Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Melcar]

BG1 non-ee worked just fine for me last time I tried it on windows 10. Was surprised, no tricks needed.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.

You are right.
Baldur's Gate was not designed with kits in mind. Kits like Berserker and Inquisitor and Cavalier absolutely destroy the balance of the first Baldur's Gate.

Berserker, sure.

Inquisitor? Magical protections aren't a huge deal for most of BG1. Wouldn't say its powerful at all.

Cavalier? A straight fighter with 4 pips in a weapon has +2 AB +3 Damage vs. everything compared to Cavalier having +3/+3 vs. a small handful of enemies. They also lose the ability to lose ranged weapons which are king in BG1. Straight downgrade from a non-kitted fighter.

Immunity to poison and fear make it OP. These two status effects are killers in BG1. An Inquisitor's unnerfed Dispel Magic makes all "hard" encounters in BG1 trivial. Archers and Sorcerers just straight up break the game, but they're fun to use if it's not your first run. I guess Monks and Wild Mages would be interesting challenges in BG1, but personally I never bothered with those classes/kits.
Of course, this is all assuming it's your first run ever. For the average Codexer it just does not apply as we all know the ins and outs of the games by now.

 

[octavius]

The problem with vanilla BG1 is that without SCS it's too easy. So the best way to play it IMO is with BGT and avoid the OP kits that BG2 introduced.

 

[Average Manatee]

Remove fear is a level 1 cleric spell that gives immunity for an hour.

There's one time immunity to charm is useful and that's vs the dryads. There's other ways to deal with them.

Slow Poison is a level 2 cleric spell. This is at least decent a few times, but still weaker than just running a straight fighter who kills everything better and can use a bow.

An Inquisitor's unnerfed Dispel Magic makes all "hard" encounters in BG1 trivial.

Enemies in BG1 non-SCS don't come prebuffed so you can just spam ranged attacks to interrupt them and kill them instantly.

Archers and Sorcerers just straight up break the game, but they're fun to use if it's not your first run.

Aye, these are the two other kits that I'd say are OP along with Berserker.

I guess Monks and Wild Mages would be interesting challenges in BG1, but personally I never bothered with those classes/kits.

Bad and godawful picks respectively. The fact that Beamdog chose two of the worst possible classes to make as NPCs is kind of funny.

 

[NecroLord]

BG1 non-ee worked just fine for me last time I tried it on windows 10. Was surprised, no tricks needed.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.

You are right.
Baldur's Gate was not designed with kits in mind. Kits like Berserker and Inquisitor and Cavalier absolutely destroy the balance of the first Baldur's Gate.

Berserker, sure.

Inquisitor? Magical protections aren't a huge deal for most of BG1. Wouldn't say its powerful at all.

Cavalier? A straight fighter with 4 pips in a weapon has +2 AB +3 Damage vs. everything compared to Cavalier having +3/+3 vs. a small handful of enemies. They also lose the ability to lose ranged weapons which are king in BG1. Straight downgrade from a non-kitted fighter.

Immunity to poison and fear make it OP. These two status effects are killers in BG1. An Inquisitor's unnerfed Dispel Magic makes all "hard" encounters in BG1 trivial. Archers and Sorcerers just straight up break the game, but they're fun to use if it's not your first run. I guess Monks and Wild Mages would be interesting challenges in BG1, but personally I never bothered with those classes/kits.
Of course, this is all assuming it's your first run ever. For the average Codexer it just does not apply as we all know the ins and outs of the games by now.

Right. I forgot about the Cavalier's poison immunity.
Like I said. A really powerful kit.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Monk seems to be awful at lower levels, but wild mage is fucking bullshit... I'm sure it's better in PNP as a shitpost build but in the fixed systems of a videogame adaptation you have a spellcaster that has a completely random chance of having their spells simply not work. Imagine if you need that magic missile in that particular moment but the fucking pink haired bitch refuses to cooperate.

 

[d1r]

Monk seems to be awful at lower levels, but wild mage is fucking bullshit... I'm sure it's better in PNP as a shitpost build but in the fixed systems of a videogame adaptation you have a spellcaster that has a completely random chance of having their spells simply not work. Imagine if you need that magic missile in that particular moment but the fucking pink haired bitch refuses to cooperate.

Kill Neera. Multiclass Imoen to Mage. Problem solved. Also, fuck EE companions.

 

[Lovely Feather Pillow]

I’m playing BGEE for the first time with a full party of custom characters and I’m having a blast. I kill every Bioware/Beamdog companion I encounter. It’s therapeutic.

 

[adddeed]

I have both EEs but reinstalled a vmware and OG BG1 again and man, redditors who act like there are no differences between EE and vanilla beyond resolution are idiots. I'm finding OG to be way more challenging too. My EE file for BG1 has every single SCS component enabled except for the shit that buffs you or the extra spells, no cheesy tweaks that stop people leaving at reputation/early Coran (cheating) or easy NPCs. Also the beamdog npcs are disabled thanks to a mod and difficulty is set to insanity.

Meanwhile my OG run is modless and set to insanity as well.

I'm still in chapter 2 but feel my sphincter clinch when I get a waylay with wolves and xvarts. Its not just challenge, I feel like BG1 is balanced around the original weapon system and not the BG2 engine. An example: in OG bastard swords, longswords and two handers all fall under "large swords" and if you want to do werewolf island (Forgive me for forgetting the actual name) you need a specific bastard sword (tho I think wands can handle them too). Now, its very likely in the OG that you have at least one character with large swords while in EE there's no reason to take bastard swords unless you want to use foebane in BG2. Also tiny little changes piss me off, like how Firebead gives you a scroll case in the EE on top of the exp. Also you can easily level up your entire party in the EE by accumulating 32k xp and then recruiting them. This is no problem really because the game as a whole is way easier, even on top difficulty.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.
Getting these games to run outside of a vmachine (non-EEs) is a PAIN though. Last night I tried dxwind and borderless gaming, I was able to get BG1 to run to a degree but the colors looked a bit more washed out than on vmware and that bugged me a lot. In fact, 90% of my gaming recently has been on vmware. The only pain is that if I want to play a game like ToEE I have to crank up 3d acceleration and then remember to turn it down when returning to the BG series or Fallout. I also prefer how the old, low resolution graphics look. I don't understand people who have to run every single game at 4k/whatever their monitor supports.

It sucks ass if your pc/motherboard limits you in regards to running virtual machines but if you can get one to run its so much easier than looking online for obscure bugfixes.

If 90% of your gaming is vmware, its time to setup a retro Win98 or WinXP pc.
If i wanted to play BG1 today, i only need to get the CDs (or images) install the game on my Win98 computer and play. No fiddling.

 

[Average Manatee]

Monk seems to be awful at lower levels, but wild mage is fucking bullshit... I'm sure it's better in PNP as a shitpost build but in the fixed systems of a videogame adaptation you have a spellcaster that has a completely random chance of having their spells simply not work. Imagine if you need that magic missile in that particular moment but the fucking pink haired bitch refuses to cooperate.

Monk is awful all the time. It's hard to overstate how weak and useless the class is. For all of BG1 you'll have a worse AC than a wizard and worse damage in melee than anyone wielding a normal fucking weapon. Even in BG2 its not great, 1d20 fists sound way better than they are in practice.

Wild Mage is just not designed for low levels. The point of wild mage is to use reckless dwemer to cast any spell you know with a level 1 slot and under improved alacrity. This is vastly overpowered when you are in ToB and can chain a dozen wishes and timestops and other busted shit while under robe of vecna to make your casts instant. Then use one of several methods to refresh your level 1 spell slots and repeat ad infinitum. If one fizzles or does something dumb like target you with a fireball you just say "oh well I'm immune to fire damage". In BG1 it sucks because risking a wild surge to cast a level 3 or 4 spell with a level 1 slot is not a good deal when that surge can kill you. Keep in mind you also roll worse surges the lower level you are and without the higher level chaos shield spells.

 

[SmilingGorion]

Is BG2:EE multiplayer still fucked?

 

[Vyadhis]

I have both EEs but reinstalled a vmware and OG BG1 again and man, redditors who act like there are no differences between EE and vanilla beyond resolution are idiots. I'm finding OG to be way more challenging too. My EE file for BG1 has every single SCS component enabled except for the shit that buffs you or the extra spells, no cheesy tweaks that stop people leaving at reputation/early Coran (cheating) or easy NPCs. Also the beamdog npcs are disabled thanks to a mod and difficulty is set to insanity.

Meanwhile my OG run is modless and set to insanity as well.

I'm still in chapter 2 but feel my sphincter clinch when I get a waylay with wolves and xvarts. Its not just challenge, I feel like BG1 is balanced around the original weapon system and not the BG2 engine. An example: in OG bastard swords, longswords and two handers all fall under "large swords" and if you want to do werewolf island (Forgive me for forgetting the actual name) you need a specific bastard sword (tho I think wands can handle them too). Now, its very likely in the OG that you have at least one character with large swords while in EE there's no reason to take bastard swords unless you want to use foebane in BG2. Also tiny little changes piss me off, like how Firebead gives you a scroll case in the EE on top of the exp. Also you can easily level up your entire party in the EE by accumulating 32k xp and then recruiting them. This is no problem really because the game as a whole is way easier, even on top difficulty.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.
Getting these games to run outside of a vmachine (non-EEs) is a PAIN though. Last night I tried dxwind and borderless gaming, I was able to get BG1 to run to a degree but the colors looked a bit more washed out than on vmware and that bugged me a lot. In fact, 90% of my gaming recently has been on vmware. The only pain is that if I want to play a game like ToEE I have to crank up 3d acceleration and then remember to turn it down when returning to the BG series or Fallout. I also prefer how the old, low resolution graphics look. I don't understand people who have to run every single game at 4k/whatever their monitor supports.

It sucks ass if your pc/motherboard limits you in regards to running virtual machines but if you can get one to run its so much easier than looking online for obscure bugfixes.

If 90% of your gaming is vmware, its time to setup a retro Win98 or WinXP pc.
If i wanted to play BG1 today, i only need to get the CDs (or images) install the game on my Win98 computer and play. No fiddling.

I really want to do this actually but in my current situation I just don't have the space though maybe a laptop could handle it? I'd LOVE to build/buy a windows 98 system.

 

[NecroLord]

Multiclass Imoen to Mage.

I like to dual her to Enchantress at level 4 or 5 in Thief.
Losing Evocation sucks, but there are a lot of Wands of Fire in the game she can use.
The EE companions suck, I agree.

 

[Average Manatee]

Personally I can never stand to dual characters unless its a very short downtime, like level 2 or at the start of BG2.

 

[NecroLord]

Personally I can never stand to dual characters unless its a very short downtime, like level 2 or at the start of BG2.

Thieves have it easy if you decide to dual into one.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah that's a good point. Although dualing into thief is kind of weird, usually you want to hit a certain amount of points in thief skills and then dual out. If you're going to go to BG2/ToB then maining thief is a huge waste. If you're only dualing for BG1 though I guess it makes sense, especially dualling from fighter and getting some extra weapon pips is always a strong option.

 

[NecroLord]

Yeah that's a good point. Although dualing into thief is kind of weird, usually you want to hit a certain amount of points in thief skills and then dual out. If you're going to go to BG2/ToB then maining thief is a huge waste. If you're only dualing for BG1 though I guess it makes sense, especially dualling from fighter and getting some extra weapon pips is always a strong option.

Kensai/Thief is insane.
Made a custom party member (not a main character, my PC is a male Human Berserker), she is a Thief dualled from Kensai 9. I am getting ready to do Watcher's Keep and she is kicking all kinds of ass.
Party members are Sarevok, Keldorn, Anomen, the Kensai/Thief and Imoen.
Thief truly shines if you dual into it from a class which offers specific advantages.

 

[adddeed]

I have both EEs but reinstalled a vmware and OG BG1 again and man, redditors who act like there are no differences between EE and vanilla beyond resolution are idiots. I'm finding OG to be way more challenging too. My EE file for BG1 has every single SCS component enabled except for the shit that buffs you or the extra spells, no cheesy tweaks that stop people leaving at reputation/early Coran (cheating) or easy NPCs. Also the beamdog npcs are disabled thanks to a mod and difficulty is set to insanity.

Meanwhile my OG run is modless and set to insanity as well.

I'm still in chapter 2 but feel my sphincter clinch when I get a waylay with wolves and xvarts. Its not just challenge, I feel like BG1 is balanced around the original weapon system and not the BG2 engine. An example: in OG bastard swords, longswords and two handers all fall under "large swords" and if you want to do werewolf island (Forgive me for forgetting the actual name) you need a specific bastard sword (tho I think wands can handle them too). Now, its very likely in the OG that you have at least one character with large swords while in EE there's no reason to take bastard swords unless you want to use foebane in BG2. Also tiny little changes piss me off, like how Firebead gives you a scroll case in the EE on top of the exp. Also you can easily level up your entire party in the EE by accumulating 32k xp and then recruiting them. This is no problem really because the game as a whole is way easier, even on top difficulty.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.
Getting these games to run outside of a vmachine (non-EEs) is a PAIN though. Last night I tried dxwind and borderless gaming, I was able to get BG1 to run to a degree but the colors looked a bit more washed out than on vmware and that bugged me a lot. In fact, 90% of my gaming recently has been on vmware. The only pain is that if I want to play a game like ToEE I have to crank up 3d acceleration and then remember to turn it down when returning to the BG series or Fallout. I also prefer how the old, low resolution graphics look. I don't understand people who have to run every single game at 4k/whatever their monitor supports.

It sucks ass if your pc/motherboard limits you in regards to running virtual machines but if you can get one to run its so much easier than looking online for obscure bugfixes.

If 90% of your gaming is vmware, its time to setup a retro Win98 or WinXP pc.
If i wanted to play BG1 today, i only need to get the CDs (or images) install the game on my Win98 computer and play. No fiddling.

I really want to do this actually but in my current situation I just don't have the space though maybe a laptop could handle it? I'd LOVE to build/buy a windows 98 system.

Yep, an old WinXP laptop would work great.
I played Arcanum and Planescape Torment on an old thinkpad without any issues at all. Not sure if it was running Win98 or WinXP, i think it was WinXP but these games should work fine on that OS.

 

[Vyadhis]

How's Arcanum btw? I missed out on the Troika stuff, been trying out ToEE lately (amazing music) and that's been interesting. That's another game that would not behave for me in windows 11 even with the frontend. I'd get issues alt tabbing and movies playing in a box on the far left of my screen. Vmware? No issues at all aside from having to toggle 3d acceleration.

 

[Derringer]

I don't remember too many people complaining about issues with Windows 10 when they used dgvoodoo2 usually, in hindsight dgvoodoo2 started development around when Windows 10 was pushed.

 

[Erebus]

How's Arcanum btw?

It's the Princess Bride of CRPGs : decent, but not even remotely as good as people say it is.

 

[NecroLord]

How's Arcanum btw?

Play it.
Don't listen to all the bitching about the combat or whatever else. The story, narrative and design are great.

 

[Vyadhis]

I don't remember too many people complaining about issues with Windows 10 when they used dgvoodoo2 usually, in hindsight dgvoodoo2 started development around when Windows 10 was pushed.

I tried dgvoodoo2 but an issue was that whenever I'd alt tab my desktop would look really zoomed in for a few seconds, there would be lag and then it would fix itself. Its not a game breaking issue but it just feels so much simpler to have most of my classic pc stuff consolidated to the virtual machine.

 

[Taim]

I have both EEs but reinstalled a vmware and OG BG1 again and man, redditors who act like there are no differences between EE and vanilla beyond resolution are idiots. I'm finding OG to be way more challenging too. My EE file for BG1 has every single SCS component enabled except for the shit that buffs you or the extra spells, no cheesy tweaks that stop people leaving at reputation/early Coran (cheating) or easy NPCs. Also the beamdog npcs are disabled thanks to a mod and difficulty is set to insanity.

Meanwhile my OG run is modless and set to insanity as well.

I'm still in chapter 2 but feel my sphincter clinch when I get a waylay with wolves and xvarts. Its not just challenge, I feel like BG1 is balanced around the original weapon system and not the BG2 engine. An example: in OG bastard swords, longswords and two handers all fall under "large swords" and if you want to do werewolf island (Forgive me for forgetting the actual name) you need a specific bastard sword (tho I think wands can handle them too). Now, its very likely in the OG that you have at least one character with large swords while in EE there's no reason to take bastard swords unless you want to use foebane in BG2. Also tiny little changes piss me off, like how Firebead gives you a scroll case in the EE on top of the exp. Also you can easily level up your entire party in the EE by accumulating 32k xp and then recruiting them. This is no problem really because the game as a whole is way easier, even on top difficulty.

I don't have a hate boner for BG2 but BG1 itself should not be played in the BG2 engine, its an unbalanced mess.
Getting these games to run outside of a vmachine (non-EEs) is a PAIN though. Last night I tried dxwind and borderless gaming, I was able to get BG1 to run to a degree but the colors looked a bit more washed out than on vmware and that bugged me a lot. In fact, 90% of my gaming recently has been on vmware. The only pain is that if I want to play a game like ToEE I have to crank up 3d acceleration and then remember to turn it down when returning to the BG series or Fallout. I also prefer how the old, low resolution graphics look. I don't understand people who have to run every single game at 4k/whatever their monitor supports.

It sucks ass if your pc/motherboard limits you in regards to running virtual machines but if you can get one to run its so much easier than looking online for obscure bugfixes.

Just wrapped up a run of BG1EE and yes, people who say there are no differences are morons.

However with the right tweaks you can get a lot closer than you have.

CDTweaks:
* alter weapon proficiency system (should be a requirement)
* use BG walking speeds (if you want to preserve the strength of low level archers and mages)
* There's a baldur's gate stone ui mod out there that's incredibly well-done that I'm too lazy to link to from my phone
* for extra clench there's a way (gunman posted in this thread or the mid thread) to keep the game unpaused in inventory - I didn't use this but I wish I did. I also wish I had the balls to use it for bg2. Someday...

don't use kits (although I'd argue my F/M was more broken after several levels than most kits are)

This with 75% xp rate, SCS improved AI + better calls for help (that's it), and the EE improvements to inventory management (higher stacking, scroll/gem/wand cases), it was probably my favorite bg1 run in the last decade.

There's certain things you still don't get - spells are changed/added and tab highlighting ruins any actual parsing of the map for items of interest, but it's close!

 

[agris]

Turn based allow for more complex gameplay and strategy.

Have you ever played Wasteland 2?

It’s all down to implementation. Slaughter your sacred cows and work from experience, not theory.

 

[Average Manatee]

The one thing that hasn't been mentioned, and its a big power creep to BG1, is dual weapon fighting in EE. An extra ApR is akin to starting in candlekeep with a permanent haste spell on. To a much lesser extent the other weapon styles also inflate player power. I don't think BG1EE enemies use them (although SCS will).