Highlights
- Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a plethora of choices that can have significant consequences for players’ playstyles and narratives.
- Neglecting companions can lead to shallow gameplay and the loss of valuable abilities in combat.
- Making the wrong decisions can result in the death of important characters and the negative impact on key locations in the game.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has an astounding amount of decisions that players can make across the three acts, yet there are some that are totally terrible depending on the playstyle and narrative that players want for their individual profiles. Baldur’s Gate 3 opens room for error and exploration in the hundreds of choices players make.
Baldur’s Gate 3: 12 Things To Do Before Going To Act 2
There is a lot to pack into Larian’s RPG, but some stops are definitely worth making before progressing past the first act of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Whether it’s dialogue or action, players can certainly mess up their playthroughs, whether that’s on purpose or otherwise. Players can ruin and even kill their companions, start fights with strangers, or even ruin their eyesight for the remainder of the game, depending entirely on the choices that they make.
8 Joining The Absolute
Side With Minthara To Maximize Death
Players have the choice of joining the Absolute fairly soon into Act One when they reach the goblin camp. They can be branded with the Absolute’s mark, and even help lead their leader, Minthara, to the Emerald Grove to snuff out the Tieflings and Druids that remain there. Yet, it’s simply not worth it. Going down this path is one in which only death follows, so it’s a pretty bad choice to help the goblin camp and join the Absolute, especially if players want to be good or see what the many characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 have to offer.
Unfortunately, that does mean players will have to fight Minthara, an interesting Drow character that can join the player’s party and even be a romance option. However, killing her is a decent trade-off, because if players side with Minthara and join the Absolute, many other party members in the camp will simply leave due to their morals.
7 Neglecting Companions
Companions Can Die Without Proper Care
On the topic of companions, one of the worst decisions that players can make in Baldur’s Gate 3 is neglecting them. Refusing to talk to them or indulge in their secrets will make the game feel somewhat shallow, as these companions are a large part of why the game is beloved due to the personalities like Astarion. Every companion has their own quest and desires, and players should listen to them.
The Best Ways To Earn Approval For Baldur’s Gate 3’s Late-Joining Companions
Here are the best choices Baldur’s Gate 3 players can make to earn approval with late-joining members Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, and Minsc.
Whether it’s Gale’s need for magical artifacts to not explode, Astarion’s secret vampiric past, or Karlach’s infernal engine running amok, players should not neglect their companions, otherwise they may just lose them before its too late. Not only will they lose the company they keep, but their grand abilities in a fight.
6 Allowing Lae’zel And Shadowheart To Fight
One Must Die If Tav Does Not Interfere
Companions are suitable fighters, but what happens when they fight each other? Early in the game, Lae’zel and Shadowheart will come to blows until there is no alternative but for them to duel in the morning. However, Shadowheart sneaks up on Lae’zel in the night, ready to cut her throat and end their feud. Players should probably get involved, as both Lae’zel and Shadowheart are great characters.
Neither of these characters has their story finished by the time of this fight, so players should certainly try and persuade Shadowheart to put down the knife. If players do not convince Shadowheart, then one of them has to die, which is a bad choice, considering both party members have great stories worth advancing.
5 Take Medical Help For The Tadpole
Tav Can Lose An Eye
The Illithid tadpole is a curse to the player. Despite the power it promises, nobody wants to turn into a Mind Flayer, so it’s no surprise that players will ask any healer they find if they can fix them. Whether it’s a Druid, a Hag, or even a Bard, players can find many characters that say that they can help with the tadpole problem, but to the surprise of no one, the medical help they want, they can never actually get.
Players should always deny medical help, as it is actually no help at all. If players decide to go to Auntie Ethel, they will lose an eye, and the same goes for if they go to the charismatic Volo for help. Sadly, players are going to be stuck with their eyeball companion, and removing said eye won’t fix things, but forever alter the physical appearance of the character.
4 Killing Isobel
The Last Light Inn Will Suffer
Isobel is a character to which more meets the eye. Despite her initial rejection of her potential fate and history, players should just do right by her by leaving her alone to protect the Last Light Inn from the Shadow-Cursed Lands. She will use her powers granted by Selune to keep the Last Light Inn a safe refuge from the darkness that consumes the lands, but, if players are feeling rather sinister, they can kill her.
Baldur’s Gate 3: 15 Best Spells
Baldur’s Gate 3 has several different classes for players to choose from with most being magic-based, meaning spells are very important.
This is a terrible choice to make, as not only will the Last Light Inn succumb to darkness, but they will also lose a valued friend, and when players eventually meet the Nightsong, that character will be none too pleased indeed, and players will find an immortal enemy on their tail.
3 Tormenting Vlaakith The Githyanki Queen
Tav & Their Party Will Instantly Die
Perhaps the worst decision players can make is a quick one that will result in their demise, every single time. If players are to meet Vlaakith, the ruler of the Githyanki, then they should probably follow Lae’zel’s instructions to avoid a horrid fate. Vlaakith is a Lich Queen, and can access 20th-level spells, which in short, means she has the ability to wish for anything she wants, including the very wish to end the player’s life.
If players question her or belittle her, then Vlaakith will show her power like any god would, by killing the subject that bares witness to her power. Players can end their game and kill themselves and the entire party by not listening to Vlaakith, or just by being rude to her.
2 Becoming A Dark Urge Character
Death Is Assured To Friends & Foes Alike
Dark Urge, or ‘Durge’ is an origin trait unique to Baldur’s Gate 3. There is much mystery surrounding the Dark Urge and the origins of this character, which players will learn as they progress through the game. However, there is one thing that they should no straight away if they decide to start with a Dark Urge, and that is the fact that they are most likely going to kill anyone and everything.
A Dark Urge character is a bad idea for players who want to experience a ‘normal’ run of Baldur’s Gate 3, as Dark Urge characters cannot help their blood lust, and players may find themselves killing characters that they want to learn more about or keep around.
1 Rejecting Quests
Lose Out On Big Rewards
Another terrible choice players can make isn’t one that is based on a single encounter, but several. Like most RPGs, players will receive a quest from almost every NPC that they talk to, and they can find exciting adventures and rewards from doing said quests. However, if players reject these characters, and instead tell them kindly to find someone else, then they are missing out on some of the best content that Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer.
Whilst players do not need to say yes to everything and everyone they come across, it’s a good idea to hear out the people of Baldur’s Gate 3 and see what exactly they want. After all, it could open some exciting new avenues for friends, quests, and loot.
