Baldur’s Gate 3: 8 Choices You’re Punished For Making
Summary
- Rushing through quests in Baldur's Gate 3 may cause you to miss out on important gameplay and storytelling elements. Slow down and explore.
- Be cautious about selling off items in the game, as some may be essential for progressing the story or accessing certain areas. Double-check before selling.
- Don't sass or attack extremely powerful people.
Part of what makes Baldur's Gate 3 so immersive and the game so replayable is the massive number of choices presented to you. However, even in a game this impressive, not every choice can be equally accommodated. Whether because of the limitations of the medium (good video game design means following certain rules), because of the structure necessary to the story, or because Larian Studios simply wants to teach you a lesson, Baldur's Gate 3 punishes certain choices.
RelatedBaldur's Gate 3: 9 Most Important Choices And Their Consequences
Think carefully about these choices.
PostsUnlike many of the moral choices that Baldur's Gate 3 has NPCs respond negatively to (consequences meet actions), these are choices that end up inhibiting gameplay or represent the direct hand of Larian Studios as they, well, DM the game.
8 Trading Exploration For Urgency
Moving Too Fast Will Only Hurt You In The Long Run
For the most part, the sense of urgency created by the tadpole situation and the Absolute is more for the sake of a good story than it is actually something you should worry about. Sure, there's a tadpole wriggling around in your skull trying to kill you, but slow down a little. If you rush your way through every quest, skipping side-quests to make sure that you don't get killed, you'll ultimately miss out on a lot of the gameplay.
It may be good role-playing to try and get cured as fast as possible (especially with almost everyone in Baldur's Gate 3 urging you to prioritize doing so), but skipping exploration is only going to make understanding and progressing the game harder.
7 Starting Quests Out Of Order
Don't Let Shiny New NPCs Distract You From Your Goals
The ideal character to role-play in Baldur's Gate 3 would be a studious but adaptable Tav, who plans to stick to the quest lines they've been given. Because if you're the type of Tav who gets easily distracted, leaping from NPC to NPC and from quest to quest, you risk doing things out of sequence, which can cause a number of issues and even bugs.
Like many RPGs, there is an ideal way to complete all the major quests, and if you're running around without any goal but exploration and talking to everyone possible, you're going to miss the in-game lore that set up how to take that ideal path. While this play style is still a viable, fun option, don't be surprised if you have to do a lot of backtracking and reloading.
6 Killing A Steel Watch Foundry Guard
Who Knew This NPC Came With A Guilt Trip?
In a comedic example of Baldur's Gate 3 trying to get you to think about your actions, there's a guard in the front of the Steel Watch Foundry with a heartfelt letter to his parents on his person. At this point, we've killed tens of NPCs, perhaps hundreds. They pack on the guilt, now?
RelatedBaldur's Gate 3: The 8 Most Evil Dark Urge Decisions
Sometimes, you want to embrace your villainous side.
PostsThis letter isn't the only example in Baldur's Gate 3 of Larian Studios trying to humanize the people that you encounter (there are a number of funny examples in the House of Grief), but it sure isn't pulling any punches. Even if these people are "bad guys," the game still wants you to remember that that was a human being you killed and feel kind of guilty about it.
5 Disobeying Vlaakith
Larian Studios Wants You To Be Humble, Just Once
In a game where you do, in fact, have the ability to kill multiple gods and take on ridiculously high-level threats, it doesn't seem out of bounds to tell a powerful figure off. The point of having Vlaakith insta-kill you, then, isn't because she's more powerful than everyone else you end up killing but because Larian Studios is teaching you some important lessons about the set-up of the game.
One, you don't have plot armor, even in dialogue. Two, you need to make choices you don't like to survive if the story demands it. And, three, the game is more powerful than your character, and so are its NPCs.
4 Selling Off Certain Items
Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should
There are hundreds of items in Baldur's Gate 3, and you do have to pay attention to them. Even if you're sick of picking things up by Act 3 and feel you've collected enough that you can now sell most of the things you find, make sure to double-check. For an example of why this is important, there is at least one case in the game where there is an item held by an NPC that is essential to moving forward: Sarevok and the Amulet of Bhaal.
There is no other way to access the Temple of Bhaal, and the necklace is something that you can sell. While the background and outline colors of the items give you a hint as to their purpose and importance, make sure you're thinking about what items you can and can't sell before committing to getting rid of them.
If you did sell the Amulet of Bhaal (or any other quest item) you should be able to buy it back from that same seller.
3 Conserving Resources And Not Long Resting
A Good Night's Sleep Reveals A Lot About Your Companions
There's no real way to know how important the Long Rest is until you've taken a handful of them and seen how they progress the plot. While it is pretty intuitive after one that this is going to serve as a bonding area for you and your team as well as progress certain storylines, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this might also happen elsewhere in Baldur's Gate 3.
RelatedBaldur's Gate 3: 10 Best Campsites
From the comfort of the Elfsong Rental to an atmospheric chapel, these are the best campsites in Baldur's Gate 3.
PostsIf you're the type of player who loves to hoard resources and simply doesn't need to rest that often (or if you've bought too much into the narrative's sense of urgency and are scared things will progress too fast if you take them), it's alright to relax. Long Rests are an important part of moving your team's story forward, and you'll miss out on a lot not taking them semi-regularly.
2 Knocking Enemies Off Edges
An Easy Path That Could Have Some Real Consequences
Baldur's Gate 3 does warn you that by taking the easy route out and shoving enemies off of the edges, you may be missing out on some important loot. This makes sense, as such an easy out should be balanced with a fair consequence. However, there are items in Baldur's Gate 3 that you need to progress certain plot points.
Since there isn't any way of knowing which characters have these items when going in blind, shoving your foes into the various instant death zones is more of a gamble than losing out on a cool sword. A good rule of thumb is probably to make sure not to chuck any big bosses or important characters of edges in case they are carrying a quest item.
1 Killing Gortash At His Coronation
Maybe Just Hear Him Out
Baldur's Gate 3 really, really, really does not want you to do this. If you even remotely care about Wyll, it's best you don't even attempt it. Pushing on despite how difficult the fight is, ignoring all of the story cues begging you to stop, and going ahead and taking out Gortash without pretending to side with him will destroy the Steel Watch Foundry and Iron Throne, locking out all quests associated with those areas.
And it will also end Duke Ravengaurd's life, even with non-lethal combat triggered. Of course, we love that you can still make this choice despite all these obstacles, but it's clear that's not the route Baldur's Gate 3 thinks makes the best story.
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Like Follow FollowedBaldur's Gate 3
RPG Systems 5.0/5 25 9.4/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 96/100 Critics Rec: 98% Released August 3, 2023 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence Developer(s) Larian Studios Publisher(s) Larian Studios Engine Divinity 4.0WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALBaldur's Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
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