Order of finishing game ?

saox

What is the optimal order to finish the game?

I usually played IWD, then did the TotLM, then HoW and ended it that way. Some one who made a mod that contained an item that required 2 pieces to be made spread them in IWD and HoW, but the smith is Conlan which requires you to trave between the two. If I finished the HoW campaign can I go back to Kuldahar and finish the main campaign ?

What are the possible orders and most fun to do ?

Yigor

Your party can go to Lonelywood from Kuldahar at any moment starting from level 9.

In order to come back, U should bring to Hjollder the Wylfdene's symbol on the Burial Isle.

Then U can go again to Lonelywood at any moment. 😎

saox

Yigor wrote: »

Your party can go to Lonelywood from Kuldahar at any moment starting from level 9.

In order to come back, U should bring to Hjollder the Wylfdene's symbol on the Burial Isle.

Then U can go again to Lonelywood at any moment. 😎

What if I kill the dragon in HoW? Can I come back then too ?

The_Baffled_King

In my opinion, there is no good order in which to complete IWD, HoW, and TotLM in one playthrough, and trying to do so inevitably makes each part less appealing, because the campaigns aren't balanced for parties that have completed the entirety of any of the other campaigns. Here's my recommended order:

(1) Make a save at the end of Chapter 3 (Severed Hand);
(2) Complete IWD;
(3) Return to the save made in Step (1);
(4) Go to Lonelywood, complete the quests there, and complete the first visit to the Barbarian camp;
(5) Make a save;
(6) Complete HoW;
(7) Return to the save made in Step (5);
(8) Complete TotLM.

If Burial Isle and/or the start of TotLM are proving a little too difficult, one can push the saves in steps (1) and/or (5) back a little later if desired, but the general idea of not playing any of the campaigns with all of the experience and items from another of the campaigns remains a good one.

saox

So once I kill the Dragon the game is essentially over right ?

The_Baffled_King

saox wrote: »

So once I kill the Dragon the game is essentially over right ?

No. Once you kill the dragon, you are transported back to the house in Kuldahar where you met Hjolder. Note that this means you are no longer able to start TotLM.

atcDave

Like a lot of things in Baldur’s Gate, the game provides you with a sort of breathless urgency to every quest which makes it a little tricky to run off on a side quest when another is still incomplete.

But that’s exactly what I normally do. I’ve settled into going off with Hjolder once I finish the Frost Giant caves. Then heading to TotLM right before I join with the Barbarians for the last act of HoW.

It’s not completely ideal from a narrative perspective and it does leave me without Pale Justice until the very end of the game. But I like where it puts me level wise at various stages, and it means I wrap up all three main quests in a pretty quick sequence.

Yigor

saox wrote: »

What if I kill the dragon in HoW? Can I come back then too ?

Already answered by @The_Baffled_King . 😎

Hermetics

I like to keep it simple. make my way to the end of lower dorns, then go luremaster to get the equipment to get the most of it for how, then finish belhifet. You're able to get everything including the mod content with that pathing.

Doing a bunch of back and forth for some sort of min maxing idk, sounds too memes for me.

Ultimately you don't really get to enjoy the best equipment in the game for very long which is a bit of a shame but it is what it is.

Cabal82

From the books in ID2, canonical order is ID, HoW and then TotLM. Which Im sadly not able to do in one playthrough.

Ridcully

For completeness I generally do the following

IWD - Get all the badges, but go back to Kuldahar not up the stairs
HoW - up to and including Burial Isle
TotLM - Complete
Finish HoW
Finish IWD

As far as I can work out the only thing this misses is you can't get the upgrade to the sword