Players of Baldur’s Gate 3 share their stories on Reddit of numerous begun but never finished save files. The reasons for this vary – and are not understood by all in the community.
What is the community discussing? Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long game. One that you can’t just complete in a weekend, unless you’re attempting a speedrun. Some players take their time exploring the lovingly designed world. Like MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski.
Others abandon their current save file and start a new one. This player type rarely sees the final boss. The reasons for restarting are varied.
In a thread on Reddit, the voices of players who couldn’t bring themselves to finish Act 3, and thus the story of the game, gather.
A new class and other decisions
Why do many players abandon their playthroughs? The starting point for the discussion on Reddit was a post by the user ozangeo:
The “Lower City”, or the Lower City of the namesake Baldur’s Gate, is notoriously only reached late in the game, specifically in Act 3. Before that happens, some players decide to set aside the character they have spent many hours using.
The image by ozangeo receives much support: “That’s me. That’s what I do. But I finish my playthroughs. Maybe…”, writes sand_snake, resonating with many others.
Because many players start anew, the time spent before finally seeing the credits also increases. Stargazerslight summarizes: “I have 500 hours in the game and have just finished my first main playthrough.”
StarmieLover966 already aborted in the middle of Act 2 and explains: “In the middle of Act 2, it’s very normal for me that frustration sets in because my build isn’t working the way I want it to.”
Or the decisions made don’t fit retrospectively. Similarly, some players miss certain aspects of Act 1 and 2 and don’t want to just continue.
ColumnK says: “I abandoned a save when I realized I couldn’t complete the romance with Karlach. One because I missed Ethel in Act 1, and one because I read too much on this subreddit and wanted to try those things in Act 1. I can’t count how many save files I abandoned in Act 1 or 2.”
Are there other opinions in the community? Yes, there are. Some players interpret the abandoned save files at the beginning of Act 3 as a distaste for this final part of the game.
The user elsonwarcraft wonders: “Why is everyone avoiding Act 3 like it’s the plague? I don’t find it that bad.”
In response, the user the0rly_factor argues that Act 3 offers some great areas and battles, but feels long and at this point, the player has already brought their character to level 12, the maximum level. There is hardly any more room for character development.
In the end, many players simply want to try out new characters again and again. After all, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers incredibly many possibilities to customize one’s character according to personal preferences. For example, one can choose a very strong class that may be underestimated.
