So, Baldur's Gate 2

[Stasgard]

Right. So I've recently picked up Baldur's Gate 2, as I have been going through the Codex's favourite RPG's on Jaesun's awesomly helpful list. Only in the last couple of years have I started playing proper, non-shit, cRPG's after finding the Codex. I used to love Oblivion, Fallout 3 all that shit, yeah, I hate myself too, thanks. Long story short, been working through that list, love PS:T, Arcanum, Fallout, the works. Loved them all more or less of the very get go.

But not Baldur's Gate 2. I've tried several times, unsuccessfully to get into this game, but I am very clearly missing something. The dialogue and interaction with Jan Iranicus is quite sweet, but everything else is just... mediocre. Setting is bland as fuck, party members make me want to rage quit, and combat is, at least at this point... decent at best. I've spent 3, 4 hours on this thing so far, and it just isn't doing it for me, I just really can't get into it.

So, what the fuck am I missing?

inb4 Volourn
inb4 "Joined: 20 Mar 2011"

 

[octavius]

Someone is trying very hard to fit in and be a good codexer.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

That's okay. Play Dark Sun Shattered Lands instead.

 

[Jaesun]

The Baldur's Gate series has never appealed to most codexers.

It was basically The Witcher/Witcher2 of it's day.

I personally enjoy it for what it is. There are however other D&D crpg's to play like the Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Sun etc....

Perhaps you should start there.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Playing: Pagan

man what is up with that group of killer children

 

[ever]

This is great.

People call me a troll for pointing out group think and a serious lack of rationality on these message boards. But I don't even have to point it out, I mean look at this thread.

Seriously: "I liked Oblivion then I came here and now I don't like it cause others told me it was bad"

Nothing about the game has changed though. It's still the same game, there is nothing about the game you don't like cause you *do* like *the game*. What you *don't* like is knowing you like a game that *other people* don't like.

That's pretty insanely perverse. I mean if I watch a movie and I like it, the whole world teling me its terrible wouldn't be able to make me not like it, because nothing about the movie has actually changed.

Stasgard, you're a nut case.

 

[ever]

Playing: Pagan

man what is up with that group of killer children

In the library there is a book explaining that. It talks about some group of adventurers and how some children turned on them, hell if I can remember the details at this point. They're great for building up your stats, not that you need high stats for anything.

 

[Stasgard]

The same logic can be replied in the reverse though ever. These were the games I was playing because they were there, and they were what I thought I wanted. What ACTUALLY brought me here though is kind of important though, right? And hey, turns out that was buying the Fallout Collection and having a: "holy shit this is good shit, I need more games like this!" moment, which led me to No Mutants Allowed, and then the Codex.

Has the game changed? Of course fucking not, but I just didn't know anything better. I had never been given the chance to try or like anything different. I made do with what I had, and I enjoyed it. At the time, without knowing there was better games out there.

Unless of course my recent attempts to play Oblivion and Fallout 3 again, and the writing seeming shit, the combat seeming mediocre and the game overall not being as interesting is purely my nut case mind convincing itself that I don't like it any more because of what a group of people on the internet who apparently like the same kinds of games I found out I really liked, told me think.

So, that's my choice is it? I either like the old shit because I am insecure about liking it because of people on the internet, or like the new shit because I know nothing else? Well, I guess I go with having more fun, and having experiences that are actually challenging mentally and emotionally through the power of group think, then having less fun and thinking for myself.

 

[someone else]

Playing: Pagan

man what is up with that group of killer children

Richie wanted to play with gamer ethics in one of the older Ultimas by introducing hostile children and see how the player reacts. The player can for example cast sleep to avoid killing virtual children.

Contrast this to Little Lamplight, invisible children or no children in today's games.

 

[MMXI]

Well, judging from the games you listed, you either hate Baldur's Gate II because of its bland setting, bland characters, bland story and lack of consequences. Alternatively, you could hate it because of its poorly implemented real-time with pause combat system. And last but not least, you could also hate it because you can't get your head around AD&D.

If it's the former, then you are a complete storyfag and probably can't be saved. If it's the second then that's totally understandable and you can still be redeemed by playing through all the Gold Box games. If it's the last then you better quit playing cRPGs and find a new hobby.

The Baldur's Gate series has never appealed to most codexers.

It was basically The Witcher/Witcher2 of it's day.

I personally enjoy it for what it is. There are however other D&D crpg's to play like the Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Sun etc....

Perhaps you should start there.

Gold Box? Of course! Dark Sun? Definitely! But Eye of the Beholder? Seriously? Eye of the Beholder was basically The Witcher of its day.

 

[ever]

Has the game changed? Of course fucking not, but I just didn't know anything better. I had never been given the chance to try or like anything different. I made do with what I had, and I enjoyed it. At the time, without knowing there was better games out there.

What is this? It's like you're talking about the mistakes you made as a maiden trying to lose her virginity or something. Grow a pair. Be a man. Say "I played Oblivion and I thought it was the best thing ever. Suck my big manly penis, role playing game codex message boards."

Don't be all "oh noo I was so young, I was soo naive, oh no I was scared, I didn't know any better I'm so so sorry! I hate myself too! I hate myself too!!!"

Seriously what is that. It's like thinking for yourself is too much to handle for you bunch of pussies. You need your support groups and facebook with you every step of the way right. I mean unless you have 200 friends watching you eat breakfast you're not sure if you should do that or not.

Case in point:

I go with having more fun, and having experiences that are actually challenging mentally and emotionally through the power of group think

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Richie wanted to play with gamer ethics in one of the older Ultimas by introducing hostile children and see how the player reacts. The player can for example cast sleep to avoid killing virtual children.

Shit I do remember having read about this. Isn't that why they were in Fallout as well, to be the worst subset of the neutral npcs you could inadvertantly hit during combat? All the talk of immersion and realism and immortal or nonexistant children are easily handwaved away.

Man, a hostile feral children encounter would have been so awesome in a post apocalyptic game.

 

[ever]

Well, judging from the games you listed, you either hate Baldur's Gate II because of its bland setting, bland characters, bland story and lack of consequences. Alternatively, you could hate it because of its poorly implemented real-time with pause combat system. And last but not least, you could also hate it because you can't get your head around AD&D.

If it's the former, then you are a complete storyfag and probably can't be saved. If it's the second then that's totally understandable and you can still be redeemed by playing through all the Gold Box games. If it's the last then you better quit playing cRPGs and find a new hobby.

Gold Box? Of course! Dark Sun? Definitely! But Eye of the Beholder? Seriously? Eye of the Beholder was basically The Witcher of its day.

Goldbox: Way better characters, story, setting and consequences than Baldur's Gate II.

You heard it on the role playing game codex first folks.

 

[MMXI]

Well, judging from the games you listed, you either hate Baldur's Gate II because of its bland setting, bland characters, bland story and lack of consequences. Alternatively, you could hate it because of its poorly implemented real-time with pause combat system. And last but not least, you could also hate it because you can't get your head around AD&D.

If it's the former, then you are a complete storyfag and probably can't be saved. If it's the second then that's totally understandable and you can still be redeemed by playing through all the Gold Box games. If it's the last then you better quit playing cRPGs and find a new hobby.

Gold Box? Of course! Dark Sun? Definitely! But Eye of the Beholder? Seriously? Eye of the Beholder was basically The Witcher of its day.

Goldbox: Way better characters, story, setting and consequences than Baldur's Gate II.

You heard it on the role playing game codex first folks.

Quoting to preserve a prime example of reading comprehension fail.

 

[RK47]

BG2 was fun for some kit experiment, but if you can't stand the party members...well, you can try local multiplayer and pre-gen your own party, I guess.

Or maybe I'm remembering it wrongly. Perhaps the narration is not your thing, but BG 2 was a fine game.

 

[flabbyjack]

It's all we had in 2000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur's_G ... ows_of_Amn

During the course of the game, the decisions made by the player will have an impact on the development of the character and the remainder of the party. For example, early in the game, the player must decide whether to ally with the guild of Shadow Thieves led by Aran Linvail at the reins, or with the vampires and their leader, Bodhi. Potential duels, bickering, romance and quests can all result depending on who is allowed to join the party and who is turned away.

 

[Jasede]

It may not be known to you, but...

Combat can make or break an RPG. And as much as I loved Baldur's Gate 2 for its spells and classes and encounters, won't you admit that the Goldbox games had the better combat system?

Is it then so hard to conclude that someone who values combat more than any of the things you mentioned should consider PoR, for example, the better RPG?

Oh, and it had real choices and genuine consequences too.

 

[ever]

Quoting to preserve a prime example of reading comprehension fail.

Except I know you weren't directly saying "Goldbox games have better story, setting and consequences than Baldur's Gate II"

But what you were doing is you were saying "Baldur's Gate II had bad story, setting and consequences, Jaesun recommended these games, and out of these you should play Goldbox instead of Baldur's Gate II among others" so it's not like I'm grossly mischaracterizing your position or anything.

And get this straight MMXI, I don't fail at anything.

 

[MMXI]

Quoting to preserve a prime example of reading comprehension fail.

Except I know you weren't directly saying "Goldbox games have better story, setting and consequences than Baldur's Gate II"

But what you were doing is you were saying "Baldur's Gate II had bad story, setting and consequences, Jaesun recommended these games, and out of these you should play Goldbox instead of Baldur's Gate II among others" so it's not like I'm grossly mischaracterizing your position or anything.

And get this straight MMXI, I don't fail at anything.

You just did. Again. Quoting for preservation.

 

[someone else]

Quoting to preserve a prime example of reading comprehension fail.

Except I know you weren't directly saying "Goldbox games have better story, setting and consequences than Baldur's Gate II"

But what you were doing is you were saying "Baldur's Gate II had bad story, setting and consequences, Jaesun recommended these games, and out of these you should play Goldbox instead of Baldur's Gate II among others" so it's not like I'm grossly mischaracterizing your position or anything.

And get this straight MMXI, I don't fail at anything.

He is saying Goldbox doesn't have badly implemented real-time combat.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

It's all we had in 2000

bro don't let the codex tell you BG2 was the height of playing a role in 2000 and your only choice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims

this is where modern roleplaying truly began

 

[ever]

He is saying Goldbox doesn't have badly implemented real-time combat.

OH I SEE.

See my brain must have skipped that part because I thought it was simply impossible for someone to be so lackwitted as to find the Goldbox engine combat to be better than Infinity Engine combat.

My apologies, to you sirs. My work in this thread is now complete.

 

[Stasgard]

Grow a pair. Be a man. Say "I played Oblivion and I thought it was the best thing ever. Suck my big manly penis, role playing game codex message boards."

I played Oblivion and I thought it was the best thing ever. Suck my big manly penis, role playing game codex message boards.

Seriously what is that. It's like thinking for yourself is too much to handle for you bunch of pussies. You need your support groups and facebook with you every step of the way right. I mean unless you have 200 friends watching you eat breakfast you're not sure if you should do that or not.

I have either very badly fucked up the way I have explained this or you just refuse to understand. My moneys on the first, so I will try again here. Yes, I played Oblivion and at the time thought it was the best shit ever. My only experience with games or RPG's in general is what I could get my hands on. Other then some old demo discs lying around, this is whatever was coming out at the time. Yes, I enjoyed the mainstream Console RPG's. But you know what else I used to like? Shitty mindless action movies, and books by Emily Rodda.

You see, this miraculous thing can happen over time where-in someones tastes change, and they drift towards different forms of entertainment, or lose interest in things they used to enjoy. See, other time this happened with me an RPG's. I got more and more into Console RPG's, and yes, I did love them, I am even on record as having said Oblivion was the best RPG I had ever played. But, I started to find other games, and enjoy different games, which was what lead me to the Codex. Not the reverse. So, what now? Liking Fallout 1/2 before finding the Codex is caused by what, ever? Your all powerful group think? Incidentally, I would like to point out that yes, I was mocking you with that quote about my choices, you've clearly missed that.

If you want to preach about group think and a pack mentality, go ahead, that's your perogative. But you grasping on to things said in a joking manner, poorly as it was put forth, doesn't mean you are winning an argument or revealing some grand conspiracy.

That's okay. Play Dark Sun Shattered Lands instead.

I personally enjoy it for what it is. There are however other D&D crpg's to play like the Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Sun etc....

Thanks, I shall have to look into these then.

If it's the former, then you are a complete storyfag and probably can't be saved. If it's the second then that's totally understandable and you can still be redeemed by playing through all the Gold Box games. If it's the last then you better quit playing cRPGs and find a new hobby.

Completely irredeemable storyfag, I'd figure the fact that I mentioned PS:T as one of my favourites would be a pretty obvious tell sign.

 

[ever]

Completely irredeemable storyfag, I'd figure the fact that I mentioned PS:T as one of my favourites would be a pretty obvious tell sign.

Out of all the things you said Stasgard, this was the only one that proved me entirely wrong.

Not being a smug "troll" or angry beaver now, and in all seriousness, if you like story in your computer role playing games try the main line Ultima series. I recommend IV to VIII ( I to III are some kind of acid trip like experience with time travel and space exploration, their stories were heavily retrofactored into IV and beyond, with an especially nice reappearance of Exodus from III in Ultima VII ). Although not in that order. Start out with VII or Lazarus ( remake of V ), especially if you're not used to some of the junk people had to go through during the goold old days in terms of interface. Also Lazarus explains a lot of Britannia without having to read old Richard Garriott interviews for background information. You can play VIII whenever you finish playing either VI or VII or Lazarus but not before, as Ultima will have been ruined for you forever.

Also in terms of Baldur's Gate II, if you're just playing the main story, I understand why you don't like it. Baldur's Gate II is one of my favorite role playing games, but I've never finished it. Because all I liked about it were the sidequests which made up more than half the game. I played it like I played Ultima, and it was more fun that way.

 

[Stasgard]

Start out with VII or Lazarus ( remake of V ), especially if you're not used to some of the junk people had to go through during the goold old days in terms of interface.

I've actually got Ultima V sitting on my CPU at the moment, I've tried several times, unsuccessfully to play it. Everytime I end up working out he basics of the interface and then stumble around blindly for a while before saying, "Fuck it". Guess I am still newfaggy to actually get around it then. I think I shall grab VII, and work from there. Thanks.

Edit: Either I derped or got Ninja-edited. Irony is that you are actually the first person to actually provide me with advice as to what I might be missing in Baldur's Gate. And you're right, yeah, I am just trying to work through the story. I'll give it another attempt and explore some more. Cheers.