With my third profile (Sorcerer) I tried to do something different.
I woke up, didn’t speak to Jarvis. Didn’t pick up any Act I note. Didn’t do anything related to Act I. I collected Scrap/Coins to repair the Arkovian bridge. Went there and Grenado’d anything that moved. I discovered that Welcome to Devil’s Crossing (Rook opening the gate) isn’t restricted to killing Kyzog. But rather getting some rep with Devil’s Crossing.
I obviously didn’t go too far with this, as i wanted the exp from Ulgrim’s quest and Direni’s quest.
This isn’t really something major. But just something interesting, regarding the freedom offered in this game with Story Progression.
Check the Untwinked Speedrun thread lurking somewhere in the forums. It’s possible simply to skip the whole of Act 1, and you used to be able to skip Cronley too - but not anymore.