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Best way to play Baldur's Gate

What is the best way to play Baldur's Gate for the first time?

  • Play the original without any mods

  • Big World Project

  • BG: Enhanced Edition

  • Something else (see post)


Results are only viewable after voting.

Sarathiour

Cipher
Joined
Jun 7, 2020
Messages
3,262
If your BG1 doesn't come with five discs then it's the wrong BG1.

One of my biggest disappointement with bg is that i could not finish the disc version, it keep crashing for whatever reason before meeting korasev .

Play the original and eventually use shadowkeeper for continuity in bg2.
 

Lilliput McHammersmith

Guest
I guarantee everyone here bashing the EE actually played it and are doing so for cool kid points
The main thing that I dislike about the EE, which I have played, is the rules change. I didn’t know at first that the rules had changed, and it’s a major disappointment for me personally. In BG2EE, Mind Flayers can eat the brains of Skeleton Warriors. Beamdog added this because they knew that people would cheese the Underdark section by using them to negate Mind Flayer encounters.

So Beamdog thought that they should rebalance a single player RPG from the late 90s/early 2000s and for what? Not to mention they added kits to both BG1 and IWD, making both games easier, so they just made a lot of retarded choices.


Lilura, I have to disagree with you on PSTEE. It’s not the abomination that the other EEs are.
 
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Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Just play the original without mods.

I'll repeat this as I've said it before: the BG modding community is full of scum, and playing most of the mods makes you a bottom-feeder. There may be some gems in there like Sword Coast Strategems, but that just changes the entire gaming experience, so it's really for veterans who specifically prefer that experience.

The writing in most of these mods is as horrific as the writing put forward by Beamdog. It will actually cause brain damage.

And then you get the GOTCHA! modders who break the rules of the game, or create puzzles/riddles that kill your character over a roll of the dice or a random answer - because they think it's fun, and there's no answer to the puzzle or riddle they've implemented. Then you've got the overpwered items...

You just have to be careful with mods as there's 20 years of awful in there. If I could actually stomach playing the EE + SOD, I think there are some mods I'd enjoy for a powergaming EE run. Stuff like disarming and retrieving traps, also this guy has made some good kit mods: https://artisans-corner.com/ just totally overpowered. But fun. Makes the Assassin kit cool. The only reason to play the EE is because of how they implemented weapon slots between weapons. But if you read the original manual (that's this paper-bound thing with words printed on the pages) you will find that they didn't really intend for you to have access to bows, weapons, and shields in all of your weapon slots.

Bioware made some pretty retarded decisions here and there anyway. Like nerfing grandmastery in BG2.

But the original tone and feel of the original game is unique and has yet to be improved upon or inspired by in other games.
 
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valky667

Novice
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Messages
22
Location
Mêlée Island / Germany
Just play the original without mods.

I'll repeat this as I've said it before: the BG modding community is full of scum, and playing most of the mods makes you a bottom-feeder. There may be some gems in there like Sword Coast Strategems, but that just changes the entire gaming experience, so it's really for veterans who specifically prefer that experience.

The writing in most of these mods is as horrific as the writing put forward by Beamdog. It will actually cause brain damage.

And then you get the GOTCHA! modders who break the rules of the game, or create puzzles/riddles that kill your character over a roll of the dice or a random answer - because they think it's fun, and there's no answer to the puzzle or riddle they've implemented. Then you've got the overpwered items...

You just have to be careful with mods as there's 20 years of awful in there. If I could actually stomach playing the EE + SOD, I think there are some mods I'd enjoy for a powergaming EE run. Stuff like disarming and retrieving traps, also this guy has made some good kit mods: https://artisans-corner.com/ just totally overpowered. But fun. Makes the Assassin kit cool. The only reason to play the EE is because of how they implemented weapon slots between weapons. But if you read the original manual (that's this paper-bound thing with words printed on the pages) you will find that they didn't really intend for you to have access to bows, weapons, and shields in all of your weapon slots.

But Bioware made some pretty retarded decisions here and there anyway. Like nerfing grandmastery in BG2.

But the original tone and feel of the original game is unique and has yet to be improved upon or inspired by in other games.


blabla...you sit seriously behind your PC or console?? and fapp offf.....wait til I can fuck you as well, by applying uttermost nonense shit...
Oh, I haven't read your BS.qualifies as tl;dr
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
Play the original. It is not balanced for kits that give pluses to attack, defense, dick size and all the the other bullshit (nevermind the NPCs and dumb magic items that Beamdog added, e.g. stun mace).
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,185
Location
Bjørgvin
I played the BG1 EE up until Beregost, and the only improvement I saw was that I could now swich to missile weapons without having to manually unequip shield first.
But of course the EEs are more convenient for a more casual gamer.
 

Jvegi

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
5,065
I don't really think weapon proficiency change has that big of an impact, though.
I played through BGEE once, and the itemization was the only thing that bothered me. There just wasn't enough stuff to equip my party. A ton of cool loot had to be sold, because I had no proficiences for it.

The other thing I don't like is highlithing npcs names upon pressing tab. It was especially shite in SoD, but it also makes PT exploration much too mechanical.

Kits are op and I wouldn't use them in my next playthrough.

The UI upgrades are sweet though, especially with serious, modded fights (that icon with the action being performed is genius). I also remember serious lag in modded multiplayer at later stages of the game. EE is smooth as butter.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
I'll repeat this as I've said it before: the BG modding community is full of scum, and playing most of the mods makes you a bottom-feeder.

Actually, the BG modding community was not scum. I use past-tense because the BG modding community died when shitters came along with the advent of BG2. Only the BG2 modding community is scum in that most of them can't mod, can't write and are also newfags that have never played the original BG.

There may be some gems in there like Sword Coast Strategems, but that just changes the entire gaming experience, so it's really for veterans who specifically prefer that experience.

Thing is, the BG modding community furnished us with fledgling tactical mechanics long before SCS. It didn't develop for the above-given reason as well.

Author of SCS deemed BG too difficult to mod, so now everything is scripted with lag in the BG2 engine instead of running at full frames in the BG engine (like in DSotSC).

As an aside, the latest EEs have massive pathfinding issues. Like I said, the playing field is broken.
 
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Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
But Bioware made some pretty retarded decisions here and there anyway. Like nerfing grandmastery in BG2.

BioWare were already retarded by BG2. It's a miracle they managed to develop the Aurora toolset after BG2.

But the original tone and feel of the original game is unique and has yet to be improved upon or inspired by in other games.

Yes, EE soils the original's tone, aesthetics, mechanics etc.
 

Urthor

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
1,872
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
The amount of grognards who want to touch themselves while playing though an unpatched Baldur's Gate 1 without a highlight all loot button is absolutely insane

Just play the EE for the UI, then sneak attack the NPCs you don't like.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
valky667 What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Smoking? But please: continue.

Lilura Fair enough, I stand corrected. I suppose some of the early stuff for BG1 had their heart in the right places.
 

Sarathiour

Cipher
Joined
Jun 7, 2020
Messages
3,262
Bioware made some pretty retarded decisions here and there anyway. Like nerfing grandmastery in BG2.

I find the grandmastery arguments bogus, because in AD&D , only PURE fighter could obtain more than two pipes in weapon proficiency, and bg2 is completly biased in favor of multi and dual class.

A +1 apr won't change anything about fighter-mage being uber munchkin, and pretty much all multi or dual fighter-something would still be better than straight fighter.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
I find the grandmastery arguments bogus, because in AD&D , only PURE fighter could obtain more than two pipes in weapon proficiency, and bg2 is completly biased in favor of multi and dual class.

Dual-class can grandmaster.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
In P&P, i'm pretty sure that's not the case, but i won't have acess to the book before september.

Don't know why it wouldn't be the case. Say you take Fighter to 9th and grandmaster, then dual to Mage. You then activate the dual-class by reaching 10th level mage. Is DM going to say you don't have GM? I don't think so.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Bioware made some pretty retarded decisions here and there anyway. Like nerfing grandmastery in BG2.

I find the grandmastery arguments bogus, because in AD&D , only PURE fighter could obtain more than two pipes in weapon proficiency, and bg2 is completly biased in favor of multi and dual class.

A +1 apr won't change anything about fighter-mage being uber munchkin, and pretty much all multi or dual fighter-something would still be better than straight fighter.

I'm not sure I appreciate the context? The way I was looking at it is that Bioware nerfed straight fighters (unkitted) by denying them their +1 APR at grandmastery. We can talk forever about which classes were more powerful than others, but Bioware chose to make the single fighter class weaker.

It was mean. :cry:

Edit: I didn't mean kitted fighters were not nerfed. But they had other benefits to the class. Straight fighter really had nothing much to look forward to.
 
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Dramart

Learned
Joined
Nov 28, 2019
Messages
540
Location
Argentina
The best way to play it is by playing BG2. Don't bother with the 1st is shit, bad aged, it's not a masterpiece like the sequel. Bad pacing, bad encounters, shitty combats, annoying level design full of stupid traps, resting is bad. If you can put up with obsolete gameplay like goldbox games, or Fallout, or the Dragon Quest games, then maybe you like it, otherwise stay away and play BG2 doesn't matter if you don't BG1, and the game is great, really good it fixed all the trash the first game has.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The best way to play it is by playing BG2. Don't bother with the 1st is shit, bad aged, it's not a masterpiece like the sequel. Bad pacing, bad encounters, shitty combats, annoying level design full of stupid traps, resting is bad. If you can put up with obsolete gameplay like goldbox games, or Fallout, or the Dragon Quest games, then maybe you like it, otherwise stay away and play BG2 doesn't matter if you don't BG1, and the game is great, really good it fixed all the trash the first game has.

And this is why we're getting BG3 by Larian folks. Even if it's a troll, it seems the folks from Belgium are catering to the masses of them. Instead of breaking out the oil of fiery burning.
 

Nano

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
4,648
Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
Don't bother with the 1st is shit, bad aged, it's not a masterpiece like the sequel. Bad pacing
Meanwhile, in Baldur's Gate 2: "Oh no, our loyal companion just got kidnapped! We have to save her!"

*five minutes later: circus shenanigans*
 

donmaslanoz14

Novice
Joined
Oct 28, 2019
Messages
5
Technically you could install bunch of mods instead, but EE is easier option. Just remember to completely ignore new characters (Baeloth Barrityl, Dorn Il-Khan, Neera and Rasaad yn Bashir) and pirate it, so b*amdog doesn't get your money.
 

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