Baldur’s Gate 3 players claim there’s a “wrong” way to play the game

Michelle Cornelia
Baldur's Gate 3 header

Baldur’s Gate 3 may allow players to play the game the way they want, but according to some players, there’s actually a “wrong” way to play the game.

A part of Baldur’s Gate 3 charm is essentially giving players the freedom to progress through the game the way they want. Players are always free to take their time completing quests and exploring places, meaning anyone can jump in the game and play at their own pace.

Depending on your choices, the game will lead you to different endings. And despite this being up to the player’s choice, a portion of the community claims that there’s a “wrong” way to play the game.

This started in a Reddit thread, where a player shared their friend’s experience of playing the game in under 60 hours. The player mentioned they were surprised when their friend told them he was done with the game despite only playing “a little bit more than 50 hours.”

At first, the OP was a bit shocked, but they wanted their friend to “play the game the way he wanted to.” They added, “From time to time, he told me that he either steamrolled through the fights or really struggled with normal encounters, which confused me again, but I thought ‘you do you’ and let it go.”

After digging for more information, it turns out that their friend had only done the main quests, skipping all the other quests outside of them. Ultimately, their friend decided to have Gale blow himself up, ending the game in Act 2.

The OP wrote, “I believe that everyone should play how they want to, but doing what he did and then saying that the game was ‘mid’ and he wouldn’t play again just makes me kind of angry.”

Players in the comments were baffled, and some didn’t hesitate to point out that was the “wrong” way to play the game, given the “cheese ending.”

One user mentioned that the friend did the playthrough wrong because they opted to speedrun the game, meaning they missed out on many combat and magic items that could add or change their build, adding to the “potential level-ups to explore.” 

Baldur's Gate 3 Gale smiling

“So even if someone only enjoys combat and build crafting, the best way to play is still to explore and experience as much of the game as you can,” they explained. There were also players who just straight-up roasted the OP’s friend.

“So, generously, he played 30% of the game and lost,” one person wrote. Meanwhile, another claimed, “So, he played a game called Baldur’s Gate without ever seeing Baldur’s Gate…”

While Baldur’s Gate 3 allows players to play the game the way they want, it’s clear that some players prefer to explore everything in the game and not rush things out.