Just Finished BG for the First Time
Heya all,
Just finished Baldur's Gate for the first time (I played it when I was young but never did a whole lot with it) and I wanted to share some thoughts with you guys, and see how your experiences stack up.
First, the world was absolutely fantastic (for the time period). Everything felt very open and the npc's were engaging, and a good vein of humor ran through the entire experience. This part of the game really shone for me, and it's the reason I played all the way through.
The combat has been talked about to death, but personally I really liked it. I'm a fan of games like Frozen Synapse, Civilization, and Final Fantasy that encourage taking your time and coming up with clever tactics.
I have to say my one big disappointment was the actual main storyline. It may just be how I happened to go through the game, but for me it felt very understated. I understand the appeal of having a primary storyline that *doesn't* shove itself in your face all the time, but I often felt that much of CHARNAME's personal story was overshadowed by even small events and sidequests. Near the end especially I found myself slightly confused- I knew that I was Bhaalspawn (from a forum post, actually) but I'm not sure if I even would have picked it up until the very end if I hadn't known in advance. I felt that the final cutscene, particularly, was a little foggy. Maybe I just need to play through BG2 to understand it, but it was almost Mass Effect 3-ish for me. Obviously Sarevok dies, but I've no idea what happened after that.
Also, my game crashed after killing Sarevok for the first time which was a huge letdown. I was actually doing pretty badly- Minsc had gone berserk and was right in the middle of all the AoE, and most of the rest of my party were scrambling for their lives and throwing the occasional ranged attack out while trying to stay safe. Then, out of nowhere, a minute or two in Sarevok died and I release Minsc had just blown him to gibblets while berserk while somehow managing not to get hit by any crowd control. Then the game crashed... The next time I beat him was much less interesting and I finished with a party member dead which was disappointing for me.
Over all, it was a really fantastic experience and I truly hope all of this gets worked out so we can see BG2:EE. I'm loath to start playing BG2 before the EE, as I feel it would be a much more smooth transition that way. So cheers to all, best of luck to the dev team, and if you stuck around through this wall of text feel free to post your first Sarevok kill story and how you feel about the game!
Just finished Baldur's Gate for the first time (I played it when I was young but never did a whole lot with it) and I wanted to share some thoughts with you guys, and see how your experiences stack up.
First, the world was absolutely fantastic (for the time period). Everything felt very open and the npc's were engaging, and a good vein of humor ran through the entire experience. This part of the game really shone for me, and it's the reason I played all the way through.
The combat has been talked about to death, but personally I really liked it. I'm a fan of games like Frozen Synapse, Civilization, and Final Fantasy that encourage taking your time and coming up with clever tactics.
I have to say my one big disappointment was the actual main storyline. It may just be how I happened to go through the game, but for me it felt very understated. I understand the appeal of having a primary storyline that *doesn't* shove itself in your face all the time, but I often felt that much of CHARNAME's personal story was overshadowed by even small events and sidequests. Near the end especially I found myself slightly confused- I knew that I was Bhaalspawn (from a forum post, actually) but I'm not sure if I even would have picked it up until the very end if I hadn't known in advance. I felt that the final cutscene, particularly, was a little foggy. Maybe I just need to play through BG2 to understand it, but it was almost Mass Effect 3-ish for me. Obviously Sarevok dies, but I've no idea what happened after that.
Also, my game crashed after killing Sarevok for the first time which was a huge letdown. I was actually doing pretty badly- Minsc had gone berserk and was right in the middle of all the AoE, and most of the rest of my party were scrambling for their lives and throwing the occasional ranged attack out while trying to stay safe. Then, out of nowhere, a minute or two in Sarevok died and I release Minsc had just blown him to gibblets while berserk while somehow managing not to get hit by any crowd control. Then the game crashed... The next time I beat him was much less interesting and I finished with a party member dead which was disappointing for me.
Over all, it was a really fantastic experience and I truly hope all of this gets worked out so we can see BG2:EE. I'm loath to start playing BG2 before the EE, as I feel it would be a much more smooth transition that way. So cheers to all, best of luck to the dev team, and if you stuck around through this wall of text feel free to post your first Sarevok kill story and how you feel about the game!
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Comments
Then you start off with Gorion urgently getting you out of candlekeep, right before he is slaughtered by the same armored figure? Pretty big hint.
I like the way the storyline didn't assume players were stupid, and only let subtle hints throughout the game. How many games have started out with "An old prophecy told of a hero that would _____." When a game does that, is there really any question on who you play as?
But regardless, my game did crash too when I beat Sarevok for the first time, I then decided to not take that, and did the fight again but kept the party alive with cheats and just had everyone attack Sarevok...
I played BG2 before BG1, I knew the whole Bhaalspawn thing going into the game, and it turns out the reveal was kind of... Underwhelming in my opinion, you read about it in Sarevok's journal(s)... And the NPCs don't even react to it.
But the rest of the game was still nice, as the BG2 just mentioned two things from the story, that you're a son of bhaal and that Sarevok at the end is killed by your party.
final battle in bg1 was pretty easy with hoarding of wands of monster summoning with 30 monsters they die pretty easily
Anyways, like I said above, I respect that the plot isn't in your face. I liked that it was very much a 'coming of age' tale and that you start off doing simple things, but I felt that it escalated a bit too quickly at the end and then came to a halt a bit too fast.
Overall though, a fantastic experience and one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. It drew me in so much- I did everything I could find to do in the game, completed every quest, explored every area (that I could find, at least).
BG 2 will probably just introduce some new NPCs and new quests, like Neera and Dorn in BG EE, but BG 2 is already huge, and for my first playthrough, I don't wanna do anything crazy anyway (like play an evil party or use 'exotic NPCs'.
Oh, when I bought BG 2 Complete from GOG, it was $5.
Sure, you're perfectly free to not install the Fixpack, but your game is objectively buggier without it. If that doesn't bother you then great. Maybe Heindrich wants to play the game without any mods at least once, but he should be aware that gog does not sell it in a fixed state.
"Oh, when I bought BG 2 Complete from GOG, it was $5."
My experience is twice when I bought a game from GOG my computer was suddenly bothered by incessant pop ups for advertising that were very annoying. I've got the old boxed BG2, and I will wait for BG2EE hopefully.
Slightly illogical? Maybe. I think it's what I'm gonna do, though.