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Baldur's Gate seriesIs this a series in the truest sense?(13 posts)solved(13 posts)solved
(13 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 14, 2010
A couple of years ago, my folks, whom I love dearly, gave me a marvelous gift - a boxed, new copy of Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, with expansion. I immediately installed it, rolled up a sorceror (my old NWN staple)...and got my face kicked in. I died. My familiar died. I had no idea who anybody was, why I was there, or why this hilarious but mentally deficient ranger claimed to know me. I felt like I was joining someone else's D&D session three months into some kind of epic campaign.

Is it because I was starting with BG2? I was under the impression that they were two parts of a loosely related trilogy, with Throne of Baal being the third portion. I ended up not continuing BG2, and it still sits and collects dust at home. Would paying still more money for BG1 get me going on the story so BG2 is enjoyable? I imagine that in BG1 you actually get a chance to level your character early on. I've never really played D&D, except for NWN, so I was rapidly overwhelmed by my sheer number of choices for spells and feats and so on. I understand that NWN is rather much like D&D-lite, and I would love to play a game with really developed NPC's and storylines, but I hesitate to spend money I really don't have to play a game I may not like, since I actually found BG2 less interesting and more confusing than NWN.

Any advice that could be given would be fantastic. If I missed out on the great parts of BG2 merely because I needed to play BG1 first, so be it - I liked enough of what I saw in BG2 that I would be delighted to begin properly. If BG1 is as hellaciously confusing, overwhelming, and obtuse as BG2, please let me know. I would especially like to know if all these characters, who gave me thirty-second story-of-my-life sound bytes in the dungeon at the beginning of BG2, actually have their own stories played out in BG1, rather than being dropped in my lap with the assumption that I already understand them and their motivations. I felt most severely disappointed by that aspect of BG2, since I had always heard the series was famous for its NPC's and companions.

Thanks in advance!
This question / problem has been solved by kmonsterimage
Posted October 14, 2010
It makes more sense having played BG1. The NPC's you encounter in BG2 are mostly present in BG1 and each have a backstory. BG1 has a different flavour to its sequel. You might like it even more!
Posted October 14, 2010
Alright, you've got a long post, so forgive me if I miss a spot or two.

First, yeah, BG2 does assume some level of knowledge of the first, both in terms of characters (like Minsc, the aforementioned ranger) and in gameplay (which is why BG2's starting area is so hard for newcomers). I strongly recommend playing BG first; there are several mods (Baldur's Gate Tutu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy) that let you play BG with BG2's (significantly improved) engine.

BG lets you level your character from 1 to the XP cap, while BG2 actually STARTS at BG's cap. Just bear in mind that first-level characters are incredibly fragile (even the fighters), so you might have to reload a decent amount in the beginning of BG. Just stick with it, and with even just one or two levels, you'll find your survivability going way up.

BG starts out in an easy tutorial area and always points you to where the next part of the main quest is, but it also has a massive number of areas that are basically just there to explore, and other than one fairly short section, it lets you explore them (or not) at your leisure.

Long story short - both games are much better when installed and played together; BG can get BG2's engine with mods, and the player gets prepared for BG2, both in gameplay and in learning about the characters.
Posted October 14, 2010
As was said, BG2 has a new and unique story. However, a few encounters won't make sense if you aren't acquainted with what happened in the first game, although these tend to be minor details that won't matter in the grand scheme of the main story. I played BG2 before BG1 and I think BG2 is superior in every way. Therefore I think you should do as Shadowsetzer suggested: Merge BG1 and BG2 together into a single epic game. BG1 gets a much improved engine, you'll know the story from the beginning, and if you're enjoying the BG1 part, you know that the game is only going to get better. Plus it's quite satisfying seeing your main character from the beginning all the way to the end of Throne of Bhaal.

So I'd recommend you play BG1 first, and if you decide that you're going to play them both anyway, definitely get the BGT mod.
Post edited October 14, 2010 by GoJays2025
Posted October 15, 2010
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Scalpel: It makes more sense having played BG1. The NPC's you encounter in BG2 are mostly present in BG1 and each have a backstory. BG1 has a different flavour to its sequel. You might like it even more!
Off topic - I like how even if you killed of Xzar and Montaron you meet up again in BG2 - oops ;-)
Posted October 15, 2010
BG has a slower pace than BG2. Movement speed is slower than in BG2 and most areas are just empty wilderness with only a few monsters or NPCs wandering around.
Some players prefer the faster BG2 speed and use a mod to play BG with the BG2 engine.

You start BG as a level 1 character with 0 XP. If you play a mage you only know 3 level 1 spells at the beginning and can only cast one per day (2 if you're specialist mage instead) and the spells (and other options) which are available to you (and your party members) slowly increase as you find scrolls or level up, just like in NWN where you started as level 1 character without many options and were able to handle hundreds of available spells in the end.

Be warned that BG (and BG2 too) isn't like Diablo or NWN where you just can play along, it requires a lot of save and reloading. As level 1 mage you start with only 4-6 hitpoints so even a single hit from a goblin or kobold can kill you.
You're supposed to save and reload often (and use different slots) to enforce getting good dice rolls or change your tactics.

If you play BG2 afterwards you should know the NPCs from BG you meet there, but you'll know almost everything from their BG2 character description or what they tell you when you meet them.
Don't expect too much NPC interaction in BG, you can talk to them when you first meet them, read their background when they've joined and do a little quest for them. Afterwards the only interaction you'll get are phrases they repeat now and then to keep you entertained. You can't talk to them while they're in you're party and you have to control them just like your own character.

So if you start with BG you will feel like playing your own game from the beginning and not like "joining someone else's D&D session". You'll also start at a slower pace with less overwhelming options, the complexity will slowly increase during your play.
If those were the only things you didn't like about BG2 I recommend giving BG a try.
Posted October 15, 2010
..just that nwn is by far far more advanced ad&d than bg1 since bg1 is old 2nd ed rules.. you might get very dissapointed when you see the simplicity on the character structure, but if you found bg2 appealing then have a go at bg1.

I think Icewind Dale 2 uses same ruleset as nwn, allthough i am not 100% sure..
Posted October 15, 2010
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kmonster: *runehamster casts Snippet*
Thank you very much, kmonster - that was precisely the kind of detail I was looking for.

Thank you everyone for all the help and advice, I really appreciate it! I think I'll be getting BG1 soon after all :D
Posted October 16, 2010
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kmonster: Movement speed is slower than in BG2
/\ This and
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kmonster: Don't expect too much NPC interaction in BG
/\ this sort of sucks IMO.
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kmonster: Some players prefer the faster BG2 speed and use a mod to play BG with the BG2 engine.
...And actually, MOST players I know of prefer to do so, and for a good reason. It makes using the UI less hassel-y, game's prettier and so on... And that's why I ALWAYS slip in this. NPC mod adds NPC banters and interactions, which will make you happy to see them in BG2. Well it will generally make you care about your NPCs. Since you already own BG2, you can install it right away. And it directly imports characters from BG1 into BG2 (and properly level them up if they happen to not be in your party), instead of giving you stock characters with the background and names of the guys who were in your party, BUT ARE NOW DIFFERENTLY BUILT!. Besides, you can pick a class that can't be picked in original BG 1, like sorcerer, and then continue playing it in BG2. A little side-note: be warned that there are no katanas I know of in BG1 :D
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kmonster: So if you start with BG you will feel like playing your own game from the beginning and not like "joining someone else's D&D session".
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Runehamster: ...
And I wholeheartly agree with this. I hated BG2 for the same reason you do. "Who the hell are all these people?" But combined, I enjoy the games troughoutly.
Post edited October 16, 2010 by Fenixp
Posted October 16, 2010
heh.. it kinda is cracking me up people are talking about jumping into part 2 and saying whats going on? Its a continuation.. its like watching watching the two towers and then saying.. who the heck is frodo, and why does he have this stupid ring. You should definatly play part 1 first.


Personally i love the simplity of BG.. Its very open ended and really gives you that epic quest feel, You can litterly spend a few weeks (ingame time) wandering around beregost and doing quests, its almost like the main quest can be an afterthought there is just soo much else to do. just count the main quest maps, its about 1/3 of the game.



anyways.. as for advice.. I recomend you take imoen, or monteron and get stealth and traps dectect up asap.. scouting ahead makes such a huge difference. Also spell use.. the most usefull spells are probably ones you wouldnt think or.. or perhaps you would..

color spray, chormtic orb, charm, haste, slow, dispell, remove fear, melfs acid arrow, loch's drain, vampire touch, blur, mirror immage, invisiblity, petrify, magic stone, just to name a few..
Maybe im just an old school Rper, but i like the BG bantar, there are so many different characters, I think close to 20? so many combos of bantar and triangles I dont need long speaches and rambling.. I sorta just make up what they say in my head.. Boy the things jaheria has said to xzar.. You are amusing... In a what the hell is wrong with you kinda way... thats just the tip of the ice berg in my imagination
Post edited October 16, 2010 by JeCy
Posted October 16, 2010
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JeCy: Its a continuation.. its like watching watching the two towers and then saying.. who the heck is frodo, and why does he have this stupid ring. You should definatly play part 1 first.
That's pretty much exactly what I did, actually. Had to do a book report in English, so I grabbed a the nearest book that looked vaguely interesting. It was the Two Towers.
Posted October 18, 2010
It definitely sounds like I need to pick up BG1 soon, then. One of my favorite parts of Morrowind and Oblivion was wandering around ignoring the main quest while I poked my nose into everyone's business, hee.
Posted November 01, 2010
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Runehamster: A couple of years ago, my folks, whom I love dearly, gave me a marvelous gift - a boxed, new copy of Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, with expansion. I immediately installed it, rolled up a sorceror (my old NWN staple)...and got my face kicked in. I died. My familiar died. I had no idea who anybody was, why I was there, or why this hilarious but mentally deficient ranger claimed to know me. I felt like I was joining someone else's D&D session three months into some kind of epic campaign.

Is it because I was starting with BG2? I was under the impression that they were two parts of a loosely related trilogy, with Throne of Baal being the third portion. I ended up not continuing BG2, and it still sits and collects dust at home. Would paying still more money for BG1 get me going on the story so BG2 is enjoyable? I imagine that in BG1 you actually get a chance to level your character early on. I've never really played D&D, except for NWN, so I was rapidly overwhelmed by my sheer number of choices for spells and feats and so on. I understand that NWN is rather much like D&D-lite, and I would love to play a game with really developed NPC's and storylines, but I hesitate to spend money I really don't have to play a game I may not like, since I actually found BG2 less interesting and more confusing than NWN.

Any advice that could be given would be fantastic. If I missed out on the great parts of BG2 merely because I needed to play BG1 first, so be it - I liked enough of what I saw in BG2 that I would be delighted to begin properly. If BG1 is as hellaciously confusing, overwhelming, and obtuse as BG2, please let me know. I would especially like to know if all these characters, who gave me thirty-second story-of-my-life sound bytes in the dungeon at the beginning of BG2, actually have their own stories played out in BG1, rather than being dropped in my lap with the assumption that I already understand them and their motivations. I felt most severely disappointed by that aspect of BG2, since I had always heard the series was famous for its NPC's and companions.

Thanks in advance!
You know, I was just like you a few years back. I could never find a copy of Baldur's gate 1 though, so I was stuck with this copy of Baldur's Gate 2 that I couldn't understand at all.

So recently GoG (blessed be their name, J/K) put this game up for sale and It made BG2 MUCH MUCH more enjoyable.

You may understand the characters more, than again you might not. BG1 is extremely open and there are over 20 characters, it's very much possible to go through the game without meeting this ranger or any of the canonical characters with the exception of Imoen (and even than, you can just meet her and tell her to go fuck herself).

The combat system is what will matter the most though. You won't understand a thing in Baldur's Gate 2 as there is not a decent tutorial. You see, Baldur's Gate 2 assumes you've played the original so it begins relatively tough, the beginning of Baldur's Gate 2 is about as tough as the middle section of Baldur's Gate 1.

Baldur's Gate 1 slowly eases you into the game, Baldur's Gate 2 just sends packs of monster against you right away.



So basically, it makes much more sense to start from Baldur's Gate 1 as it is not only a good games in it's own right (Not anywhere near as good as Baldur's Gate 2, but still good) but also it will be much easier to play BG2 afterwards.
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Baldur's Gate seriesIs this a series in the truest sense?(13 posts)solved(13 posts)solved
(13 posts)solved