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I don't "get" Baldur's Gate II

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Posts

  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    so my adventures in baldur's gate ended pretty quickly since the installer won't run

    Try copying the whole bloody thing to your hard drive, and installing it from there?

    Alternately:
    http://www.bioware.com/games/shadows_amn/support/faq/index.html?faqID=40#1.02

    zhen_rogue on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    no luck I'm afraid

    Tube on
  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    no luck I'm afraid

    Hmm, i'd suggest trying to install BG2 and the ToB expansion, see if those take or not.

    I'm not going to make any friends this way, but Bladur's Gate 1 was boring.
    I rank BG2 in th top 5 games i've ever played in life, period, but BG1 just felt stagnant, monotinous, bleak, and boring to me.
    You could honestly start from BG2, and would only be missing the occasional in-game reference.
    Frankly, the designers assumed many people playing BG2 would be new to the series, and provided dialogue/plot/backstory choice options accordingly during your playthrough.

    zhen_rogue on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    I started installing Arcanum instead because I got that as well. I'll try BG 2 after that. The problem is, there's nothing for me to work with. I don't get an error, I don't get anything. She just don't load.

    Tube on
  • No Great NameNo Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    are you running it as an administrator?

    No Great Name on
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  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    Yes.

    Tube on
  • No Great NameNo Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    compatibility modes?

    No Great Name on
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  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    An excellent idea! Unfortunately it didn't seem to change anything. I tried windows 98 compatibility mode :(

    Tube on
  • widowsonwidowson Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    zhen_rogue wrote: »
    no luck I'm afraid

    Hmm, i'd suggest trying to install BG2 and the ToB expansion, see if those take or not.

    I'm not going to make any friends this way, but Bladur's Gate 1 was boring.
    I rank BG2 in th top 5 games i've ever played in life, period, but BG1 just felt stagnant, monotinous, bleak, and boring to me.
    You could honestly start from BG2, and would only be missing the occasional in-game reference.
    Frankly, the designers assumed many people playing BG2 would be new to the series, and provided dialogue/plot/backstory choice options accordingly during your playthrough.


    My big problem with B-Gate one was that it got balls-hard in some places with beating the game requiring some pretty lame powergaming to pull off.

    But yeah, if someone hasn't played either, skip the first one and go straight to the second. Dragon Age comes *close* to beating B-Gate 2, but not quite.

    widowson on
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  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    The problem is, there's nothing for me to work with. I don't get an error, I don't get anything. She just don't load.

    Several other forums had people mentioning the same problem.
    Fixes included:
    -rebooting
    -disabling a running process called "VOIPlay"
    -realizing that you were trying to install this on a mac
    -updating installshield
    -downloading the "Tutu" mod (that forces an installation of BG1 to run in BG2's engine, which is more stable)

    zhen_rogue on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    Awesome I will try those in that order thanks for the help.

    Tube on
  • FiarynFiaryn Omnicidal Madman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I'm going to agree with widowson and zhen. Baldurs Gate 1 is really only enjoyable if you're a big fan of 2nd Edition AD&D combat.

    For everyone else...there's really not much appeal. Baldurs Gate 2 is one of my favorite games ever but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in spite of the combat.

    Fiaryn on
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  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I think we can all agree that Arcanum is a superior choice over BG1, regardless of errors.
    Maybe your own computer is trying to tell you something.

    zhen_rogue on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    Huh, it just needed me to reboot. That's so strange. Thanks for your help guys, you're a lot better than the official forums from what I can tell.

    Tube on
  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Huh, it just needed me to reboot. That's so strange. Thanks for your help guys, you're a lot better than the official forums from what I can tell.

    Grats!
    We'll look forward to hearing from you again sometime in February.

    zhen_rogue on
  • StollsStolls Brave Corporate Logo Chicago, ILRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Honestly, I think the recommended order for the Baldur's Gate series should be BG2 -> expansion, then a run through the series entire starting with BG1 if you really want to know how it got started. If you're not familiar with the ground rules of the game, the first game will pretty much destroy you. You'll give your all just trying to survive, let alone clear, one map, and then find there's another two just between you and the next town. And then you wander off the beaten path a bit and OH GOD THE BEARS ARE VERY ANGRY WHY DOES NATURE HATE ME SO

    BG2 is a lot friendlier to newcomers, in short.

    Anyhow, good luck, Tube!

    Stolls on
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  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    The other thing is that BG1's story is mostly pretty boring. Considering the protagonist, you would have thought they'd find ways to give you more interesting things to do.

    Clear the kobolds out of the mine? what am I, the city guard?

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
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  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Is there a patch to prevent forced reloads when the main character died? That's the one thing I preferred about IWD/IWD2 and something I still don't understand why they didn't allow in BG/BG2. It's not like I'm not going to raise the main PC.

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
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  • riotslugriotslug Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    widowson wrote: »
    But yeah, if someone hasn't played either, skip the first one and go straight to the second. Dragon Age comes *close* to beating B-Gate 2, but not quite.
    I don't really understand the love for Dragon Age, I'd say the vibe in it is much closer to NWN than anything else... boring story, cut and paste environments for the most part... graphically it actually looks real nice in places if you zoom out to tactical view, which makes me think it was designed that way all along. Never looks nice in those faded deep roads lego-piece corridors though, that place seemed really exciting when you got the custom map for it and everything until you realised it was just generic corridor after generic corridor of deepstalkers.

    I'm struggling through BGI at the moment, even with a really min-maxed PC a lot of the random encounters are totally :? and involve multiple reloads hoping for a spell to work or for my fighters not to get crit'd and die.

    A nice tactic I've found which saved my ass in a bunch of seemingly impossible battles is to use the charm spell and quickly make the charmed NPC drop all their crap or blast off their best spells away from your buddies, leaving them defenceless. Unfortunately, charm is pretty iffy so as with most things in BGI this tactic involves quickloads galore.

    If you think you're up to it I would give BGI a go for a while (especially as it comes in the four pack), you don't necessarily have to finish it but it gave me a good feel for the basis of BGII and it has its own charmingly old-school vibe which, while clumsy compared to BGII, it can safely call its own.

    P.S. Don't forget to memorise as many charges of sleep as possible.

    riotslug on
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  • SinWithSebastianSinWithSebastian Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Aegis wrote: »
    That reminds me of something I always forget to do: give my melee characters a non-magical weapon for rainy days.
    This won't work for very long as the game progresses since you'll be fighting casters with natural immunity to un-enchanted weapons and so forth

    SinWithSebastian on
  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Huh, it just needed me to reboot. That's so strange. Thanks for your help guys, you're a lot better than the official forums from what I can tell.

    I would recommend trying Tutu anyway, or at least a widescreen mod. You can probably find either at pocketplane.net or gibberlings3.net.

    Don't forget to check Bioware's official site for patches, especially for BG2+ToB.

    Rami on
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  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Aegis wrote: »
    That reminds me of something I always forget to do: give my melee characters a non-magical weapon for rainy days.
    This won't work for very long as the game progresses since you'll be fighting casters with natural immunity to un-enchanted weapons and so forth

    You only really need them for magic golems, which i'm pretty sure are in TOB only.

    TheStig on
    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • SinWithSebastianSinWithSebastian Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    TheStig wrote: »
    You only really need them for magic golems, which i'm pretty sure are in TOB only.
    I had merrily forgotten those blighters D: They're almost as annoying as the "reward" you get for that lich battle in ToB, Vongoethe or something.

    Yeah I'm a level 20-something powerhouse, I really need a ring of poison immunity

    Ughhh

    SinWithSebastian on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    I played a little bit of BG but the interface is really bad so I might skip straight to the sequel.

    Tube on
  • RobmanRobman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I played a little bit of BG but the interface is really bad so I might skip straight to the sequel.

    You aren't missing much

    Robman on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    I was mostly worried about missing out on characters and stuff. Honestly though the game is what, 50 hours long? That's too long to play a game that plays like ass.

    Tube on
  • FiarynFiaryn Omnicidal Madman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I was mostly worried about missing out on characters and stuff. Honestly though the game is what, 50 hours long? That's too long to play a game that plays like ass.

    Honestly the characters don't have much character in BG1. They have personality when you first meet them, but then spend the rest of the game pretty much totally mute unlike in the sequel. If your main draw is characters and story...you're not missing much ditching the first game.

    Fiaryn on
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  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    so the plot is
    sarevok is a dick, you're the son of the devil, you beat him though, it's all good, insert game 2

    Tube on
  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    It's like the original Mario Brothers.
    Just because 2 was fantastic and a super-hit, doesn't mean going back to 1 will be a good experience.
    1 kinda sucked even in '83.

    zhen_rogue on
  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    BG is an average game, look up a story summary and you can skip it no problem. Although if you use TuTu you can play it in the BG2 engine with the nicer interface and stuff.

    Of course the start of BG2 is the worst part of the game so you may not be much happier initially.

    so the plot is
    sarevok is a dick, you're the son of the devil, you beat him though, it's all good, insert game 2

    Also
    Sarevok was also a son of Bhaal, there are lots of them.

    Rami on
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  • SinWithSebastianSinWithSebastian Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    so the plot is
    sarevok is a dick, you're the son of the devil, you beat him though, it's all good, insert game 2
    Plus some economic intrigue that you kinda solve, but that doesn't directly relate to the character so who cares

    SinWithSebastian on
  • zhen_roguezhen_rogue Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    so the plot is
    sarevok is a dick, you're the son of the devil, you beat him though, it's all good, insert game 2

    Honestly, you can watch the FMV intro to BG2, and gain everything you possibly need to know about 1, in an attractive, well-narrated synopsis that's arguably more fun than playing BG1 cover to cover.

    zhen_rogue on
  • FiarynFiaryn Omnicidal Madman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    so the plot is
    sarevok is a dick, you're the son of the devil, you beat him though, it's all good, insert game 2

    Pretty much.
    You're both children of Bhaal, the dead God of Murder. Sarevok planned to enact death on such a large scale as to ignite the divine essence within himself and become the new God of Murder. Specifically he was going to provoke a war between Amn and Baldurs Gate. You kicked his ass, yay.

    There may or may not be other Bhaalspawn out there though is the thing, and the purpose for which your father seeded you in the first place is still unknown.

    Fiaryn on
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  • CherrnCherrn Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    The only reason to play BG 1 (story-wise) is because of Sarevok. Most of the NPCs don't really have much dialogue beyond their first introduction, but Sarevok's role in the later games becomes much more poignant if you've played BG1.

    Not worth 30+ hours if you aren't enjoying it, though.

    Cherrn on
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  • No Great NameNo Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    BG2 is maybe my favorite story told via game ever

    No Great Name on
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  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Let's be fair, here.
    Baldur's Gate was a fantastic game back when the second one didn't exist.

    Xagarath on
  • RobmanRobman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Man Jon Irenicus is the best bad guy ever in a videya game (At least that's what I thought when my 16 year old self played through BG2 and then TOB)

    And holy fucking cocks the epilogues for the characters remain some of the most epic, well written text I've ever read in a video game. You spend 100+ hours getting to know these characters, and then BAM game over, here's how they lived their lives after the final boss encounter.

    Robman on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2009
    I died basically as soon as the game started. I died as early as it is possible to die.

    Tube on
  • FiarynFiaryn Omnicidal Madman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Jon Irenicus is one of the best bad guys in a video game ever.

    But to be fair a lot of that is less attributable to the writing of Irenicus himself (which isn't bad mind you) and more to the sheer holy shit strength of his voice acting.

    Fiaryn on
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  • RobmanRobman Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I died basically as soon as the game started. I died as early as it is possible to die.

    Welcome to Level 1 in 2nd ed. AD&D

    Enjoy the Mage with 3 HP getting raped by a kobold. Oh, they only give you like 60 XP per kill so you've got to kill about 120 of the fuckers before you hit level 2, where you might get 6 HP

    Which is still low enough to die in a single arrow hit

    Man there's really some shit I don't miss about 2nd ed.

    Robman on
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