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Aloy's Journey - Scalding Spear

#horizon forbidden west #hfw scenery #hfw journal

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Aloy's Journey - Plainsong

#horizon forbidden west #hfw scenery #hfw journal

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Horizon Forbidden West : The Complete Edition

Aloy's Journey - Shadow's Reach

#horizon forbidden west #hfw scenery #hfw journal

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Horizon Forbidden West - The Complete Edition

Aloy's Journey - No Man's Land

#horizon forbidden west #hfw scenery #hfw journal

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Horizon Forbidden West - The Complete Edition

Aloy's Journey - The Daunt

#horizon forbidden west #hfw scenery #hfw journal

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BG3 Honour Mode Act 1 Route

I am currently playing Honour Mode in Baldur's Gate 3 and I wanted to start adding notes/guides to help others through it if they need it. Honour Mode is the new difficulty in Baldur's Gate 3 that's just above Tactician, and you only get one save file. So if you TPK (total party kill) it really is game over.

I haven't completed it yet, but I'm finding it surprisingly not difficult. However, I did a lot of planning. The first act is supposedly the most difficult. I'll add and update with more encounters as I go along.

I'm playing a custom character (Tav), as a moon druid. This is a guide for a Good/neutral aligned run.

Continue reading for the Level 1 to 4 Guide. FULL SPOILERS ahead.

Nautiloid:

pick up all the cartilogenous chests in the first room

rescue US

Free Shadowheart

kill the cultist thralls (for XP), either use the console or fight them

loot everything (you will need the gold)

there is a pink nautiloid explody vat by Shadowheart. Pick this up.

prepare the Command spell on Shadowheart before the Cambion encounter. I replaced Shield of Faith.

drop the chests you picked up in the door way right before the last sphincter. If you can't move past them, neither can the extra cambions. This will buy you time to kill things and loot the place

collect all the nautiloid explosive vats and the void bulbs

use command on Commander Zhalk. Save your spell slots for command. If you can't get him to drop it, you will have to kill him for the sword.

if he drops it or if he is dead, loot the sword right away and beeline for the helm. Go into party view and MAKE SURE THIS SWORD IS IN TAV'S INVENTORY RIGHT AWAY (just in case you lose your companions at anypoint)

The Crash Site

Save Shadowheart

loot everything. You need at least one set of thieves tools. Disarm kit is a bonus.

skip the intellect devourers by scaling the cliffs on the right.

Save Gale

Save Lae'zel

go back to the ship and kill the Intellect Devourers (xp!)

go find the Harper chest by the beach where Astarion is hanging out

go get ganked by Astarion

get some rest if needed. Switch in Astarion.

go to the Ruined refectory

intimidate or persuade the bandits there. No one gets any cheese.

Do not go into the refectory here. Go around the back, find the hatch to the crypt

read the Book of the Dead to give you inspiration.

fight the dead monks

go get Withers.

go the other crypt and open the trapped sarcophagus. If you don't have a disarm kit, keep 3 of your party outside, position 1 by the sarcophagus, turn on Turn-Based mode, loot the sarcophagus and dash out before the trap goes off. It's a nice spear.

Important tips:

long rest when your health and spell slots are low. Try to be at every major encounter fully rested

loot everything. Find every chest. Sell everything. If you fail survival checks, start digging anyway. You need all the gold.

COLLECT ALL THE EXPLOSIVE things. Put them in your camp traveller chest but loot them. I don't care if you think Barrelmancy is an exploit, this is Honour Mode.

The Emerald Grove

get some rest if needed

kill the rest of the bandits in the refectory for XP. Remember to have an escape route if things go south.

Tip: you can use the door to block attacks, and this way you can concentrate on any enemies that ran into the room.

go to the Emerald Grove, help Aradin, Wyll and Zevlor fight the goblins

do all the Emerald grove stuff

add Wyll to your group

talk to Ethel. Do NOT tell her about your tadpole. She will stay at the Grove and everytime you long rest, her stock replenishes. Suggested purchases: health potions, elixir of hill giant strength

only use gold on potions. Resist the temptation to buy all the dyes like I do

talk to Kagha. DO NOT USE FRIENDS ON KAGHA. Unless you want to trigger the tiefling massacre.

rescue Arabella

talk to Nettie. Loot all the scripts in the library.

Go talk to Alfira. Tell her you will help her write her song, so you get proficiency with a musical instrument. It's a bonus if you don't have a bard in the group, but distracting people will be very helpful.

don't fight the harpies just yet

Go find Sazza and free her (she will make it easier to get past the a goblin checkpoint).

DO NOT GO OUT the Emerald grove. Take the passageway behind the prison, and kill the goblins there for XP. Make sure to keep Sazza hidden in the back.

before you heal/wakeup the unconscious halfling druid there, pickpocket him for a +1 Nature head piece.

get out of the secret passageway. Go scale the cliffs in front of the Emerald Gold entrance. At the top, loot a skeleton for a Guidance neckpiece.

find the spider hole and grab he spider egg sac.

continue down the road and talk to the Absolute cultists. This is important: Try not to fight them. Have them "get revenge" on the owlbear instead.

it's up to you if you want to use the tadpoles or not. Tadpole powers make things a bit easier, but not necessary. Personally I have been resisting them.

go get Scratch

DO NOT talk to the Absolute siblings yet. Wait until you are level 4 for the Owlbear encounter

Blighted Village/Waukeen's Rest

persuade the goblins in Blighted Village to let you pass without a fight.

Rescue Barcus Wroot. Gnomes can't fly well.

If you trigger a fight, focus fire on the head goblin Fezzerk first. Once his health is low, he will beg for his life instead.

Talk to the ogres if you are confident in your persuasion skills or if you are sure you can beat them. At level 3, it's doable but a bit more difficult. You will want to kill them for Lump's intellect headpiece, but you may want them to fight for you instead.

You can find the cellar in the Apothacary shop, loot all the potions and herbs there

optional but tricky depending on your rolls and positioning: go kill the skeletons and talk to the mirror. Go find the Necromancy of Thay. Tav should probably read the book.

head north out of Blighted Village

find an uncommon (green) dagger stuck in some roasting mystery meat.

interrupt the bugbear and ogre in love if you want. It will be a bit of a challenging fight at level 3.

Go below the bridge, to avoid the hyenas/gnolls

Go to the tollhouse and talk to the paladins. Do not fight them.

If you collected the nautiloid explosive vats like I told you to do in the Nautiloid ship, start decorating around the Paladins with them. Two of them beside his desk should do. Do not fight them.

Go get Karlach

go to Waukeen's rest and do all the quests there. You can visit the Zhentarim hideout but be careful, if you fail with the guy keeping guard, he will blow you up. I recommend maybe keeping someone waiting outside.

Goblin Camp/Shattered Sanctum

go talk to the goblins. You can walk around if you are able to persuade the goblins at the first checkpoint

go talk to Volo.

go talk to Crusher. "Persuade" him to kiss your foot. He will go away and sulk alone on the bridge to the entrance

go inside the Shattered Sanctum.

talk to Priestess Gut. She will wait for you in her chambers

Rescue Volo

Rescue Liam

optional: talk to the Priest of Loviatar, Abdirak and get beaten by him. You get a buff.

I do not recommend talking to Dror Ragzlin or Minthara at this point, or attempting to rescue Halsin. If the talks go bad, you will have to fight.

if you still need more XP, you can fight the newborn gnolls on the Risen Road. They should be easy, but be prepared to kill the hyena runner fast, or deal with gnoll adds.

with Lae'zel in your party, you can also visit the Githyanki patrol and talk to Voss. Convince Lae'zel to play along and tell Voss that we'll help them find the "weapon" they seek. You DO NOT want to fight this patrol. They will murder you.

at some point after all this you should hit Level 4.

Owlbear

go to the Owlbear cave and head inside with the siblings

I'd recommend opening the Selune chest first to get the neck piece

go fight the Owlbear. In Honour mode, the Owlbear legendary action is that she will summon her mate so now you get to fight TWO full grown owlbears with the same HP and abilitlies AND the cub.

the siblings will distract the 2nd owlbear ideally.

Stay by the creek, it's a narrow section and doesn't let the owlbears maneouver very well

focus fire one, then the other.

make sure to pick up the owlbear egg and don't kill the cub.

Tip:

always kill one at a time if you can. This will knock enemies off the board, less chances for them to attack you. Even at 1 HP, enemies can cause trouble.

At Level Four you should be ready for most of the more trickier fights. I would recommend being at Level 5 to kill the Spider Matriarch, but all the other boss encounters in the area should be manageable. I'll write up my strat guide for the next post.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 honour mode #bg3 honor mode #bg3 strategy guide #baldur's gate 3 strategy guide #bg3 spoilers

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The Wilderness vs The Underdark

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 scenery #honour mode

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#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 scenery

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Rosymorn Monastery Trail

#wyll x tav #tav!kestrel #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 scenery #tav x wyll

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Down by the river.

#wyll x tav #wyll ravenguard #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 camp #bg3 scenery

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Wyll and Kestrel, early days.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #wyll x tav #tav!kestrel

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#bg3 dark urge #baldur's gate 3 #dark urge playthrough #durge #durge!raven #bg3 gif

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My Dark Urge, Raven, in all of his gothy glory.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #half-drow sorceror #durge #dark urge #durge!Raven

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UPDATE!

We have a magic mirror now. Let's gooooo

I want to restart my Durge playthrough because I don't like his hair. Is that a thing normal people do?

#patch 3 #baldur's gate 3

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Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs I want to complete:

Basic Tav, bard: complete

Durge, sorceror, on Redemption arc: still in act one

Neutral Good Tav, spore druid: still in act one

Monk Tav

Paladin Durge

One of the origin characters All of the origin characters

#I'm never going to see the sun or touch grass again will I? #baldur's gate 3

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I think I found my Durge. (I realized the last one looked too much like my sister's ex and there was no way I could put that guy into any romance situations.)

He's a half-drow sorceror with white dragon ancestry. I've been spoiled on some of the Durge's story, but it wasn't surprising, I kind of guessed that's how it would end up. Still, I wish I found out through the game. There was just no way I would have stayed unspoiled about this, the way I keep eating up BG3 content.

Anyway, his name is Raven, and unlike my Tav, Kestrel, he's confident, a little arrogant and less emotional. He doesn't want to be a murderhobo, but he doesn't have a lot of interest in becoming a hero.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #dark urge #durge #durge!Raven

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I want to do at least one more playthrough and this will sound super messed up... but I want to play this bard, exact same character, all from scratch. Why?

I consider him my first character and going into BG3 blind, I had no idea what I was doing so I messed up a lot of important decisions. For example... I didn't speak to Wyll after the Tiefling party, so I never got that moment for him and in this playthrough, Kestrel (my Tav) and Wyll are my OTP, so I feel like I missed out on an important life event for them.

There's other stuff too without going into too much spoilery territory but apparently there is so much in the Underdark that I missed and I had to be mean to Gale because of a stupid technical bug which made him overstep boundaries, and IS NOT GALE'S FAULT, but my character had to "break his heart" anyway.

I've actually enjoyed role-play in Baldur's Gate 3, and I've become fond of my urchin bard, and playing bard in this game is such a treat. I cannot imagine playing without music. So I may do a casual second run with this Tav and I feel like it might be a bit much but I don't mind putting in that time.

He's been through some shit.

#baldur's gate 3 #tav stories #tav!kestrel #why am i this way about this game? #tav