Lost all interest after crossing into "The Upper City"

[terminalinsanity]

I've really enjoyed the game so far. But I noticed it's sat unplayed for 3 weeks, and I try to push myself to finish it, and it's just disappointing to think about.

The whole game I was looking forward to seeing how they made the city of Baldur's Gate look. The various NPCs and quests constamtly reference the upper city. The NPCs themselves travel to and from it regularly during quests. The bridge with the quicktravel marker is right there. The whole game leads you to believe there is an "upper city".

There isn't.

The bridge never works. Its just a quick little battle there that you can entirely skip without consequence. The quicktravel spot is useless.

It just leads to the final battle. And the final battle/gauntlet isn't mysterious or anything. There are zero questions as to what is about to happen, or the choices you have, or the outcomes of those choices.

Zero spoilers here.

It's all spelt out in the quest tracker for the entirety of the time you're in the lower city. You know exactly what you're about to fight, and you know exactly the choices you have to make. The choices are listed right there in the quest tracker during the whole act, if it wasn't blindingly obvious already.

I can just quickly picture the various outcomes in my mind, and it feels like there's no point in going through the motions to get the steam achievement and mark the game as "complete". It's just work at that point.

I made my char illithid cos I thought some new abilities would help make things interesting but it just feels like my char is ruined now. I wouldn't lose much in a saveskum back to before becoming illithid (massively underwhelming event) but why? There's no story or mystery or interest left... I know exactly how the game ends and not really interested in watching the cutscenes play out.

Also not interested in hearing about all the missed romance connections with literally every character in the game. Because I know they're all swooning for me and won't stop sex-pestering me the entire game. I'm sure they're all going to ain't to tell me how great of a couple we could have been if I had just given into their constant advances.

Only one I'm interested in is Wulbren because the other guy threatened revenge and I wanted to see what happened between the gnomes. But that's not in the game.

It feels like the game spoiled the ending for itself. It's just the end of the game and there is zero reason or reward to complete it.

I'd rather leave it uncompleted and just pretend there was more to it.

Anyone else entirely lose interest after getting into the so-called "upper city"?

[Crusader993]

Sad but true, we are playing an unfinished game. :(

Larian did not complete BG3 due to time and cost constraints. And to be honest, after the last patches, I no longer believe that any of the missing content will be added... most of the devs are probably already working on the new game.

[Brian_the_Brute]

There isn't even any upper city. That part is blocked off. You just get Rivington and the lower city. The final battle uses the upper city sewers and a rubble strewn area that was supposed to be the upper city, but they closed it off before then due to lack of finishing that whole segment of the game. There isn't even a front door to get into Cazador's palace, because that is in the upper city.

The plot and intrigue that was supposed to be there, a proper location to fight Gortash, the ending with Minthara, are all missing. You don't get a romance resolution on screen for most of the NPCs, just the epilogue bit of text or dialogue that was tacked on much later.

The biggest mysteries are where are the bits of dribbles and the 'murder mystery' that's not much of anything.

The stand out in ACT 3 is the fight with Rafael, which is not even in the city. Once that is complete, the rest is anti-climatic. There's just a lot of unrealized potential and they spent so much time on ACT 1 that ACT 3 was neglected and they ran out of time to get it all done.

[Яeplicant]

We're theory crafting again, are we not?

[❤N'wahCliffracer❤]

I can see how it feels anti-climatic. I too wish the upper city was in there. I also wish more was "going on" in Act 3. Act 1 felt more story heavy and intriguing. There were cut scenes often when you went to camp. Then in Act 2 there wasn't as much, and Act 3, for me, can almost feel a bit lonely. I find it barren compared to the rest of the game. Sure, there are tons of big quests to conclude and a city full of NPCs, but it's almost stagnant in a way.

It feels unfinished and something is missing from much of the last Act. I can't put my finger on what exactly, but I can feel it.

I honestly think Durge, at least on a first run, is far more satisfying story content-wise toward the end of the game than a Tav run.

That being said, I'm still playing, I have multiple playthroughs and almost 800 hrs in game. I like seeing the different ways things turn out with different choices.

[seeker1]

Originally posted by terminalinsanity:

Anyone else entirely lose interest after getting into the so-called "upper city"?

(channeling his inner Angel. Or Withers?): No.

BTW, maybe Sven is lying here. I choose to believe him.

Baldur's Gate 3 Director Dispels Rumors About Last-Minute Content Cuts Before Release
https://www.ign.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-director-dispels-rumors-that-swaths-of-act-3-content

Vincke termed some of the cuts "editorial decisions" rather than "cut decisions" owing to their length. That includes Baldur's Gate's much-discussed Upper City, which seemingly had much more content than what was included in the final game.

[snip][end]

[Hellsteeth30]

Yes, Larian clearly needed supervision throughout development not just act 1.

Owlcat work the same way, front load everything they do. They make a solid start then kind of run out of time or something and throw together a messy end stretch.

[Gimli]

To each their own.

[Crusader993]

Originally posted by Hellsteeth30:

Owlcat work the same way, front load everything they do. They make a solid start then kind of run out of time or something and throw together a messy end stretch.

Nah man...

I cannot confirm this statement.

In my opinion, Owlcat writes the best stories in the entire cRPG genre, never losing sight of the central theme and continuously and comprehensibly increasing the arc of suspense until the end, including satisfying epilogues.

(However, I can't say anything about RT yet because I haven't played through it yet. So I'm primarily talking about WotR.)

[Maraxus]

I thought Owlcat more or less followed the original tt modules' structure?

[Яeplicant]

Originally posted by Crusader993:

Originally posted by Hellsteeth30:

Owlcat work the same way, front load everything they do. They make a solid start then kind of run out of time or something and throw together a messy end stretch.

Nah man...

I cannot confirm this statement.

In my opinion, Owlcat writes the best stories in the entire cRPG genre, never losing sight of the central theme and continuously and comprehensibly increasing the arc of suspense until the end, including satisfying epilogues.

(However, I can't say anything about RT yet because I haven't played through it yet. So I'm primarily talking about WotR.)

To be fair, all they do is use existing modules/campaigns and turn them into a video game format while also adding thousands of mechanics into the mix, a majority of people consider bloatware.

Writing is good, sure but that's all there is to it.

[Mister Magician]

Originally posted by terminalinsanity:

I've really enjoyed the game so far. But I noticed it's sat unplayed for 3 weeks, and I try to push myself to finish it, and it's just disappointing to think about.

The whole game I was looking forward to seeing how they made the city of Baldur's Gate look. The various NPCs and quests constamtly reference the upper city. The NPCs themselves travel to and from it regularly during quests. The bridge with the quicktravel marker is right there. The whole game leads you to believe there is an "upper city".

There isn't.

The bridge never works. Its just a quick little battle there that you can entirely skip without consequence. The quicktravel spot is useless.

It just leads to the final battle. And the final battle/gauntlet isn't mysterious or anything. There are zero questions as to what is about to happen, or the choices you have, or the outcomes of those choices.

Zero spoilers here.

It's all spelt out in the quest tracker for the entirety of the time you're in the lower city. You know exactly what you're about to fight, and you know exactly the choices you have to make. The choices are listed right there in the quest tracker during the whole act, if it wasn't blindingly obvious already.

I can just quickly picture the various outcomes in my mind, and it feels like there's no point in going through the motions to get the steam achievement and mark the game as "complete". It's just work at that point.

I made my char illithid cos I thought some new abilities would help make things interesting but it just feels like my char is ruined now. I wouldn't lose much in a saveskum back to before becoming illithid (massively underwhelming event) but why? There's no story or mystery or interest left... I know exactly how the game ends and not really interested in watching the cutscenes play out.

Also not interested in hearing about all the missed romance connections with literally every character in the game. Because I know they're all swooning for me and won't stop sex-pestering me the entire game. I'm sure they're all going to ain't to tell me how great of a couple we could have been if I had just given into their constant advances.

Only one I'm interested in is Wulbren because the other guy threatened revenge and I wanted to see what happened between the gnomes. But that's not in the game.

It feels like the game spoiled the ending for itself. It's just the end of the game and there is zero reason or reward to complete it.

I'd rather leave it uncompleted and just pretend there was more to it.

Anyone else entirely lose interest after getting into the so-called "upper city"?

you made it considerably farther than I did.

I haven't even been interested in video games anymore since I played this.

it's THAT bad.

[LordOfTheBread]

Thanks for letting us know.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Crusader993:

Originally posted by Hellsteeth30:

Owlcat work the same way, front load everything they do. They make a solid start then kind of run out of time or something and throw together a messy end stretch.

Nah man...

I cannot confirm this statement.

In my opinion, Owlcat writes the best stories in the entire cRPG genre, never losing sight of the central theme and continuously and comprehensibly increasing the arc of suspense until the end, including satisfying epilogues.

(However, I can't say anything about RT yet because I haven't played through it yet. So I'm primarily talking about WotR.)

I can only assume you never played Kingmaker because it's a meandering bunch of unrelated and not very memorable plots.

[Occasum_Solis]

Originally posted by terminalinsanity:

I've really enjoyed the game so far. But I noticed it's sat unplayed for 3 weeks, and I try to push myself to finish it, and it's just disappointing to think about.

The whole game I was looking forward to seeing how they made the city of Baldur's Gate look. The various NPCs and quests constamtly reference the upper city. The NPCs themselves travel to and from it regularly during quests. The bridge with the quicktravel marker is right there. The whole game leads you to believe there is an "upper city".

There isn't.

The bridge never works. Its just a quick little battle there that you can entirely skip without consequence. The quicktravel spot is useless.

It just leads to the final battle. And the final battle/gauntlet isn't mysterious or anything. There are zero questions as to what is about to happen, or the choices you have, or the outcomes of those choices.

Zero spoilers here.

It's all spelt out in the quest tracker for the entirety of the time you're in the lower city. You know exactly what you're about to fight, and you know exactly the choices you have to make. The choices are listed right there in the quest tracker during the whole act, if it wasn't blindingly obvious already.

I can just quickly picture the various outcomes in my mind, and it feels like there's no point in going through the motions to get the steam achievement and mark the game as "complete". It's just work at that point.

I made my char illithid cos I thought some new abilities would help make things interesting but it just feels like my char is ruined now. I wouldn't lose much in a saveskum back to before becoming illithid (massively underwhelming event) but why? There's no story or mystery or interest left... I know exactly how the game ends and not really interested in watching the cutscenes play out.

Also not interested in hearing about all the missed romance connections with literally every character in the game. Because I know they're all swooning for me and won't stop sex-pestering me the entire game. I'm sure they're all going to ain't to tell me how great of a couple we could have been if I had just given into their constant advances.

Only one I'm interested in is Wulbren because the other guy threatened revenge and I wanted to see what happened between the gnomes. But that's not in the game.

It feels like the game spoiled the ending for itself. It's just the end of the game and there is zero reason or reward to complete it.

I'd rather leave it uncompleted and just pretend there was more to it.

Anyone else entirely lose interest after getting into the so-called "upper city"?

For context a RPG is usually a Drama build in several Acts - BG3 is the best example why you shouldn't outsource as much as possible. I felt kinda the same way as you did, got to Wyrms Crossing ... aaaand started again from Act 1 i did the so many times that i had after my first playtrough around 500 hours.

Imo Act 1 and Act 3 could be the start of the game, meanwhile Act 2 feels much, much more like an "epic ending" then Act 3 does and its kinda hilarious because IF you push trough and get to the End of the game ... its literally a DA:O Copy and Paste lol

[Hobocop]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I can only assume you never played Kingmaker because it's a meandering bunch of unrelated and not very memorable plots.

Which is also based on the TT adventure path of the same name, which I've read also suffers from many of the same issues, and the Kingdom Management mechanic is also not good there.

The Kickstarter backed subplot with the Chelaxian Hellknights where you get railroaded was particularly infuriating.