I caved. Ibought Baldur’s Gate 3 for the second time. After getting to around the halfway point in my first playthrough, I started all over again onXbox. I just wanted to sit in the comfort of my sofa and play on my big telly, okay?
You notice so much more on the second playthrough, and as such I’d recommend restarting the game as soon as right after the culmination of the first act. I tried to go into my first playthrough as blinkered as possible – that meant no spoilers and no guides to help me through. I didresort to chronomancyat one point, but it was a really important die roll, okay?
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On my first playthrough, where I was a drow ranger armed with a longbow and the ability to converse with animals, I was a buffoon. If I could watch my playthrough back, I think it’d look like Mr. Bean had been set loose on Faerun, if Rowan Atkinson got a neck tattoo of a Beholder and started flirting with a vampire.
I somehow managed to do everything backwards. I met Aunt Ethel after teleporting through some magic mushrooms (not like that) in the Underdark, meaning I skipped all the story beats with Mayrina’s brothers and was very confused at what was going on. I also skipped the entire battle at the Grove thanks to my affection for Halsin forcing my hand to slaughter every goblin at their camp, before they could launch any sort of assault on the Druid’s encampment or the Tiefling refugee caravan.
Tip: Have patience if you intend on romancing Halsin. He hangs around for hours before you can recruit him, it’s infuriating.
My route through the Underdark caused me to avoid the githyanki creche entirely, although I suspect that many made the same mistake. I’m honestly amazed that Larian managed to patch up my backwards route through the Wilderness at all, and that any of the game made any sense. Leaving Shadowheart at camp meant that I didn’t ever learn anything about the artefact, I just carried the mysterious D20 about my person!
On my second playthrough, I was a lot more confident. Combat encounters that once took me close to an hour, I’d fly through in minutes. I was comfortable with the controls, I was happy to pick party members I hadn’t spent much time with before, and I spent less time deliberating my decisions, as I often (but not always) just picked a different option to my first playthrough. The most important change I made was to save the owlbear cub who I unwittingly murdered the first time around – on a supposedly ‘good’ playthrough and all.
But you all knew that playingBaldur’s Gate 3a second time around would let you make different decisions. The real benefits of playing again are to test your limits, to try new things, and to give new characters second chances. I won’t berecruiting Mintharathis time around (I’m saving an evil run for the already-planned playthrough three), but I added Gale to my party as I needed his magic from a purely mechanical perspective. I didn’t like him much as my drow ranger, but my githyanki monk has a soft spot for the hungry wizard.
Giving Gale a second chance has given him an opportunity to shine. I get why people keep him around now, and I respect him a little bit more. I’m still going to respec him into a bard because Shadowheart’s restoration is proving more useful than I expected, but you get the idea.
I’m zooming across Faerun now, but not rushing. Where I was cautious before, I’m now more willing to take risks. Where I peeked around every corner, I now run. Where I was afraid of repercussions for speaking out against some of the worst ne’er-do-wells in the Wilderness, I’m now bold enough to give them a piece of my mind. I may be a wise old monk, but I’m certainly not passive, and tend to let my fists do the talking where possible.
I’m even doing things in the right order this time around. I approached Ethel’s grotto from the ‘correct’ direction, which made the narrative beats there far more effective. I ensured that I would urge on the battle at the Grove, although I’m as of yet undecided exactly which side I’ll take. If I’m not recruiting Halsin this time around, why humour Kagha and her hatred? If I can take out the Druids and save the refugees, that may well be the route I take. And then I’ll head to the creche and the Mountain Pass. I skipped both on my first playthrough, and as a gith myself now, I owe it to Larian to follow this narrative thread.
Larian’s Xbox release means I now have two concurrent Baldur’s Gate 3 playthroughs, and couldn’t think of anything better. If I were you, I’d start a new save as soon as possible – but that doesn’t mean you need to abandon your original character. On the contrary, having two playthroughs at different points of the game is providing me with more fun than I ever could have imagined. Now I just want my monk and my ranger in the same party.
