Baldur's gate 1 or 2 : Which one should I get?

halkun

I just let my cousin know I have never played the Balder's Gate series and he took the news rather.... poorly.

So which one should I get? Are there any downsides? how does it compare to, say, Planescape? How about Neverwinter Nights? (I own the first NWN)

Turkson

Get both. BG2 is the better of the two. But get both.

Bullio

Get both and run BG1 in Tutu.

Tossrock

2 is much better than 1

BigDes

Baldur's Gate I and II are better games than Planescape but the story isn't as strong, but decent enough

You kind of need to play the first one to get the full story which is a shame because II and Throne of Bhaal are the best, I is good but it feels a little mechanical.

It's similarish to NWN but it uses an older system of D&D (including the dreaded thac0, remember the lower the number of your armor, the better it is) and unlike NWN you get a full party

TIFunkalicious

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/117717/baldurs-gate-or-the-reason-you-buy-a-space-hamster-in-mass-effect/p1

will help you get set up with either

Hedgethorn

BG2 is immeasurably better in every way: story, combat, sidequests, characters...everything.

BG1 is good, but it suffers from the fact that low-level D&D combat is slow and (in my opinion) it's a bit directionless. Despite all the side quests, BG2 has a plot thread that keeps you moving through the world; BG1's plot doesn't really pick up until well over halfway through the game.

My advice: unless you have 150-200+ hours to devote to playing through both (plus Throne of Bhaal, the final game in the trilogy), just read a Wiki on the story of Baldur's Gate and move right on to Baldur's Gate 2.

LorctheOrc

2 but get both. BG 1 is awesome.

Darlan

Just so you know, playing the first is obviously the more complete option, but you don't have to have played it to get the plot and everything, I played the second game first years ago and didn't really have any problems. In fact, I recommend just going for the second one and coming back to the first only if you really feel the need for more, there is tons of playtime there as it is and it's a much better game.

Adellios

If you buy the D&D Anthology you get both and the expansions.

EDIT: I'd have to say BG2 if you have to pick one only as well.

sportzboytjw

22222222222222222222

1 is cool and all, but 2 is mindblowing. I never finished 1 (or felt that bad about it). I've beaten 2 like 4 times and am playing it again right now.

Hahnsoo1

It takes a while to get started in BG1 (ugh), but once it gets going, it's great. Just keep pushing forward, getting to new locations as soon as possible, and you can complete it rather quickly. I think my last "rush" through the game was 10 hours, which isn't too bad. You can easily spend 40 hours exploring everything, though, especially with Tales of the Sword Coast.

BG2 starts you off IMMEDIATELY in the action, with the entire opening chapter being a jailbreak scene. It can be a bit difficult to get through, but if you've played Planescape, it shouldn't be too bad.

The engine is the same as Planescape, but it plays a bit smoother than Planescape due to more conventional characters and better scaling on the encounters.

But yeah, you should suspend your current backlog and playing schedule and play both of them right now. Drop any other game that you're playing and play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.

anoffday

I've been so close to getting BG2 so many times. I probably should have got it during the gog Christmas sale, but I had so many games on steam and not too mention PS3 games I got for Christmas. This combined with my current huge backlog, and I decided another rpg probably wouldn't be a good idea. I'll pick it up eventually.

Bluefist

Grab both, I grabbed it again in a very cheap retail pack a few years pack that had BG1 & BG2 + both expansions on DVDs.

eelektrik

I could never get into BG1 or 2 long enough to finish them. The story wasnt good enough to hook me, and the gameplay is still boring 2nd edition D&D which does not translate well to computer RPGs. Planescape was the much better game solely because its story was about a thousand times more interesting and thus made the boring gameplay worth suffering through.

Bigity

Bullio wrote:

Get both and run BG1 in Tutu.

Yup, with some choice mods.

EVOL

Get both. BG1 starts out kinda slow, but it has a sense of exploration that is pretty lacking in BG2. BG2 is a lot more focused, but you're confined to a few areas(that are pretty damn huge and detailed admittedly). Plus, you'll feel much more attached to the characters.

Aegeri

Get both. Play BG1 and import the character into BG2. By far the best way of doing it.

DisruptorX2

They are different sorts of games. Baldur's Gate 1 is like if an Elder Scrolls style game was isometric. You wander the wilderness, explore ruins, fight monsters, collect loot. The atmosphere is fantastic, the game is fairly hard (in the lovely AD&D "YOU JUST FAILED YOUR SAVE VS DEATH" sort of way), the setting is fantastic (they made Forgotten Realms fantastic? Wait what?)

Baldur's Gate 2 has even better dungeons, but it doesn't have huge wildernesses to explore or the feeling of just wandering through a fantasy world. It does, however, have the single most interesting RPG city to explore and quest in. So it makes up for it. 2 has a better story, more fleshed out companions, and is generally considered a better game (certainly by me). Its also huge.

If you were to just play one, its no contest, really, you'd play the second. However, the first is a very under-rated game and I would suggest you play it as well.

If you've played Planescape, you know what the UI and graphics will be like. Perfect UI, Beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds, mediocre sprites. Planescape actually has better sprites.

Its not really like NWN. NWN is just a construction kit for online play.

SoundsPlush

I'd recommend playing them in order just so you know who the hell the three characters you start with in BG2 are, since their conditions in BG2 will be much more meaningful if you know where they came from in BG1.

TOGSolid

halkun wrote:

I just let my cousin know I have never played the Balder's Gate series and he took the news rather.... poorly.

So which one should I get? Are there any downsides? how does it compare to, say, Planescape? How about Neverwinter Nights? (I own the first NWN)

Get them both and their respective expansion packs. Then starting with BG1, take your one character all the way through all 4 games. Only then can you call yourself a member of the tribe.

Anzekay

Absolutely both, and both their expansions. BG1 will get you more invested in your player character, and then number 2 expands the characterization of your party around your player character. Number 1 will strike the fear of fighting tough monsters into you that you wont really get to the same extent in number 2, and then number two will give you more options to build upon that terror of combat.

I honestly think anyone would be doing themselves a disservice to just read BG1's story on wikipedia and then play BG2.

Spoiler:

Also you wont get the golden pantaloons in BG2 without getting them in BG1!

SoundsPlush wrote:

I'd recommend playing them in order just so you know who the hell the three characters you start with in BG2 are, since their conditions in BG2 will be much more meaningful if you know where they came from in BG1.

Also this, and many other characters who pop up in BG2 as well.

TOGSolid

I dunno, Throne of Bhaal's encounters were definitely of the "YOU WANT ME TO FIGHT WHAT!?" variety. I'd say it's the hardest segment of the bunch even with your characters being epic leveled, blinged out, shit wreckers. Though seeing as how it's the last chunk of the story, the difficulty makes sense.

Baldur's Gate 2 has even better dungeons, but it doesn't have huge wildernesses to explore or the feeling of just wandering through a fantasy world. It does, however, have the single most interesting RPG city to explore and quest in. So it makes up for it. 2 has a better story, more fleshed out companions, and is generally considered a better game (certainly by me). Its also huge.

Spoiler:

It also has that incredibly awesome CSI: Icewind Dale quest chain that is worth the price of admission.

Anzekay

Man, there are some encounters I remember from BG1 that terrified me even more than anything I encountered in BG2. Mostly because the capabilities of my party were so much smaller and you had to really, really, think hard in order to overcome them (or use cheap tricks, if you were lame ) or come back at a higher level. BG2 was more of a case of "YOU WANT ME TO FIGH WHAT!?" and then you get in there and figure out just what complex combination of spells, abilities and tactics you need to overcome it.

BG1 examples:

Spoiler:

Kobold commandos in the Nashkarl mines at level 1, Ettercaps and then Wyverns in cloakwood when all you have to combat poison is antidote potions- no spells for it yet. Basilisks when you only have enough mirror eye potions for two of your characters.

Of course this is pretty subjective, in the end, but even without this I still feel that playing BG2 without playing BG1 is just doing yourself a disservice.

Karl

Get both.

Kiss goodbye to all your friends and family, because they won't be seeing you for awhile.

Thirith

BigDes wrote:

Baldur's Gate I and II are better games than Planescape...

IMO that's true if game=RPG combat. If what you enjoyed about Planescape was being able to be a character, from all out evil to pragmatic to goody two-shoes (which is also gameplay), you'll find very little of that in Baldur's Gate and more in the sequel, though the style is much more standard high fantasy. To be honest, I found Baldur's Gate somewhat boring when I first played it, though it was good enough after a long RPG drought, but Baldur's Gate II is huge and pretty cool, provided you're happy with generic but well executed fantasy. If what you're looking for is elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, dragons, beholders, that sort of thing, you can't do much better than BG2.

Tommatt

I could never get BG1 to work inside of BG2's engine. Tried it a few times just never worked. Have the BG1 + expansion + 2 + expansion DVDs.

If you're going to play one 2 hands down.

But it'd probably be worth it to play through both. I got pretty far in 2 and decided I wanted a character from one and quit it to restart.

TOGSolid

Anzekay wrote:

Man, there are some encounters I remember from BG1 that terrified me even more than anything I encountered in BG2. Mostly because the capabilities of my party were so much smaller and you had to really, really, think hard in order to overcome them (or use cheap tricks, if you were lame ) or come back at a higher level. BG2 was more of a case of "YOU WANT ME TO FIGH WHAT!?" and then you get in there and figure out just what complex combination of spells, abilities and tactics you need to overcome it.

BG1 examples:

Spoiler:

Kobold commandos in the Nashkarl mines at level 1, Ettercaps and then Wyverns in cloakwood when all you have to combat poison is antidote potions- no spells for it yet. Basilisks when you only have enough mirror eye potions for two of your characters.

Of course this is pretty subjective, in the end, but even without this I still feel that playing BG2 without playing BG1 is just doing yourself a disservice.

I did have a kind of powerful dude in BG1 so I never felt all that stressed. Since that game operated under 2nd edition dumbfuckery it meant that my main, who was a Bard and leveled using the Rogue's XP table, was rolling through the levels way faster than the rest of my party. To add insult to injury, since 2nd edition Bards used the Wizard's spell list for their stuff, I was basically shitting overpowered magic missiles on everything's face all day long. In ToB you'd think the power curve would finally result in my Bard not being silly as piss, but that class also got some really wacky stuff for its epic level abilities.

*sigh* I miss 2nd Edition Bards. 3rd edition ones were kinda fun but there's just something hilarious about dropping fireballs on things while your party's wizard is still trying to figure out how his wand works.

Anzekay

Yeah I played a Fighter/Mage.

That should be all I need to say.

He was sort of brokenly good in TOB though.

TOGSolid

Anzekay wrote:

Yeah I played a Fighter/Mage.

That should be all I need to say.

He was sort of brokenly good in TOB though.

*salute*
You've got brass balls sir. I could imagine just how redonkulous that would get later on power wise. I remember Jaheira was an engine of destruction at that point too. I was just a lad when I played the BG series though so I didn't quite have the patience required to start off dual classed.

Blinks77

TOGSolid wrote:

Anzekay wrote:

Yeah I played a Fighter/Mage.

That should be all I need to say.

He was sort of brokenly good in TOB though.

*salute*
You've got brass balls sir. I could imagine just how redonkulous that would get later on power wise. I remember Jaheira was an engine of destruction at that point too. I was just a lad when I played the BG series though so I didn't quite have the patience required to start off dual classed.

Ah, wonderful memories of ToB Aerie. All sweet and soft. You know.. while she's obliterating everything within eyesight.

TOGSolid

Urgh, she was just too cutesy for me. Jaheira and Viconia ftw because you just gotta love the badass warrior gals.

Anzekay

Yeah I played a Fighter/Mage.

TOGSolid wrote:

Anzekay wrote:

Yeah I played a Fighter/Mage.

That should be all I need to say.

He was sort of brokenly good in TOB though.

*salute*
You've got brass balls sir. I could imagine just how redonkulous that would get later on power wise. I remember Jaheira was an engine of destruction at that point too. I was just a lad when I played the BG series though so I didn't quite have the patience required to start off dual classed.

Yeah leveling so slowly in BG1 hurt him so much, but he was also my only mage so I just played him as that.

Then in BG2 he slowly moved into the true Battle Mage style. Cast spells, buff self, destroy everything with two handed sword and never ever die.

AspectVoid

Both. They are both great games. BG2 is better than BG1 in every conceivable way, but you get more from BG2 (returning characters, followed up story arcs, important events) if you play BG1 first.

TOGSolid

AspectVoid wrote:

Both. They are both great games. BG2 is better than BG1 in every conceivable way, but you get more from BG2 (returning characters, followed up story arcs, important events) if you play BG1 first.

Spoiler:

And Golden Pantaloons.

Alfred J. Kwak

BG2 is still the most complete and masterfully crafted RPG that I've played.

McHoger

Honestly I liked the plot of the first game more. But I'll freely admit that overall the second is better. You should really play both though.

Free Giraffe Rides!!!

Torment has unmatched writing quality. BG2 is nowhere near on that level. However, it's still much better-written than 99% of games out there, and the story is quite good. Gameplay-wise, BG2 combat is very tactical, challenging, and fun, and the dungeon delving is great. Play BG1 or don't, but just make sure you play BG2.

You asked about a comparison to NWN - if you're referring to the base SP campaign in NWN vs. that in BG2, it's the difference between a fetid rotting corpse covered in squirming maggots and filet mignon.

Axen

Bigity wrote:

Bullio wrote:

Get both and run BG1 in Tutu.

Yup, with some choice mods.

Echoing this sentiment, there is really no reason not to.


While I certianly agree that BG2 is better in just about every way, there is still something special about BG1 that keeps bringing me back.

Smrtnik

Both, without a doubt. If you do play bg1, though, be ready to die a lot very early on to wolves, bears, and such, especially if you make a caster.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Two is the better game. Even with tutu fixing most of the old engine/display issues, BG1 is kind of a slog for the first several hours as you deal with being a level retarded 2e character.

I would play 2, and if you really like it and find yourself wanting more, go ahead and play the first one too.

Torment is also really great but apparently it's tough to get it to run on modern computers.