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Anyone else "hate" Baldur's Gate?

ReibornReiborn Member Posts: 156
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
I tried playing BG1 many times and each time I get into "Baldur's Gate" City I really lose interest... extremely...
For some reason I get lost with the plot and generally in there.

anyone else having this problem? :)
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Comments

  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Literally, the furthest I got in the 1st Baldur's Gate was the big city before I wanted to start over. I don't hate the game, though. In fact, I love it, because I wouldn't be here otherwise.
  • ReibornReiborn Member Posts: 156
    meant the city specifically.
  • SmilingSwordSmilingSword Member Posts: 827
    edited May 2015
    Well i played BG2 before BG1, so Baldur's Gate the city was extremely underwhelming for me.
    In fact BG1 was as a whole felt extremely underwhelming to me, it took a few mods before I considered it to be a decent game.
    I really can't play BG without the NPC project and SCS.
    But yes compared to the rest of the game, I find the city to feel sparse and unpopulated, it's pretty much the worst part of the game for me, so whenever I reach it, it's time to rush, finish up and move on to the far more interesting Athkatla.
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    The first time I played BG I was intrigued by this mysterious city that I couldn't enter for some reason (no walkthroughs in those days). Then when I finally did get in I was very frustrated by the somewhat bizarre navigational eccentricities (not to mention the bloody sewers) but I finally came to appreciate it as a completely different environment that offers a multitude of choices and challenges (it was even quite satisfying working out how to avoid the senseless and broken "poisoned" quest).
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    SmilingSword said:

    Well i played BG2 before BG1, so Baldur's Gate the city was extremely underwhelming for me.
    In fact BG1 was as a whole felt extremely underwhelming to me, it took a few mods before I considered it to be a decent game.
    I really can't play BG without the NPC project and SCS.
    But yes compared to the rest of the game, I find the city to feel sparse and unpopulated, it's pretty much the worst part of the game for me, so whenever I reach it, it's time to rush, finish up and move on to the far more interesting Athkatla.

    Exactly my thoughts!
    Athkathla is superiour in every aspect to bg. Random ocurrings, night ambushes, shopkeepers with personality, different organisations, city criers, a lot more and bigger quests that are not 'fetch me this item from that place' Athkathla feels like a living, real city and you get to discover new things each time you play. Bg, not so much. But hey, it was the first game, the first big city the developers constructed, so it is okay.
  • SouthpawSouthpaw Member Posts: 2,026
    Don't hate the city.
    I tend to lose momentum somewhere around Cloackwood mines/entering the city, but over the years, I have found a great way how to mitigate what I call "Adventurer's stamina running low".
    1) When you get to the time, where your momentum is wading, shelve the character for a while
    2) Roll up a new, interesting character ... play it for a while.
    3) When you get the feeling "I'd go back to my 'Char1' ", pull out the saves, grind your teeth and push yourself to finish the game. If you don't want to stop to do many quests, the last part of the game can be done within a few hours. (Although I always do the Thieves' guild quest and the "whatever is that quest called that lets you murder the girls at Umberlee shrine. (Also called - "Wisdom Tome containers")).
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    I feel you, @Googleness. I too think the actual city of BG is the least interresting part of BG1. It has it's gems and treats of course, but overall the hours played wihtin the city is less entertaining than the many hours spent rampaging through the wild IMHO.
    I think I have probably created about 4078 characters and played them up to the point of entering BG, before dropping them and creating someone new, hehe.. :smile:

    But as others have said, the city itself can be forced through with some metagame knowledge or by just bullying your way through, like entering and killing all thieves without even talking to them just to get the DEX tome.

  • ReibornReiborn Member Posts: 156
    I actually cleared ALL areas on the game map except baldurs gate city and return to candlekeep part.

    I'm playing psycho evil bersker name "Kharn" running amok with 2 battleaxes. crazy stuff.
    but the city itself for some reason driving me nuts.

    You say I should just force through it and finish the run so I'll be able to get into BG2?
  • Fiendish_WarriorFiendish_Warrior Member Posts: 309
    Googleness said:

    I actually cleared ALL areas on the game map except baldurs gate city and return to candlekeep part.

    I'm playing psycho evil bersker name "Kharn" running amok with 2 battleaxes. crazy stuff.
    but the city itself for some reason driving me nuts.

    You say I should just force through it and finish the run so I'll be able to get into BG2?

    That sounds like a fun playthrough. You should complete the game at least once, and if BGC is driving you that mad, then absolutely rush through it. You can mess around with it if you ever feel like firing up a different character.
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Googleness said:

    I actually cleared ALL areas on the game map except baldurs gate city and return to candlekeep part.

    I'm playing psycho evil bersker name "Kharn" running amok with 2 battleaxes. crazy stuff.
    but the city itself for some reason driving me nuts.

    You say I should just force through it and finish the run so I'll be able to get into BG2?

    I wouldn't say you "should" do it, but it's actually not that cumbersome or time-consuming to do it. Invest 30 minutes in a walkthrough so you know the bare minimum to do to get through to Candlekeep. It sure seems like Kharn should have fun in BG2. There's a alot of enemies to cut in half, both in Athkatla and outside :smiley:

    I actually took one of my chars, an assassin/mage, to BG yesterday. Instead of rushing through the city, I did the opposite, and rushed him fairly quickly through nashkel, bandit camp and cloakwood. For once I will do the opposite, investing time into BG rather than the wild.
  • SouthpawSouthpaw Member Posts: 2,026
    Usually, my longing to start again in BG2 gets me the resolve to finish BG in BG within 2-3 hours.
  • epicrakshasasepicrakshasas Member Posts: 71
    I do enjoy the massive variety of quest in Baldur's Gate when not every quest is a fetch-quest.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    I only hate BG on opposite day! :)

    Seriously, I love that city. My only frustrations are getting to that one chunk of the southern part of the city where it's hard to enter (East of the dock area). I like all the different quests and quest lines. Particularly the one with the Cat (Angel Skin Ring needs to be retrieved) and the perv mage with the two little girls. "Take that, Pedophile!" I also liked helping Ghorek (although they should change him back to a normal form after the curse is broken).
  • MhamzaMhamza Member Posts: 228
    I used to hate Baldur's Gate city as well until I figured out the layout and remembered which district had which NPCs and quests. It's not Athkatla but it's still fun.
  • Fiendish_WarriorFiendish_Warrior Member Posts: 309
    LadyRhian said:

    I only hate BG on opposite day! :)

    Seriously, I love that city. My only frustrations are getting to that one chunk of the southern part of the city where it's hard to enter (East of the dock area). I like all the different quests and quest lines. Particularly the one with the Cat (Angel Skin Ring needs to be retrieved) and the perv mage with the two little girls. "Take that, Pedophile!" I also liked helping Ghorek (although they should change him back to a normal form after the curse is broken).

    He changes back to normal for me. In fact, I just completed that one yesterday with an evil blackguard who leaves his companions dead after he's got his use from them. So far, Edwin has been left out in the wilderness, Safana was dropped off in the middle of the Nashkel streets, I personally killed both Dynaheir and Minsc, I told Alora to get lost, and I dropped Kivan's and Rasaad's bodies in Arkion's house (I assumed with the child corpse present along with his own, authorities would just chalk it up to some crazy stuff going on with Arkion). Anyway, with Ghorek, I distinctly remember that I had to chat with him twice after I finished the quest. The second time I initiated dialogue, he spontaneously generated into a rather dashing fellow with a terrible voice. I actually wish the metamorphosis was a little more eventful but it was instead abrupt and unexpected.
  • Fiendish_WarriorFiendish_Warrior Member Posts: 309
    edited May 2015
    Screenshots attached. I have to admit, it was *really* hard not to shoot him in the back with my crossbow in that second screenshot. I shouldn't have walked back into his house. My only motive for helping people is utilitarian and / or sadistic. In the latter case, if it involves killing people, I will help, but it's certainly not out of compassion and good will, which are totally absent in this CHARNAME. Sometimes, I even slay persons *after* helping them, like Pheirkas and Ragefast's Nymph after rescuing her from Ramazith.
  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    @LadyRhian - talk to Ghorak again after completing the quest, and indeed he'll transform to a healthy appearance.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    Good! He didn't originally. :)
  • TuthTuth Member Posts: 233
    Yes, he transforms even in the original, after you talk to him, when the quest is completed.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Permidion_Stark said:

    One of the most enjoyable games I played was using Imoen as my player character (I used Gatekeeper to make a thief with her stats and used her voice set).

    What did you do about the doppelganger that tried to tag along with you shortly after Gorion was murdered?
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    typo_tilly said:

    I only wish navigation was a little easier... you have to know which sides of the screen to leave and enter through to get to certain areas.

    ^- this.
  • O_BruceO_Bruce Member Posts: 2,790
    I have whole different problem. To me, the real fun starts once I get to the Baldur's Gate. Earlier, it is difficult for me to get into the game and just roll with it for a 2-3 hours straight. Maybe it is partially because there are many pretty large side areas you want to visit to recieve some item you want, for example. It is okay for the first playthrought, but the sense of exploration is gone from the second onwards, as you are forced to roll throught large, mostly hollow areas you know very well and you're doing it because you are interested in 1 character or item. It starts to feel like a chore.

    I haven't played BG for a while, because I'm in those damned first stages. Also, because Witcher 3.
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