Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Act 2 was underwhelming (spoilers)

Just finished all of Act 2. Is it just me, or was the story of act 2 shorter and with few important moments, the map smaller and with few hidden areas, the locations all very same-looking, and the combat encounters quite sparse? Am I somehow misremembering the quality of Act 1 because I played it repeatedly in EA? There’s so little character development in Act 2 except for Shadowheart, you get one major interaction per companion it seems (some seem to get none), and there’s just so little to do. There are some unique fights, but that’s about the nicest thing I can say about Act 2. That and the aesthetic of the Shadow cursed lands was excellent.

To add:
Still disappointed at the Orthon fight. It was built up in Act 1 as this massive devil that overthrew an entire temple and towns-worth of Sharrans, melting their fortress in an instant. Then you find him and he’s just this tiny thing that shoots you with a crossbow, turns invisible, and leaves bombs around. Even Raphael was talking him up as this great mister that could terrorize the realms. At the very least I’d expect something more challenging than Grym, given he overthrew Grym’s creators.

Yeah, I have to admit, I thought Raphael was talking about the Nightsong. Admittedly, maybe he was -- in EA, Nightsong was a very different character, seemingly much more ominous and perhaps even outright evil.

I am with you on this Zeru. I am currently in the middle of Act 3, but I felt quite like you when I went out of Act 2.

There were way less interactions I had with my team mates. Way less banter between them while walking through the underdark etc. either. They also didn*t really comment on a lot of things. I had Astarion, Karlach & Shart with me all the time and I tried to speak with them in and outside of camp constantly. They gave their two cents about
Some fights were okay (like the Nere fight, that escalated mostly on my part into something pretty cool). The big golem thingy in Grymforge was cool as well (forgot its name though, but I liked to use the environemental mechanics to get it down). Other than that I felt like the fights were pretty underwhelming. The . Isobel was something else and I am still unsure how to feel about the whole mechanic there. It was not that bad, but also not really good and felt like the game wanted to force me into a particular direction.

On a rather personal note: while playing Act 2 I started to feel less motivated to do side quests and also like the story started to drag on in some weird ways. Like you I also didn*t find most of the locations that interesting. I started to do more breaks inbetween play sessions and it started to become even more frequent after I began Act 3. I loved Act 1, bc I love immersion and all the things you could find and do there. And for someone like me, who values cpmpanion interactions as part of that - icing on the cake. Act 2 and 3 def. need more work and depth, the pacing between story, companion interactions and adventure seems kinda off in both following Acts. I am now at a point where I really considering waiting for Patch 1 to play further and see, if the experience feels a bit less bumpy and more polished. It is also hard to tell for me how much I missed out due to possible bugs and quest stoppers, but there is def. hard fomo on my part since entering Act 2.

Sorry for the wall of text, but it was something I thought about in the last couple of days a lot, bc I frigging love BG3 and the time I had with it so far. No native english speaker either so...sorry for eventual grammatical issues.

I have no idea why Isobel is even in the game.
There was no buildup to her "big reveal" nor did it even matter at that point.

Maybe there us more to it if she gets kidnapped, but if you prevent that you just shrug and go on.

Its sadly very obvious that all the polish went into act 1 and the further you progress the worse it gets.

Hopefully as more and more people actually finish the whole game, we will begin to get a more balanced and fair assessment of the game.

SPOILER

The orthon fight was underwhelming especially after how much rapheal talks it up. though overall I am happy with the act as there are several interesting boss fights and it's just a unique cool looking area.

She serves her purpose, she is a npc tied to Ketheric kidnapping her makes him like you and gets a lot of people killed. Saving her makes him like you. Her resurrection gave him a motivation to be chosen, what more do you want? Where you looking for her to be party character. By your argument you could remove auntie Ethel or half the act 1 content.

Ketheric gets hyped up and foreshadowed all through act 1 and you end up speaking to him twice (the first time for mere seconds). It was beyond disappointing. Also this may be very controversial but I did not really like J.K Simmons as Ketheric. Just not what I envisioned for Ketheric during EA.

I think one of the big problems with Isobel is that the reveal feels forced. If you go to the Mausoleum and the bedrooms on the upper floor of Moonrise, you have all this information about her, but you cannot bring this information to her. You get one interaction with her before a big fight, and that's it, yet she's supposed to be this fundamental character to the second Act. The game acts like is a big deal, but it's just given to you at the last second. Then after the second Act is over, you cannot follow up on the information in any significant way with either Isobel or Aylin. It's made to be this huge cinematic scene, from the liberation from the to the bright streak across the sky to the death of to finding out all that happened, and it is posited without any buildup, or any followup. Isobel (and, to a lesser extent, Aylin) exist in a narrative vacuum.

The Hag is not built up to be significant to Act 1. She's a sidequest. The game doesn't treat the moment with the Hag like a big deal. It treats the Nightsong and Isobel like a big deal but devotes almost no narrative effort to it.

EDIT TO ADD BECAUSE I AGREE WITH SOME OF THE ABOVE POSTS:
Even Ketheric felt done dirty. The whole plot felt unsatisfying. The game tells you it's a big deal but doesn't devote any time or quests outside of your first meeting with each character to the task of buildup or followup.