Baldur's Gate Give me the TLDR, how should one play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in 2021?

[oldmanpaco]

SCS is the only mod that I would consider essential, but it does require the EE these days. Use the mods sentinel recommended if you do go that route.

Don't use any quest mods besides unfinished business.

SCS doesn't require the EE.

Although it requires to install BG2 Fixpack (found also at Gibberlings Three) in order to be installed (just tested it with BG2 Complete Edition GOG).

Oh I thought the current version did. My bad.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Lad, buy yourself nice beer or two and start playing. You can't play Bladur's Gate wrong, it is always good decision.

 

[agris]

All of you recommending he play it in the BG2 engine, whether EE or classic, are doing him a disservice. Why?

 

[Zibniyat]

Give me the TLDR, how should one play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in 2021?

You should not. Hope this helps!

 

[agris]

catfood he isn't asking how you play it for the Nth time, or your preferred way to play, but rather how he should play it for the first time. That's the key difference: his request <---> many of our preferences for Nth playthrough. You all are conflating your personal preference for the best way to first play the game.

Imagine he only played BG1 one time, ever. You would have him play it in the BG2 engine? Maddness!

 

[The Jester]

I would definitely play the originals over the EEs. I played the EEs again recently and Beamdog really broke the party AI. From what I understand, they tried to fix the fact that party members often pathfind the long way around to their destination. However, in trying to fix this the AI is now incredibly worse. Characters get stuck in each other near constantly, and to get them unstuck often just involves waiting for them to jitter around for 10 seconds or so. It would be fine if this was an occasional thing but I experienced it often throughout my entire playthroughs of both games. Compared to the minor irritation of having to select one of your characters to fix their pathfinding every so often its seriously a downgrade. This is not even mentioning the awful new journal UI they implemented, the new party members you have to mod out, and the fact that you have to mod in original cutscenes for BG1. Just play the classic versions and get a couple of the staple mods, I bet you'll have a much better experience.

Bubb's Revert Pathfinding Tweak
Mods™ will fix it.

 

[catfood]

catfood he isn't asking how you play it for the Nth time, or your preferred way to play, but rather how he should play it for the first time. That's the key difference: his request <---> many of our preferences for Nth playthrough. You all are conflating your personal preference for the best way to first play the game.

Imagine he only played BG1 one time, ever. You would have him play it in the BG2 engine? Maddness!

You're right. Why anyone would want to play a game with functioning pathfinding is beyond me.

 

[agris]

You're right. Why anyone would want to play a game with functioning pathfinding is beyond me.

Oh I see, you aren't interested in anything other than flinging shit. The notion that BG1 pathfinding is non-functional is insane. He even posted in the BG1/2 mods thread and someone immediately posted how to revert the EE's changes to pathfinding.

The concept that he should ruin his first placethrough with Tutu/BGT and SCS because the pathfinding nodes are locked at a maximum of 32000 rather than the BG2 maximum or 200000 (iirc) is beyond ridiculous.

 

[purupuru]

However you want, it's mostly enjoyable either way. I would say ignore the new companions but it's not like you need someone to tell you that, obviously one would ignore the companions they find repulsive.

 

[Ontopoly]

Guys I'm not paying for EE when I already own the originals, especially if mods have me covered. What would that accomplish except giving nu-Bioware/EA more money?

Aloeh, what about playing BG1 in BG2's engine?

Who the fuck said anything about paying? It's gog...

 

[Shaki]

Imagine he only played BG1 one time, ever. You would have him play it in the BG2 engine? Maddness!

If you WANT them to never play it again, recommending the original would definitely be the best way to do it... Playing original BG1 on modern hardware, is like fapping to scat porn, it's something for people who fapped so many times, in so many ways, and to so many videos, that it made them so hollow and numb, that only the most degenerate and fucked up shit can still elicit some kind of response.

If you need to recommend an erotic video to a virgin, you probably want it to be some soft and artistic emotional lovemaking, not "2 girls 1 cup". You're trying to give them a pleasureable first experience, not scar them for life.

 

[biffthestiff]

I ended up installing EET, and most of SCS tweaks. Took forever to compile, I'll start to play tomorrow. Here's the installation steps for posterity (and other newbies):

1. Download the EET mod installer from https://baldursextendedworld.com/Install-Tool/ (also lets you install other mods such as SCS)
2. Install BG1 EE, and also install Siege of Dragonspear DLC for BG1
3. Start BG1 (in english!), save game anywhere so the installer can later auto-detect
4. Install BG2 EE, start it, save game
5. (per README), disable UAC, disable Real Time Windows Defender protection (optional, but will finish faster), disconnect your wifi, run “Update EE Mod Setup.vbs”
7. Progress with the installer. Under Rules & Tweak as well as Artificial Intelligence, check Sword Coast Stratagems, and go over the individual tweaks to decide what you want as per https://gibberlings3.github.io/Documentation/readmes/readme-stratagems.html
8. Wait 1-2 hours for compilation to finish
9. Launch BG2 to play

Remember to re-enable UAC and Window Defender's real-time protection

 

[Gargaune]

5. (per README), disable UAC, disable Real Time Windows Defender protection (optional, but will finish faster), disconnect your wifi, run “Update EE Mod Setup.vbs”

 

[Elzair]

If you do not want the Ee, just install and run the original unmodded. It is not THAT different! Enjoy spamming massive amounts of Monster Summons. BGII took out that cheese because they hate lulz.

NOTE: SAVE before entering any shipwrecks. If you encounter wolfweres make sure you do NOT save until the ship is cleared out! There is a save bug in the original that makes an enemy nearly impossible. Furthermore make sure you get the Bastard Sword +1 (+3 vs Shapeshifters) from Aldeth Sashenstar and the Silver Dagger - Werebane from Wizard Isle before going after Balduran. I did not, and that fight was the only time I had to turn on Story Mode (in the EE) to get through.

 

[biffthestiff]

5. (per README), disable UAC, disable Real Time Windows Defender protection (optional, but will finish faster), disconnect your wifi, run “Update EE Mod Setup.vbs”

My first reaction was similar when I saw it, "what a bunch of retards". Then I thought about it some more. The installer is hideous, held together by duct tape, a mix of VBS and AutoIt 3. Compiling the merged game (thousands of component files) takes hours on a modern gaming PC because they don't know how to parallelize this easily-parallelizable task. Basically the people who did this aren't professional developers, not even junior level. I can only imagine how much time these amateurs spent learning VBS and AutoIt, building and troubleshooting this piece of shit despite having no experience. All this for free, to make life easier for even more tech-illiterate people (the regular mod developers). And the end-result works.

I don't use the word hero often, but these guys are the greatest heroes in American history.

 

[fork]

Imagine trusting UAC and Windows Defender.

 

[Gargaune]

My first reaction was similar when I saw it, "what a bunch of retards". Then I thought about it some more. The installer is hideous, held together by duct tape, a mix of VBS and AutoIt 3. Compiling the merged game (thousands of component files) takes hours on a modern gaming PC because they don't know how to parallelize this easily-parallelizable task. Basically the people who did this aren't professional developers, not even junior level. I can only imagine how much time these amateurs spent learning VBS and AutoIt, building and troubleshooting this piece of shit despite having no experience. All this for free, to make life easier for even more tech-illiterate people (the regular mod developers). And the end-result works.

I don't use the word hero often, but these guys are the greatest heroes in American history.

I've got the odd legacy application that needs to be run as Admin, hell, even the NWN DE Toolset needs it if you wanna be able to use the Test function, but that EET stuff looks like more trouble than it's worth considering it's an actively maintained project made for the Enhanced Editions. I'm just surprised it's that hard to rustle up a pro bono programmer from the fanbase.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

PS1 BG is the best version to play:

Spoiler

 

[Bigg Boss]

PS1 BG is the best version to play:

Spoiler

I thought that was either fake or never released and it turns out it was never released.

 

[anvi]

Play them both but know that BG1 is low level combat so magic missiles and lots of meleeing. BG2 is high level combat so lots of chain lightning, and many levels of magic resistance you need to strip from big enemies before you can blast them. Different types of games. That said they are mostly like Skyrim to me now in that I spend a whole day modding them and then discover I'd rather play something else.

 

[Daedalos]

Neither.

 

[Nano]

I thought that was either fake or never released and it turns out it was never released.

It had a different soundtrack too. Weird stuff.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I thought that was either fake or never released and it turns out it was never released.

It had a different soundtrack too. Weird stuff.

Sounds like the Warcraft 2 soundtrack a little.

Ok now it's just weird.

 

[asper]

Started a BG1 run recently, after playing it last time in the 90ies. Forgot almost everything about the game, it's like a new experience. Having an absolute blast!
Followed mostly this thread: https://af.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/a_conservative_modders_gui/page1?as=1649904300

I kept it simple:
- Got original editions from GOG, not-EE.
- Unfinished Business mod and Fixpack

Create character and play!

I did experiment a bit with the Widescreen Mod with the UI mod, but I wasn't too happy with the results, the game felt too zoomed out. But perhaps it's still reccomended on the lower resolutions as suggested above.

Have to add that I'm playing this on a laptop monitor, perhaps that's why the old resolution is palatable.

The ambient sounds and music in this game are phenomenal. Walking the wilderness really gives the old D&D adventuring feeling..!

 

[Arthandas]

Guys I'm not paying for EE when I already own the originals

You're missing out on literally hundreds (thousands?) of fixes and a lot of (optional) features not covered by the super outdated fixpack (and made by the same modders btw).
People who still shit on EEs because they don't like the new companions (which can be completely ignored and represent about 0.0001% of the game's content) have corrupted DNA and should be purged from the genepool.