Baldur's Gate Beamdog's Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Enhanced Editions

[Lacrymas]

It does make sense. It's a tactic to push you towards the main quest in a reasonable amount of time, companion timers are the only thing that is doing that and keeping the main plot in the back of your mind. It was intentional because it's used multiple times throughout the different chapters, even if it isn't so explicit. The Zhents and the Harpers both push you towards Nashkel, Kivan pushes you towards Tazok, Faldorn and Coran push you towards the mine/deeper into Cloakwood, Eldoth pushes you towards Baldur's Gate. The exception is Edwin and Minsc, who push you towards exploration, which is also great. It's a pretty effective and unobtrusive solution that has multiple in-game ways to work around if you so want to. The realistic possibility of failure is a plus.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

Decided to try out EE.

Well, I just started the game, recruited Kivan, only to find out that his quest is now timed, which makes 0 fucking sense since you cant complete it till chapter 4.

I really <3 Kivan, and as such, Im wondering hwo to get around this. Save editing is one solution, but, what would happen if i just left him hanging around? would he disappear ?

Kivan's a pretty decent killing machine but he's a crashing bore otherwise.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Kivan's a pretty decent killing machine but he's a crashing bore otherwise.

Words of wisdom.
That's why I always took Coran, which is probably even more capable archer than Kivan.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

Kivan's a pretty decent killing machine but he's a crashing bore otherwise.

Words of wisdom.
That's why I always took Coran, which is probably even more capable archer than Kivan.

Coran is infinitely more entertaining. I heard they nerfed his fantastic Dex score in EE though, which is pretty fucking if true. I loved hearing Coran and Safana (and Viconia) banter, holy shit. About the only thing that makes Safana bearable. Kivan's just broody and angsty and his character doesn't change even after you push the bandits' shit in.

 

[Lacrymas]

No, Coran's DEX score isn't changed, nor are his 3 pips in longbows. The one fundamental thing about the development of the EEs is that they weren't given permission to change already existing content if it isn't considered a bug.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

No, Coran's DEX score isn't changed, nor are his 3 pips in longbows. The one fundamental thing about the development of the EEs is that they weren't given permission to change already existing content if it isn't considered a bug.

That's a relief. Still, I'm glad I have the original versions at my disposal instead of the EEs. None of the EE content sounded like anything particularly interesting anyway.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's not only about the content. Even though I don't particularly mind Dorn as a character, he's unnecessary and OP in a mechanics sense and stands out due to fully-voiced dialogue. The other two clowns are pathetic. The UI, especially the SoD one, is terrible and a hack job, truly awful. They introduced more bugs than they fixed, which is why they are still pushing out patches and are boasting they've fixed 500 bugs in the patch that is in beta right now. The forceful switch of BG1 to the BG2 engine was ...unsubtle, even though many players were doing that already, especially if they wanted to use SCS. It did unbalance BG1 somewhat, even if SCS 'fixed' that with improved AI and encounters. They made the graphics somehow more blurry and made the game look worse.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

BG2 kits in BG1 fucking breaks BG1. Tutu already proved that. I mean, holy shit, Cav makes a lot of very dangerous encounters a snooze. Archer utterly murders shit. Berserker also renders some seriously dangerous encounters nearly-harmless as long as you aren't a complete retard. The pet-focused Druid kit is broken in BG1, the Stalker kit verges on being broken, and Avenger Druid comes close as well, I think. And Inquisitor just fucking destroys mages, who are supposed to be the most goddamn dangerous things in BG1 bar-none.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

They made the graphics somehow more blurry and made the game look worse.

kind of bothers me that for an 'enhanced edition' they didn't bother implementing the option of using any modern pixel art scaling algorithms

then again, a real enhanced edition would involve going back and re-rendering all the 3D models at a higher resolution… bioware lost those though, right?

 

[Parabalus]

BG2 kits in BG1 fucking breaks BG1. Tutu already proved that. I mean, holy shit, Cav makes a lot of very dangerous encounters a snooze. Archer utterly murders shit. Berserker also renders some seriously dangerous encounters nearly-harmless as long as you aren't a complete retard. The pet-focused Druid kit is broken in BG1, the Stalker kit verges on being broken, and Avenger Druid comes close as well, I think. And Inquisitor just fucking destroys mages, who are supposed to be the most goddamn dangerous things in BG1 bar-none.

I think they nerfed the pet druid, it used to have HD7 and normal weapon immunity at level 1 .

Even though I don't particularly mind Dorn as a character, he's unnecessary and OP in a mechanics sense and stands out due to fully-voiced dialogue.

All other Beamdog VO is so bad it makes Dorn sound great by comparison, only one I could stand. Some of the voice lines in Rasaad's quest made me want to punch my monitor.

It's not only about the content.

The Bg1 content is borderline unplayable, Bg2+ is okay/good if the cringe doesn't bother you.

EEs get a lot of flack here but almost no reason not to use them if you'd be using Tutu/Trilogy instead.

 

[Lacrymas]

Dorn's quest is not that bad, but it's because they didn't add any new area, it kind of meshes well with the usual exploration and isn't too special snowflake-y. Even though the last guy you have to kill has erineys with him, which is a faux pas, trying to out-epic the original content.

 

[Parabalus]

Dorn's quest is not that bad, but it's because they didn't add any new area, it kind of meshes well with the usual exploration and isn't too special snowflake-y. Even though the last guy you have to kill has erineys with him, which is a faux pas, trying to out-epic the original content.

I wouldn't mind any of them if they didn't have forced cutscenes on the critical path, retarded (out of place) decision, but people would probably have complained they "missed" the content they paid for otherwise.

On the topic of out-epicing, they really didn't hold anything back in ToB

Spoiler

Dorn invading Celestia, Hexxat tricking Larloch

Kinda works in ToB since everything is already crazy.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Spoiler

Dorn invading Celestia, Hexxat tricking Larloch

 

[v1rus]

It does make sense. It's a tactic to push you towards the main quest in a reasonable amount of time, companion timers are the only thing that is doing that and keeping the main plot in the back of your mind. It was intentional because it's used multiple times throughout the different chapters, even if it isn't so explicit. The Zhents and the Harpers both push you towards Nashkel, Kivan pushes you towards Tazok, Faldorn and Coran push you towards the mine/deeper into Cloakwood, Eldoth pushes you towards Baldur's Gate. The exception is Edwin and Minsc, who push you towards exploration, which is also great. It's a pretty effective and unobtrusive solution that has multiple in-game ways to work around if you so want to. The realistic possibility of failure is a plus.

Well, afaik, its pretty hard to get to Tazok within Kivans time limit if you recruited him in Chapter 1, especially if its your first play through.

That aside, ye, I realize the point of such character quests, which is why I dont like them, at all. The main quest/plot should be clear and understandable from the start, not suggested by passive-aggressive behavior.

 

[Lacrymas]

They aren't suggesting the main plot, they are there to remind you of it and to bug you not to level up too much by exploring and then steamrolling the critical path. You don't know where the bandit camp for Kivan's quest is until you get the letters from Mulahey and talking to the mayor of Nashkel. And 5 days is a lot, you have to rest 15 times for it to expire, it's more than enough to finish the mine and get to the bandit camp even with a little exploring on the side.

 

[sullynathan]

can I transfer my save files from Enhanced edition to the original BG? I just beat Enhanced edition, I want to play again but over a dozen crashes in a playthrough isn't very nice

 

[Lacrymas]

They might work in the sense that they load, but if they do I assume the kits and proficiencies will be fucked as they aren't the same between the EE and the original BG1 (due to the change to the BG2 engine).

 

[sullynathan]

They might work in the sense that they load, but if they do I assume the kits and proficiencies will be fucked as they aren't the same between the EE and the original BG1 (due to the change to the BG2 engine).

alright, can you point me to an original BG modding thread so I can get that rolling

 

[HeatEXTEND]

They made the graphics somehow more blurry and made the game look worse.

Very much this, I honestly can't imagine wtf they were thinking. Looks like smoothed-out sludgy crap.

 

[Lacrymas]

Very much this, I honestly can't imagine wtf they were thinking. Looks like smoothed-out sludgy crap.

There are some reports that using the Alternate Renderer fixes that, but I noticed no difference when I tried it.

 

[octavius]

Maybe it looks better with beer glasses?

 

[Parabalus]

They made the graphics somehow more blurry and made the game look worse.

Very much this, I honestly can't imagine wtf they were thinking. Looks like smoothed-out sludgy crap.

Do you mean the sprite outlines?

To me it looks a bit better with them, makes characters stand out from the background more. It's a toggle in the options, I think it's on by default though, bad call.

 

[Lacrymas]

No, there's some filter that makes the backgrounds blurrier.

Original -

BG2:EE -

By comparing them side by side, I want to rub my eyes to get rid of the blur.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

 

[Sacred82]

What's the state of patching? Are there things they have fixed by now the community hasn't?

Mostly talking about bugs.