Does doing Act 1 in reverse order change much?

[aozgolo]

Does doing Act 1 in reverse order change much?

So something occurred to me, you can do the three parts of the main quest in Act 1 out of order. In my NG+ I went to Novigrad and Skellige early on before even going to see the Bloody Baron, to pick up some of the easier side quests and do a little shopping. While in both places I started the story quests, but didn't follow them too far (not far enough to involve any real combat) but it occurred to me that there's no real gate beyond the quest level preventing you from doing these in reverse order.

So instead of the natural order where you go from Velen to Novigrad to Skellige during Act 1, I was just curious how much if anything is impacted by doing it in reverse order? What if you went to Skellige first and did all those quests, then Novigrad, and then Velen? or even did Novigrad last and Velen second? I did notice some slight differences in conversations with Yen where Geralt said he didn't follow up with Novigrad leads yet.

So I am just curious if anyone has tried this yet? By doing a lot of the side quests you could easily level up enough to go do Skellige first, I'm just curious if it has any real plot implications or noticeably different dialogue?

Spoiler

One of the big things I'm curious about is if you witness the "transformation" of Uma in Skellige will Geralt recognize Uma when he first meets him at the end of Family Matters in Velen?

 

[sv3672]

A few dialogues change depending on the order in which you do the quests, but the differences are mostly minor.

In Velen:
- the dialogue with Tamara recognizes whether you have already met Menge (2 additional lines if yes)
- the final conversation with the baron changes depending on whether you already completed the main quests in Novigrad and/or Skellige. The changes here are more extensive, and the dialogue does take into account how much you know about Uma

In Novigrad:
- after Menge's death, the conversation with Triss changes (few lines about necromancy) if the main quest line in Skellige is already completed
- similarly to the baron in Velen, the final dialogue with Dandelion after he is rescued changes according to your progress in the other two branches of Act 1

In Skellige:
- the conversation with Yennefer in the first quest after the burial of the king reflects your progress in the other areas
- in Echoes of the Past, the mage from Keira Metz's quest is mentioned if that has already been completed
- again, the final conversation - this time with Yennefer after the necromancy - takes into account how much of the rest of Act 1 is done

 

[aozgolo]

I had guessed that the changes would be minor, I just wasn't sure if there were enough minor changes to warrant such an attempt. It would certainly be interesting to try it in a different order nonetheless.

 

[wichat]

A few dialogues change depending on the order in which you do the quests, but the differences are mostly minor.

In Velen:
- the dialogue with Tamara recognizes whether you have already met Menge (2 additional lines if yes)
- the final conversation with the baron changes depending on whether you already completed the main quests in Novigrad and/or Skellige. The changes here are more extensive, and the dialogue does take into account how much you know about Uma
...

errr.... so how have you structured your quests? do you play Skellige's main quest before ending the "bloody Baron"? Have you gone to Novigrad before meetilng Tamara in Oxenfurt? :thinking:

 

[sv3672]

I had guessed that the changes would be minor, I just wasn't sure if there were enough minor changes to warrant such an attempt. It would certainly be interesting to try it in a different order nonetheless.

It seems the Skellige quest line acknowledges the completion of the others the most, but it is also the one that is expected (based on the quest levels) to be done last anyway.

 

[Lytha]

If you finish Skellige first, there is a really minor extra quest step (you have to go to Donar and chat with him about what happened to Uma.)

errr.... so how have you structured your quests? do you play Skellige's main quest before ending the "bloody Baron"? Have you gone to Novigrad before meetilng Tamara in Oxenfurt?

This is actually my preferred path through this act.

- Start Velen's MQ, do Keira + Crones
- Leave Bloody Baron on hold, somewhere between "stash chest unlocked" and "talk with Tamara"
- Start Novigrad MQ, kill some witchhunters, leave it at the latest before Poet under Pressure
- Start Skellige MQ. Finish that. = extra mini quest step with Donar
- Go talk with Tamara = extra dialogue lines about Menge
- Finish Velen MQ = some minor extra dialogue that Uma is connected to Ciri
- Finish Novigrad MQ = interesting extra dialogue lines with Dandelion about the nature of that curse.

Only problem is that this path results in significantly lower character level for Geralt, because a lot of MQ XP are squandered: You'll outlevel Velen and Novigrad MQ by far when you finish them.

Then again, with the problem of overleveling a NG if planning to base a NG+ on it, that is not the worst thing ever.

 

[wichat]

Oh my! how many open quests! Well, the issue with me is that I hate "grey" quests in my board...

Who knows? Maybe I could finally play an NG+ in the futur...:surprise: