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.
