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new user....convince me

dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
in New Members Welcome Area
Pretend, for a moment, that I am a long time fan of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Pretend that I purchased them when they were first released way back in the day, played them through a time or two, enjoyed them immensely, then lovingly placed the cardboard game boxes, including the collector's edition cloth map, into a plastic rubbermaid container in my basement and forgot about them.....until now.

These days, I have a modern PC, and I feel a twinge of nostalgia to relive my original BG 1&2 experiences. I want to play them both through, from beginning to end.

Let's say I've narrowed down my purchase options to two (assuming I don't want to dig out my old CDs, etc.):

(1) Buy the GoG versions of BG 1&2 and play them as I originally experienced them way back in the day.

(2) Buy the EE versions from Beamdog.

Which would you choose, and why?







Comments

  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Two words: New content.
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,812
    I prefer the EE editions these days. The mods I use (Tweak pack, Rogue Rebalance, NPC Banter stuff and the handful of NPC's I use) all work like they should. Plus you get new content, patches, support, compatibility with most modern systems and an awesome forum! ;) It's nice to just install it and play. No need for widescreen patches and lag like hell as it struggles to run on windows 8.
  • ErgErg Member Posts: 1,756
    elminster said:

    Erg said:


    Just bear in mind that this is the official Forum of the Enhanced Edition so asking here how good is the EE it's like asking to the innkeeper how clean is the inn.

    Its more like asking the patrons of the inn how good the food, drink, and accommodations are.
    @elminster, thanks for perfecting my metaphor. However the end result will not change as it will still be affected by selection bias.
  • PibaroPibaro Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,989
    @dwilliams1966‌
    What are you looking for?
    If you want to play the non modded original BG saga you can choose the cheaper one.
    the EE version may not be perfect, but It has some new features.

    1) You can play BGEE and BG2EE via iPad, and you can play BGEE via Android tablet.

    2) You can play BGEE with a improved graphics. If you want/can MOD the vanilla BG you may have an improved graphics even without the EE.

    3) If you care about new characters, some new quests and some new items, you should choose the EE. If you just want to play one more time the BG saga and you don't care about new staff because you already forgot the original staff, you don't need the EE

    4) The EE isn't bug-free, but they are still updating the game, while the original game without mod is still bugged.

    5) One day in EE we'll have a bettere multiplayer...

    In my opinion, the most important innovation is the iPad/tablet portability.
    If you don't have a tablet or if you don't want to play the saga via tablet, the most decisive reason to buy the EE is not to be considered.

    All the other options are... optional.
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    Also, the ee gives you sorcerers in bg1!
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    Yes... All the other kits too... But sorcerers are the best.
  • ErgErg Member Posts: 1,756
    meagloth said:

    Also, the ee gives you sorcerers in bg1!

    meagloth said:

    Yes... All the other kits too... But sorcerers are the best.

    image
  • dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
    Thanks for all the responses, guys. Surprise, I'm not new. I own the original cardboard box versions of BG 1&2 (cloth map and all), the GoG versions, and the EE versions, though I haven't really played the EE versions since buying them, which was mostly driven by loyalty to the quality of the originals.

    I'm feeling the urge for another playthrough, my first in years, and I honestly don't know if I want to just go with the vanilla GoG versions or the Enhanced Editions. Are the bugs mostly ironed out of the EE versions now?


  • ErgErg Member Posts: 1,756
    CrevsDaak said:

    If you plan to make a mega-mod installation or such -> Original games form GOG.
    If you plan to play vanilla BG -> The Enhanced Editions form Beamdog.

    Tutu players (not just the mega-mod ones) may also prefer the original.

    However, there is another important category of players that may prefer the original, despite not using mods: purists that, for example, don't want to play BG1 in the BG2 engine. Apart from that I agree with @CrevsDaak.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    dwilliams1966 said:

    Are the bugs mostly ironed out of the EE versions now?

    BG EE, yes, for single player at least. I have done two full playthroughs with no bugs that I can recall... Oh wait that's a lie, one spell (Luck) was bugged (it wiped your weapon proficiencies).

    For BG 2 EE... I've only played multiplayer, and it is still buggy. v1.3 is coming, I expect that will sort out some of the BG2EE and multiplayer issues.
  • dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
    Ok, thanks.

    For the record, I don't care anything about the ipad, tablet, iphone, mac, android, or any version of BG other than those that run on Windows 7 or earlier.



  • elementelement Member Posts: 833
    edited July 2014
    well

    baldurs gate 1 ee is really pretty decent it has good new content and features a lot of stuff that would require modding to achieve in the base game.

    baldurs gate 2 ee I would stay clear of for now, imo the content was not so good and it was still very buggy in my experience. Id check back on this one when the patch is out
  • dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
    element said:

    well

    baldurs gate 1 ee is really pretty decent it has good new content and features a lot of stuff that would require modding to achieve in the base game.

    baldurs gate 2 ee I would stay clear of for now, imo the content was not so good and it was still very buggy in my experience. Id check back on this one when the patch is out

    Thanks, sadly.

    I'm giving them (whoever......Beamdog?) a month to straighten this out, then I'm just going to restart BG from the GoG versions.

  • Demonoid_LimewireDemonoid_Limewire Member Posts: 424
    edited July 2014
    The originals feel... well, more original. Plus, you can use their cheese. Go with the originals. You can always mod them into something almost identical to the EE. GoG has done a wonderful job lifting and renovating them.

    Also, in the originals, BG 1's mechanics are different, and more favorable to gamers who want an easy time playing, or want to feel somewhat safe and powerful; like summons that conjure many creatures at once, more dangerous crowd control spells (larger duration), the charm of Algernon's Cloak is irresistible, you can erroneously stack effects from both boots of speed and ring of free action at the same time, you can begin right away at the new expansion's areas if you so wish (without having to reach chapter 5 first), there is a saved game at Ulgoth's beard full of characters loaded with endgame items (that you can export import sneakily to your newly created ones...), you can kill Firebead Elvenhair at beginning and export-import to start your game at a higher level, the premade thief character for importing has erroneously HUGE thieving skills (he can right from the start do any thieving task as a master thief even if only level 1), and so on... And don't forget, in original 1, weapons proficiencies are very useful, because spending a point in one category, gets you bonuses in like 2-3, or even more types of weapons, all at once. In the originals, you can even bypass kits restrictions (example: Create a druid into 1 with 18 strength, import him in 2, turn him into avenger, bypass the restriction of maximum 16 roll to strength).

    Finally, bear in mind, that EEs mostly struggle to "balance" things out, and primarily hunt down overpowered skills, exploits, glitches, or "cheese". Bugs come into second place. The abhorred, MMO like pattern... But they are full of bugs themselves. New ones. Especially new ones. Consider all things, and make your choice. The old originals, on CDs, are very old and outdated, and vary from downright unplayable, to being full of graphical issues and lag. GoG version works all right.

    I have both, play both. I like the originals more, at least until some great patch in the future does worthwhile job with the EEs.
  • dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
    edited July 2014
    Great post, Demonoid. GoG it is, on restart, though I don't use the "cheesey" cheats.

    I'll revisit EE sometime later, perhaps.

    And I just restarted GoG BG1. I did make the concessions of installing both the Text Update and BG1 Fixpack, which were included in my GoG download. Nice to see the old cutscenes again.
    Post edited by dwilliams1966 on
  • dreamriderdreamrider Member Posts: 417
    If you don't favor the cheese exploits or outright power cheats (which, BTW, I by no means find abhorrent - it IS a single player game after all), play the EE's. He's exaggerating both the bug prevelance and the nerfing. Most 'balance nerfing' will never be noticed by someone who is into roleplaying the story and his rolled characters.

    Just check out some of the pro reviews of the EE's - they generally say "great job - not really worth it if you already have a modded up copy of original, but definitely worth it for smooth modern play if you never played BG bdfore".

    And the several new characters and the occasional new item are nice, and blended darned smoothly to the existing game.
  • NokkenbuerNokkenbuer Member Posts: 146
    In case it hasn't already been voiced, I recommend purchasing them from Steam. Steam typically has better sales, the community is MUCH larger, there is much more customer support available, and the game will continue to be in your library even if it is ever removed from being available for purchase.
  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    BGEE: New official stuff, better engine, extended support, better multiplayer.

    BG: Pretty much far more moddable. But mods you have to hunt down on your own, configure them and hope they don't conflict with each other.

    I loved EasyTutu but EE improved on everything except full mod support.
  • ryuken87ryuken87 Member Posts: 563
    The bug situation (and the time they're taking to release a patch) for BG2EE in particular, is rather dire. The new NPCs are better than any mod NPCs I've tried, but the content isn't seemless and you can tell they aren't Bioware.

    I prefer the originals because they're far less hassle unless you are going with silly numbers of mods.

    Cheats/exploits isn't a reason to choose the EEs because you can always, y'know, just not use the exploits.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2014
    Nokkenbuer said:

    In case it hasn't already been voiced, I recommend purchasing them from Steam. Steam typically has better sales, the community is MUCH larger, there is much more customer support available, and the game will continue to be in your library even if it is ever removed from being available for purchase.

    I'd recommend buying from Beamdog. That way you get access to the beta patches for each game (provided you apply). Its not so important for BGEE, since its already in pretty good shape, but for BG2EE we simply don't know how long its going to be in public beta testing (we are already at 5 months for 1.3 for BGEE and BG2EE is a much larger game).
  • NokkenbuerNokkenbuer Member Posts: 146
    elminster said:

    Nokkenbuer said:

    In case it hasn't already been voiced, I recommend purchasing them from Steam. Steam typically has better sales, the community is MUCH larger, there is much more customer support available, and the game will continue to be in your library even if it is ever removed from being available for purchase.

    I'd recommend buying from Beamdog. That way you get access to the beta patches for each game (provided you apply). Its not so important for BGEE, since its already in pretty good shape, but for BG2EE we simply don't know how long its going to be in public beta testing (we are already at 5 months for 1.3 for BGEE and BG2EE is a much larger game).
    Well, I didn't know about the betatesting availability for Beamdog. For those of you already using Steam, buying it from Steam would probably be easier for you. But for everyone else, yeah buying from Beamdog is probably better.

    Thanks for the information, @elminster‌.
  • SedSed Member Posts: 790
    Personally I could never go back to the originals after playing EE-versions.
    Just the zoom-functinality, the user interface and the speed of loading/playing is worth the money!
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,775
    I second these answers:
    Sed said:

    Personally I could never go back to the originals after playing EE-versions.
    Just the zoom-functinality, the user interface and the speed of loading/playing is worth the money!

    DreadKhan said:

    Two words: New content.

    meagloth said:

    Yes... All the other kits too... But sorcerers are the best.

    So, after almost 2 years from the launch of BG:EE it's become to me like this:

    1) the UI and the speed of loading
    2) new kits and characters

    Even with these 2 things I won't come back to the originals.
  • DazzuDazzu Member Posts: 950
    edited August 2014
    ryuken87 said:

    The new NPCs are better than any mod NPCs I've tried

    You haven't tried Finch yet, have you?

    Suffice to say, her availability for EE makes it very hard to look back ever again.
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