Baldur’s Gate 2 is not for me...

[Lilura]

Pale imitation of Fallout and Ja2 is not the damnation you think it was. It's not even false praise. It actually make me a little curious to try it.

A little.

In that case, you might like to try out other games that came out 20 years after the greats, but failed to match them, such as Poncefinder: Cuckmaker.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

IE game inventory is one of the worst parts of the games.

It's one of the most fun parts of the game, including all the other parts that feel like "work". Good RPGs are supposed to please the rummager.

 

[Desolate Dancer]

There were only a few things that I remember not being fond of when I first played BG2. First was the paper dolls and models of the armor & shields.

Most of the sprites and paperdolls are better in BG2 than in BG, though I agree on the armor & shield part. And I would also add how horrid the new 'black aura' look is with the EE versions.

I didn't like the new portraits. They went from painting to comic book tier.

Agreed, the BG ones were better but BG2 style wasn't that horrid either i.e. still one of the best among other rpgs e.g. NWN etc...

Having to chose a specific weapon type rather than a group of them was extremely annoying.

That was kind of a necessity. Perhaps the idea behind the change was that classes like fighter will go up to level 40, so they must have thought it's a bad idea to allow them to ***** all broad weapon categories. So instead they introduced smaller groups which allowed greater differentiation between classes, especially fighters. I would say it was fine, apart from minor discrepancies like the Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninja-to category which was really strange... they should have called them Exotic like in NWN or they should have made them separate like: Dagger/Ninja-to & Short Sword/Wakizashi etc...

 

[Lilura]

You guys are only bringing up a few differences between BG and BG2.

I recommend reading my 7,000 word comparison.

 

[Desolate Dancer]

You guys are only bringing up a few differences between BG and BG2.

I recommend reading my 7,000 word comparison.

I've already started it and I'm at part IV right now.

 

[Lilura]

I've already started it and I'm at part IV right now.

That sounds like the retrospective. The write-up linked above is simply a point-by-point comparison.

 

[Desolate Dancer]

That sounds like the retrospective. The write-up linked above is simply a point-by-point comparison.

Yep, actually it is the retrospective. But I'll read both anyway.

 

[Lilura]

Please note that it's only 50% complete (25,000 words) and is currently undergoing revision and expansion. However, it branches out into separate write-ups focused on reactivity, user interface, pro-tips and the expansion (TotSC), so I've probably written about 100,000 words on BG1.

 

[Glop_dweller]

My initial impression was that the good points of BG1 (that had been removed from BG2)...

What were some of those?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

IE game inventory is one of the worst parts of the games.

It's one of the most fun parts of the game, including all the other parts that feel like "work". Good RPGs are supposed to please the rummager.

Find me the AD&D 2E rule that says your inventory is limited to 16 items. I'll wait.

 

[Grauken]

BG2 is probably the best RPG that I know of —after Planescape.

I rank the Infinity Engine games like so:

And here is my top 10:

BG2 isn't even in my top 10 because Shadows of Amn is a complete mess. Throne of Bhaal didn't conclude the Bhaalspawn Saga well because SoA wasted too much time with Irenicus. I rank PS:T about 15th.

Your charts look terrible

 

[Nahel]

Iwd2 higher than Bg2 and Pst ? No way I can take that chart seriously

 

[Glop_dweller]

My issue with IWD series was the simplistic NPC combat AI. You could have a veritable maze of a map, and have an invisible PC walking in one corner of it, but as soon as they were seen (and then lost again), the entire mob would 'conga-line' the shortest path through the maze to your spell casters... even if hidden all the way on the other side of the map, far out of view.

 

[Chippy]

My initial impression was that the good points of BG1 (that had been removed from BG2)...

What were some of those?

Lilura has illustrated it all comprehensively. Doing the same requires too much effort. I'd say the broad strokes are that Lucas Kistjiansen is a better writer than David Gaider (although I appreciate David Gaider's sense of humor) and that can go a long way. But Lucas Kristjiansen built the FR better. He got the tone right, and injected the politics of the world into the firstgame while still making room for the player's story. The second game was more "touchy-feely" and with barely any political world building to speak of.

It's a bit like when Jordan Peterson says men are interested in things and women are interested in people. So BG1 was things and BG2 was people.

 

[Glop_dweller]

I can see that. I tend to consider [often only] the mechanical side of games when judging their quality.

 

[Lilura]

Iwd2 higher than Bg2 and Pst ? No way I can take that chart seriously

It doesn't matter what you think. My blog garners 2 million views per year whereas you are lost in the shuffle, and unread.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Maybe PoE is your thing then.

 

[Falksi]

Please note that it's only 50% complete (25,000 words) and is currently undergoing revision and expansion. However, it branches out into separate write-ups focused on reactivity, user interface, pro-tips and the expansion (TotSC), so I've probably written about 100,000 words on BG1.

Can you summarize all that in a Haiku please?

 

[moleman]

Please note that it's only 50% complete (25,000 words) and is currently undergoing revision and expansion. However, it branches out into separate write-ups focused on reactivity, user interface, pro-tips and the expansion (TotSC), so I've probably written about 100,000 words on BG1.

Can you summarize all that in a Haiku please?

"My blog is dogshit
But I need much attention
Oh, total decline"

 

[Doktor Best]

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