I don't really know if I see it as worth the $20, as I bought the whole BG series, on DVD, shipped, for $15.
$20 for a download of one game that is essentially the same/can be made the same with mods is a little much (plus they didn't tie up the cut/unfinished ends. Yes, I am still talking about that).
Yes BG EE was supposed to be BG 1 with fix... but it wasn't supposed to be bugged like that. The game was release 14 yeas ago and we have more bugs in the BGEE than in the BG1...
When this project was conceived it was going to be Baldur's Gate HD. Then we found out that Bioware lost ALL the original art assets. (Seriously BW, WTF?) Rather than admit failure and give up, the hardly souls at Overhaul pressed on and gave us the EE.
Does it have bugs? You'd better believe it. Does it lack features that some people wanted? Were there some things the devs wanted to put in but didn't have time to? Yup, the same as every other game ever released. (Unless you think the Twisted Rune's evil plan was to hang out in a room and kill random adventurers that stop by).
For me, this is the third version of BG I've bought and I was happy to do it every time. Once the Android version comes out it will be purchase no.4 and I have no doubt I will be satisfied that time too.
It is true that BG:EE didn't introduce a lot of new content and mechanics, however, I must say I didn't expect it would, so I'm not really disappointed. From the beginning I was counting on just a good excuse to dive into this world again. Sure I could have played all the BG games whenever I wanted to (and I did) but I didn't feel as though I was a part of something bigger. Now, after the launch of BG:EE, I feel like I'm at a reunion of sorts and 3 elements made it possible - the game, this board and the people that currently populate it. It's awesome.
I'm amazed at how calm all the posts were to my topic. Truthfully I expected to be ripped apart, but I did do my best to express my thoughts peacefully after having actually tried BG:EE. While I may have not enjoyed the experience I at least hope others can.
I am kind of leaning on the side of the OP's opinion here. While I couldn't say that I didn't enjoy EE, or appreciate the enhancements, I just feel that for an extra $20, some of additions just didn't seem all that worth it. To make matters worst, the bugs I've encountered thus far in the game seems to rather diminish the game's overall worth.
I still have all the original discs for vanilla BG, TotSC, SoA, and ToB, which works perfectly fine on my Windows 7 gaming rig. To bring it up to, and exceed the content in EE really isn't that painstakingly difficult. I probably had more headaches with the preloading and running the EE on launch day than I had modding BG, if I even need to mod it at all (heck, I'm still playing BG1 vanilla @ 640x480 on my 1080p monitor, and it's perfectly fine). Nowadays, for less than $20, you can go .on gog.com and download the complete BG1 and BG2, and I think that holds a lot of value
What little content was added was nice (well, if only certain aspects of it weren't broken), but when I'm comparing an apple to an apple here, it seems the original game had a more solid foundation (and less bugs). When I'm playing EE, it still feels like I'm playing an old game regardless of the zoom, or the colors under the NPCs, or the somewhat sharper texturing. Unlike some opinions out there, I don't think the game has aged well, EE or otherwise. It's still a 2d isometric game with pixellated graphics, and requires careful pausing and clicking of the mouse to really get a handle of just the controls. While it may be nice seeing this game go on a tablet, I just cannot possibly imagine myself playing on one. It's not a modern game, and I doubt it will attract too much attention from those who have never played the originals. At it's current state, it still looks and feels like an old game.
I have been playing BG1 with BGT and many other mods, tactics, rule changes etc. Some make the game more difficult but most make it much easier. For me BGEE is like a clean install. It's surprisingly difficult in parts.
My frame rate speed was shockingly slow motion and I thought I'd wasted my money - but then I changed my baldur.ini file according to some instructions and it zips along just great.
I don't like the user interface. The blue surround if fine, but the cursors are tiny, the inventory icons look lost, and (I don't know if this is just my install) the spell icons in the spellbook look a bit tatty. I'm wondering if these all had to be completely redrawn.
There is a list of bugs as long as your arm, but I get the feeling the team are actually concerned about these and will see to them.
I am enjoying BG:EE. But to be honest, give me something that is at least 90% Baldur's Gate and I'd have to try hard not to enjoy it. And yes, the changes aren't that much more than a heavily modded version, but that's all I was really expecting it to be anyway, so if I had issue with that I'd have voiced it at the start! Besides, it does look better than any modded version I've played, and I like most of the changes to the interface. Actually, I love the coloured circles, I know it's a small feature but it just seems a really nice little touch.
Also, let's be honest: a lot of people here love BG and have been playing it for years...but until you first heard about BG:EE, be honest, when had you actually last played? This year? Last year? For a lot of us, just hearing about BG:EE re-ignited our passion. We dusted off our old discs, started playing again while we waited, talked about what characters we'd roll and what parties we'd use, and generally got inspired. I wouldn't be surprised if the modding community is getting equally inspired, and if BG:EE is more mod-friendly than BG was we could be seeing some exciting new fan-made content coming our way. I'm hopeful, anyway.
Honestly I believe people are not seeing the additions to the game and the future value of BGEE. Many things still haven't been completed and the bugs are being actively fixed. Multiplayer that is actually good will be coming. We will no longer have to play just our friends but with everyone in the world. We also have the black pits which is actually really fun. You can challenge yourself to solo it or have fun with a full party. More classes are now viable that weren't with TuTu and even more content is coming. I think people are losing interest too quickly, stick around for longer.
Yeah, I agree with @Ekital I played for a pretty long time before running into obvious bugs, but I may have run into some I didn't know was bugs, it's been a very long time since I played BG vanilla.
The visual enhancements is plentiful compared to Vanilla BG, and the short while I tried Tutu I couldn't stand the microscopic characters and interface in high resolutions, so I also prefer EE to that.
Mods is already cropping up, amazingly fast, judging from the forums, although I'm going to play through the game without any mods for now.
The real value of BG:EE lies in the future support from both Beamdog and modders, Adventure Y and maybe other bigger DLC's is something big to look forward to, as well as the modder's future efforts.
For the price, I think it's more than fair, and I'm buying the iPad version and any DLC's regardless of platform.
Comments
$20 for a download of one game that is essentially the same/can be made the same with mods is a little much (plus they didn't tie up the cut/unfinished ends. Yes, I am still talking about that).
Does it have bugs? You'd better believe it. Does it lack features that some people wanted? Were there some things the devs wanted to put in but didn't have time to? Yup, the same as every other game ever released. (Unless you think the Twisted Rune's evil plan was to hang out in a room and kill random adventurers that stop by).
For me, this is the third version of BG I've bought and I was happy to do it every time. Once the Android version comes out it will be purchase no.4 and I have no doubt I will be satisfied that time too.
I still have all the original discs for vanilla BG, TotSC, SoA, and ToB, which works perfectly fine on my Windows 7 gaming rig. To bring it up to, and exceed the content in EE really isn't that painstakingly difficult. I probably had more headaches with the preloading and running the EE on launch day than I had modding BG, if I even need to mod it at all (heck, I'm still playing BG1 vanilla @ 640x480 on my 1080p monitor, and it's perfectly fine). Nowadays, for less than $20, you can go .on gog.com and download the complete BG1 and BG2, and I think that holds a lot of value
What little content was added was nice (well, if only certain aspects of it weren't broken), but when I'm comparing an apple to an apple here, it seems the original game had a more solid foundation (and less bugs). When I'm playing EE, it still feels like I'm playing an old game regardless of the zoom, or the colors under the NPCs, or the somewhat sharper texturing. Unlike some opinions out there, I don't think the game has aged well, EE or otherwise. It's still a 2d isometric game with pixellated graphics, and requires careful pausing and clicking of the mouse to really get a handle of just the controls. While it may be nice seeing this game go on a tablet, I just cannot possibly imagine myself playing on one. It's not a modern game, and I doubt it will attract too much attention from those who have never played the originals. At it's current state, it still looks and feels like an old game.
My frame rate speed was shockingly slow motion and I thought I'd wasted my money - but then I changed my baldur.ini file according to some instructions and it zips along just great.
I don't like the user interface. The blue surround if fine, but the cursors are tiny, the inventory icons look lost, and (I don't know if this is just my install) the spell icons in the spellbook look a bit tatty. I'm wondering if these all had to be completely redrawn.
There is a list of bugs as long as your arm, but I get the feeling the team are actually concerned about these and will see to them.
Love the Black Pits. It's just a romp.
Also, let's be honest: a lot of people here love BG and have been playing it for years...but until you first heard about BG:EE, be honest, when had you actually last played? This year? Last year? For a lot of us, just hearing about BG:EE re-ignited our passion. We dusted off our old discs, started playing again while we waited, talked about what characters we'd roll and what parties we'd use, and generally got inspired. I wouldn't be surprised if the modding community is getting equally inspired, and if BG:EE is more mod-friendly than BG was we could be seeing some exciting new fan-made content coming our way. I'm hopeful, anyway.
I played for a pretty long time before running into obvious bugs, but I may have run into some I didn't know was bugs, it's been a very long time since I played BG vanilla.
The visual enhancements is plentiful compared to Vanilla BG, and the short while I tried Tutu I couldn't stand the microscopic characters and interface in high resolutions, so I also prefer EE to that.
Mods is already cropping up, amazingly fast, judging from the forums, although I'm going to play through the game without any mods for now.
The real value of BG:EE lies in the future support from both Beamdog and modders, Adventure Y and maybe other bigger DLC's is something big to look forward to, as well as the modder's future efforts.
For the price, I think it's more than fair, and I'm buying the iPad version and any DLC's regardless of platform.