Why is Act3 city is so big

[Zeev]

I am walking 10 hours not sure what to do (I have done only some small quests)
Please help.

[Richard Steel]

Act 3 is where the game falls apart. There's plenty of solid things to do story wise, but there's a lot in the city that makes it feel aimless. Did Larian do too good of a job designing a sprawling city? Maybe? Bottom line is... there are tons of ways to waste your time in the city. In my first play, Act 3 dominated my playtime over Acts 1 and 2 by about an extra 100+ hours... but I have some personal problems, like I have to hear every dialogue... meaning I talk to everyone at least twice to see if they say something different.... I reload saves to pick different dialogue paths.... I check every box, every vase, every body, every dead animal for loot.... so much emptiness.....

[seeker1]

The main thing I hated in Act 3 in my first playthrough was, by far, slogging through the bloody sewers. I HATE the sewers - it is so easy to get lost and turned around and run into all kinds of annoying crap. (Literally, I guess.)

But dunno, now I know a lot more than I did when I first played, I really know exactly where I need to go in the Sewers and when not to use them at all (it turns out if you know the right trick you don't need them to get to Minsc, which always seemed like the longest slog )...

The Sewers are the only part of the city I hate. Exploring the rest of the city, well, that to me is enjoyable. You never know what kind of shops you'll find. There's somebody selling EVERYTHING in the city ... all kinds of food, taverns with booze, musical instruments, clothing, jewelry, books .... discovering all that can be fun on its own.

I guess to each their own. I have never really disliked Act 3, although the ongoing bugs in Lady Jannath's House for Free the Artist ARE annoying as crap. I will admit I see breadcrumbs all over the place for things it looked like Larian was planning to add (notably Cazador's Mansion) but never did. Doesn't really bug me that much, tho.

[Chroniver]

I'm really not seeing how "Act 3 is where the game falls apart" at all. I've currently spend about 60 hours in it and I've encountered few bugs and probably the best fights in the entire game while your builds are maxed out at this point.

It feels to me that people just can't handle the big shift from more linear ACT2 to ACT 3.
Yes it's uber super huge, but it's supposed to be. With all due respect but real open world games like Elden Ring for example are 100x as confusing.

You don't need to do everything and it's OK to just stumble onto stuff and get lost for a bit.
Visit the vendors and buy (or steal) the good gear, do some of the quests for the guys you encounter. Then do the different quest hubs with their respective bosses.

If you really want a specific character or choice, then it's best to look for the correct way to get them online.

[Wompoo]

Act 3 is rather easy to be honest, just go with the main story and explore, when side quests arise, please yourself (do or don't do). Don't panic, even a failed quest can be a positive experience. If I had one grip (or maybe 2 if I counted the fking dice rolls in a PC game), it is the endings, they all end up at the same place with a totally unsatisfactory level of choices/alternatives... an aspect of Larian games that they seem to fail on over and over again (although nowhere near as bad as Divinity 2 Ego Draconis' ending, have no idea what they were thinking there) endings. Until the ending/s I loved my time in Baldurs Gate.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

It's actually missing an entire section.

[Cartesian Duelist]

Originally posted by Chroniver:

It feels to me that people just can't handle the big shift from more linear ACT2 to ACT 3.
Yes it's uber super huge, but it's supposed to be. With all due respect but real open world games like Elden Ring for example are 100x as confusing.

Well, if you FEEL that way then clearly that must be reality. How about this? The game is built backwards. The big open area that you can wander around aimlessly in and discover things at your own pace should be the beginning of the game. If you've been railroaded through two acts then sent to the city to stop a world-ending threat that's going to end the world any second now, saying "here's the city, go nuts" doesn't make any sense. The story is bad enough overall and the pacing just makes it worse. Every moment you're made to feel like time is of the essence when it literally never is.

[Aldain]

Felt kind of needlessly bloated to me personally.

But I also felt the same about Elden Ring, all that empty space in ER did nothing for me and I feel like the game would have been better with like...50% less of it.

[Zeev]

Originally posted by fullerfamily:

I was similarly overwhelmed by the scale. A few tips:

Nearly everything in the entire city is optional. You got one netherstone stone at moonrise from the guy. Get the other two stones from their owners and tada...end the game.

There is a questline to investigate murders. This will sprinkle your map with objectives. It looks daunting, but is actually just one quest with lots of optional investigations along the way.

I think the only timed quest is someone held in the prison. They don't make it if you wait too long to find them.

Each building can be considered a mini-dungeon. Some are self contained. Some link to others. Some contribute a piece to a puzzle. Some contain basements, portals, caverns, or even whole castles. Almost all of them can be ignored if you want.

View the city as a buffet. Go where you like and partake in what you wish. The game is not on rails. At the end of the day you will grab the two other stones and save the world. The journey is yours to define.

Yeah do I really have to rescue her from prison?
I remember it was pain to rescue prisoners from Act2.
How long is the rescue sequence, I mean, till what point should I escort her?
And most important - what does it give me to save her?

[Banelord]

Originally posted by Metallicus:

Originally posted by Zeev:

I am walking 10 hours not sure what to do (I have done only some small quests)
Please help.

I find the large city immersive and find it adds to the overall exceptionalism of the game as a whole. Maybe look at it as a stroll to take in the sights and sounds of the big city after all you have been through making your way to Baldur's Gate.

The problem of Act 3 is that you usually hit lvl 12, or worse yet ARA a lvl 12 upon reaching it.

Theres something wrong with game balance there, and I am not sure whether raising the level cap would fix it. Maybe getting exp prior to it should have been nerfed?

Edit: Or maybe they should've restructured the acts a bit. Like, imagine if Act 2 took us right into the heart of Baldur's Gate city, and then Act 3 was more like Moonrise Towers, focusing on one key location.

It could guide you straight to your target instead of wandering through a massive city filled with quests that don't really offer much in terms of experience or money anymore. Just a thought for a tighter, more focused end narrative.

[Zeev]

Originally posted by Banelord:

Originally posted by Metallicus:

I find the large city immersive and find it adds to the overall exceptionalism of the game as a whole. Maybe look at it as a stroll to take in the sights and sounds of the big city after all you have been through making your way to Baldur's Gate.

The problem of Act 3 is that you usually hit lvl 12, or worse yet ARA a lvl 12 upon reaching it.

Theres something wrong with game balance there, and I am not sure whether raising the level cap would fix it. Maybe getting exp prior to it should have been nerfed?

lol I just hit level 11 after walking 10 hours in the city.
I find it more annoying that you have less chance spending time with all of the compaions rather than the max level limit.
I mean, a large area in the under city is for Gale, then you have to have Astorian in the party to picklock everything, then the main character and then you are left with only one companion you can swap, and some parts you need Jahaira.

[LordOfTheBread]

Because the city is bigm it was already very large in the previous games. Why is New York so big??

[seeker1]

Originally posted by Zeev:

Yeah do I really have to rescue her from prison?
I remember it was pain to rescue prisoners from Act2.
How long is the rescue sequence, I mean, till what point should I escort her?
And most important - what does it give me to save her?

I believe we are talking about Counselor Florrick. You don't HAVE to rescue her. It's just if you don't, she gets executed and you lose her endgame help for "GYA".

I could answer all this, but I think this time I'll tell you to just read through the walkthru of rescuing her at bg3.wiki. I'll say this - it's not that hard.

[/dev/random]

Originally posted by Cartesian Duelist:

Originally posted by Chroniver:

It feels to me that people just can't handle the big shift from more linear ACT2 to ACT 3.
Yes it's uber super huge, but it's supposed to be. With all due respect but real open world games like Elden Ring for example are 100x as confusing.

Well, if you FEEL that way then clearly that must be reality. How about this? The game is built backwards. The big open area that you can wander around aimlessly in and discover things at your own pace should be the beginning of the game. If you've been railroaded through two acts then sent to the city to stop a world-ending threat that's going to end the world any second now, saying "here's the city, go nuts" doesn't make any sense. The story is bad enough overall and the pacing just makes it worse. Every moment you're made to feel like time is of the essence when it literally never is.

Exactly, this! The city would be ok as the first or the second act, and the Shadowlands or something similarly linear - the final one.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by Cartesian Duelist:

Originally posted by Chroniver:

It feels to me that people just can't handle the big shift from more linear ACT2 to ACT 3.
Yes it's uber super huge, but it's supposed to be. With all due respect but real open world games like Elden Ring for example are 100x as confusing.

Well, if you FEEL that way then clearly that must be reality. How about this? The game is built backwards. The big open area that you can wander around aimlessly in and discover things at your own pace should be the beginning of the game. If you've been railroaded through two acts then sent to the city to stop a world-ending threat that's going to end the world any second now, saying "here's the city, go nuts" doesn't make any sense. The story is bad enough overall and the pacing just makes it worse. Every moment you're made to feel like time is of the essence when it literally never is.

Well, if YOU feel that way, then clearly it must be reality.

[Chroniver]

Originally posted by Cartesian Duelist:

Well, if you FEEL that way then clearly that must be reality. How about this? The game is built backwards. The big open area that you can wander around aimlessly in and discover things at your own pace should be the beginning of the game. If you've been railroaded through two acts then sent to the city to stop a world-ending threat that's going to end the world any second now, saying "here's the city, go nuts" doesn't make any sense. The story is bad enough overall and the pacing just makes it worse. Every moment you're made to feel like time is of the essence when it literally never is.

Yes, if people feel that way it is a reality for them.
However, realities can change dramatically for yourself if you open yourself up to a new perspective. We also don't need to agree and I strongly disagree with your conclusion.

Your suggestion of putting the biggest area of the game first would obviously lose a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the genre right at the start (besides making no sense story-wise). If anything most games place the biggest area somewhere in the middle, which is indeed different here.

The first act is however already pretty open and does a pretty good job in preparing you for more open-ended gameplay.

I do understand the feeling of people who dislike ACT 3.
It's a tonal shift from the game amping up to the first conclusion with the Nightsong and Ketheric to then lose some of it's speed and gain track again as you go for the final confrontation.
There are a number of things which could be handled (even) better, but it's good to remember you're looking at a 150-200 hour game here.