So, I'm thinking about buying Baldur's Gate 2.
Sunday, November 30th, 2003 - 10:37pm
I'm getting a new laptop from work and would like to do some couch gaming on it so I'm thinking of BG2. I played BG1 for a few hours but didn't get very far into it. Do you think I can go right to the sequel without the story of the first? The 640x480 resolution and textures (lack of) kind of turned me off from BG1, but from what I read 2 is 800x600 of higher and looks better. I plan on buying the expansion as well.
Must play BG1 first?
Waste of time because of age?
Great game and I'll have a lot of fun?
You don''t need to play through Baldur''s Gate to know what''s going on in the sequel. It helps some, but isn''t essential.
Baldur''s Gate II is still my all time favorite RPG. You can''t go wrong with it at all.
As someone who NEVER played BG1... you don''t need it to enjoy BG2... it''s still one of my favorite RPGs!
"Just remember that sometimes you need to allow problems to just roll like water off of a duckilama's back." ~Reaper
Played them both. There isn''t too much backstory you''d need to worry about. Some of the NPC''s you group with are from the first one, and depending on whether or not they would have survived if you played the first, could make the sequel a little annoying. I went through the first game with all the ones that showed up in the second, so it worked out pretty good for me.
I disagree with what you say, and I will deny, to your death, you're right to say it. - Bucky Katt
Ya the first one isn''t hugely necessary. All the key poltpoints are summarized as you play through the second one.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Whoa!
My Gamercard
Get the second and the expansion. I think you can buy both for 20 bucks.
I'm bringing sexy back!
Thanks guys! I should be picking it up this week - GoGamer has it and the expansion together for $18.
The only thing that I am aware of that you miss out on other than some backstory if you don''t play BG1 is the opportunity in the expansion pack to get an item in the expansion pack called the full metal jacket or something like that. You need items from all three games to get it. I never played BG1 and never got the item in the expansion, but still had an awful lot of fun.
"All that time you waste dating and having sex could be better spent scouring the web for new game developer press releases." - Quintin_Stone
Oh yeah, that''s right, the ""Big Metal Unit."" There''s a piece in the original game, and then one in BG2 and the expansion for BG2. It is more of an easter egg than anything else I think. It''s way too powerful and definitely out of place. It''s supposed to be a battle suit a la Iron Man that is made from ""Gnomish"" technology. Even has guns.
I disagree with what you say, and I will deny, to your death, you're right to say it. - Bucky Katt
I loved BG2, but never played the expansion. Did it add a lot?
Money can't buy you happiness...but it can buy you a boat big enough to sell right up next to it!-David Lee Roth
It''s a good expansion. Pretty big, fun, and allows you to get your characters to Level 30. The game stays more balanced than you might expect at the higher levels. The final battle is very difficult, and there is a battle in the separate add-on dungeon that is also very hard.
"All that time you waste dating and having sex could be better spent scouring the web for new game developer press releases." - Quintin_Stone
Throne of Bhaal is a linear expansion to the BG2: Shadows of Amn. It adds the culmination of the epic story of BG1 and 2, special many ""epic"" abilities/spells like greater whirlwind and Wish. That story takes place in many new locales to the south of Amn (Tethyr) though on a totally seperate map.
Also for those who have played BG1 + the tales might appreciate throne of bhaal adding a wonderful large multi-layered dungeon called Watchers Keep (Helm not Buffy...gah) in the style of Durlags tower.
All in all its about 20-35 hrs long, damn tough, extremely fun and whats more... adds a shocking new NPC.
Word to the wise though, it isnt as heavy on the RPG elements as SOA or BG1 was, its pretty linear and mostly hack n slash in the IWD tradition.
I thoroughly recommend it though, if you are a sucker for punishment you will also want to add the ""Ascension"" mod by Dave Gaider (lead designer) which spices up already hard battles, and adds to the story.
They just don''t make em like this anymore. Well ...
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." - Churchill
Yup agree with all of the above great est RPG for me and definately try and get he trone of baal expansion.
MUST...STOP ...PLAYING ....SWG! MUST GET REAL LIFE BACK AGAIN!
Now this makes me morbidly curious. I found alot of the battles in TOB extremely hard. How much does it contribute to the story?
TOB is well worth it though. The battles, while difficult as mentioned above, are really awesome and epic! (I particularly liked Sendai''s and Abazigal''s battles.)
*sniff* They sure don''t make them like they used to..
Swing harder! Swing harder!
-- Lilarcor, Baldur's Gate 2
I agree. Some of those battles took me a days to figure out. And since I''ve been thinking of replaying the game over the winter I would like to hear a bit more about the Ascension mod too.
Edit - Best RPG ever in my book!
"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
One thing to consider is how much you like the NPCs.
Each one does offer a big side quest type deal, but the question is, do you want them hanging out with you afterwards? I''ve played it both ways (before going back to school, when I had...way too much time apparently). So option 1 is play the game as intended.
Option two is start a ""multiplayer game"" and choose serial connection, and then you know...don''t let anything connect to your serial port. With this latter option you can do things like create an all evil party, a super tweaked out weird party, a...much more rerolled and ahem effective party. Or create a party that has same stats as old characters of your own (which you can pretty much do with the rerolling and redistributing). You''ll still want to only fill up 5 of the six character slots so that you can have the NPCs join your group...one at a time. And you can always change your mind and slim your party down further, since whenever you meet an NPC, you get the option to boot one of your characters. And the NPCs normally tell you where to find them if you say, ""hey, maybe next time, alright?""
The game is geared towards you being the good guys. Your reputation score is based on you doing good stuff, and not doing bad stuff. However, I found with the ""all evil, but not stupid"" party that so long as you never get *caught* doing evil stuff...your reputation can still go high and you can get all the bonuses tied thereto. This isn''t a spoiler in that you can look at the appendix of the manual to see the bonuses/penalties attached to reputation score.
So the moral is don''t get caught. As it says in the appendix, once your score is low enough, guards attack you on sight.
p.s. have a blast.
The ''big'' battles in Throne of Bhaal can mostly be beaten *very* easily, if you don''t mind cheese tactics. Thief + Spike traps + Simulacrum. Fill in the blanks.
(Obviously this only applies to those battles you can prepare for.)
"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."
One helpful hint I learned is that you can summon up books that permanently increase your stat points, and with a constitution of 19 or higher you permanently regen... umm for after you finish and you just want to mess around of course.
Hehe Alien Love Gardener likes his cheese.
The Ascension mod on top of ToB makes many of these tactics harder to pull off... not by just being boring and giving out immunities. But just making it generally smarter, larger and just more draining.
The 2nd BS battle for instance is radically different, and a real test of stamina. You face a lot ... A LOT of foes, and your protection from magical weapons and stoneskin isn''t likely to last half the battle nevermind the whole thing. You best bring your best tanks along for this one. Its a bit of a challenge. Good for a second or third play through.
I can tell you now that the watchers keep final battle is twice as hard as I remember.
As for story, most of that happens after you meet the final child, plenty of opportunities for backstabbing and new alliances.
There is even a mod out for SoA that allows you to redeem the fantastic big boss.
Infinity engine games rule. Shame they canned BG3.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." - Churchill