Describing Baldur’s Gate 3 as an epic game in some ways hardly does it justice. Covering its main story in three acts, BG3 has been a runaway success and one of the most played games across its many platforms. However, there are a surprising number of people who have never even finished the second act and are therefore missing out on a lot of big story moments towards the end.
[Warning: Spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3.]
Like any RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3 invites the player to put themselves in the shoes of their character as they navigate Dungeons & Dragons’ Forgotten Realms. The massive three-act fantasy RPG can take well over 60 hours to complete, and that is just by focusing purely on the main questline. But as BG3 has so many side quests and each companion’s personal quest, it is a game best enjoyed over multiple playthroughs.
Checking the Steam achievements for Baldur’s Gate 3, it will come as a surprise to many that only 39.4% of players have finished Act 2 and left the Shadow-Cursed Lands to head to Baldur’s Gate. This means that a whopping 60% have never started Act 3, and only 20.8% earned the achievement “All’s Well That Ends Well” for finishing the game. This means the majority of players are missing out on the end of every major questline and some of the biggest story moments BG3 has to offer.
With such a surprising statistic, the question then becomes what could cause so many players to stop before they reach the end of Act 2. Given the popularity of BG3, the answer doesn’t seem to be an abandonment of the game entirely, as the game remains one of the most played games on Steam. The answer could come down to a few factors, with two of the main ones beingpeople’s fear of missing out and other people not realizing that a character’s class can be changed without starting over.
The easiest of these reasons to address is that any playable character’s class and subclass can be changed at any point in the game. Speaking to Withers in camp will bring up the option to change class allowingany player character or companion to be built and rebuilt throughout BG3. Many have used this as an opportunity to try out different builds in a single playthrough or to have early-, mid-, and late-game builds for their characters.
The other issue is a little harder to pin down, as it taps into people’s desire to experience everything BG3 has to offer in a single sitting. People want to try multiple character builds, races, and Origins but diving deeper, it seems many don’t want to miss out on any interactions or outcomes for quests and characters. This has led many to get to a certain point in the game, worry that they’ve missed something important and restart with a new character. However, this will simply lead to a cycle which inevitably means content is being missed.
The problem of wanting to experience everything may come down to a misunderstanding of the genre, with some perhaps approaching BG3 the same way they would Skyrim. However, BG3’s narrative is more complicated with a plethora of variations designed to adapt to player choice. With games that have branching narratives, such as Baldur’s Gate 3,it is impossible to experience everything in a single playthrough.
BG3 is designed and intended to be experienced through multiple playthroughs, allowing different choices to be made each time. While there might be answers to puzzles and optimal ways to take on boss fights, there is no correct way to play an RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3. Subtle things such as the player character’s race ro failing a skill check can impact the story, meaning every playthrough can be completely unique.
Larian Studios, the developers of BG3, had to account for so many different playthroughs and play styles that there are even some NPCs who have redundancy characters in case they die. One of the best examples is Alfira, the tiefling bard, who can meet an unfortunate end at the hands of the Dark Urge. However, if Alfira is unavailable, then a new character, Quil, will appear. Similarly, Zevlor and several other tieflings have fail-safe NPCs in BG3.
Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 is the final chapter of the story, bringing together all the separate threads for the conclusion. It is in this act that many character arcs reach their end, along with the obvious final battle against the forces of the Absolute. There are even several quests that began in Act 1 that do not get to continue until the party reach the city, such as the missing Duke Ravengard, the artist Oskar Fevras, and the strange ox.
Act 3 is also where Minsc can be recruited, as the Rashemaar warrior does not appear in the game until that point. Along with his faithful companion Boo, Minsc has been a part of the Baldur’s Gate series from the very beginning, and it seems a shame that so few newer players are getting to experience this fun character. Minsc’s recruitment also ties in with Jaheira’s personal quest and the Harpers’ storyline, answering a lot of the questions raised in Act 2.
But beyond well known companions and side quests, it is important to get to Act 3 and finish Baldur’s Gate 3 before starting a new game, so that going forward, a person has the full picture. After that, different characters can be planned with specific goals in mind to discover all the various endings and little things that may have been missed. But it is important to understand the full story and the outcomes for one path in order to know the different routes to take in a new playthrough.