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Baldur's Gate's Overhaul


WaywardSon
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Haha, I was dying for this thread to start. I reckon I'm one of the biggest Baldur's Gate fan in existence. I just beat it again, chalking me up to about 6 times. Definitely buying this on day 1. I even beat this game as a damned Wild Mage (worst decision ever).

This is truly like my favourite rpg ever. What a fantastic game.

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Not trolling or anything here, but why is this series so adored? I've played through both BG games, and I really didn't find much there. I thought they were decent and not much more.

WARNING: OPINION ALERT -- I found the gameplay to be awfully boring (although the depth and strategy of magic usage was pretty impressive), and the story wasn't anything to write home about. Just kinda seemed like a vanilla, cliched fantasy novel's plot that unfolded entirely too slowly.

What is it about these games that really impresses you?

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Probably the main graphics won't be touched much, just increased resolution and improved interface. 3D graphics are easier to improve where you can simply increase texture size, and smooth out the models while keeping the rest like animation intact. For Baldur's Gate's pre-rendered graphics everything would need to be redrawn.

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What is it about these games that really impresses you?

For one, they're fucking huge. Seriously, there is probably more to do in BG2/ToB than there is in Skyrim (barring the infinitely repeatable quests), and the quality feels much more consistent throughout. Dungeons like Spellhold, The Underdark, Watcher's Keep (not to mention the huge sewer system underneath Athkatla) are all super memorable and had tons of awesome setpieces and little subplots contained within. The only thing in recent memory that comes close to rivaling that experience are the Deep Roads in Dragon Age but that still wasn't quite the same.

What's more is that the quality of sidequests was just as good, if not better than the main plot. Umar Hills, the Dragons Den, the Cult of the Eyeless, etc. were all skippable, but were just so elaborate and rewarding that it was almost never worth doing so unless you were explicitly trying to speedrun the game.

The combat system was pretty damn solid for the time too, having a good balance of complexity and playability, though due to its very open nature it was possible to cheese a lot of the tougher fights with summons etc.

The plot wasn't much better than a typical fantasy novel, but for a videogame that's still a pretty damn high standard, and it served its purpose well enough. Irenicus, for example, was just a really effective antagonist when taken in the context of a videogame, especially considering that due to the technical limitations of using a 2D engine, his entire character hinged on the writing.

That said, I don't think it's really fair to compare videogame writing to novels or movies because those media have had a lot more time to establish themselves, and the narrative is typically the main focus, rather than just a single aspect of the experience like in the case of videogames.

E: What am I even talking about. Name me one RPG that lets you be a mage class that has a random chance of completely borking a spell and getting a random effect along the lines of blowing yourself up or temporarily changing your gender.

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Okay, these are a few of the reasons I adore this game.

First, I guess that the story didn't strike a chord with you, but I remember it being pretty epic for me. Given, I was quite young on my first playthrough so that might account for why I really liked it. I thought it was paced fairly well myself, and perhaps it's my nostalgia kicking in for all my more recent plays, but I still like it

Next, I don't think they jerk you around so much with the choice system that western rpg's like to flaunt nowadays. You could choose to kill some shmoe to make your quest easier, and the worst you would have is a couple reputation points drop which is easily rectified by a few gold pieces. Then after that choice you are done - you don't have to maintain a certain type of choice constantly for certain bonuses. You can just make single choices and be done with it. That, I dig.

Next, as previously mentioned, that world is friggin huge. There are so many things to do. Though I have played through it ton's there are still minor quests that I still discover each time through. There is so much to do and I love that.

Also, one of my favourite things about the game is the humour that it maintains. Though the game I think is very serious when it wants to be, it has made me literally laugh out loud on several occasions.

And after saying that I thought it was humerous, I will also say that I thought it could be sorta dark at times. I remember (in Baldurs Gate I) one random-ass quest where I simply went to the bottom of a waterfall to see if a girls cat was alive. It wasn't. You bring the corpse back up and give it to her, and she will give you a pitiable amount, and if you have a high enough charisma, a scroll as she walks away with her cat corpse. I remember thinking that that was pretty dark, and there are a lot of examples like that. I sort of appreciated that, especially now when there are games like Dragon Age that are advertised as "dark" rpgs, and really aren't.

I LOVE the infinity engine.

Plenty of characters, classes, and dual classes, etc. Lot's of different ways to go through, all of them viable in their own way (except f#cking wild mage).

I think all these things are done especially well in Baldur's Gate, and that is why it still remains my favourite western rpg to this day (even after playing Skyrim).

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I've never played Baldur's Gate and whether or not I enjoy it now will depend entirely on whether or not it's one of those super fucking slow and boring WRPGs that is primarily designed for people who get boners over numbers

eg. KOTOR has a pretty good story, good characters and an excellently crafted universe, but I can't fucking stand playing it because watching my Jedi take several dozen lightsaber swings to kill some stupid fucking crab monster is less fun than watching painted grass drygrow

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