Playing this for the first time atm.
Was looking for Baldur's Gate threads to post in rather than create a new one and this title stood out to me as being one that involved a subject I was going to comment on!
I am so not used to an IE game providing respawns. In fact, the whole random encounters element, in the maps that is, not in the regular between maps random encounters you'd find in a lot of D&D games, to be really quite strange. There seems to be three or four different mechanisms in play at the same time. Here's some new ones I think I've encountered that's not yet mentioned:
While wandering around one of the maps I encountered a pack of wolves. Because I wasn't high enough level to tackle them easily yet I took a few out and then retreated. While circling the mountain they were next to I found that coming from a different direction, now north instead of south, meant that they were no longer there. Which makes me think a lot of the random encounters/spawn spawn from trigger points. Like little hidden landmines.
Earlier on, while kiting that first Ogre with the belt of transgender, kiting because I was still level 1 I think, I found that enemies spawned and then respwaned even within the same encounter. I cleared all the map except where the Ogre was (he's a static hand-placed encounter) then used one character to lure the Ogre into a more open area where I could play chase-me while the team pelted him with arrows. During this fight a small group of xvarts spawned to the north and buggered up my plans. On the next reload the spawn was wolves and I had no chance. On the third reload it was xvarts again, but I had now planned for them to join the fight and sorted them while the ogre was busy chasing me round and round a tree. But then a group of gibberlings sprung up from the south, and I had to do the tree thing again. At the exact moment the ogre fell my lurer also caught a single blow from the ogre and I had to reload the whole fight again. Same routine, different monsters spawning all over the place. Again, I think it was trigger points, as the monsters always came from the same place (even though the map had already been cleared).
I had no idea BG was so...
With regards to its respawns. It's certainly something you have to take into consideration as a major aspect of gameplay.
But anyway, onto my question, which was why I was looking for a good thread:
It took only 9 in-game days to get to chapter 2, I was a bit shocked as to how quick it was all progressing. But its now game-day 47 and I'm still in chapter 2 and starting to worry that I've missed some drop or NPC which triggers chapter 3. I've been all through the mines to the south and have now cleared every single map south and/or east/west of Nashville and haven't found a single "document" about the problems in the mines. I have 2 pots of the green gloop but no-one seems interested in those. No-one seems to care that I've cleared the mines. The only guy that cares is some guy near the temple of Nashville who wont let me 'complete' the mine quest until I give him some documents, and I'm assuming this is what triggers chapter 3? Maybe it doesn't.
I'm aware that the game has the possibility to be bugged as earlier in the game one of the taverns had no named NPCs in it, but later on it had a rogue in it that stole some money then gave me a quest. And I don't think quest-giving NPCs have day/night cycles.
I'm quite happy just wandering about clearing maps, but I'm just getting a bit concerned about the bug aspect.
I don't want any spoilers though. None at all. I haven't done the Bridge yet and I'm currently assuming the next progression point is in the bridge map...
So if the answer is "bridge map" just say "bridge map" or "you're fine, it'll come" or something similar.