Defiance Bay / ACT II -- order?

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

Hi.  First time through the game and am exploring Defiance Bay.  I am a completionist and trying to make sure I don't miss anything. Does it make sense to first do the opening quest for each of the three factions, THEN do catacombs, Never Far From a Queen... then pick a faction and do the second faction quest, then do the side quests in Defiance Bay, then do the three main quests post "Queen"?

 

Does that make sense?R

 

ight now I am wandering around just doing random side quests and I keep thinking i should just go into the catacombs...  but I haven't.  Do some side quests open up only after finishing Never Far From a Queen?

 

Thanks!

[Tigranes]

Do whatever you want and it's fine. 

 

Only exceptions are:

1) Faction quests: each one has a point of no return, after which you are locked out of other factions. Usually it's signalled in dialogue by the questgivers. Check online walkthroughs if you're anxious.

2) Some Defiance Bay quests are gone if you complete Act II, but that is still far, far away, basically after you get to see the

Duc

.

[Jojobobo]

The Forgotten is perhaps the easiest task to miss, only being opened up if you complete a certain Ondra's Gift quest and potentially requiring you to revisit the quest giver if you've already met them (and so it's a curve ball, as you expect people to present you with their task/quest on first meeting). Other than that, as long as you explore maps thoroughly, you shouldn't miss anything - which is a little easier said than done as there isn't any fog of war on city maps making it readily apparent as to where you haven't been yet, and some areas that may look innocuous from an area map overview do actually pack quests or tasks (the one with Gordy is a prime example). 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Jojobobo

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

Thanks for the advice (so far).  I am really enjoying this game more than I thought.  As a rabid BG fan (played dozens of times over many, many years), I was worried this would be a pale imitation.  I am finding myself in Defiance Bay almost as confused and excited as the first time I wandered around Amn in BG2. This is a good thing.  Where do I go, what do I do?  So fun.. btu also I don't want to mess things up.  First time I played BG2 I left for Spellhold way too early, not realizing until later how much I missed.  ...

[Sethanon]

About faction quests:

 

1. Go to Dozens, take their quest and retrieve armor for them. After this, you can use their shop.

 

2. Go to Crucible Keep, take their quest and rescue one animancer for them. After this, you can use their shop.

 

3. Go to Doemenels, steal jewelry for them. After this, you can use their shop. Then go to the second floor and take quest from Bricanta(?) Doemenel (lady in the back of the second floor). This is kinda "subquest" you can take from this faction even before you decide for them.

 

So, do these first quests for each of them, shop what you want.

 

And then decide which faction you choose. You will receive one final quest from this chosen faction.

This is the best way to do all the quests you can.

 

Crucible Knights - good guys, something like Radiant(?) Heart in BGII Temple District

Doemenels - thieves, bad guys

Dozens - graverobbers, adventurers, something between those two^^

 

Also, when you select Crucible Knights for your faction, you can murder everyone in Doemenels Manor and in Expedition Hall - there are no "bad" cosequencies for you. Just a lot of usefull gold and items (also very good bow in Expedition Hall).

When you select Doemenels for your faction you can murder everyone in Expedition Hall.

 

I dont kill Crucible Knights, never did, dont know if it has some impact in the city, like if those Justiciars wouldnt attack you then?

Edited October 13, 2016 by Sethanon

[jsaving]

I'd add that the alignment of the factions isn't as straightforward as it first appears.  The Crucible Knights present themselves as Lawful Good but have large numbers of Lawful Neutral and even Lawful Evil members in the mix who enjoy oppressing people under the guise of providing order.  The Dozens, on the other hand, started out as Chaotic Good and still have some who wish to help people despite having numerous Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil members who pillage under the guise of liberation. 

 

The one thing to watch for is inadvertently joining a faction.  Being a completionist actually works against you in this context because you may not want to leave the Dozens or Crucible (depending on who you encounter first) quest lines without, well, completing them.  And the warnings you receive about locking yourself out of the other factions are far, far too weak given the many instances in the game where you are able to talk/sneak/coerce your way out of similar situations.  If the devs are going to deliberately bar you from any role-playing that might reasonably let you do quests for multiple factions, then there should perhaps be a DM window -- like there is in BG2 when you leave Athkatla in search of Imoen -- telling the player to think carefully before making this choice because it can't be undone and effectively locks out some content.

 

There have actually been a fair number of players who didn't even know other factions *existed* when they bound themselves to the Dozens or the Crucible.  From a design point of view, it probably would have been better for the faction quests to involve "getting to know the other factions" so players could make a more informed choice.

[developershins]

The one thing to watch for is inadvertently joining a faction.  Being a completionist actually works against you in this context because you may not want to leave the Dozens or Crucible (depending on who you encounter first) quest lines without, well, completing them.  And the warnings you receive about locking yourself out of the other factions are far, far too weak given the many instances in the game where you are able to talk/sneak/coerce your way out of similar situations.

 

There have actually been a fair number of players who didn't even know other factions *existed* when they bound themselves to the Dozens or the Crucible.

 

Yep, this is totally what happened to me. I'm not super experienced with D&D style games where this is common, and I seem to have gotten myself into a situation where both the Crucible Knights and The Dozens don't want my help anymore (still not done with Defiance Bay content yet though). I think I got trapped by completing some quests that were "right there" instead of thinking through consequences. And I definitely felt like I wasn't quite aware of how at odds the groups were from the dialogs with them. I knew they disapproved of each other's behavior, but not to the point where I had to pick one or the other.

 

Choosing to not complete a quest is something we gamers are not often presented with in other game genres.

[JerekKruger]

2) Some Defiance Bay quests are gone if you complete Act II, but that is still far, far away, basically after you get to see the

Duc

.

 

One quest that is very easy to miss involves Kurren in Dunryd row. Basically after completing the first task for Lady Webb, go talk to him again.

[Blades of Vanatar]

You can also use the Doemenal shop after taking care of Kolcfeg for the daughter instead of working with Abredipsh/t. This is triggered by certain options made when dealing with Maea.