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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > Seriously, Fuck Baldur's Gate 2

Sanctum: Feb 14, 2005; Heilige Tod

You might have already heard some things about Baldur's Gate 2. Things like "it's the greatest RPG ever made" or perhaps "it's the greatest RPG ever made." Well it is, and you should play it.

The story takes place in a magical land of pompous talking dragons, angst-ridden elves, and greedy dwarves. Based on the advanced dungeons & dragons ruleset, the gameplay is highly strategic allowing you to control up to 6 characters at a time. If you haven't given this legendary game a chance you are really missing out. The world of Baldur's Gate 2 is immense and full of evil. Chances are you wont ever finish Baldur's Gate 2 and the expansion Throne of Bhaal, but don't let that discourage you. BG2 is simply a very long and very complex game, with enough depth to swallow your soul.

BG2 has aged quite well, thanks mostly to it's top-down 2D view with animated sprites instead of ugly, low polygon 3D models. The graphics are not impressive, they were not even impressive when BG2 was released, but they are certainly no eyesore either.

What makes BG2 so awesome is the gameplay. There are a lot of interesting classes to choose from, a lot of very powerful magic to abuse, and an endless number of ways you can deal with the variety of foes you'll face. But best of all is getting absolutely assraped by some of the more powerful mages and creatures you'll pick fights with, then spending 5 minutes casting buffs on your party and going in only to get assraped again.

This game is hard. You will face mind flayers, summon armies of high level creatures to defeat them only to have them turned against you along with half your party. You'll fight mages that stop the flow of time while they unload powerful magical attacks on your helpless party. You might use your mages best dispelling magic to bring down the defenses of a lich lord and finally kill him with your warriors only to find that he replaced himself with an illusion and made himself invisible while you wasted your best spells on his fake double.

Eventually you'll figure things out, learn to counter the toughest enemies, then slay dragons and destroy demi-gods. But don't hurry, the best part of BG2 isn't having godlike power but struggling to get there in the first place.

The rest of this post is dedicated to answering questions and providing helpful resources:

If you are starting this game for the first time you may want to check the class FAQ here for some useful information before making your decision. All of the classes can be very powerful, there are no bad classes just different roles. Whatever you pick, you'll have up to 5 party members to fill any other class-based roles.

Any time you get stuck this walkthrough complete with maps makes a great reference.

Some basic AD&D terms translated from an arcane nerd language, these are covered in the tutorial:

THAC0 (To Hit AC 0) - This is your attack rating, the lower the better. Magical weapons give a bonus to THAC0, and despite the + sign this means a decrease. THAC0 will improve as characters level up, more for some classes than others.
AC (Armor Class) - This is your defense rating, the lower the better. When an attack is made, the attacker's THAC0 and defender's AC come into play. If a random roll of 1-20 is greater than THAC0 - AC then the attack hits. AC does not improve as characters level up.
Damage (1d6 + 2) - This is the range of damage a weapon does when it hits. The math is XdY + Z where X * [random number 1 through Y] + Z = Your damage. So 2d4 + 1 means 3 ~ 9 damage and 10d6 means 10 ~ 60 damage.
Attacks per Round - How many times you attack in a round.
Saving Throws - The chance that you will avoid or halve the effects of magical attacks, the lower the better. Some magical items give a bonus to saving throws, and despite the + sign this means a decrease.
Round - 1 round, 6 seconds.
Turn - 10 rounds, 1 minute.

Character Stats
The stats of a character are permanent, you do not gain additional stats as you level up. You will run across some stat-enhancing magical equipment, but otherwise a characters stats are set in stone. Choose your stats wisely when creating a character. No stat can be higher than 19, and no stat can be increased beyond 25 by spells or magic equipment.

Strength: Determines how much weight you can carry, and can provide a small bonus to your THAC0 for 17 STR and up.

Dexterity: Affects your character's base AC (without armor), increases thieving skills a small amount. AC is unaffected for 7-14 DEX, you gain an increasing bonus to AC for 15-18 DEX, and an increasing bonus to ranged weapon THAC0 for 16-19 DEX.

Constitution: Determines how much HP you gain each time you level up. More than 16 CON is useless for non-fighter classes. It's worth noting that the only bonuses are for 15+ CON, so make it 16 CON or make it 6 CON, below 6 CON there is actually a penalty.

Intelligence: Determines how many mage spells you can have memorized. If you are a mage/sorcerer this must be 18 or you will be gimped. Aside from some different dialogue options, a high INT does nothing for non-mage characters.

Wisdom: Determines how many priest spells you can have memorized. Aside from some different dialogue options, a high WIS does nothing for non-cleric characters.

Charisma: Mostly for dialogue options, also has a small effect on how favorably merchants react to you. There is a ring you get very early on that can set your CHA to 18 when worn. Whichever character you initiate dialogue with uses their CHA stat, so be mindful of who is leading your party or who you have selected when approaching a merchant to sell your valuable loot.

_{Dexterity is important for everyone. No matter what armor or shields you acquire, your AC could still be that much better with a higher DEX. Your AC does not improve with higher levels like THAC0 does.}

Sanctum fucked around with this message at Aug 2, 2011 around 06:01

# ? May 13, 2009 12:27

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# ? May 24, 2013 18:42

Sanctum: Feb 14, 2005; Heilige Tod

What about Baldur's Gate 1? Should I start with that?

Ashenai posted:

Playing BG1 is an excellent way to get burnt out on the whole Infinity Engine and end up never playing BG2.

Everything, literally everything BG1 does, BG2 does better.

bitterandtwisted posted:

Regarding BG1, I would highly recommend new players play it first, at least on the first run through. Going from fleeing from giberlings to unstoppable badass made the game feel so much more epic (really, I can't think of any other rpg where you start out just so humble), and the game itself is pretty good in its own right.

Suspicious posted:

Unless you absolutely want to experience the adventure of exploring mostly empty and irrelevant wilderness areas or the thrill of low level AD&D combat (miss a lot and die to random critical hits made by lowly critters that respawn every time you reload a save or attempt to rest), feel free to skip straight to the second game.

If you want to start with BG1 it's recommended that you use either BGTutu or BGT to bring the BG2 engine to BG1 and its expansion Tales of the Sword Coast. BGT is the newer releaser which aims to provide more continuity between BG1, Sword Coast, BG2, and Throne of Bhaal.

Virtual Surreality posted:

Play Baldur's Gate 1 first!
Make sure to have all 3 games installed so you can use the awesome BG Tutu:
http://www.usoutpost31.com/easytutu/
Tutu allows you to play the original Baldur's Gate in the superior interface of BG2- including all spells and classes.

There's no legitimate reason not to play it your first time through. Some people say BG1 sucks. They are in the minority. Only you are fit to make that determination.

Smol posted:

Here is a general install order for BGT. Note that this list has some popular but optional mods that you might or might not want to install. Read the respective READMEs and decide if you want them. Note that every mod in this list must be installed to the Baldur's Gate II folder,.

Install Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II and optionally the expansions. Patch both of with the latest official patches (mandatory!), which are v26498 for BG2+ToB and 1.3.5512 for BG1+TotSC. If you have the GOG.com versions, no patching is necessary.

Ascension/WeiDU (Optional) � David Gaider's attept at fixing the Throne of Bhaal ending. Makes it significantly harder as well.

G3 BG2 Fixpack � The quintessential unofficial patch for BG2. Install it.

BGT-WeiDU � This is the thing. Note that BGT-WeiDU contains an integrated version of Kevin Dorner's (Baldurdash) BG1 fixpack, so you must not install it yourself.

BG1 Unfinished business (Optional) � Restores cut content. It varies in quality and it's hard to say if everything they restored should be restored, but many people seem to like it.

BG2 Unfinished Business (Optional) � Same as above, but for BG2.

BG1 NPC Project (Optional) � Gives some banters to the party members in BG1. Has some (cringeworthy) romances as well, but thankfully they are optional. Not for purists.

Sword Coast Stratagems & Sword Coast Stratagems II (Optional) � Think the game is too easy? SCS1&2 is a highly modular collection of enemy AI enhancements and other tweaks for both BG1 and BG2. I tend to only use the AI enhancements (with no pre-buffing), but if that's not enough for you, you can select the components that give enemies pre-casted buffs or new abilities as well. Warning: It really makes the game harder, so you might not want to use this on your first playthrough.

BG2 Tweak Pack (Optional) � Bigger arrow stacks and other convenience tweaks. Pick and choose what you want.

Level 1 NPCs (Optional) � Allows you to change your party members' classes, stats or profiencies. Useful if you think that Khalid should've been a Fighter/Mage or that Jaheira's starting profiencies suck.

BG1 Level Cap Reinstator (Optional) � If you do a "full" playthrough without this mod, you'll start with 250-300k XP in BG2, which, in my opinion, is far too much. This mod restores the 161,000 XP cap for the BG1+TotSC portion of the game.

Restored Textscreen Music � Restores the background music for the chapter cutscenes in BG1. Note that you also need to copy the correct language pack in addition to the core installation package.

Widescreen mod � Play in a resolution higher than 800x600. See this topic if you think the font is too small.

Run Setup-BGTMusic.exe in your Baldur's Gate 2 directory and select "Hybrid Baldur's Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal music".

Lastly, when you transition to BG2, get the BGT Tweak Pack and install "Restore BG2 XP bonus for traps, locks, and scrolls".

Are there any important patches or mods I need before playing Baldur's Gate 2?

No. If you install the expansion Throne of Bhaal right away you will remove the 3.5 mil exp cap, assuming you ever reach it during SoA. There are some other minor changes and fixes, most notably the ability to highlight all doors and containers by holding TAB plus the ability to erase spells from your spellbook. The most recent ToB patch can be found here or here.
Other assorted fan-made mods and patches you might want:
G3 Fixpack - Bugfixes and optional minor quest changes
Baldurdash - Bugfixes
ShadowKeeper - Highly useful savegame editor for BG2+ToB
Various difficulty enhancing mods including Ascension

Does BG2 support higher resolutions?

_{Only if you can read this.}

Multi-class? Dual-class? What's the difference?

Non-human races have the ability to multi-class. When you create the character you must select multi-class at the class menu. This gives them the abilities of two classes which level up separately, all exp they gain is split between the classes so they level up slowly.
Humans have the unique ability to dual-class. This can be done at any time during the game, but not when you create your character. To be able to dual-class the human must have the necessary stats for both classes. When you dual-class a character they temporarily lose all abilities of their old class and start at level 1 as the new class. When they get 1 level above their previous class they regain all the old abilities, and continue to level only in their new class.

Dual a Lvl. 9 Fighter to a Thief and you lose all fighter weapon proficiencies, THAC0, etc. but once you reach Lvl. 10 as a thief you will regain them then continue leveling only as a thief.
With both multi-class and dual-class, some class restrictions that apply to only one of the classes are lifted and some are still applied to both. For example a fighter/thief can wear a full suit of armor like a fighter, but thieving abilities are disabled when wearing armor heavier than leather. The fighter/thief can also specialize in and use long bows where a thief is limited to short bows, and equipping a long bow will not disable thieving abilities for a fighter/thief. If you want to now how a certain multi-class/dual-class character will work just ask.

Do I have to hold my mouse over spells/items for 10 seconds just to see their name?

Hold tab.

I'm hurt, how do I heal my party?

You rest, either at an inn, outside, or in a dungeon. Select 'rest until healed' under gameplay options to make you continue resting until your party is fully healed. If you do not have a cleric with healing spells memorized this might automatically rest your party for a full month.

I can't kill this golem aka "Weapon Ineffective."

Some creatures have special immunities, like some golems can only be damaged with crushing weapons like warhammers and clubs. Some spells can temporarily render a creature immune to certain weapons, and some high level creatures are immune to all magical weapons below a +1, +2, or +3 level.

One of my party members got angry about something and left.

Yes, they will do that. If there is a time-dependent quest for that character they might have gone to see to it themselves, they might wait for you until you are ready to start the quest or they might just leave your party forever. Or they might try to kill you, sometimes they might quarrel with or attack another party member. That's all part of the game.

gently caress, I'm level drained!?

That sucks. Sleeping will not make this go away, waiting will not make this go away. You must cast lesser restoration or find a church and have a priest cast it for you. Lesser restoration may also be cast by putting the scroll into a quickslot. Unlike level drain, energy drain affects your stats and not level, it is not permanent and requires no action to get rid of.

Is there any way to make my characters attack automatically?

Yes, but the AI is loving retarded. You have to set a script for each character first, go to the record sheet and select customize, script and set it to either standard attack or ranged. Now outside of menus, click the lantern in the bottom right or hit 'A' so that it is highlighted. Now you can hit 'A' instead of clicking on every goblin you encounter. Remember to turn it off or your mages will outright refuse to cast spells, even interrupt them mid-casting.

I messed up my main character and want a completely new one.

To do this you'll need ShadowKeeper to edit your save. To ensure that you don't mess up the natural leveling of your character I recommend doing the following:

First write down the characters total exp, or open shadowkeeper and copy the value from there. Now empty your characters inventory and create a new save. Go to \*BG2 directory*\save and copy the folder of the saved game to \*BG2 directory*\mpsave. Start BG2, but select multiplayer instead of singleplayer. Select connect, create game, then load game. Pick the game you saved, after loading it brings you to a menu where you can delete characters. Click on your main character's name and delete. Now make your new dream character in it's place. When finished you must click all the checkboxes before you can select done and start the game.

When the multiplayer game starts your new character will not have the exp you gained. Save over the old game (!!! don't forget) then quit, copy this save from your \mpsave\ directory back to your \save\ directory. Now open shadowkeeper, load your new save, and set your exp back to what you had before. Close the character window to save changes, then load up the edited version and you should have your new character with all your original exp.

Is a [race] [class] any good? What proficiencies should I pick?

Just ask! We love talking about this game. There are simply too many classes to even list here, but the class FAQ is no bible so don't pass on a class you're interested in because someone else gave it a bad 'grade.' Whatever class you choose, you'll have up to 5 other people in your party to fill any roles that your character doesn't.

Is there a speedrun for Baldur's Gate 2?

No, that's impossible.

reflir posted:

Here's a guy abusing the hell out of the infinity engine and finishing BG2 in a little over 23 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZwEtVi24DE

***SPOILERS*** assuming you can comprehend what is happening in that video, I can't.

Sanctum fucked around with this message at Jan 23, 2012 around 06:50

# ? May 13, 2009 12:27

aeglus: Jul 13, 2003; WEEK 1 - RETIRED

Just thought I'd say that if you thought the game was really easy and decide to do a solo run, it might be a good idea not to install tactics and stratagems. Unless of course you like reloading all the time. It's a good idea to run the gently caress away from liches too with that.

# ? May 13, 2009 12:34

bitterandtwisted: Sep 4, 2006; Fee Fi Fo Fat,
I smell the blood of a Plutocrat!

Regarding BG1, I would highly recommend new players play it first, at least on the first run through. Going from fleeing from giberlings to unstoppable badass made the game feel so much more epic (really, I can't think of any other rpg where you start out just so humble), and the game itself is pretty good in its own right.

# ? May 13, 2009 13:09

MrL_JaKiri: Sep 23, 2003; I'm a bloomin' mathematical genius!
BOOM BOOM!

I'd point out that installing the patch is a good idea as it gets rid of the "Is busy" bug.

Also I wouldn't say that the game is hard exactly, just obscure.

aeglus posted:

Just thought I'd say that if you thought the game was really easy and decide to do a solo run, it might be a good idea not to install tactics and stratagems. Unless of course you like reloading all the time. It's a good idea to run the gently caress away from liches too with that.

Coward

Other advice: DSimpson is not actually very good at BG2. He knows a lot about it, though, so take the factual stuff from his guides and leave the opinions.

MrL_JaKiri fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 14:01

# ? May 13, 2009 13:58

Leper Residue: Sep 28, 2003; To where no dog has gone before.

I played this game to I think Chapter 3 or 4, then my computer died, and I did horribly the entire time. So some newbie questions.

Does resting all the time have any negative impact? I always feel guilty about resting, fighting an orc, getting my rear end handed to me (I suck at this game) and then resting again.

Also, anyway to revive a dead character?

And lastly, what the hell is up with one spell a day? Does that change? That is annoying as all hell.

Edit: Oh! And slavers (think it's slavers, gangs of dudes that show up while travelling the starting city), is there any way to avoid these assholes? I barely made it out of the starting dungeon alive, and then these fuckers come along and usually end up killing one or two people.

Leper Residue fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 14:12

# ? May 13, 2009 14:08

KGBAgent185: Oct 28, 2003; YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Residue posted:

I played this game to I think Chapter 3 or 4, then my computer died, and I did horribly the entire time. So some newbie questions.

Does resting all the time have any negative impact? I always feel guilty about resting, fighting an orc, getting my rear end handed to me (I suck at this game) and then resting again.

Also, anyway to revive a dead character?

And lastly, what the hell is up with one spell a day? Does that change? That is annoying as all hell.

As long as the character isn't split into a million pieces, Rod of Ressurection, Harper's Call(Is that the one Jaheira gets?), Temples, and there are other rez spells. I don't recall cause I almost never needed to use them except early game and had Harper's Call.

E: To Clarify one spell per day, sorcerer's can cast up to a certain amount of spells for each level per day, any of them they know.

Wizards can only cast what they have memorized in their allotted spell slots. They memorize a spell in a slot and once it's used it's gone. You need to rest to re-memorize it, and if you want to be able to cast say, 4 fireballs, you need to memorize it 4 times. A sorcerer on the other hand just casts spells at will, but can only cast so many of them per day for each level.

And then there are items which allow you to cast a spell once per day too, but those should be self-explanatory.

KGBAgent185 fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 14:19

# ? May 13, 2009 14:11

Nosaj: Apr 30, 2009

Residue posted:

I played this game to I think Chapter 3 or 4, then my computer died, and I did horribly the entire time. So some newbie questions.

Does resting all the time have any negative impact? I always feel guilty about resting, fighting an orc, getting my rear end handed to me (I suck at this game) and then resting again.

Also, anyway to revive a dead character?

And lastly, what the hell is up with one spell a day? Does that change? That is annoying as all hell.

1 - no

2 - yes (churchs or spells or someshit)

3- i think youre confusing racial/class abilities with spells? unless im horribly wrong, i havent played BG2 in years.

# ? May 13, 2009 14:11

DoctorTristan: Mar 11, 2006; I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

Sanctum posted:

[*]Other assorted fan-made mods and patches you might want:
Baldur's Gate 2 Fixpack - Bugfixes and optional minor quest changes
Baldurdash - Bugfixes
ShadowKeeper - Highly useful savegame editor for BG2+ToB
Various difficulty enhancing mods including Ascension

The g3 fixpack is actually pretty much a must-have: there are a lot of bugs remaining in BG2 even with the official patch. Baldurdash hasn't been updated in years and all of the fixes have been incorporated into the g3 pack, so that's the one you should get.

# ? May 13, 2009 14:53

Varicelli: Jan 24, 2009

How long would it take a person who has only ever played through that stupid place at the start and got to the first town (I think) and got killed by some enjoyable human being pink wizard in one hit which was gay to play through the whole game without min-maxing or the as described prior experience?

edit: gently caress THAT WIZZARD FUCKER gently caress

Varicelli fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 15:20

# ? May 13, 2009 15:06

Sanctum: Feb 14, 2005; Heilige Tod

^^^^
gently caress BALDUR'S GATE 2

DoctorTristan posted:

The g3 fixpack is actually pretty much a must-have: there are a lot of bugs remaining in BG2 even with the official patch. Baldurdash hasn't been updated in years and all of the fixes have been incorporated into the g3 pack, so that's the one you should get.

Simulacrum Restoration Exploit

Simulacrums are basically level-drained copies of the caster. As such, an exploit existed where the party could cast restoration on simulacrums to make them as powerful as the original caster. This exploit has been removed.

I have got to try this. A lot of those 'fixing' buffs not working due to magic resistance are more or less rebalancing, magic resistance isn't supposed to be just good. And that fix of making boots of speed increase only movement and not provide permanent haste complete with the initiative bonus is a really big game-changing adjustment not some minor fix. I think there's a reason why between SoA and ToB you can get at most 5 boots of speed.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:22

Shugojin: Sep 6, 2007; ONE HUNDRED CUPS OF COFFEE.

Sanctum posted:

^^^^
gently caress BALDUR'S GATE 2

Simulacrum Restoration Exploit

Simulacrums are basically level-drained copies of the caster. As such, an exploit existed where the party could cast restoration on simulacrums to make them as powerful as the original caster. This exploit has been removed.

I have got to try this. A lot of those 'fixing' buffs not working due to magic resistance are more or less rebalancing, magic resistance isn't supposed to be just good. And that fix of making boots of speed increase only movement and not provide permanent haste complete with the initiative bonus is a really big game-changing adjustment not some minor fix. I think there's a reason why between SoA and ToB you can get at most 5 boots of speed.

The reason is to be dicks and force the player to use the Grandmaster's Armor or run around casting Haste all the time just so they don't have one character lagging waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the gently caress behind.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:26

DoctorTristan: Mar 11, 2006; I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

Sanctum posted:

^^^^
gently caress BALDUR'S GATE 2 :whoop:

Simulacrum Restoration Exploit

Simulacrums are basically level-drained copies of the caster. As such, an exploit existed where the party could cast restoration on simulacrums to make them as powerful as the original caster. This exploit has been removed.

I have got to try this. A lot of those 'fixing' buffs not working due to magic resistance are more or less rebalancing, magic resistance isn't supposed to be just good. And that fix of making boots of speed increase only movement and not provide permanent haste complete with the initiative bonus is a really big game-changing adjustment not some minor fix. I think there's a reason why between SoA and ToB you can get at most 5 boots of speed.

Yeah, some of them are dumb, but you can choose which ones to install and I think the more controversial ones are turned off by default.

But for true

-ness, it's hard to beat the romantic encounters mod:

quote:

17. Firkraag's Unsheathed Sword, by Kulyok
------------------------------------------

Never poke a sleeping dragon...

Available to: female protagonists

Available at: Firkraag's lair

# ? May 13, 2009 15:31

FlyingCowOfDoom: Aug 1, 2003; let the beat drop

Is there a website that sells this for download? I imagine trying to find a physical copy would be all but impossible.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:32

Sanctum: Feb 14, 2005; Heilige Tod

Aww gently caress you DoctorTristan, the G3 fixpack was the first fixpack I posted there. I'm editing that tweakpack link back out because fan-made imoen portraits and dragon romance are even less than non-essential.

If you live in US/CA/UK then get BG2 on amazon, like here.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:37

Kehveli: Apr 1, 2009

FlyingCowOfDoom posted:

Is there a website that sells this for download? I imagine trying to find a physical copy would be all but impossible.

Most of the gameshops in my general area still carry baldur's gate 1/2 and their respective expansions. I imagine it won't be that much different, it's one of those games most people end up re-installing now and then, like diablo 1/2 so it still sells fairly well.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:39

Ddraig: Sep 5, 2005; Sits with a full house

I tried to install B2G not too long ago on my laptop. It way exceeds the specs needed to run BG2 but I still get huge stuttering problems. I've heard this is due to having a dual-core processor. Will setting the executable to run on one core only fix this? I don't have the discs handy at the moment so I can't test this myself.

# ? May 13, 2009 15:39

Iggles: Nov 24, 2004; By Jove! Commoners!

My solo Sorcerer is going through ToB Imprisoning the gently caress out of the world. The best one was in Watcher's Keep l3, against the Ba'atezu. I agreed to get them the heart of the Tanari dude and then started Imprisoning, which doesn't even make them hostile! Though the main dude was immune. Gromnir, Illasera and Yaga Shura are also residing under the earth so I hope their Bhaal essence finds its way to me!

# ? May 13, 2009 16:53

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; All that you have found is your inevitable punishment.

"You can't play a Kensai/Mage in BG1, skip it."

I don't think poo poo like that needs to be quoted in the OP.

# ? May 13, 2009 17:11

tranceMD: Apr 25, 2006; Forsooth! Methinks thou art no ordinary talking chicken.

bitterandtwisted posted:

Regarding BG1, I would highly recommend new players play it first, at least on the first run through. Going from fleeing from giberlings to unstoppable badass made the game feel so much more epic (really, I can't think of any other rpg where you start out just so humble), and the game itself is pretty good in its own right.

This is really worth emphasizing. Making the slow transition from a rag-tag adventurer afraid of running into more than one wild wolf to a demi-god badass who slaughters beholders by the dozen is part of what makes the BG series as a whole so satisfying, especially on your first play-through.

BG1 doesn't get quite as much praise because it lacks some of BG2's complexity, but that's more a complaint reserved for people who are replaying the game multiple times, not someone running through it for the first time.

The OP's reasoning of "no need to play because you can't be a level 32 f/m/t in this game!!1" is dumb. Dumb. It's just a largely different experience.

# ? May 13, 2009 17:28

Clueless of Morg: Jun 17, 2005; I'm only civil because I don't know any swear words

Ddraig posted:

I tried to install B2G not too long ago on my laptop. It way exceeds the specs needed to run BG2 but I still get huge stuttering problems. I've heard this is due to having a dual-core processor. Will setting the executable to run on one core only fix this? I don't have the discs handy at the moment so I can't test this myself.

I had that same problem on my laptop, but disabling 3d acceleration in the video options seemed to fix it.

# ? May 13, 2009 17:34

nilumtil: Nov 5, 2002; Omar strollin'

I bought this a long time ago and love it. This game has LAN doesn't it? Cause this would be perfect for Hamachi.

# ? May 13, 2009 17:43

Iggles: Nov 24, 2004; By Jove! Commoners!

Man it's hard to get used to not filtering for the Rant tag

# ? May 13, 2009 17:58

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

FlyingCowOfDoom posted:

Is there a website that sells this for download? I imagine trying to find a physical copy would be all but impossible.

GameTap has both games, but not their expansions. You also can't apply fan patches to GT games, so I'd consider it more a demo than a way to actually play.

# ? May 13, 2009 18:10

Wizard Whateley: Apr 12, 2002; I am a bootlicking scab who loves seeing people be paid less than living wages. If the workers don't like it they should just kill themselves. Let me know who is organizing so I can report them to management. I pine for the days of the Pinkertons.

Playing through BG1 first can ruin you BG2 game if you have the level cap disabled and let yourself get carried away.

I ended up with a level 14 assassin at the start of Baldur's Gate 2 and it just made things not very fun. (it's impossible for me to resist grinding on wolf-weres for insane experience)

So, playing through Baldur's Gate 1 first is fine, but you probably want to stick as close to the original level cap as possible.

# ? May 13, 2009 18:16

KingKapalone: Dec 20, 2005; 1/16 Native American + 1/2 Hungarian = Totally Badass

When installing the FixPack and TweakPack, should every single option be installed and setup? It is my first time playing, so I wouldn't know the difference, but if there is an option that makes the game extra hardcore or something I probably wouldn't want it.

# ? May 13, 2009 18:22

VocalizePlayerDeath: Jan 29, 2009

Darth l33t posted:

GameTap has both games, but not their expansions. You also can't apply fan patches to GT games, so I'd consider it more a demo than a way to actually play.

Gametap does have all the expansions they just don`t say it anywhere.
Unfortunately gametap is currently not in the best of shape and it is difficult to get anything to work properly.

# ? May 13, 2009 18:32

DreadCthulhu: Sep 17, 2008; u mad, brah?

I've always had a fetish for onemanning the BG series with the Mage class. It was a bit tough in BG1 since the mage is so weak in the early stages, and I can't remember what I did for IWD and IWD2.

In any case, onemanning BG2 with a mage was fairly possible (I always dumped all the characters that the game would attach to my party, which I guess made me skip a lot of interactive aspect of the story). The biggest issue was the "nightmate creature" thingy that the game would make you fight against at specific spots in the game's story, I could never ever figure out how to kill it around the 2nd or the 3rd time this event occurred, because it was almost fully immune to magic and just wouldn't loving die if you didn't have a +4 or +5 weapon on a melee user. Even the demilich was easier than that bitch. Did anybody ever figure out how to solo it with a mage?

# ? May 13, 2009 19:02

tranceMD: Apr 25, 2006; Forsooth! Methinks thou art no ordinary talking chicken.

KingKapalone posted:

When installing the FixPack and TweakPack, should every single option be installed and setup? It is my first time playing, so I wouldn't know the difference, but if there is an option that makes the game extra hardcore or something I probably wouldn't want it.

I would advise against installing everything. Some options are needless and some are more catered towards veteran players. Just go through the installation process manually and use your own judgement. Given that it's your first time, you may want to hold off on things that revert the game's rules to AD&D core, or seem to offer express options to problems you may face in the game.

There tend to be two kinds of balance tweaks; those that fix something erroneous, and those that alter something more to the liking of the modification's author. The latter changes are those that you may want to hold off on until you're more familiar with just what is being changed, and it should be easy enough to discern what is what from a quick scan of the readme.

DreadCthulhu posted:

Did anybody ever figure out how to solo it with a mage?

I would refer you and anyone else in the thread to Elmonster's Journal, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek first-person account of a level-capped mage soloing his way through SoA and ToB. It's pretty old, but a fun read if you think it might interest you.

tranceMD fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 19:06

# ? May 13, 2009 19:04

Virtual Surreality: Aug 24, 2005; by Peatpot

Play Baldur's Gate 1 first!
Make sure to have all 3 games installed so you can use the awesome BG Tutu:
http://www.usoutpost31.com/easytutu/
Tutu allows you to play the original Baldur's Gate in the superior interface of BG2- including all spells and classes.

There's no legitimate reason not to play it your first time through. Some people say BG1 sucks. They are in the minority. Only you are fit to make that determination.

And is there anyone that has played BG2 and not followed with Throne of Bhaal? IMO, it's the best of the three.

Wizard Whateley posted:

Playing through BG1 first can ruin you BG2 game if you have the level cap disabled and let yourself get carried away.

I ended up with a level 14 assassin at the start of Baldur's Gate 2 and it just made things not very fun. (it's impossible for me to resist grinding on wolf-weres for insane experience)

So, playing through Baldur's Gate 1 first is fine, but you probably want to stick as close to the original level cap as possible.

http://www.mud-master.com/gatekeeper/index.html
You're welcome.

Virtual Surreality fucked around with this message at May 13, 2009 around 19:22

# ? May 13, 2009 19:18

Sanctum: Feb 14, 2005; Heilige Tod

Virtual Surreality posted:

There's no legitimate reason not to play it your first time through. Some people say BG1 sucks. They are in the minority. Only you are fit to make that determination.

100 pages of baldur's gate 2 in the last thread and I don't remember a single person ever saying BG1 was more than decent, which is why I never bothered. Where do you people come from?

Y'all ain't bustin' my chops, I heard BG1 wasn't worth it enough times so it must be true.

# ? May 13, 2009 19:29

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Sanctum posted:

100 pages of baldur's gate 2 in the last thread and I don't remember a single person ever saying BG1 was more than decent, which is why I never bothered. Where do you people come from?

Y'all ain't bustin' my chops, I heard BG1 wasn't worth it enough times so it must be true.

It's a gameplay issue. I spent dozens upon dozens of hours playing BG2 in middle school. I played BG1 exactly once - as long as it took me to realize that you couldn't open your inventory while the game was paused - and went back to playing BG2 again.

I don't really care one way or another about adding BG2 classes to BG1, but if Tutu fixes that issue I'd probably go back and give it a shot.

# ? May 13, 2009 19:32

KGBAgent185: Oct 28, 2003; YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Virtual Surreality posted:

And is there anyone that has played BG2 and not followed with Throne of Bhaal? IMO, it's the best of the three.

My third time playing BG 2 I actually finished, and have yet still to play through ToB.

I've owned it since I played through the first time though.

# ? May 13, 2009 19:46

tickle monster: Aug 20, 2006; is in your closet

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

It's a gameplay issue. I spent dozens upon dozens of hours playing BG2 in middle school. I played BG1 exactly once - as long as it took me to realize that you couldn't open your inventory while the game was paused - and went back to playing BG2 again.

I don't really care one way or another about adding BG2 classes to BG1, but if Tutu fixes that issue I'd probably go back and give it a shot.

Tutu is like playing Baldur's Gate 2 in Baldur's Gate 1 areas. I am also of the opinion that you should play through Baldur's Gate 1 first, but honestly, since I finished it the first time I haven't had the urge to do it again.

# ? May 13, 2009 19:47

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

DoctorTristan posted:

Yeah, some of them are dumb, but you can choose which ones to install and I think the more controversial ones are turned off by default.

But for true -ness, it's hard to beat the romantic encounters mod:

27. Mekrath and Nymphology, by Kulyok
-------------------------------------

Blue magi have mastered the arts of erotica, and Mekrath is one of them. Are
you up for a brief apprenticeship?

Inspired by Encyclopaedia Arcane: Nymphology and The Quintessential Temptress.

Available to: female mage protagonists

46. Goldander Blackenrock: After a Party, by magrat
---------------------------------------------------

Goldander Blackenrock, the leader of the deep gnomes, is steady as a rock. But
is he really as detached and businesslike as he appears?

Available to: female dwarven, gnomish, halfling protagonists

Available at: the Underdark, after sealing the tunnel and receiving the reward,
talk to Goldander again

Variables: RE_GoldanderFlirt=1 - sets after PC arrives to the party

Available at: Mekrath' Lair, the entrance under the Temple District, after
delivering the mirror to Mekrath

Variables: RE_MekrathFlirt=1 - sets, if you accept Mekrath' proposal
RE_MekrathSex=1 - sets after the actual affair

# ? May 13, 2009 19:50

Virtual Surreality: Aug 24, 2005; by Peatpot

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

...as long as it took me to realize that you couldn't open your inventory while the game was paused - and went back to playing BG2 again.

I don't really care one way or another about adding BG2 classes to BG1, but if Tutu fixes that issue I'd probably go back and give it a shot.

You're playing it in BG2's interface. Yes, it fixes that.

Sanctum, you started a BG2 thread, yet have never played BG1? And your reason for not doing so is the opinions of others? I'm not trying to threadshit, but that's just wrong. I stand by my post.

# ? May 13, 2009 19:59

DreadCthulhu: Sep 17, 2008; u mad, brah?

tranceMD posted:

I would refer you and anyone else in the thread to Elmonster's Journal, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek first-person account of a level-capped mage soloing his way through SoA and ToB. It's pretty old, but a fun read if you think it might interest you.

Wow I knew I wouldn't be the only one with the solo mage fetish, thanks for the awesome link

# ? May 13, 2009 20:10

Ddraig: Sep 5, 2005; Sits with a full house

Playing BG2 wihout playing BG is like just watching Return of the Jedi. You understand that there's some larger scale there but you just don't appreciate what.

# ? May 13, 2009 20:32

Selane: May 19, 2006

I think part of this thread's OP needs to be fixed. First of all, everyone should install the G3 fixpack before playing. And secondly, while this is more subjective, I think you should also separately mention the semi-official difficulty adjustment mods like Ascension(which alters more than just difficulty anyway). I mean, new players might not want to use them, but some people might be interested in knowing that BG2's lead designer made a few addons to improve the challenge and continuity of the ending.

You might also want to add the correct install order to the OP:
Baldur's Gate 2
Throne of Bhaal
Official Throne of Bhaal Patch
G3 Fixpack
Then any other mods.

In addition, you left out some stuff in the stats section. You neglected to mention Strength's primary role(huge damage bonuses at high values), and also Intelligence doesn't do anything for Sorcerers. Sorry for nitpicking so much, but the important thing to remember is that this games implementation of the ruleset is weird as hell and a lot of things don't work the way you'd think.

Ddraig posted:

Playing BG2 wihout playing BG is like just watching Return of the Jedi. You understand that there's some larger scale there but you just don't appreciate what.

I'd say if you really want to get the whole story start with BG1, but if you care primarily about gameplay skip it; as people have said the whole thing is summed up in BG2's intro anyway.

# ? May 13, 2009 20:39

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# ? May 24, 2013 18:42

Ashenai: Oct 5, 2005; You taught me language;
and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse.

Sanctum posted:

100 pages of baldur's gate 2 in the last thread and I don't remember a single person ever saying BG1 was more than decent, which is why I never bothered. Where do you people come from?

Y'all ain't bustin' my chops, I heard BG1 wasn't worth it enough times so it must be true.

You heard correctly. Playing BG1 is an excellent way to get burnt out on the whole Infinity Engine and end up never playing BG2.

Everything, literally everything BG1 does, BG2 does better.

Start with BG2. If you just can't get enough of Baldur's Gate after you're done, and you're thinking to yourself: "hey what if there was a game just like BG2, only with my characters incapable of doing anything interesting, and the lead designer had a debilitating stroke?"... well then BG1 will be right up your alley! Only if you also really love dying randomly to wolves, though. Because that's what the majority of your BG1 experience will consist of.

# ? May 13, 2009 20:45

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