Baldur's Gate I, II, and Enhanced Editions

[QueWhat]

I know there is another thread on DND PNP but this one is more focused on the Bulder's Gate series.

For those who don't know; Baldur's Gate is a series of cRPGs developed by BioWare and first published in 1998 by Black Isle Studios and Interplay (yes the same folks that developed Fallout 2 and developed and published Fallout 1). Those games are renowned for their immense and enveloping story, the aesthetics (still considered beautiful and awe-inspiring even by today's standards), the ability to effect the game in a way that will change your character's alignment (good, neutral, evil) and see the consequences of your actions, and last but not least Boo! the miniature giant space hamster.

Anyone else get feelings of nostalgia when reading the above? Also, what your opinions on the Enhanced Editions being made? (I know BG1 is out, haven't tried it).

 

[Belone]

I'll be honest I never really got on with the BG Series. Then again I was 9 years old when it came out, so my memory of it is me and my (then) 6 year old brother playing it over our LAN and just cheating in all the items.

Skip forward 14 years and my brother continually proclaims it as the second greatest game ever made, after Icewind Dale. Me I could take it or leave it cRPGs just aren't my genre I guess, they're too clever for me.

I should probably replay them (especially if an enhanced version is out), as I'm usually wrong about games that I haven't played for 10 years or so.

Oh one thing I do remember quite clearly is the tavern keeper at the start of the game saying "My old tavern's as clean as an Elven a**e!"

 

[Bahnmor]

Serious nostalgia trip for me. I discovered BG1 at 14 in the summer, IWD that winter (amusingly enough) and then BG2 the following summer when I was 15. I was hooked once I got out of Candlekeep.

I remember quite clearly when I fought my first dragon in BG2. It was a ridiculously hot day and, in stereotypical gamer fashion, I was purposely staying inside to keep my hayfever at a manageable level. I won't spoil it for those who haven't played by revealing specific character details, but those who have will remember the red dragon. I first approached it and started the battle.... and got promptly slaughtered. I was nowhere near high enough level to deal with it easily so I spent over an hour reloading and trying several different tactics before settling on spam-summoning.

I saw reference to the Enhanced edition and checked out the website. As far as I could see it was basically BG1 redone in the BG2 engine with some extra content and bigfixes, and adapting for modern PCs. Right now I am in the middle of replaying the whole BG saga using a pile of modded content under the label of 'Big World Project' (google for it if you're interested, it's on a site called Spellhold Studios). This brings the original game into the sequel engine and adds more extra stuff to the game than I could ever find, provided I am willing to go through the hassle of installing it properly (which can take several hours). The enhanced edition isn't compatable with this, so I won't be picking it up yet. I'm happy with going through the complex process, which isn't any worse than setting up a properly modded install of Morrowind or Oblivion.

I'll be watching it though. When it becomes a viable choice for mod content then you can be sure I'll snap it up. If anything similar is done for IWD or Torment then I'll be first in line.

 

[QueWhat]

You know, now that you mention it, I should probably look into the various mods available for BG2 (my fav of the series) and play it again. There are several mega mods though, which would you recommend Bahnmor, BWP?

 

[Bahnmor]

If you're like me and only know enough about modding the Infinity Engine games to be able to recognise when you're out of your depth, then I recommend the BiG World Setup program. It is labelled as a beta stage, but is predominantly stable unless you go in for some highly technical mods when you tell it what you want to install. There's a little setup if you haven't done a megamod install before.
It requires that you install and patch all three of the games (BG + expansion, BG2 SoA and ToB). Get this PDF and follow the instructions for getting the installs ready. Once done back up the folder that contains the freshly patched installs (trust me, you'll be happy you did).

Then download and run the setup program. It will walk you through the process quite clearly. It checks the mod availability, tells you what it can't find (so you can look for yourself if needs be), downloads and installs them for you in the right order, giving you advice along the way. It will put the original game into the BG2 engine and then any other mods from the option you choose before starting the installation. That is where the program wins me over, it gives you the option of choosing what kind of megamod setup you want without having to worry about compatability between the mods. Options range from a basic install that just puts all three in the one engine and fixes a load of bugs, to one that includes just about everything (never stable though. For experts only). I use one called something like 'Akbars Adventure Picks'. I recommend that one if you want the most big mods and extra content while retaining balance and stability. I had to find a couple of the mods myself (easy by just googling the names), download them, tell the program where to find them and instruct it to accept the files if they weren't the size it was expecting (which happens if the mod was updated by the author). Nothing too complicated though.

Sorry, I know that went on. I hadn't meant to. Think of it as how strongly I recommend BWP that I want to make it as easy as possible for someone to get started.

 

[QueWhat]

Your post is greatly appreciated, as it will help not only me but any users on the process of installing mega mods for these games Thanks! +1 Like.

 

[Munaus]

I've heard about Baldurs gate. But never played it.
I'm hooked on Salvatores books, however. Wulfgar, Drizzt, Bruenor. That black panther-whose-name-is-ridiculously-hard-to-spell.

I love the whole universe of it, but never played the game.

 

[QueWhat]

Drizzt appears in the BG series, I think he can join your party too, or you can fight him.

 

[Bahnmor]

Yes. Twice, both options each time.

The BG series was very open-world and story driven, with the kind of humour that you see in a lot of the Bioware cRPGs now (Mass Effects 2 and 3 even have some oblique references to the series). The story was well written and solidly fleshed out, with several secrets to hunt for, easter eggs to find and little asides/in-jokes buried within. The characters that you could team up with all had their own personalities, quirks and quests, similarly fleshed out. It gave us the wonder that was Minsc, hailed as one of the best-loved cRPG characters of the time. It follows the story of your orphaned protagonist and their journey to uncover the mystery surrounding their present, past and future. I'm aware of how difficult it is to describe without dropping what I consider to be spoilers.

Icewind Dale was one of the other IE games. It was released between BG 1 and 2. Solid game, good mechanics and a story to follow. My only criticism was that it was very linear. The only story your characters had was what you chose to give them (and you had to make all 6 party members. Nobody joins up during the adventure). The story of the game was excellent, don't get me wrong, and it played beautifully. To me, though, it felt like the game they gave us to tide us over until BG2 was finished. IWD 2 was the last released and tried to bring the mechanics into the new pen-and-paper DnD system that had been released since the earlier games. Another solid story to follow, not quite as linear as the first, but I never felt that it played as well as the original. Still fun though.

The final of the IE games was Planescape: Torment. Where IWD showcased the mechanics of the games, Torment went the other way. It is all about the story and your freedom to explore it however you want. To give an easy example, you start by waking up in a mortuary/temple, no idea who you are or how you got there, being heckled by a floating, talking skull called Morte. This is quite sane by the standards of the rest of the game. Though this one is lauded by many as the best-written story of the three games, I must admit that it is the one I have played the least. It's one of those games that I keep meaning to play (even have it installed and modded right now), but never quite getting around to doing so properly.

If you're interested in the universe then the BG series and the Icewind Dale series are worth picking up. I think you can find them on gog.com for a few dollars apiece. Planescape: Torment is on there too, and is also worth a look.

TL/DR - If you like RPGs and a little strategy, these are good and cheap. Get them.
Ramble over.

 

[QueWhat]

I would also recommend visiting sorcerers.net for all your downloads, help, info, and anything else related to those games.

 

[Bahnmor]

Similarly, I would tout spellholdstudios.net for the same.

 

[Odenite]

i saw BG1 & 2 + x-pacs and Icewind Dale 1&2 + x-pac on sale for $10 once on www.gamersgate.com a while back. great deal if you ask me.

 

[QueWhat]

Yes gamersgate and GOG are the best places to find these classics for great prices. Every weekend GOG has specials that follow certain themes, every now and then they have RPG or D&D specials and reduce the price on BG games big time. Not to mention that these games are no where as large as modern games which makes the download much faster

 

[Odenite]

another place to pick this up cheep is www.impulsedriven.com. but wait til it goes on sale.

 

[Tylor]

BG1 is too boring for me. But I played BG2+ToB through several times. Solo gnome illusionist with invisibility at will (by staff) is very fun.
Soloed IWD2 with drow cleric. Problem is, she stopped getting exp at around ice temple, because of being too high level.

 

[Bagman817]

BG2 is one of the best games of all time, imo. All the characters had fantastic personalities, and a great deal of depth, which, combined with old school D20 D&D made for many, many lost hours in front of the keyboard.

"Go for the eyes, Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!"

 

[Bahnmor]

"Minsc will lead by Blade and Boot!...
...Boo will take care of the details. *squeak*"

 

[Scale_e]

Oh damn, where do I begin?
From time to time, someone will say "Play this game, it will change your life." and you brush them off with a "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'll get around to it one day." Yeah, don't do this. Go out and get these games. Right now. Play them. These games will change your life.

I am like Bahnmor in that I mod the crap out of my crpgs to get them functioning properly. I cringe every time I think of the lengths I went to get Temple of Elemental Evil working properly. Anyways, BG1 on a modern PC looks awful. You'll need mods, Bahnmor has already covered that so I wont go over it again.
But right now you don't have to mod! Just go get the enhanced edition. It is everything they say it is. You can even get it on your iPad. The only problem I have had with BGEE is that I can't use my old library of custom portraits because them changed the portrait size to look good with the new resolutions. Seriously. That's it. That's the ONLY problem I have had with the game. I was expecting a horrible cash grab, but instead I got a flawless re-release.

Now, you can probably tell I get a little excited when I talk about Baldurs Gate. Well, times that excitement by 1 million, because now we talk about Planescape Torment... well not really. I won't talk about it. Just on the off chance one of you goes out and plays it I don't want to spoil anything. Suffice to say, there is a reason why so many people call it the BEST PC GAME OF ALL TIME. That's because it is. You must play this game.

The other games, meh, didn't really get into them. Icewind dale was released 6 months after Planescape Torment... so guess what I was doing at the time. That's right, playing PsT. IWD2 used 3rd edition rules, which are complete arse (in my ever so humble opinion, of course). Neverwinter nights... was just awful. The rule set, the story, the total absence of any interesting characters... and just the way it looked. I'll take beautiful, hand drawn backgrounds over horrible, blocky, 3d monstrosities any day.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents worth.

 

[Bahnmor]

You managed to get ToEE working well? You are far better at this than I.

A point to argue as Devil's advocate for NWN, though. The packaged campaign (including expansions) was designed as a showcase of the toolkit's features. The real strength of the game comes from the fan-made modules. For examples I direct people to try the Penultima series, the Blackguard series or the Dreamcatcher/Shadowlord/Demon series. For one-offs try Elegia Eternum.
Any of those can be found on the neverwinter vault website.

 

[Scale_e]

You managed to get ToEE working well? You are far better at this than I.

A point to argue as Devil's advocate for NWN, though. The packaged campaign (including expansions) was designed as a showcase of the toolkit's features. The real strength of the game comes from the fan-made modules. For examples I direct people to try the Penultima series, the Blackguard series or the Dreamcatcher/Shadowlord/Demon series. For one-offs try Elegia Eternum.
Any of those can be found on the neverwinter vault website.

Yeah, the ToEE community is still pretty strong. Check out http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7737
NWN, yeah, that's what people tell me. And apparently the last official expansion was good, I never played it though. NWN was the early days of 3d CRPGs though, and it just looks horrible.