Baldur's Gate I was better than Baldur's Gate II

[Lilura]

Here is the best write-up on the net in regards to BG vs. BG2.

I hear it's written by the only authoritative commentator for the Infinity Engine.

 

[Curratum]

I don't think I can cope with so many provably false statements before my morning coffee, TemplarGR.

Saying "1 is special to me and I love it more" is one thing, trying to somehow objectively prove it's better in all aspects, from writing to graphics to gameplay, is just a ton of senseless drivel.

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Norm is the man, would love a special edition of Clueless Gamer with him as special guest.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Maybe it’s a city mouse country mouse thing, but I will take exploring Athkatla over hiking through the woods any day of the week.

Lilura pretty sure the Gram description was meant as a subtle shoutout to fans of the ring cycle. If they wanted to beat you over the head with backstory they could’ve easily just lifted it wholesale from the Volsung Saga. It would be like if they put Excalibur in the game and merely described it as having a royal air about it.

 

[Lilura]

I wouldn't call a direct reference to Siegfried subtle, but thank you for nitpicking my nitpick.

 

[Shaewaroz]

You do realize that BG1EE is not the same game as BG1? I prefer to play the actual BG1 instead of BG1EE.

Most of the time I prefer BG2 over BG1, but I agree that BG1 did some things better than BG2. To me BG1 imitates a tabletop D&D experience better, which I appreciate a lot. I also agree with what Lilura mentions in her blog about map layouts in BG1 making the game feel more like an adventure than BG2, where map areas are more arbitrarily connected. I like playing low level D&D, since every new level makes a huge difference. The main story was also perhaps a little better in BG1, although side quests in BG2 are miles ahead of BG1.

I don't agree with OPs other points. NPC interactions are an essential part of BG2's appeal and replayability. Romances are well-written and done with good taste, so I enjoy them. Loot is done much, much better in BG2. In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that? In BG2 you actually can plan different party and character builds based around different unique magical weapons since there's a huge variety of highly usable weaponry, unlike in BG1 where every single party ends up using the aforementioned Long Sword +2. In Throne of Bhaal itemization gets way too ridiculous, but in BG2 itemization is pretty much perfect.

Muh grafix/music/art is all around better in BG2, no question about it. BG1 graphics are serviceable, more realistic of course, but also uninteresting and bland. You see rows after rows of identical houses. All the woodland areas look the same. Same mountains, same trees, same grass textures. No variation whatsoever. Many maps are almost entirely empty, with no quests or NPCs to interact with. In BG2 every single map is completely unique, with different textures, different music, unique quests, unique voice acting, unique NPCs that usually have something meaningful to say (unlike in BG1) etc.

BG2 was just a huge improvement over BG1 in almost every way imaginable.

 

[Lilura]

In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that?

Munchkin exposed.

 

[Shaewaroz]

In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that?

Munchkin exposed.

I have no idea what you mean by this.

 

[Sykar]

Oh man, I'm half-Japanese, and I can go on and on about how much weeaboos bother me... I'll try to keep this short.

Having been born in Japan and going to youchien there (the equivalent of pre-school and kindergarten), I'm capable of holding conversations and reading hiragana and katakana. However, I've lived in America since 1st grade, and since English was the primary language spoken at home (Japanese mother, American father), my Japanese vocabulary isn't the same as if someone were to grow up in Japan, since I've spent 3/4's of my life in America. Because of that I'm working on expanding my Japanese vocabulary, but what really bothers me is that is seems like 95% of people in America that want to learn Japanese are fucking weirdos. It's really, really, REALLY annoying. And I know I'll get some hate for this, but I can't stand people who want to learn Japanese just to "watch anime without subtitles". Here in the US there's all these weirdos that fetishize Japanese people and are trying to learn a language just to watch fucking cartoons, while I'm trying to learn it so I can communicate with my mother and other family members better. Also annoying how these weeaboos can act so know-it-all about it, like they think it makes them "cool" just because they learned some Japanese words. Another annoying thing is when they claim that they have perfect pronunciation when in actuality their pronunciation is horrible - but oh no, they're convincedthat their pronunciation is 100% spot-on. I criiiiiinge so much whenever I hear people try to speak JapaEnglish with each other...

What's even more annoying though is how these people claim that Japan is DA BEST PLACE EVERRRR and is one big anime wonderland. It's. Not. They don't know anything about (or more like, intentionally ignore) how Japan can be subconsciously xenophobic (even to hafu's like me), their birthrate is declining and their population is aging because women are choosing not to have children because while more women are choosing to work (which is good), society still has the mindset that "men work, women stay at home to raise the kids" (which is bad), and 12-hour work schedules aren't willing to accommodate raising children.

Basically, I'm just annoyed that I feel like I can't express interest in learning more of my first fucking language because everyone else in America that wants to learn it is a fucking weeaboo that just wants to watch anime without subtitles or hit on Japanese girls. They've attached a negative stigma to Japanese language and culture in America to the point where some people think the words "Japanese" and "weeb speak" are interchangeable. Honestly the only non-Japanese person that is interested in Japanese language & culture for valid reasons I know is my dad, who is just interested in languages in general and just happened to marry a Japanese lady, does not watch any anime, and doesn't talk in the "JapaEnglish" that weeaboos often do.

You know how I said I'm trying to expand my Japanese vocabulary? So yeah, I browse /r/LearnJapanese. But a lot of the people that post there I can tell are weeaboos and have the same "know-it-all" attitude and they all get in arguments with each other, and whenever someone makes a "why do you want to learn Japanese" topic there's always responses of "so I can watch dem animes" or "so I can hit on girls" and random bouts of "desu nee" and "waifu" thrown in. It's really cringeworthy and fucking annoying. It kind of makes me sad that it seems no one else wants to learn Japanese for the same reasons I do, or at least for a reason that's not "anime without subtitles" or "hitting on girls". So yeah weeaboos, thanks for stigmatizing my first language and my mother's culture in the country I currently live in (United States).

/end rant, sorry if I offended anyone here as I understand this subreddit has a lot of former weeaboo's/current weeaboo's lurking. This is simply the opinion of a half-Japanese guy who was born in Japan, went to pre-school/kindergarten there, and has lived in America since 1st grade.

tldr; weeaboos disgust me

EDIT: minor clarification

 

[Bladeract]

In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that?

Munchkin exposed.

Some people like to play the game and make a party that doesn't suck. Enjoying endless tedious trash mobs in encounters that don't require 2 seconds of thought of BG 1 is much more bizarre to me.

 

[Luckmann]

Baldur's Gate I was better than Baldur's Gate II

Yes.

You could've stopped there.

The only thing BG2 has over BG1 is mechanical superiority.

I didn't even get into the companions who in BG1 shut their mouths and did what they were told. In BG2 I had to deal with a collection of retards who somehow became more retarded(Minsc) More annoying(Imoen) More cringeworthy (Jaheira who wasn't cringeworthy at all and all of a sudden was trying to fuck me a week after her husband of how many decades died) to other annoying idiots trying to fuck me (Aerie.....). The only companions in BG2 I actually liked were Edwin and that paladin you find in the sewers.

The flanderization of characters in BG2 was immense. Makes me wonder if any of the original writers were actually involved, or if they were just operating on a rough draft of someone's initial impressions. Especially Minsc is absolutely absurd, having gone from a quirky and absent-minded berserker to an all-out complete retard, but while Edwin is less annoying, he suffers a lot from it too, being dismissive to the point of him actually coming across as a moron at times, even though he should be anything but.

 

[dragonul09]

Here is the best write-up on the net in regards to BG vs. BG2.

I hear it's written by the only authoritative commentator for the Infinity Engine.

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Is there some hidden agenda behind your blog? Some kind of social experiment to test on people on how they react to the entire spectrum of colors and fonts

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

The simple fact that this debate has been going on for almost two decades and still gets about 50% participants rooting for each game should call for a draw.

 

[Chivaslex]

I replayed the first one a few months ago and I have to agree, exploration and sense of advancement are more satisfactory in BG1. It really feels like a dnd campaign. Throne of Bhaal almost feels like Diablo, one big fight after another.

 

[Lilura]

Here is the best write-up on the net in regards to BG vs. BG2.

I hear it's written by the only authoritative commentator for the Infinity Engine.

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Is there some hidden agenda behind your blog? Some kind of social experiment to test on people on how they react to the entire spectrum of colors and fonts

Second time you've brought that up; you are, of course, a dickhead who gets butthurt over nothing. But yeah, if my content wasn't King you would have reason to bitch about my deception, but the reality is that my content is King, I'm an unchallengeable commentator, and you are a shitposter lost in the shuffle, and unread.

 

[dragonul09]

Here is the best write-up on the net in regards to BG vs. BG2.

I hear it's written by the only authoritative commentator for the Infinity Engine.

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Best Years for PC Role-Playing Games RPG Renaissance All-Time Greatest

Is there some hidden agenda behind your blog? Some kind of social experiment to test on people on how they react to the entire spectrum of colors and fonts

Second time you've brought that up; you are, of course, a dickhead who gets butthurt over nothing. But yeah, if my content wasn't King you would have reason to bitch about my deception, but the reality is that my content is King, I'm an unchallengeable commentator, and you are a shitposter lost in the shuffle, and unread.

It's nice to see you keep count of my dickheaded comments about your King like content, you are truly one of a kind your majesty.

 

[Lilura]

It's nice to see you keep count of my dickheaded comments about your King like content,

No, it's not king-like or kingly, just King.

you are truly one of a kind your majesty.

Indeed. No IE commentator has come before me and none will follow after. Impudent, low-stock upstarts will be summarily crushed. Again, the challenge is thrown out but only shitposting comes back. Lift your game, pleb.

 

[Jvegi]

During my last attempt at replaying BG2 I found it way too text heavy compared to the first one. I really think the fact that I've had a chance to memorize all the dialogue in the early 00's, when I was <15, and was skipping it in later playthrougs, has altered my perception of how intrucive and low quality the writing is.

Perhaps it's not that bad, but this impression was so strong after playing the first one, that I had postponed my plans of finishing the whole series with one character, and not picked the game up in like 6 months. Just let me explore the dungeons without interrupting me at every corner. At this point in time IWD1 < BG2.

I might change my mind.

 

[Darkzone]

Oh man, I'm half-Japanese, and I can go on and on about how much weeaboos bother me... I'll try to keep this short.

Spoiler

Having been born in Japan and going to youchien there (the equivalent of pre-school and kindergarten), I'm capable of holding conversations and reading hiragana and katakana. However, I've lived in America since 1st grade, and since English was the primary language spoken at home (Japanese mother, American father), my Japanese vocabulary isn't the same as if someone were to grow up in Japan, since I've spent 3/4's of my life in America. Because of that I'm working on expanding my Japanese vocabulary, but what really bothers me is that is seems like 95% of people in America that want to learn Japanese are fucking weirdos. It's really, really, REALLY annoying. And I know I'll get some hate for this, but I can't stand people who want to learn Japanese just to "watch anime without subtitles". Here in the US there's all these weirdos that fetishize Japanese people and are trying to learn a language just to watch fucking cartoons, while I'm trying to learn it so I can communicate with my mother and other family members better. Also annoying how these weeaboos can act so know-it-all about it, like they think it makes them "cool" just because they learned some Japanese words. Another annoying thing is when they claim that they have perfect pronunciation when in actuality their pronunciation is horrible - but oh no, they're convincedthat their pronunciation is 100% spot-on. I criiiiiinge so much whenever I hear people try to speak JapaEnglish with each other...

What's even more annoying though is how these people claim that Japan is DA BEST PLACE EVERRRR and is one big anime wonderland. It's. Not. They don't know anything about (or more like, intentionally ignore) how Japan can be subconsciously xenophobic (even to hafu's like me), their birthrate is declining and their population is aging because women are choosing not to have children because while more women are choosing to work (which is good), society still has the mindset that "men work, women stay at home to raise the kids" (which is bad), and 12-hour work schedules aren't willing to accommodate raising children.

Basically, I'm just annoyed that I feel like I can't express interest in learning more of my first fucking language because everyone else in America that wants to learn it is a fucking weeaboo that just wants to watch anime without subtitles or hit on Japanese girls. They've attached a negative stigma to Japanese language and culture in America to the point where some people think the words "Japanese" and "weeb speak" are interchangeable. Honestly the only non-Japanese person that is interested in Japanese language & culture for valid reasons I know is my dad, who is just interested in languages in general and just happened to marry a Japanese lady, does not watch any anime, and doesn't talk in the "JapaEnglish" that weeaboos often do.

You know how I said I'm trying to expand my Japanese vocabulary? So yeah, I browse /r/LearnJapanese. But a lot of the people that post there I can tell are weeaboos and have the same "know-it-all" attitude and they all get in arguments with each other, and whenever someone makes a "why do you want to learn Japanese" topic there's always responses of "so I can watch dem animes" or "so I can hit on girls" and random bouts of "desu nee" and "waifu" thrown in. It's really cringeworthy and fucking annoying. It kind of makes me sad that it seems no one else wants to learn Japanese for the same reasons I do, or at least for a reason that's not "anime without subtitles" or "hitting on girls". So yeah weeaboos, thanks for stigmatizing my first language and my mother's culture in the country I currently live in (United States).

/end rant, sorry if I offended anyone here as I understand this subreddit has a lot of former weeaboo's/current weeaboo's lurking. This is simply the opinion of a half-Japanese guy who was born in Japan, went to pre-school/kindergarten there, and has lived in America since 1st grade.

tldr; weeaboos disgust me
EDIT: minor clarification

Ok that opinion is understandable. But there are other white people who love Japan and Japanese culture for other reason than girls and anime, like me. I love the Zen buddhism, japanese traditional art, sword fighting (Kendo, Iaido) and culture, but i hate the "Kawai" pink school girl shit in Japan. I also prefer a visit to Nara, Kyoto and Kamakura than Shinjuku in Tokyo (Edo). I could go on about what i love and hate about Japan and its culture, but it is quite contrary to what you have mentioned and therefore i have written this replay.


Topic BG I vs BG II:
What definitely strikes me is that the sense of exploration and adventure is higher in BG I and also the music supports this feeling. For me this is a pillar stone of a good DnD adventure. This is the same as the first part of Lord of the Rings as the group of adventurers set out to fulfill a quest and were going down to the mines of Moria and where Gandalf the Grey faced his fear and accepted his death / destiny, by facing the Balrog. And Baldurs Gate I is reminiscent of this.

 

[aweigh]

That was just a random throwaway shitpost I pasted from a random reddit.

Desu desu gome nazai ^_^

 

[Micormic]

You do realize that BG1EE is not the same game as BG1? I prefer to play the actual BG1 instead of BG1EE.

Most of the time I prefer BG2 over BG1, but I agree that BG1 did some things better than BG2. To me BG1 imitates a tabletop D&D experience better, which I appreciate a lot. I also agree with what Lilura mentions in her blog about map layouts in BG1 making the game feel more like an adventure than BG2, where map areas are more arbitrarily connected. I like playing low level D&D, since every new level makes a huge difference. The main story was also perhaps a little better in BG1, although side quests in BG2 are miles ahead of BG1.

I don't agree with OPs other points. NPC interactions are an essential part of BG2's appeal and replayability. Romances are well-written and done with good taste, so I enjoy them. Loot is done much, much better in BG2. In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that? In BG2 you actually can plan different party and character builds based around different unique magical weapons since there's a huge variety of highly usable weaponry, unlike in BG1 where every single party ends up using the aforementioned Long Sword +2. In Throne of Bhaal itemization gets way too ridiculous, but in BG2 itemization is pretty much perfect.

Muh grafix/music/art is all around better in BG2, no question about it. BG1 graphics are serviceable, more realistic of course, but also uninteresting and bland. You see rows after rows of identical houses. All the woodland areas look the same. Same mountains, same trees, same grass textures. No variation whatsoever. Many maps are almost entirely empty, with no quests or NPCs to interact with. In BG2 every single map is completely unique, with different textures, different music, unique quests, unique voice acting, unique NPCs that usually have something meaningful to say (unlike in BG1) etc.

BG2 was just a huge improvement over BG1 in almost every way imaginable.

 

[Micormic]

NPC interactions are an essential part of BG2's appeal and replayability. Romances are well-written and done with good taste, so I enjoy them.

I feel like I have to quote this part specifically to put emphasis on how much of a moron this guy is.

 

[Lyric Suite]

In BG1 you find barely any magical weapons, and the ones you do are generic Long Sword +2 (+1 Cold damage). What is so exciting about that?

This is why we can't have nice thing folks.

That +2 sword was amazing. The minimalism of BG1 when it came to phat loot is what made it great. That +2 sword mattered. BG2 was just excess over excess to the point of being nauseating.

 

[Darkzone]

That was just a random throwaway shitpost I pasted from a random reddit.

Temae. Omae wa tatakai o shitaida kai? Ore ga temae kiyou!

Desu desu gome nazai ^_^

Osu. I see what you did there.

 

[Lyric Suite]

NPC interactions are an essential part of BG2's appeal and replayability. Romances are well-written and done with good taste, so I enjoy them.

I feel like I have to quote this part specifically to put emphasis on how much of a moron this guy is.

He is a typical Biotard. Shit company catering to morons.