Can I move into Chapter 2 and than go back to explore previous areas?

[Dexter]

Last place I have to "complete" is Underdark in Act 1 but I've played it enough in EA and want to see more things.

Do I lock myself from Underdark if I move to Mountain Pass now?

[Psy^]

Yes, and no. Both maps are the entrance to Act 2, so you can explore the entire map but can't go to the next (in the Underdark is the elevator, and in the mountain pass is the stairs) if you do, there is no going back.

[Clive Hawkins]

I was able to do half of Act 2 and still teleport back to Act 1 locations and vendors.
It wasn't until I focused on Act 2 main story locations that Act 1 became locked.

So you can enter the "points of no return" as long as you don't beeline for the story sections.

Also, the Underdark and the Mountain pass are both in Act 1 (not Act 2) and can both be done to full completion. There's no reason not to do both ♪

[Psy^]

Originally posted by Clive Hawkins:

I was able to do half of Act 2 and still teleport back to Act 1 locations and vendors.
It wasn't until I focused on Act 2 main story locations that Act 1 became locked.

So you can enter the "points of no return" as long as you don't beeline for the story sections.

Really? that's news to me. Good to know.

[Captain Smollett]

Originally posted by Psy^:

Yes, and no. Both maps are the entrance to Act 2, so you can explore the entire map but can't go to the next (in the Underdark is the elevator, and in the mountain pass is the stairs) if you do, there is no going back.

Thats just incorrect. You can return from Act 2 to Act 1 locations freely until certain main story progression point, it even has all the waypoints in the same list. You can't return from Act 3, though.

[Pliny The Welder]

Dreadful design choice. And utterly without any possible benefit.

What possible justification is there to lock off entire areas? For an assinine "everything is really important now so you have to go this way"?

The game doesn't at all even hint this is the case. It implies certain quests will conclude but it in no way, at all, implies you will suddenly not be able to go to an entire region of the map.

Just awful awful design. The game spends 70 hours letting you waste a ton of time doing random ♥♥♥♥ with a parasite supposedly about to kill you but arbitrarily decides you can no longer walk through a door because.... Why again?

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Pliny The Welder:

Dreadful design choice. And utterly without any possible benefit.

What possible justification is there to lock off entire areas? For an assinine "everything is really important now so you have to go this way"?

The game doesn't at all even hint this is the case. It implies certain quests will conclude but it in no way, at all, implies you will suddenly not be able to go to an entire region of the map.

Just awful awful design. The game spends 70 hours letting you waste a ton of time doing random ♥♥♥♥ with a parasite supposedly about to kill you but arbitrarily decides you can no longer walk through a door because.... Why again?

If you played the game you would know it is lore explained and makes fully sense.

[EricHVela]

Yes. You can go back, but some things get locked into permanent states depending on what was/wasn't completed and how.

I was able to return to the Mountain Pass (an Act 1 region) from the Shadow-cursed Lands to finish Lae'zel's whole deal, but it's different if you didn't already recruit Lae'zel prior to Act 2 due to something getting locked out.

Thanks to low banking of vendors, I often travelled back to the Mountain Pass for the society member and the grove for their vendor to offload junk for money when in Act 2.

Act 3 prevents Act 1/2 access. (I would swear the save files even get smaller when saving after entering Act 3, but I'll have to watch more closely next playthrough.)

[justfaded]

Originally posted by Pliny The Welder:

Dreadful design choice. And utterly without any possible benefit.

What possible justification is there to lock off entire areas? For an assinine "everything is really important now so you have to go this way"?

The game doesn't at all even hint this is the case. It implies certain quests will conclude but it in no way, at all, implies you will suddenly not be able to go to an entire region of the map.

Just awful awful design. The game spends 70 hours letting you waste a ton of time doing random ♥♥♥♥ with a parasite supposedly about to kill you but arbitrarily decides you can no longer walk through a door because.... Why again?

This isn't an open world game, it's very linear. Even most sidequests are just extra things you can do at the same place and time you're doing something for the main quest.

I don't think this game is nearly as good as everybody is saying but complaints about "game design" and closing acts off don't make sense.

The game barely manages to hold on to a sense of urgency for the main quest. Imo it does manage to do it but mostly because it's such a small and short game with not much to distract you from the main quest.

[Dexter]

Hello Past Me! How are you doing?