Should I Get My Old BG Discs Out And Play?

wigglesg

I've been testing the beta on Android and while it is great to be able to play it on my tablet only having access to the prologue is just too much of a tease! I wanted to get playing properly so I've installed the original again on my PC. I completed the prologue but now I'm thinking I'll be retracing my steps when I finally get to play fully on my tablet.

I liked the feeling of discovery when I first played, exploring all the areas and it's been so long since I played a lot of the game will feel new playing it now. But if I play on PC that new feeling won't exist till I pass wherever I had got to. I think that will ruin my experience of the Android version a bit.

I should probably just wait (after all I've been waiting for the Android release for a year and a half or so, what's a little longer?); I'm suspecting we will be seeing the release late Feb/March now (though that is based on nothing but my own feeling of the devs progress on the Android release).

Is there anyone here who is playing on other platforms while they wait?

Out2lunch

Wait man... The tests will be getting bigger and bigger you must resist...

The game plays so well on a tablet, its almost like it was built for them.

Won't be long to beta 3.

solod

Wait. Having played the Beta on tablet, going back to the PC feels clunky and not nearly as user friendly. I say play something else to tie you over. While obviously there is a dearth of good RPGs on android right now, there are a few gems. Check out Tales of Illyria, Shadowrun Returns, Avernum 1.

Aristillius

Yeah wait!
I played the EE on pc when it came out, but I am not doing another playthrough until the Android version is out

wigglesg

Thanks @solod. I'll take a look at Shadowrun Returns; it looks sufficiently different to BG that I won't be spending all my time comparing it to BG.

The concept of SR kinda reminds me of Arcanum, just set in a different time period. Anyone else played that one?

solod

@wigglesg It's more linear than Arcanum but I had a good time with it. The combat is fun and there are lot of conversation/RP choices. Apparently the Berlin expansion will be released very soon which has been promised to be much more of a open world. Unlike BGEE, I expect it to be released shortly after the PC release. That's at least what happened when the core game came out in the late summer.

If you are into custom mods and user created modules, buy it for PC. There are actually a lot of good user created quests that I've played. Harebrained Schemes mentioned that they may port some of these to IOS/android eventually. I actually played the PC version on my tablet via Splashtop for awhile and it worked fine. The user interface is a bit better if you buy the Android version which I eventually did.

wigglesg

Having played Shadowrun Returns now it feels a bit more like Fallout1/2 (which everyone should play if given a chance).

lba

Shadowrun was way too linear. No adventuring at all. Pretty simple game but not much of "playing".

wigglesg

You are right about it being structured. You almost have no choice about what you do when. And as for battles its a little light on that front, I've probably clocked up about 3 hours playtime and only seen maybe 10 opportunities for a fight. Still, it will keep me going for a while longer while I wait for BG.

Fallout 1/2 would keep me going a lot longer though, someone should port them to android!