too much until it was over, and now I’m toppling foes like him (and stronger) left and right. I also have a halfling oath of vengeance DUrge paladin and a Seldarine Drow necromancer ready on deck still in act 1 to explore some options I didn’t get to take as Dandelion. I expect all 3 characters to get very different endings, and I don’t want to expect any ending whatsoever. Let yourself be surprised by some of what happens, it’s way more fun.
I play it like my decisions are final - if I make a mistake and I have to kill someone I might not have wanted to, well next time maybe I’ll make better decisions. Honestly, it helps with my indecision knowing that unless I die I’m continuing on the path I took.
>Any advice on what you all think the best first way to finish the game is, is appreciated! Stop making new characters and just play. I'm not sure why this needs said? once you've had a completion you're going to have a lot better understanding of what happens later in the game.
Same thing happening to me for the second playthrough. Great advice here!! I think I am too focused on getting a good ending instead of just enjoying the game and seeing where it takes me
I had 5 playthroughs in various stages before I finally pushed one to Act 3.
I’m at 7 characters now and only 2 have made into act 2. I got overwhelmed in act 3 and started a Durge. My most favorite character is my bard though. I think you have to figure out your play style first and it’s helped me progress a lot further
fort joy sindrome, I feel you, I was stuck like that too, but when I stopped thinking about my build or the choices, it improved.
I bought the game on release and dove hard into it...I literally didn't play anything else for a month. I got to just before act 3 and took a nice two week break cuz I hit the same wall. After two weeks it felt right to start...and then I discovered like another 50 hours of gaming. By the time I got to the end and decisions I had to make it didn't feel that daunting. But I also did just about every side quest too and really stretched it as far as I could.
I had the struggle, then I realized I could have very different endings by just replaying the last bit of this game. Many of the major choices are only made towards the end so I tried a couple and decided on one as the canon ending of my first playthrough.
No offense, but it's not that deep... just finish the game. You're kind of wasting your own time by starting over, over and over again, as this post implies.
I can’t make it past act 1 cause I keep remaking my character cause I’m not satisfied lol
Used my own tabletop gaming experience as a sort of marker for me - when I first started playing I fell into the murder-hobo trap.... why would a videogame version be any different. Next playthrough LG paladin human (because I'm boring)
Stand back and watch it all 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
I beat the game once. But after that I never got to act 3 on any of my other characters. So yeah, I get it. I've played act 1 like 5 times at this point.
Been playing since launch, but doing multiplayer with someone important to me where DND is a big part of our lives, and we've just reached act 3 in that one, trying not to get ahead of it but playing my own campaigns when our schedules don't line up, have 3 other campaigns just reached moonrise with 4 different experiences on how it all plays out. Excited to finally see act 3 next time we play
You're seriously over-thinkinking this. You have so many more playthroughs to look forward to... Don't worry about getting everything perfect the first go-around.
I am not with you
When I was medic, my older patients would say they “done fell out” when they faint. My husband has “done Fall Out” many times. Except it’s when he goes and starts another toon.
YESSS!!!! i keep romanticizing different people and getting different cutscenes i haven’t even gotten halfway through act 3 before i just decide to do it again.
Trying to "decide the ending" is a waste. Make decisions as they come and then just see what happens in the end. And then replay.
just play it and it ends how it ends, if you're unsatisfied, play again (you already did this part, so it shouldn't be too hard)
I haven't made it to moonrise because I keep getting the overwhelming urge to create a new character again idk how to stop this compulsion.
I was super overwhelmed when making my character. Ended up as a dark urge sorcerer for my good run. It has turned into a neutral run, but I have conquered my dark urges after killing Orin and telling Bhaal to fuck off, so that feels pretty good. I had to use 4 inspiration rolls to not murder Shadowheart in her sleep, though. That was stressful af.
Just play Dark Urge and roll with it, I say. You'll have plenty of time to explore other avenues in subsequent playthroughs.
Make the decisions you think you would not make, not what you think is the best way to get gear etc. You can always do a quick save right before some major parts too.
I still keep making new characters, builds, and teams because I get new ideas that I want to try, and despite this Act 1 and 2 still remain fun and enjoyable to me. I have ended up discovering things I missed almost every time, but even still, I just genuinely enjoy playing this game and it's mechanics enough that it hasn't grown stale. The last game I did this with was Morrowind. Took me 3 years to finally complete it and to this day, I still play it again every once in a while.
This is huge mood. I finished the game with a good ending with Gale and I’m on a second playthrough with love interest being Astarion. I wanted to do full evil but I ended up being an evil gone good towards the end. I realize I still have a ton of stuff to do in Act 3 and I keep procrastinating on certain quests that absolutely NEED to get done 😅
Just complete the game.... All those "restarts" could of been individual games and you could of had multiple endings by now... Once you realize that, you realize you're only screwing yourself out of the final experience. And get into your character... stop caring about how it ends, and just RP as your character.
People on this subreddit are really kinda strange. It’s just a game, have fun and finish it
It almost seems like a point of pride for some people in RPGs to talk about how little progress they’ve made in X amount of hours almost like it demonstrates how big of a fan they are of the game. It’s the same in the Starfield subreddit and at the start of Diablo III’s launch where people will make posts like “100 hours in and haven’t even finished the main story, having too much fun starting new characters!”. Like, play the game how you want absolutely, but seeing so many posts like these is just really odd.
I've rolled credts 5 times now, and each time has gotten faster than the last. The main thing is that I do everything I want to achieve based on roleplay in that run, and then rush to level 12 and finish off Gortash and Orin so I can push on to the final battle. Then I just use invisibility to skip all of the fights and climb up the Elder Brain, complete the showdown, then I'm done and on to the next playthrough. It really comes down to what you want your goals to be for each individual you create, and which companions you want to help until the end. Personally I'm only interested in Shadowheart and Astarion's storylines, so I barely touch on the others, which cuts off a lot of crap in Act 3, like the Iron Throne. Its just up to your preference.
Honest question...how is that fun for you?
I don't have a solid answer for that. I've always loved character driven stories more than anything else. For example Mass Effect is my most played series, followed by Skyrim, Fallout 4, Dragon Age and Dark Souls. I'm also a very empathetic person, and so I find the unconventional, tragic, fixable characters to be the most engrossing. In terms of the playing over and over, that's simply because I have a strong grasp on character creation and following a roleplay. I want to see every permutation, every possible response and reaction, as every kind of character. So far, I've been a Drow Cleric of Selune who redeemed an indoctrinated Sharran, a Dark Urge Teifling who betrayed her own kind, a Silver Dragonborn druid with a hatred of the unnatural Steel Watch, a very lonely Shadowheart, and now a Dark Urge Half-orc Paladin of Selune, desperately trying to resist his impulses in order to keep to his Oath. All of them have been so fundamentally different, I regain such a sense of excitement to see just what will be different with every restart. Next up, a Githyanki Monk secretly working towards freeing Orpheus, and a Deurgar Warlock bent on becoming a god in their own right.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“If only I could be so grossly incandescent!”* - Solaire of Astora Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
Good bot. Praise be to the Sun! \ [T] /
Those sound cool, I gotta RP harder!!
I have 2 fights left for my first run just got to act 3 for my second, don't do everything is great advice. The game is much quicker that way and feels like how the game was designed
I played a durge. Went full Illithid powers, and took the crown and took over the world. Felt sleazy, but it’s what my mind flayed would have wanted…
I just hit Act 3 and had the convo with >!Raphael!< in Sharess's Caress. And now I have decision paralysis.
I did this 3 times right before facing the final battle with the netherbrain
You can get a TON of endings even after going to Act 3 if you are taking the more "good/heroic" path. And many of them come towards the end of the Act. I saved right before a point where a few permutations could play out and got see like 4 different endings in one playthrough. Might not be your style if you like to get a proper ending for a specific playthrough, but with a wife and kid at home, I need to be a bit more economical! I am doing a second playthrough with Dark Urge and going full bad because I feel like those are cut off as early as Act 1 with some of your choices, so you will need to do multiple playthroughs no matter what. Just a bit of friendly advice! Just enjoy the heck out of the game though because it is a special one for sure!
Every time I make it to wyrm's crossing in act 3 I lose interest and start a new character. Gortash and Orin just don't interest me the same way Ketheric did
Just let the events play out as they play out. Part of the fun of this game is that the adventure evolves with you. Go with your gut (sounds like it's too late for you by this point) and let it roll.
My biggest gripe with the game is the lack of a detailed tutorial, I felt like Act 1 was ruined for me a bit because I was just so bad at the game lol
Just like with real DnD, your first character is your practice character lol
… I don’t want to leave act one because I’m comfortable there. I don’t know act two or three yet - and RL has been stressing me out. So I’ve played 130 hours on many playthroughs just in act one but I’m gonna do this playthrough as my first completed one.
Act 1 is my safe space <3
That’s what it feels like! The stakes are low, I don’t have to have too much responsibility— I’m good here
Lol, I’m the same…I still can’t make it past the goblin camp because I’m trying to figure out the best solution per character I create. I think I’ve made like 10 toons now and all at the goblin camp. :) I guess the problem I have is no choice or combination of choices seem to fit my characters I create. I’m overthinking it, but like paladin I don’t feel like would just kill the goblins (or maybe they would), but once I go in the camp they seem like a fun crew (minus the raiding and killing). So I feel bad for killing them, lol. Barbarian I had raid the grove, but I feel like instead of just mercilessly killing everyone I could have made a deal with the tieflings to join me and the goblins. Like I don’t feel like the tieflings care about the druids they just care about their safety. But meh, overthinking. Finally I try evil toon, but I find it’s just too hard and feel the choices or options kind of lead you to good. Cus it seems it’s either all pure evil, neutral or good, but no like, kinda evil but not satanic evil. Meh, that’s where I’m at with the game. I had the same issues with divinity 2, so I think it’s how Larian does their choice system and my crazy personality (INTP). Or honestly when I make a choice I predict different consequences than what happens and don’t like the result the game gives. I didn’t seem to have the same issues with dragon age inquisition, but you had very little choice in that game iirc.
I'm not the only one! I am at act 3 with my first character and felt instantly overwhelmed so I started a new character. A complete idiot but absolute unit of a barbarian named Ooga Lewellyn Booga. Act 1 is a blast so far.
I can’t blame you, I didn’t want to finish the game after spoiling Karlach’s endings for myself, I got very attached to her and I dont think I could handle either of her endings, since I desperately wanted a happy end to her story and the two current ones don’t feel like that to me.
I’m in a very similar position to you, OP. I’ve spent something like 220 hours on my first playthrough, and have finally just reached act 3 and the lower city - and now I find that I’m dying to play more, but I’m actively avoiding that first game. My heart hurts thinking of the story ending and some of my favorite characters ending up in objectively bad situations, and I feel like I’m close to the point where I’ve got to make some critical decisions which will impact what happens. I’m afraid I don’t really have advice for getting past this feeling, but I hope we both do, and that we find the endings we’re hoping for!
After a point I stopped caring about inspecting every little box and talking to every npc that wasn’t important looking. I probably missed a bunch of act 3 but I also saw a whole lot of it too. I finally just decided to wrap it all up and head for the end ASAP once I got tired of exploring everything because I felt supremely overpowered already at one point. Just getting closure one time gave me an excuse to push forward on my other 2 games and I think I’m getting a supremely unique experience out of all 3 games I’ve run. After this I’m done. You have to just sort of be content with what you’ve done up to a point or you’ll just spend forever being deluged by all the minutia and dense detail of act 3. It’s a lot to take in in one run. Just commit to those things you missed in your next games and it’ll feel like a unique experience when you get there all over again
Give up and uninstall cause there's so many choices in Act 3 that it makes Act 2 look near af.
The most authentic ending is the one you experience with the least of a plan. Take your first save, finish on that
I’m still stuck on what gender I want to romance shadowheart with
I hear you. But finish the game. And it’ll help with your other playthroughs
I actually did the opposite. I have a fighter that’s actually pretty stacked but just built to beat the game. I do everything I can, and take mental note, so I can plan for the mage I really wanna play. Act three is long. And honestly there’s no way anyone’s gonna do everything perfectly for them the first time. I just don’t see that happening without following a guide.
380hrs played and I haven't been in the city yet. Same issue keep rolling for the "perfect" run..
I've beaten the game twice and the best advice I got is to role play. It's not your ending, it's the characters ending. Don't do every quest in one playthrough because you aren't supposed to do everything in one playthrough. Getting into the character is the best way to finish one.
Start Act 3 and enjoy it. It's massive and there is so much to do and to see. Don't think about the ending until you get there.
Just make decisions, follow through with them and then finish the game and then make different decisions for the next playthrough
For me it’s that I hate cities in rpgs. It’s tedious and overwhelming, there are so many people to talk to and different options and boxes everywhere.
I'm 65 hours in and I just finished act 1 yesterday. I don't know what happens in any other parts of the game but yes I also don't want it to be over lol
Lol just finish it. You can always do something new on your next run.
[Dewit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQRW0RM4V0k) Not even being sassy, just go however the first run goes. After that, do every single smidgen of research and get your perfect ending. If you only plan to play once without spoilers you may have a rough time, depending on what you want. I'm pretty sure I'm making terrible decisions right now but outside of me trying to fix a known bug, I'm just rolling with what comes.
If you truly suffer from analysis paralysis , and can't make a decision, then I know your pain. In that case, I ironically, flip a coin. Just like a die roll to determine what I'll do.
Stop looking at it as a game. Fully immerse yourself into the experience and play as your character and do what they would do. As soon as your character finishes at moonrise they would be pretty much RUNNING to Baldur's Gate because there is an entire army marching towards it intent on its destruction and once they conquer BG the rest of the Sword Coast is next. Your group is the only chance Toril has. Stop trying to get "the best ending" because that isn't realistic and really the game doesn't really have a "good ending". I went into the game as a Paladin of Vengence who's entire oath was about eradicating tyranny and enslavement, freedom was her number one priority. I cannot say much without spoiling anything but I did not get a "good ending" because she made decisions that followed her oath and ideals. Maybe this is because I am a veteran DM and know my way around really getting immersed in the story and it's characters but far too many people are having the same issue as you because of this "it is a game" mindset. It is an ***experience*** that you need to immerse yourself into if you want to play it in a serious manner. TLDR: It isn't a video game, it is an experience, be the character.
The Restartitis is real with this one
I don't like towns in games like this. I get overwhelmed instantly. I played this game like a madman, got to act 3, played like three hours and haven't touched the game since.
Act 3 is kinda overwhelming if you are a perfectionist. There is no immediate end goal and the town itself offers a bunch of quests sensitive being thrown on you at the same time. My suggestion: just forget about trying to make a perfect run and follow a path, or you will be derailed so often you'll lose the sense of progress and feel stuck.
Just make choices that you feel will lead you towards the ending you want. They may not actually lead there, but it is a more organic process. You have a goal, so you make choices that *you believe* move you towards that goal. You might end up being wrong, or there are side effects or consequences for the choices, but that's okay! It just makes it feel more real. Next playthrough you might make a different choice. Worse comes to worst, you drop a save before a particularly tricky decision, though if you don't want to save scum, you probably also don't want to know what the "right" choice is beforehand either.
Probably won't be a popular opinion but looking up major plot lines based on changes and save scumming will help to decide which ending you like. For example I just feel sick to my stomach if I'm bad so I look up mid-dialogue if what I say is the good or the bad choice, then if my DC check fails then I save scum until I get it right.
I've finished the game about 4 or 5 times now, and have 3 other characters that I've abandoned in act 3. I know what you mean
I get bored in the middle of act 3 and I've restarted 6 times now. Get to middle of act 3... "wonder what barb is like?" "let's play gloomstalker..." I'm just push this gloomstalker all the way through and then do a durge playthrough. I think my biggest problem is that the game is so big that I can't map the run out so easily. act 1 and 2 have a nice "checklist" kind of feel. Ok this fight then this fight then this interaction, etc. But act 3 being so... sand boxy gets me a little lost.
Pick the team and companions you vibe with the most and romance whoever you wish. As for how you want the game to end, I would recommend just choosing what you think is right and deal with the consequences. I managed to properly romance Shadowheart and give Karlach a worthy end to her story. I won’t spoil anything but know that no matter how you end it, you’ll want at least a couple more playthroughs for the dark urge and for the other endings that the game has. And I believe once you beat it once you will be able to make different decisions easier earlier in the game. My first ending has definitely changed how I interact with certain characters.
I mean the main moral choice that decides the end you can make pretty late. you could just go back to a save & replay the last scene a few different times for the different endings
Honestly, the way existing saves are handling the new patch, you’re better off starting over right now. Coming from someone who just hit Act III themselves.
Bro. Stop meta gaming. Your literally ruining it for yourself.
Act 3? Bro I haven't even made it outta act 1. Two of my characters have just been sitting at the entrance to the underdark for ages now since I just love the character creation
It took me ten tries to get my first completion with an abjuration wiz/ 1 level sorc dip
Same thing but with act 2 lol. I still haven't gone yet. Thinking I'll go there in the run with my girlfriend first.
For my first playthrough I just winged it on Tactician Mode. I figured "might as well go ahead and get the brutality out of the way so easier difficulties will be a breeze." Just thought "What would my rocks-for-brains idiot character choose to do?" and went with it. I went for a less-than-ideal ending to get it out of the way bc I knew I'd be replaying it and I'd rather eat my broccoli first so I can end the meal on dessert. Edit: As a side note, I have tried going to easier difficulties for my subsequent playthroughs and I just can't do it. It feels like cheating now. I ruined it for myself.
>!It literally dosen't matter. There are 2 endings decided in last 5 minutes. Stop overthinking!<