Returning to BG for the first time since elementary school!
merrilly
Member Posts: 21
When I was in 1st grade in 1999, one of my dad's gamer friends treated us to a new PC with a few game demos on it. He was a really cool guy, noticing that I was going down that path (having beaten my way through all my edutainment games and moved on to borrowing Age of Empires and Warcraft from my dad). That gift really shaped my life.
The demos included Wolfenstein, Bejeweled, etc, but the one I gravitated towards was Baldur's Gate. I played the demo over and over and over, creating different characters and making different choices. It was so frustratingly short! And so, for Christmas that year, I got... Icewind Dale. Loved that one too.
I also got Neverwinter Nights when it came out, and THAT was the real formative gaming experience of my childhood. Played it constantly for years. I would stay up all night playing it, and, well, my homework took a backseat to it... I turned out okay, though. And I stayed addicted to PC RPGs throughout my life. I've been a pretty loyal Dragon Age fan since it came out.
Did I ever get a full copy of BG, though? Not until now! The nostalgia came flooding in as soon as I found myself in Candlekeep, and it's incredible getting to go beyond that and see what I was missing all these years. I'm so glad the game's been remastered with such love and care. It's awesome talking to older gamers who were in high school or college when BG originally came out; it feels like a bridge between generations. I guess I was lucky to have a dad who nurtured the gamer in me at such a young age!
The demos included Wolfenstein, Bejeweled, etc, but the one I gravitated towards was Baldur's Gate. I played the demo over and over and over, creating different characters and making different choices. It was so frustratingly short! And so, for Christmas that year, I got... Icewind Dale. Loved that one too.
I also got Neverwinter Nights when it came out, and THAT was the real formative gaming experience of my childhood. Played it constantly for years. I would stay up all night playing it, and, well, my homework took a backseat to it... I turned out okay, though. And I stayed addicted to PC RPGs throughout my life. I've been a pretty loyal Dragon Age fan since it came out.
Did I ever get a full copy of BG, though? Not until now! The nostalgia came flooding in as soon as I found myself in Candlekeep, and it's incredible getting to go beyond that and see what I was missing all these years. I'm so glad the game's been remastered with such love and care. It's awesome talking to older gamers who were in high school or college when BG originally came out; it feels like a bridge between generations. I guess I was lucky to have a dad who nurtured the gamer in me at such a young age!
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Comments
@Michail I missed her too
@SionIV In the demo I had, you could do everything in Candlekeep, but it ended as soon as you left with Gorion. But I still managed to get a lot of replay value out of it, haha.
@Sylvus_Moonbow A thief, actually... but close enough! :P
@merrilly you will find a wide range of ages, backgrounds and interests here, it is indeed a bridge. And many of us were well into adulthood even when the game first came out. Well, I was a kid when AD&D first came out!
BG and its sequel are a huge, long adventure. Expect to have fun for many months. Or longer if you just can't put it down like many of us here.
My party consists of Rhaan (chaotic good, half-orc thief), Imoen, Neera (romanced), Minsc, Dynaheir, and Rasaad.
I kept thinking "I need to pick up a cleric!" but... I got too attached to my party members. I love them too much to leave any of them behind. Hopefully I'll be able to handle the rest of the game with other methods of healing.
I thought about it when I met Yeslick, but I just couldn't do it. I'll have to experiment with other party members in future playthroughs.
I would generally advise having a cleric. But if you like your party, there's no reason you can't continue without.
When I first saw them on the shelf in a software shop I was like OMG I must have it!! (after high school, it is really difficult to find players who likes pencil and paper RPG x_x.
Now with the EEs it opens up more options I never had the chance to follow up during the pencil and paper days, more kits etc.
Frankly this game is really one of the best value for money game I think (there are so many ways you can try playing it). I rested for 1 year now I am back again playing the EEs ^^
Back then in P&P I played mostly human magic-users, human rangers and the occasional dwarven or human assassin. Unsurprisingly, I play usually shorty or elven thief variants and rarely an occasional wizard or elven stalker in BG.
But he simulated well, given the fact that in medieval time, communications and knowledge of land further than your immediate neighborhood (in my case was a small village) are but occasional travellers' tale.
Can you Imagine he didn't let us start base on standard AD&D way? I was a magic-user then.
He allowed me 2 spells only (technically my choice but 1st compulsory spell is Read Magic ... so I am left with 1 spell which I can then choose on my own...).
Tough but fun hehehe .. we were all fairly cowardly not very brave to charge into battles for a long time ^^.
P.S. - Hope this is not deemed as hijacking the Thread X_X
You know, I've always wanted to try PnP... and that was actually DUE to the fact that I was raised on D&D games like Baldur's Gate. It's a total reversal.
But sadly, I've never had the opportunity. Tried to get some people together in high school, it didn't work. I'm sure there are some players on my college campus, but I haven't been able to find them, and also I'm worried I wouldn't fit in. Heard too many horror stories from my D&D-playing friends about greasy sexist nerd boys.
The best I can say is give it a try with friends who have related interests; like fantasy/sci-fi movies/books/comics. There are definitely stage of life issues, but I have gamed with a lot more women in the last couple decades since getting married and having mostly married friends (my gaming groups back in my school days were more often all male, except for the occasional sister).
It is easiest to get started with someone who already knows what they're doing; but obviously be careful, don't get involved with any group that gives you the creeps or meets in strange places. I would most recommend finding one acquaintance who's familiar with the game to start a group of interested friends.