How buggy is BG2:EE? Should I wait for the next patch?

SharGuidesMyHand

I just finished my first full game of BG1:EE, and I'm making preparations for a BG2:EE playthrough. But browsing these forums, I've been left with the impression that the game is especially buggy. I don't want to begin a game, only to find that I'll need to start a new game in order for any new updates to take effect.

Should I wait for a (hopefully soon?) new patch before stating a game?

Deltharis

Let's get this straight - BG2 was fully playable in unmodded state all those years ago when it came out, there was nothing loading an earlier save couldn't fix. It was playable with mods fixing most of the stuff that was off. It is playable now when those and more bugs are taken care of. To tell you the truth it doesn't even get actually better with new versions due to the fact that a layperson could not possibly notice the bugs that are getting fixed. For example - there were lenghty discussions about how APR is calculated, about something wrong with ranged characters and specific class/specialization points combinations and stuff. In my first two playthroughs of BG2 I never even knew my characters had such a statistic.

atcDave

Bg2EE currently plays fine. There will be no problem finishing any game you start. In the past, SOME of the changes they've made required a new game to take effect. But I haven't seen a change yet that wouldn't allow you to finish the games currently underway.

Kamigoroshi

BG2:EE is currently nothing but a huge bug feast, especially when playing with an evil aligned group or having any of the new NPC tagging along. The fact that Edwin undergoes two Scroll transformations and then getting stuck as a woman with no way to reverse back (or even selecting that NPC) killed my one and only BG2:EE playthrough so far.

So, yes, it's wiser to wait for the next patch to come out.

xzar_monty

@Kamigoroshi is being a drama queen and talking utter rot. As @atcDave said, the game is fine. I've only noticed one bug, not a major one.

I've had three of the four new characters in my BG2EE party (no Dorn), and everything went just fine. Parts of Rasaad's quest are badly written but not bugged. His final encounter, especially, is poorly designed and requires excessive tinkering.

So, @SharGuidesMyHand‌, I wouldn't wait for any patch.

elminster

I wouldn't wait for the next patch, since from the looks of things that could be months, but I also would also say that if you are playing the new NPC's there still is a good chance you are going to experience bugs (particularly with Hexxat). I don't want to get into details for obvious spoiler reasons and personal experiences depend very much on the player.

Just a few things that might come up compared to the original.

If you are playing with Haer'Dalis (or as a bard) for instance there is a bug that makes it so that bards can only drop one trap at a time. That was fixed months ago but that fix hasn't been included in any released patch (its possible it went into a beta patch I haven't checked).

There are other issues like Watcher's Keep not appearing for some people, enemies not having weapon proficiencies (making them much easier to fight), and being only able to transform into the slayer only once (there is a fix online for this that you should probably pick up if you do decide to play). There are of course many other issues but this is just what comes off the top of my head.

element

well from my experiance

yes its very buggy I wouldn't bother with it tbh I have mostly given up with the game(its been so long ive mostly started to play other stuff plus i'm a bit busier now). I wont list issues I've run into but needless to say they have been plentiful. Also these people who are calling others out for claiming its buggy are being very silly just because it was fine for one does not mean it will be so for another.

but, if your desperate, go ahead you'll probably be able to make it through

GreenWarlock

I purchased from the Mac App store on the day of release, and am still waiting for even the first patch. Eventually I got fed up waiting, so decided to risk a play through anyway, and generally the game seems fairly solid, although certainly there are a few things it would be nice to see addressed (indeed, the most obvious issues are already addressed in that first patch).

The one precaution I am taking that kills a bit of the fun is regularly save/quit/reloading to work around a save corruption bug, that was the main reason for that early patch. With that (already) fixed I think the game is perfectly playable - although fair disclosure, I have not yet completed the first episode (Shadows of Amn), getting close, so cannot say for sure that this holds all the way to the end of Throne of Bhaal. My experience so far is a lot more optimistic than I feared though, so I'd say give it a go.

If you are a Mac owner though, I would suggest either buying from BeamDog directly (that version is patched) or maybe waiting for the App Store update - but that looks like it will be a much longer wait still.

elminster

As a mac user myself I will say that you are better off buying from beamdog because it will give you access to the beta (regardless of whether you are on pc or mac). Not sure how that is working out at the moment but if you can get it it does provide a few more fixes.

SharGuidesMyHand

Thanks for all the feedback.

I had been under the impression that a new patch was right around the corner (now that the Android issue is out of the way), but if the wait is projected to be months, I certainly won't wait that long to give it a try.

I should've probably noted that I am playing on a PC, since it appears that there are different bugs that affect each system.

mlnevese

@SharGuidesMyHand‌ there's no date set for the release but it must be close if Dee is already announcing forum changes due to the patch.

elminster

mlnevese said:

@SharGuidesMyHand‌ there's no date set for the release but it must be close if Dee is already announcing forum changes due to the patch.

I mean its possible they could release a patch for BG2EE soon (because I know there has been at least a few patches for its beta) but they haven't announced anything (as far as I'm aware) about that. Plus all we know is that there is an upcoming patch for BGEE. I'm taking the forum changes as more a means of not having to go through each bug report on the forum and line them up with their status internally.

SharGuidesMyHand

Well, I've played through Irenicus' dungeon, the Mencar group battle, and Kalah's circus, and I've encountered a few frustrating bugs in that relatively short span of time.

-While attempting to cast a fireball spell, Imoen basically got stuck in a "loop" where she would continue to motion her hands as if to cast the spell, but never actually casted the spell. Even worse, the spell was lost as an available spell.

-While attempting to cast a spell, Branwen (who I had imported through multiplayer from BG1) turned and spoke a generic line to one of my party members, interrupting the spell and causing it to fizzle out. Like above, the spell was also lost (I can forgive this one if it's a bug caused by my "illegally" importing an NPC into the game).

-Dialogue between Aerie and Quayle doesn't trigger - see my thread here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/32060/loss-of-dialogue-between-quayle-and-aerie-possible-bug

element

when do I get to say I told you so

elminster

element said:

when do I get to say I told you so

*checks watch*

Now