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I didn't plan this, but I got tired of KOTOR's performance on my Nexus 7, so caved in and got me a Galaxy Tab S 8.4.

So my resolution just went up to 2560x1600. Kind of an overkill in my book, and will be hard for games which try to use the native resolution, but I'm not complaining. It's certainly the highest resolution I've ever had and it's a nice looking screen.

I haven't installed much, but I did install KOTOR, transferred my saved files and tested gameplay for a few seconds. The game boots very quickly and runs smoothly with all graphical options on. On my Nexus 7 it had periods of a few seconds of getting stuck, which was terribly annoying (I suspect that it was due to lack of RAM). Now I'll get more gaming and less waiting.

So now I have a new gaming machine, and because Baldur's Gate II is on sale at Google Play I also bought that. I guess I won't be going back to PC gaming for a long while. (Is it okay to play BG2 without playing BG1, or should I buy BG1 and play that first?

(As for my plan, it was to wait for Cherry Trail release and buy a Windows/Android tablet with Cherry Trail, 4GB of RAM and an 8" 2048x1536 display. I assume there will be such tablets. But it's kind of like I caved in and bought a Phonem II X3 PC before Intel's first Core i5 was released. Performance wise not waiting tends to be a mistake but I hope that this tablet will last me a year or two.)
I think the plot of BG2 does not rely too much on the plot of BG1 but there's surely someone here who can give more reliable information.
It would be nice if GOG offered the Android versions also for games which have one...
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jdsgn: I think the plot of BG2 does not rely too much on the plot of BG1 but there's surely someone here who can give more reliable information.
There are companions from BG1 that return in BG2 and there are some references, but nothing that can't be read up beforehand. Still BG1 is a pretty good rpg, so worth playing.
Post edited January 29, 2015 by blotunga
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blotunga: It would be nice if GOG offered the Android versions also for games which have one...
That would surely get me to buy more here. That would also get me to play more game on Android, if GOG can whip them into DRM-free shape. Many Android versions of games are full of permissions to get access to your info, and that IMO doesn't sit well with the DRM-free culture, even if the games themselves can install and run without an internet connection. I really don't get why DotEmu sells Little Big Adventure DRM-free for PC, and yet wants to find accounts on my device when running on Android. There are some permissions I don't want to grant games, and this means I have a smaller choice of games to play (though I've given up on insisting on some permissions, like view wifi connection; got to play something).
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ET3D: Many Android versions of games are full of permissions to get access to your info, and that IMO doesn't sit well with the DRM-free culture, even if the games themselves can install and run without an internet connection.
This is why i don't like android. Asking for permissions like wifi isn't a big deal (in fact it may need access if it has multiplayer elements or is a multiplayer game) but asking for permission to access my accounts or photos or anything personal is way too much for me. I don't have a tablet and i don't plan to buy one, but i have a smartphone already and for sometime now i think if it would be better to install CyanogenMod, at least in terms of security.

Anyway, back to BG; i think it is a good thing to play BG 1 before BG 2 because you'll get more attached (or more connected - don't know what word to use but you get the meaning!) to the characters. When you start BG 2, there are some characters in the first screen;

- Who are they? They know you but do you know them?
- What is this little rodent?
- Later you find people that remember you; wouldn't it have been better if you actually remember them too?

Surely you can search for anything in the wiki so you don't get lost, but i think that way you break the immersion.

TD;DR You can play BG 2 without playing BG 1. But i'm 100% sure that if you play BG 1, you'll enjoy the story of BG 2 and the characters better! ;-)
I played BG2 without BG1, but I regret it a bit because:
- it starts with a big spoiler for BG1.
- you have way less time to adapt to the system and difficulty.
- I could have imported chars, skills and equipment from BG1 (and also enabled a secret item).
- you'll miss some references (events, locations, encounters).
Post edited January 29, 2015 by phaolo
so moving on from 800x600 then ?
Thanks for the BG comments. I guess I'll buy BG1 too, though I'll wait for a sale (it's not like I will get to it any time soon, I have enough games to play; even KOTOR will take me months to finish). I planned to play BG1 anyway at some point. I have the original boxed, bought at release, but never played it.
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ET3D: Many Android versions of games are full of permissions to get access to your info, and that IMO doesn't sit well with the DRM-free culture, even if the games themselves can install and run without an internet connection.
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Vythonaut: This is why i don't like android.
In some ways it's better than playing on the PC. At least you know what the app is trying to access. A PC program could go over all your files and you wouldn't know it. If there's a problem with Android it's that it doesn't let you further limit the permissions to suit yourself. I actually saw that functionality in a custom ROM I installed on my backup tablet, but even there it wasn't able to do it for all apps for some reason. If it was standard functionality, I think it would have been a better system than what desktop OS's offer.
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snowkatt: so moving on from 800x600 then ?
1280x800. So I have 4 x the Nexus 7 resolution.
Post edited January 29, 2015 by ET3D
feh 800x600 superior ! ;p
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ET3D: Thanks for the BG comments. I guess I'll buy BG1 too,
I'll second what phaolo said and strongly suggest you play BG1 first. It's a great game, and you'll enjoy the storyline in BG2 a lot more.
By the way, unfortunately performance isn't all I thought it would be. Had to turn down graphical options to get rid of low frame rates, which are probably a result of the game rendering at the native resolution.
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ET3D: By the way, unfortunately performance isn't all I thought it would be. Had to turn down graphical options to get rid of low frame rates, which are probably a result of the game rendering at the native resolution.
told you ! ;p
Played BG2 before BG1, don't feel like I missed anything . Think of it as a prequel :P
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Tauto: 2016
Would you kindly stop bumping old threads please?
800x600 still superior !