It’s not possible. I’ve got 1500 hours in this game and i was still finding random shit 1000 hours in. Just play a campaign knowing that you’ll need to play it at least three or four times to see most of the quests and outcomes. At least once as dark urge since that storyline is very different.
this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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I thought I was really complete on my first playthrough.
2nd time around, found I'd missed at least three big things on the first map 😃
Including an owl bear!
There are so many hidden little places like that. Especially in act 2 & 3.
One really hidden example is finding BOOOAL in the Underdark. I didn't find him until hundreds of hours played.
Man I didn't even know moonrise towers was a hub till like my third playthrough?
And didn't know about the early oubliette thing till multiple co op playthroughs after that!
Homie is just like;
"Whoa guys. I found a weird wall...
Should I stick my arm in it?"
In short be Asterion do crime.
First, I want to say that everyone should enjoy games how they want. That out of the way I want to make the argument for just rolling with the dice in bg3. Are there things you will miss out on - certainly. Will you make bad choices or get unlucky sometimes - for sure. But that is part of what makes it great, every choice, error, or unlucky roll will still result in the story moving forward and it will be your story. If you follow a guide and save scum you'll miss out on the adventure (you can't have adventure without risk). You'll also spend a lot of time reading and watching guides instead of just playing. Anyway, at least consider just going for it.
I really wish honor and difficulty were separate toggles - honor mode is awesome because it forces you to roll with things but I would not recommend it for a first playthrough due to the increased difficulty. IMO honor mode (for the honor part) is the only way the game should be played.
I'll also acknowledge that I do have a couple of things I would save scum on if I thought I'd only play once. But my couple things aren't universal and if you start taking everyone's advice on those you'll end up needing to save scum nearly everything.
Good luck, have fun!
Pretty sure there is a custom difficulty option at least on PC. I have not messed with it, but I would expect it to give you the ability to play Honor with every thing except the single save.
What you described exists. What I wish they had was the opposite - I want regular or story difficulty with only a single save.
I did a book collection run once. Collect as many unique books as possible in a single run. I got about 94% of the books in the game, which is as many as I think you can get in a single run. The remaining 6% is locked behind story branches that would eat into the 94% I did get.
And honestly? It wasn't that fun. I had to scour rooftops, look around in vases, cross-reference the wiki, reload the game because I made a wrong choice that seemed like a nothing choice at the time... And all I got were some notes. And they weren't even much better than the ones you get in a normal run.
And this was just books. I had to skip Gale's content entirely just to collect an extra note. There is a robe you can only get if you kill Karlach. There's simply too many branches for you to get everything.
You can't get 100%. You might be able to get 95%, but it won't be fun. From now on, I'll just clear the map markers before moving on, and that'll be enough for me.
kill Karlach
I would never lay a hand on my wife
Of course not. If you put a hand on her, it'd catch fire.
Luckily, there were no notes that required her to die. If there were, I'd have had a very hard choice to make...
My dick looks like a burnt hot dog but it's worth it
In one run (my Bhaal run) I killed her to get the robes from Wyll, then killed Wyll. I didn't need the robes, they just look good.
I kill you
You’re right, I think I’ll just play more casually. Do you have any links or recommendations so I don’t miss anything important? The only thing I know is that I can’t let the fire burn forever in Scene 1."
This page has all the activities in the game that are time sensitive. Anything not on this page can be done whenever. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Time_sensitive_activities
That's the wiki I used too. I found it way better than the other (fextralife?) one.
General advice to OP: If you're anxious, I would advise that you do a full, proper save (i.e. not a quick save) periodically.
When I get home, I'll have a wee look to see if there are any significant missable items not covered by the above guide.
But there are some collectibles and the like that are mutually exclusive, albeit not many.
thanks a lot!
Ha! Yeah, I mean no discouragement but I don't think the devs designed you to do everything in one run. I mean, there are certain items that you can't get unless certain important characters die. If you really wanted to collect everything that could be collected (just usable items, not junk) I imagine you'd have to play through the whole game 6 or more times.
You’re right, I think I’ll just play more casually. Do you have any links or recommendations so I don’t miss anything important? The only thing I know is that I can’t let the fire burn forever in Scene 1.
If you fail to get Gale out of the portal, reload your save. I thought he'd just show up later if you fail. He doesn't.
I always thought that was a bit lazy. Most other characters have multiple points in which you can recruit them. Not to mention you could lose Gale just because you had a bad dice roll.
I think it's so there's a reason Gale doesn't explode on you if ignored, or if you bite his hand off. I'd rather he just not explode, but hey ho.
Him exploding gives 2 different endings if you let him go boom at different points. All for three measly artifacts that you were just gonna sell anyways. Or gale can become a god. Dealers choice.
I'm a proud Gale hater, so I'd rather he die in a way that doesn't end my game.
He should reasonably be able to find artifacts on his own I would think, and he does eventually get passed the need to use them, but then that means most of his backstory gets abbreviated.
My first playthrough my character was too scared to touch the portal. My second playthrough I followed my dark urges. I didn't see Gale until I was a grown man.
thanks!
I put ~100 hours in and that was my biggest gripe. There were a few other minor things I missed, but none were as annoying as that. I never thought they'd lock a companion behind a skill check you could just totally fail.
Just save often, and maybe check the wiki after you're done with areas so you avoid spoilers.
Referencing a good wiki that has a checklist and where to find everything helps.
Do you guys collect barrels and chests?
There have been times where I go to camp and back to build towers to get to diffident areas.
I collected almost every barrel/crate in act 1
I also collected every dead goblin body. They're lighter than other bodies and you can toss them down to reanimate