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How much of the game is left from Spellhold

I played the unenhanced version 20 years ago or so and got as far as the Underdark, and remember feeling that there was still loads more to go.
In a recent playthough I got as far as Spellhold, thinking the same.

Now SoD exists, I've just started BG2EE after completing BG1EE and SoD, and I'm curious as to how much is actually left of the game.
Once I reach Spellhold, am I roughly 50% of the way through, or is it more than that?
I'm talking just BG2EE here, not TOB.

I'm quite a completionist, although if the main quest needs urgency I will tend to focus on that rather than side quests (such as the main quest in Mass Effect - it was literally called 'Race Against Time' so I just went at it rather than doing petty side quests for the UPS man).

The 'howlong' website lists it as 180 hours or so for a completionist playthrough. It only took me around 17 hours to get to Spellhold though, which suggests that there is loads of the game left after that.

Comments

  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    If you left all the side quests from Athkatla and surroundings you are far, very far to SoA ending.
    I would say you did 15% of SoA.
  • lummoxybezlummoxybez Member Posts: 33
    Okay, cool.

    In my first play through I did the following Athkatla quests: D'Arnise Hold, Firkraag, Trademeet, and the Planar Sphere.

    I assume that if I do these before Spellhold, then I've done a huge chunk of the game.
    If I leave them, can I do these quests once I have gone through Spellhold and The Underdark etc...?

    Thanks for the swift answer btw!
  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    edited October 2019
    lummoxybez wrote: »
    Okay, cool.

    In my first play through I did the following Athkatla quests: D'Arnise Hold, Firkraag, Trademeet, and the Planar Sphere.

    I assume that if I do these before Spellhold, then I've done a huge chunk of the game.
    If I leave them, can I do these quests once I have gone through Spellhold and The Underdark etc...?

    Thanks for the swift answer btw!

    Yep, you will not have any problem to do these quests after Underdark, except if you have Nalia in your team because she wants you to go to De'Arnise Keep and after a while she'll leave.
    Maybe you can plan what characters you will want in your party and then decide which side-quests you will complete before Spellhold (you need at least 15000 gp anyway)
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    edited October 2019
    About half the game involves optional side quests in and around Athkatla with another quarter devoted to your Spellhold-to-Athkatla adventures. If you mean what you say about focusing on the main questline when it seems urgent (and what could be more urgent than saving a friend while taking revenge on your captor), it is possible to be only 10-15 percent of the way through the game when you arrive at Spellhold. Or if you take the more common completionist route and do every possible side quest before heading to Spellhold, it is possible to be halfway through the game when you arrive at Spellhold.
  • megamike15megamike15 Member Posts: 2,666
    a good chunk of the quests are in chapter 2. so unless you have mods that adds stuff to say chapter 6 it's just a straight line to the end once you get back after chapter 5.
  • masteralephmasteraleph Member Posts: 274
    megamike15 wrote: »
    a good chunk of the quests are in chapter 2. so unless you have mods that adds stuff to say chapter 6 it's just a straight line to the end once you get back after chapter 5.

    Are available in chapter 2. But they’re also available in chapter 3 and 6.

  • lummoxybezlummoxybez Member Posts: 33
    Understood, and thanks.

    I think that there are probably loads more things to do in Athkatla than I listed above.
    Despite me saying that I am a completionist, the plot sometimes makes me abandon side-quests and push on with the urgent 'save the universe' quest. Therefore, trying to figure out how to open up the various lich tombs seems pointless to me unless I was playing an Undead Hunter.

    SoD felt like that. I did no companion quests, no romances and hardly any other side quests cos, you know, stopping the relentless army destroying everything in it's path seemed to be a tiny bit more important.
  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 635
    What you're describing is pretty much a thing in all rpgs

    The main plot will always feel grander, more pressing, more urgent than any other sidequest and it could be illogical to not pursue it at all times.

    For an Evil charname, who isn't all that fussed about saving Imoen then rushing to spellhold might not be top priority if other lucrative options appear.
    At some point you'd probably wanna go get even with Irenicus but it doesn't feel like much of a rush if you don't care about Imoen.

    This can't really be said about
    what happens when you resurface from the underdark and have to reclaim your soul and divinity before you perish.. (there isn't actually a timer, but the dialogue in the game very much suggests you don't have much time.. wether your char believes it or not is a different matter)

    It's the same with ToB. The situation is such that it feels illogical and strange not to rush towards the ending.. and spending weeks in the watchers keep is probably even crazier hehe)
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    Depending on your choices you can do or skip a big area after spellhod, in both the cases you will reach an other place when you at a certain point you have to do 1 of 3 possible quests, but optionally you can do all 3.
    I don't want to spoil you more than that, but are quests related to the main one, that you can do or skip only after the asylum and before you come back to town for the last chapters of soa.
    Also this, with the quests that you have skipped in chap 2, affects how much game is left to play.

    If you plan to play the game again in the future, thing that i suggest, dont worry and play as you feel, in future runs you will have new content to discover, and new weapons and items, as each quest allow you to loot or buy unique equipment.

  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    I don't like to RP with both low INT and WIS. If even one of Charname's mental stats is above average I can live with reasoning that Irenicus is obviously super powerful so I need to beef up my skills before taking him on. I don't normally leave any of the optional quests for post-Spellhold unless I really want to play with Imoen in my group or I want to try a speed-run.
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    I don't like to RP with both low INT and WIS. If even one of Charname's mental stats is above average I can live with reasoning that Irenicus is obviously super powerful so I need to beef up my skills before taking him on. I don't normally leave any of the optional quests for post-Spellhold unless I really want to play with Imoen in my group or I want to try a speed-run.

    Funny, I tend to do the opposite (admitedly, depends on my alignment).

    If playing good or neutral, I generaly only do minimal quests in chapters 2/3 : the stronghold quest, and some early quests in Athkatla to get 15k GP. Then it's a rush to Spellhold and the rest of the quests are done in Chapter 6.
    Although, now that I think about it, it is true that chapter 6 puts more "urgency" on you than chapters 2/3. But Elhan's attitude pisses me off and I RP it as a "he should have been more honest. He can wait now". Not much of a reason, but it's all i've got ^^.

    Off course, if playing evil, I don't feel any urgency in chapters 2/3.
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