Should someone who hasn't played BG2 play SoD first?

pompouspuddle

I recently finished BG1 for the first time and enjoyed it immensely. Now I'm wondering whether I should get the expansion or move on to BG2. My biggest concern is that my character will be too high level after finishing the expansion (I intend to import from BG1 to 2) and that BG2 won't be as difficult for a higher level char. Also, in terms of story, which would be better: Playing the game that was released first or the one that comes next chronologically?

JuliusBorisov

If you haven't played BG2, than extra XP from SoD won't make any difference for you. Playing for the first time is always challenging.

SoD is based on the information by Bioware (about circumstances between two games), and it is created to offer a connection between BG1 and BG2.

If I were you, I would play SoD first.

abacus

I kind of wish I'd had the chance to blind play them in "in-game" order... so that would be my advice.

Calemyr

Yeah, there was a lot "makes sense in hindsight" things that tighten the story for BG2. If nothing else, I'd be interested to see the opinion of one able to see the story in the "proper" order.

pompouspuddle

Thanks for the replies, I'll start with SoD then
Are the sequels more difficult than BG1 btw? Aside from the tower and a couple of other encounters I found the game to be quite easy on core rules difficulty.

Archaos

BG 1, SoD and BG2 are now a full trilogy (not counting Throne of Bhaal).
Why wouldn't you start the trilogy from the beginning instead of a random chapter?

And BG2 is hard. Some more experience won't make it a cakewalk.

jsaving

I think there are two points in the BG saga that are relatively difficult. The first is right at the beginning of BG1, where low hit points leave you at the mercy of a single lucky crit from your foes. The second is toward the middle of BG2, when foes begin to seriously layer themselves up with magical protections. If you don't have enough mages in the party or don't understand which spells counter which protections, battles that would be relatively easy for an experienced player become nearly unwinnable for you.

It's also worth pointing out that there's a *lot* more role-playing in BG2 than in BG1. That isn't really a difficulty per se, but it does mean you'll probably want to read dialogue options more carefully and think a bit longer before responding to NPCs.

pompouspuddle

Archaos said:

BG 1, SoD and BG2 are now a full trilogy (not counting Throne of Bhaal).
Why wouldn't you start the trilogy from the beginning instead of a random chapter?

And BG2 is hard. Some more experience won't make it a cakewalk.

Star Wars makes more sense if you watch the old ones first and go from there. I thought that might be the case here as well..

JuliusBorisov

pompouspuddle said:

Thanks for the replies, I'll start with SoD then
Are the sequels more difficult than BG1 btw? Aside from the tower and a couple of other encounters I found the game to be quite easy on core rules difficulty.

Yes, SoD is harder than BG1 because it has better AI, and BG2 focuses more on magic, creatures have new abilities like drain levels, they're more dangerous.

booinyoureyes

I'd play BG2 first. I'm all about experiencing things in the order they are released. If you think you should watch the original Star Wars trilogy (or at least A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) prior to the prequel trilogy then you should play SoA first.