Poll: Should I Grab Baldur's Gate 1 & 2?

[The Madman]

Sorry for the late reply I picked up the game, and was wondering if you could suggest some mods that i could use?

Which version of Baldur's Gate did you purchase, the Enhanced Edition or the original? I ask because it makes a huge difference as far as mod recommendations are concerned.

Also did you purchase Baldur's Gate 2? Again, important to know for mods.

 

[Reven]

Sorry for the late reply I picked up the game, and was wondering if you could suggest some mods that i could use?

Which version of Baldur's Gate did you purchase, the Enhanced Edition or the original? I ask because it makes a huge difference as far as mod recommendations are concerned.

Also did you purchase Baldur's Gate 2? Again, important to know for mods.

I purchased the GOG version, i haven't purchased the second one yet.

 

[The Madman]

I purchased the GOG version, i haven't purchased the second one yet.

Alright, original version then.

Well the best advice I can give if you want an 'optimal experience' would be to also pick up Baldur's Gate 2 from GOG. Why you ask? Because you'll have noticed a lot of people in this topic saying 2 is better. A lot better. And no, I'm not recommending it so that you can skip to it, I recommend picking it up because once you have BG1 as well as 2, you can use the following mods:

Spoiler: mod suggestions

BG1 EasyTutu. Don't worry, it's a lot easier to install than it looks at first glance. Basically what the Tutu mod does is take everything from the first BG game and port it into BG2's superior game engine. This means better visuals, better gameplay, more class and race options, plus even more importantly access to a whole library of mods designed specifically to enhance a tutu-fied BG1.

There's another mod out there called Baldur's Gate Trilogy which also ports BG1 into BG2's engine but which also tries to combine the two games into one experience, whereas tutu keeps the two games separate. Personally I prefer tutu myself and would definitely recommend it for a first playthrough since it tends to keep things more original than the trilogy mod, which tweaks a few game elements to make them all work together. But it's a personal preference and both Tutu and Trilogy will work with the following recommendations;

BG1 NPC Project. I honestly can't play the original without this mod anymore. It's why I haven't bought the Enhanced Edition yet, because they've yet to have made this mod compatible and I really don't feel like replaying BG for the billionth time without it. What the NPC project does is simple: It makes everyone in the game much more chatty. Tons of new dialogue, new character interactions, new decisions to be made and relationships to be forged. It's all done extremely well and is almost entirely seamless to be point it's difficult to tell what's original dialogue and what's been added save for the obvious telltale sign that none of the added content is voiced, but then the original game rarely had voice acting anyway so it never stands out.

Baldur's Gate for all its charm doesn't really have the same quantity or quality of character interaction like BG2 did, in truth playing BG after having played BG2 can be tricky because the original game just seems to much more... quiet compared to the sequel and more modern rpg. That's where the NPC project comes in, and it's so well done I recommend it even for a first playthrough. It really does improve the experience while always staying in the original games spirit. I can't recommend it enough!

Another important mod to get is the Unfinished Business mod. It just adds in a lot of cut content, fixes a few quests, and generally improves the BG1 experience. There's absolutely no reason not to download and enjoy.

Again, these mods require one of the two above (Tutu or Trilogy) to have been installed and will not work with an unmodified version of Baldur's Gate.

One last mod to point out is the Widescreen Mod which, obviously enough, gives the games widescreen support. If you're not using a widescreen monitor it's not worth downloading as BG2 supports pretty high resolutions even without and once BG1 is ported to BG2's engine, so will it, but if you are using widescreen then it's definitely worth downloading for a better visual experience.

Spoiler: some advice for installing

So pick one of the two conversion mods: Tutu or Trilogy. I suggest Tutu, but it's entirely up to you. Download it and follow the instructions from the websites, which for the most part just consist of making sure everything is in the right place before starting the mod up.

If I recall correctly Tutu will create a new install of BG1 in an entirely new folder, this is important, whereas Trilogy will pull everything from BG1 into 2's folder. It's important to know where your enhanced BG1 install ended up because then installing the new few mods is as simple as putting them into that directory and running the .exe for them to install. Trying to install them over the original version wont work.

For Tutu you'll also want to have downloaded the degreenifier, mentioned and linked on the page I linked earlier, which just patches up a glitch involving water turning green with 3D acceleration is turned on. Once tutu is installed just install that as well right away before installing anything else.

Once BG1 is safely ported to BG2's engine, whichever mod you used, it's time to install the other mods. I recommend in the order of Unfinished Business, NPC Project, and then Widescreen. Shouldn't make a difference what order it's in as they're all compatible with one another, but better to be safe than sorry I figure.

And then enjoy. You'll essentially be playing Baldur's Gate 1 in the second games engine, at high resolutions, with all the classes and perks, plus with enhanced dialogue and a more smooth experience compared to the default version. Plus you'll have BG2 as well (Which honestly doesn't really need any mods to be great aside perhaps the widescreen one, but that's another post entirely if you wanted suggestions there.) all for the same price as you would have paid for the Enhanced Edition alone.

Not a bad deal. And I really hope you enjoy. $20 bucks isn't that much if you don't end up liking them, but if you do like them, well, you're in for literally hundreds of hours of enjoyment. I'm a bit envious you'll be getting to experience it for the first time.

 

[Reven]

I purchased the GOG version, i haven't purchased the second one yet.

Alright, original version then.

Well the best advice I can give if you want an 'optimal experience' would be to also pick up Baldur's Gate 2 from GOG. Why you ask? Because you'll have noticed a lot of people in this topic saying 2 is better. A lot better. And no, I'm not recommending it so that you can skip to it, I recommend picking it up because once you have BG1 as well as 2, you can use the following mods:

Spoiler: mod suggestions

BG1 EasyTutu. Don't worry, it's a lot easier to install than it looks at first glance. Basically what the Tutu mod does is take everything from the first BG game and port it into BG2's superior game engine. This means better visuals, better gameplay, more class and race options, plus even more importantly access to a whole library of mods designed specifically to enhance a tutu-fied BG1.

There's another mod out there called Baldur's Gate Trilogy which also ports BG1 into BG2's engine but which also tries to combine the two games into one experience, whereas tutu keeps the two games separate. Personally I prefer tutu myself and would definitely recommend it for a first playthrough since it tends to keep things more original than the trilogy mod, which tweaks a few game elements to make them all work together. But it's a personal preference and both Tutu and Trilogy will work with the following recommendations;

BG1 NPC Project. I honestly can't play the original without this mod anymore. It's why I haven't bought the Enhanced Edition yet, because they've yet to have made this mod compatible and I really don't feel like replaying BG for the billionth time without it. What the NPC project does is simple: It makes everyone in the game much more chatty. Tons of new dialogue, new character interactions, new decisions to be made and relationships to be forged. It's all done extremely well and is almost entirely seamless to be point it's difficult to tell what's original dialogue and what's been added save for the obvious telltale sign that none of the added content is voiced, but then the original game rarely had voice acting anyway so it never stands out.

Baldur's Gate for all its charm doesn't really have the same quantity or quality of character interaction like BG2 did, in truth playing BG after having played BG2 can be tricky because the original game just seems to much more... quiet compared to the sequel and more modern rpg. That's where the NPC project comes in, and it's so well done I recommend it even for a first playthrough. It really does improve the experience while always staying in the original games spirit. I can't recommend it enough!

Another important mod to get is the Unfinished Business mod. It just adds in a lot of cut content, fixes a few quests, and generally improves the BG1 experience. There's absolutely no reason not to download and enjoy.

Again, these mods require one of the two above (Tutu or Trilogy) to have been installed and will not work with an unmodified version of Baldur's Gate.

One last mod to point out is the Widescreen Mod which, obviously enough, gives the games widescreen support. If you're not using a widescreen monitor it's not worth downloading as BG2 supports pretty high resolutions even without and once BG1 is ported to BG2's engine, so will it, but if you are using widescreen then it's definitely worth downloading for a better visual experience.

Spoiler: some advice for installing

So pick one of the two conversion mods: Tutu or Trilogy. I suggest Tutu, but it's entirely up to you. Download it and follow the instructions from the websites, which for the most part just consist of making sure everything is in the right place before starting the mod up.

If I recall correctly Tutu will create a new install of BG1 in an entirely new folder, this is important, whereas Trilogy will pull everything from BG1 into 2's folder. It's important to know where your enhanced BG1 install ended up because then installing the new few mods is as simple as putting them into that directory and running the .exe for them to install. Trying to install them over the original version wont work.

For Tutu you'll also want to have downloaded the degreenifier, mentioned and linked on the page I linked earlier, which just patches up a glitch involving water turning green with 3D acceleration is turned on. Once tutu is installed just install that as well right away before installing anything else.

Once BG1 is safely ported to BG2's engine, whichever mod you used, it's time to install the other mods. I recommend in the order of Unfinished Business, NPC Project, and then Widescreen. Shouldn't make a difference what order it's in as they're all compatible with one another, but better to be safe than sorry I figure.

And then enjoy. You'll essentially be playing Baldur's Gate 1 in the second games engine, at high resolutions, with all the classes and perks, plus with enhanced dialogue and a more smooth experience compared to the default version. Plus you'll have BG2 as well (Which honestly doesn't really need any mods to be great aside perhaps the widescreen one, but that's another post entirely if you wanted suggestions there.) all for the same price as you would have paid for the Enhanced Edition alone.

Not a bad deal. And I really hope you enjoy. $20 bucks isn't that much if you don't end up liking them, but if you do like them, well, you're in for literally hundreds of hours of enjoyment. I'm a bit envious you'll be getting to experience it for the first time.

Oh cool well thanks for the advice I'll definitely do that then