A user's review of BG:EE
SirFrancealot
Member Posts: 56
You know that feeling you used to get as a kid, counting the days down to Christmas? How each morning you'd tick off a checkbox in your head, and each night go to sleep with a smile on your face, knowing that the big day is coming soon? Well I'm not ashamed to admit that I, as a fully grown man, regressed to that childhood state over the last few weeks in anticipation of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. In many ways, the wait has been worth it. But like all Christmases, the sheen on that toy you've eagerly been awaiting can dull rather quickly. Make no mistake, BG:EE is a fantastic game. The problem is, it was a fantastic game when it came out 15 years ago, and to be honest, despite the title not all that much has really been enhanced since then.
To those not familiar with the series, the Baldur's Gate saga is commonly recognized as one of the pinnacles of RPG gaming. This is classic DnD , filled to the brim with deep and interesting lore, quests to complete, party members to find and converse with, huge environments to explore and a suitably epic and sinister personal story. You create your own character from a variety of fantasy archetypes, and courtesy of the conversion of the game to the BG2 engine, there are plenty of them on offer. From there you are thrust straight into an epic tale of mercilessly godlike proportions. And it is glorious.
The developers, Beamdog, have done a great job at staying true to the spirit of the original. All the original content is here, and some extra has been developed as well. 3 new fully voiced NPC characters each with rich stories and a long side quest to complete, an out of campaign arena game, changes to the UI (which are hit an miss), new cutscene art replacing the dated original ingame movies, as well as a host of bugfixes rounds out the entirety of what's on offer here. A completely redone multiplayer mode has also been developed, but the developers are still working on it. Currently the only option available for multiplayer is an archaic IP address connection mode. Yuck. Fortunately the developers have promised full multiplatform multiplayer and a matchmaking service, which should hopefully be coming soon.
As far as the differences between the original Bg and EE, there isn't anything that hasn't been noted above. The infinity engine, despite all the love and labor beamdog have put into the aesthetics of it, is exactly the same as what we saw decades ago. Sure there's some minor tweaks, like zoom and new spell effects, but environment art, character models and ingame sprites are untouched. Essentially the game looks the same as baldurs gate 2 did. Fortunately the hand painted backgrounds hold up rather well, though characters and spirtes are showing their age. The same applies to the ruleset, which still uses the classic but impossibly confusing AD&D2E ruleset (THAC0: Harder than how magnets work). I can't fault beamdog for sticking to this, it would be impossible to keep the original play experience so pure if too many changes are made, not to mention the potential fan backlash at taking such liberties with their beloved classic. Done well, it could definitely have set this game apart. On the whole, though, I can't help but feel like it's a missed opportunity. But, as the title states, this is an enhanced edition, not a remake. Just be aware of that before you purchase.
But purchase you should. The game still provides a deep and engaging experience, and to those like myself whom are big fans of the series, this represents the best available version of the classic and is a must have. To those whom are experiencing baldurs gate for the first time, this is the perfect opportunity to fix that mortal sin. Keep in mind that you're playing your granddaddies RPG here; No handholding quest arrow, no NPC exclamation marks to denote quest gives, and a brutally difficult experience that almost necessitates save scumming in the early stages (who's great idea was it to give kobolds ranged weapons?!) . Its old school, pure, deep, and oh so sweet. It's not all it could have been, but it's still definitely well worth your time and measly $20.
Solid 8/10
To those not familiar with the series, the Baldur's Gate saga is commonly recognized as one of the pinnacles of RPG gaming. This is classic DnD , filled to the brim with deep and interesting lore, quests to complete, party members to find and converse with, huge environments to explore and a suitably epic and sinister personal story. You create your own character from a variety of fantasy archetypes, and courtesy of the conversion of the game to the BG2 engine, there are plenty of them on offer. From there you are thrust straight into an epic tale of mercilessly godlike proportions. And it is glorious.
The developers, Beamdog, have done a great job at staying true to the spirit of the original. All the original content is here, and some extra has been developed as well. 3 new fully voiced NPC characters each with rich stories and a long side quest to complete, an out of campaign arena game, changes to the UI (which are hit an miss), new cutscene art replacing the dated original ingame movies, as well as a host of bugfixes rounds out the entirety of what's on offer here. A completely redone multiplayer mode has also been developed, but the developers are still working on it. Currently the only option available for multiplayer is an archaic IP address connection mode. Yuck. Fortunately the developers have promised full multiplatform multiplayer and a matchmaking service, which should hopefully be coming soon.
As far as the differences between the original Bg and EE, there isn't anything that hasn't been noted above. The infinity engine, despite all the love and labor beamdog have put into the aesthetics of it, is exactly the same as what we saw decades ago. Sure there's some minor tweaks, like zoom and new spell effects, but environment art, character models and ingame sprites are untouched. Essentially the game looks the same as baldurs gate 2 did. Fortunately the hand painted backgrounds hold up rather well, though characters and spirtes are showing their age. The same applies to the ruleset, which still uses the classic but impossibly confusing AD&D2E ruleset (THAC0: Harder than how magnets work). I can't fault beamdog for sticking to this, it would be impossible to keep the original play experience so pure if too many changes are made, not to mention the potential fan backlash at taking such liberties with their beloved classic. Done well, it could definitely have set this game apart. On the whole, though, I can't help but feel like it's a missed opportunity. But, as the title states, this is an enhanced edition, not a remake. Just be aware of that before you purchase.
But purchase you should. The game still provides a deep and engaging experience, and to those like myself whom are big fans of the series, this represents the best available version of the classic and is a must have. To those whom are experiencing baldurs gate for the first time, this is the perfect opportunity to fix that mortal sin. Keep in mind that you're playing your granddaddies RPG here; No handholding quest arrow, no NPC exclamation marks to denote quest gives, and a brutally difficult experience that almost necessitates save scumming in the early stages (who's great idea was it to give kobolds ranged weapons?!) . Its old school, pure, deep, and oh so sweet. It's not all it could have been, but it's still definitely well worth your time and measly $20.
Solid 8/10
5