I think most replies are missing the main point OP is asking about.
The answer is yes, it matters. I started a run as Gale to learn the basics of the UI prior to starting playing. You learn an important (secret, to begin with) detail about Gale (a certain condition) as you as your exit the nautiloid.
On the other hand, playing as a custom character, he first told me about that 15 hours in, and even then only in very vague terms and refused to give more details when pressed.
So when you start as an origin characters, you really "are" that character. When they're just a companion, they'll keep secrets from you.
FWIW, you’re correct; you haven’t finished Act 2, and you actually got the bad ending.
Honestly such a great game, I really appreciate that a deus ex machina like that is an option and will just end the game; it fits in quite nicely with how D&D itself works
I’m waiting for a mod to allow the back travel for my second play through, also hoping the level 20 mod gets updated to allow you to level your main class past 12
The only point of no return I encountered was once you head into Baldur’s Gate itself, you can’t go back to any previous area. All the other areas before that may give you a vague warning implying you can’t go back, but you most certainly can. Though at some points, the only way back is to fast travel, since you can’t just turn around and go back the way you came because you had to jump/fall into a pit or something.
I do find that one point of no return silly. The only logical reason I can think of is that they didn’t make an uncursed version of the woods, so it would be immersion breaking to go back there. But plot wise? Shit doesn’t make sense at all. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to go back to Emerald Grove once I reach Rivington.
Odd, I tried to go back to Act 1 from Act 2 (looking for a vendor since spoiler stuff happened at the only settlement in cursed lands) and when I clicked the elevator it told me I “really shouldn’t” like twice and the third time it game over’d me in a unique and creative way… I felt that was a pretty hard lock out of act 1… Lol
I think there is a grace period after hitting act 2 where you still can go back but once you’ve done a bit of story related stuff you are pretty locked in.
You could try just opening the map and bringing up the list of fast travel spots. This will let you fast travel even to points on another map. Like if you’re in the under dark, you can warp straight to Emerald Grove without going back up topside. I had to do this when in the basement of Moonrise Towers because I wanted to go back and sell shit before moving forward, but there’s no transition back the way you entered.
Once you hit the lock out point, there aren’t any waypoints for act one when you open the map… I didn’t get all the way through acts one and two by literally walking everywhere and ignoring fast travel, lol.
No waypoints was why I had to walk back to the elevator to even try going back. I don’t want to drop spoilers, but I have a hunch what the “point of no return” is and depending on your methodology playing the game you might trigger it relatively early in act 2 or it could be very nearly the last thing you do… I’m assuming you happen to have done the later and didn’t even notice when you got locked out of act 1.
Spoilers for Act 3 stuff. Prewarning because spoiler tags don’t work on some mobile apps.
Act 3 RomanceShadowheart feels very liberated once you’ve spared the Nightsong, and Halsin is very much a free love character. There’s even a scene where the PC and Shadowheart can hire a pair of sex workers and invite Halsin to join.
I feel like he’s a well written character, and people underestimate how much he changes based on player choices.
When you first meet him he’s desperate and clearly hiding something, but a nice enough fellow. Then you learn he used to be a REALLY big deal (ie. Level 20 Wizard) but flew too close to the sun. Fair enough, a megalomaniac who has learned his lesson.
Then he’s offered a deal: sacrifice yourself to save the world, absolve yourself of your sins, die a hero. The the thing is at first he’s ON BOARD with this. The first time this solution is proposed, he can totally see the logic of it. And on face value, blowing up the Absolute right there in act 2 is the best case scenario for everyone. The enemy and all their army wiped out in one hit, without risking it all trying to fight them one by one. He has a chance to die a hero and save literally thousands of lives with his own.
But what happens is that players want to play the game. They want to see Baldur’s Gate. So they convince Gale not to sacrifice himself, to make the selfish choice and choose to live. So they miss their chance to kill all three and the brain in one spot, and have to traipse around the city gathering allies for a super risky final battle.
In the process, the players turn Gale BACK into the megalomaniac he started as. Because we coached him into ignore the advice of his (very wise) peers like Mystra and Elminster, he starts thinking he’s God’s gift all over again. Starts coveting power, first to save his own skin, but then just for power’s sake. And in the end, if you let him, he learns absolutely nothing from his whole saga: he’s the same power tripping manchild he started as.
I think if theres poor writing, it’s having the choice of blowing himself up in act 2. That’s way too soon: if you want to see a third of the game, you HAVE to convince him to ignore him most treasured mentors and be selfish. It feels very railroady and the only version of Gale you can play as/with in act 3 is someone who has turned completely away from the path to redemption
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