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Availability of original games on GOG.com

Troodon80Troodon80 Member, Developer Posts: 4,110
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)

How to get the original games after purchasing the Enhanced Editions on GOG

  1. Have or purchase any of the Enhanced Editions by Beamdog on GOG
  2. Select game in GOG account library (not in GOG Galaxy)
  3. Select "more" -> "serial keys"
  4. On the serial key page, use the link provided to redeem a free copy of the original game
And just in case anyone is confused by the wording of the serial to redeem being named as Enhanced Edition:
Hello, these keys are for the classic editions, they are just named in a bit of a misleading way, as they are bonuses FOR these games - if you enter these pages and click "continue", you can look up the contents of the code before finally redeeming it - or not.

Regards,
Beta Ray Bill
GOG.com Support

The topic has come up recently, and a couple times in the past, regarding the availability of the original games on GOG.
James_M said:

I can't find the original games for download at Steam, GOG, or Gamersgate, however Amazon has the (4) originals for about $10

The reason why they can no longer be found is due to them being merged; while not exactly the same, it's similar, as mentioned before, to the 'Remastered' editions of the Broken Sword games. When you purchase a copy of the Enhanced Edition for Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, or Icewind Dale, there will be a message under the product information in your library.

Copies purchased prior to the merge will still be listed in your library. Whether you purchased a copy of the Enhanced Edition before or after the merge, you will be eligible to get a free copy of the original along with the Enhanced Edition. If you select an Enhanced Edition in your games library, you'll see the following message (the example is Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, but applies also to Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition).

Note the message at the bottom:
Message from GOG.com

Baldur's Gate Classic Edition gift code in now available in the "more" -> "serial keys" section.
Following the instructions here will provide a link to redeem the original, 'classic', version of the game.

Comments

  • RavenslightRavenslight Member Posts: 1,609
    Perhaps this could be stickied? It is running away fast. ;)
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,724
    It has been stickied, actually, in General Discussion.
  • RavenslightRavenslight Member Posts: 1,609
    Ah. I was watching it on the recent discussion page.
  • qwerty123456qwerty123456 Member Posts: 67
    dick move
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Yeah how dare they package it as a free bonus. Monsters
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    The problem is, you used to be able to buy them separately and the classic versions were, of course, cheaper.

    Now the only way you can get them is if you buy the EE and then go through this process which isn't obvious, so much so that this thread needed to be stickied.

    Regardless of who's responsible (Beamdog or WotC or even Hasbro), it's not a friendly thing to do. Requiring you to purchase a product in order to gain access to another is even illegal in my country.

    The legacy versions of these games should remain available, if anything, so that players could see for themselves just how superior the EEs supposedly are.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Wow there is some SALT over in the GOG forums. I wonder who ultimately made the decision to only sell them as a bundle.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Beamdog and the EEs have never been popular there to begin with - this latest development hasn't won any hearts over, that's for sure.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I find it funny that people want their opinion to be taken seriously, but their posts consist of nothing more than language that I cannot post on a PG-13 forum. Charisma should not be a dump stat people.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,724
    ThacoBell said:

    I wonder who ultimately made the decision to only sell them as a bundle.

    It was the decision made by WotC.
  • gunmangunman Member Posts: 215
    For whoever is interested in the original games, I recommend this guide:
    tamrielfoundry.com/topic/the-ultimate-baldurs-gate-experience/

    It is a bit outdated and not an user friendly process, but who has the patience to go through the time consuming install process, he will have an experience superior to the EE games in my opinion.

    So, here is my updated instruction for getting the thing going:
    - After installing SCS, instead of points IX and X, install the Tweaks Anthology instead:
    gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27884

    My recommended options:

    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #40 // Change Viconia's Skin Color to Dark Blue: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #170 // Unique Icons: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // Use Character Colors Instead of Item Colors -> For all shields and helmets: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1020 // Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1040 // Improved Athkatlan City Guard: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1161 // Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash) -> Keep Class Restrictions: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1170 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash): Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2192 // Limit Ability of Storekeepers to Identify Items -> Hybrid of Both Methods: Beta 4
    ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2210 // Change Grandmastery Bonuses -> True Grandmastery (Baldurdash): Beta 4

    - After the Tweaks Anthology, install aTweaks with the following components:

    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #152 // PnP Fiends -> Mod-added fiends are also affected: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #155 // Further Revised Fiend Summoning: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #156 // Fiendish gating: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #180 // PnP Mephits: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #186 // Revised Call Woodland Beings spell: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.42
    ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.42

    Then proceed with the point 6. Final Steps from the original guide.

    If you are playing a mage, I would recommend to install WTP Familiars, because BG2 familiars in BG1 part are too powerful.

    Also, there is a problem with random loot from some low level monsters, such as hobgoblins or gnolls dropping level 6 mage scrolls. To prevent this, install only the component "Realistic random treasures"
    from Aurora's Shoes and Boots. I recommend installing either 2. Only intelligent creatures get random scrolls or 3. Both 1 and 2 (no treasures lost).

    Both of the above mods can be installed at the end.

    And finally, whoever wants to play the whole Baldur's Gate trilogy with the original BG1 flavor, with force unpause the in inventory screen, I have made a modified version of tobex.dll that can be downloaded from here. This way, the player must rely on quick item slots and prepare in advance for encounters instead of being tempted to move items from one NPC to another in the heat of a battle, with the quick item slots being just extra inventory slots for potions or scrolls.
  • StormvesselStormvessel Member Posts: 654
    edited January 2017
    Sometimes when I'm feeling masochistic (or particularly nostalgic) I'll boot up BG:TotSC vanilla (straight off the anthology disc, no mods, no patches) and play it. I currently have a fighter/cleric with about 60k xp. But man it's not for everyone. I would advise new players or anyone less than 25 years old to just stick with the Enhanced Editions because the originals are pretty hardcore. It helps to play a Dwarf because of their inherent bonuses and the greater con (and health regen that comes later).

    All of my serious stuff is done using the Enhanced Editions, however.
  • HatiwolfHatiwolf Member Posts: 1
    Im not bothered by the GOG thing one bit. These games were meant to be on discs and I proudly own a copy of every one of these games in its original format. 5 glorious BG discs. If you want a copy, you need to buy the discs. Not only do I own every Black Isle game on disc but anything D&D I have beautiful flawless copies of. I waste enough money on collecting perfect original copies of games that my salesman at Microcenter has made progress with Acer to keep the swappable cd drive in the top Predator laptop line ... for now. If you are going to cater to hardcore gamers, know that we are nostalgic and playing discs needs to be an option for us if you want us to buy laptops.
  • rede9rede9 Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 1,947
    edited January 2018
    With original and EE games merged, could Beamdog update the texts of the original games with its revised ones? Or are there already mods which match old and new multilanguage TLK files?
  • RAM021RAM021 Member Posts: 403
    Troodon80 said:

    How to get the original games after purchasing the Enhanced Editions on GOG

    1. Have or purchase any of the Enhanced Editions by Beamdog on GOG
    2. Select game in GOG account library (not in GOG Galaxy)
    We spent an inordinate amount of time clicking on the 'more' in this picture to no avail... before we realized it was merely a picture :blush:
  • camiluscamilus Member Posts: 8
    The ee versions were a mess when they were released. The current versions are perfectly fine, they probably still have some bugs but so do the originals.

    The ee versions also suport Linux and the interface works much better on current displays.

    The originals ui doesn't work well on modern displays even with the wide screen patch.

    Sure the ee versions could be even better if they had a gui that could automatically find and install all popular mods, if you could combine them to one game (I think there is a mod that does that) automatically if you had both and if there was a legit evil path to victory (not being a murder hobo, but conqering Amn or something like that).
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    @camilus Still the ee versions, even if now are fine and polished so are perfectly playable, don't allow things that the original games allow.
    Some old mods are not supported for EE, mods like the planar sphere one, deeper shadows of amn or the soulafein npc. others like tactics mod are available for EE, but only in beta.
    And a lot of exploits. cheese and unusual tactics are no more possible in EE, things that can range from having 3 PI of a mage active at the same time, or multiple bard clones stacking their songs to having a bard attack and sing at the same time.

    I am not saying that the original games are better then EE, as the EE versions have their own advantages, the ones you told about and i would add the access to new mods that are specifically created for EE and new npcs and content.

    I am saying that i see reasons to have and play the originals even in those modern days, i am happy that i own both the versions of the games (bg and bg2 in my case), as each one work better for some mods and tactics i want to use as i like to vary my playstyle, sometimes playing a relaxed vanilla game more RP oriented, sometimes going full power game mode and other times just having fun in exploiting the game in every way i know. I choose EE or original depending on which kind of experience i want.
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