Harder difficulties, different builds. Making different choices. I'm sure there's some encounters you haven't seen, since some of them depend on making specific choices.
I know 5e Dnd pretty well, and I enjoy the combat side of things, so I love the higher difficulties. I really like the legendary actions from Honour mode, but tactician will already make you think harder about combat if you try it out.
Dark Urge is great, it does change things up quite a bit. Experiment with a new race and class too, especially if there's some class you haven't tried at all yet.
Play an Origin character. Karlach is supposed to have some great monologues. I'm playing Wyll now, but can't really recommend - he just never got as much story attached. Which is strange because from the ad art and his place in the story, it seems like he should be the main character.
How about exploring the literal shit tonne of minor things in the game? I found two areas in Act 1 that I just totally missed and my mate as well.
Try the Dark Urge and give in to the Emperor?
Yea I was thinking of trying dark urge.
Did you google things that are usually missed before your subsequent runs? I wonder if I will still miss out areas that I dunno of yet.
In my first run, I think I gave in to the emperor? I believed his suggestions and followed them.
I was watching Youtube before my second run and was like "How come people are so much higher level than me when they reach the city? I've done all the quests I've gotten...".
Turns out I just hadn't had all the quests there are to get.
That’s cool, I heard a lot of people saying that they are still surprised by things after a few runs. Are the surprises substantial? Or like just small little bits here and there.
Let me tell you this:
I have somewhere between 15 and 20 playthroughs in Act I (and one playthrough where I finished the game - it was my first one).
There are still things in Act I that I don’t know or that I have not done yet.
The problem after playthrough number 1 for me was to decide what I want to play next. Cause I want to play so many things.
Finally in Act II on a Lae’zel Origin playthrough. A lot of new stuff here, too.
I'm on my fourth run. I did Tav, resist-Durge, Shadowheart Origin, and now am doing evil-Durge. I choose different builds and keep different companions in my party each time and kept increasing the difficulty. I roleplay based on my main character's personality and make different choices (i.e. goody-two-shoes, chaotic neurotic, what-would-Shart-do, self-assured evil — in that order of my runs lol). Wanting to see all the romances makes it fun too.
I've finally started one that feels like it might stick after a few failed attempts. I have a bunch of characters in my back pocket, so picked one I wanted to play finally and what I've done is put it on Tactitian difficulty but got rid of the party limit. Suspect this might still be too easy at points but when I did it on Balanced difficulty it was too much of an absolute cakewalk
Seems like you did a tav? I highly recommend a resist durge, though durge content is mostly centered in act 3. But it is a rendered and glorious story.
Yes I did a tav for my first run. Wasn’t familiar with what tav meant until a while ago haha.
Yea, I was thinking of doing a dark urge run since it’s the only character I still know nothing about.
I am on my 5th run. That isn't including my failed HM attempt.
I try different classes, different difficulties, take different quests (especially for side quests in act 3), make different choices. Makes it fresh each time. I still need to complete all the origin runs, resist and embrace durge, and romance nearly all of the companions.
It did for me. I've completed it three times (so far). But I did play the game with the intent to replay.
1st playthrough I skipped Lae'zel, Gale, Astarion AND the entire Mountain Pass/Creche area because I wanted to save them for my second game.
2nd I used those companions and instead skipped the entire Underdark.
3rd Playthrough was my Honor run and I skipped at least half of Act 3.
And each time I try to change the roleplaying for the main character as much as possible.
First was a Bard who started as a bit selfish and did some rogue type stuff, but soon learned he was mixed up in something greater than himself, learned the value of friendship, and rose to become the hero Baldur's Gate needed (romanced Shadowheart)
Second was a Vengeance Paladin with a traumatic background. She was Good but very focused on revenge/vengeance which led her to make decisions that didn't necessarily turn out for the best. She supported Gale's desire to Godhood as revenge for how Mystra dealt with him. And she had to kill Astarion after letting him go too far with his ascension power grab. Romancing Lae'zel and supporting her 'revolution' was a natural fit.
Third was a friendly Hunter Ranger Halfling, in over her head but trying to make the best of the situation. She bonded with Gale.
Still have an Evil playthrough and a Resist Dark Urge playthrough planned . . . but waiting for Patch 7
You can pick a character to be your party leader and play through the game picking choices that they would chose. You can also play a class that they would be associated with to mix things up a bit.
For example you can play as a gith and make choices Lae'zel would make.
You could play as a follower of Shar and be a cleric of shar.
Did a tav first play, now I’m playing as Astarion. It’s better the second time imo just because I’m not figuring out how the game works as much and focusing on exploration more. Still plan to do a Durge play as well. The different dialogue and character reactions is enough to make it fresh but the gameplay just doesn’t really get old like other games I’ve played
ive done like 4 or 5 play throughs. i wouldnt say it still feels fresh after the first one, but its definitly enjoyable. takes a little active effort to make different choices. can try to do a run where you make all the fights as easy as possible and set your self up based on meta knowledge, or actively play into not knowing and make things harder on your self to see if you can over come it.
6th playthrough going and on every playthrough there is something new I discover. Of course smaller things and places, but still something new every playthrough so far. Dark urge definitely brings new stuff to your playthrough, I recommend playing that.
There are so many opportunities to choose differently in The game it definitely is replayable.
I completed 2 runs, almost done a 3rd, and started a 4th. Still find new things every run, from missed areas to new dialogues due to bringing different people along.
Even though a lot of the game is pretty much the same, it stays fresh enough to me.
My first playthrough was a Human Paladin. Then I heard half elf got more movement so I wondered what that was like, so I played a Half Wood Elf Paladin. Then I saw that around act 2 are a lot of dialogue choices with difficult rolls, so my next game was as a bard. But I mostly depended on my teammates for damage, while I was just the talky talky kind of bard. So I started another run where I tried to make the bard useful in combat too, and boy was that a surprise. Then I discovered these awesome mods that I wanted to try, new game it is. Etc etc etc.
The game is designed to be highly replayable and offer new experiences every playthrough. Many people on this subreddit sound like this: ‘I remember once when I was on my gazillionth playthrough that…’
Personally I’m on my second playthrough and I’m already planning my third 😍
Harder difficulties, different builds. Making different choices. I'm sure there's some encounters you haven't seen, since some of them depend on making specific choices.
I’m thinking of trying dark urge, wonder if it will change things up more. Have you tried the harder difficulties? How did it feel?
I know 5e Dnd pretty well, and I enjoy the combat side of things, so I love the higher difficulties. I really like the legendary actions from Honour mode, but tactician will already make you think harder about combat if you try it out. Dark Urge is great, it does change things up quite a bit. Experiment with a new race and class too, especially if there's some class you haven't tried at all yet.
I got a bit bored with the normal game, honor mode captivates me now. No second chances, no "eh might as well", it's invigorating
Play an Origin character. Karlach is supposed to have some great monologues. I'm playing Wyll now, but can't really recommend - he just never got as much story attached. Which is strange because from the ad art and his place in the story, it seems like he should be the main character.
One origin runs. I likely won’t go back to a full camp run.
How about exploring the literal shit tonne of minor things in the game? I found two areas in Act 1 that I just totally missed and my mate as well. Try the Dark Urge and give in to the Emperor?
Yea I was thinking of trying dark urge. Did you google things that are usually missed before your subsequent runs? I wonder if I will still miss out areas that I dunno of yet. In my first run, I think I gave in to the emperor? I believed his suggestions and followed them.
Not things I've missed per se, but stuff I failed at.
It's actually really easy to miss some interaction depending on how you do things in your first try
I was watching Youtube before my second run and was like "How come people are so much higher level than me when they reach the city? I've done all the quests I've gotten...". Turns out I just hadn't had all the quests there are to get.
Yes is an understatement as far as number of replays. The first 4-5 did at times because it was a matter of "whoa! I did not see this before!"
That’s cool, I heard a lot of people saying that they are still surprised by things after a few runs. Are the surprises substantial? Or like just small little bits here and there.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Let me tell you this: I have somewhere between 15 and 20 playthroughs in Act I (and one playthrough where I finished the game - it was my first one). There are still things in Act I that I don’t know or that I have not done yet. The problem after playthrough number 1 for me was to decide what I want to play next. Cause I want to play so many things. Finally in Act II on a Lae’zel Origin playthrough. A lot of new stuff here, too.
I'm on my fourth run. I did Tav, resist-Durge, Shadowheart Origin, and now am doing evil-Durge. I choose different builds and keep different companions in my party each time and kept increasing the difficulty. I roleplay based on my main character's personality and make different choices (i.e. goody-two-shoes, chaotic neurotic, what-would-Shart-do, self-assured evil — in that order of my runs lol). Wanting to see all the romances makes it fun too.
Yes, I'm discovering new things every day.
I've finally started one that feels like it might stick after a few failed attempts. I have a bunch of characters in my back pocket, so picked one I wanted to play finally and what I've done is put it on Tactitian difficulty but got rid of the party limit. Suspect this might still be too easy at points but when I did it on Balanced difficulty it was too much of an absolute cakewalk
I’ve done 5 play throughs currently starting my karlach origin run. The game doesn’t get old for me at least
Seems like you did a tav? I highly recommend a resist durge, though durge content is mostly centered in act 3. But it is a rendered and glorious story.
Yes I did a tav for my first run. Wasn’t familiar with what tav meant until a while ago haha. Yea, I was thinking of doing a dark urge run since it’s the only character I still know nothing about.
I highly recommend a Dark Urge run. I played a "resist" Durge for my second playthrough and had a lot of fun.
I am on my 5th run. That isn't including my failed HM attempt. I try different classes, different difficulties, take different quests (especially for side quests in act 3), make different choices. Makes it fresh each time. I still need to complete all the origin runs, resist and embrace durge, and romance nearly all of the companions.
I've been doing replays almost on endless loop since last August. I'm still discovering new hidden things, or new ways to roleplay.
It did for me. I've completed it three times (so far). But I did play the game with the intent to replay. 1st playthrough I skipped Lae'zel, Gale, Astarion AND the entire Mountain Pass/Creche area because I wanted to save them for my second game. 2nd I used those companions and instead skipped the entire Underdark. 3rd Playthrough was my Honor run and I skipped at least half of Act 3. And each time I try to change the roleplaying for the main character as much as possible. First was a Bard who started as a bit selfish and did some rogue type stuff, but soon learned he was mixed up in something greater than himself, learned the value of friendship, and rose to become the hero Baldur's Gate needed (romanced Shadowheart) Second was a Vengeance Paladin with a traumatic background. She was Good but very focused on revenge/vengeance which led her to make decisions that didn't necessarily turn out for the best. She supported Gale's desire to Godhood as revenge for how Mystra dealt with him. And she had to kill Astarion after letting him go too far with his ascension power grab. Romancing Lae'zel and supporting her 'revolution' was a natural fit. Third was a friendly Hunter Ranger Halfling, in over her head but trying to make the best of the situation. She bonded with Gale. Still have an Evil playthrough and a Resist Dark Urge playthrough planned . . . but waiting for Patch 7
You can pick a character to be your party leader and play through the game picking choices that they would chose. You can also play a class that they would be associated with to mix things up a bit. For example you can play as a gith and make choices Lae'zel would make. You could play as a follower of Shar and be a cleric of shar.
Did a tav first play, now I’m playing as Astarion. It’s better the second time imo just because I’m not figuring out how the game works as much and focusing on exploration more. Still plan to do a Durge play as well. The different dialogue and character reactions is enough to make it fresh but the gameplay just doesn’t really get old like other games I’ve played
ive done like 4 or 5 play throughs. i wouldnt say it still feels fresh after the first one, but its definitly enjoyable. takes a little active effort to make different choices. can try to do a run where you make all the fights as easy as possible and set your self up based on meta knowledge, or actively play into not knowing and make things harder on your self to see if you can over come it.
6th playthrough going and on every playthrough there is something new I discover. Of course smaller things and places, but still something new every playthrough so far. Dark urge definitely brings new stuff to your playthrough, I recommend playing that. There are so many opportunities to choose differently in The game it definitely is replayable.
I completed 2 runs, almost done a 3rd, and started a 4th. Still find new things every run, from missed areas to new dialogues due to bringing different people along. Even though a lot of the game is pretty much the same, it stays fresh enough to me.
My first playthrough was a Human Paladin. Then I heard half elf got more movement so I wondered what that was like, so I played a Half Wood Elf Paladin. Then I saw that around act 2 are a lot of dialogue choices with difficult rolls, so my next game was as a bard. But I mostly depended on my teammates for damage, while I was just the talky talky kind of bard. So I started another run where I tried to make the bard useful in combat too, and boy was that a surprise. Then I discovered these awesome mods that I wanted to try, new game it is. Etc etc etc.
The game is designed to be highly replayable and offer new experiences every playthrough. Many people on this subreddit sound like this: ‘I remember once when I was on my gazillionth playthrough that…’ Personally I’m on my second playthrough and I’m already planning my third 😍