Baldur's Gate II

[Zinc]

Ok, I'm sure there have been threads on this before, but I felt inclined to create a new one. If this annoys you, kiss my asshole. I am bored at the moment. Very, very bored. I need a game to play, and the crap the market has to offer at the minute just isn't going to cut it. So, I started looking around for RPGs which I may have missed in the last 10 years or so. I recently acquired Fallout 2 and completed that, and although I did enjoy it, I couldn't help but feel that the game mechanics were somewhat dated - well, obviously they would be, after all, it is ten years old. But anyway, I looked around for some more RPGs within the last decade and found BG2. Basically, I don't give a shit about graphics, all I'm interested in is the gameplay and the game mechanics. I need to know whether it's still worth buying. It is 8 years old now.. is it extremely dated, or would it still make a great RPG?

Love,
Zinc xxx

 

[Darth Roxor]

BG2 is one of my fav RPGs, I particularly love it's combat system (real time with active pause that peculiarly seems to be hated around here, no idea why though) - lots of fun spells to use, and mostly it requires good planning and tactics to win the tougher fights. I also don't mind the writing (which is again, hated here I think), but I played the polish version, so I have no idea how the english dialogues look like, the translated writing was pretty good. There are shitloads of side quests to do, the city you begin in is big and very well made, the main plot is also OK, and the bad guy is well done and well voiced. On the downsides though, C&C are pretty much non-existant, and unfortunately maybe more than half of the side quests involve "go to place x and keal", but the flaws are overshadowed by the positives I think. BG2 is something inbetween Icewind Dale and Planescape:Torment if you played both - it's not a game made only of storytelling like PS:T, but also not a mindless dungeon crawler like IWD - it tries to synchronize both aspects.

 

[Zinc]

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll probably take the plunge. It's only £10-15 anyway.

 

[Texas Red]

Roofles, BG 2 looks better and has superior gameplay compared to most modern games. Nothing has surpassed the 2D graphics of BG 2 and combat is a lot more strategic and simply fun than in most other RPGs.

 

[Mareus]

Lucky you. Go and buy it, because it really is one of the best RPGs out there. If you liked NWN2, you will love BG trilogy even more. Also I suggest you download the mods which will enhance the graphic from BG1 to BG2. It's called BG trilogy mod, and you also have some other, but I don't remember how it was called. BG1 is a bit... well how should I put it, not so good, but don't let that keep you from playing the whole trilogy. It will probably take you around 200 h to finish everything

 

[Darth Roxor]

If you liked NWN2, you will love BG trilogy even more.

Bad example, I love all BGs, but hate all NWNs with a passion.

 

[barker_s]

Roofles, BG 2 looks better and has superior gameplay compared to most modern games. Nothing has surpassed the 2D graphics of BG 2 and combat is a lot more strategic and simply fun than in most other RPGs.

TWD speaks the truth. BG2 is one of those games that aged extremely well.

If I think about it for a while I come to a conclusion, that BG2 had all these things that I miss in modern, next-gen RPG's. It was a mixture of pretty nice dialogues, fun and not so mindless battles, interesting areas to explore and plot good enough to keep me playing to the end.

 

[sabishii]

If you liked NWN2, you will love BG trilogy even more.

Bad example, I love all BGs, but hate all NWNs with a passion.

...That doesn't refute Mareus's statement at all.

 

[Raapys]

Make sure you get the expansion while on it. And do have a spellcaster in your party, BG2 is easily the most fun game for spellcasters I've ever played.

 

[Vibalist]

BG2 is easily the best rpg I have ever played. Why many people at the codex consider the dialogue to be bad I can't tell you. I thought the whole game was well written. In addition to this, it features a ton of sidequests, and unlike in most rpg's where sidequests usually suck, this game manages to both make them interesting *and* give the main character incentive to do them, namely because they don't conflict with the main quest (as opposed to a game like Oblivion where it didn't made any sense to waste time on sidequests from a roleplaying perspective when the whole world was threatened by an imminent invasion). The replay value is also very high due to how certain situations can change if you have different party members with you. I had a very different experience playing the game a second time, talking to characters I had never spoken to before and doing quests related to various party members I hadn't picked up in my prior games.

 

[Murk]

I wouldn't say the best, but it's pretty damn good, and has been replayed by me many times.

You WILL need a spellcaster, and it will be most glorious.

one of few games that actually requires you to counter your enemies magic with anti-magic... uhh magic...

get used to spells like breach, spell penetration, dispel and what have you

 

[Zomg]

You can compress the experience of BG2 into a few moments by squirting salty lemon juice up your urethra.

 

[Shoelip]

BG2 is possibly my favorite CRPG.

 

[Lumpy]

Be sure to get some of the mods to enhance the experience, such as the Unfinished Business mod, the enhanced AI, the high resolution mod and the Saerilith mod.

 

[Texas Red]

Be sure to get some of the mods to enhance the experience, such as the Unfinished Business mod, the enhanced AI, the high resolution mod and the Saerilith mod.

If hes playing BG 2 for the first time, he will probably get owned enough not to need enhanced AI.

 

[Murk]

just play the game originally, bg2 with the x-pack has enough shit in it to keep you occupied twice over

 

[Lumpy]

Meh. Make sure you install at least the Widescreen and the Saerilith mod if you don't care about the others.

 

[MetalCraze]

I don't give a shit about graphics

You should. BG2 is still beautiful.

BG2 is really worth your money. It has a big and nice city, a tons of quests (many of which are non-linear), a wide variety of places to visit, an overland map with random encounters (not as good as FO by quality but still)
However on the other hand combat may get boring over time, plus some companions are just awful. The storyline isn't special as well - a traditional bioware storyline with traditional bioware villains.
Still there are a few companions that you can really influence in dialogues instead of just ass-licking them to get the next dialogue scene.

Don't forget to get ToB as well.

Also do not install any mods. Other than widescreen one and the one that fixes bugs Bioware didn't. And don't rush to save Imoen.

 

[Darth Roxor]

If you liked NWN2, you will love BG trilogy even more.

Bad example, I love all BGs, but hate all NWNs with a passion.

...That doesn't refute Mareus's statement at all.

Not quite, since he said that if you liked NWN you'll like BG, which in my case is false. If someone who, like me, hated NWN, but didn't play BG and saw that post he might have come to the conclusion "screw this game, NWN blew, so this will too probably".

 

[Athiska]

Be sure to get some of the mods to enhance the experience, such as the Unfinished Business mod, the enhanced AI, the high resolution mod and the Saerilith mod.

Definitely Saerilith, oh yes. Although playing without any NPC mods will allow you to see the party interactions and dialogues. You are capped at six members, after all, and there's plenty to go around.

Apart from that... being a fighter or a mage makes little difference, dialogue-wise. I'd recommend something fighter-ish for BG2 (never having played BG) so that you're spared the damned tedium of doing the same beginning quests over and over. The dialogue may be worth several replays, but not if you haven't at least finished the game.

And if you played Arcanum, do pay attention to one of the Cowled Wizards in a certain cutscene. He sounds so fucking much like Geoffrey Tarellond-Ashe that I couldn't believe it. Wasn't voiced by Richard Tatum, but still...

 

[Lesifoere]

Be sure to get some of the mods to enhance the experience, such as the Unfinished Business mod, the enhanced AI, the high resolution mod and the Saerilith mod.

Definitely Saerilith, oh yes.

I third this motion. BG2's not complete without that mod.

 

[Mareus]

If you liked NWN2, you will love BG trilogy even more.

Bad example, I love all BGs, but hate all NWNs with a passion.

...That doesn't refute Mareus's statement at all.

Not quite, since he said that if you liked NWN you'll like BG, which in my case is false. If someone who, like me, hated NWN, but didn't play BG and saw that post he might have come to the conclusion "screw this game, NWN blew, so this will too probably".

I guess you didn't see that 2 behind NWN and I guess you didn't see that "even more" behind BG, which would indicate that BG is better than NWN2 and it would indicate that even if someone did not fully enjoy NWN2, could very well enjoy BG because it is better. But to cut this whole story, lets not compare NWN2 with BGT and just say that BG is a very good game that should not be missed by anyone who enjoys RPG DnD games and that it is quite possibly one of the best DnD RPGs to this day.

 

[Lumpy]

Conclusion: definitely play BG2, install widescreen mod, Saerilith mod and nothing else.

 

[Jasede]

Better conclusion:

Play BG 2 with the dialogue patch (THANK GOD for that, it improves the writing a LOT and removes almost ALL typos), the Baldurdash fixpack, and nothing else. Who the fuck is Saerilith anyway...

You always miss the best mods, guys, and then recommend some cosmetic nonsense. Isn't two patches, one that fixes all the left-over bugs, and the other that improves and pretties up the writing a tad and fixes typos, much better than something as superfluous as "widescreen" [Can't you set it to 1024x786 anyway?] or some romance?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Saerilith has nothing on the *wonders* of the NPC flirt pack. That one's a must-install....