Indeed.

I gave up on the original because the screen size is too small. There are bad guys i should be able to see and target but cut off the edge of the screen.... drove me nuts!

So if they fixed that one problem, i would be happy to by it!

Yes you do.

You get some new features, which can also be added to the original version via mods:

- The game includes most of the enhancements from Baldur’s Gate 2, such as new weapon types, spells, class features, graphics options, etc. This essentially replicates using a “total conversion” mod such as BG1Tutu, which runs Baldur’s Gate in the Baldur’s Gate 2 engine.
- All classes have the option to use their kits from BG2 (kits are essentially sub-classes or specializations, such as Swashbuckler Thief, Assassin Thief, Cavalier Paladin, Undead Hunter Paladin, etc.)
- Includes the sorcerer, barbarian and monk classes.
- Includes several spells that only appeared in BG2, as well as a couple completely new spells.
- As in BG2, weapon proficiencies are broken down by specific weapon type (long sword, short sword, two-handed sword; long bow, short bow, composite bow) instead of lumped into broad categories (swords, bows).
- Support for higher resolutions and wide-screen displays. But unlike the wide-screen mod for the original version, the UI and fonts are cleanly scaled to your screen resolution.
- MANY bug fixes. Granted, the Enhanced Edition added its fair share of new bugs at first, but most of those have been squashed now.
- Holding ALT will highlight all interactable objects, as in BG2 and Icewind Dale.
- Better looking spell effects (same as those used in BG2 and IWD).
- Thieves have their expanded abilities from BG2 (Move Silently and Hide in Shadows are separate skills; they have the Detect Illusions and Set Traps skills).
- A few classes have some new abilities, such as the Thief’s “Set Snare” ability.
- Your party gains experience from certain class-specific non-combat actions, such as picking locks, disarming traps and memorizing spells -- as in BG2 (the amount of experience is proportionately scaled according to your level).
- The tutorial from BG2 is available here now as well. Not a big deal if you're already familiar with how to play the game, but a nicety for new players.
- Overall, the transition from BG1 to BG2 is going to feel much more seamless, and you'll enjoy most of the enhancements from BG2 from the beginning.


And you get some features which currently cannot be added to the original version through any means:

- The game is rendered in OpenGL as opposed to DirectDraw. In theory, this should increase compatibility with modern graphics cards and provide an increase in performance. “Your mileage may vary” as far as this “feature” goes.
- The user interface scales cleanly with your screen resolution. While you can use the wide-screen mod with the original game, it will will result in the UI elements getting progressively smaller as your resolution increases. The Enhanced Edition keeps everything properly scaled.
- You can zoom in and out. In my opinion, this is one of the coolest features of the Enhanced Edition. While I can use the wide-screen mod on the original version, I feel like it zooms a bit too far out, since I have a very high resolution display. It’s nice to be able to control my zoom level in the Enhanced Edition, and even change it on the fly for different situations.
- The Area Map includes map markers for key locations – such as taverns, shops and temples. You can also add your own custom note pins on any map.
- The Journal is organized a little better. Entries which are related to the same quest are grouped together, and you can easily separate the main quest, side quests and general lore.
- New user interface. I thought they did a good job with the initial UI, although I’m not fond of the further “enhancements” added with Siege of Dragonspear. It felt like they were trying to “fix” things that didn’t need to be fixed. (This is purely personal opinion -- I know some people really like the new UI.)
- There’s a button on the UI which pulls up a list of all items that can be looted from nearby corpses or that you’ve dropped on the ground. Thus, you don’t have to click each individual corpse after a battle. It does NOT allow you to automatically loot items in chests or hidden in the environment – it only shows “dropped” items.
- There are 3 exclusive new NPCs which can join your party, with their own quests and inter-party banter. Yes, you CAN mod new NPCs into the original, but these particular three are exclusive to the Enhanced Edition. Compared to other NPC mods, most people seem to rate them from “above average” to “very good”. I thought they were generally well done. They definitely stand out from the “stock” party members, in that they have a LOT more dialog and their personal quests are pretty extensive. They can also continue to serve as companions in BG2.
- Multi-player is much easier to set up than in the original.
- The Enhanced Edition includes an arena / death-match game mode called The Black Pits. You get to build a fully customized party, then face increasingly challenging waves of enemies. If you’re not into meta-gaming, you’ll probably have very little interest in this feature.

The biggest downside of the Enhanced Edition is: mods can break very easily as new updates are released. For example, the new Siege of Dragonspear expansion pack broke almost every existing mod for the Enhanced Edition. Even before that, mods for the original version were a bit hit-or-miss as to whether they would work with the Enhanced Edition.

Simply put: don’t play the Enhanced Edition if you’re really into mods. Otherwise, the Enhanced Edition does indeed live up to its name, and adds some very nice “quality of life” features to the original game. I own both, and I've played BG since its original 1998 release. My preference is to play the Enhanced Edition, unless I want to use some specific mods which are incompatible with it.

The one little niggle is that the newest version of the game includes some new character model rendering method that makes the characters appear a bit less pixelated, but also a bit less sharp and defined. It's kind of like a low-quality anti-aliasing: smooths out the jaggies, but also blurs the details. I'm hoping Beamdog adds an option to use this rendering method or the original. I personally don't like the new rendering method, but I know some other folks greatly prefer this.

So... is it worth upgrading to if you already have the original edition? That’s debatable at full retail price, although with GOG's current 85% off sale price I’d say it’s a no-brainer at a mere $3. Dooo eeeet. Dooo eeet now. Click zee button.

To me it comes down to one thing, and one thing alone. Do you want to play the additional story which Beamdog created? If so you need the EE versions as they chose not to support the original product. For me, the BG story was complete in the first two games. The additional story would not fit in, so no I would not buy the new ones. Couldn't care less about all the other stuff, Baldurs Gate runs fine nowadays, just as it always did and was a complete storyline arc - and if you use BigWorld Setup, you get all the widescreen mods, a ton of additional small quests/characters all nicely wrapped up in one program.

Always interesting to see how easily a shitstorm can start on the internet. I'm not a hardcore roleplayer, let's say more a casual player, so I don't feel so connected to all the AD%D games. I didn't also followed the whole story about Beamdog and why it's so bad what they did. What I get on the other hand is so much drama about nothing, especially when I read threads like here on the forum.

But okay, to answer your question: The enhanced editions are great for people like me who are not hardcore role-players and who don't know every mod and tweak for the games. People like me just want to quickly install a game and play it to have fun. I already owned the original versions here and I already did the whole modding thing, and don't get me wrong, it's great and I hold dear the whole community behind it. The thing is, I normally don't have many games installed, just the ones I want to play at the moment. To install and mod the games take time, including the to check for the latest mods and what changed. For that reason I appreciate something like the enhanced editions, something that includes the most important mods and is easy to install. Especially as I moved to MacOS, which makes modding just more complicated.

In short, the enhanced editions are mainly a service for new and casual players. It's a good and easygoing start into the series. For the hardcore crowd who wants to have total control and freedom there are still the original versions around. That's just it, nothing more, nothing evil. It's just another option.

I read that Beamdog have also changed some characters' behaviours to make them more.. feminist. O_o

You should stay with the originals. Though, might be worth it, if you want to get native Linux versions (with 85% discount).

You know what? I bought BG:EE more than 2 years ago on Steam, with 75% discount. Was disappointed with bugs and problems, never played it since.
Recently i installed BG:EE again. I saw . Yes, after few years of development. There are [url=https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/755095/#Comment_755095]other problems as well. And i still have to turn off sound hardware acceleration in dxdiag to make sound work properly (in Linux sound works properly).
Kinda shows how they love and care for theirs game.

See? I haven't even talked about "controversy" (LGBT propaganda).
Yep, i've read about it too. They changed character named Safana. Maybe there are others as well.

I have bought multiple versions of the game from disc to digital releases and I have played a fully modded tutu version of the games. Now I own the EE versions I wouldn't go back to the originals personally.

Safana and Jaheira had a personality switch in Siege of....So far, only those two characters were affected and the change did not apply in the BG EE and BG2 EE. And that makes things stranger. Fortunately, Beamdog can't alter significantly the original games.

The EE versions are still full with bugs, while the new expansion suffers from the same problems and has an atrocious writting (i mean overall, setting aside the whole controversy). A fan might write better than the Beamdog's writer.

Stick with the original games, learn how to mod them and that's it. The BG community is helpful and will explain you in detail how to mod the originals.

Buy only in sale, if you want the games (especially meant for the expansion) and only if you see that Beamdog actually fixed their goddamn mess in the Extended Editions. As for their professionalism...When asked if they will make an EE for Planescape and for IWD2, their answer was that is too difficult to do so (at the same time, it doesn't seem that damn difficult for the goddamn modders).

My hope is that Beamdog will lose their D&D license. They don't seem to do anything right. As the EE versions have a few years behind, you would expect that they fixed most of the problems. They didn't and they even added more into the mix. So i don't see any reasons to keep them alive with your money.

Literally the only reason i got it. Although now i have to figure out if it was worth it for me...

But that's to find out another day when i actually feel like i can play it.

It crashed for me too (on Windows XP SP3). Game's version was 2.0.something. 2.1 was released next day after i uninstalled the game.
Classic BG never crashed.

Since you can't multiquote, (C'mon GOG implement it now please!), i will only reply to this one. First i don't like alterations of any kind and I quote "I" particularly don't like new stuff which weren't present in the originals. This stuff i really hate! Why would anyone care of such stuff when the originals were already fantastic in the first place? Would i want any new stuff i rather mod it instead.

The only thing that looks better is the UI which looks kind of revamped with bigger text and avatars then the modded originals which UI even with the high res hack still looks quite tiny.

The original game is fine, the EE versions are not any better as games. There are some technical features you may or may not like, such as ability to run in high resolutions (but then the background becomes blurry and scrolling in and out isn't fun)

So YMMV, I did buy BG1 EE and I didn't find it an improvement. Nothing they added was good, just from ok to meh to wtf.