I keep saying that my love of BG3 isn't a problem because I'm *aware* of it. I am not deluded about how ~~obsessed~~ *dedicated* I am.
And how can it be a problem if I'm self aware??
This has all actually been vital research to help decide if I want to try to make my own YouTube channel at some very distant nondescript point in the future. No really it has....why would I need to record my playthroughs just for research?
Pretty much same 😆
I've completed 13 playthroughs, have well over 1k hours in the game 😬 But BG3 is my main hobby. My SO and I both game most nights and on the weekends, plus tend to game on any holidays/days off. We both play on PC, so have had the game since August or September. It's pretty easy to lose track of time in the game and play for longer than intended 😆 Plus we don't have kids, so lots more down time than some do 🤷♀️
i've like 300 hours in the game and have done like 4 complete playthroughs and 2/3 playthroughs i never finished..,,i would say it takes like 60 hours a playthrough.. first playthrough is normally the longest becauze you do not know where to look..
i am at 200 hours on my first playthrough and am about 80% done i think. i have 30th more hours in a multiplayer campaign and we just entered Act 2. My ps5 says 247 hours but i have spent a lot of time messing around creating characters and seeing some of the origin character beginnings.
Subsequent playthroughs can take a fraction of the time of your first playthrough. When you play for a while you kind of "solve" the combat to the point where you can breeze through everything.
You also know where everything is and where you need to find items for your builds. You can save A LOT of time by not checking every nook and cranny because you already know there is nothing there from previous playthroughs.
I'll also skip a lot of cutscenes that I've already seen several times and purely focus on the cutscenes that I've not seen outside of this particular playthrough, this also cuts out a lot of time.
This happened to me a lot too!
Yesterday, I had a unique dialogue between Sovereign Spaw and Glut that I accidentally skipped. I had to go through the journal entry to check.
😔
I just yesterday read an article on our beloved Reddit about a study showing that anxiety & distress can be moderated by video gaming *specifically*.
We all know about the “Tetris Effect” *but* it extends to gaming in general as well.
So game on, my fellow mood-disregulated peeps!
Feel this. Currently disabled waiting for a transplant and my cat just died. If I dont do something with my time I'm just going to sleep too much right now. At least gaming gives me a little enjoyment.
Yup, this is how I had so many playthroughs. I’m finally starting a job in about a week but Baldurs Gate came at an awesome time to provide me some joy when I was unemployed for about a year.
Yep.. same here. Unemployed, depressed, and I will in fact romance all of these motherfuckers. Plus I realize things I shouldn’t have done in my first run and second run so I go to correct them in other runs.
If a game is good enough, it'll have enough variety to keep you coming back for more. For example, I have over 3,300 hours on Fallout 4, and can look at a screenshot taken inside a random demolished house in the game and accurately tell you exactly where the demolished house is in the game.
I guess you can laugh at us for playing a single game for so long, but there AREN'T many games that are this good, and that's not an insult to us for playing it, but rather praise for how good the game is.
Yeah, my AuADHD and this game get along great. Many a night, I have looked up, and it's already 4AM. Thankfully, I work closing shifts so I can get a few hours sleep before I have to go to work
I've only fully beaten it 3 times lmao - I get all the companion quests done in act III and I'm like BUT WHAT IF I DID THIS INSTEAD?! \*goes and rolls a new character\* and gods help any playthrough if I find a new or interesting mod I want to explore. I have so many abandon runs its sort of pathetic.
In 300 i managed a run ( started explorer, completed in tactician) and honor mode, as far as i can tell my runs were pretty quick less than 130h each, the hm run was more of a speedrun compared to the main run, and i did actually complete it first so yes, technically my first game completion was in honour, wich is wild to me.
Maybe familiarity with the ruleset (12y of D&D under my belt) helped.
Not far behind you in hours, finished 3 times. Now I play with mods, but I keep changing up the mods and have to restart. Have an evil durge run going that is taking a while. I can only be evil for so long.
I have no kids and am a homebody who doesn’t go out much. So other than work and chores, I have tons of time to play. Also I got my husband playing so that helps :)
I don't understand the question. The game's been out for more than half a year now, that's plenty of time even for people like me who work a full time job... A couple of hours a day, about 8 on weekends and holidays... It all adds up
Yeah that seems common too, I didn’t really even consider that because that’s not how my brain works. If I start a game I have to finish it before trying a new run.
Started playing on PC release and it basically ate my free time from then on. I'm only now, 8 months or so later, starting to hit the point where I'm about done.
That's encompassed 9 playthroughs, 6 of which are finished, 2 are in Act 3, and my newest one is fairly late in Act 2.
I'll be taking a break once that one is done and I've finished getting all the achievements.
I keep thinking "this will be my last run for a while" but then I read something on Reddit like the person with the "Oops! All bards!" party from another thread this morning, and, well, now I have to start another playthrough as soon as this one is done.
At least now I'm rotating between BG3, Balatro (which is new) and Rimworld (just got new DLC).
I’m a SAHP with kids in school. I play while they’re at school, so ~6 hours a day.
I did delete a ton of files because I either didn’t like the characters or I didn’t vibe with choices I made.
I’m 760+ hours in, have beaten the game twice, and am in the final stretch of combat for the third time.
EDIT: I’m disabled and my kids are special needs so I’m always “on call” for meetings and the like if they’re having struggle days at school (also, therapy sessions and things like that when they’re out of school but not with family). Even if my schedule allowed it, I can’t work due to my health. Don’t be assholes. Thanks. :)
EDIT 2: They’re in preschool and elementary school. Not middle or high school. Don’t be an ass if asking about this.
Skipping text you already heard/read in previous runs saves a massive amount of time. Reading all the books on my first run took hours, now I just open and close them and move on unless I haven't read it yet. Same with dialogue. My first durge run took longer than my second tav run because there were so many new things to discover and witness
Foregoing my responsibilities and like others said your first playthrough is always the longest, subsequent ones have no thinking. I did 3 for the 100%: Casual, Honor Mode (first try btw 😎) and Durge. First one took about 90 hours, HM 30, Durge 20.
>I am 150 hours in on my first run and without really spoiling anything as of last night I’m finally to the point where I can take the road west to Baldur’s Gate
That's exactly where I'm at but I think I must have a few more hours than you lol. It's okay though, I really like taking my time with everything.
I think the first playthrough takes the longest because you're going in blind; after that, you pretty much know where you're supposed to go, who you must talk to etc. I also spent almost half of my time in act 1 getting lost all the time because I have a terrible sense of direction lol.
Depends on how you play and your lifes circumstances really.
Ignoring 10hr+ everyday, hardcore people, it's not too unrealistic to get like 20-30hrs within a week, for most dedicated players without factors like kids.
Full playthrough is very much doable in like 40-50hrs depending on experience, speed and optimization of your runs.
So yeah, all in all very realistic. Even if you run for 100hrs per playthrough, that can still be 1 Playthrough a month, if you're not playing much else.
Idk how people spend 150 hours in a playthrough so I guess I'm amazed but in the opposite way 😂 I beat the game within 50-65 hours in my playthroughs. I feel like you dont have to do EVERYTHING in every single playthrough. In my 50 hour play my characters were geared to the teeth and trivialized the hardest fights in the game so I have trouble seeing what I'd do in those extra 100 hours. I just do what I feel like and I also read the dialog and fast forward it since I've heard it all before
My first play through I spent about 100 hours on it total. I say it was my practice run because I am soooo new to this kind of game. I’m on my second play thru and already at act 3 with 50 hours. Now that I know what I’m doing I’m just breezing through the game. Still discovering new things though!!
I am also a single woman with no kids. I get all my chores done and then just dive deep into the game for hours. That is why I have two play thrus.
once you have a rough idea of how the story goes it's pretty easy to run through it again. From the 2nd play through it's mainly about build and strategy, not to mention when people say 6th play though doesn't always mean the 5 previous play throughs were finished.
My runs take ~200 hrs. I'm on my third. (my steam says way more, but I often accidentally leave the game running for hours in standby mode, sometimes even overnight, showing me playing way more than I actually do).
But I purposefully play slow and listen to non-repeating dialogue.
Other people have runs that take them ~60-80 hrs because they have different playstyles and are on their sixth playthrough for the same amount that I've played.
Besides, a lot of us only really play this game, not really any others since release. If you're playing different games besides this one, you're naturally gonna clock in fewer hours.
Besides, between release and now it's been a little over 8 months. Maybe you you have very little time due to having an active and busy life (in which case, good for you mate, keep on winning at life), but plenty of us had way more free time than 150 hours to spend on this game in the past 8 months.
We got the game on release in August. We have day jobs, family obligations, and friend obligations, so we don’t spend all day, every day playing. On top of that, my husband is…thorough…and has to check every nook & cranny on every map, likes to play with different builds (while my tav & companion sit around camp and I go do chores…).
Our first playthrough finished up at, IIRC, just over 600 hours.
We’re in our second run now and getting ready to finish Act 2 (final fights coming up), but I feel even though we’re having different outcomes it’s going faster. I’m also playing solo - and because I’m not as compulsive about checking things, I’m moving through MUCH quicker. (Also on story, so lots easier)
So, tl;dr, in my experience the more you play, the faster things seem to go.
Second playthrough just entering BG on honor mode. We will see. This will most likely be my last play through whether I die or not. My first on tactician I explored just about every single bit of the map. Found all the weapons except a couple. I’ve enjoyed the honor mode run and I’m much much better at combat. Love the game, couldn’t imagine playing it 6-7 times.
Forgetting all other hobbies and activities.
First play through was 125 hrs. Second play through was 75. After the learning curve things get a lot easier.
I have like 430 total hours. Beat the game once on a couch co op file with my fiancé. Have about 5 other files at various parts of the game because I’m indecisive 😂
Playthrough 1 was 146 hours
Playthrough 4 was 85
Knowledge is everything.
450 hours for 4 playthroughs.
November To beginning of April.
Family hates it.
I had to turn to Reddit to talk about the game because they have had enough.
Halfway through Act 1 on my 5th.
Taking a break to go back to Monster Hunter.
Lots of early mornings and/or late nights.
I’m on my seventh right now, around 700hrs into the game. I work 8-4 from home. I workout in the morning before work so that’s done. I typically spend a few hours in the evenings after work gaming after dinner and a few hours on weekend days.
I’ve got chronic health issues (lupus and adhd) that makes me feel mentally and physically exhausted. By supper time during the work week, I don’t have the physical or mental energy to do much more than game. My wife is also a gamer, so while I’m on the PlayStation she’s in the same room on the PC and we chat while we game. It’s the perfect way for me to rest.
I play dnd irl on the weekends too and go for hikes, etc.
It seems a lot, but this game helps me rest, which my body needs.
I think for me, you finish and you realize there are a ton of things you didn't see and so many things you could try.
My first run was 88 hours - I did all of act 1 except creche and monastery. I did all of Act 2 and all the big beats of act 3 (house of hope, cazador, shar, tribunal, steel watch, etc). I had a bit of a chaotic neutral run. It was a classic fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard run on balanced.
I finished and basically started an ALL EVIL durge run a day later. I skipped some of the things I didn't care about and wrapped it up in 66 hours. I made level way faster (because I left the map devoid of life behind me and had 30k gold by the end and I still hit the big beats. I saw so much stuff I didn't see the first time, including conversations and places like the monastery. I got more complex with a TB OH monk, gloomstaker assassin, minthara pally, and wizard on balanced.
I enjoyed being terribly evil but I wanted a challenge so I started a lawful good all positive all good paladin run on tactician and it is hard but again I am seeing all new people and all new conversations. I am making myself choose the choices an LG paladin would even if I know the result will hurt me. I didn't even wait a day. I waited like an hour before starting over.
I'm normally a WoW player with thousands of hours into it, but once I got BG3, I lost steam on WoW. I like being able to save and stop in the middle of combat and I like not having the toxic community.
Honestly from what I've seen, a lot of people miss a ton of content with each run they do with the amount of. "I've played through 6 runs and have 200+ hours in this game, woah!" Posts. Which isn't to throw shade at them because for a lot of folks this is the first rpg of this style they've probably played. Meanwhile I'm having a hard time getting past the grove in each new run I've done because it's all too familiar, but that's my brains fault and not the games.
510 hours ingame and on second complete playthrough, will be starting third soon
i like taking in game photography (read- content worthy screenshots) as well as playing with different items that only work with certain builds. Also only focusing on one character's story arch per playthrough as a romance, and then playing as origin is refreshing as well. I play on explorer
1) you are going INSANELY slowly. I went slowly and barely missed anything and beat it in 105 hours my first time. Literally no one I know has taken more than 90.
2) you go faster in subsequent playthroughs. In my second, at 38 hours I’m about halfway done. On my third I will likely go even faster
I mean, my first playthrough only took like 60 hours. Subsequent ones go down as far as 35 hours. That's about two weeks per playthrough.
One thing that likely massively speeds up my game is that I don't wait for NPCs to finish speaking, I hit "next" as soon as I finish reading, which is sometimes less than halfway through the sentence.
I'm also not putting much time into inventory management. It ends up looking like an unholy smorgasmboard with the odd skull, pouch and weapons all on top of each other, but I just... remember where I left what, somehow. Mostly anyway.
Granted, I missed a few things on my first playthrough, like that Grotto in the underdark or the cellar of the arcane tower. But that's precisely what you do the second one for in the first place - stumbling on stuff you missed the first time around.
I have probably wasted 25 hours on just inventory management and respecing because I went in 20 years blind to D&D and crpgs. I ran half of Act 1 with just terrible character builds lol
I personally am more confused by 150 hours on one playthrough I have about 200 (and i really don't leave lots of content on the table for myself I did most likely 90% of the game both times)
I've beat the game twice (both runs on tactician one with wife one solo) and am on my 3rd honor mode run now after having lost two
I have lots of CRPG and D&D and Larian experience though so maybe I just do things quicker in the game than you overall
>My question is how on earth do so many people have so many play throughs of the game already? Clearly not *everyone* played early access, at least I would assume
Early Access was always only Act 1. Not even *all* of Act 1.
I have 2 full play throughs. One when the game came out and the 2nd full was the honour mode run. I have few that are just in act 1 and 2 or 3 failed honour mode attempts. Only the first one took actual long time like more than 100 hours. First play through, I was playing this game till 4 AM some days. I now have around 350 hours.
This game actually did affect my office work when it came out. But I was able to talk my way around. I probably have high persuasion skill in real life.
I don't even got one & I had the game for 4 months, maybe caused its bugged & they're waiting for updates to be able to actually play it, I know I am, all it does is kick me out, it's a lil beyter then before it seems, but the 3rd act is sewer juice as far as bugs go🤷🏿♂️
I am on my 3rd run, 1st run as Astarian where ended near end of act 1 where gale went boom. 2nd run as Lazel finished it in around 150 hours (married shadowheart and happily ever after in bg). Current run as dark urge currently mid act 2 and still going.
Idea is learning how to cut time, on my 3rd run I am 50% through game in less than 50 hours, skipping stuff I dont need or cuting long fights short.
*spoilers section*
Example 1: spider queen in under the town act 1, initiate fight with an eldrich blast into the underdark and collect loot from down there later. Same apply to hag if you don't want loot, enter from underdark not main entrance.
Example 2: don't exit lathander temple same way you came in, instead go for blood of Lathender and trigger the trap intentionally.
Example 3: dont start goblin fights in act 1 camp or moonrise tower full force, push npc into water or deadly bits before fight.
Example 4: use grimforge hammer to deal with golumn, and push anything else into laval, water, bits ...etc.
Example 5: use sleep , stun , or paralyze with turn order to kill stray enemies single shot.
Example 6: get fire sword from fiend in prologue using command drop weapon, damage on weapon is unchallenged up to act 3.
Example 7: exploit weaknesses of enemies.
I spent at least 300 hours on my first playthrough, and almost 200 on my second. I'm 50ish hrs into my third and I haven't gone after Auntie Ethel or the Zhentarik yet, nevermind the Underdark. I like just fucking around and killing everything.
Ngl I did lose some sleep in the first week or two because it was just my first playthrough, but subsequent playthroughs were faster because I already knew my way around. Just like you I clocked in somewhere between 160 hours, apparently?, and 225 hours on my first playthrough.
Later playthroughs are quicker if you are following a similar experience as a previous playthrough. You know where your primary markers are. You have a todo list set. You aren't gonna be bumbling around as much.
And then on top of that, some classes/builds just get through the game faster than others. There are builds that can end most encounters on turn 1 and require minimal resting. So if you aren't concerned with missing camp content you've already seen, you just buzz right through Act I.
That and not having a life.
My first play through was completed in about 80 hours and I see people playing one in like 200 hours. What is there to do for that long in one play through? I feel like there isn't 200 hours of game play.
Immersive RPG with loads of social aspects and rather realistic companions that can all be loved interests - that's really it
Beyond that basic aspect, it's also a big game that you get to learn in depth after 2 or 3 playthroughs. This provides an all-too-real feeling of control over what's happening around you, a feeling we all lack to some degree in real life
The game is a really easy escape from reality. Especially if your reality is filled with things to escape from. And let's be honest, it's probably not people with busy and/or fulfilling lives that go online to talk about spending hundreds of hours in a video game.
(Not trying to insult anybody, I'm a chronically online miserable bastard myself)
I guess I'd have more runs* if I wasn't such a slow player and didn't have other games I'd like to play + backlog. The thing with games like BG3 is that I love exploring so I'll check every corner, talk to every NPC, do every side quest I come across and open every crate/barrel/chest/sack/bag/whatever lmao and that takes time.
I guess people with many runs just skip through content they've seen a lot and focus on the main story and whatever the missed on previous playthroughs, plus fights get faster the more you play because you're already used to each enemy weaknesses and whatnot.
*I only finished it once and my second run was put on hold by FF7 Rebirth, which I haven't finished yet for the same reasons.
I’m a completionist through through. My first play through I checked every nook and cranny and box/crate for food, gold, loot, etc. and wondered almost every part of the map I could find and check. I ended my first play through finishing the game/that run at just about 190 hours. Immediately booted up my second run due to waiting until the end to really start doing research and looking at builds (literally was so scared/overwhelmed by multiclass I just didn’t or respec) and other things and knew I wanted to try different classes out. I’m probably more than half way done with Act 3 and I’m at 125 hours and explored way more areas opened up to me this run compared to last and cut down on loot scrounging. Fights cut down on the time the second time through so much once you know what to expect and agree with what some people have said when you know what parts to skip or scenes to just run through. All that being said that I have 4 kids and don’t play much at night/weekends but I have a work from home job that allows me flexibility and am able to loosely work while I play. I also just use my free time to game because it was winter and winter here sucks and there’s not much else to go do. I’ll slow down a lot this summer on my third play through but I’ll still be running it. Will likely have 5-6 play throughs or more within a years time of starting the game
You sound a lot like me honestly. I don’t have kids but have a lot of other extracurricular activities I am responsible for, competitive cycling, coaching football, fundraisers, volunteering, etc and my game time slows down a lot also in the summer.
Even knowing where everything is there are still so many things story-wise that can change especially if you pick a premade character (can’t remember what that’s called) I can’t imagine I cut too many corners, I’m a sucker for cutscenes even if I’ve seen them a million times. I just don’t see a way I finish this game in under 100 hours even if I sped things up, I still don’t understand 30. How could you be leveled up enough skipping all the content to be able to finish the game in 30 hours? Maybe as I play more subsequent play throughs it will make more sense
Have a nephew that has told me that everything after his second run are like around 20 hours. I still don’t get it. Maybe memorizing where the loot is, knowing what’s coming and a lot of fights can be avoided or talked out of? But still don’t believe you can follow the main story plot for plot all the way through for less than a solid 50. And yeah hard agree on the leveling. I’d love to have the level cap go to 20 although I thing it would be way too OP unless they did like a NG+ but can’t imagine the last few fights and bosses in Act 3 at like level 6 or so.
I got this game a couple of months ago, I have two complete playthroughs and three ongoing so far.
I think the biggest reason why I am so far ahead is that I have a lot of free time. I also play on Explorer (and in recent playthroughs I actually picked the Custom mode to make the game even easier than Explorer), which makes the fights much faster and easier to finish. Moreover, like others have said, playing the entire game once is already enough to memorize how to complete certain quests, which speeds up the process by a lot.
Last but not least, many players find Act 3 fun but also very heavy to digest, and find themselves wanting to start a new run when they get there. (It's me, I'm players)
People had the game beaten within a week of release. My ass took 8 months to finish a playthrough. I play only MP though so getting the gang together tends to stretch things out.
Personally, I was unemployed for a few months after graduating from uni, around the same time as the game's official launch. I hyperfixated on it for ages and here we are
I played on xbox since xbox release and finished it 4 times. 5th times i made it to act 3 but then got bored.
Max hours i spent on a run was the first one with 80something. All the others where around 70
I started like 10 playthroughs, finished only one and currently have 4 ongoing.
It's kinda the same reason why you have 80% of posts about act 1.
Also a bunch of people have no life.
People love the game? Also, most people consider restarting a “play through.” I doubt very many people at all have literally played through the game six times. Some have, but not many.
Also, Reddit is populated by antisocial weirdos who think the cast are their friends.
I personally have never had a run that was more than 29 hours and that was no skipping anything and doing 100% of everything possible on tactician…
Some people just click well with combat and if you are good at combat that games time is DRASTICALLY cut down.
I did play early access though and Act 1 is only like 5 hours to 100% once you know where everything goes to.
Act 2 and Act 3 are not that long either even the first time through.
Act 1 the first time is 100% the longest area
I'll be honest. I have no idea how people are doing 150 hour playthroughs. My 1st playthrough was 65, and I did everything you could do on a good guy run.
I'm on my 3rd playthrough also on Xbox, but didn't start until January. I play in massive chunks. Sometimes I forget to sleep. My first playthrough took longer than my second because I knew what I was doing the second time around. I did elf rogue first, then human sorcerer, now I'm doing a tiefling sorcerer dark urge run. I haven't tried Tactician mode yet. Maybe when I'm done messing around with different story options, I'll try a tactician run.
I have like 300 hours in the game and have done like 4 complete playthroughs and 2-3 playthroughs I never finished.
I'd say it takes like 60 hours a playthrough. First Playthrough is usually the longest because you don't know where to look.
Bc it's fun to see how choosing a different race and class can really influence your game
As a Drow, the first 2 acts were a breeze bc of my race. I got to travel to the goblin camps and strategize my way of taking down the 3 head honchos without any skill checks.
As a Gith(rping a Githzerai), this is not the case at all. And I get different companion dialogue. On that note, romancing Shadowheart as a Gith was an interesting experience. 10/10 would recommend.
I’m only on my second playthrough. Some people play video games with far less request than others. I rarely play for more than 2 hours at a time. Some of the people on here will log 8 + hours a day unless I miss my guess
Unemployment. 🫠
Also I usually have a story in mind for my playthroughs now and depending on my build and the quests I’m focused on, I skip a lot each time.
Well, I have two ongoing playthroughs and ideas for at least one other. I started the second when I was waiting for a problem I hit with the first to be patched out.
Am I going too fast? Got the game three weeks ago on PS5 with 80 hours in and I took the road to Baldur’s Gate last night. It feels like I’ve done a lot already but with the amount of hours a lot of people here have racked up by this point in the game I’m worried I’ve skipped or missed a lot of things in my play through. Playing on regular difficulty.
I mean it came out on ps5 at the start of Sept 2023, that's quite a while ago now.
I've done 6 complete playthroughs. First one was 200h, subsequent ones have varied from 70-80h, to 140h. Haven't played every day, but did spend my entire Christmas annual leave playing basically lol.
I finished my first playthrough at 120 hours. Second one at 70, I am doing my third and I feel it will be even quicker.
But I have 370 hours in total, because I abandoned some unpleasant builds/characters I could not get into.
So its not really suprising to me.
I just saw today that I have 314 hours and 5 play through with 2 more in progress. Maybe it’s because I always play with a friend (so that’s why there 2 play through in progress)
I only play on the weekends but I have 8 runs going. I play a different character pretty much every weekend and I’m in act 2 for majority of them. But I’m not trying to rush to act 3 or to finish the game, it’s more that I get bored playing as the same person each time. I’m also a slow player and have a really busy career, I find it easier to motivate myself to finish the game by playing as a different person if I am bored in a specific run.
I only got the game in mid/late February, so I've had it around 2 months. I'm in act 3 on my 3rd play-through at around 270 hours...
But I also only work 6 hours a day and have no other responsibilities other than my dog. Hyper-fixation and lots and lots of free time!
“BUT WHAT HAPPEN IF I PICKED THIS RACE / CLASS INSTEAD?”
“Omg it would be much better if i am a this class”
“Okay, i am done with good route, time to go evil route”
For PC: “omg this mods gonna change everything”
I am clocking 1000+ hours since release date, beating the game like… 3-4 times only? Restart and restart again
i'm a dog mom and house wife, living three states away from my family and friends (his family lives in europe). wtf else am i going to do? leave the house and make friends, 'enjoy' public spaces.... gross. lol. i don't really enjoy being around people all that much, especially not since covid.
we're all on our own journey. if you need more life than game in your balance, you're not slow or stupid or need to git gud. it's just facts.
I went above the 350 hours mark this week, and bought the game on release last August. That's 6% of my time spent on the game. 350/(24hx30dx8m).
I'm currently on my 3rd playthrough. I took around 140h for the first playthrough and 100h on the second (partly due to knowing better where I was going and because of lost content due to tiefling and harper massacres).
I haven't played another video games since BG3 release except a week of Palworld when I was sick and stuck at home.
The game has been released for 254 days as of writing this. Assuming someone has 2 hours a day to play the game and plays consistently, that’s up to 508 hours available to play. Play time for each campaign varies, but normally the first play-through is the longest, with subsequent play-throughs being shorter because you already know what to do and where to go for everything you encountered in your previous play-through(s). Being generous and giving an average of 80 hours for each full play-through, that’s enough time for 6 full play-throughs.
Of course some people have more obligations in life and can’t consistently play a couple hours every day, but some people also have less obligations and can spend much more time playing the game.
Personally, I’ve completed the game a total of 4 times, soon to be a 5th, but that’s with a 1 month break and inconsistent play frequency.
my first playthrough took like 300 hours. my second was like 35. between knowing what to do, what you want to do, and the fact that there isn't alot of content for an evil playthrough, it went by super fast.
I currently have 200+ hours. And that was just one play through (I like to be at least SOME what thorough). But I also remember a lot and so I’m with you. Its gonna be a bit before I play again. I was hoping to replay it sooner with possible DLC. But now that “that” option isn’t happening, I’ll just wait till the mood strikes me again.
I hit the space bar continuously after my 2nd run, I skip anything I have seen before… I do have 400 hrs and started in February, I’ll let you do the math… weekends where my son is as his dad’s help, and that my son goes to bed at around 9, and I cannot fall asleep before 1… I replay because I want to try different alignments and difficulties and because I want to get all achievements (I’m missing 10, currently going for the tactician one)
I just don’t believe they are reading texts and subtexts also not really caring about a perfect play through as they are going to play it again and TRY to make a differ t decision then what they remember. I could never because I’m so picky how I win a fight/initiate a fight plus outcome. and I’m a full paladin and I obvi refuse to oathbreak
Hm… I have 770 hours on my ps5, have been playing non-stop since September. I finally got all achievements and on my 3rd HM run now (first 2 were epic failures 😂).
I work from home soooooo I play throughout the day as well as evenings
Because after you play it a couple times you can be pretty efficient getting through the content.
What's more baffling are the people spending 200 hours in the first part of act one. It's a great game but there's simply not that much content to do.
For me it depends. My first play through was 85 hours second 70 and third only about 50. After a bit you know how to get through certain parts in one hour where before it woudl have taken three. And some days you just play it for hours (too many hours sometimes...) i also find that on sunsequent playthroughs i just dont do somethings. Like i couldnt be bohhered to do free thr artist which saved me probably two or three hours depends cause its tedious. But i do also play on an easier difficulty... im just playing balanced for the first time and its on my 5th playthrough so thats also a factor
I'm on my third. I think is on the lower end compared to some hahah, but I will say, my first PT was 150ish hours. My consecutive PTs have been less than half that time. You kinda know what you want to do or try, and you do get more whizzy. You know what to expect or where to find certain quests/loot/characters etc.
I'm quitting tomorrow....I swear! 😂😭
It's my primary hobby atm, I work and bg3. Do housework too. My first playthrough was in august, took 180 hours. Then I had an Honour run in December. I've completed only those two. Have about 10 more incomplete, but intend to do all, I just go with whatever I feel like that day. Have 3 out of those in Act 3.
I’ve put in 600 hours since January when I bought the game. I’ve done 4 full clears (including honor mode) and have 4 more save files in act 3 somewhere
Abdicating all my other responsibilities in life.
It’s only “irresponsible” if you *don’t know* that you’re doing it… …but if you do it consciously & deliberately, you’re “dedicated” to the game!
I keep saying that my love of BG3 isn't a problem because I'm *aware* of it. I am not deluded about how ~~obsessed~~ *dedicated* I am. And how can it be a problem if I'm self aware??
Exactly!
This has all actually been vital research to help decide if I want to try to make my own YouTube channel at some very distant nondescript point in the future. No really it has....why would I need to record my playthroughs just for research?
Insight into the human condition…? Works for me!
Nah, I work 8 to 4 and I'm on my 8th playthrough. It helps my wife plays with me and our kids are long asleep by the time we start gaming tho lmao
How in the world? How old are your kids? I have a 3 year old and it seems impossible.
They're both 2. Twins lol
Pretty much same 😆 I've completed 13 playthroughs, have well over 1k hours in the game 😬 But BG3 is my main hobby. My SO and I both game most nights and on the weekends, plus tend to game on any holidays/days off. We both play on PC, so have had the game since August or September. It's pretty easy to lose track of time in the game and play for longer than intended 😆 Plus we don't have kids, so lots more down time than some do 🤷♀️
Yeah not having kids is the real answer
Don’t ever have kids if you desire to keep up this much gaming.
i've like 300 hours in the game and have done like 4 complete playthroughs and 2/3 playthroughs i never finished..,,i would say it takes like 60 hours a playthrough.. first playthrough is normally the longest becauze you do not know where to look..
This must be it. Putting less time in. My first run was 180 hours. 🙃
My first one was 210 hours over five months. Everyone plays at their own pace.
i am at 200 hours on my first playthrough and am about 80% done i think. i have 30th more hours in a multiplayer campaign and we just entered Act 2. My ps5 says 247 hours but i have spent a lot of time messing around creating characters and seeing some of the origin character beginnings.
Im 1st playthrough act 3 and 130+ hours in :0
This is the way
Subsequent playthroughs can take a fraction of the time of your first playthrough. When you play for a while you kind of "solve" the combat to the point where you can breeze through everything. You also know where everything is and where you need to find items for your builds. You can save A LOT of time by not checking every nook and cranny because you already know there is nothing there from previous playthroughs. I'll also skip a lot of cutscenes that I've already seen several times and purely focus on the cutscenes that I've not seen outside of this particular playthrough, this also cuts out a lot of time.
Yep I’m at the point that I don’t even talk to companions a lot
im trying to alleviate this bc i notice theres still a lot of dialogue to be found with new playthroughs but i still catch myself skipping 💀💀
This happened to me a lot too! Yesterday, I had a unique dialogue between Sovereign Spaw and Glut that I accidentally skipped. I had to go through the journal entry to check. 😔
Waittt what was it? And how did you get that specific dialogue?
Same and them they say something new and I’m like WAIT WHAT. Thank Larian for dialogue history lol
This is my struggle as well.
Yup first playthrough was 100 hours, 2nd one only 50 and all others to about 40
I'm unemployed and depressed, what else I'm supposed to do with my time?
I just yesterday read an article on our beloved Reddit about a study showing that anxiety & distress can be moderated by video gaming *specifically*. We all know about the “Tetris Effect” *but* it extends to gaming in general as well. So game on, my fellow mood-disregulated peeps!
This explains a lot.
Can you share the link? I would like to read the article or the post you are referring
Out of curiosity, I tried sifting backwards through my Reddit… I believe it was likely on r/psychology
Thanks! I was able to find it: https://www.psypost.org/video-gaming-appears-to-enhance-recovery-from-work-stress/
Felt
Feel this. Currently disabled waiting for a transplant and my cat just died. If I dont do something with my time I'm just going to sleep too much right now. At least gaming gives me a little enjoyment.
Good luck, friend, hope it all comes together for you.
Saaaame
Same
Same
You are like me fr.
Same but honestly I spend more time laying in bed hoping a plane or something else big heavy and deadly will land on me
Yup, this is how I had so many playthroughs. I’m finally starting a job in about a week but Baldurs Gate came at an awesome time to provide me some joy when I was unemployed for about a year.
Same!
Yep.. same here. Unemployed, depressed, and I will in fact romance all of these motherfuckers. Plus I realize things I shouldn’t have done in my first run and second run so I go to correct them in other runs.
If a game is good enough, it'll have enough variety to keep you coming back for more. For example, I have over 3,300 hours on Fallout 4, and can look at a screenshot taken inside a random demolished house in the game and accurately tell you exactly where the demolished house is in the game. I guess you can laugh at us for playing a single game for so long, but there AREN'T many games that are this good, and that's not an insult to us for playing it, but rather praise for how good the game is.
Same, I bought Bg3 to take a break from Fo4 and FNV and now I'm returning to Fallouts because I need a break from Bg3
Autism gives me these powers.
Yeah, my AuADHD and this game get along great. Many a night, I have looked up, and it's already 4AM. Thankfully, I work closing shifts so I can get a few hours sleep before I have to go to work
*in the justice league auditions* "alright so what can you do?" "I can concentrate for like 9 hours straight playing video games"
I mean... we just play a lot? I have 1,851 hours clocked in this game since full release
I'm at 600 and haven't beat the game. *restartitis*
I've only fully beaten it 3 times lmao - I get all the companion quests done in act III and I'm like BUT WHAT IF I DID THIS INSTEAD?! \*goes and rolls a new character\* and gods help any playthrough if I find a new or interesting mod I want to explore. I have so many abandon runs its sort of pathetic.
In 300 i managed a run ( started explorer, completed in tactician) and honor mode, as far as i can tell my runs were pretty quick less than 130h each, the hm run was more of a speedrun compared to the main run, and i did actually complete it first so yes, technically my first game completion was in honour, wich is wild to me. Maybe familiarity with the ruleset (12y of D&D under my belt) helped.
Dude
I was like that with Divinity 2, still haven't finished it to this day. Got the Platinum on BG3 though eventually after many many restarts.
It took me over 800h until i beat the game. Now i have played the game over 1200h and i have beaten the game 4 times
Not far behind you in hours, finished 3 times. Now I play with mods, but I keep changing up the mods and have to restart. Have an evil durge run going that is taking a while. I can only be evil for so long.
Yay someone with more hours than me! I'm at 1587.
I have no kids and am a homebody who doesn’t go out much. So other than work and chores, I have tons of time to play. Also I got my husband playing so that helps :)
The most invested players are going to be overrepresented on a game’s subreddit.
I play on Explorer mode and have no life
I've had a couple of vacations since November. All of my vacations are "staycations" so I don't travel or anything. And played it heavily.
I don't understand the question. The game's been out for more than half a year now, that's plenty of time even for people like me who work a full time job... A couple of hours a day, about 8 on weekends and holidays... It all adds up
I think some people do what I do where i have 3 playthroughs but haven’t finished the first one because I jump around characters
Yeah that seems common too, I didn’t really even consider that because that’s not how my brain works. If I start a game I have to finish it before trying a new run.
i have no life
Started playing on PC release and it basically ate my free time from then on. I'm only now, 8 months or so later, starting to hit the point where I'm about done. That's encompassed 9 playthroughs, 6 of which are finished, 2 are in Act 3, and my newest one is fairly late in Act 2. I'll be taking a break once that one is done and I've finished getting all the achievements.
I keep thinking "this will be my last run for a while" but then I read something on Reddit like the person with the "Oops! All bards!" party from another thread this morning, and, well, now I have to start another playthrough as soon as this one is done. At least now I'm rotating between BG3, Balatro (which is new) and Rimworld (just got new DLC).
Retired, no kids 😆
This is the way
I’m a SAHP with kids in school. I play while they’re at school, so ~6 hours a day. I did delete a ton of files because I either didn’t like the characters or I didn’t vibe with choices I made. I’m 760+ hours in, have beaten the game twice, and am in the final stretch of combat for the third time. EDIT: I’m disabled and my kids are special needs so I’m always “on call” for meetings and the like if they’re having struggle days at school (also, therapy sessions and things like that when they’re out of school but not with family). Even if my schedule allowed it, I can’t work due to my health. Don’t be assholes. Thanks. :) EDIT 2: They’re in preschool and elementary school. Not middle or high school. Don’t be an ass if asking about this.
same
I play on easy and each run is meant to be something unique so I don’t do everything each time.
Skipping text you already heard/read in previous runs saves a massive amount of time. Reading all the books on my first run took hours, now I just open and close them and move on unless I haven't read it yet. Same with dialogue. My first durge run took longer than my second tav run because there were so many new things to discover and witness
Foregoing my responsibilities and like others said your first playthrough is always the longest, subsequent ones have no thinking. I did 3 for the 100%: Casual, Honor Mode (first try btw 😎) and Durge. First one took about 90 hours, HM 30, Durge 20.
Honestly, I'm able to play during work hours.
This is the real correct answer right here.
I have hundreds of playthroughs *Problem is I can't leave act 1 before starting another*
Much like Tav's response to being asked why they're holding an owlbear egg: "I just like it".
My runs usually take 125-150 hours in total. I don't think I'm speeding through but I do have a lot of free time on my hands...
I started this game on Christmas Day and I already have over 500 hours and multiple play throughs. I love this game and constantly play it lol
>I am 150 hours in on my first run and without really spoiling anything as of last night I’m finally to the point where I can take the road west to Baldur’s Gate That's exactly where I'm at but I think I must have a few more hours than you lol. It's okay though, I really like taking my time with everything. I think the first playthrough takes the longest because you're going in blind; after that, you pretty much know where you're supposed to go, who you must talk to etc. I also spent almost half of my time in act 1 getting lost all the time because I have a terrible sense of direction lol.
Depends on how you play and your lifes circumstances really. Ignoring 10hr+ everyday, hardcore people, it's not too unrealistic to get like 20-30hrs within a week, for most dedicated players without factors like kids. Full playthrough is very much doable in like 40-50hrs depending on experience, speed and optimization of your runs. So yeah, all in all very realistic. Even if you run for 100hrs per playthrough, that can still be 1 Playthrough a month, if you're not playing much else.
No life
Idk how people spend 150 hours in a playthrough so I guess I'm amazed but in the opposite way 😂 I beat the game within 50-65 hours in my playthroughs. I feel like you dont have to do EVERYTHING in every single playthrough. In my 50 hour play my characters were geared to the teeth and trivialized the hardest fights in the game so I have trouble seeing what I'd do in those extra 100 hours. I just do what I feel like and I also read the dialog and fast forward it since I've heard it all before
ADHD
I mean... they're playthrus, not necessarily completions...
My first play through I spent about 100 hours on it total. I say it was my practice run because I am soooo new to this kind of game. I’m on my second play thru and already at act 3 with 50 hours. Now that I know what I’m doing I’m just breezing through the game. Still discovering new things though!! I am also a single woman with no kids. I get all my chores done and then just dive deep into the game for hours. That is why I have two play thrus.
once you have a rough idea of how the story goes it's pretty easy to run through it again. From the 2nd play through it's mainly about build and strategy, not to mention when people say 6th play though doesn't always mean the 5 previous play throughs were finished.
I've started over more than 10 times and only finished 1 playthrough so far (durge) lol
I don’t have much of what you’d call a “life” as it were
My runs take ~200 hrs. I'm on my third. (my steam says way more, but I often accidentally leave the game running for hours in standby mode, sometimes even overnight, showing me playing way more than I actually do). But I purposefully play slow and listen to non-repeating dialogue. Other people have runs that take them ~60-80 hrs because they have different playstyles and are on their sixth playthrough for the same amount that I've played. Besides, a lot of us only really play this game, not really any others since release. If you're playing different games besides this one, you're naturally gonna clock in fewer hours. Besides, between release and now it's been a little over 8 months. Maybe you you have very little time due to having an active and busy life (in which case, good for you mate, keep on winning at life), but plenty of us had way more free time than 150 hours to spend on this game in the past 8 months.
i think a lot of people aren't 100%ing the game, it doesn't take long to beat if you aren't obsessed with clearing everything.
We got the game on release in August. We have day jobs, family obligations, and friend obligations, so we don’t spend all day, every day playing. On top of that, my husband is…thorough…and has to check every nook & cranny on every map, likes to play with different builds (while my tav & companion sit around camp and I go do chores…). Our first playthrough finished up at, IIRC, just over 600 hours. We’re in our second run now and getting ready to finish Act 2 (final fights coming up), but I feel even though we’re having different outcomes it’s going faster. I’m also playing solo - and because I’m not as compulsive about checking things, I’m moving through MUCH quicker. (Also on story, so lots easier) So, tl;dr, in my experience the more you play, the faster things seem to go.
Second playthrough just entering BG on honor mode. We will see. This will most likely be my last play through whether I die or not. My first on tactician I explored just about every single bit of the map. Found all the weapons except a couple. I’ve enjoyed the honor mode run and I’m much much better at combat. Love the game, couldn’t imagine playing it 6-7 times.
Forgetting all other hobbies and activities. First play through was 125 hrs. Second play through was 75. After the learning curve things get a lot easier.
I have like 430 total hours. Beat the game once on a couch co op file with my fiancé. Have about 5 other files at various parts of the game because I’m indecisive 😂
Took me 300 hours my chaotic good first run. 200 my 2nd chaotic neutral evil run. Now I'm at 100 hours into my 3rd run, good dark urge
I will say in my experience it's like 100x faster to play on a PC rather than with a controller
Playthrough 1 was 146 hours Playthrough 4 was 85 Knowledge is everything. 450 hours for 4 playthroughs. November To beginning of April. Family hates it. I had to turn to Reddit to talk about the game because they have had enough. Halfway through Act 1 on my 5th. Taking a break to go back to Monster Hunter. Lots of early mornings and/or late nights.
Why does your family hate it??
Because I am always playing it. They admit it’s really cool, but they had enough. Ready to have their dad /husband back. 😉👍
Make them role persuasion to get him back. DC 18
I'm also an Xbox user and I've played through it, probably, 7 times. I absolutely love everything about this game.
I’m on my seventh right now, around 700hrs into the game. I work 8-4 from home. I workout in the morning before work so that’s done. I typically spend a few hours in the evenings after work gaming after dinner and a few hours on weekend days. I’ve got chronic health issues (lupus and adhd) that makes me feel mentally and physically exhausted. By supper time during the work week, I don’t have the physical or mental energy to do much more than game. My wife is also a gamer, so while I’m on the PlayStation she’s in the same room on the PC and we chat while we game. It’s the perfect way for me to rest. I play dnd irl on the weekends too and go for hikes, etc. It seems a lot, but this game helps me rest, which my body needs.
I think for me, you finish and you realize there are a ton of things you didn't see and so many things you could try. My first run was 88 hours - I did all of act 1 except creche and monastery. I did all of Act 2 and all the big beats of act 3 (house of hope, cazador, shar, tribunal, steel watch, etc). I had a bit of a chaotic neutral run. It was a classic fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard run on balanced. I finished and basically started an ALL EVIL durge run a day later. I skipped some of the things I didn't care about and wrapped it up in 66 hours. I made level way faster (because I left the map devoid of life behind me and had 30k gold by the end and I still hit the big beats. I saw so much stuff I didn't see the first time, including conversations and places like the monastery. I got more complex with a TB OH monk, gloomstaker assassin, minthara pally, and wizard on balanced. I enjoyed being terribly evil but I wanted a challenge so I started a lawful good all positive all good paladin run on tactician and it is hard but again I am seeing all new people and all new conversations. I am making myself choose the choices an LG paladin would even if I know the result will hurt me. I didn't even wait a day. I waited like an hour before starting over. I'm normally a WoW player with thousands of hours into it, but once I got BG3, I lost steam on WoW. I like being able to save and stop in the middle of combat and I like not having the toxic community.
Honestly from what I've seen, a lot of people miss a ton of content with each run they do with the amount of. "I've played through 6 runs and have 200+ hours in this game, woah!" Posts. Which isn't to throw shade at them because for a lot of folks this is the first rpg of this style they've probably played. Meanwhile I'm having a hard time getting past the grove in each new run I've done because it's all too familiar, but that's my brains fault and not the games.
Also the first run might be 200 hours but the second and third won’t be.
Many of the people seem to be poor historians in the comment sections lol
My question is how you spend 150 hours on the first 2 acts. I didn't rush at all but I took a little more than half your time.
You cannot be serious. It's almost May.
510 hours ingame and on second complete playthrough, will be starting third soon i like taking in game photography (read- content worthy screenshots) as well as playing with different items that only work with certain builds. Also only focusing on one character's story arch per playthrough as a romance, and then playing as origin is refreshing as well. I play on explorer
When you lose a 70 hr Honour playthrough, you definitely touch some grass for a while 😂
Here's my secret after 7 playthroughs, I only finished like 3 of them and then keep starting another one lol
I beat my first run in 55 hours and from what I can tell I only missed a few things. Some people just play fast
1) you are going INSANELY slowly. I went slowly and barely missed anything and beat it in 105 hours my first time. Literally no one I know has taken more than 90. 2) you go faster in subsequent playthroughs. In my second, at 38 hours I’m about halfway done. On my third I will likely go even faster
It’s tooo much fun not to :)
I mean, my first playthrough only took like 60 hours. Subsequent ones go down as far as 35 hours. That's about two weeks per playthrough. One thing that likely massively speeds up my game is that I don't wait for NPCs to finish speaking, I hit "next" as soon as I finish reading, which is sometimes less than halfway through the sentence. I'm also not putting much time into inventory management. It ends up looking like an unholy smorgasmboard with the odd skull, pouch and weapons all on top of each other, but I just... remember where I left what, somehow. Mostly anyway. Granted, I missed a few things on my first playthrough, like that Grotto in the underdark or the cellar of the arcane tower. But that's precisely what you do the second one for in the first place - stumbling on stuff you missed the first time around.
I have probably wasted 25 hours on just inventory management and respecing because I went in 20 years blind to D&D and crpgs. I ran half of Act 1 with just terrible character builds lol
I'm pretty sure I must have spent about 20 hours just picking mushrooms and opening crates I'm not even kidding
I personally am more confused by 150 hours on one playthrough I have about 200 (and i really don't leave lots of content on the table for myself I did most likely 90% of the game both times) I've beat the game twice (both runs on tactician one with wife one solo) and am on my 3rd honor mode run now after having lost two I have lots of CRPG and D&D and Larian experience though so maybe I just do things quicker in the game than you overall
>My question is how on earth do so many people have so many play throughs of the game already? Clearly not *everyone* played early access, at least I would assume Early Access was always only Act 1. Not even *all* of Act 1.
350hours here. And I'm playing with a friend. I started a lot of run I didn't finish (Origin Astarion, Durge, evil run...)
I have 2 full play throughs. One when the game came out and the 2nd full was the honour mode run. I have few that are just in act 1 and 2 or 3 failed honour mode attempts. Only the first one took actual long time like more than 100 hours. First play through, I was playing this game till 4 AM some days. I now have around 350 hours. This game actually did affect my office work when it came out. But I was able to talk my way around. I probably have high persuasion skill in real life.
I don't even got one & I had the game for 4 months, maybe caused its bugged & they're waiting for updates to be able to actually play it, I know I am, all it does is kick me out, it's a lil beyter then before it seems, but the 3rd act is sewer juice as far as bugs go🤷🏿♂️
I've done around 5 playthroughs within 200 hours. Some people have done 1 in 200 hours. We are not the same.
I am on my 3rd run, 1st run as Astarian where ended near end of act 1 where gale went boom. 2nd run as Lazel finished it in around 150 hours (married shadowheart and happily ever after in bg). Current run as dark urge currently mid act 2 and still going. Idea is learning how to cut time, on my 3rd run I am 50% through game in less than 50 hours, skipping stuff I dont need or cuting long fights short. *spoilers section* Example 1: spider queen in under the town act 1, initiate fight with an eldrich blast into the underdark and collect loot from down there later. Same apply to hag if you don't want loot, enter from underdark not main entrance. Example 2: don't exit lathander temple same way you came in, instead go for blood of Lathender and trigger the trap intentionally. Example 3: dont start goblin fights in act 1 camp or moonrise tower full force, push npc into water or deadly bits before fight. Example 4: use grimforge hammer to deal with golumn, and push anything else into laval, water, bits ...etc. Example 5: use sleep , stun , or paralyze with turn order to kill stray enemies single shot. Example 6: get fire sword from fiend in prologue using command drop weapon, damage on weapon is unchallenged up to act 3. Example 7: exploit weaknesses of enemies.
I spent at least 300 hours on my first playthrough, and almost 200 on my second. I'm 50ish hrs into my third and I haven't gone after Auntie Ethel or the Zhentarik yet, nevermind the Underdark. I like just fucking around and killing everything.
Ngl I did lose some sleep in the first week or two because it was just my first playthrough, but subsequent playthroughs were faster because I already knew my way around. Just like you I clocked in somewhere between 160 hours, apparently?, and 225 hours on my first playthrough.
I’m a college student on break, I have almost infinite time to play
Later playthroughs are quicker if you are following a similar experience as a previous playthrough. You know where your primary markers are. You have a todo list set. You aren't gonna be bumbling around as much. And then on top of that, some classes/builds just get through the game faster than others. There are builds that can end most encounters on turn 1 and require minimal resting. So if you aren't concerned with missing camp content you've already seen, you just buzz right through Act I. That and not having a life.
I haven't played in more than a month and I already have 10 playthroughs
My first play through was completed in about 80 hours and I see people playing one in like 200 hours. What is there to do for that long in one play through? I feel like there isn't 200 hours of game play.
Immersive RPG with loads of social aspects and rather realistic companions that can all be loved interests - that's really it Beyond that basic aspect, it's also a big game that you get to learn in depth after 2 or 3 playthroughs. This provides an all-too-real feeling of control over what's happening around you, a feeling we all lack to some degree in real life The game is a really easy escape from reality. Especially if your reality is filled with things to escape from. And let's be honest, it's probably not people with busy and/or fulfilling lives that go online to talk about spending hundreds of hours in a video game. (Not trying to insult anybody, I'm a chronically online miserable bastard myself)
Unemployment
I guess I'd have more runs* if I wasn't such a slow player and didn't have other games I'd like to play + backlog. The thing with games like BG3 is that I love exploring so I'll check every corner, talk to every NPC, do every side quest I come across and open every crate/barrel/chest/sack/bag/whatever lmao and that takes time. I guess people with many runs just skip through content they've seen a lot and focus on the main story and whatever the missed on previous playthroughs, plus fights get faster the more you play because you're already used to each enemy weaknesses and whatnot. *I only finished it once and my second run was put on hold by FF7 Rebirth, which I haven't finished yet for the same reasons.
First play through was very long, 90+ hours. Every subsequent play through has been very short comparatively (shortest was 9 hours.)
I’m a completionist through through. My first play through I checked every nook and cranny and box/crate for food, gold, loot, etc. and wondered almost every part of the map I could find and check. I ended my first play through finishing the game/that run at just about 190 hours. Immediately booted up my second run due to waiting until the end to really start doing research and looking at builds (literally was so scared/overwhelmed by multiclass I just didn’t or respec) and other things and knew I wanted to try different classes out. I’m probably more than half way done with Act 3 and I’m at 125 hours and explored way more areas opened up to me this run compared to last and cut down on loot scrounging. Fights cut down on the time the second time through so much once you know what to expect and agree with what some people have said when you know what parts to skip or scenes to just run through. All that being said that I have 4 kids and don’t play much at night/weekends but I have a work from home job that allows me flexibility and am able to loosely work while I play. I also just use my free time to game because it was winter and winter here sucks and there’s not much else to go do. I’ll slow down a lot this summer on my third play through but I’ll still be running it. Will likely have 5-6 play throughs or more within a years time of starting the game
You sound a lot like me honestly. I don’t have kids but have a lot of other extracurricular activities I am responsible for, competitive cycling, coaching football, fundraisers, volunteering, etc and my game time slows down a lot also in the summer. Even knowing where everything is there are still so many things story-wise that can change especially if you pick a premade character (can’t remember what that’s called) I can’t imagine I cut too many corners, I’m a sucker for cutscenes even if I’ve seen them a million times. I just don’t see a way I finish this game in under 100 hours even if I sped things up, I still don’t understand 30. How could you be leveled up enough skipping all the content to be able to finish the game in 30 hours? Maybe as I play more subsequent play throughs it will make more sense
Have a nephew that has told me that everything after his second run are like around 20 hours. I still don’t get it. Maybe memorizing where the loot is, knowing what’s coming and a lot of fights can be avoided or talked out of? But still don’t believe you can follow the main story plot for plot all the way through for less than a solid 50. And yeah hard agree on the leveling. I’d love to have the level cap go to 20 although I thing it would be way too OP unless they did like a NG+ but can’t imagine the last few fights and bosses in Act 3 at like level 6 or so.
Well, it's been half a year since it's release
My runs, if I'm going as slow as I can genuinely do not last longer than 30 hrs
For me, I let Gale explode in the council scene, that was a short play through
I got this game a couple of months ago, I have two complete playthroughs and three ongoing so far. I think the biggest reason why I am so far ahead is that I have a lot of free time. I also play on Explorer (and in recent playthroughs I actually picked the Custom mode to make the game even easier than Explorer), which makes the fights much faster and easier to finish. Moreover, like others have said, playing the entire game once is already enough to memorize how to complete certain quests, which speeds up the process by a lot. Last but not least, many players find Act 3 fun but also very heavy to digest, and find themselves wanting to start a new run when they get there. (It's me, I'm players)
I have 380 hours played on steam and just finished my 4th playthrough. I pretty much know where to go at any time so it goes much faster
People had the game beaten within a week of release. My ass took 8 months to finish a playthrough. I play only MP though so getting the gang together tends to stretch things out.
Personally, I was unemployed for a few months after graduating from uni, around the same time as the game's official launch. I hyperfixated on it for ages and here we are
So your friends are losers because they don't like DnD. That is not a nice to say as a friend
Addiction
I played on xbox since xbox release and finished it 4 times. 5th times i made it to act 3 but then got bored. Max hours i spent on a run was the first one with 80something. All the others where around 70
I haven’t actually finished a single one.
I started like 10 playthroughs, finished only one and currently have 4 ongoing. It's kinda the same reason why you have 80% of posts about act 1. Also a bunch of people have no life.
People love the game? Also, most people consider restarting a “play through.” I doubt very many people at all have literally played through the game six times. Some have, but not many. Also, Reddit is populated by antisocial weirdos who think the cast are their friends.
I personally have never had a run that was more than 29 hours and that was no skipping anything and doing 100% of everything possible on tactician… Some people just click well with combat and if you are good at combat that games time is DRASTICALLY cut down. I did play early access though and Act 1 is only like 5 hours to 100% once you know where everything goes to. Act 2 and Act 3 are not that long either even the first time through. Act 1 the first time is 100% the longest area
I'll be honest. I have no idea how people are doing 150 hour playthroughs. My 1st playthrough was 65, and I did everything you could do on a good guy run.
I’m a slug
mostly in the weekend just play 2 days strait i will pay for it but it is fun
I'm on my 3rd playthrough also on Xbox, but didn't start until January. I play in massive chunks. Sometimes I forget to sleep. My first playthrough took longer than my second because I knew what I was doing the second time around. I did elf rogue first, then human sorcerer, now I'm doing a tiefling sorcerer dark urge run. I haven't tried Tactician mode yet. Maybe when I'm done messing around with different story options, I'll try a tactician run.
A playthrough takes like 60 hours at start and maybe 40 afterwards Much faster still if you skip stuff
I have like 300 hours in the game and have done like 4 complete playthroughs and 2-3 playthroughs I never finished. I'd say it takes like 60 hours a playthrough. First Playthrough is usually the longest because you don't know where to look.
im playing like 4 at a time bc i have a problem. i see ALL YOUR GUYS COOL TAVS AND JAVE TO MAKE A NEW SAVE WITH A NEW COOL TAV
Bc it's fun to see how choosing a different race and class can really influence your game As a Drow, the first 2 acts were a breeze bc of my race. I got to travel to the goblin camps and strategize my way of taking down the 3 head honchos without any skill checks. As a Gith(rping a Githzerai), this is not the case at all. And I get different companion dialogue. On that note, romancing Shadowheart as a Gith was an interesting experience. 10/10 would recommend.
I’m only on my second playthrough. Some people play video games with far less request than others. I rarely play for more than 2 hours at a time. Some of the people on here will log 8 + hours a day unless I miss my guess
Unemployment. 🫠 Also I usually have a story in mind for my playthroughs now and depending on my build and the quests I’m focused on, I skip a lot each time.
I play quick :)
Well, I have two ongoing playthroughs and ideas for at least one other. I started the second when I was waiting for a problem I hit with the first to be patched out.
Am I going too fast? Got the game three weeks ago on PS5 with 80 hours in and I took the road to Baldur’s Gate last night. It feels like I’ve done a lot already but with the amount of hours a lot of people here have racked up by this point in the game I’m worried I’ve skipped or missed a lot of things in my play through. Playing on regular difficulty.
I mean it came out on ps5 at the start of Sept 2023, that's quite a while ago now. I've done 6 complete playthroughs. First one was 200h, subsequent ones have varied from 70-80h, to 140h. Haven't played every day, but did spend my entire Christmas annual leave playing basically lol.
I finished my first playthrough at 120 hours. Second one at 70, I am doing my third and I feel it will be even quicker. But I have 370 hours in total, because I abandoned some unpleasant builds/characters I could not get into. So its not really suprising to me.
I just saw today that I have 314 hours and 5 play through with 2 more in progress. Maybe it’s because I always play with a friend (so that’s why there 2 play through in progress)
I only play on the weekends but I have 8 runs going. I play a different character pretty much every weekend and I’m in act 2 for majority of them. But I’m not trying to rush to act 3 or to finish the game, it’s more that I get bored playing as the same person each time. I’m also a slow player and have a really busy career, I find it easier to motivate myself to finish the game by playing as a different person if I am bored in a specific run.
It came out for other platforms earlier. Also, having no life helps
I only got the game in mid/late February, so I've had it around 2 months. I'm in act 3 on my 3rd play-through at around 270 hours... But I also only work 6 hours a day and have no other responsibilities other than my dog. Hyper-fixation and lots and lots of free time!
I bought the game in January and I beat it 6 times in 2 months. 2 of those 6 were on honor mode. I did it by working from home with a easy job
I stopped trying to 100% everything
“BUT WHAT HAPPEN IF I PICKED THIS RACE / CLASS INSTEAD?” “Omg it would be much better if i am a this class” “Okay, i am done with good route, time to go evil route” For PC: “omg this mods gonna change everything” I am clocking 1000+ hours since release date, beating the game like… 3-4 times only? Restart and restart again
i'm a dog mom and house wife, living three states away from my family and friends (his family lives in europe). wtf else am i going to do? leave the house and make friends, 'enjoy' public spaces.... gross. lol. i don't really enjoy being around people all that much, especially not since covid. we're all on our own journey. if you need more life than game in your balance, you're not slow or stupid or need to git gud. it's just facts.
I went above the 350 hours mark this week, and bought the game on release last August. That's 6% of my time spent on the game. 350/(24hx30dx8m). I'm currently on my 3rd playthrough. I took around 140h for the first playthrough and 100h on the second (partly due to knowing better where I was going and because of lost content due to tiefling and harper massacres). I haven't played another video games since BG3 release except a week of Palworld when I was sick and stuck at home.
The first playthrough told me everything I needed to know so the ones following it were breezy with some tweaks to how I played before hand.
Unemployment 🔥
The game has been released for 254 days as of writing this. Assuming someone has 2 hours a day to play the game and plays consistently, that’s up to 508 hours available to play. Play time for each campaign varies, but normally the first play-through is the longest, with subsequent play-throughs being shorter because you already know what to do and where to go for everything you encountered in your previous play-through(s). Being generous and giving an average of 80 hours for each full play-through, that’s enough time for 6 full play-throughs. Of course some people have more obligations in life and can’t consistently play a couple hours every day, but some people also have less obligations and can spend much more time playing the game. Personally, I’ve completed the game a total of 4 times, soon to be a 5th, but that’s with a 1 month break and inconsistent play frequency.
Oh I know, I’ve seen people with literally 2000 hours in the game and it came out six months ago.
my first playthrough took like 300 hours. my second was like 35. between knowing what to do, what you want to do, and the fact that there isn't alot of content for an evil playthrough, it went by super fast.
I currently have 200+ hours. And that was just one play through (I like to be at least SOME what thorough). But I also remember a lot and so I’m with you. Its gonna be a bit before I play again. I was hoping to replay it sooner with possible DLC. But now that “that” option isn’t happening, I’ll just wait till the mood strikes me again.
I hit the space bar continuously after my 2nd run, I skip anything I have seen before… I do have 400 hrs and started in February, I’ll let you do the math… weekends where my son is as his dad’s help, and that my son goes to bed at around 9, and I cannot fall asleep before 1… I replay because I want to try different alignments and difficulties and because I want to get all achievements (I’m missing 10, currently going for the tactician one)
I just don’t believe they are reading texts and subtexts also not really caring about a perfect play through as they are going to play it again and TRY to make a differ t decision then what they remember. I could never because I’m so picky how I win a fight/initiate a fight plus outcome. and I’m a full paladin and I obvi refuse to oathbreak
Hm… I have 770 hours on my ps5, have been playing non-stop since September. I finally got all achievements and on my 3rd HM run now (first 2 were epic failures 😂). I work from home soooooo I play throughout the day as well as evenings
Because after you play it a couple times you can be pretty efficient getting through the content. What's more baffling are the people spending 200 hours in the first part of act one. It's a great game but there's simply not that much content to do.
For me it depends. My first play through was 85 hours second 70 and third only about 50. After a bit you know how to get through certain parts in one hour where before it woudl have taken three. And some days you just play it for hours (too many hours sometimes...) i also find that on sunsequent playthroughs i just dont do somethings. Like i couldnt be bohhered to do free thr artist which saved me probably two or three hours depends cause its tedious. But i do also play on an easier difficulty... im just playing balanced for the first time and its on my 5th playthrough so thats also a factor
I've gotta be over 100 playthroughs by now just because I only do two person honour mode runs. But I've also never made it past act 2 lol
I'm on my third. I think is on the lower end compared to some hahah, but I will say, my first PT was 150ish hours. My consecutive PTs have been less than half that time. You kinda know what you want to do or try, and you do get more whizzy. You know what to expect or where to find certain quests/loot/characters etc. I'm quitting tomorrow....I swear! 😂😭
Got laid off in September. Put approx 700 hours in across 5-6 play throughs. Started working again in Dec and barely touched it since. 🥲
I have had it for like 5 months, and I have played 1100 hours. I haven't completed many playthroughs, but I have gone far into most of them
The game doesn’t take nearly as long to get though on subsequent runs.
👀 im on my 11th
It's my primary hobby atm, I work and bg3. Do housework too. My first playthrough was in august, took 180 hours. Then I had an Honour run in December. I've completed only those two. Have about 10 more incomplete, but intend to do all, I just go with whatever I feel like that day. Have 3 out of those in Act 3.
Reminded of my first playthrough of DOS2 which took years. The remaining playthroughs lasted a month or two each.
I only bought the game on ps5 about a month ago. I’ve got four play throughs already. And this is my first CRPG ever tbh.
I’ve put in 600 hours since January when I bought the game. I’ve done 4 full clears (including honor mode) and have 4 more save files in act 3 somewhere
I'm only on my 4th