I’ve put 250 hours into Baldur’s Gate 3. I know, amateur numbers. However, I’ve completed one playthrough and started about five other playthroughs (three which I kept saves for). For some reason, mentally, I keep putting the game back down, and then picking it right back up. So, why am I doing this?
I played a few weeks after the game officially launched in 2023. Like most games, my low lack of resisting occurred after several friends started to play and my urge (no pun intended) needed to be fed. After playing another Larian game, Divinity Original Sin 2 and my lack of D&D experience, I always found myself going to the Cleric classes. With much thought just into my character creation (not so much Class and deity to worship), I went with a Wood Elf Cleric who worshiped Kelemvor named Oolong Twinings (I have a theme of naming my characters after types of teas/tea brands.)
Having no clue what to expect, I rolled along with majority of my choices throughout my first playthrough and did save scum a few choices here and there. Either way, I enjoyed every last minute playing this game on my first run trying to complete as much as possible! I didn’t venture to multiclass and focused primarily on my Cleric class.
Overall: I had what I deemed a successful playthrough. I had to learn to live with some of my choices (so many regrets) and most that I made I was satisfied enough with. I romanced Lae’zel to which, a lot of friends questioned my choice and I challenge them and everyone reading to give her a chance! Regardless, I knew I missed many things even after thinking I explored most of the areas. My Steam achievements said otherwise with the amount of boss names I saw that made me go, “Who the heck is that??” That was enough to make me want to play again. Although, I did take a month off.
Attempting Co-Op, I Started To Feel the Burnout From All Around
In-between finishing my first playthrough, I tried to play co-op several times. The problem being that most of my friend group was already committed to other playthroughs with friends they were more interested in, they had solo runs they preferred doing, or we’re just all late 20s/30s and barely have time to squeeze in a beefy session during the week.
My co-op session consisted of a a female Dwarf Bard (I’m completely blanking on the name) and I enjoyed the one session we got to play! I knew from my friend group that most of them like to run in and do damage and I figured I’d be the support of the group. I played music, felt silly, made some coin. It was great! And then….we only played one other session after that. By that time, I already finished my playthrough, everyone else already finished one if not multiple other playthroughs. The interest was gone.
Post First Playthrough, I Struggled to Find Something New…
A month passed, and I eventually returned to do another solo run. This time, I was doing a custom Dark Urge. I wanted to be evil, make horrible choices, feed on the lust, all that evil jazz. I made an Orc Monk named Mori Nilgiri (playing off tea and Dead by Daylight). I essentially got through the Grove, saw different choices, and made it to the Underground. My team was vastly different and half of them I either murdered or left my party by the time I got halfway through Act 1! It was for sure different, however, I lost interest a week in.
I think it was maybe the murder spree I was doing being not as fun as I thought. Perhaps, I should’ve just want Origin Dark Urge and rolled with the character presented. It was a mix of losing interest in what I was doing, having to replay stuff I already did, and other games that were releasing on the horizon that I needed to put my focus into. Either way, I stopped playing for months.
About a month ago now, I returned yet again to Baldur’s Gate 3. I decided to start another playthrough – another custom Dark Urge. But, this time, I wanted to resist the Dark Urge. What if I played around with the idea of keeping the Dark Urge away, however, still living with the consequences of my choices? I created my recent character I’ve been playing: a female Drow Thief named Milima Honeybush on Tactician difficulty!
Finally Finding A Character I’m Enjoying! And Yet…
My thoughts: everyone hates Drows, the Dark Urge lusted for blood. Why not play around with a race everyone despises while trying to get them to like you. Meanwhile, keeping at bay the Dark Urge that wants to murder everything in her path? While this was also the first time I played with Patch 7 (so many different animations, endings, dialogue updates, bugs were fixed) thinking “this could be what I was waiting for!”
The results were mostly positive. Although I still murdered, I was resisting most urges to kill in the game. I did save scum on one instance when I misread and accidentally murdered an Ox. However, my Drow was growing on me and I was enjoying every minute of the new story dialogue included in the Dark Urge playthrough! I also started a romance, this time with Karlach.
Yet, the same thing happened again. This time, was lured into playing another game I had waited well over a year to play with friends and I couldn’t wait. I put aside Baldur’s Gate 3 again (this time getting into Act 2) and went on to play something else that was time consuming. It’s been almost a month now since I’ve last touched my resist Durge run.
I’m still thinking about going back to Baldur’s Gate 3 once I’m done with my current game (it’s Palia…look, I’m having fun.) I was enjoying my campaign and even started my first multiclass character! I was following several guides with Thief ideas, and I went with the Gloom Stalker build that I apparently see is extremely OP. Once I hit level 6, Milima Honeybush alone was getting plenty of kills and stealing opportunities. I should come back soon.
Yet, Patch 8, the final patch, is also on the horizon with new subclasses to play. Do I yet again restart where I left off, or continue with my resist Druge that I should desperately finish? I’ll see how I’m feeling in a few weeks when Monster Hunter Wilds comes out…
