Game News Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition has a release date, available for pre-order

[Jasede]

Yeah, most of us are BG 2 experts- especially those who dislike the game, haha!
It's actually one of my favorite games and I'd like to consider myself a "codex veteran" - whatever that means.


I do feel that the evil party is a bit too strong- if you have Korgan, Viconia and Edwin what are you missing? You have a powerful melee character, the best cleric in the game and the best, most charismatic wizard, too- he's better than any PC wizard! What does team good bring to the table? Keldorn, of course- he's a badass, too, but I find it hard to pass up Edwin who is so extremely overpowered; he should be the bhaalspawn.

 

[Lhynn]

I dont understand this about an evil or a good party, i always just brought along anyone i kinda liked, the game was easy enough for me to do so. And BG II was a very good game, unlike most of bioware games, especially the latest, this one was made with heart, and despite any flaw i could have had, it was very enjoyable during your first playthroughs.
I wouldnt get BGEE, because that would mean lossing access to a lot of mods from the community.

 

[Jasede]

It doesn't matter if it's easy anyway; we all have fake or real autism so we care about what party would make it the easiest. Bigger numbers are what RPGs are all about. :mondblut:

 

[Dangersaurus]

The game is pretty challenging without 13 years of replays, spoilers, gamefaqs, and inventory mods.

Bring on BG3. I want that first hit again.

 

[Jasede]

Haha, it's hard trying to remember what it was like. I do remember getting it within months of release- it was a dark, snowy Christmas back in Germany and we had very little money- but we did manage to save up for this! I played the game 14 days non-stop, doing every quest, spending my entire holidays with the computer. And after I finished it I replayed it. Good times.

 

[A user named cat]

Am I the only one who has never even finished either BG game? Always found first one to be pretty shit and bland, never made it too far without uninstalling. Second is better obviously, at least until you finish most of the halfway interesting areas and characters became grating. I could never take Irenicus seriously, everytime he spoke I immediately pictured the nerdy scientist from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.

Tried various times over the years to give it another whirl and never make it to the end, not sure why specifically. Something about it just grows tiresome. The dungeons later in maybe? Where as playing through PS:T five or so times thoroughly was a treat and hell, even IWD 2 a couple times. Weird, I know.

 

[Lhynn]

It doesn't matter if it's easy anyway; we all have fake or real autism so we care about what party would make it the easiest. Bigger numbers are what RPGs are all about. :mondblut:

Really up to the game for me, if i care about the companion ill bring him along, just for the banter, if i dont like him but his numbers are insane, i still wont take him, all the numbers i care about are in my own character sheet anyway.

Gotta tell you, i loved that gnome and his turnips, always a part of my team.

 

[Jasede]

Had to be there.

 

[taxalot]

Jesus Fucking Christ. Not saying anything about the quality of the new content, but HOLY SHIT, 25$ ?! 2.5 times the original game on GOG ? There is no way that can be justified. Absolutely no, fucking way. Zero. Zilch.

 

[AstroZombie]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

 

[Aeschylus]

So, considering BG2 requires no graphical or content enhancements that aren't already available for free, this is basically a $25 NPC mod/ios port?

What a pathetic fucking scam.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Well, bullshit it is.

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

And it's on d&d sales everytime. I got it while "buy 1, get 1 free and get ToEE for free". That was awesome. Ended up with BGII, Torment and ToEE for 10 bucks. This here is just a faggy scam.

 

[Stabwound]

BG1 and 2 combo is like $17 on GoG. Combined that with BGTrilogy mod, widescreen mod and a few others and you have a far superior product to this thing for a fraction of the price. Unless you want to play these 40+ hours games on your iPad.

 

[thesheeep]

Jesus Fucking Christ. Not saying anything about the quality of the new content, but HOLY SHIT, 25$ ?! 2.5 times the original game on GOG ? There is no way that can be justified. Absolutely no, fucking way. Zero. Zilch.

I was very defensive of BG:EE, because I think they really tried. And failed. But demanding even more after they ruined their rep that hard with that rather failed first attempt is just... what the heck? Really new games only rarely cost that much.

I'm pretty convinced by now that they have lost touch with reality. Even if the whole internet was like this very forum, even if their own fans told them exactly this, I think they would just continue and bring PS:T:EE out next year with 3 additional characters and a 30$ price tag.

 

[aris]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

 

[Lhynn]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

its not that it makes it worse, its just that it fails to make it better, and as far as i know doesnt give you the chance to use most of the good fan made mods.

 

[AstroZombie]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

its not that it makes it worse, its just that it fails to make it better, and as far as i know doesnt give you the chance to use most of the good fan made mods.

BG: EE was so full of bugs that it did make the game worse than the original.

 

[Lhynn]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

its not that it makes it worse, its just that it fails to make it better, and as far as i know doesnt give you the chance to use most of the good fan made mods.

BG: EE was so full of bugs that it did make the game worse than the original.

didnt run into any of those while playing it, but i didnt play for that long, so cant say.
I found gamebreaking the fact that when looking the little bag didnt change colors when my back was full, made me realize just how much looting is involved in that game.

 

[Malpercio]

Meh, replayed BG2 recently, don't think i'll get this edition at all.

Though honestly, ToB is so boring that even the hacks at Beamdog could probably improve it.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I guess you need to be a savant to understand that you can drink a potion and it does what the description says. Or to read the combat log and see that you lost the combat because your barbarian was charmed and you could have prevented that using that ultra-obscure class ability the character has and only a super-genius could think of clicking on before the combat begins.

That's completely misrepresenting the game. There are precious few consumables that outright trivialize encounters of any sort and the ones that do are opaque about how to best use them, not to mention rather rare in the gameworld (Protection from Undead/Magic scrolls).

Plus, encounters are usually a lot more multifaceted. How do you deal with some mindflayers, their dominated minions, and some pet umber hulks? What about a bunch of high level druids and their summoned animals/elementals? What about enemy adventuring parties? There's no silver bullet for fights like those, which aren't uncommon in BG2. Generally figuring out a way your party can conquer an encounter/area can takes a little bit of thinking/adaptation. Would it be as challenging as defeating Kasparov in his prime or winning a land war in Russia? No, but it isn't much less difficult than any other RPG that doesn't involve reflexes or serious random elements.

Even the first time you play through those games you have tons of crap at your disposal, since the game basically throws items at you.

Not really, no. Most of the best consumables are rather rare and most of the good equipment is usually guarded by difficult encounters or costs a great deal of gold.

Find a combat you cannot just breeze through and you can always walk around it

You mean like stealthing past the encounter? A lot of dungeons in BG2 didn't really allow you to walk around encounters.

or simply rest and prepare a more appropriate approach.

Save/rest scumming is pretty much exploiting the game. D&D is not robust against the ability to go into every encounter with full spells/abilities; the game is balanced around Vancian casting.

Seriously, it's just a matter of reading the text in the spells and items.

And implementing them as necessary given the situations presented in encounters...just like practically any RPG.

Here's a challenge for ya, brother: Name some "difficult" RPGs. I'll have fun applying your highly reductionist argument to them.

 

[80Maxwell08]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

Don't get it right away. GOG tends to bring out the D&D pack sale quite a bit so just wait a bit. I'm guessing it will be in the next big holiday sale.

 

[evdk]

1. I'm getting it, since I lost my original physical copy of BG2 a long time ago.

Or you could click on that GOG ad on the top right corner of the website and buy it for $10 from there.

1. Hmm, you definitly have a point. If they were the same price, I would get the "EE" as I certainly don't believe makes the game worse
2. but hearing this, I seriously think I have to reconsider.

Are you sure? You'd be missing all the new original characters and the sequel to the award winning Spooky Adjective Pits area - arena mode just like in that other GOTY game! Also it would make the dream of BG3 so much more real!

Think of all the trolling you could do with that.

 

[Grunker]

How does the EE not make the game worse? Even if, for some obscure reason, like the UI changes, you'd have to live in '98 and play the game without any mods. Why would you?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Viconia brings two very very big things to the table:
- 30% magic resistance in a game where the toughest enemies are magic-users.

Eh, maybe I'm just more of a "best defense is a good offense" kinda guy, but I never found her magic resistance to really be all that great at killing mages. I'd much rather have Keldorn's array of Inquisitor immunities along with his Dispel Magic and True Seeing, cast at twice his level, to punch through any mage shenanigans. Or Aerie, who as a mage herself has access to better anti-mage abilities than just a piddly Dispel Magic.

- ability to not just turn, but CONTROL undead

Control Undead is definitely fun and useful. Forgot about that facet of evil Clerics. It's pretty cool how many options the game presents as far as taking out different enemies. I guess it would be pretty fun to turn Viconia invisible and just go around the map, gathering a massive army of undead.

I guess that is definitely something in her favor.

is the only way you're going to be able to stand your ground and get the sweet exp from those fights rather than either fleeing or coming out of it with a huge temple restoration bill.

There's actually plenty of other ways.

Any Fighter/Caster can wear the Amulet of Power and be immune to level drain while hacking up the vampires...though Domination and Vampiric Touch spells could still be a danger, and they might have to go it alone. Negative Plane Protection and Protection from Magical Weapons also work to protect from vampire attack. You can also do clever things like use powerful illusions/invisibility to sneak into rooms full of vampires and detonate a Sunfire (or two in a sequencer/contingency), Sunray, or False Dawn. Web is great at entrapping vampires to be taken out via ranged attacks, AoE magic, or spiders (summoned or polymorphed into).

And as a cleric, the ability to have more spells per level (allowing you to have plenty of heals AND a good mix of buffs and offensive spells) is, for most of the game, more important than max spell level.

Yeah, it's just that Viconia's 18 Wisdom buys her only marginally more slots than other casters. She could probably do with 20 or so Wisdom to really drive home the "pure" vs "diluted" setup Bioware seemed to be getting at with the evil/good NPC selection.

I did forget to mention Edwin? Until you can turn into the slayer, he's hands down a better mage than you can ever be, with no conflicts.

Barring any sort of Fighter/Mage, Sorcerer, or Wild Mage stuffies...yeah, he's head and shoulders above any other arcane caster because of his amulet.

I still think he should have clashed with at least 1 or 2 of the hybrids - clashing with Jaheria would have made sense; left-over hatreds from BG1 and it would force you to think about whether you want a powerful backline casting contingent, or a hybrid that can fill the healing role adequately (but without distinction) while having the right buffs and stats to be able to double as a very competent frontline fighter.

Yeah, more meaningful (in a gameplay sense) tension between Good/Evil NPCs and the Neutral ones would have been interesting and certainly could have been justified flavor-wise. Keldorn and Edwin both disapprove of a lot of the NPCs, but only act on their feelings in a few instances. Would have been interesting to see Keldorn's anti-nature views clash with some of the Druids/Rangers and Edwin's ill-temperment clash with...well, practically everyone.

I really wish more games actually took this mechanic a bit further; it was interesting in JA2 and BG2...it certainly has legs.

 

[vorvek]

I guess you need to be a savant to understand that you can drink a potion and it does what the description says. Or to read the combat log and see that you lost the combat because your barbarian was charmed and you could have prevented that using that ultra-obscure class ability the character has and only a super-genius could think of clicking on before the combat begins.

That's completely misrepresenting the game. There are precious few consumables that outright trivialize encounters of any sort and the ones that do are opaque about how to best use them, not to mention rather rare in the gameworld (Protection from Undead/Magic scrolls).

There are also few encounters needing to be more trivial than they already are. Potions are widely available. Just visit a temple. Protection from Undead and Protection from Magic aren't needed often; also, a single scroll of Protection from Undead lasts 12 hours. Enough to clear a dungeon. Protection from magic is obviously shorter (only 10 turns), but you can also purchase potions of magic shielding and magic blocking. Even in the original BG, just take a look at what you can buy at High Hedge

Plus, encounters are usually a lot more multifaceted. How do you deal with some mindflayers, their dominated minions, and some pet umber hulks? What about a bunch of high level druids and their summoned animals/elementals? What about enemy adventuring parties? There's no silver bullet for fights like those, which aren't uncommon in BG2. Generally figuring out a way your party can conquer an encounter/area can takes a little bit of thinking/adaptation. Would it be as challenging as defeating Kasparov in his prime or winning a land war in Russia? No, but it isn't much less difficult than any other RPG that doesn't involve reflexes or serious random elements.

Use one of the many items, spells or class abilities that prevent a character from being charmed, buff him or her if needed and whack those enemies with one of the multiple +3 or higher weapons? By the time you're fighting mindflayers you have had some time to get used to the game and its shortcomings. The druids barely require any specific preparation. If your party has no magic users for some reason, just bash their faces. If your party has any sort of spells, use them. That encounter looks much harder on paper than it would ever be in an unmodded Baldur's Gate.

Even the first time you play through those games you have tons of crap at your disposal, since the game basically throws items at you.

Not really, no. Most of the best consumables are rather rare and most of the good equipment is usually guarded by difficult encounters or costs a great deal of gold.

Except gold has barely any value once you've paid the 25k you need for both the mage licence and the ship in BG2. In the original it's even better, since beyond consumables there are only a few items you might want to buy that have a noticeably high value and most of the good stuff is just dropped by the random groups of assassins and brigands.

Find a combat you cannot just breeze through and you can always walk around it

You mean like stealthing past the encounter? A lot of dungeons in BG2 didn't really allow you to walk around encounters.

I was thinking on the first one, I agree the second one made it harder to evade combat, yet you get way more tools to handle them.

or simply rest and prepare a more appropriate approach.

Save/rest scumming is pretty much exploiting the game. D&D is not robust against the ability to go into every encounter with full spells/abilities; the game is balanced around Vancian casting.

One of the tips on the loading screens of BG2 says literally "Press Q to quick-save the game. Do it often". I don't know how much PnP DnD have you played, but you normally don't do a whole dungeon in a single afternoon, especially if it's not well under your level (encounters of the appropriate level for your party should take away ~25% of your daily resources). You also have a bunch of ways of resting in a dungeon. You're not going to every encounter with full spells/abilities, but more often than not a single spell will do. Yes, your level 1 mage might not be able to cast sleep in every encounter in BG, but by the time you finish the game level 1 slots don't matter anymore. In BG2 mages become ridiculously powerful not because they can use one spell right at the end of the dungeon, but because they get plenty of crap they can abuse during the whole thing. And at the very end, you don't even need to ~rest scum~, as you can basically wish your spells and hitpoints back.

Seriously, it's just a matter of reading the text in the spells and items.

And implementing them as necessary given the situations presented in encounters...just like practically any RPG.

Here's a challenge for ya, brother: Name some "difficult" RPGs. I'll have fun applying your highly reductionist argument to them.

Deathlord?