Basically looking for people’s experiences across multiple playthroughs in this game. Tell me all about the unexpected things you found, especially after more than two playthroughs.
I’m currently on my second run, close to the end. The first run I played Tav. I thought myself pretty thorough with map exploration, and by the time I finished I had a pretty good idea of which quests I had left unfinished and which characters I wanted to interact more/less/differently in my next run.
I wasn’t expecting the game to feel this different though, and I’m loving it for it. So now on my second run I am playing Durge, I recruited Laezel and Minthara (previously I didn’t…) and I made sure to find all pieces of Dribbles. I set myself to antagonize the Emperor in this run, unlike in my previous one. Oh and I made sure to keep the windmill gnome alive in the blighted village, since previously I accidentally pulled the wrong lever and yeeted him away, lol. I thought that was it, that would be most of the missing content I was interested in.
I… didn’t expect to find so many different bits and pieces here and there or because of the order in which I did things. I realised I could recruit Scratch, an owlbear, and also an intellect devourer. I was surprised to see that entering the shadow cursed lands from the mountains as opposed to the grimforge would give me the opportunity to join the drider’s caravan. Straight to moonrise, skipping the Inn. I rescued the prisoners and Minthara and was surprised, again, to see I could take them all, and myself and the party by boat to the Inn even if I hadn’t yet been at the Inn.
I also realised I pretty much sucked exploring the map in Act 3; so many doors left unopened. For example I discovered there are mausoleums one can actually break into and explore in the graveyard. How come I missed that before, I don’t understand. There is a mindflayer in the windmill in Rivington, and I should have taken the emperor’s advice regarding it. In this run, my companions actually pointed at the shop Jaheira said would be the safe place, so I brought Jaheira with me and oh boy I discovered she actually has content exclusively for her. Her little questline was totally unexpected; previously I just let her tag along at camp but mostly ignored her. Discovering this as Durge I guess added extra flavor.
Etc. I could go on forever, but I want to hear what surprised you. Bring it on, maybe you can inspire me to try something different in my next run.
If you don’t fight Ethyl, she won’t move to Baldur’s Gate. This means 1) the house you would meet the Anti Hag Support Group is occupied by generic bandits, 2) the people in the Blushing Mermaid are just regular people, albeit drunk or hungover, 3) Lora and Vanra are safe in their home and 4) Ethyl’s lair is sealed off entirely.
If you use barrels, you can trigger the lever to open the door anyway. If you then attack her mushrooms, she shows up angry and yells at you for killing her, and the game crashes.
If you DO fight Ethyl, don’t kill the Mask of Regret. If you let her live, she’ll turn up in the Anti Hag Support Group under the name Hydrangea Wubb.
There are five people in Rivington that Orin can impersonate. The first two you speak to will be Orin. If you talk to Gortash, Orin will not impersonate anyone else, and the ones you didn’t talk to will be themselves.
The two that Orin impersonates can be found dead in the Temple of Bhaal. If she didn’t impersonate two people, there are two humans who serve as backup victims.
If you free Oskar, he will turn up in Jannath’s Estate and get the whole place haunted. If you don’t free him, an art exhibition will be held instead.
If you speak to Naoise in Sharess’ Caress as Minsc, she can offer her Rapture speech to him. One of your options for “what will you be” will be Minsc, leading her to call him “The most Minsc”.
If you throw Naaber off of the bridge, he will swim to the shore. This happens to nobody else in the game.
If you use Speak with Dead on Naaber, you can ask him more than five questions, because he wants to talk too much for death to stop him. He will even complain when you end the spell.
Ethel: in my previous run I killed every mask. I entered her lair through the tea house and fought her. I loved the interaction with the drow, who saw my Tav and went hysterical about it turning into a mind flayer. Of course I wasn’t going to turn into a mind flayer…! Or so I thought then. By the end of Act3 I was full on illithid. Loved how my perception and wants shifted during the game.
This time though, I killed Ethel before she could run to her lair in Act1. Things got messy with the masks and I can’t remember if I managed to leave the Regret one alive. Because I got there after killing Ethel, she was already reasonable and mentioned she planned going to the city. I still had to fight the other masks because they were aggressive, and that turned her against me. I think, I think I knocked her unconscious though… I should check. I was undecided about fighting Ethel again in Act 3.
Thanks for the heads up about crashing the game. I’ll keep in mind in case I don’t fight her next time!
Five people Orin can turn into. Hm. I’ve found 4 out of those 5. Guess I still got one mystery character left for my next playthrough. I didn’t notice the dead were the people she turned into in my first run, but in this one I managed to put 2+2 together. Especially since one of the dead was the smith. Very specific character, my durge wanted to fight him after the conversation and was disappointed he passed the check, so I remembered. I even went back later to see how the dragonborn shopkeeper was faring, to check if the smiths death had any impact. It did. Shopkeeper got quite angry at me saying the smith was dead. Nice attention to detail.
Would I still get a means to visit Mystic Carrion if I choose not to free Oskar?
Take Minsc to Sharess, will do!
Naaber… I didn’t know I could push him off a bridge?! So far only exchanged a few lines at Carms. I hope that’s him, right? The wannabe adventurer? Gee looking forward to this one.
It’s unlikely you’ll trigger the crash. You pretty much have to go out of your way to even get into the room if Ethyl isn’t dead.
The smith, the reporter, the dryad, one of the guards, and a wounded thug on the beach. You’re probably missing the thug.
You can still visit him. You can even track down Thrumbo and do that whole thing.
It’s a fun time.
Yup, that’s him. If you leave the shop, he’ll chase you, so you can just walk to the edge of the bridge and get a shove ready.
The dryad?? I wouldn’t have guessed that one, or triggered it in a hundred years. Not a fan of that dryad… The thug was my very first one. That was a fun encounter. I thought it was a one off and only possible because he was about to die. Which made finding the journalist even better later on.
Came across all zombies and collected all jars (except the heart of course). Forgot how to open the door. Guess I’ll find out again
I was maybe on my fourth playthrough before I discovered that Kagha was in cahoots with Shadow Druids and that you could expose her. You can either convince her to change her ways or fight her and let Rath step up as leader. Previously I thought the only solution to the Kagha problem was to rescue Halsin.
I was also surprised! I discovered that in my current playthrough too.
Ooooh, did you bring Jaheira to the house opposite of the society of brilliance? The one with a kid in front of the door, fighting a practice doll thingy.
I have never been able to bring myself to give the Githyanki egg to the society of brilliance. But I heard what happens.
In my first playthrough I didn’t touch the dangerous looking teleport. And in my second playthrough my Durge phantasised about hacking the hand off that came out. I didn’t see Gale until I was a grown man. And I have never let him keep the crown of Karsus before, so that is also unexplored.
Did you bring Scratch to the kennel behind the post office? Did you bring fish to Tara on the rooftops of Baldur’s Gate? Did you betray the Nightsong at the last minute? Did you keep Lae’zel loyal to her queen?
There is soooo much to do and do differently. One of Act 3’s biggest flaws is also its biggest strength’s. There is SO MUCH STUFF!
But it already starts in Act 1. The first time I played I decided to trust Priestess Gutt and let myself get captured, broke my chains and started the fight with her alone while my companions were scrambling to find me. But when you get curious and don’t break the chains frickin’ Korilla appears and kills Gutt for you!
There is so much stuff I have yet to see. And I have watched tons of let’s plays on YouTube and Twitch streams. And it’s especially funny when you watch a challenge run by someone with thousands of hours in the game and they declare “I didn’t know until now that xyz”.
Did you know that you can free Liam from the Goblin camp by dislocating his thumbs as Shadowheart Origin? Learned that on Jennifer English’s stream. The origin characters all add their own little tidbits.
I could go on and on. This game has too much stuff.
No I haven’t taken Jaheira to the Society of Brilliance area yet! And such good timing, I’m about to do that area soon. Actually I don’t remember going inside the house where the kid is practicing, ever. So, more new stuff for me.
I also haven’t given the egg away. The first time I wanted to make sure Esther was actually working for the society, she seemed shady af. When I got there myself and talked to one of the duergar I understood it would be insane to give the egg. I’d rather omelette.
This run Laezel made it clear she wants it, so, no questions asked.
That’s funny about Gale. I’m not totally sure what happened last time with the crown after my illithid Tav defeated the brain. It almost feels like everyone forgot about it. I would have given it to gale at that point, but didn’t see the option.
Scratch to the kennel: yes … And I think something got bugged. I ended up killing that nasty dog keeper. But she fired the assistant first. I’m hoping for a different approach next run.
Yes, brought some fish… And Gale… to Tara.
I don’t want to keep Laezel loyal to her queen. Sounds silly… I know she gets consumed if that happens. Unless you can convince me otherwise, is there a benefit to it?
Will never betray the Nightsong or Isobel!
The first time I cleaned up the whole goblin camp as stealthily as possible. This run, I allowed Gut to catch me. Failed to break myself free and Korilla saved my arse. I also exchanged a word with her near the house of healing. Previous run I met her for the first time at Sharess, and thought she was just weird.
No I didn’t know SH could do that! I’ve found a few quirky things with Astarion though. On my second run I sneaked him inside the provisions house at the tiefling camp, and an option to bite the paralyzed tiefling showed up. It’s impossible to make it work without attracting the guards though, but it was cool. I wonder if there would be something specific for him as well there, similar to what happens with the Gur near the Teahouse. That’s another fun encounter.
Yesterday I found an amulet with Astarion at the basement in the temple. Picked it and immediately got cursed… Went to camp, gave the amulet to SH. Used SH to remove the curse… And an Aasimar got summoned! Unexpected fight right there.
Appreciated the comment and if want, feel free to carry on as much as you like! Cheers
Is there a player story build kit released yet? Such a magnificent game, but after 8 playthroughs I’m hoping fanfic mods can scratch the itch.
More or less. They released a limited mod SDK which can “accidentally” be upgraded to the full SDK by basically flipping a switch. Several bigger mods are in development, including one that aims to remake Baldur’s Gate 1.
