Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Anyone else just doesn't want to play the game past Act 2?

Major spoilers obviously


Act 1 is tremendous. Act 2 is more narrow but just as good in my opinion.
But Act 3 I just lose all drive.

The story just becomes more fragmented and wonky and the plot holes really start.
Ally with Orin. Ally with Gortash.
But careful one option cuts out major stories so really you need to ally with gortash... How do I know this? Because I finished the game already and I know the consequences of the first time I had to resort to reloading things because things weren't explained to me clearly. I am warned somebody is an imposter in my camp but no way to find them, I just have to ignore it until I do the trigger with long rests or the sewers. Which again I know with meta knowledge.
The ending is the false dichotomy between Orpheus and Emperor while I get no chance to make them work together or bring the other Mindflayer i painstakingly saved in Act 3.

Romances just stop.
Banters just stop.
And Minthara who seems always buggy or half finished doesn't have enough for me to really explore, especially since her "romance" is limited to Act 3 which is just bare bones not just for her but everyone.
Act 1 is great with all the flirting and intrigue, Act 2 hints at great things and then Act 3 just rushes it and we wait until the squid question... which feels totally hollow.

And its hollow not because the writing puts me in an impossible decision but because the pieces I have moved together refuse to work together. Its like those cheap dramas where the entire conflict arises because two characters don't have a simple conversation. Its just frustrating.

Act 1 and 2 feels like a story, you got a mystery, coming together of heroes, a lead up to the epic events and a boss fight worthy of a final boss. And then we stumble into Act 3 where the bosses (Orin and Gortash) are pale comparisons to the first boss, Emperor tells us if he stops supporting us we would instantly die but in third act he does abandon us (if you refuse him) and we don't die. It just makes no sense. so the sacrifice makes no sense.


Act 3 I think just needs a little overhaul, move somethings around so it would make more sense, so its more comprehensible and clarified.
I don't care if it needs to be a DLC. Honestly, its just the whole thing feels bad and wrong when compared to what came before...

TDLR It feels as though I am fighting against the game with meta knowledge rather than playing the curated path (with many branches) up to End of act 2.
From Act 1 to end of Act 2 everything felt natural, we went from one thing to another naturally. Having foresight was not necessary to not miss things or feel mislead to feeling false urgency, it felt like having read the book of a movie, I know whats coming but it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of it.
Act 3 feels like its somehow broken and only with my spoiler knowledge that I can correctly navigate. Otherwise I lose things or I am lost. It doesn't help that in Act 3 where there is supposed to be tons and tons of character development and conversation that there are less. Or it feels like its less.
I think Act 3 is great but the rush framing and the ending with the Squid question plot holes just brings everything else down. But there are solutions that don't require a complete rewrite either!

I have potential solutions that wouldn't require a complete Act 3 rewrite, just little tweeks and edits here or there.
Below I will put what suggestion and major annoyance I have:

I do have to agree to an extent with this. I find myself doing restarts quite often after doing the Rivington stuff in Act 3 because I prefer the earlier game.

I have thought about this as well. Act 3 has a lot of things that I want to deal with - all the little things, my companions' quests, breaking & entering - and the urgent thing that I should deal with - the main plot. This discrepancy between joyous meandering and dealing with the main plot could be relatively easily solved if you could destroy Gortash's social image before killing him in the same manner as you can destroy the Steel Watch. All the small things you can find about him or the general corruption in the city would lend themselves well to this. Not just stopping the press but taking it over would be cool. Edith: Or taking the opportunity to actually build Wyll up as a politician if you so desire. Poor Boy needs stuff to do anyway.

It doesn't solve the whole Emperor issue but I'll leave that one for others to discuss.

I would love more banter, especially banter that shows how the companions have grown together as friends. I would also love more of the banter to be included if you play an origin because some things get cut in that case. And cute little camp scenes whether romantic or friendly in nature would also be nice, I loved those in Act 1.

Yes, I have no interest in playing Act 3 at all. Its just so bad.

I've stopped a lot of runs in early Act III, but the new epilogue does provide some motivation to keep going and see "alternate" endings.

Yeah, I made an entire post about how dumb your choice when siding with Orpheus or The Emperor is.

For such an open game, having such a hard ultimatum feels extremely railroady. I mean even with the more limited alliances with either Gortash or Orin, there is at least some flexibility there.

Thats what Youtube is for. I rather complete my list of WotR mythics than finishing BG3.

Act 3 can be exhausting.

And if you already know how it goes, it's just... do the things you want to do, suffer through the rest and the final fights, see the epilogue.

Agreed. I'm on my 3rd replay - which does speak well of a game - but the deficits of act three are screaming at me right now.

I obviously ally with Gortash since failing to do so means that the steel watchers will attack.

And then I do the iron throne and foundry because I don't Wyll's dad or die or for Wyll's soul to be dammed. (but he just becomes the Blade of Avernus anyway and his Dad assumes he took the deal - neither of which makes any sense)

And then because I need to either just put Orin's captive out of my mind or rush to the temple and pass a persuasion check if I want to finish the side quests. And the 'meta' of that ruins any immersion.

A few days ago I started playing act 3 in earnest after 500+ hours of playing the game. I’ve been avoiding act 3 because I heard that the endings were really underdeveloped and bad, but now I’m feeling more motivated since they added an epilogue.

And I will say, there are some things that make act 3 harder to grapple with than the other two. It’s a huge sandbox with not much of a sense of direction. You have this massive sense of urgency, but also a bunch of side quests scattered around, and some of the best clothing, equipment, and generally cool stuff that you’ve seen through the whole game. So it seems like it wants you to rush to the end, yet there’s all kinds of things to incentivize you to not do that. So that’s been confusing.

The companion reactivity is also not good, as I’ve heard.
And maybe this sounds dumb, but it also lessens my enjoyment that the leveling stops at 12. Like, I believe in adventuring for adventuring’s sake, sure, but it does feel kind of weird to be getting huge amounts of experience when I already hit level 12 like 30,000 experience ago.

Edit: I also agree that act 3 is wildly underdeveloped in terms of party banter and camp scenes. It needs work.

I have my grievances with act 3, but there is a lot, I like, too. I mean House of Hope is great, Ethel is great, the underwater prison quest I like, Jaheiras quest to get Minsc (and having Jaheira as a companion) - stuff like that.

Don't rush. Florrick's thing is the only one that has a timer, from my own experience.

Absolutely, there are some really great sections in Act 3 the main problem is the framing around Orin/Gortash and Emperor/Orpheus which creates this confused narrative and pacing which then leads us to an ending that feels incredibly nonsensical and railroaded.
I think if this is fixed then it would make all the other things just much better because its not... as rushed and confused as before.

I edited my post but basically my point is that we need a path.

We confront Gortash at the Wrym's crossing. He sets us up against Orin whom kidnaps our romantic interest, Gortash can perhaps take Ketheric's Netherese Crystal in exchange to help us and while he has two crystals maintaining control over the brain (which makes way more sense) we go for Orin.
Like maybe we enter through the sewers rather than the front gate and are motivated to get our loved one back asap. If we are the DU we get even more reveals, we have an extra romance moment with our loved interest when we save them and then we can explore the city.

Gortash will not be at Wrym's cross but the upper city. Maybe a palace area for a big boss confrontation. Since he has both crystals and is in control of the brain (at least we think) it gives us a chance to deal with other people's problems while Gortash has made it clear to us that we can perhaps join him. He can't control all three crystals and needs a partner. Again with DU this has even more added benefit!

I think this makes more sense and is more thematic than just throwing us into the city and telling us we have different things we need to rush or its GG but really its not.


Thats the issue though, its not the story but meta knowledge that is dictating. It totally breaks immersion... its like I am exploiting the game rather than following the story that the Dungeon Master is trying to tell.

I like Act 3, but I agree it is long and unfocused. On one hand we're supposed to be on an urgent mission to kill the Netherbrain, but hey, here's a circus and a haunted house. NOT having that content would make Act 3 (and the game) too short. So it's a catch 22.

But Act 3 is major for Dark Urge runs.

I mostly keep restarting because I want to try a different class or subclass, and leveling them up is part of the experience. I just feel too powerful by Act 3.

Act 2 is by far my favorite.

Much agreed, especially on my second playthrough.

When I first started the game, I thought that the choice to use the tadpoles or not was going to be a big deal. I chose to abstain on my first go because it's what my character would do, and then started a whole second playthrough based on the idea that I was going to gobble every tadpole. I was also vaguely aware of some of the companion ending choices and was looking forward to mixing it up, even if I knew I wasn't going to be here for a fully "evil" run. (e.g. I was basically planning to go "Team Power-hungry" and get ascended Astarion, god Gale, maybe make a different choice regarding Wyll's pact, Shadowheart's parents, etc.)

But then it just felt like some things didn't matter as much as I thought. I could also rant about Orpheus vs Emperor for a while and how weightless and forced it seems. (I spent so long in my first playthrough assuming he was going to try to force me to be a mindflayer, or finally reveal his plans to take over the brain, and that would be the moment my first character finally had to oppose him... But no. He's chill. Almost all of his threats and rants are hollow, and he was never going to double-cross you in the end.) And despite the Emperor's insistence that Orpheus would never work with a mindflayer... that is literally the exact thing Orpheus has to do and he knows it. I feel like a simple conversation could have sorted this out, even if they both spent the finale glaring at each other.

Now, that's not to say I had an entirely bad time with it. On a single playthrough, there were things I loved. Jaheira's quest, for one. I think her Act 3 quest might be one of my favorite storylines in the game, but I may also be a bit nostalgic since I've known her since BG1. I admit to also having a fun time when doing the Open Hand temple murder mystery, although I was rather disappointed when the Duke Stelmane murder was just "Yeah, her name was on a murder cult list. Case closed." I was hoping to uncover something a bit deeper than that when this thread began.

And same feelings about the imposter in camp. I was so ready to quiz my companions and watch for signs of an imposter. I even had some weird questions forming in the back of my mind like "If Orin pretends to be Astarion, will she have a reflection?" and the kind of nonsense that might come up in an actual tabletop game if you were trying to suss out a shapeshifter. I was very disappointed to learn there was no option to be proactive at all.

I feel like Act 2 was also a little bit too narrow. I'd love to see a bit more going on with the town of Reithwin, in particular, where it feels like we have some interesting, quirky miniboss NPCs... and hardly any reason to even cross paths with them. Or perhaps something else going on with the devil characters, Raphael and Mizora, who are in this act but have very little going on. Just, something. Something with a similar feeling to having the githyanki creche that Lae'zel was determined to reach in Act 1, but for a different companion / faction, perhaps.

There are a bunch of little things I'm sure they can clean up that would help smooth out the experience, but I hope it's not too late for them to make some larger changes, too. I personally think Wyll's Act2-3 quests could use a revamp, and while pockets of Act 3 stuff are good, I'd really like to see some sprucing up of basically all the core plots with Gortash, Orin, and the Emperor.

Ye I completely agree with that. I never felt immersion in Act 3 apart from during individual quests (Cazador or Orin as Durge). But at least the meta knowledge lets you do whatever you want without being worried about failing a quest.

Yep, here.

Amidst a flurry of restarts and abandoned playthroughs, I've reached Act 3 twice and lost interest both times. As much as I can engage with the early companion development and various side quests in Act 1 and to a lesser extent Act 2, the writing and plot reveals that open Act 3 just switch me off.

It doesn't help that Act 3 also has a loaded junk drawer of side quests and content that can feel irrelevant or out of place.

About kidnapping the romantic interest: I agree from a story point of view, but from a gameplay point of view it would be such a major annoyance. I am not sure, if I am in the minority hear, the LI is the secondary character, the one who never leaves the group. They are the one who has all the necessary things we need but that would clutter my poor little STR 8 inventory too much. While I tend to build my groups without building up one character as the big hero, the LI and my Avatar work best together because they are simply always there, they also split the perma buffs between them. The emotional and practical turmoil of the Cazador battle is kind of enough for me in this regard, because when Astarion was taken away, it wasn't just the LI, it was also the best friend, partner in crime and battle companion who was gone - and the one I'd usually send over the whole platform to get someone out of a trap.

From a purely game play perspective I am also disappointed that Act 3 doesn't continue the fun item sets from Act 1 and 2 that you can base a whole play style on. I really like those and I think that Act 3 only continues to the +Heat style of them.

I agree with this, I like those side quests but you either rush like mad to complete those or Mizorra shows up so the problem isn't those side quests it that you can only solve them by being indifferent to the fate of either Wyll's Dad or the capture victim.

And I don't really enjoy losing Wyll's soul ( it's also stupid that you can't say "we'll just wait 6 months thanks, bye")

I had a potion of angelic slumber and a spellcrux amulet so my wizard was able to complete everything nearly everything before Mizorra showed up but I was put in a place of either abandoning immersion or feeling rushed.

The last interview suggested that Larian isn't making a definitive edition - but the game needs one.

The first time i did a playthrough with only bard Durge and Astarion, I gave him Durge's cloak and the best daggers, and forgot to take them away before Cazador. That RP moment when you realize that the guy who always saves your ass is now in need of saving himself.

I just abandonned my first run after getting the fake ending in act 2.

Story wise it felt appropiate. I am unsure if I should reload and go to act 3 (tav bard) or restart (durge paladin/cleric of selune)

I 100% agree which is why instead of having Orin be this optional thing we can tackle any time while our companion is kidnapped... if she becomes the primary focus that we need to address before entering the city for real it would alleviate the issue. That way you dont need to decide between leaving your companion kidnapped or doing anything else that seems less important.

No, my LI doesn't get special treatment, they stay in camp,when I don't need them, like everybody else.

I've gotten to act 3 twice in playtbroughs and both times my interest just dropped and I could not finish the game. I think act 2 is the best act from a story standpoint, because we actually have a clear narrative line to follow. Act 1 is unfocused and the plot of the game and the encouragement to explore are at odds in a qay I find unsatisfying. I think act 2 is when the story of the game is the strongest, its the point where we actually know what the plot is.

I always feel like it’s a rush against time when I’m in act 3. It honestly ends up becoming a chore list that I don’t intend on finishing. I only got through it once and I still missed a lot of content, because there’s no structure or flow to it like the other acts do.
Also I agree with the companions banter and camp scenes just abruptly stopping once we reach the city. Feels like all the bonding between the companions never happened, like we spent all this time together and we have nothing to show for it. Overall, it feels really empty and unfinished, which it is.

It’s also the act where the story really falls flat and has a ton of inconsistencies, contradictions, and lack of companions interactions. It has a lot of dead end quests too and there’s way too many things going on at once. If they wanted to emulate what a real city looks and feels like, they did a good job on that lol.

The bit about romances effectively stopping quite early in Act 3 I find quite jarring, your companions (espec your romantic interests) may as well be hirelings.

Personally I'd have had killing Gortash & Orin as triggers for a romance scene afterwards (they don't have to be sexual ofc) - also there should be one before you go into the final fight where you all know there's a high chance of getting killed.

PS I' would have broken Act 3 into 3 seperate parts.

Unfortunately, I agree that a lot of the game falls apart after Act II.

For me, the adventure and city don't carry the mood forward properly.

--there's a lot going on in the city, but it doesn't come to life because it feels like it has more of the modern writers' sensibilities than anything true to the setting.

--the meeting with Gortash happens too fast. It should be something that's worked toward and that happens in the Upper City after much of the other content has been explored. (Also, Gortash kinda sucks as a major villain. He needs to be touched up, just my opinion.) This would then become the last stop before confronting the elder brain.

--Rivington doesn't project the proper flavor. You don't get the proper sense of it. The squalor, the anger, the resentment, the ticking nature of it all, like the whole place is about to explode. None of that comes across. It tries to at times, but fails. There's a picnic, a happy gnome washing his pits, a squatter who's the "good guy" while the "bad guy" owns the house. It just falls down on itself, the whole area.

--additionally in Rivington, the murder investigation should be *FELT* everywhere. It should be such a huge part of the flavor there. People should be scared, worried, like when a notorious serial killer is on the loose in an urban environment. Getting through the murder investigation should be the best way to get through to the Lower City. As it stands, there are so many ways into the Lower City that it all jumbles together.

--overall, there needs to be a stronger thread dragging you through Act III, and more flavor flavor flavor, making the Act come alive like what we have in Acts I & II.

I sort of agree. I think you do need several ways to get into the Lower City because not everyone might be into playing detective, or feel the spark of justice to investigate toys. It's just that all ways in feel very much the same. Is there a way to get yourself smuggled in through your new Guild friends? If there is, I haven't found it yet. A lot of potential for fun ways to get past a choke point is lost by having that choke point also be a narrative choke point because they really want you to witness that Coronation.

At least let me sell or give away my superfluous entry passes ...

At the end of Act 2; it's all about 'We must go to the city. If we hurry, we can be there before the army arrives!"

Army doesn't arrive if you spend six weeks vacationing in the city. For me, they could leave it as is - if there was a segment where we intercept the army, and it gives us a reason why we can breathe and find Astarion's fangs instead.

There should be a *major* engagement with the allies you found so far - Druids, Svirneblin, Myconids, Totally-not-Githzerai, Tieflings and Harpers to rout the Absolute's Army on the march. Hells, even Gortash and his Steel Watch, it would make total sense, as he would he heralded a hero - and might paint him in a different light as for your alliance as well.

Honestly, I could buy the fact that a small group of adventurers could outrun a large army on the march and may have a bit of a "calm before the storm" time to try to prepare.

But how in the hells did the giant brain make it to the city, and somehow manage to hide itself underground, all before we got there and without anyone noticing?

Regarding some kind of "major engagement," if one were added, I think it would make sense for it to be that the heroes + allies destroy some sort of bridge or mountain pass, forcing the Absolute's army to take a longer route while the heroes rush ahead.

This wasn't really a major issue for me, but it was just a little bit hard to figure out what the timeline was.

You should go back to the Act 2 meeting of the 3 chosen. They use the netherstones to teleport the brain from its lair under Moonrise towers to the area of the morphic pool behind Bhaal's temple under Baldur's gate city.
Then when you fail to control it with the netherstones and retreat to the astral prism, it rises out of the underground and begins the grand design, calling on the absolutist army , transforming injected to mindflayers and opening the ways for the nautiloids

The story may not be 100% satisfactory (understatement), but you witness the transport of the brain from Moonrise to Baldur's gate when the you see the 3 for the first time and they call upon their stones in Act 2's endgame.

Really? I must have horribly misinterpreted that scene then. I recall the brain appearing outside Moonrise Towers, flying above its army and talking about marching on Baldur's Gate, giving me the impression that it would be flying above its own army the entire way / "marching" with them. I was very confused when it was somehow already in the city before its army. You are right that teleportation was involved, though, so I guess they just teleported it all the way there after first teleporting it out into the open?

I really like the idea of intercepting the army on the march, or a bridge too far type thing where the gnomish runepowder is used to blow up a key bridge crossing. That's a great idea! Maybe Gortash and Orin were just planning to betray Ketheric's forces anyway, and along one path we get to participate there or witness that unfold. This could give the player a preview on some of the enemies they're going to encounter vs enemies they've just been fighting, to so see how the Act III bads stack up. You know so like the first time you see a robocop he's laying into some zombies or whatever and comes off more menacing.

This would be a nice setpiece to include another Wilderness area attached to the Rivington area, which is pretty hustle and bustle complete with a circus and everything. If there was a lonely cabin by the woods, then the player could have an nice interlude area that doubles as a base, similar to the vibe we get in Wyrms crossing, but expanded to an entire zone for exploration.

That would be a cool opportunity to just have a lot of animals, like beasts of every land and clime. Maybe to pick up on the druid stuff and some of the themes laid out in the first Act but which don't really have much follow through in the third, except for that one dragonborn dude and the little tree I guess. But I fully expected that in Act III there might be a Druidic Moot, or some kind of serious something to get Silvanus involved again, since that was all the opener. There are many spells like charm animal and dominate beast that don't get used very often. Mostly cause the stuff we face is already hostile. Talking the city animals is fun, but I just remember in BG1 and BG2 when there was a reason to go back out into the Wild right before the climax. Instead of funneling us from Rivington direct to the Coronation, it could instead push us back down towards the river and the woods so there's a bit of a break between Rivington and the City proper.

I think following up on the murders and the dribbles stuff works if you're playing a chatty sort of character who wants to double as a investigator, but for other character types it felt a bit out of character. The Orin stuff was much more direct, so I feel like she should take the spotlight at this point. Not like we need to defeat her first, but where she's the second main bad. When playing as Durge I think it's more fitting to do Gortash first, then Orin before the Brain, because of all the Bhaal stuff in that origin. Whereas for Tav I feel like the reverse would make more sense, and give a better pacing maybe.

Either way preparing for a large battle or ambush and trying to put the pieces together on that before doing the big act III things, would give the player a chance to get their bearings again after spending so much time in the shadowlands, or brief visits across the veil or into the astral, with interludes set at night. I went down by the river first when I got to Act III, and expected to find more room to roam on the outskirts. I think this might be another place where they could try to recapture the vibe of BG1, but make it more elective. Like where the party could choose to stay out of doors and do some druidy ranger-y barbarian-y type quests, or charge headlong into the urban maelstrom with a million things competing for our attention. Even just having a place to blow back to between doing the various missions in the city might be nice. I get a little tired of the Elfsong Tavern. The Rivington camp is nice to return to. A stronghold type quest either within the City or outside it would also be cool. It's fun to see Rolan in charge of the the Wizards Tower, so I wouldn't want to steal his thunder, but just seems like a taking over a spot and having it function as a camplike waypoint hub but more in world. A camp where all the inactive party members are somehow being tasked with the defense of the city's perimeter or advanced scouting along the borderlands, things like that. Perhaps one team is based inside the city, one outside, and the challenge might be to resupply or maintain contact and order between the groups. Sometimes one group might have to deal with something on their own, so there's a reason to have all the camp followers kitted out. Maybe Scratch caries the notes back and forth? Stuff like that could be fun I think, and might help with the Act III overwhelm or sense of burn out.

I feel, act 3 is like i feared the devs would do it....

They added new stuff and didn't give a F** about the bigs and issues that were in before. After patch 4, half of act 3 was bugged for me. Now party banters stop and romances stop, after the story is finished. I mean, come on, at least if you romance a companion, they should have a bit more to say.

Major Act 3 spoilers

Yes as Mindflayer nautiloids and Githyanki commonly travel large distances by "portal" I assumed this was the way they transported the brain from Moonrise to Baldur's Gate also.

Isn't the point of the army also that it is not supposed to attack the city proper. It is supposed to cause havoc in the surrounding area so the city gets swarmed by terrified refugees and Gortash is granted more power to deal with the supposed thread - that's what most conversations with Gortash point to - overheard or otherwise. Intercepting it makes little sense. .... but dealing with the aftermath of that army once the Elderbrain has caused all of them to transform should be a fun clean-up process for the months to come. *coughs*

Act 3 has been a struggle for me. I didn't realize how little party interaction there was until folks started mentioning it on here... I knew something was off but couldn't put my finger on it other than the sheer amount of stuff I need to do, not feeling very natural... like, right now I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go next, and that's a constant in this act. I think they've done an incredible job with this game but may have lost steam (or time) to really polish act 3? I just have this urge to restart so bad the enitre time I'm in Act 3 and I didn't feel that way in Act 2 even though the constant darkness was started to get to me.

Act 3 is rushed Larian definitely lost it there it doesnt feel like act 1 and 2. At first is not that bad but the moment you meet with Gortash everthing goes bad and then Orin comes out everything starts to happen too fast it feels really rushed like they ran out of ideas or had no time I dont know but im sure of one thing act 1 and 2 are way better than act 3. Hopefully they will do something about it especially now when the game won goty I really hope they do. The game is awesome but it needs polishing.

That's my view. The guard at the gate leading to the camp says they were already victorious although some are still out there.

Folks who have played through Act 3 multiple times, does it get better the more you play it? Like, do you have a better sense of what you need to do when, and you don’t feel so rudderless? Who are the best companions for reactivity in Act 3? I normally keep Shadowheart, Lae’zel, and one other person who changes, but maybe that’s not the most interesting?

Basically, I’m looking for insights from experts to make Act 3 more enjoyable than I found it at first, or reassurance that it gets better the more you play it.

I've found that it gets... easier to bulldoze my way through. I know where everything is, I know which quests need to be done before which other quests, and I know which quests are "important" (by my standards) and which can be ignored.

I have a standard party of Gale + Astarion + Halsin + (via mod) whoever else might be relevant to whatever I'm doing. It's nice to have Jaheira and Minsc around, they've got a lot to say.

Thanks! Good to know that Jaheira is more reactive. Maybe I need to learn how to play a Druid… or respec her. But. I guess what I’m looking for above all is, does it get more fun? “Fun” is the key.

Eh. The fun parts for me are the companion stuff and a few sidequests. Everything else is just something to get through in order to reach the epilogue. So in a way it gets more fun, since I can spend less time on the unfun stuff, but half of it is still a drag no matter what, because I just don't care about the Orin/Gortash/Emperor/Netherbrain shenanigans.

Act 3 size is like the total of act 1 + act 2. It can definitely exhaust you on the first run. However if you really care about your companions, then you definitely should finish it, or up to the final fight. Because besides Shadowheart, all other companion quest conclude in act 3. IMHO, Asterion and Karlach quest closing are really epic! Wyll's only a little better than Gale and Lae'zel.

On 2nd and later play through, it get easier as you know what can be skipped, what and where to get gear you want. And properly know quest sequence to get the outcome for your companions. Completing the main quest line in act 3 is more than enough to level 12, so experience is not a concern at all.

For the final fight, if you are not into D&D fighting, just barrel the last two fight. We have access to cloud giant strength potion starting act 1, carrying 2 pack is not an issue.

Shadowheart’s companion quest concludes in Act 3 also, right? Thanks for the input that some of the companion quests are good… I am going to play through all of those to see what I think. I have actually played Shadowheart’s quest in Act 3 and

The lack of reactivity at companion quest endings is also a pet peeve of mine. It's not just Shadowheart's. I'm going to just stand here with my arms crossed
Regarding playing Act 3 multiple times: Do everything the first time? Absolutely. After that there are certainly things that are just skippable. You know the lore, you know what actually drops loot you need/want. There are certainly discoverable surprises in Act 3 that are out of the way, but Act 3 is just so enormous it's hard to have the energy to comb through every house, mailbox and random book to find them.

Act 1 felt magical to me, you had a lot of interesting things to discover, leads to follow, fun camp interactions, you were finding yourself in this new world, etc.

In act 2 the plot started to thicken and we were beginning to understand what we were standing up against. It was much shorter but more concise, the relationships with the characters were deepening, new characters were making an appearance, we met the villains for the first time, and so on.

Then act 3 is when the game lost its steam. You have this big city to explore, but then in the back of your mind you know you need to hurry, so you have to willingly ignore the main quest to immerse yourself in the game world. There's quite a lot of stuff to do, yet it all feels like it's underdeveloped and cut short. Cazador's palace is placed in a ridiculous location, the temple of Umberlee feels like it needed more content, you cannot decide what to do with Shar's temple if you kill everyone in there, Gortash has not enough content and the alliance with him has no substance and is disappointing, the relationships don't have any new content once you finish the companions' quests, there's no camp event before going to the point of no return where you can enjoy last bonding moments, the companions are chiling at camp instead of greeting you in the High Hall, you don't get to say final goodbyes in case things go wrong, there's no cutscene of everyone celebrating in the tavern and of course the obnoxious Astral Prism railroad... A lot of things just seem empty, unfocused, unfinished. I just didn't feel satisfied with it. Funnily enough to me Raphael fight was much more climactic and he felt more like the final boss rather than the actual one. When that music started playing it gave me chills and made me wonder if maybe I had bitten more than I could chew. I had no such uncertainty in the final battle, it was all easy and even fun with a MF helping you out. Zero doubts that I might not succeed.

It was also in act 3 when I started feeling like starting a new playthrough because I felt like I was playing an early access game. I really hope they rework it, and give us the cut content.

Someone should make a compilation of Tav/Durge just standing there with their arms crossed while someone is dying or crying right in front of them, with the last scene being our companions doing exactly the same as Bhaal does his thing with Durge.

LOL! That would be awesome! Somebody should make that. Because that’s exactly how it is with Durge.

They're just letting you know how they felt lol.

Though with Astarion it's fine, it's his moment, he needs space, we shouldn't interfere. But there are missed opportunities to be a little more caring later. With SH there's no excuse at all in her scene.

Funny thing is, there are some reactive moments. For example, if you choose to at the end, your companions all look horrified. Same for a certain "romantic" moment in the Astral Prism.

The correct word to describe Act III would be rushed.
Act III just screams at you that it was done as fast as possible to release the game. Some I had with the ending were resolved with the added epilogue, but a lot of them still persist. When I played the game for the first time, I genuinely expected some twist with Omeluum. He seemed so suspicious to me, especially after knowing the whole lore behind the Emperor, but in the end he didn't even make an appearance.
I do hope that eventually there will be a Director's Cut of Baldur's Gate 3, which will have a reworked Act III.

Yeah...
I absolutely LOVED this game but the 3rd act was seriously hobbled and gimped.
The final battle was an absolute dumpster fire(at least for a multiplayer party).
It is REALLY obvious how super rushed Act 3 is. I hate to say it but it really throws a pall over the entire rest of the game it's so badly done as it is now. I REALLY hope there is a big patch addressing some of these things.

I agree, Act 3 is nowhere near as good quality as acts 1 and 2. I see it more, the more I continue to play through it. Is it true that folks from Larian said in a recent interview that there won’t be a definitive edition? I feel like I heard that somewhere, but maybe I’m wrong. In any event, I’m desperately hoping for some patches polishing act 3, even if they don’t do a definitive edition like DOS2.

Yes, for me it was much easier after the first complete playthough because I knew which battles were easy and which were difficult. The first playthrough felt overwhelming because there were too many things all vying for your attention. I didn't know where to go or what quests to do first. The later playthroughs, I go from easy battles to hard battles, saving Gortash and Orin for last.

I normally keep Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale in my party. If I switch someone out, I switch out Shadowheart for Wyll.

I know you mentioned you wanted to give Shadowheart a hug. Motivating factor: in the epilogue, you finally get to hug everyone! I hugged Astarion, Gale, Shadowheart, Karlach, and Halsin. The others didn't give me the option to hug them, or I would have

I've reached Act 3 for the 3rd time now and I think I'm able to articulate how I feel about it. Having done it already I know the sheer amount of content involved but at the same time I still have that feeling of urgency pushing me to the final battle. Meanwhile all the decisions and companion quests pending are overwhelming. It's like "alright it's time we do X, kill Y, retrieve Z, go solve this thing and on top of that we're having a huge ass battle''

The one thing motivating me was getting to know Minthara because I recruited her with the new method and I really liked her. But I've lost my motivation with her broken romance. I'd like to get to experience the ending and epilogue with her but I don't know if it's worth doing it now or waiting until she's eventually functional. I already had the bug with the skipped scene at the end of Act 2 and it was a downer.
I think I would prefer if it was spread into 2 different Acts or 1 interlude and a final Act and the content was more organized and easier to follow. Every time I get to Lower City and see the 546 quest markers it feels like trying to clean a really messy house and not knowing where to start. Also, and this is more subjective, from a roleplaying perspective I feel alone in Act 3. Everyone is focused on their own thing or not responsive at all after dealing with their own quests. I just wish I could sit and talk to somebody about what's happening and get some kind of comfort or friendly word. But I just get the Emperor trying to manipulate me instead.

I think I'll take a break and wait until there's news about a dlc, definitive edition or patch that shakes things up a little.

I felt that very same thing in act 3. I know that the paradox of urgent main quest and and lots of side quests is a common thing in these types of games, but I truly think that the sheer VOLUME of stuff in the city brings that problem to a new level in act 3. It honestly feels like the game should have finished in act 2, and act 3 could have been its own game, with the amount of STUFF it brings in and has us deal with. A whole bunch of new plotlines, stuff not related to the main story, stuff that IS related, there's just so much that it's easy to just become numb to it all.

You can rush through act 3. Just do the quests you find "fun" and leave the rest. You need to do the Orin path and go through all the Bhaal fights to reach her, these can't be skipped, but most others are optional, imo.

Ooh this is actually good advice, at least now I know I can try this to know what happens with Minthara and if I feel like it I can reload from the beginning and do the other stuff. Thanks for the tip!

I haven't even played past Act 1 and have no motivation at all at the moment...

They would never do such a thing as complete rewrite, I highly doubt they would even do a little overhaul for the endgame story. We all saw the awards bg3 is considered as the best rpg with amazing story and writing which to my understanding means the game is finished there is nothing else to be added for the story plus have you guys seen bg3 in reddit? most of the ppl there actually think act3 is good and and should not be chnaged of course there are little groups who would agree that act3 is bad but then again who cares for little toxic groups of ppl who only hate the game because they can't enjoy it? Bg3 it is not meant for the ppl who have played bg1&2 and care for epic story and writhing no it is for ppl who have no clue of what DnD is, for people who have never played bg before and of course for people who just want to have sex with their companions lmao, you know? sex scenes, jiggle physics for d**ks and balls stuff like that. Face it the masses wan't just that and Larian did just that, they delivered the product their fanbase would appreciate. People like me who wish for a good story and epic ending are just a small part of that fanbase so I highly doubt that in Larian's top to do list somewhere is even mentioned act 3 endgame stoy. In my opinion they will focus on more romances, more sex scenes, kisses minthara is in serious need at the moment hopefully they will fix her soon, shield bash doesn't work since when? bugs and glitches, lots of scenes does not trigger at all just more patches over patches over patches and etc.

With that being said I think Larian did good (not perfect) with the title considering what we are used to get from gaming companies nowadays, most disappointing for me was seeing how low Larian have placed my favorite characters Sarevok and Viconia but still Baldurs's gate 3 deserves it's place as a goty in my opinion and will be remembered it is a good game worth to be played.

True, Larian's goal was to attract as many casual and new players as possible and they succeeded. And sex sells what can I say.

P.S. Viconia should be removed from game entirely and replaced by other NPC.

-------
As for act 3:

Contrast between act 2 an 3 is just too much. Cursed lands, grim atmosphere, epic battle with great villain and then straight to the circus with silly dialogues and some pointless investigation! This reminded me dos 1 when Larian didn't take it's writing quite seriously, to the point that it was annoying.

I'm not a big fan of city hubs in RPGs but Baldur's gate was really overwhelming for me. I always try to do one thing at a time, but I'm still struggling.

Oh, in act 3 almost forgot that I was playing as a drow. Apparently no one cares that drow or githyanki are roaming in the city without any disguise.
Racial interactions are gone, party banter is non existent. After completing companion quests everything feels hollow.

It is what it is. I doubt Larian will ever do major changes in act 3.

Still, I think this game is one of best RPGs ever made and GOTY is well deserved.

The problem is i want to play it. I have no problem with the story and writing, exept of the way they depict Mytsra. But is ranted about that in other platforms already.

My point is: I didn't even get to see the patch 5 epilogue yet. Because of the ongoing bugs, my games break and i have to start again. I mostly get till the start of act 2, then another patch or hotfix comes and break the game again, breaks also my save games. I miss the time of patch 3 when i was able to play till the end at least.

Then again there is new bigs also in act 3 that came with Hotfix 16. Yes, i reported them all. But this isn't wirking. I sincerely hope the bugs will be fixed and the game gets playable till the end again.

The awards are deserved when they make the game work, sorry.

I'll agree there are some issues with act 3 having noticeably less reactivity to stuff like your character's class and race than previous acts, as well as it being kind of huge and easy to get lost in, but I think people do overstate how bad it is in a lot of ways. There's also the practical matter of how much reactivity you actually want before it gets annoying- it seems likely a lot of Flaming Fist would be quite suspicious of drow in the city, for instance, but having them harass you every 10 minutes would get old fast. It'd still be nice to have some extra options in dialog here and there, though.
But I genuinely don't get the complaint that sidequests seem strange given the urgency of the situation- not because it isn't true, but because it's true of the entire game, not just Act 3. it's just the nature of games with sidequests and somewhat non-linear stories.
E.g. Stopping to help the refugees in the druid grove when you have a mind flayer tadpole in your head that, as far as you know, could transform you any day now, doesn't make any more or less sense than any of the sidequests in act 3 with its equally urgent problems. It's just the nature of RPG storytelling and sidequests.

The problem exists in all of BG3, but act 3 is especially bad as the stakes have been raised while the side quests become even more menial and disconnected from the main plot.

In act 2 side quests were either directly rescuing people, related to Daniel or finding out information about Ketheric, like the encounter with his family.

In act 3 you chase pidgeons and piece together a clown corpse for a circus.

I don’t really care about minor reactivity like what a flaming fist will say to you. More what I’m looking for is character reactions to very major plot developments. Which in some cases are egregiously missing. Major act three spoilers:

Minor act three spoilers

So regarding your point about urgency, I think the difference when it comes to act 3 is that it's getting to the end of the story. It's where we have all the information and things should, structurally, feel like they're coming to a head. Instead it's the part of the game where everything is the most disconnected. Also, unlike in act 1 we have a very clear understanding of how to achieve our goal from pretty early on. We know thatwe have to kill Orin and Gortash and take their stones. Those are simple goals that feel straight forward to achieve compared to the vague "find a healer who can remove the tadpoles" goal of act 1. So I think act 3 is worse due to scale and position in the narrative.

Don't they flat out state that this is the plan from the beginning?

Larian could implement racial interactions in act 3 not annoying ways if they wanted. Go through charisma checks, get pass from fists offering them money or something.

"Play at your own risk" was really good approach in DOS 2. You could choose to play undead race, but NPCs would kill you on sight if you approached them undisguised

They do, yes. I mean, that is a necromancer right there, so makes sense.

I feel like whole Durge interactions in underdeveloped, not only in final act but from the beginning. Especially if you choose not to resist urges. Only npcs who react accordingly to durge's plot are Astarion and Jaheira.

Ahh zombie Dribbles! I’ll have to do that quest then just to see the lovely end result. We get to see zombie Dribbles in all his gory glory I hope?


I think that the evil path is just wildly underdeveloped as a whole, because almost nobody plays through that. For the good/resisting Durge, I personally felt like it was really well-developed in acts one and two. It’s the ending that grinds my gears. Just not enough content there. But, I believe you when you say that the evil Durge storyline is underdeveloped throughout.

I really like act 3 I don't understand the hate for it. I like all of the quests so far and Minsc is a highlight of the game.

I feel that is a general Origin problem. For example I have played both as Astarion and Gale Origin. Karlach's post Gortash rant has not in any way been adapted to either of them. You get the same helpless Tav player dialogue choices (while I am sure they'd have something more insightful to contribute) and she is trying to give survivor's guilt to the the guy who is still very much in danger of exploding himself, or the one who may or may not have just freed himself of his master (depending on when you tackle Cazador).

Well I tried to play as Astarion once. I stopped before act2. It was so disappointing, he had all same responses as TAV. Larian really could add more tagged dialogue options that would fit origin's personalities.
I loved when In DOS2 most cocky answers were tagged as "red prince"

That would be a dream. I feel like a lot of the (Wizard) options were written with Gale in mind and it's hilarious, that they rarely make the situation any better. But what I would more generally like from the Origins is that the environment reacts to the important points of their plot. In Gale's case they did a good job in incorporating his moral dilemma, while the narration tells you what Mystra might want, Astarion presents other options to you. On the other hand they constantly forget Gale's orb. In Astarion's case it is insanely easy to skip his original content and the narration rarely gives you any food for thought either, which is also very unsatisfying.

The results of not commiting to either fleshing the origin system out so that it's actually impactful or making the custom characters actually in any way customizable so that they don't feel like a blank slate with no unique interactions with the world are speaking for themselves...

Not to sound melodramatic, but this is a real concern for me. When I 'buy in' to an RPG, I want to be in world as my character -- not someone else's. As you say, truly custom characters do seem to be lacking when compared to the origin characters. And from what I've read on these forums, some plot lines and NPCs don't truly light up until you play as an origin - Durge, in particular - and that feels like a real problem to me.

(Oh, and I still haven't finished Act 3. Probably never will at this rate.)

I just play Durge. Can’t play Tav anymore due to loss of content. Like you said, it feels empty. I suppose the player needs to think of a backstory and interject that for themselves. A valid way to play. But I definitely enjoy Durge more. Good Durge’s ending, for me, was super underwhelming though, which doesn’t make me feel excited to play through it again. I would say that it’s the most underwhelming thing about act 3, to me.

The story-wise essential difference between Act 1-2 and Act 3 is that the story is very linear from Act 1 to 2.

The story in Act 1-2 is essentially like this: you have a logical goal (survive the tadpole infection, understand as "get rid of that thing in my head"). You soon find out the goal is bound to a location called the Baldur's Gate. While there are more than several bridges you may cross, you know where is your destination. Your only decisions to make is which bridges to cross to get to there.

The story in Act 3 is significantly different: You only have a logical goal, but you don't know where to go. Surely, you still have the same logical goal, but the goal is now no longer bound to any specific destination that you know for sure. You feel lost at which bridge or bridges to cross, while there is always a force to push to move forward to cross your next bridge.

From Act 1 to 2, the game holds your hand and meticulously guides you in getting you set on the "right" path to the Baldur's Gate.

Once you have reached Act 3, especially the Lower City, the game won't hold your hand any more. You have to discover your own destiny. Even your goal is only literally the same - its actual meaning has shifted, especially after you have discovered you do NOT have to rid yourself of this infection - it's now understood as "do I have to get rid of that thing in my head or use it for my own benefit?").

Act 3 may have a lot of bugs (loose ends are hard to close after every major change). But it is not nearly as bad as it is occasionally phrased by certain posts online. Without the non-linear nature of Act 3 or the end-game, how may we get up to reportedly 17,000 different endings?




In short:

I like the linear nature of Act 1-2, both in term of story and in terms of adventure.
I like the non-linear nature of Act 3, which means I just have to make own choices then.

I think the "complaints" here are essentially due to some players preferring a more linear story and/or a more guided gameplay.

You still believe the 17000 endings nonsense?

Act 3 is just bad. The non-linearity is implemented in a very bad way and does not fit the narrative at all as now with the threat exposed and the clock (seemingly but not really) ticking is exactly not the time to start with completely unrelated side quests to chase pidgeons.

And in fact, some parts of the railroad get worse in act 3 (Emperor, Orpheus, ...) because of the constant rewrites Larian did and each time made the story more nonsensical and worse.

The complains are because players prefer quality which act 3 does not have.

You have the "gather your allies" quest. Only it is not clear what this means until you have completed a game once. Then you realize how the side quests help to get a group of allies to help you in the endgame.
There could be some more hints to the purpose of this quest. Or maybe they are there and I just missed them.

I'd just like to make 2 points:

1) All complaints can be said to be "because players prefer quality..." Even bug reports are. Even those who hate/leave certain games are. So, a statement so generic and universal does not mean much.

In this specific case, the overall complaint is really about the "you do as you are instructed" type of linearity vs. the "no one holds your hand and you feel lost" type of non-linearity.

2) "Up to reported 17,000 endings" is a fact. Not necessarily my belief or personal opinion.

Of course I agree a lot of things can still be improved. I have been running into such things almost all the time. I just don't think Act 3 is as bad as some have made it appear to be.

I agree. I haven't completed Act 3 yet, but :

After Act 1 & 2, my first impression was that Act 3 is a bit overwhelming and confusing.

But having spent quite a bit of time there now, I kind of appreciate that it is not so linear (I mean I really dont want this game to end forever).
So for me Act 3 has become an endeavor to put the finishing touches on all party members in terms of gear you can find to bolster their abilities, before I go taking on any final end game scenes.

Act 3 once you start doing that, I think extends the life of the game. So much to do and find. Still want more though, as I feel I am close to the end and do not want that to happen . No doubt I will be starting a new play through when it does happen.

Here's hoping for some large DLCs when Larian have put the finishing polish on the main game, and higher levels for characters than 12.

I do feel though that there are a lot of ways to screw the pooch in Act 3, take a wrong decision and thats a few people you could befriend thrown out of the window. For example I went straight past the Gortash Audience chamber, and decided I wanted to see more first before I go meeting a potential end game boss and his manipulations .. I then met some people who gave me a bomb for the steelworks, and decided yeah blowing that all up would be a good idea and limit Gortash influence around the place, well quite a few side quests I could have taken then got wiped off my journal as completed / dead. Sigh. FOMO looms large in Act 3.

I agree with you but I think the problem with Gortash, Orin and the Emperor/Orpheus is something that poisons the non-linear aspect of act 3.
Because they TELL you to take care of something or deny its possibility but you know for a fact thats its not true. So you have to ignore them and what the game story is telling you until you get around to it.


Its odd that Gortash is revealing all his evil plans in a room full of people right before his coronation.
He should explain his plans while you are in a private setting and then take you to the coronation and THEN relocate himself to a proper throne room where he and his minions can face you as a final boss instead of a small office.

We should be able to find out who the imposter is immediately or at least have a chance to. Its odd that the rescue mission could be put off for several long rests, There should be a time limit or a linear way of dealing with the situation of the captive until we confront Orin properly.

You can't just put urgency in the story and then not respect it. Either it is urgent or it isn't!
As for Emperor and Orpheus, its very rail roaded, we are lied to that Orpheus would kill us or without the emperor for even a second we would die.

If that were true the moment we tell Emperor that we intend to free Orpheus, he should have turned us into mindflayers and joined the absolute... rather than let us live long enough for Orpheus to be freed.

Something is not working with these three, we need an editor to correct some of the events and contexts so that we may explore the city in peace at our own time rather than meta knowledge our way into ignoring things until we are ready.

There may or may not be pacing issues with quests in Act 3. I quite like the things I can do in Act 3 but it is still a disappointing and depressing act in my experience.

Act 3 is disappointing and depressing because your companions are for the most part, especially compared to the masterpiece that is act 1, unresponsive to some heavy personal events that happen. You get one line or one scene in reaction to things.

Act 1 is full of you and your companions bonding over not turning into mindflayers, yet. In Act 3 everyone just seems cold, with nothing or very little to say to major personal events.

Act 3 is not a bad act, but it feels unfinished. If Act 1 wasn't so good, maybe the unfinished aspect could be hidden. I just hope more patches are released that flesh out Act 3, because it desperately needs it. At this point, Act 3 is just depressing and lonely.

All of the former criticisms I’ve made here are still valid, in my mind. Lack of companion reactivity, lack of camp scenes in Act 3, and lackluster endings to Durge and companion quests are all massive issues.

However, I will say that I am enjoying Act 3 a little bit more now that I’m playing it more slowly and exploring the finer details. The unfortunate thing is, everyone is practically screaming at you to hurry up and get to the main quest. So that you can’t relax and enjoy exploring. It’s a false sense of urgency. The same false sense of urgency that takes the lead in act 1.

I started enjoying act 1 a lot more, too, when I started playing it more slowly. The false sense of urgency and hurry doesn’t feel fun, especially when it runs counter to the fact that going more slowly turns up so much more detail in Act 1 in particular. They make it so counterintuitive to slow down, but that’s the way to fully enjoy the game.

Hello there. I'm out of my deep cave, once in a decade... I finished my first run yesterday, and I found myself pretty annoyed/downed in the end. As I roamed here, I found some articulate feedback that touched on what I also feel. But what stung the most was the last "choice", given how I approached the playthrough.

You not alone in this

The story just kinda falls apart in Act 3 because the main antagonist (Elder Brain) is completely missing, you already killed the only antagonist with character depth, gravitas and motivation (Ketheric) and since it's heavily focused on non-linear side content, almost everything you do effectively undermines the urgency of the story in a way that just doesn't make any sense. On top of that, the characters that do play a bigger role are either boring and poorly characterised (Gortash, Orin) or, to put it mildly, very hit or miss (the Emperor).

The ultimate resolution of the plot is also just bad. I knew that we couldn't expect Larian to deliver a story that could live up to RPGs like Dragon Age Origins but it was still disappointing to see that for all of their different "branches" and lovingly crafted companion stories, the game just utterly fails to culminate in anything that is even greater remotely than the sum of its parts (if anything, the inverse is true).

I agree, not a fan of the elder brain as the antagonist. It's just not an interesting character in the same way ketheric is, or even compared to orin and gortash. At least they have motivations and some character complexity. The brain is just one dimensional evil.

The finale combat sequence of act 2 was also more epic than the finale of act 3, which was a real letdown.

act 3 has lots of interesting quests individually so here's to hoping there will be a better arc to bring it all together.

Love the game nonetheless!

From what little I understand, (I may be wrong) elder brains can have personalities and that wouldn't break the lore. I don't think the problem is that the brain is the main antagonist, the problem is that, for all intents and purposes, it's not actually the main antagonist. It's more akin to a natural disaster, something faceless and mindless, a force of nature that has to be stopped and resisted, but that lacks a will of its own. It's a ticking clock rather than an antagonist we can relate to as a character. That role falls on Orin and Gortash, who are treated as secondary antagonists, lieutenants, barriers keeping us from dealing with the main threat. As a result, we the player end up lacking an antagonist we can really invest in for the length of act 3.

I think this issue becomes clearest if you look at the Dark Urge, the character who's most directly tied to the plot of the game. There, the netherbrain isn't really the antagonist either. Thematically, Orin probably fills that role.

Just because I am currently in Act 3 again: I don't mind neither Orin, Gortash nor the Brain, and I quite like many of the quests but it all feels a little disconnected. I wrote it before - probably in this thread - it would be so nice if you could take all the juicy blackmail material which is hidden across town and use it to discredit Gortash before finally taking him down. You could even use it to simultaneously build up Wyll as a politician or to lay the foundations for either Dark Shadowheart or Ascended Astarion's future ambitions in Baldur's Gate. And wouldn't that be sweet.

On a gameplay level I am also missing situations to fight. Act3 is when you have or gather most of the cool equip, all of your companions and abilities. It's when you can mess around most and it becomes such a hard choice whom to take along - well apart from the spare druid on the bench - because most of the fights are rather specific. Something like the goblin camp would be neat.

Agreed. Surviving the goblin camp was a really fun experience just because of the sheer odds (especially if you get Halsin and the war drum gets activated), really an epic battle that tests your endurance. Not much else like it.

That's what i was getting at, i think. Imo, it is fine to treat the brain as a time bomb, provided there was stronger antagonist character (a stronger gortash, or orin, or whatever). They are more relatable and more interesting than a giant talking brain.

The impact of the act 3 antagonists (Gorthas/Orin) gets epitomized perfectly if you side with Gortash and he just randomly dies to a stroke when you face the Absolute.

They could have turned the Emperor into a fully fledged antagonist trying to usurp the Brain after you've done all the work for him and it would have been more interesting because then you'd at least have an actual villain with plans and motivations who was developed over the course of the the entire game. Instead we get this half-assed "you force my hand I join the brain" plot point that turns him into another NPC you one-shot on the first turn of the fight.

As it stands, you're not even fighting the Brain, just some mindflayers and a random mind-controlled dragon. It all just feels so disjointed and meaningless. There are no interactions between any of the characters and the only "meaningful" choice you make happens before you even go fight the brain. And even that choice - to squid or not to squid - is completely inorganic and disconnected from the rest of the game's narrative and choices so it feels like they included it at the last moment as some half-measure to add any sort of stakes to the encounter.

It's just kinda bewildering to me when people claim BG3 as this new "Gold Standard" for RPGs when one of the most important parts of an RPG (namely its story) is so utterly lacklustre. It's even a step down from Divinity Original Sin 2 and that game's main focus sure as hell wasn't its narrative.