Poll: Baldur's gate 2 or Dragon Age: Origins?

[Sacman]

Well that depends... Dragon Age might not be as deep as Baldur's Gate... but if you're not a PC Gamer by trade there's no way you'll be able to get into it... let's be honest here... Baldur's Gate... like all CRPGS of it's time is unintuitive as fuck... and regardless of how deep and rewarding the story and experience may be, the sheer amount of frustration with it's core and mechanics is certainly enough to turn people off... but the story is good and it's a good roleplaying experience...

Dragon Age on the other hand is certainly easier to grasp... while at first glance they're similar gameplay wise, Dragon Age just does a better job in that respect... it really understands the idea of high depth and low complexity... it's just much easier to wrap your head around the mechanics, while some are still useless, oh hello there tracking and poison making... and it doesn't have the problem that a lot of other CRPGS have, in that it's not full of bullshit, for the sake of realism or Roleplaying... like how all of the shops in The Elder Scrolls series only have a set amount of money... there's absolutely no reason that should happen...<.<

 

[crazyrabbits]

Grab BG2 off GoG, download the Ascension mod and have a blast. That game offers a ton of variety, content and satisfaction, and it's only $7 right now!

DA:O is the "greatest hits" compilation of everything BG established. Pick up the originals and enjoy (although the Enhanced Editions are looking great too).

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I know the Baldurs Gate games are amazing but I just abhoar the D20/AD&D/D&D system in video games. I think it is a travesty. It is mostly a convoluted piece of crap. It works okay for PnP but not in video games. The only time it comes close is during turn based combat.
Anyway, I'd recommend both, honestly. However I'd argue that a lot of parts of Baldurs Gate 2 have not aged well at all and you might be better suited waiting for the Enhanced Edition.
This is even coming from someone whose favorite RPG ever is Planescape: Torment and even I admit the actual combat in that game was garbage.
Thankfully, it was a very small part, depending on your approach of course.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

What is wrong with Baldur's Gate 1? You should play that before Baldur's Gate 2. Then you should play Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[VanBasten]

If you decide to go with Baldur's Gate don't start with 2.
It's a direct sequel to BG1, so you'd spoil the entire plot of the first one for yourself.

 

[Athinira]

Unless you want to port Baldur's Gate 1 to the BG2 engine yourself (which is easy, but requires a bit of tinkering), I'd likely recommend waiting for the Enhanced Edition.

On the purely game design aspect of the sides, Baldur's Gate absolutely destroys Dragon Age - Origins, which has a fairly mediocre game design standard (both games has interesting universes though, and to some, the 3D gameplay of DAO might be preferable). I still hold up Baldur's Gate 2 as the best designed game ever (which doesn't i any way make it the best game ever, but practically every design decision is done right with very few exceptions).

 

[ms_sunlight]

Hahahaha. Comparing DAO to BG2 is like comparing Eragon to Lord of the Rings. If you haven't read either of them, guess which one you should read first.

Uh... neither?

Likewise, if you want to get into the classic PC RPG, skip all of the above and head straight to Planescape: Torment. BG2 is good, but PS:T is so, so much better.

 

[VanBasten]

If you decide to go with Baldur's Gate don't start with 2.
It's a direct sequel to BG1, so you'd spoil the entire plot of the first one for yourself.

And this is just nonsense, you do NOT have to play BG1 first. I played BG2 without ever having played BG1, and I still understood what was going on. Of course playing BG1 first is preferable, but it's not essential.

Read with comprehension please.

I did not say you wouldn't understand what's going on in BG2 if you don't play BG1 first.
I said the complete opposite of that in fact: that if you play BG2 first you'd understand too much about BG1.

If you end up liking BG2 there's a fair chance you'd want to play the first one as well, and knowing the entire main plot will diminish the experience of going through BG1 for the first time and discovering all that for yourself.

 

[rodneyy]

for me more than anything else it is the replay value of BG that makes it better. i played thought DA:O a few times tried differnt party makeups and arangments of skills but as you only have 3 class's you soon run out of things to make each playthrough different.

with BG i have lost track of how many times i have gone back and played it. with all the different class's not only for you to choose but also as your companions kept it feeling, if not new, still interesting enough so the same path feels fresh.

however if i were you i might have got DA:O now and played it through untill BG:EE came out. wile you will still have a good time playing BG2 there is something to be said for starting off a nobody seeing your character go from noting to immense power. it is also a nice way to build up to higher levels getting to know what spells work well together than being thrown in a few levels up and not really knowing whats a good idea untill you try it. could lead to alot of backtracking and trying things again and might stall your progress.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Assuming you don't mind retro graphics play Baldur's Gate 2. It's an amazing game you won't regret it. I have no idea whether the extended edition will be any good so I don't know whether to recommend you that.

Both are decent games though.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I know the Baldurs Gate games are amazing but I just abhoar the D20 system in video games. I think it is a travesty. It is mostly a convoluted piece of crap. It works okay for PnP but not in video games. The only time it comes close is during turn based combat.
Anyway, I'd recommend both, honestly. However I'd argue that a lot of parts of Baldurs Gate 2 have not aged well at all and you might be better suited waiting for the Enhanced Edition.
This is even coming from someone whose favorite RPG ever is Planescape: Torment and even I admit the actual combat in that game was garbage.
Thankfully, it was a very small part, depending on your approach of course.

I hate to be that person but the old school D&D games used the AD&D ruleset not D20

The newer ones used D20 though, a lot of them did anyway. Lets just sum it up as Dungeons and Dragons sucks as a video game, just my opinion. The story and character can be great, even the lore. The mechanics though, I really don't care for. Which is ironic since I run a Pathfinder PnP game.
Also, let's be honest, you don't REALLY hate to be that person or you wouldn't have posted it. You would have known what I meant.

 

[Dafttechno]

 

[Kikosemmek]

I'll never understand this sentiment that the BG/IE games were these incredibly hard RPGs. Sure they weren't that easy, but have rpg gamers really gotten that softened up by modern game design ?

Just read the manual and be aware of your characters portraits turning red during battles (losing hit points) and of any icons which show if they are being effected negatively by any spells, ect.. . You should def have the auto pause at the end of each characters round on (especially for the tougher battles), so you know exactly when to give the next command. (battle log will show who's turn just ended) Also read through the combat log when it's paused so you know exactly what is happening/effective/ineffective, points wise.

Seriously, you want hard, go back and play RPGs like Wizardry 4, Deathlord, certain D&D Gold Box games (Pools of Darkness), Bards Tale, Dark Heart of Uukrul, Chaos Strikes Back, Realms of Arkania games.. And imagine playing them back in the day when you couldn't cheat your way through it and look shit up on the net.

Yeah, I'd somewhat agree, but there is a snag. First, there is a pretty effective difficulty meter in th BG series that can really amp the difficulty, and the only time I'd call the game positively easy is if I powergamed and played on Core AD&D rules or a lower difficulty. Try rolling a bard, or a straight thief or Druid, or how about a Wizard Hunter? The game gets WAY harder if you're not a Mage, half thief, half fighter, etc. Also, I didn't always opt for the most powerful party. I rolled out with Jan, Minsc (pretty good but there are better fighters), Jaheira, Talia, and Anomen in some playthroughs, and the game doesn't always let you get away with that shit.

I always felt adequately challenged by BG because you couldn't always know what to expect, enemy-wise. Some monsters stay terrifying no matter how high you've leveled up. Mind Flayers? Beholders? Liches? Dragons? Always scary, always challenging. And even mid-level monsters mattered because there was always the goal of fighting as efficiently as possible. Your party didn't revive or heal in between fights- potions and spells were finite, and you needed to conserve resources to beat the dungeon.

With respect to DA:O, there is no comparison. I loved the lore and the dialogue in DA:O, but I couldn't give a shit about the combat. Fighting didn't mean anything because your party refuels every resource after combat is over, unless you all die. I practically slept through that game, it was so boring. Oh look, another mob that has the same enemies we've been grinding through for hours. Snore!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I'd suggest both, really. Baldur's Gate 2 is on sale on GoG [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/baldurs_gate_2_complete] right now for about $7. Comes with the expansion and a bunch of other goodies (soundtrack, art-book, wallpapers, manuals, ect), all DRM-free and works on XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Dragon Age Origins can also be found for cheap these days. Think the "ultimate edition", which includes the expansion and all DLC, is $30 on Steam [http://store.steampowered.com/app/47810/].

So yeah, for $37 you can get quite a bit of RPG goodness. Both are great games, and you should play them.

This.

Both a great games - so get both!

I, having already played both of these games already, will have to wait for Obsidian to finish Eternity. ^^

 

[Wayneguard]

I just can't get into Baldur's Gate. It's so damn complicated. DA:O is simpler imo but everything that others are going to criticize it for in this thread are also true. One serious complaint that I have is the lack of variety in enemy types. Some enemies are fucking awesome (ogres) but you end up fighting a lot of the same guys over and over and over again.