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

[Reven]

So i have frequently heard people saying how great Baldur's Gate is, I am a pretty big Rpg Fan, I loved the NWN games, Most of the Early Bioware games (KOTOR, JADE EMPIRE, Etc). What i would like to know,
is it the story that really sells the game?
The combat?

If you choose whether i should buy it or not, I would like to hear your opinions as to why you like it, so that i have a good idea of what to expect.

And what about the enhanced edition? I've heard it has some issues but i don't really understand to what degree?

And finally, I often hear that it was the second game that "perfected" the genre, so should i take a miss to the original and go straight to the second? would i miss anything if i do?

 

[hazabaza1]

They've aged really badly and the supposed "amazing morality whatever" is so laughably black and white but if you're looking for a D&D based party focused RPG it's probably one of the best you'll get excluding tabletop.

 

[lRookiel]

OF COURSE YOU SHOULD BUY THEM! :3

If you skip the first one, you would miss the best story ever! So yeah, play the first one. About the enhanced edition, it depends really how confident you are with your modding skills, since you can basically get the same experience with the original copy using various mods. Oh and they botched the cut scenes in the Enhanced edition IMO, it's not the same at all, they actually CUT OUT some of Sarevoks (the main antagonist) dialogue, an absolute crime as far as I'm concerned. >:3

My personal preference of the series goes to the first game. In the second one It's kind of like "Where the fuck do I go?". Still, BG2 is a great game and I understand why people like it more but I've been playing the first game since I was a child (it was one of the first games I ever played) so I think that's down to nostalgia a bit.

Play them both and have an absolute blast. :3

 

[The Madman]

Sure, why not? It's not like the games are expensive so worst case scenario you skip lunch one day and you've recouped your costs if you didn't like em, and if you did like em then you might just have a new favourite.

The original Baldur's Gate can be tricky to get into since unlike a modern game there is almost no hand-holding whatsoever, nor does it try to ease you into the game. From the moment you've left Candlekeep, the games 'introduction' location, you're pretty much on your own and the game refuses to hold any punches, which considering you're a level 1 snot in a DnD setting essentially translates to "You will die. A lot.". Combat at low levels also isn't particularly interesting since a good chunk of it is just crossing your fingers and hoping you kill the enemy before they kill you.

But even with that said I always recommend playing the first BG game before delving into the admitedly superior second. Why? More complete experience. You can play BG2 on its own but if you've played the first and have imported your character it's just such a more compelling experience. You're more familiar with the story and setting, you'll have already met many of the characters you'll encounter again in BG2, and as you'll already have a grasp of the gameplay it will be instantly more entertaining.

As for whether to buy the enhanced editions or not... I dunno. I haven't bought the enhanced edition for BG1 yet myself since it doesn't have support from some of my favourite mods and without those I'm not sure I'd want to replay BG for the billionth time.

I suppose if you're looking to just jump straight in without modding or anything the enhanced edition might be ideal for you, but if you're willing to spend a bit of time working on it there's a massive library of mods for the original version with can make it equal and in many ways superior to the Enhanced Edition at less of a cost and with more 'original' of an experience, for what that's worth.

Depends on what you want to do.

They've aged really badly and the supposed "amazing morality whatever" is so laughably black and white but if you're looking for a D&D based party focused RPG it's probably one of the best you'll get excluding tabletop.

I disagree with you so much that in real life I'd probably give you a moments stare before rolling my eyes and trying to change the subject, THAT'S how much I disagree with you.

 

[DustyDrB]

Don't buy the Enhanced Edition is all I can say. It's a broken mess that I can't even get to run. The one time I tried and it didn't crash on launch (no help from support on that, by the way), it was choppy as all get out.

Get the originals off of GOG and mod them if you wish.

 

[hazabaza1]

I disagree with you so much that in real life I'd probably give you a moments stare before rolling my eyes and trying to change the subject, THAT'S how much I disagree with you.

...alright.
So you gonna say anything else or just imply that I'm a fucking idiot?

 

[The Madman]

I disagree with you so much that in real life I'd probably give you a moments stare before rolling my eyes and trying to change the subject, THAT'S how much I disagree with you.

...alright.
So you gonna say anything else or just imply that I'm a fucking idiot?

How the fuck does that imply you're an idiot? It implies I disagree with you. Jesus, not everything's a goddamned insult.

 

[mitchell271]

As much as I love games like this and how much fun I've had with them, I can't whole-heartedly recommend them. I'd play an actual tabletop 4e D&D game instead if you can. The game will last a lot longer and playing with friends is a lot more fun (and a lot funnier). Unless you get an asshole rogue.

 

[Reven]

As much as I love games like this and how much fun I've had with them, I can't whole-heartedly recommend them. I'd play an actual tabletop 4e D&D game instead if you can. The game will last a lot longer and playing with friends is a lot more fun (and a lot funnier). Unless you get an asshole rogue.

If i could actually find a group that plays in my area i totally would do that honestly lol.

 

[oplinger]

I'd get them, yeah,

Get the enhanced edition if you want, it's not really needed, but I personally like it. But working is a little hit or miss. So I dunno if you wanna figure that out. It's hit or miss with the originals as well.

 

[hazabaza1]

I disagree with you so much that in real life I'd probably give you a moments stare before rolling my eyes and trying to change the subject, THAT'S how much I disagree with you.

...alright.
So you gonna say anything else or just imply that I'm a fucking idiot?

How the fuck does that imply you're an idiot? It implies I disagree with you. Jesus, not everything's a goddamned insult.

The whole 'rolling your eyes' thing.
Don't know where you're from but here in England it implies "wow you're fucking dumb let's talk about something else."

 

[DazZ.]

Buy both and play through them both in the Baldur's Gate 2 engine. If you install a mod called EasyTutu (there are alternatives that do the same thing) you can play through Baldur's Gate 1 with the few enhancements of 2 and then go straight into 2 when the story gets that far.

Get them from GoG.

 

[The Madman]

The whole 'rolling your eyes' thing.
Don't know where you're from but here in England it implies "wow you're fucking dumb let's talk about something else."

Good for you. If I thought you were dumb I'd have called you dumb, this isn't England, it's an internet forum. I wasn't trying to insult you, especially not over something a stupid as a video game. But whatever, if you want to pick fights go for it just know I wont stick around, I've no interest in 'e-drama'.

So. Baldur's Gate. Yeah. I love em. I can see why people might not: 2nd edition DnD isn't the most friendly or even terribly good as far as DnD goes, and the games difficulty will obviously be a turnoff for many while the UI definitely takes a fair bit of getting used to. But even so I've always considered them worth playing and found both the story and gameplay alike to be some of Biowares best. Even the visuals I'm inclined to think have aged well, especially BG2's lavish high quality backgrounds.

But then that's a personal opinion. I don't want to offend anyone.

 

[hazabaza1]

The whole 'rolling your eyes' thing.
Don't know where you're from but here in England it implies "wow you're fucking dumb let's talk about something else."

Good for you. If I thought you were dumb I'd have called you dumb, this isn't England, it's an internet forum. I wasn't trying to insult you, especially not over something a stupid as a video game. But whatever, if you want to pick fights go for it just know I wont stick around, I've no interest in 'e-drama'.

So. Baldur's Gate. Yeah. I love em. I can see why people might not: 2nd edition DnD isn't the most friendly or even terribly good as far as DnD goes, and the games difficulty will obviously be a turnoff for many while the UI definitely takes a fair bit of getting used to. But even so I've always considered them worth playing and found both the story and gameplay alike to be some of Biowares best. Even the visuals I'm inclined to think have aged well, especially BG2's lavish high quality backgrounds.

But then that's a personal opinion. I don't want to offend anyone.

Alright, I apologize. I'm just used to people being pricks, thought you were trying to start something.

I'l agree that they generally look pretty good. The main "ageing bad" thing I was talking about was like, how it directs (or not) the player, the way the journal is laid out, and how disconnected the combat often feels, especially near the start.

 

[Auron]

1 and 2 with mods is superior to enhanced and you'll be able to play 2 right away too. While you're at it you might want to check Planescape Torment, Fallout 1 and 2 and possibly neverwinter nights as well.


http://www.gog.com/news/enhance_the_gameplay_in_your_edition_of_baldurs_gate_from_gogcom <- Much better than enhanced imo.

There's also guides for most other 90's CRPG's by the way.

 

[Nonomori]

They've aged really badly and the supposed "amazing morality whatever" is so laughably black and white but if you're looking for a D&D based party focused RPG it's probably one of the best you'll get excluding tabletop.

I agree. I love the second game, I'm always replaying, and some of the characters are really unforgettable, but let's be realistic: it's a very outdated, clunky, buggy, and sometimes infuriating experience.

At least, skip the first. People don't talk enough about the boring plot, paper-thin characters repeating the same lines, unbalanced and repetitive combat, tons of same looking forests and ridiculously convoluted mazes, terrible pathfinding, I could go on forever.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is better in every way you can imagine. The analogy doesn't work for everyone, but I like to think it's basically the difference between Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

 

[Abomination]

Grab them on GOG. Throne of Bhall is perhaps the best epilogue to an RPG I have ever seen. Really tied the series up. Made Mass Effect 3 look even worse since we know a massive plot can be resolved in a good fashion.

Keldorn's epilogue is pretty fucking badass.

 

[Garriath]

I'm surprised to hear that people think that the games have aged poorly. I think that they're far, far more playable than anything else made in 1998 and 2000. The hand-drawn backgrounds were gorgeous when they came out, and honestly still look very, very pretty.

Combat can be a bit hit or miss- it's a little less interactive than most modern RPGs, and there's less instant gratification. It's a bit more strategic, and the AD&D rules can be a bit of a headscratcher at times. However, the game's never unspeakably challenging, and when you figure out a new tactic to win a previously frustrating boss fight, it's a very satisfying feeling.

All of this said, I'd honestly recommend buying the 2nd game first. As everyone else has indicated, it's a far better game. The story, characters, and combat are all much more developed and refined, and there's a good reason why the game's remembered as the grandfather of modern RPGs. Additionally, there are few enough tie-ins with the first game that it's quite easy to pick up from the get-go. If you decide you're not a fan, then you've saved money by not buying the first game. If you love the 2nd as much as lots of us do, though, you can appreciate the 1st as a huge amount of almost-as-good contact with many of the same awesome characters and a lot of the same ingredients that made the 2nd the fantastic game that it was.

As far as the EE goes, do some reading and make your decision. Personally, I'd recommend just buying the original. It's cheaper, more moddable, apparently less buggy than the newer version (eyeroll...) and you can also buy it from GOG, which is one of the few websites I actually feel really good buying things from. They offer really fantastic products at very low prices.

Hope this clears some things up, and let us know if you have any more concerns.

 

[DementedSheep]

Sure why not, they haven't really aged well IMO, I don't know that many people who missed it would find it great playing it now but they aren't expensive. I don't recommend getting the enhanced edition. If you get both there is a mod called Baldur's Gate tutu which essentially takes BG1 and gives it the superior gameplay and graphics of BG2.

 

[Zeke63]

Be wary, it's super dated. consider nostalgia goggles blocking this from posters potentially.