There Can Only Be One
dockaboomski
Member Posts: 440
If you were able to play only one of the Infinity Engine games, which'n one would you choose?
Consider the first four options as Schrödinger's Enhanced Editions - the choice reflects either EE or original game; BGEE with or without Siege of Dragonspear, depending on your preference.
Consider the first four options as Schrödinger's Enhanced Editions - the choice reflects either EE or original game; BGEE with or without Siege of Dragonspear, depending on your preference.
- There Can Only Be One81 votes
- Baldur's Gate34.57%
- Baldur's Gate II51.85%
- Icewind Dale6.17%
- Planescape Torment6.17%
- Icewind Dale II1.23%
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Comments
Edit: Had me thinking of Highlander series with that thread title.
now planescape has the better story but i know i'll have seen everything after like 7 runs unlike bg2 where i can come up with new party combos and characters. and new mods come out every few months so i always have something new to see.
2. Free roaming all the way.
3. Early leveling beats spell battles.
4. Trash mobs are never trash mobs.
5. Any weapon works.
6. No spells really lose steam.
7. Low level spell selections (any class) make sense.
8. Memorable npcs and joinable npcs without needing that much fleshing out.
9. Best end boss and story development.
10. No unnecessary kits and classes.
11. Simple weapon system
12. Etc
With TOTSC and EE content I really find BG quite epic. With my completionist approach - and ongoing RL pauses - getting all the way to SoD/BG2 usually takes months. Of course then a new character concept is bubbling up and the cycle starts again! I don't think I have actually made it all the way to ToB since before NWN came out in the early 2000s.
The overpowered everything in BG2 just kills the thrill for me.
But at the end of the day, it's BG1 for me too. The low level setting is something I love. Even at the end of the game, the magical items you got aren't that special compared to those in BG2. They're more rare, thus more precious. It's not like ToB, where you have to watch yourself not to fall on +4 weapons by accident, because they're so common !!
Really, there should be more low magic setting games, where you can get to high levels, but with relatively lowly enchanted gear to equip yourself. You'd have to win fights with your skills rather than relying on OP items doing the job for you. This type of game would probably be not as popular (people like to be as strong as a demi-god in video games), but it would be original and immensly satisfying.
But I'd really miss the Icewind Dale franchise if it ever comes to such an dystopian future.
A game where your enemies scatter and run when you have a bow and they don't, surround you when they're outclassed instead of coming at you one at a time, alert all their friends when under attack (including running away from you when necessary to sound the alarm), are smart enough to search for you when you disappear and basically use all of their own skills to advantage would be an awesome game. That game is not Baldurs Gate, however.
If considering mods I might switch to BG2 just because there's so much more on that side, which means more versatility and replayability. But I answered based on the base "out of the box" experience.
I haven't played IWD2 yet, but it's on my list.
Durlag's is outstanding as dungeon and lore, for me the only quest in BG2 that comes close to evoking the same emotion is the Unseeing Eye Amaunator part.
And cheating a little bit because if BG was the only game and with all the wonderful modders, just think what they would do and the scope of what they could do.
The sheer joy of starting a new game and being low level with everything before you cannot be captured anywhere else.
I mean, if somebody would please make a mod that put a ton of wilderness maps in BG2, I'd swoon and need my smelling salts. Every area in BG2 outside Athkatla (and probably inside Athkatla, too) is there for a Reason, how boring. The new maps wouldn't need much substantial treasure or very much EXP to be interesting, just enough to keep you interested, and provide all sorts of minor adventures, dungeons to clear, damsels to save, incidental heroism of all stripes. Would also mean you needn't have, say, the Umar Hills town map packed with so many quests and caves and wizards' homes and rangers' cabins, etc.
Then again, I suppose part of the charm of BG1 was that you were low level, unimportant in the grand scheme of things (except for the Bhaal stuff) so you COULD plausibly go off the grid and traipse around the wilderness, 50 gold pieces and a lynx eye gem were substantial treasures, and you really could die from encountering hobgoblins. By mid-BG2, your fame precedes you and you are so powerful that armies are chaff before your scythe, and if there's one thing BG2 doesn't need, it's more opportunities to gain EXP.
In fact, a Mod introducing all sorts of new, mostly unimportant wilderness areas AND a 50% reduction in all EXP gained - that'd be amazing.
Plus I'm a nutter and love snow and cold.
I might've said IWD2, if I've played it, though I'm not sure if it's 3.0 or 3.5. If the former, I'd probably not like it as much.
3.5 came out in 2003.