Baldur's Gate II Sucks!

[Luzur]

GO BAK 2 FAILOUT 3, BOI

 

[Darth Roxor]

PS: Kill that ogre in the circus tent. It will try to tell you it isn't an ogre, don't listen to it.

Probably the best piece of advice someone might give in regard to BG2.

 

[hal900x]

I downloaded a BG2 torrent with approximately 999 different user mods for it. I had no idea. But if experience is any guide, 998 of them will be shit, and number 999 will be a face replacement.

 

[pipka]

I downloaded a BG2 torrent with approximately 999 different user mods for it. I had no idea. But if experience is any guide, 998 of them will be shit, and number 999 will be a face replacement.

No. it's 50-50 if you spend some time on installing a particular element from each.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Actually 998 of them will be in conflict with each other. The last one will be a virus.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Le fuck? Are you pulling a Wyrmlord?

Oh, it's you!

Well, correct me if I am wrong, but Baldur's Gate is about coming-of-age teenage adolescent adventurer, is it not?

I'd recommend it, and I haven't liked any of the other Bioware games.

The main things going for it:
- great party selection. Plenty of annoying NPCs, but none of them are forced on you, and you can kill any of them. Some are quite decent.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY - great pair of villains. Well trio of villains really, except that Bhaal (not spoiling anything here: by the end of BG1, and hence before the start of BG2, the main character finds out he is a son of the god of murder) works quite subtly in the game, possibly too subtly in that most folk seem to think that it is Irenicus instead. But of the main two villains, it is to this date one of very few games where the bad guys don't just wait at the end of a dungeon for you to beat them. You keep interacting with them over the course of the game, they trick you, they trap you, you trap them and they escape, and they get stronger over the game as you do. That last bit alone makes a huge difference for me - I hate it how in rpgs the bad guy starts off untouchable and then you gain a fuckload of levels and wtfpwn him - I feel like the guy wasn't beaten by me, but by his own laziness for sitting on his ass while I levelled up. Here the bad guys start off strong, but for plot reasons get stronger over the game as you do. From memory you actually fight both of them 3 times each, with quite a few other non-combat encounters. Beats the shit out of the 'I'll just wait at the last level of the dungeon for you come gank me' type boss.
- good non-combat spell implementation. Some nifty use of traps, and some real surprises. E.g. at those levels the spells maze and imprisonment are the uber-spells, as the later means insta-death for one player/character unless you cast a freedom spell to bring them back. There's actually a few points in the game where if you pay attention to your surroundings and cast freedom at the right place (and given the hugeness of the game, it isn't something you're going to do by chance/spamming) you can actually free previously trapped parties.
- depth of content. So much fucking content. And lots of the non-main-quest stuff is good. Even things like Kangaxx the Lich - probably the hardest fight in any Bioware game, completely optional and quite hard to get actually, no handholding, requires extensive exploration (and detecting quite a few hidden doors) and combining items. In a modern Bioware game you'd get a fucking quest note giving you step by step directions to assemble him:-(
- NO coming of age bullshit for the main character. The only coming-of-age stuff is by two of the NPCs, and I never took them in my party because of that (there are so many NPCs to choose from that you can do that without gimping yourself at all). In fact, most of it is kind of anti-coming-of-age. The characters who in BG1 were 'coming of age' (i.e. main character and Imoen) kind of get ass-fucked at the start of the game. BG1 was the 'coming of age' one. In this one you're already a force to be reckoned with - the more powerful creatures/mages/dragons recognise you - they know that you're a Bhaalspawn and treat you accordingly.If anything it is more innocence-lost than coming-of-age. Still plenty of retarded Bioware 'humour' to go around, but it isn't jrpg-style.

Seriously, try it. If you don't like it then I'm not going to flame you or anything. But it is the pinnacle of Bioware's work by a long long way (unless you're Volourn, but if you're Volourn you've got bigger problems to worry about). It's so far ahead of Bioware's other work it is almost impossible to believe that the same guys worked on it - after so many crap games later, I can only put it as the biggest fluke in game design history, or there must have been a ghostwriter. Everything Bioware did before or after (including BG1) was terrible. But BG2 - it's like that Courtney Love album when she was shagging Kurt Cobain, 'Live through this', where everyone wonders whether Cobain wrote it for her because it is so different to everything else she made. Think of BG2 as Bioware's 'Live through this' moment.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

There's actually a few points in the game where if you pay attention to your surroundings and cast freedom at the right place (and given the hugeness of the game, it isn't something you're going to do by chance/spamming) you can actually free previously trapped parties.

Ok tell me where, because I only know a single spot, and also only 1 person that is freed.

 

[Trash]

And when you're done with BG and BG 2 play the Throne of Bhaal expansion with a fanpatch made by Gaider himself. Finishing the game, adding some content and making the fights really goddamn hard.

http://weidu.org/asc.html

 

[Azrael the cat]

If you don't like the premade characters you can just create a party of your own, IIRC.

Only if you play a multiplayer game by yourself. Which I wouldn't recommend since there's some good banter in BG2. Take Minsc, Jan, and Korgan. Or hell, Jan and anyone, I just remember some particularly good banter between him and Minsc and Korgan.

I'd put Edwin as the 'must-get' NPC. He's the most powerful mage in the game, is more powerful as a mage than the PC (due to his red wizard necklace) though the PC is more powerful overally because of his bhaal-spawn/slayer abilities, has the best banter....and [spoilers]..
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He becomes a tranny

 

[Wulfstand]

If you don't like the premade characters you can just create a party of your own, IIRC.

Only if you play a multiplayer game by yourself. Which I wouldn't recommend since there's some good banter in BG2. Take Minsc, Jan, and Korgan. Or hell, Jan and anyone, I just remember some particularly good banter between him and Minsc and Korgan.

Jan tried to take Boo from Minsc, offering some crackers for the little hamster. However, I don't really recall anything between Jan and Korgan, but there were some other funny moments between Jan and Viconia, where you could also participate (as in playing like Jan, with his "Well there was that one time when..." just to piss off Viconia even more).
Anyways, if it were for me, I'd ALLWAYS go with this party : Minsc, Korgan, Jan, Viconia (the "romantic interest") and Edwin (second funniest npc, after Jan, imo, and a real motherfucker when it comes to spells). The group pretty much has everything you'll ever need in the game, and it's pretty much the funnyest/most filled with WIN group you could possibly have. I'd also include that paladin, forgot his name, if only I could have 7 party members and have him accept Viconia in the party... he was a damn fine npc, really felt like a "brother in arms".

PS: Kill that ogre in the circus tent. It will try to tell you it isn't an ogre, don't listen to it.

Yea, who the fuck liked Allerie anyways. I heard she has a different voice in ToB, but really, I was having just too much fun with my above mentioned party to give a fuck.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - great pair of villains. Well trio of villains really, except that Bhaal (not spoiling anything here: by the end of BG1, and hence before the start of BG2, the main character finds out he is a son of the god of murder) works quite subtly in the game, possibly too subtly in that most folk seem to think that it is Irenicus instead.

Nah mate, by the time you get to ch 3 i guess (when you jurney to the Sahuagin City and the rest) it's pretty clear who sends you all the dreams...

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I will not be the sort of idiot who keeps giving things a new chance despite knowing how terrible the previous experiences were.

I wonder what you're doing in the codex, then

The start of the first BG reeks of jrpg, though - father is killed by generic evil knight (spiked armor and everything, plus the dialogue smells like cheddar), who lets you escape for no reason other than 'lol, I'll catch you laterz", then you're joined by your perky childhood friend in a quest to avenge your father and...find yourself.

Then you get killed by that wolf in the path.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I will not be the sort of idiot who keeps giving things a new chance despite knowing how terrible the previous experiences were.

I wonder what you're doing in the codex, then

The start of the first BG reeks of jrpg, though - father is killed by generic evil knight (spiked armor and everything, plus the dialogue smells like cheddar), who lets you escape for no reason other than 'lol, I'll catch you laterz", then you're joined by your perky childhood friend in a quest to avenge your father and...find yourself.

Then you get killed by that wolf in the path.

rofl

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Ye, lots to like, but BG2 is also the best example what happens if you've got your head stuck so deep in the butthole of pen&paper conventions that no one can hear you scream. For starters, I'm sure the aficionados admired all the spells that made it into the game just for being there, but even when cut down to half you'd barely miss out on anything - except repeating tons less of micro-management routines even for the most minor of battles.

Plus, the usual RPG fluff, adding encounters a plenty just to stretch a game that ships with so much content it lasts like two lifetimes anyway already, and balancing is for lazybones, quicksave solves. The expansion just pisses over pretty much everything that was good about the game and makes the final third of Bloodlines look like Planescape:Torment.

 

[zaero]

BG 2 is good fun. Not every game needs to be FO. If you like infinity, you 'll have a blast Wyrmlord.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Combat in BG2 sucks.

 

[Black]

Ye, lots to like, but BG2 is also the best example what happens if you've got your head stuck so deep in the butthole of pen&paper conventions that no one can hear you scream.

I sincerely doubt that bioware or bg fans give a kc's ass about pen and paper.

 

[Erebus]

- MOST IMPORTANTLY - great pair of villains. Well trio of villains really,

It's a pity that ToB fails pretty badly as far as the real villain is concerned. Once you've defeated Yaga-Shura... well, let's just say that something becomes extremely obvious and that your inability to do anything about it is frustrating.

SoA also has Saemon Havarian. At one point, I remember hating him even more that I did Irenicus (that was before I realized you could kill him aboard the boat, though he'll come back in ToB anyway).

- depth of content. So much fucking content. And lots of the non-main-quest stuff is good. Even things like Kangaxx the Lich - probably the hardest fight in any Bioware game, completely optional and quite hard to get actually

There are some very entertaining hidden fights (the Twisted Rune and the fight where you'll get Celestial Fury come to mind) but the fight against Kangaxx isn't so good IMO. Either you can protect yourself against Imprisonment and you just need a weapon able to damage Kangaxx and a lot of patience, or you can't and you're bound to lose. Not much fun, even if the reward's very nice.

In this one you're already a force to be reckoned with - the more powerful creatures/mages/dragons recognise you - they know that you're a Bhaalspawn and treat you accordingly.

That's mostly in ToB, I believe.


I've just replayed SoA and didn't enjoy myself so much, but that's mostly because I'd played it many times before and there was no real surprise left for me. It's definitely a game worth trying.

 

[zaero]

Combat in BG2 sucks.

It's more or less the same with every infinity game, except PST obviously.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Combat in BG2 sucks.

It's more or less the same with every infinity game, except PST obviously.

:D

Good one.

 

[circ]

My problem with BG 2 was the technology. If I want to play a fantasy crpg I'll play something else, not something with gnome or dwarven whatever excuse it is this time, technology behind every corner. And was there a reference to CLONING? HUH? What happened to good old magic? Plus Imoen can go suck a cock and the locations were fucking BOOORING.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Kangaxx the Lich - probably the hardest fight in any Bioware game

wut

 

[Trash]

the locations were fucking BOOORING.

Why?

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Kangaxx the Lich - probably the hardest fight in any Bioware game

wut

Center fully buffed party around where he will appear. Set traps where he will appear if you're feeling even cheaper. Hack away. When he transforms turn into the slayer. His final form just spams imprisonment and slayer is immune to it. Beat him senseless and keep your other character at bay so they don't get imprisoned. The end. That twisted rune encounter was much harder.

Oh the final encounter in ToB with the ascension mod. Fuck that shit the other boss fights with ascension were appropriatly difficult for an experienced power gamer but that last fight was anal, I just cheated to see the end.

 

[Jasede]

Sounds like something I'd enjoy.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Sounds like something I'd enjoy.

Yiffster

hmm