Is there a chronological order to the D&D games here on GOG? And if so, does that order include the recent releases (forgotten realms collections).

PS - Figured I'd ask here, since it seems pretty active.

Just reference GOG's games against this list.

Planescape: Torment takes place in alternate timeline, so it's neither here nor there in terms of the other games.

Aside from that, the chronology is as follows:

Icewind Dale 1281
Icewind Dale 2 1312
Baldur's Gate 1368
Baldur's Gate 2 1369
Neverwinter Nights 1 1372
Neverwinter Nights 2 1374

For the Neverwinter Nights expansions, they're roughly contemporaneous with their original campaign or take place shortly afterwards. The timeskip before Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark is unspecified, but couldn't have been very long since characters between the continuities don't seem to have aged visibly. Same deal with Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir.

For the most part the games don't reference each other. None of the games are canon in the actual Faerun time-line, and in particular a major event in 1385 in the canonical timeline invalidates many of the epilogues. So, don't give it too much thought :-P

Planescape Torment also canonically takes place before NWN2, because there are a few references to events and characters from it.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you! I'm not at all familiar with the Faerun TL, as I've never played the tabletop game or read any of the novels/books. What happened? Spill the beans!

Also - do the older Forgotten Realms Goldbox/Collection/Whatever titles factor into the timeline at all?

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Spellplague

The rules change between 3rd and 4th edition was the most significant jump between any edition, and I presume they felt they needed an in-universe explanation for why magic functioned completely differently. Temple of Elemental Evil and Dragonshard take place in other D&D universes and are separate from the timeline.

Demon Stone is set in Faerun, but I don't believe it explicitly establishes the date it takes place in. I don't own the old goldbox stuff and I can't seem to find anyone who is listing out the dates they supposedly take place in. I'm also not familiar with the evolution of the fictional world of Faerun, or if there even was a consistent timeline in the era those games were originally published.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I'm wondering that as well, it seems like a pretty loose timeline. But that answers my question! I just wondered if there was any value in playing them in order. But it seems you can really jump in anywhere. The adventures seem pretty self contained.

I don't remember where (I think it was the official BioWare forums back in the day), but I did read that Shadows of Undrentide takes place at the same time as the original NWN campaign, and Hordes of the Underdark just a very short time after SoU.

The only thing is to play each series in order, so first nwn1 and then nwn2 and so on.
Though even that's not too important, there are some references but nothing major,
the exception being Baldurs Gate, where it's unadvisable to start from 2.

Anyway, Gold Box series, at least Pool of Radiance, was set in forgotten realms,
apparently starting in early 1300's, a bit before Icewind dale II.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Phlan

Goldbox games were awesome and epic... back then... but I can't recommend them today.

I just want to say, I played and beat Pool of Radiance for the first time lately, and compared to other older RPGs it aged incredibly well. The controls are a little awkward, and strongly assume you'll control the game using the numpad. The graphics are super primitive. However, it has probably the single most important modern convenience that a lot of older RPGs lacked. You can save anywhere, in multiple slots.

Why wouldn't you recommend them today? I'm SUPER interested in picking those up if they go on sale...but have never played them, so therefore lack nostalgia. haha.

Then by all means do, they're not going to bankrupt you or anything. :)

From what I recall of Pools, 25 yrs later..

The story is ok, partly good even and the combat is turn based fun.

But while games like fallout or such have a certain graphics/usability barrier for one used to modern games,
they make it worth the effort by providing superior roleplay and storyline. Gold box games are not nearly as good, and the barrier is vastly greater still.

They do have nice touches, like autoloot screen after a fight, something I'd love to see in modern games.
Or like "camp until healed, while autocasting healing spells every day until healed".

But if one is really not bothered by superbad graphics and audio, and does wish to experience a large bit
of rpg history first hand, then there's lot to experience there.

Quick meter: if you can handle Ultima V, you'll enjoy Gold Box games immensely.

When we are speaking about Forgotten Realms, the D&D setting but big dates in game (except between the 2nd and third edition). I think ,the spellplague is the most singular event between editions.

The oldests games (the recently released) I think are the oldest one in dates , before the Time of troubles (which if I understand correctly was used for introducing D&D 2nd edition ), after those games, Darvin answer is the best for fill the gasp.

NWN's OC definitely isn't that good, and it's even more of a disappointment when you consider what BioWare are capable of, i.e. the Baldur's Gate saga. However, I see the OC more as a kind of playable tech demo to show the player what can be done with the Aurora toolset. And as such, it's not actually that bad.