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BG2:EE Review Thread

ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
edited November 2013 in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
This first reviews are already starting to come out for BG2:EE. Post you links here and they will be aggregated.

Positive:
digitallydownloaded.net 5/5
gamezebo.com 9.5/10
hardcoregamer.com 4.5/5
voletic.com 9/10
gameplanet.com 9/10
theshelternetwork.com 9/10
gamer.no 90/100
extracontinue.com 86%
multiplayer.it 85/100
StickSkills 8.5/10
z-giochi.com 8.5/10
questgamingnetwork.com 8.5/10
gamersareus.com 4.2/5
worldsfactory.net 84/100
IGN 8.3/10
virtualinn.it 8.2/10
thecontrolleronline.com 8/10
thekoalition.com 8/10
gry-online.pl 8/10
examiner.com 4/5
strategyinformer.com 8/10
www.invisioncommunity.co.uk 4/5
bigredbarrel.com 4/5
gamestar.de 8/10
vandal.net 8/10
3djuegos.com 8/10
justpressstart.net
toppcgamereviews.com
technologytell.com B
Game Banshee

Mixed:
corrupted cartridge 3.9/5
rpgfan.com 75%
gamer.nl 7/10
dk.ign.com 7/10
escapist magazine 3.5/5
omnigamer 3.5/5
pcgames.de 67/100
Terminal Gamer 6/10
gamebolds.de 3/5

Negative:
gametech.ru 5/10
twinfinite.net 2/5

Post edited by ajwz on
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Comments

  • AristilliusAristillius Member Posts: 873
    Thecontrolleronline gave a very positive review, but it seemed shallow - looking forward to something more in-depth
  • reedmilfamreedmilfam Member Posts: 2,808
    @Queynos I figured that was what it was. I was attempting to be funny, which explains why I'm not a full time comic.
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    reedmilfam said:

    @Queynos I figured that was what it was. I was attempting to be funny, which explains why I'm not a full time comic.

    You made four of us laugh. Its a start.
  • RedGuardRedGuard Member Posts: 672
    reedmilfam said:

    How? The game is off-limits until Friday, at the earliest! I feel cheated and would cast Time Stop to keep anybody from playing it, but (a) I'm not a spell caster and (b) I am limited by BG:EE XP cap, keeping such spells from my reach.

    Oh, the injustice of it all!

    Have you tried casting 'Stop... Hammer Time' instead?
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    It's a huge game, even without the new content. I'd be shocked if we could get in-depth reviews this early. Even completing it with a party composed of the new NPCs is going to miss about 50% of the new dialogue (banters with existing NPCs), if existing dialogues are anything to judge from.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,727
    A new review: http://questgamingnetwork.mymiddleearth.com/2013/11/14/review-baldurs-gate-2-enhanced-edition/



    And... it's positive (yay!):

    Score
    8.5/10

    + Story from the original release is still as compelling as ever, and the enhancements don’t detract or distract from this

    + Combat is as unforgiving, yet satisfying, as the original

    + New Characters and The Black Pits add-on give hundreds of hours of extra gameplay, on top of the already superb story line

    - Some stability issues

    - AI pathing still a hindrance, especially in hallways and caves

    The line I have paid the most attention to is the following: "Overhaul has added another character on top of the three returning entries: the Thief Hexxat. Out of the new additions, her story had to be my favorite, though all of the character’s story lines and interactions are beautifully written and well voice-acted"
  • VikingRVikingR Member Posts: 88
    bengoshi said:


    [...]

    + New Characters and The Black Pits add-on give hundreds of hours of extra gameplay, on top of the already superb story line

    [...]

    So the quests of the new NPC's add hundreds of hours of extra gameplay? Cool ! ;) :P
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    I think the '100s of hours' probably includes not just their quest content but the tactical options taking them creates, so it creates 100s of hours of gameplay in that sense.
  • ghostowlghostowl Member Posts: 171
    bengoshi said:

    A new review: http://questgamingnetwork.mymiddleearth.com/2013/11/14/review-baldurs-gate-2-enhanced-edition/



    And... it's positive (yay!):

    Score
    8.5/10

    + Story from the original release is still as compelling as ever, and the enhancements don’t detract or distract from this

    + Combat is as unforgiving, yet satisfying, as the original

    + New Characters and The Black Pits add-on give hundreds of hours of extra gameplay, on top of the already superb story line

    - Some stability issues

    - AI pathing still a hindrance, especially in hallways and caves

    The line I have paid the most attention to is the following: "Overhaul has added another character on top of the three returning entries: the Thief Hexxat. Out of the new additions, her story had to be my favorite, though all of the character’s story lines and interactions are beautifully written and well voice-acted"
    I dont think it's fair to give a positive for "enhancements don't detract / distract from the compelling original story"

    I want a review on how the enhanced edition is, not about the original game. We all know original game was good...someone could just take the original game and add 1 item to the game and then a review could say "enhancement don't detract from the original story"...it would actually be more of a negative than anything.

    Anyway, I'm hoping the new content is good...but there's probably no new kits from the sound of it
  • Mrpenfold666Mrpenfold666 Member Posts: 428
    BG2:EE sucks because its not out yet and it teased me with the pre-download!

    but come tomorrow its going to be AMAZING!

    ill be posting my thoughts and opinions on it tomorrow along with some fixes in case it doesn't work and i can fix it. on the beamdog forums i helped people with some of the problems because it took some kerjiggering to get it working for me on day one :D, i hope it works but you cant get a perfect game on day one so we will see!
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    starting to update
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    All looking positive so far.
  • ChinookUTChinookUT Member Posts: 32
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10753-Baldurs-Gate-II-Enhanced-Edition-Review

    Bottom Line: The enhancements aren't quite ready for prime-time, but Baldur's Gate II remains one of the greatest RPGs of all time and an unsurpassed D&D experience. The improvements to the interface are fantastic, and if the new content gets the final wax-and-polish it deserves, it will be too.

    Recommendation: Hardcore Baldur's Gate fans comfortable installing mods and patches likely won't find much to get excited about, but for newcomers and nostalgia-seekers Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition is a great point of entry into one of the finest RPGs ever made.

    Given a score of 3.5/5, which would come out a little below the other reviews (7/10).
  • mforwwmforww Member Posts: 78
    edited November 2013
    I absolutely can't see how people are grading it positively when it's not even playable for me! I'm getting a random bug where the game crashes and when I load my quicksave ever monster respawns and the entire map is covered up again, and all the traps are back into place. I've just fought my way back through the areas (and gotten double xp for some quests simply by talking to the quest-giver) but I finally got screwed after the door to Kangaxx's area respawned, but my key didn't so I'm locked in and can't progress forward at all.

    I can't even get the freaking clua console to open to give myself a key. Have none of the reviewers had these issues?

    Edit: lest I sound like a crybaby, I actually am really enjoying BG2EE. It looks awesome, the writing for the new characters is awesome, I love the fact that it runs on my computer (haven't played BG2 in a decade since my graphics cards never agreed with it) and I'm genuinely pumped to play this game. I'm just surprised that reviewers either 1) have gotten really luck and haven't encountered bugs or 2) just haven't cared.
  • AmardarialAmardarial Member Posts: 270
    mforww said:

    I absolutely can't see how people are grading it positively when it's not even playable for me! I'm getting a random bug where the game crashes and when I load my quicksave ever monster respawns and the entire map is covered up again, and all the traps are back into place. I've just fought my way back through the areas (and gotten double xp for some quests simply by talking to the quest-giver) but I finally got screwed after the door to Kangaxx's area respawned, but my key didn't so I'm locked in and can't progress forward at all.

    I can't even get the freaking clua console to open to give myself a key. Have none of the reviewers had these issues?

    Maybe because not everyone has issues, aside from a crash here and there, mine plays fine, on Spellhold as I type this...
  • HandofTyrHandofTyr Member Posts: 106
    Bugs in general are very hit or miss in reviews, depending a lot on if the reviewer had issues with them personally and otherwise how enjoyable the game is. I remember I had to restart skyrim 4 or so times because it kept locking up somewhere in the opening segments, but it still got fantabulous reviews.
  • GoodSteveGoodSteve Member Posts: 607
    mforww said:

    I absolutely can't see how people are grading it positively when it's not even playable for me! I'm getting a random bug where the game crashes and when I load my quicksave ever monster respawns and the entire map is covered up again, and all the traps are back into place. I've just fought my way back through the areas (and gotten double xp for some quests simply by talking to the quest-giver) but I finally got screwed after the door to Kangaxx's area respawned, but my key didn't so I'm locked in and can't progress forward at all.

    I can't even get the freaking clua console to open to give myself a key. Have none of the reviewers had these issues?

    Edit: lest I sound like a crybaby, I actually am really enjoying BG2EE. It looks awesome, the writing for the new characters is awesome, I love the fact that it runs on my computer (haven't played BG2 in a decade since my graphics cards never agreed with it) and I'm genuinely pumped to play this game. I'm just surprised that reviewers either 1) have gotten really luck and haven't encountered bugs or 2) just haven't cared.

    I think this is more of a case of you being very unlucky. I have noticed some bugs while playing but nothing akin to what you mention... hopefully it can get sorted out soon and you can start to truly enjoy the game.
  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,345
    mforww said:

    I'm getting a random bug where the game crashes and when I load my quicksave ever monster respawns and the entire map is covered up again, and all the traps are back into place.

    Strange, it sounds like your save files are getting overwritten or cleared out somehow. You didn't accidentally have two copies of the game running?

  • mforwwmforww Member Posts: 78
    Shin said:

    mforww said:

    I'm getting a random bug where the game crashes and when I load my quicksave ever monster respawns and the entire map is covered up again, and all the traps are back into place.

    Strange, it sounds like your save files are getting overwritten or cleared out somehow. You didn't accidentally have two copies of the game running?


    Nope. Anyway I don't want to hijack the thread (I've got a thread started on this issue over on the bug reports section) but definitely not two running copies of the game. This bug totally blows and is game-ruining for me even now that I managed to get the CLUA console going and get myself out of that room, because the bug causes everything to respawn... by everything, I even mean "old" iterations of NPC's doing their scripted events. So now every time the game crashes and I load my save, I'm treated the Chapter 2 cutscene if I decide to go to the docks. And I literally can't complete the Cult of the Unseeing Eye quest because Gaal respawns back in the temple district along with the priest of Helm, as if I'm all of the way back at the beginning of the quest.

    I imagine that this will be the case for ANY quest that I have a crash in the middle of, since almost all of them have scripted events that get reset. I pretty much can't play until the next patch, fml.
  • ChinookUTChinookUT Member Posts: 32
    edited November 2013
    http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2013/11/17/review-baldurs-gate-ii-enhanced-edition/62572/

    Closing Comments: Baldur’s Gate II is not a game to be missed. With an epic story, memorable characters, hundreds of hours of dungeon crawling, questing and adventuring, Baldur’s Gate stands tall among the classics. The Enhanced Edition takes all that (and then some) and wraps it in a much more visually pleasing package that will be more acceptable to modern gamers. Old fans of the game have good reason to come back, and new players may find themselves overwhelmed at first, but taking the time to learn the ins and outs of this classic CRPG will pay dividends.

    Scored 4.5/5.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,727
    Omnigamer writes, "The release date of Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition couldn’t have come at a better time of the year."

    http://www.omnigamer.com/baldurs-gate-ii-enhanced-edition-review/

    3.5/5 (the site itself calls it "good" but in fact it looks to be "mixed")

    The closing paragraph:

    The occasional new character aside, it’s largely as you remember it, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but a crisper resolution and a handful of new faces is far from what I’d call “enhanced”. This might be a great way to get younger or newer gamers involved in a true classic, but only the most hardcore Baldur’s Gate fans are going to see any value in shelling out $25 for a prettier picture.
  • DafojkDafojk Member Posts: 111
    So I thought it would be great to have a collection of BG2:EE reviews and possibly discussion in a thread here. If you find reviews They can be posted in this thread.

    First one i read was from escapistmagasine.com, this is generally a good review, with high praise to the game, but also with mention of bugs. link here:

    3.5 out of 5 stars

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10753-Baldurs-Gate-II-Enhanced-Edition-Review
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    edited November 2013
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/23609/bg2-ee-review-thread

    Edit: Apparently these threads were merged? Ignore this post.
  • DafojkDafojk Member Posts: 111
    Ahh bugger, ant ty.
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