Skip to content

Things that you don't like about the original BG and BG2

levelwormlevelworm Member Posts: 41
OK, I believe we all have those frustrating moments, here are mine:

1. Path-finding is tedious in BG1, seems to be improved in ToSC for a little and to some extent in BG2.

2. More frustrating is that the designers were fond of tight spaces.

3. (This is not very frustrating) When you order the team to move to another area, the leader must "touch" the boundary. IMO as long as the team is not scattered, a simple click of mouse should suffice.

4. (Could due to BGT) Sometime you quit a door, the enemy follows to the outside, you kill them, enter the door and find another copy of the enemy.

5. Not sure about this, but sometimes experience was not rewarded after killing an enemy. I scrolled up and could not see the message.

6. Spells can go through walls, very frustrating when fighting mages.
«1

Comments

  • bgplayabgplaya Member Posts: 129
    The fact that it won't run on my computer...Come on extended edition!

    Other than that, nothing. Greatest RPG I've ever played.
  • levelwormlevelworm Member Posts: 41
    bgplaya said:

    The fact that it won't run on my computer...Come on extended edition!

    Other than that, nothing. Greatest RPG I've ever played.

    Which OS do you use? If you are using a windows, buy the original saga from www.gog.com, only costs 9.99, it runs fine on my win7 machine.
  • AranneasAranneas Member Posts: 282
    edited July 2012
    OK, I believe we all have those frustrating moments, here are mine:

    1. Path-finding is tedious in BG1, seems to be improved in ToSC for a little and to some extent in BG2.

    2. More frustrating is that the designers were fond of tight spaces.
    Both of these are fixed to a very large extent in BGII.

    3. (This is not very frustrating) When you order the team to move to another area, the leader must "touch" the boundary. IMO as long as the team is not scattered, a simple click of mouse should suffice.
    Matter of taste imo. I understand your viewpoint but I think it gives the games a very old school feel in a good way.

    4. (Could due to BGT) Sometime you quit a door, the enemy follows to the outside, you kill them, enter the door and find another copy of the enemy.
    I have probably done over a dozen complete playthroughs of both 1 and 2 and never once experienced this. i guarantee you it is a result of BGT or one of the mods you're running.

    5. Not sure about this, but sometimes experience was not rewarded after killing an enemy. I scrolled up and could not see the message.
    Haven't seen this one either.

    6. Spells can go through walls, very frustrating when fighting mages.</blockquote
    This I agree with to some extent but the problem is that there's already a lot of cheesy ways to counter mages in the game and I don't think we need now-you-see-me-now-you-don't corner peeking added to the list.
  • levelwormlevelworm Member Posts: 41
    OK, I believe we all have those frustrating moments, here are mine:

    1. Path-finding is tedious in BG1, seems to be improved in ToSC for a little and to some extent in BG2.

    2. More frustrating is that the designers were fond of tight spaces.
    Both of these are fixed to a very large extent in BGII.

    3. (This is not very frustrating) When you order the team to move to another area, the leader must "touch" the boundary. IMO as long as the team is not scattered, a simple click of mouse should suffice.
    Matter of taste imo. I understand your viewpoint but I think it gives the games a very old school feel in a good way.

    4. (Could due to BGT) Sometime you quit a door, the enemy follows to the outside, you kill them, enter the door and find another copy of the enemy.
    I have probably done over a dozen complete playthroughs of both 1 and 2 and never once experienced this. i guarantee you it is a result of BGT or one of the mods you're running.

    5. Not sure about this, but sometimes experience was not rewarded after killing an enemy. I scrolled up and could not see the message.
    Haven't seen this one either.

    6. Spells can go through walls, very frustrating when fighting mages.
    Actually, the fact that I, a picky player, can only find 6 shortcomings from a series of games, is astonishing.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited July 2012
    @Aranneas I have actually seen that no experience problem at least in BG2. I've found in my latest playthrough (no mods) that when one of your summoned creatures kills an enemy no experience is earned unless your characters saw the kill.

    But as for the original post. I actually have no problems with the game overall, yea it has a few glitches but when you've been playing it as I have for 13-14 years you get over it. The pathfinding issue for one doesn't even generally bother me in bg1, as I just go to the specific parts of the Firewine Ruins that I need to go to and avoid the rest of it. Outside of that area I haven't found it to be too much of an issue.
  • bgplayabgplaya Member Posts: 129
    @levelworm I'm on a Mac actually. The new intel-based ones don't support PowerPC applications. There are some (fairly) complex ways to get it running, but I never quite figured one out.
  • Ascension64Ascension64 Member Posts: 560
    4. (Could due to BGT) Sometime you quit a door, the enemy follows to the outside, you kill them, enter the door and find another copy of the enemy.
    I have probably done over a dozen complete playthroughs of both 1 and 2 and never once experienced this. i guarantee you it is a result of BGT or one of the mods you're running.
    I would suggest you actually have some evidence before blindly putting a bug down to BGT.
    If we assume the bug exists, it is more likely a result of an engine issue than a mod issue.
  • kangaxxkangaxx Member Posts: 681
    @levelworm I'm on a Mac actually. The new intel-based ones don't support PowerPC applications. There are some (fairly) complex ways to get it running, but I never quite figured one out.
    BG:EE should run on every Intel-based Mac. It won't be a PowerPC app to my knowledge. Wouldn't even make sense to develop a PowerPC app nowadays. PowerPC is dead.
  • bgplayabgplaya Member Posts: 129
    @kangaxx Yeah, I'm assuming the enhanced edition is going to be made for newer machines. I was referring to my 10+ year old copy of the game. :p
  • fallen97fallen97 Member Posts: 10
    My one and only disappointment with the BG games, Well more of a pet hate really is the lack of Sub races, I get why they was left out, but overall it would have made the story more dynamic, say playing as a hated Drow AND a child of baal to boot and the romance with Viconia would of added more spice to :D
  • WinthalWinthal Member Posts: 366
    @Ascension64 @Aranneas The bug with enemies being copied when following the player from area to area seems pretty common. Also, I'm pretty darn sure I've encountered it when playing an unmodded BG2 game, which would mean that tutu is only to "blame" insomuch that it brings the bug over to BG1 by upgrading it to the BG2 engine.
  • AranneasAranneas Member Posts: 282


    I would suggest you actually have some evidence before blindly putting a bug down to BGT.
    If we assume the bug exists, it is more likely a result of an engine issue than a mod issue.

    Fair enough, but if it were an engine bug common to all platforms why would I have not experienced it even once, with multiple install on different machines from at least 2 different sources?
  • cyberarmycyberarmy Member Posts: 128
    My only frustrating moments were path-finding mumbo jumbo. Especiallly in narrow corridors party members go nuts.
    But i get used to it kinda :)
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Aranneas

    I'm pretty sure the enemy cloning bug comes from BG2. I'd guess that you never encountered it because you probably didn't ran much from enemies.
  • Ascension64Ascension64 Member Posts: 560
    Aranneas said:


    I would suggest you actually have some evidence before blindly putting a bug down to BGT.
    If we assume the bug exists, it is more likely a result of an engine issue than a mod issue.

    Fair enough, but if it were an engine bug common to all platforms why would I have not experienced it even once, with multiple install on different machines from at least 2 different sources?
    Essentially, you cannot prove that a bug does not exist empirically. I haven't experienced it either, but that shouldn't suggest that (i) the bug doesn't actually exist; and (ii) you play in the same way as the person who reported the bug to reproduce the bug, as per @Tanthalas ' suggestion.
  • MelanchiorMelanchior Member Posts: 16
    2nd edition was a horror to comprehend. After 14 years it still doesn't make sense.

    3.5 edition took me less than an hour to fully understand.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    1. High level 2nd ed ruleset and HLAs - It is awful, ToB and the end of SoA are boring, clunky, inbalalnced and badly defined.
    2. The lack of choice for spells for both mages and priests. Some spell levels had no useful spells, other had loads. Some have a spell so useful it dominates all your spell slots at that level. Also the fact that you cant learn lower level spells in higher level spell slots
    3. Unskippable cutscenes and dreams in bg2
    4. Stats are almost irrelevent except at very low levels or 15, 16, 17, 18+
    So for example have a cleric with an int 13 and having a cleric with int 10 - there is not difference whatsoever
    5. A lot of short duration (or instantaneous) abilites are not very useful, or just rarely used, due to issues converting AD&D into a realtime-ish system. Im not goint to bother spending time breaking from combat and casting an ability if it is only going to last about 6 seconds
    6. Those moments at the end of combats where you are waiting for your partymembers to recover from confusion or fear or hold person or charm or whatever - they go on way too long
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    Oh, and forgot to add the 18/number strength system, especially because it overpowered the inevitable jump between 18 and 19 so much
  • NWN_babaYagaNWN_babaYaga Member Posts: 732
    Back then I played the game like an addict so there couldnt be something seriously wrong...
  • TalvraeTalvrae Member Posts: 315
    The rigidity of 2nd edition rule set who cut short any customisation n the progression
  • NiphireNiphire Member Posts: 15
    edited July 2012
    1. Lack of interaction with party members. Better in BG2, but still could be much better. You party is with you mostly all game, after all.
    2. Bad rules and levelup system. HP that cares more about level and class than constitution, no difference between ~6 and ~14 [Random stat, like constitution], stats are static all game, no dual wield in BG1 etc.
    3. Character portraits not visible behind X icons of current buffs. Should at least be able to turn on/off.
    4. Really bad options for evil characters. (Mostly RPG-wise)
    5. Attack animations don't match what really happens. This "to make the combat more action-loaded" nonsense is not for me.
    6. ajws and DiscoCat have great points.

    Sure, bugs and pathfinding and stuff is unwanted, but as long as I can play the game and have fun without too much interruption I don't really care. Baldur's Gate is awesome, mostly because of its feel (music, graphics etc), but could be SO much better.
  • paulsifer42paulsifer42 Member Posts: 267
    I mostly just hated hearing this phrase over and over "You must gather your party before venturing forth." Super fun to joke about it now, not so much fun when one of your guys got caught behind something while trying to get to the edge of the map.
  • spacejawsspacejaws Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 389
    My main issue was playing evil characters. Everytime I tried I always ended up neutral because evil characters have a harder time for the whole game for what seems like less reward.

    You play as the offspring of an evil god. I always felt that playing evil should be more rewarding and deeper dilema than "Help NPC for mucho Gold/Experience or Kill/Rob NPC for pocket money and a broken weapon."

    There is moments where this isn't true but for the most part reputation and alignment felt more like party appeasement than having an actual impact on events and quests.
  • WarriokWarriok Member Posts: 1
    I think a good game encompasses the player's whole perception. We have all played many videogames, many d&d titles and pen and paper d&d. We know about Tolkien, Tanis, White Wolf, Salvatore, Elder Scrolls, Lucasarts, Dragon Age and more. Then we should know what a good adventure has to have and what a lousy adventure has. Here some examples:
    I remember some tedious ice dungeons in iwd 2. They were bad because they had no relevance in the story, they were just added as a cool idea. I downloaded this map of harlech castle in England, and was very interested about the purpose of each room and how creatively they designed the entire keep. I enjoyed the Cousland Castle in DA 1 because my dog got into the kitchen.
    I remember a crazy combination of east and west cultures in bg 2 that had no role in a main concept, they just added wakisashi, ki, scimitar, tiefling and planetar in the same place with no real connection to the storyline. I just saw the Red Violin on youtube and was amazed at how they mixed so different cultures and times in one single masterpiece.
    I remember a terrible quest journal in TOEE. Logistics can swallow your game. I didn't mind that iwd 1 was very linear. You didn´t have to worry about anything but the great story, like a pen and paper game.
    Skyrim is to me like a saltless $10 soup. Visuals are amazing, unmatched, but your character has no purpose, no goals or brave deeds. He doesn't preserve the tree of Kuldahar, stops the evil Sarevok from his twisted plans, or save the hobbits of the shire. In the d&d world player characters should be heroes, and the mind behind them is you. The story must be meaningful in someway. And I don't think a 2D game should look bad. Rembrandt's Landscapes are in 2D, also the stonewalls from Hayez paintings. And they look much better than those in Skyrim. Tiny detail is, you need hell of an artist.
    I remember meeting with Khalid and Jaheira, friends of Gorion at the friendly Arm Inn, such flavor, like an adventure from El Quijote.
    Characters with goals, values, personalities, conflicts. I loved Coran, Kivan, Shar-Teel, Arundel, Yxonumei, Kresselack and Sherincal.
    If I could ask one thing, that would be to keep it western Europe medieval fantasy. Bg 1 had it good, the helmets, the weapons, the architecture, the outdoors, the fauna. And I think Bg 2 ruined it, also How. Where did those shields and helmets came from? No more Peter Jackson films for u boys! People gets bored at one single strict concept, and they need a change. In my opinion the changes must come from historical research. Maybe you are very good and creative, but for a change, take a look at celtic jewelery or at norse churches and then tell me your design are still good. While you are at it, take a look at pagan traditions, medieval games, sports and jongleurs and then tell me if your story is better with atronach mages and Warlocks. I say perfect, not add up. And that only comes from research and study.

    :)
  • resa_cresa_c Member Posts: 2
    Would always like the option to skip dream scenes when going through BG2 the second/third/fourth time through. Please!

    And? I would love it if the game would give you a different set of npcs in the beginning,depending upon the morality of the character you choose to be.
  • Avenger_teambgAvenger_teambg Member, Developer Posts: 5,862
    Aranneas said:


    I would suggest you actually have some evidence before blindly putting a bug down to BGT.
    If we assume the bug exists, it is more likely a result of an engine issue than a mod issue.

    Fair enough, but if it were an engine bug common to all platforms why would I have not experienced it even once, with multiple install on different machines from at least 2 different sources?
    Maybe because you don't move a lot between areas without autopause?
    I didn't notice this bug until now. And I don't use BGT.
    So it is an engine bug that few would experience without explicitly looking for it.
  • ShapiroKeatsDarkMageShapiroKeatsDarkMage Member Posts: 2,428
    Nothing. Just nothing. Except the difficulty.
  • The_New_RomanceThe_New_Romance Member Posts: 839

    Nothing. Just nothing. Except the difficulty.

    Too high or too low?
Sign In or Register to comment.