Thinking about playing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2

[Megaton Punch]

Now that 3 is out, there's never been a better time to finally finish these games I've owned for like 25 years. Thing is, every time I try to get into 1, I get bored as hell. Is this just a "me" problem, or is BG1 kind of not great? Any essential mods that might make it less not great?

I remember enjoying 2 as a kid so I probably won't have too much difficulty there. The only thing I really remember about it is romancing some emo angel chick with no wings because she was hot, but then she turned out to be bipolar.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

They're both great games. BG1 starts kind of slow and is a more down to earth adventure. A lot of companions have timed quests so you just need to be a little mindful of that. Once you hit level 3 or so fights start to not take forever, it's also fun to just go around talking to NPCs and getting a feel for the areas. This is especially true when you finally get to the titular city. Great overall story too, which I discovered when I played through it when I wasn't a kid just trying to kill stuff.

Durleg's tower is probably one of the best dungeons in either game.

BG2 is a lot more colorful and has a lot of flashy stuff going on. You fight all sorts of big epic monsters and start to turn into a murder machine. Really high fantasy stuff goes on. Also a good story, not as good as BG1 in my opinion.

Don't play Siege of Dragonspear.

 

[Stasi]

BG 1 is fine, maybe a little slow and rough around the edges if you are used to what passes for a modern RPG but perfectly playable. BG 2 is more refined and superior from a gameplay perspective. You are looking at a couple hundred hours to play through both games though and that's a hell of a commitment.

Man I still have "brave brave sir Garrick, sir Garrick led the way...brave brave sir Garrick, sir Garrick ran away" seared in my mind because in every encounter that useless prick would get bonked once and shit his pants. If you only care about combat maybe look up who the strongest party members are to avoid a fiasco in combat encounters.

 

[Pimpleking55]

For all that is WotSC dont play the beamdog remakes

 

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

I played BGII before BGI, you're right. It's tough to get into that one because the levels and XP cap are lower and the game isn't as huge in scope.

Definitely recommend some of the great content mods for BGII. I don't know if they work on the Enhanced Edition but Unfinished Business is a must (along with a few others). My old game was so modded I had about 800 hours worth of content in it even without getting into Throne of Bhaal.

I haven't played the EE ones and I've heard mixed things, although they do come with The Black Pits which is pretty fun. I don't have my old CDs anymore and my laptop doesn't even have a CD drive so I'm kind of stuck unless I want to put in a lot of additional effort.

You can buy the originals online though, I saw BGII for $10 on Amazon.

 

[Megaton Punch]

For all that is WotSC dont play the beamdog remakes

I've heard this before. What specifically is wrong with them? Aren't they just upscaled with some minor QoL enhancements?

 

[Anon88]

Yes you need to play these games there's a reason all these years later it got another sequel. If you like RPGs you'll like it a lot of stuff RPGs are known for started in this game series. BG1 starts off kind of slow if you can get past the opening part of the game you might like it more. Also remember to install the Imoen Romance mod for your BG 2 playthroughs if you don't like any of the elf chicks.

I've heard this before. What specifically is wrong with them? Aren't they just upscaled with some minor QoL enhancements?

I only played the original but from what I read the remakes has
>bad new characters
>everything looks uglier now
>Made the UI worse
>Very minor gay/tranny stuff that doesn't really matter but people seem to hate

You should probably just play the original but the remakes are ok I guess if you don't have a choice.

 

[Flatline]

You don't need to play the first two games to enjoy the third.

 

[Power Appreciator]

Baldur's Gate I is really good, I actually liked it better than II. The story is good, it has that detective thing going where you're trying to track a mysterious stranger while uncovering a conspiracy (it's word for word the story premise that Pillars of Eternity I plagiarized and what made it good). I also like that your PC will be weak as fuck and you'll spend time struggling to kill 2 wolves. Definitely don't skip I, the best way to play these is to go through the BG1 with a melee character then import it into BG2 and multiclass into magic. Magic is good in these games even though a bit weak in BG1, but you still have to use it selectively and there's some tactics to it, unlike just spamming every single spell and ability in every single encounter like in shit games like Pathfinder

BG II has some weak moments that are very streamlined and linear, like that whole elf town thing. Don't miss the cute evil drow girl companion in BG2, I somehow missed her in my first playthrough

Don't let the half-orc evil paladin orc join your team, he was inserted by the faggots who made enhanced editions and he's a literal homosexual nigger half-orc. The other character they added is a vampire nigger girl but she's not a faggot at least

 

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

BG II has some weak moments that are very streamlined and linear, like that whole elf town thing. Don't miss the cute evil drow girl companion in BG2, I somehow missed her in my first playthrough

A good chunk of this is due to cut or unfinished/incomplete content in BGII that mods restore, but Throne of Bhaal was absolutely rushed and you can tell. Still a great expansion but they could have done a lot more.

Don't want to spoil it for someone who hasn't played the game:

Spoiler: Spoiler

Spoiler: Just in case you clicked by accident

Everything from Athkatla to the Brynnlaw/Spellhold/Underdark section of the game is absolutely amazing but after that, the endgame and Suldanessalar felt really underwhelming and almost a letdown. Some of those locations were completely useless and had no impact on the game because the content was cut.

Looking at you, Small Teeth Pass.

The Shield of Balduran is ridiculously OP since you can get it really early and it basically makes the whole Unseeing Eye quest a walk in the park, as well as the rest of the times you encounter beholders. Minsc or Korgan with the shield can clear the entire beholder lair alone.

 

[Anon88]

The other character they added is a vampire nigger girl but she's not a faggot at least

It pains me to say this but the vamnigger is also gay.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

I'll sperg a little bit about BG1. If you start getting frustrated with BG1, just remember that bows are king. Attack rate is set at 2 for everyone, which is what melee fighters get at pretty high levels. The composite longbows that require an 18 strength (I think) do enough extra damage that keeps it up with most longsword swings. Arrows that do extra elemental damage are OP too and make a lot of fights trivial. They're not as good in BG2 unless you're a dedicated archer.

The only characters that can't use bows are clerics and wizards. Clerics are okay in melee. Wizards should have slings because it keeps their dumbass AI from having them waddle up to get killed in one hit.

Coran is the best at bows.
Kagain the dwarf is the best melee fighter in the game. He has a 20 con and in 2nd edition that means he slowly regenerates, travel between areas tick off hours of the game which means he's just fully healed by the end of it.
Bards might seem like they suck but they can use bows and they level like thieves, which level very fast. This means the caster level on their spells will be higher than the slow leveling wizards so their spells will do more damage, their dispel magics will work more often.
Eldoth is the best bard and is BASED, if you do his quest you have to get a shitty thief but there's nothing stopping you from going into the nearby sewer where accidents are known to happen and removing her from your party after said accident.
Edwin is also BASED, Minsc is a meme.

That game is really vague so if your companions start bitching about some quest they gave you just google it, fuck it.

Stats aren't as important as they seem until they get above 17.

Casting charm person on NPCs give special dialog options sometimes. They didn't do this in 2 for whatever reason.

Hold Tab all the time because they hide treasure everywhere.

For the love of god have someone searching for traps.

 

[Rusty Metal Skull Gun]

Don't choose Wizard for your CHARNAME's class - 2nd edition is really broken when it comes to low-level magic users, you'll get your ass handed to you. Choose a Fighter or something similar, there's plenty of other magic-users you'll get to control. By the end of Throne of Bhaal, my Nalia was casting Time Stop then spamming Horrid Wilting, it's great.

The other Infinity Engine games are worth playing as well: Icewind Dale 1 and 2, and Planescape Torment. You'll probably have to sail the seven seas for IWD2: they made it 3rd edition but supposedly lost the source code, so it's not been remade. There's also an isometric Temple of Elemental Evil in the same vein but made by different people, which is pretty fun.

 

[Weltraumfürst]

What I think is absolutely integral is to get a basic understanding of how D&D works. When I first played BG1 as a kid I really struggled with it because the game isn't great at explaining its mechanics, what stats do, etc, and chances are that you're going to have a tough time if you don't know how stats work, what "+1" means on a sword, and so forth.

Also, the EE of BG1 is okay. I liked the QoL improvements, and you can just tell the faggot characters they shoved in there to fuck off.

 

[Character from a movie]

Totally go for it, just don't forget: YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH.

 

[Rusty Metal Skull Gun]

What I think is absolutely integral is to get a basic understanding of how D&D works. When I first played BG1 as a kid I really struggled with it because the game isn't great at explaining its mechanics, what stats do, etc, and chances are that you're going to have a tough time if you don't know how stats work, what "+1" means on a sword, and so forth.

Same for me playing NWN as a kid. I'd no idea what d8 etc. meant, but I had a lot of fun anyway.

 

[Grub]

To be honest I always liked Neverwinter Nights better than the Baldur's Gate games even though I don't really like the 3rd edition D&D rules. They do make for a better video game though. The online games in NWN are still probably the best 'online video game D&D' I've ever played and fucking around with the world editor thing was always fun. I just never really clicked with baldur's gate the same way.

I'm also not really the biggest fan of the forgotten realms setting in general. At least with NWN there was tons of custom modules to play around with.

 

[Illuminati Order Official]

BG1 is a lot of exploring wilderness in the beginning, I bounded off of it at first too (on my very first run I went straight to an area with bug creatures way above my level and got myself crushed).
In my experience - it's difficult to get into but once it sucks you in you can't leave it until it's over.
Remember to collect three sets of pants (from BG1, BG2 and ToB) if you are planning to transfer character from game to game.

 

[HorridHenry]

Baldur's gate is a very cozy game. The second one definitely has a bit more story and companion banter though. The first is mostly just wilderness exploration.

takes you back to a time in D&D where you could kick in the door and take treasure from goblins because they were bad and mean and greedy

But I think BG2 really highlights the experience of having a full D&D party where companions might betray you and react to your choices.

BG3 is for fucking pooners.

 

[Polarity]

To be honest I always liked Neverwinter Nights better than the Baldur's Gate games even though I don't really like the 3rd edition D&D rules. They do make for a better video game though. The online games in NWN are still probably the best 'online video game D&D' I've ever played and fucking around with the world editor thing was always fun. I just never really clicked with baldur's gate the same way.

I'm also not really the biggest fan of the forgotten realms setting in general. At least with NWN there was tons of custom modules to play around with.

If I remember, the original NWN campaign was decent but a bit bland overall. Hordes of the Underdark was the standalone epic level expansion that was just a blast to play as you leave Faerun and cruise around the planes doing cool shit and seeing Forgotten Realms environments very few games touch.

Totally agree that BG1 and 2 are worth playing if you have a little bit of patience for an older style of game. 1 definitely starts out very, very slow. Gets better, but I always preferred 2 drastically more.

Planescape: Torment is also good but tough to recommend as the engine has aged like milk. The combat is just atrocious, so only play it if you're into fantasy novels or the Planescape universe. But man, if you are, it has some of the best video game fantasy writing ever. Don't read spoilers, but iirc you want to edit your starting character's save to have a high int/charisma to have the best experience.

I'd go BG1 if you can stick with it, BG2, Torment, then Hordes of the Underdark if you make it that far and want more. Cutting BG1 isn't the end of the world.