Is Baldur's Gate worth playing?
- Thread starter icame
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It's still a good game.
But you might want to read an Advanced D&D book first.
I didn't make it past the first few hours due to confusion, and having better things to play.
But you might want to read an Advanced D&D book first.
I didn't make it past the first few hours due to confusion, and having better things to play.
It's still an amazing game, much better than Dragon Age. However if you don't understand old 2nd edition AD&D rules you might find it tough to get into.
Edit: Oh and I recommend getting BG2 as well and installing BGtutu or BGTrilogy and some of the mods for it. There's a mega compendium of mods that you can install but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called or where to find it.
Edit: Oh and I recommend getting BG2 as well and installing BGtutu or BGTrilogy and some of the mods for it. There's a mega compendium of mods that you can install but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called or where to find it.
The first time I played it, I had no fucking idea how the AD&D system worked, so I gave up. I didn't exactly read a rule book, but a I read some FAQs, and played Planescape, which is much simpler than Baldur's Gate so I was able to get a handle on it.
But yeah the game is definitely worth playing.
But yeah the game is definitely worth playing.
Now? Probably not.
Here's the thing. I played and loved the BG series. I still replay it occasionally. But I've go the nostalgia factor going. Someone who doesn't have that? I imagine it'll prove really stiff and more than a little annoying unless you have a thing for old-style RPGs.
Second Edition D&D (Or AD&D as it was known at the time) was kind of a mess, some of the fights can be punishingly difficult, and the game moves at a glacial pace (especially the first one. BG2 picks up the pace better, but it can still seem to drag on a lot) The interface is also really limited by today's standards.
That said, the game has some fantastic writing and characterization if you're into that sort of thing, so if you have patience for games that weren't as polished as today's gold standard, then yeah, maybe? Otherwise, I'd stick with newer ones.
Here's the thing. I played and loved the BG series. I still replay it occasionally. But I've go the nostalgia factor going. Someone who doesn't have that? I imagine it'll prove really stiff and more than a little annoying unless you have a thing for old-style RPGs.
Second Edition D&D (Or AD&D as it was known at the time) was kind of a mess, some of the fights can be punishingly difficult, and the game moves at a glacial pace (especially the first one. BG2 picks up the pace better, but it can still seem to drag on a lot) The interface is also really limited by today's standards.
That said, the game has some fantastic writing and characterization if you're into that sort of thing, so if you have patience for games that weren't as polished as today's gold standard, then yeah, maybe? Otherwise, I'd stick with newer ones.
I don't know about that. I only recently picked up Shadows of Amn and even without that nostalgia factor, I loved the game to bits. I suppose the only thing that bugged me was the slight turnbased feel the gameplay has, if that makes any sense.gothsheep said:
I'd say go for it, the story is great and the NPC memorable. And if the fights start to get too frustrating you can always lower the difficulty. Or mess around in the CLUA console... >.>
Baldur's Gate 2 is undoubtedly the better game but the original is still an excellent example of the genre. I would recommend reading the manual all the way through before you play to give you an understanding of the rules. Save often and if you find a quest too hard move on and come back to complete it later. However you should try to complete as many quests as possible because every bit of xp is vital!
Edit: Don't forget the importance of a balanced party either. The game is very difficult without a Cleric and a Thief. A Mage is very useful but not an absolute necessity, unlike BG2 where Mages are crazy powerful.
Edit: Don't forget the importance of a balanced party either. The game is very difficult without a Cleric and a Thief. A Mage is very useful but not an absolute necessity, unlike BG2 where Mages are crazy powerful.
It aged really badly. I enjoyed it a lot when it came out, but tried it again about a year ago and it sucked pretty badly. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance aged much better, although it's more of a Diablo game in Forgotten Realms rather than Baldur's Gate.icame said:
If you're getting it for free it might be worth getting, as you might enjoy it, but don't pay anything for it.
First of all, don't listen til migo. Baldur's Gate has aged REALLY well. In fact, it's not more than 4 months ago that i played through Baldur's Gate 2 and ToB again, and now i will have to again soon. 2D graphics age amazingly well, and since Baldur's Gates environments are all hand-drawn they still look fantastic.
But as already mentioned in the thread, if you plan on playing Baldur's Gate (the original), get BG2 as well. The original Baldur's Gate runs on an older version of the engine, which restricts it to a 640 x 480 resolution. There is a mod, however, called BG1Tutu [http://usoutpost31.com/easytutu/] (or EasyTutu) which, if you have Baldur's Gate 2 installed, can port the entire first game to the second games engine, which allows playing in many more resolutions up to 1600 x 1200. These are however all designed for 4:3 screens, which you can fix by getting the Widescreen mod [http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/] which allows for pretty much any custom resolution, including fit for widescreen.
So what are you waiting for? Go play it!
Edit:
But as already mentioned in the thread, if you plan on playing Baldur's Gate (the original), get BG2 as well. The original Baldur's Gate runs on an older version of the engine, which restricts it to a 640 x 480 resolution. There is a mod, however, called BG1Tutu [http://usoutpost31.com/easytutu/] (or EasyTutu) which, if you have Baldur's Gate 2 installed, can port the entire first game to the second games engine, which allows playing in many more resolutions up to 1600 x 1200. These are however all designed for 4:3 screens, which you can fix by getting the Widescreen mod [http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/] which allows for pretty much any custom resolution, including fit for widescreen.
So what are you waiting for? Go play it!
Edit:
Actually, there is a neat little XP trick to gain loads of XP in the original. North of the Friendly Arm Inn is the Anhkeg tunnels. Anhkegs give almost a thousand XP per kill, and it's possible to kill them at a relatively low level. So once you run out of Anhkegs elsewhere, just sleep in the tunnels and they will attack you one at a time during rest.Leftnt Sharpe said:
I've used Tutu, there were horrible graphical artifacts. The original graphics weren't a problem, but all the glitches were a pain in the ass to deal with.
AD&D 2e was a broken mess back in 98, and BG was even worse compared to that, given how limited some of the spells were. I was willing to put up with it then given that there weren't many other computer games in the genre, but it's aged about as well as Jagged Alliance 2, which received incredibly high review scores but is just painfully slow overall and the damn animations have all your units moving backwards.
AD&D 2e was a broken mess back in 98, and BG was even worse compared to that, given how limited some of the spells were. I was willing to put up with it then given that there weren't many other computer games in the genre, but it's aged about as well as Jagged Alliance 2, which received incredibly high review scores but is just painfully slow overall and the damn animations have all your units moving backwards.