Best way to play Baldur's Gate

[NJClaw]

Everyone knows Will saves were NOT employed for Fighters in the original BG.

I sure hope so because will saves aren't in 2E you noob

No, you don't understand: 2E is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the Baulder's Gate.

 

[Lilura]

OK to express your opinions

I gave you and Rusty the facts. You just have bad taste, but Rusty is a liar and a fraud.

 

[Nano]

Also, what's this about "can't be played expansionless". When I made a run through GOG's BG, I always ignored TotSC. Sometimes I tried it, but too bizarre, I consider it a mini-TOB full of cheese items. Since I didn't play it on the old days, I tend to ignore it.

TotSC can be played after the main campaign with the EndlessBG1 mod. Only available for EE and BGT, sorry purists.

What does Fighter Charname need 3x Wisdom tomes for? Jaheira, Brawen, Viconia -- even Xzar if he duals to necro -- can take better advantage.

Viconia canonically used all three of the Wisdom tomes, so.

 

[Theldaran]

OK I have bad taste. I'll take it as a minor victory of mine.

 

[Lilura]

It's funny because for a while there I thought you were improving as a poster, but you're still just as misinformed as you were five years ago. Like most posters ITT, your knowledge of Baldur's Gate is based on invented experiences, distorted memories and/or EE taint. I doubt you have a single clear and distinct thought in your mind as it pertains to BG, tbh.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

TotSC can be played after the main campaign with the EndlessBG1 mod. Only available for EE and BGT, sorry purists.

Truly groundbreaking stuff. How could I life without this mod?

 

[Theldaran]

It's funny because for a while there I thought you were improving as a poster, but you're still just as misinformed as you were five years ago. Like most posters ITT, your knowledge of Baldur's Gate is based on invented experiences, distorted memories and/or EE taint. I doubt you have a single clear and distinct thought in your mind as it pertains to BG, tbh.

Sadly, I'm not masochistic enough to plead you to educate me. So I'll remain "ignorant", TYVM.

 

[d1r]

TotSC can be played after the main campaign with the EndlessBG1 mod. Only available for EE and BGT, sorry purists.

Truly groundbreaking stuff. How could I life without this mod?

It's a nice mod for rp though, gives the player the freedom to do TotSC after the main campaign, since there is no reason for the PC to go to Ulgoth's Beard or Durlags Tower (well you can go there, but it will be shit fest with a low lvl party) while he is in the midst of getting chased by the Flaming First, or is trying to find the Iron Throne leaders.

 

[Lawntoilet]

There is no way it takes less work to mod out the crud in EE vs the amount of mods required to get the originals up to modern standards.

The game worked for me with only the widescreen mod on Win7 and Win10 which is absolutely less work than modding all the Beamdog horseshit out of the EEs and making them look as good as the originals.

Thanks for the summation, but it still amounts to the oldfags still oldfagging away. “I had to walk a mile in the snow....uphill!...both ways!...to get my shit to work on Win XP, so should you lazy ass yungsters.”

Like I said, that isn't my argument at all. It honestly is easier to get the original game running on a modern OS than it is to make the EE into something as good as the original game, unless your main priority in a game is whether or not it has an autoloot button.

 

[Theldaran]

I don't know if this is the appropriate thread but I don't care to search for it.

The EE TOB has a "shamefur" phenomenon by which, if you set your XP with EEKeeper, the Sorcerer will run out of bars for his spells... I have 3 bars and that is that. Really piss-poor. Is this Beamdog's mischief?

I suppose the same happens if you level the Sorcerer, at which point you really should downvote the game on Steam or GOG and go to Beamdog's office with pike in hand.

 

[Chippy]

I don't know if this is the appropriate thread but I don't care to search for it.

The EE TOB has a "shamefur" phenomenon by which, if you set your XP with EEKeeper, the Sorcerer will run out of bars for his spells... I have 3 bars and that is that. Really piss-poor. Is this Beamdog's mischief?

I suppose the same happens if you level the Sorcerer, at which point you really should downvote the game on Steam or GOG and go to Beamdog's office with pike in hand.

Set your XP within the game. Preferably start a new one to test the bug, and set your XP on the new character.

I remember several bugs with the Assassin class when I was first unfortunate enough to buy the EE, and I started digging through the CLAB files with Near Infinty, and all the columns were fucked. I expect it was done on purpose to justify more money & a budget (assuming that's how things work) or Beamdog really are a bunch of mutts who are so incompetent/high all the time that they can't get colums and rows to work.

 

[Lilura]

EE injected bugs that have never been seen in Infinity Engine before, such as sprite overlap:

I've seen posts about the playing field itself being broken, too.

1 year later, sprites still stack:

 

[Bastardchops]

Getting ready to play Baldur's Gate 3: Original Sin?

 

[Chippy]

EE injected bugs that have never been seen in Infinity Engine before, such as sprite overlap:

I've seen posts about the playing field itself being broken, too.

1 year later, sprites still stack:

I don't think this can be said enough, or as many times as it needs to be, but: that fucking colour scheme and UI. What are they thinking?. I'm playing the original BG1 again now, and just comparing it to that EE UI makes me depressed.

How could any fuctioning adult think that was a good idea? In the industry I used to work in, they'd call this a limiting grade. The idea being that incompetent poeple can make excuses for almost any mistake they make, but there's that one thing they do that proves irrefutabley that they're morons.

Like a mechanic that services a car and doesn't inflate the tyres, or a heart surgeon that leaves his phone in a patient's chest after surgery.

It's a act of such incompetence that it just summarizes in one go why a person should not even be in the job and environment they're in. And that's what that fucking UI is. Last time I checked, it wasn't even an artistic theme for both games, so I can't wrap my head around why they'd change the cosmetics of it like that?.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

EE injected bugs that have never been seen in Infinity Engine before, such as sprite overlap:

I've seen posts about the playing field itself being broken, too.

1 year later, sprites still stack:

I don't think this can be said enough, or as many times as it needs to be, but: that fucking colour scheme and UI. What are they thinking?. I'm playing the original BG1 again now, and just comparing it to that EE UI makes me depressed.

How could any fuctioning adult think that was a good idea? In the industry I used to work in, they'd call this a limiting grade. The idea being that incompetent poeple can make excuses for almost any mistake they make, but there's that one thing they do that proves irrefutabley that they're morons.

Like a mechanic that services a car and doesn't inflate the tyres, or a heart surgeon that leaves his phone in a patient's chest after surgery.

It's a act of such incompetence that it just summarizes in one go why a person should not even be in the job and environment they're in. And that's what that fucking UI is. Last time I checked, it wasn't even an artistic theme for both games, so I can't wrap my head around why they'd change the cosmetics of it like that?.

In case you haven't noticed some of the previous comments, Lilura is making shit up. I've never had a single case of sprite stacking in my entire playthrough, so it's either non-existent or very, very rare. And the UI can be modded back.

 

[Gargaune]

In case you haven't noticed some of the previous comments, Lilura is making shit up. I've never had a single case of sprite stacking in my entire playthrough, so it's either non-existent or very, very rare. And the UI can be modded back.

She's not making it up, unfortunately, I also got stacking on v.2.5. The image she posted, though, is from a 2019 mod that tries to fix this bug. I actually do recommend trying it out, haven't had any stacking since, though the pathfinding still pisses me off.

Chippy, that's the Siege of Dragonspear UI colour scheme you're looking at in that image. If you'd like a change, check out Lefreut's UI mod, it looks better overall and he's got BG1, BG2 and SoD themes available.

 

[harhar!]

Btw. I now played the original BG1 version. It was OK. I liked the difficult encounters, many options for spell combat, and the itemization. Whenever you get a new weapon it feels like you are getting a lot stronger for a long time. This is very unlike DOS for example. I hope they don't fuck it up in BG3. The game sure does like to waste your time though. Constant resting and then manually healing your party, tons of useless random encounters while travelling and resting, incredibly slow walking speed,... Also, both the story and companions, and C&C are pretty bareboned. I could never shake the feeling that I was playing an obsolete game. I mean, is there anything that BG1 does better than say P:KM? Of course you still have the time wasting, a banal story, and lacking C&C in that game as well, but otherwise it seems like a pure upgrade.

 

[Archwizard Hank]

Btw. I now played the original BG1 version. It was OK. (...) I mean, is there anything that BG1 does better than say P:KM? Of course you still have the time wasting, a banal story, and lacking C&C in that game as well, but otherwise it seems like a pure upgrade.

I can't speak for Kingmaker as I haven't played it (yes, I know, heresy! I'll get to it sooner or later) but I think what draws a lot of people (myself included) to BG currently is the fact that it's the first act in a metaphorical "three act play," with BG2 and ToB being the second and third acts. Much has been said in this thread regarding the superiority of one game over the other and whether or not BG2 was incline or decline, but honestly I think that's for you to decide at this point. Import your character to BG2 and tell us what you think!

 

[Theldaran]

Look, in some places (I forgot, but was it Something Awful?) they hold a yearly Ironman-mode BG saga competition. Same as Cuckfinder, yes?

 

[mondblut]

Unless you know which to avoid, which you dont as that is your first game.

Casting "Detect traps" doesn't help?

 

[Sarathiour]

I mean, is there anything that BG1 does better than say P:KM?

It's less buggy.

 

[bec de corbin]

I like that the character building is simpler in bg1, so I don't have to obsess over planning a character and can just decide, o,k, this time it's gonna be a sorceror or whatever. It's chill.

 

[pomenitul]

You can't roll a sorcerer in BG1 proper.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I could never shake the feeling that I was playing an obsolete game. I mean, is there anything that BG1 does better than say P:KM? Of course you still have the time wasting, a banal story, and lacking C&C in that game as well, but otherwise it seems like a pure upgrade.

On most accounts, yes. PF:KM is a game 20 years later with 20 years of lessons started by BG. It still has better spell casting--especially when you get to BG2. NPCs were amazing for their time, but the liveliness of them shows it age. Mods will improve the experience, especially the BG1 NPC Project. I also certainly wouldn't quit until you've at least finished Durlag's Tower. It's easily one of the finest CRPG dungeons ever made. Baldur's Gate 2 is more lush and has a few more quality of life improvements than BG, but if BG1 feels like a museum exhibit, I wouldn't encourage you to continue. BG2 offers the same fundamental experience, just better, and with spell casting glory.

 

[Chippy]

harhar! yeah, mostly what Mr. Magniloquent said. Not sure how long you've been playing games, but back then BG1 was a herculean task, and nothing else like it had been made up to that point. There's a few things that they did back then that they're not really doing these days as well though.