Is it worth playing Baldur's Gate/2 now?

I don't mean is it a worthwhile experience, More, is it worth playing INSTEAD of the new releases. I'm on a budget that CAN support teo or three releases this quarter, which I've planned as Skyrim, Darksouls and MW3 (for social reasons), but after seeing Baldur's Gate being playing and it looking so good, I'm tempted to leave the games this quarter, pick them up cheaper and still new after christmas and spend the £5.99 on GOG for BG2.

Just looking for some opinion to sway me either way.

Yes.

I never enjoyed Baldur's Gate and I don't think it holds up.

That's just my opinion though. Baldur's gate fans will tell you there is no doubt you must play it.

All I can say is if the game play you saw on that game play video with Vinny and Dave appealed to you then yes you will probably enjoy it.

I say go for it. 5.99$ isn't a huge investment.

Both games are still great and have lost little in the years since their release, I feel. They are definitely more cerebral games with a much slower pace than a lot of stuff nowadays but they reward you with tons of awesome stories, interesting characters, a huge world filled with awesome details, and a deep combat system (it's DnD after all). If the Random Ass PC Game didn't appeal to you at all though, you may find it boring. I would go for it though.

In strictly hours spent at one time im sure i had spent over 30 hours playing bg2 and i wasnet even 1/3 into the game.

Dude, it's always worth it to play BG2. I'm still playing through it now in fact.

Im currently at uni and havent brought my Xbox with me so i was thinking of getting baldur's gate 1 and 2 just to do some things in the morning while recovering from hangovers. I dont think they will have lost much in the way of game play, they will just be a little different to games nowadays.

BG2 is easily a contender for best game of all time (created by mankind), so I'd say you might want to give it a try.

@Evercaptor: Despite being one of the greatest RPGs ever released, the game doesn't hold up in all areas. The D&D systems can get REALLY clunky (you'll find yourself "resting" after almost every battle in some dungeons to recover your spells), some of the controls were never that good, and it's a very slow burn. If you liked what you saw in the Random-Ass PC Game feature and think you could handle 50-80 hours of that (the writing/voice acting ABSOLUTELY holds up and is, in fact, the best part of the game).

The great thing about Baldur's Gate 2 is that there is SO much content. Even when it was a full price title it was one of the best value titles you could get. Even the side quests were interesting. I personally think the art is still attractive.

definitely.

I'm playing through Icewind Dale at the moment, which runs on the same engine I believe, and I'm having a blast so by all means give it a go. I also got the Baldurs Gate games from GOG on the cheap and will play them eventually. I dont mind playing older games, and even for their age I think these look great. That said some of the mechanics are a pain, like Undeadpool said, for example resting to recover spell is an annoyance and figuring out which weapons are better and so on as I never played D&D so initially had no clue what the hell the difference between 2D4 and 1D8 was (still kinda don't lol).

It is worth playing, I'm just not sure if it's worth putting the games you would be purchasing on delay.

@axlrose15 said:

I'm playing through Icewind Dale at the moment, which runs on the same engine I believe, and I'm having a blast so by all means give it a go. I also got the Baldurs Gate games from GOG on the cheap and will play them eventually. I dont mind playing older games, and even for their age I think these look great. That said some of the mechanics are a pain, like Undeadpool said, for example resting to recover spell is an annoyance and figuring out which weapons are better and so on as I never played D&D so initially had no clue what the hell the difference between 2D4 and 1D8 was (still kinda don't lol).

2d4 = 2-8

1d8 = 1-8

d is for dice. So the first one means that you should roll two four-sided dice if you were playing D&D. The second one means you should roll an eight-sided dice.

@gike987 said:

@axlrose15 said:

I'm playing through Icewind Dale at the moment, which runs on the same engine I believe, and I'm having a blast so by all means give it a go. I also got the Baldurs Gate games from GOG on the cheap and will play them eventually. I dont mind playing older games, and even for their age I think these look great. That said some of the mechanics are a pain, like Undeadpool said, for example resting to recover spell is an annoyance and figuring out which weapons are better and so on as I never played D&D so initially had no clue what the hell the difference between 2D4 and 1D8 was (still kinda don't lol).

2d4 = 2-8

1d8 = 1-8

d is for dice.

Yeh worked that out a few day back lol. I guess 2d4 is better cos you do between 2-8 dam instead of 1-8 right? Still don't know how Bow damage works though :(

I'm playing BGII  RIGHT NOW.
 
ITS AWESOME.

@axlrose15 said:

@gike987 said:

@axlrose15 said:

I'm playing through Icewind Dale at the moment, which runs on the same engine I believe, and I'm having a blast so by all means give it a go. I also got the Baldurs Gate games from GOG on the cheap and will play them eventually. I dont mind playing older games, and even for their age I think these look great. That said some of the mechanics are a pain, like Undeadpool said, for example resting to recover spell is an annoyance and figuring out which weapons are better and so on as I never played D&D so initially had no clue what the hell the difference between 2D4 and 1D8 was (still kinda don't lol).

2d4 = 2-8

1d8 = 1-8

d is for dice.

Yeh worked that out a few day back lol. I guess 2d4 is better cos you do between 2-8 dam instead of 1-8 right? Still don't know how Bow damage works though :(

I actually don't know how BG2 calculates dice rolls, but if it is like in real life (two separate rolls) the probability to get 8 from 2d4 would actually be lower than the probability to get 8 from 1d8.

The probability of getting 8 on a 2d4 roll:

(1/4)*(1/4) = .0625

6.25%

The probability of getting 8 on a 1d8 roll:

1/8 = .125

12.5%

So with 2d4 you trade the slightly higher chance to deal maximum damage for higher minimum damage and a higher chance to get average damage 4 (3/16 is 18.75%).

@axlrose15: As said above, the probabilities change. Basically 2D4 is like craps rolling two six sided dice where 6,7,8 have a really high percentage of happening. So for 2d4 you are most likely going to get 4, 5, or 6 and extremes less likely where every value is equal with 1d8. In IWD it doesn't matter that much since your modifiers from enchantments, proficiencies and strength will overwhelm the actual die result in a short period of time.

As for bow damage, arrows do 1d6 (plus any enchantment). No strength modifier and they use dex to hit. Now I do believe they are compound bows which do allow for strength modifiers. The big issue with bows is they do 2 attacks per round right from the start making them a very powerful early weapon.

As to the OP question, since they are 2D the graphics have held up rather well and can be modded for current display resolutions. BGII is the better game, lots of BG is empty exploration. Now BGII is huge, on order of 200 hours if you wish to do everything (every companion has a side quest that can be between 20 minutes and 3 hours in length). You'll lose a bit not playing BG, not really main story stuff since the plot of BG is summed up nicely, more who a lot of the people around you are.

@gike987: @endaround: Thanks for the help guys, its much clearer now. As someone who has never played real life D&D these concepts are a little alien to me.

Very much so! With the widescreen/resolution mod, the game holds up graphically.

If you liked Dragon Age Origins on the PC, you'll have a good time with the Baldur's Gate series. The learning curve is pretty steep, especially if you're not familiar with older D&D. But its worth it for the story and characters; it's an experience you just won't get nowadays.

Cast away the Transformers and Justin Biebers of video games. Come, put on a smoking jacket, pour yourself a glass of brandy, and join us by the fire. For tonight, you shall start your trek into the Sword Coast.

The interface will take awhile to get used to.  It doesn't have all the innovations of newer game interface design so it will feel slightly archaic.

I would say get it. But if your going to have to drop, say Skyrim, I wouldn't. lol. But a lot of old games are worth playing and much better than some games that are being released today.

Well, obviously I have to say yes. The first Baldur's Gate is more rough and archaic than its successor by a noticeable margin, mostly in terms of the fact that the first half of that game is going to consist of your low-level party wandering around wilderness areas and doing whatever random quests you stumble upon, and spend the second half of the game wandering around the city of Baldur's Gate proper and doing whatever random quests you stumble upon. It definitely gets better after that halfway mark, and one could make an argument for the feeling of exploration, but a lot of that first half is also going to consist of your party going places they are underleveled for and subsequently dying a lot.

In contrast, Baldur's Gate II literally throws a good 30+ hours of content at you as soon as you escape from the initial dungeon. Since every class is tied to a stronghold, and every stronghold is tied to a series of lengthy quests, there are roughly a dozen of those big quests just lying there for you to complete, not even counting any of the small stuff like your individual companions' quests or (once again) stuff that you randomly stumble upon. And you're going to want to complete most of them because the experience and cash provided is a meaningful amount, especially since the game becomes somewhat more narrow and difficult afterwards.

@SlashDance said:

I say go for it. 5.99$ isn't a huge investment.

£5.99 is more than $5.99. It's $9.99 if you pay in dollars. Still it's not a lot of money for the amount of gameplay there is. However that requires that you enjoy the game. I honestly have never been able to. I started playing Bioware games with KotOR (the game that Dave thinks destroyed RPG's) so I guess I'm "ruined". I'm replaying KotOR2 right now (with the restored content mod) and I think it holds up well. I'm having a great time. However the combat isn't great and never was, but then that is not the main reason I play RPG's. If I wanted to play for combat I'd play a strategy game. Dave seems to be more about the combat which is why his favorite game is Icewind Dale 2.

If you enjoy pausing and thinking tactically about stuff then you might enjoy BG2 and those style of games, but I've never been much for pausing in RPG's. Which is why the higher pace of combat was one of the things I actually liked more in Dragon Age 2 compared to the first game. BG2 is probably hard to play unless you enjoy that type of game. I have tried several times, but end up giving up before I make it out of the starting dungeon. Say what you will about KotOR, but it managed to make playing a game based on D&D rules understandable, maybe because it used force points as mana which was a concept I was very familliar with from JRPG's and their MP compared to the having to read books and only being able to cast a spell once per day of the BG games.

As with most here, I say yes. Keep in mind that the first game is HARD for those of us that don't really understand how D&D; works. The story is worth it.

To make the first one more playable I would look into nodding it... I think that there is one out there called "Tutu" or something. From what I saw it makes BG1 (which looks crazy dated) look like BG2, a game that I still feel holds up graphically today.

I hope you enjoy the series! The game made for one of the best gaming experiences of my youth.

I'm totally going to save myself some money then, guys! I think 21 consecutive posts yelling in unison to forego newer pleasures to play an old-ass old game is a strong message.

Apologies if anyone has already brought this up, but I recommend giving this a go:

http://www.reddit.com/r/moddingguides/comments/hzuxv/updated_baldurs_gate_1_2_works_w_gogcom_versions/

Essentially it combines both Baldur's Gate games and all their expansions into one ginormous game. Higher resolutions and all that.

To be fair, I haven't actually tried it myself. So part of the reason I recommend it is because I am curious as to how well it works. Not really how recommendation is supposed to work I guess. I have, however, completed both games and can confirm that they are definitely worth playing.

@countinhallways said:

http://www.reddit.com/r/moddingguides/comments/hzuxv/updated_baldurs_gate_1_2_works_w_gogcom_versions/

Thanks! I had installed that on a laptop a while back, made my way through the first dungeon while traveling, and then forgotten about it. After switching to a SSD, I formatted the drive and forgot about that installation of BG2. As I sat there this weekend, installing mods one by one, I -swore- there was some kind of installer I had done eons ago.

I played a few hours of BG1 and lost interest, bard combat is really boring in those early levels.

BG2 starts you off at a higher level though, which makes the early game much more bearable. So far I'm having tons of fun playing through BG2 for the first time.