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Baldur's Gate seriesBaldur's Gate vs. Baldur's Gate II?(31 posts)(31 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 30, 2010
Which is better and do I need to play 1 to get the story for 2?
Posted December 31, 2010
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Klumpmeister: Which is better and do I need to play 1 to get the story for 2?
They're both great games. Hard to say which is better, as some prefer 1 and some prefer 2. But BG2 is a continuation of the BG1 story though. You don't absolutely have to play BG1 in order to play 2, but it would be to your advantage if you're concerned about completely understanding the story.
Posted December 31, 2010
plus, you can import characters from BG1 to BG2. Mos def start with 1.
Posted January 01, 2011
I actually digress with the opinions presented. While I think that BG1 is a fine game and totally worth playing, it's also kind of unpolished and unrefined. Because the story of BG1 mostly revolves around you going from Iron Throne lair to Iron Throne lair, I don't think it's necessary for story reasons either.

If you are going to only have the time to play one (they're both long games, after all) play Baldur's Gate II. If you have time to play both, play both. I just consider the second game to be markedly better on almost all fronts, though I prefer the generic D&D adventuring tone of the first game to the more self serious tone of the second one.
Posted January 01, 2011
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ArbitraryWater: I actually digress with the opinions presented. While I think that BG1 is a fine game and totally worth playing, it's also kind of unpolished and unrefined. Because the story of BG1 mostly revolves around you going from Iron Throne lair to Iron Throne lair, I don't think it's necessary for story reasons either.
There's a bit more to it than that. You do find out a lot about your origins, some plot lines are developed in BG1 that carry on to BG2, and many of the companion back stories (as well as the companions themselves)make far more sense if you've played the first one.
Posted January 02, 2011
In my opinion it's far better to get to know your own background bit by bit in BG 1, than getting it presented to you right away in the opening movie of BG 2. Even if you've already played the game and know what's happening to you and why (why you were brought up by a foster father and why assassins target you right away in the prologue of BG1 - and that's only the start), BG 1 still gives so much more fun developing a character you're going to play BG 2 with eventually.

You get to build your character from the ground up if you play BG 1 first, starting with level 1, barely able to survive fighting lowly gibberlings (especially if you're a mage) and getting better slowly. It's far more satisfying when if for instance you are a spellcaster, being able to cast 2nd level spells for the first time, or finding your first Fireball scroll and being able to cast it when you reach level 5 Mage, than it is to start of as a 7 or 8th level character and being to able to cast a multitude of spells right from the start. Seeing a kitless mage advance from being able to cast just 1 spell per day to 2 spells (armour AND sleep memorized!) all the way up to 13 spells memorized (or 10 for a multi-class) is very, very satisfying.

Or for a fighter: the joy of standing toe to toe with a ghast instead of being constantly on the run once your armour class finely gets into the negative and your hit points start climbing, the joy when for the first time a thief manages to hide in shadows even at daylight with clear skies, for clerics to seeing their turn undead crumble skeletons for the first time. Each class has their own kind of abilities which slowly come into blossom when you level up from 1 upwards. All that satisfaction of building up your character you miss upon if you start with 89.000 xp in BG 2 right way.
Post edited January 02, 2011 by DubConqueror
Posted January 02, 2011
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DubConqueror: In my opinion it's far better to get to know your own background bit by bit in BG 1, than getting it presented to you right away in the opening movie of BG 2. Even if you've already played the game and know what's happening to you and why (why you were brought up by a foster father and why assassins target you right away in the prologue of BG1 - and that's only the start), BG 1 still gives so much more fun developing a character you're going to play BG 2 with eventually.

You get to build your character from the ground up if you play BG 1 first, starting with level 1, barely able to survive fighting lowly gibberlings (especially if you're a mage) and getting better slowly. It's far more satisfying when if for instance you are a spellcaster, being able to cast 2nd level spells for the first time, or finding your first Fireball scroll and being able to cast it when you reach level 5 Mage, than it is to start of as a 7 or 8th level character and being to able to cast a multitude of spells right from the start. Seeing a kitless mage advance from being able to cast just 1 spell per day to 2 spells (armour AND sleep memorized!) all the way up to 13 spells memorized (or 10 for a multi-class) is very, very satisfying.

Or for a fighter: the joy of standing toe to toe with a ghast instead of being constantly on the run once your armour class finely gets into the negative and your hit points start climbing, the joy when for the first time a thief manages to hide in shadows even at daylight with clear skies, for clerics to seeing their turn undead crumble skeletons for the first time. Each class has their own kind of abilities which slowly come into blossom when you level up from 1 upwards. All that satisfaction of building up your character you miss upon if you start with 89.000 xp in BG 2 right way.
This
Posted January 02, 2011
I would also recommend going through both games. Taking your character through the whole saga is very satisfying.

That being said Baldur' s Gate 2 has a lot going for it - better graphics (higher resolution and more interesting art direction), more character options (more classes over BG 1 and ability to take kits which are kinda specialized subclasses), more content (loads of lengthy subquests and more interaction with npcs) and the fact that you don't start at first level - your character is fairly competent right out of the gate. Because it's higher level campaign you find more magical equipment and fight more interesting creatures.

Despite that I do kinda prefer BG 1. It has a certain atmosphere that I really like. Exploring wilderness areas (missing from BG 2) and finding lots of cool stuff is very enjoyable. The city of Baldur's Gate is probably one of the best rpg cities ever. The plot gets pretty exciting in the second half when shit starts hitting the fan. In comparison the plot in BG 2 is pretty average and carried almost entirely by the strength of the voice acting. While BG 2 has more refined gameplay, BG 1 is still a good game.

In conclusion, try to play both games. If for some reason you can only play one, picking BG 2 is probably a safer choice.
Posted January 02, 2011
Baldur's Gate is probably my favorite game of all time, and I've played through the series a couple times, though playing through the original BG1 could be a bit of a pain, many areas of gameplay were vastly improved in the second.

Which is, of course, why several modders got together and developed Baldur's Gate Tutu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy. If you have both game's full installation (and this wonderful site gives you that) you can look up either of these mods and play the first game with the interface and gameplay of the second. I don't play BG1 without it anymore, and the mods have been tweaked and worked on for so many years they're damn near perfect by this point.

With the gameplay of the second, I honestly prefer the feel of the first game. BG2 is when everything gets crazy and you suddenly turn into an earth shaking juggernaut of destruction, but I love building up to that from beginning where you're basically the janitor at a library :P
Posted January 02, 2011
I haven't gotten to Baldur's Gate II yet, but the only apparent thing that has over the first game for me is the availability of confusion resistance spells.

Seriously, I'm going through a certain building in Baldur's Gate city now and not being able to resist confusion sucks. The scarcity of Free Action is also a pain.
Posted January 02, 2011
As a person who just completed Baldur's Gate 2 for the first time last night (man is that game awesome or what!), I can vouch for playing both games. I disagree with Reinmar, I though the story in BG2 was absolutely amazing, while the first story was kinda meh.
Posted January 05, 2011
I recommend doing BG1 first.

Years ago I tried jumping into BG2 without ever trying BG1. I found it overwhelming, and I even knew the basic ins and outs of D&D. BG1 is a bit slow in the beginning, but having a very limited choice in spells and abilities that gradually increases really teaches you how to play these games.

BG2 throws you into the game with way more stuff and abilities, and it was just plain too much to grasp at once, and I got frustrated. Playing BG1 teaches you slowly and it's a fun game as well.

Set your options for auto-pause on enemy sighted... this helps immensely. You can add additional auto-pause options as well, but enemy sighted is crucial for me.

Good luck.
Posted January 06, 2011
From a powergaming perspective, play BG2. It's much more satisfying. My first game was BG2, so when I tried BG1, I was frustrated by the way my characters fought. They are so weak, you need to tip toe around everything, even gibberlings. This can be part of the excitement though but it's also very time consuming.

The drawback of both games is the time it takes to walk, but luckily there is a cheat option, where you can use Ctrl-J I think to move to a new spot instantly, once you've activated the cheat. That saves the day, but I use it only when you know there's no monsters lurking.
Posted January 07, 2011
Personally I found BG2 much more enjoyable to play, but I did play and enjoy BG1 as well.

BG1 sets the story, BG2 lets you go nuts and have fun.

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potato_head: The drawback of both games is the time it takes to walk, but luckily there is a cheat option, where you can use Ctrl-J I think to move to a new spot instantly, once you've activated the cheat. That saves the day, but I use it only when you know there's no monsters lurking.
I'd actually avoid doing this until you've played the game through at least once. Not because of any purist ideals or anything, but because you can skip event triggers doing this. Once you learn where they are, go nuts.
Posted January 07, 2011
I really prefer BG1
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Baldur's Gate seriesBaldur's Gate vs. Baldur's Gate II?(31 posts)(31 posts)
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