In Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3, you can face a whole lot of new quests and content. However, if you make a decision too early, you may lock yourself out of many storylines. Here you can read how to avoid that.
What decision is it about? Without spoiling the plot of Act 2: At the end of a longer dungeon in the Shadowlands, you will be asked if you really want to proceed. If you click Yes
now, not only will the world change, but many quests will be completed depending on your current status and cannot be finished differently.
If you want to make sure you can always go back, we advise you to save now. Then click No
first and check if you have already progressed all the remaining quests to your satisfaction.
Warning Spoiler: From here on, we will go into more detail. Spoilers follow until the end of Act 2.
The hint appears in Act 2 at the Temple of Shar. At the end of their challenges, you stand with your group by a pool. As soon as you try to dive into the water and look for the Night Song, the game shows you the hint above.
How does the decision affect your game? If you choose Yes
and enter the pool, you travel to the domain of the goddess Shar. There you will meet (if he is still alive) the wizard Balthazar and Lady Aylin, the so-called Night Song.
By the way, Lady Aylin is one of the most powerful potential allies for your third act.
No matter how you decide in the following battle and which side you choose: Once you leave this dimension, the final battle against Ketheric Thorm awaits you in the Towers of the Rising Moon.
You have to fight the battle against Ketheric regardless of whether you fight with or against the Absolute. After that, you will quickly move into Act 3 and towards Baldur’s Gate. Once you have crossed the bridge, there is no turning back.
Are there areas you should not visit before the pool? The short answer is No
. You can visit all the areas that are open to you in Act 2. Everything that would advance the story happens only with diving into the above-mentioned pool.
So you can safely search the Shadowlands, meet the Thorm family in Reithwind, and revel in the Towers of the Rising Moon. Of course, all your actions have consequences. However, only for your quests that have not been completed by then and are tied to these locations.
What content can and should you complete before you go swimming
? There are some quests you cannot influence or complete if you go into the pool too early. Here are some of the most important:
- Breaking the Shadow Curse: If you plan to break the Shadow Curse and save the Shadowlands, you need to pursue the quests of the druid Halsin. If he is available to you as a selectable member for your party, you have advanced the quests far enough. Don’t forget to play with the mysterious child Oliver.
Anyone who wants to romance Halsin and unlock the famous bear sex scene also cannot avoid these quests. - Save Minthara: If the Emerald Grove has fallen in Act 1 of your game and the goblins have triumphed, you can save and recruit Minthara in the Towers of the Rising Moon. Complete it before the temple if you want to unlock the dark elf as a party member or romance option.
- Help Karlach: If you have Karlach in the group, you should visit the Last Light Inn with her. There, the blacksmith Dammon awaits new infernal iron with which you can cool Karlach to
Touch Temperature
.
Anyone who wants to romance Karlach cannot avoid this quest. - Find Arabella’s parents: If you visit Reithwind, you can, depending on your decisions in Act 1, meet the young tiefling Arabella again. She is alone in the Shadowlands and searching for her parents.
- Save the tieflings: The tiefling refugees have a hard lot and you also have to protect them from many dangers in Act 2. This includes rescuing some of them from the Towers of the Rising Moon. The more of them you can get out of precarious situations, the better for you in the following Act 3.
- Take care of Yurgir: As you approach the mausoleum and thus the Temple of Shar, you will be stopped by the devil Raphael. He wants you to take out an old acquaintance for him: the orthon Yurgir. He awaits you in the temple and his fate is relevant for Astarion’s personal quest.
What can happen if you decide too early? reddit user chris5129 experienced exactly that. In a post, he laments that his love for Shadowheart cost him 10 hours of gameplay. He states that the reason for this was that he made his decision too early in Act 2 to advance the story.
In his eagerness to romance Shadowheart, he followed her quest line, which led him directly to the temple and then through the pool. He ignored the game’s warning. It was only when he noticed that the quest Infiltrate the Towers of the Rising Moon
had changed to Attack the Towers of the Rising Moon
that he realized his problem.
chris5129 had to load a save game from about 10 gameplay hours earlier to replay the content he missed out on.
Many users were able to relate to the experience. Canadian__Ninja commented, among other things, that he thought it was bad to visit the towers too early (Reddit). User Setherina reassured chris5129: A number of characters hint that it is the enemy’s home and that it is suicidal to go there without first finding the Night Song, that the shadows there are stronger, and so on.
(Reddit)
The problem that reddit user chris5129 had seems to have been experienced by quite a few players. How did it go for you? We are curious about your comments.
More about Baldur’s Gate 3: Baldur’s Gate 3 is the “Ultimate Game of the Year”, winning so many Golden Joystick Awards that the director can hardly carry them
