I have a confession to make. It’s not something I want to admit.
It’s this.
I finished Baldur’s Gate 3, and then looked around at my backlog, and restarted.
I’d missed so much on my first playthrough. Entire plotlines I never saw.
I don’t think I’m going to go through the entire game. I have no interest in being evil, so that’s a bunch of plotlines I’m not going to ever see.
But there’s other stuff I can do.
So I did find Karlach and Wyll, their quests are started. I do like Karlach, but I find I still prefer Lae’zal. In fact in the header image, I was kind of disappointed that, even though I have two new characters in the camp, I’m still using pretty much the same party I used before.
I probably will use Wyll later, when we have a few more levels.
So, what’s different?
Well, I spent a lot more time in the druid grove, met people I never met before. First time through, once I hit the goblin camp, I worked through that and then used the Sharr puzzle to go to the Underdark, and from there straight to Act II. I then went back to finish the Act I, but by then it was too late for a lot of things.
Found the thieves in the druid grove, but I didn’t manage to steal the idol. I met Dammon, who I only learned about in Act III before.
I was smarter in the goblin camp. I destroyed all the drums, and blew up the hobgoblin boss by doing a bard performance standing atop two smoke powder barrels I found in the room. When the boss and most everyone in the room gathered round to listen, I had another character blow them up. My character survived, yay, though she didn’t in the rehearsal. (I hadn’t killed Minthara yet, when I’d thought of it). It was beauty.
I killed the Spider Matriarch. I hadn’t seen that fight before. Oh yeah, way back at the beginning, I found the Dank Crypt inside the ruined chapel. I hadn’t found that before. Withers had just randomly shown up at camp in my first play through; now, I had a proper introduction.
I met Scratch, the dog! I missed him first time around. Now he comes with me on adventures, and now that the owlbear cub has found the camp, I hope to soon be able to pet them at the same time. Oh yeah. I now cast Speak with Animals at the start of each day and I talk to all the animals. An ox in Grymforge was very talkative and had a lot to say about Ketheric Thorm, the boss of Act II. I missed all that entirely, first time around.
I made a deal with some Grymforge Duegar to kill the other half for me. They then were convinced to leave, leaving their deep gnome slaves behind. I scattered anti-magic Sussar Blooms around the spot where Nere would show up, which caused him some issues. He did find a spot that wasn’t covered by the blooms, but his mobility was shot and since he was penned in place by the anti-magic fields, a Hold Person followed by a Cloud of Blades did him in. Some dorf plinked him into the lava, though, so I wasn’t able to return his head to the head mushroom.
I did find the back way to the Aunt Ethel encounter, so I might see if I can cheese that by approaching from behind.
I think Aunt Ethel and the Githyanki creche are the only things I have left in Act I… oh yeah, also, the Adamantine Forge. This time, I am finding all the molds and all the ore.
My character, bard as I’ve said, though I may multiclass soon, perhaps into Warlock, perhaps into Rogue. Shadowheart was previously Light Cleric, now she is Tempest domain. Nothing different for Gale or Astarion. I do use the other characters in my team at time depending on the kinds of fights I expect. Wyll, for instance, was key in the spider caves.
I used the horn to call the ogres this time during one of the goblin camp fights. I wanted to kill the smart one afterward to get his circlet, but he skipped out before I could manage to take him down. I’d forgotten to kill the trio and had made a pact with them before I realized what I was doing.
Because my drow bard is the most persuasive person in Faerun. I built her to sail through any conversation. Missed a lot of fights, but still got the xp. It’s all good.
I don’t know how much more XP is available before Act II. I’d like to be level 6 going into it, but that seems unlikely.
The game is so much easier second time through. I feel more free to try crazy ideas.
