Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Most narratively coherent way to complete Act 1?

Please don't read unless you've completed Act 1. There will be spoilers.


One of the difficulties of playing through Act 1, for me, is all of the little quest threads scattered here and there that only make sense to complete from a meta-game "doing everything" perspective. I have difficulty figuring out what, for example, the internal party motivation would be to go to Ethel in the Swamp, fight the spiders in the Blighted Village, or complete the quest to find the missing shipment for the Zhentarim, for example.

Going solely off of in-game motivations and urgency, it seems like (if you're taking a "good" approach), you would immediately go from the Grove to the goblin camp, rescue Halsin, etc., find out that your tadpole can't be removed because it's protected by magic, then head straight to Moonrise Towers in Act 2.

So, if the goblin camp etc. runs along the center of the Act 1 map, how do you integrate the Southern and Northern parts of the map narratively? By justifying going to the swamps by having the conversation with Ethel where she claims she can help you, and tells you to meet her at home? And exploring the Northern part of the map on your way to check out the creche? So that the main plot thread running through the act would be exploring different possibilities for the removal of your tadpole.

I suppose I'm trying to figure out how to complete the act's events in the most narratively coherent order. I loved Act 2 of DOS2 where it was really obvious that you were exploring all of the different possibilities to expand your knowledge of source. Trying to determine if there's an overarching goal tying the disparate threads of Act 1 together here as well.

The overarching goal and motivation for the party in ACT 1 is pretty much finding a healer which are all over the place, but the main character naturally does not know which way nor which healer is the best so they're looking anywhere they can for any sign of hope. Whether it's Nettie, Ethel, Halsin, Priestess Gut, Volo, Omeluum, Raphael, the Creche etc.

That's pretty much their drive in ACT 1, hope and despair. Like Astarion says; "Shop around he says. He seems certain we won't find anything. And he's right, we had no luck so far."

Although it may seem like the main character would be shooting straight towards; The Grove > Nettie > Halsin > Moonrise, narratively Lae'zel makes a far more convincing case than anyone else. So if anything the character narratively would actually just shoot straight for the Creche and ignore the distractions.

But at the same time we as the player are the conductor of the story and our character's personality. If I was given the same options as Nettie gives our main character, hell... I would be looking around anywhere else other than the gobo camp where I might end up roasting over a fire as their meal. I'd first exhaust every possible chance I can before deciding to knowingly walk into an enemy encampment. So if that takes me south or north, it is much better than the most dangerous place there is

However even if the character is bold and courageous, narratively I still do not see them blindly following the narrative past the Goblin camp because once they reach any of the three trigger locations for the Guardian and meet them, they are no longer in immediate danger from ceremorphosis since it's stopped right in the nick of time.

At which point the motivation still remains on finding a healer, but it's no longer an immediate danger so why not shop around at that point. Get equipped, become stronger, prepare for the journey and whatever lies on its path.

Ultimately the motivation for which direction the character ends up going is up to the player to decide, but the actual narrative motivation is pretty much always searching for a cure/healer. Not as obvious as DOS2's source searching, but I kinda like that. It feels more like a journey then and conveys the fact that we are truly lost in a wilderness, rather than a "to the point objective" with a set destination.

i Always Find that the Corret Way of going is to..
Grove, Nettie, Halsin..
then Underdark if yu dont Care for Cresch..
but i advice go there before reaching act 2.
(if Laezel is in the Party is Better becouse if yu go to Cresche/Rosymon from act 2 i did not Met Voss for her Quest and Went a lot different her Original quest this way.)

When Playing Bad..
Grove, Nettie, Halsing (useless rout)
Go to underdark (pristess Gut trying to Kill yu open the Secret Door.)
Side with Goblins.
then go Cresch and Act 2.

(already tried doing in some different order .. but the Game start to Go Crazy and Find many Bugs and Blockers..)
Like Halsin went Crazy in the conversation when i already explored underdark 1,2 before saving Hin and Siding with Grove.
Some Crazy stuff like 2 times same conversation with companions and stuff like that too.
yu are only supposed to go and do this if yu Side with Goblins..
the other way around the game Cant Handle.

(i find 3 Ways that i Call the Best Rout for the Classes i Play and Origin i have used.)
i bet will be different for all of yu becouse of that..

Another Tip..
i Always do Hag in Both Routs Before Chosing a Side..
(becouse if i left for Last her quest the Marker Never Disapear bug.)
A btw.. i always Find nowadays That when yu Get to the Central Part of the Map.. Insted of entering the Village go Up using the outside Rout Close to Scratches and the Cub Cave.
Always at Least Go do the Lady in the House on Fire, go kill the Wargs its little bit anoying becouse yu are underlvl but its worth the trouble then Karlach chose what yu want with her.. i always get the Sword nowadays dont need her. sorry
Then Back to the Zentharin.. the fire would have passed a little bit off if yu sleep go down there. do the quest, free the dude and walk up the Stair and Trow some Simple Cantrip and slay all Zentharin..
yu dont need then. trust me. they dosent worth your compassion and the XP yu Get will lvl yu up like a Boss so Early
(dont Forget to Loot then Before go to the Back side getting the Iron.. or will disapear and yu will Lost at least 4 unique, rare itens pretty strong.)
like the Bow that Scales damege up with STR. broken.
and its super Fast do the Uper Part this Way.. Normally i only need to Sleep once before hading Back to the Village.

if yu just want yu can go to Underdark super early from here too.. but i dont advice.. yu will run into 2 Minotaurs a little Bit early and can be anoying sometimes
this game loves do this when yu are a little bit underlvl.
and If yu dont Bring Laezel yu can Face the Gith before going back to the Village.. i always go as Charisma nowadays so i never need to even Fight then.. ist like Easy Mode On in this Game Char .. Give a Try
Become a True Chad and intimidate and Persuade, Manipulate evrybody on doing what yu want.. like playing Fallout New Vegas back in a Day. haha

Theres no Price and Making evrybody Shit their Pants with yu in this Game.. AMAZING!.. haha
Give a Try.
yu will fell always like the Boss in the Roon.

If there was, I missed it. Some plotlines do link together, and some feel extraneous. You may be able to come up with justification or head-cannon for exploring everything and taking on all the side quests as being in the nature of your character. Apologies if this is obvious, but if you are playing a certain type, for example a Paladin sworn to protect the weak and innocent, then you would have justification - if not a duty - to always be on the lookout for any side quest that involves lending aid or fighting perceived injustices. On the other hand, if you are a cold-blooded mercenary or thief, then perhaps you are habitually always on the lookout for gold and just can't help yourself. You're right, though -- it always feels odd to be pursuing independent questlines when the main plot is insisting that time is running out.

On a related note, this topic had me thinking about the Mountain Pass region; it seems possible that if you did not recruit Lae'zel and you are not a Githyanki yourself, then there may be no narrative reason to leave the main road in this entire area. In fact, depending upon your choices, you may never have a narrative reason to even enter this zone. Again, I may have missed something -- but that seems striking to me that an entire region and all the development that went into it could be skipped due to lack of a narrative reason for being there.

I always go straight to the swamp from the grove because I look for and find Kagha's note in the grove that sends you there. Then I figure I might as well explore the Blighted Village since I either killed or talked my way past the goblins. Then I go up to get Karlach because Wyll whines about it. After that I head west and do the town on the way because finding the creche makes sense.

After that I'd ideally like to go find the creche, but the game tells me that that will start Act 2, so it's then that I go back down to the goblin camp. Is this true? Because I think it makes more sense to try to find the creche before doing the goblin camp.

After the grove party scene I head to the Underdark because I usually play drow. And that's as far as I've gotten so far, but I've done this at least 30 times because my altitis is severe. (And no, respeccing or using the Magic Mirror doesn't help me because each character has their own distinct personality.)

Please disregard, forum double posted.

Please disregard, forum double posted.

When I actively roleplay, I take meta-gaming out of the equation. I make my decisions as my character would. So, I follow the leads that I have to complete the objective most important to me.

In that regard, when I enter the Grove, I realize Halsin isn't there. But, I don't know Halsin is my best bet, either. I come across Auntie Ethel next, and that becomes my safest bet for now, so that's where I'll go. Roleplaying also means that I don't always know where all the secret loot is, and so forth. I'm not a professional Adventurer, I don't necesarily explore every nook and cranny for a better sword, and so on. So it typically means I skip a fair amount of stuff.