Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition (Play This!=)

[Ashnazg]

oh and firkraag still gets owned by a single Feeblemind spell or a kazillion Cloud Kills and Kangaxx craps his pants when you use a Protection From Magic scroll

I can't believe they didn't include updated tactics as part of the EE. It should be a requirement, but I'd settle for a checkbox option, like Second Wave in XCom.

That mod actually makes fights epic.

[Keile]

If this is anything like the "enhanced" edition of the first game...it isn't worth it.

They fixed many of the original bugs, sure...but they introduced a plethora of brand spanking new ones.

[Cakka]

I can't believe they didn't include updated tactics as part of the EE. It should be a requirement, but I'd settle for a checkbox option, like Second Wave in XCom.

That mod actually makes fights epic.

Tactics hasn't been hasn't been worked on for years. There is a much better combat improvement mod around called Sword Coast Strategems.

If this is anything like the "enhanced" edition of the first game...it isn't worth it.

They fixed many of the original bugs, sure...but they introduced a plethora of brand spanking new ones.

Have you tried it recently? It's in completely different shape than it was year ago, and I'm not just talking about bugs being fixed. Eg. the UI has seen a serious overhaul.

[Deleted]

BG2 was an awesome game, I get EE for sure.

[WarpedAcorn]

My only real question is...

Is Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition 1 & 2 worth a purchase if you already own the Baldur's Gate Saga (1 & 2 plus expansions) as well as have all the mods (such as tutu) and patches so that it runs perfectly on a modern PC?

[Shinzai]

My only real question is...

Is Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition 1 & 2 worth a purchase if you already own the Baldur's Gate Saga (1 & 2 plus expansions) as well as have all the mods (such as tutu) and patches so that it runs perfectly on a modern PC?

You'd be better off just downloading The Darkest Day if you haven't already.

http://www.teambg.org/thedarkestday/

10 New and Returning (from BG1) NPC's
180+ New Items
170+ New Spells
39+ New Creatures
75 New Kits
40+ Minor Quests
5 Major Quests
1 Mega Quest

[WarpedAcorn]

You'd be better off just downloading The Darkest Day if you haven't already.

http://www.teambg.org/thedarkestday/

10 New and Returning (from BG1) NPC's
180+ New Items
170+ New Spells
39+ New Creatures
75 New Kits
40+ Minor Quests
5 Major Quests
1 Mega Quest

Oh snap! Now that is something I'm interested in.

After checking out a little bit, can you tell me whether this is a separate campaign or an actual add-on? Also, what is the premise of the story?

[Shinzai]

Oh snap! Now that is something I'm interested in.

After checking out a little bit, can you tell me whether this is a separate campaign or an actual add-on? Also, what is the premise of the story?

It's basically a bit of both, it adds a bunch of quests to SoA and also the major quest that follows on directly from the end of SoA. It's not the best story-wise mod, but most of the NPCs are decent. It does borrow a lot of areas rehashed from IWD, as well as animations and enemies reskinned and the like, but in the end, it's more Baldur's Gate 2 to play.

Some people hated the mod, others loved it, so I'd just say try it out and see, at the time, it seemed like a ridiculous download at 300mb, but it was one of the first mods I ever played for BG 2. Here's a couple of reviews for it anyway:

http://www.baldursgatemods.com/forum...p?topic=2195.0

[cudomix]

One problem with The Darkest Day (it is a great mod btw) is that it fills all possible kit slots for classes, so if you want to install any other custom kits you'll need to remove TDD ones first. BG2 tweak pack (and BG2 Fixpack, but i'm not sure it is needed for enhanced edition) is only mandatory mod in my opinion (gem and arrow stacking remove lot of pointless inventory headache, you can skip most of the other stuff for first playthrough).
The other mandatory thing is (after you finished Throne of Bhaal at least once) is Ascension mod. It was made by David Gaider (one of chief writers at Bioware) in his spare time, and it is a "proper" ending (some things were cut because of short development time). Readme does spoil vanilla ending, so be careful not to read it before finishing the game.
And now something for all oldtimers, god i still hate that sound.

[Shinzai]

One problem with The Darkest Day (it is a great mod btw) is that it fills all possible kit slots for classes, so if you want to install any other custom kits you'll need to remove TDD ones first. BG2 tweak pack (and BG2 Fixpack, but i'm not sure it is needed for enhanced edition) is only mandatory mod in my opinion (gem and arrow stacking remove lot of pointless inventory headache, you can skip most of the other stuff for first playthrough).
The other mandatory thing is (after you finished Throne of Bhaal at least once) is Ascension mod. It was made by David Gaider (one of chief writers at Bioware) in his spare time, and it is a "proper" ending (some things were cut because of short development time). Readme does spoil vanilla ending, so be careful not to read it before finishing the game.
And now something for all oldtimers, god i still hate that sound.

Good call on Ascension, forgot about that one.

[Eldryth]

Interesting note: the devs wanted to include Ascension as part of the Enhanced Edition changes, but their contract with Atari prevents them from making any content changes that aren't tied to the new NPCs (gameplay improvements not included). Instead, they updated Ascension itself to be compatible with EE at launch. I believe they are allowed more freedom in future DLCs, though.

[Cakka]

And now something for all oldtimers, god i still hate that sound.

Opportunity wasted, should have made that into a 10 hour loop!

[WarpedAcorn]

It's basically a bit of both, it adds a bunch of quests to SoA and also the major quest that follows on directly from the end of SoA. It's not the best story-wise mod, but most of the NPCs are decent. It does borrow a lot of areas rehashed from IWD, as well as animations and enemies reskinned and the like, but in the end, it's more Baldur's Gate 2 to play.

Some people hated the mod, others loved it, so I'd just say try it out and see, at the time, it seemed like a ridiculous download at 300mb, but it was one of the first mods I ever played for BG 2. Here's a couple of reviews for it anyway:

http://www.baldursgatemods.com/forum...p?topic=2195.0

Awesome, I'll have to give it a whirl! I had just started a new NWN2 Campaign, but maybe I should put that on hold for another BG run-through. Hardest part is picking a class to play...I've wanted to try a Blade Bard, but I was also thinking of playing an Archer.

[Fablewynd]

BG2:EE is currently on sale in the Steam Holiday Sales 2013 for 33% off, and currently 20% off on Beamdog's official website.

[Deleted]

This game is one of my great regrets... I bought it when it was originally released and but I wanted to play the prequel first... but never really finished it or managed to get far. I somehow wasn't into the controls and I just thought "you might grow to like it when you're older" and it waited for more than a decade in my locker. Well... I still cannot get into it. I really like the story and so on (back then I red websites and some years later the wikis...) but somehow I cannot bring myself to get into the gameplay.... Strangely enough I managed to play icewindale and was close to finish it before I lost my savegames due to system reinstall. I just prefered Might and Magic stuff and so on...

[PokemonHunter]

i heard so many times but never played

maybe this time

[May90]

Hey guys.

Sorry for necro, but I really don't want to open a new thread just for this question.

So, I have played most of the Bioware/Obsidian games. The only games I haven't played so far are Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Jade Empire (well, I have played a bit of Baldur's Gate 1 back in 2000 or so, but it ran poorly on my terrible PC, so I quit near the beginning and never came back).

I don't really care about graphics. I know D&D rules from Neverwinter Nights 1/2 and quite like the system, so combat is to my liking.

What I want to ask is this. I know that Baldur's Gate 2 is considered one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Is Baldur's Gate 1 as good? I am not a fan of playing sequels skipping the originals, but I hear quite different points of view on the game. Most people say it is very good, but some people complain about hundreds of "fetch this and bring it to that guy" pointless quests, lack of companion interaction in conversations with other NPCs, too many random encounters, etc. I will definitely be purchasing BG2 EE, but is BG1 EE worth those 3-4 weeks I would spend on it (I am a completionist, so I won't quit until every single quest is resolved, every single mob is killed, every single chest is looted and every single bug is encountered )? Or should I start right with BG2 EE and spend the freed 3-4 weeks on Guild Wars 2?

[Faldric]

Hey guys.

Sorry for necro, but I really don't want to open a new thread just for this question.

So, I have played most of the Bioware/Obsidian games. The only games I haven't played so far are Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Jade Empire (well, I have played a bit of Baldur's Gate 1 back in 2000 or so, but it ran poorly on my terrible PC, so I quit near the beginning and never came back).

I don't really care about graphics. I know D&D rules from Neverwinter Nights 1/2 and quite like the system, so combat is to my liking.

What I want to ask is this. I know that Baldur's Gate 2 is considered one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Is Baldur's Gate 1 as good? I am not a fan of playing sequels skipping the originals, but I hear quite different points of view on the game. Most people say it is very good, but some people complain about hundreds of "fetch this and bring it to that guy" pointless quests, lack of companion interaction in conversations with other NPCs, too many random encounters, etc. I will definitely be purchasing BG2 EE, but is BG1 EE worth those 3-4 weeks I would spend on it (I am a completionist, so I won't quit until every single quest is resolved, every single mob is killed, every single chest is looted and every single bug is encountered )? Or should I start right with BG2 EE and spend the freed 3-4 weeks on Guild Wars 2?

Play both IMHO. While not as good as the second the first part is still a very solid game. Being a completionist is fine, but you will probably never get everything because choices can change alot. As a completionist myself I always find it rather disturbing, because I constantly ask myself what I missed when I said "yes" instead of "no". Took some time to get used to :-)

[Afrospinach]

I only played BG 2, actually picked up both the enhanced editions recently and just waiting for the right time to mow through it. But as far as BG2 is concerned, it has it's own plot that you can follow easily, though there is some references that are sort of open ended having not played the first, especially your relationship to some of your starting companions. So not critical to appreciate but maybe it would leave you with fewer questions.

Oh, there is also a running enigma that spans all 3 installments, which is pretty funny but you may very well have to look that one up on a wiki to really get it.

The DnD rules are much different form neverwinter, I can appreciate the changes but I prefer the BG2 ones in the end.

[May90]

Very well, I think I will start with the first game. Haven't played a game in which choices really affect much in a lifetime.

Are D&D rules really that much different? I'm familiar with D&D only from Neverwinter Nights and KotoR series, but I played these games a lot, so, I guess, I shouldn't have much problem getting used to BG1/2 ones?

Open world is exactly what I've been looking for all these years! So I think I might enjoy BG1 just for that. Nothing like going to a very hard zone, getting killed multiple times, and then after a long time returning there to have vengeance.

Also, there is an unofficial, but a very popular, NPC mod that adds party banter, romances and such into the game - people say it makes BG1 almost as good as BG2. Unfortunately, from what I've read, it is not compatible with the Enhanced Edition yet. Have you guys tried it? Is the game without it really much worse?