Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

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Stark
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Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Stark »

I'm interested because apparently they tried to make it less painful to play, which should let more people get past the awful interface and structure (and ridiculous installs these days) to actually experience the content.

I know a lot of people here really like BG, so I hope someone's played it.
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by TheHammer »

Stark wrote:I'm interested because apparently they tried to make it less painful to play, which should let more people get past the awful interface and structure (and ridiculous installs these days) to actually experience the content.

I know a lot of people here really like BG, so I hope someone's played it.
How was it re-released? On Steam or some other means?
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TheFeniX
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by TheFeniX »

This is news to me as well. It's up for sale on the Official Site. I may have to give this a go once the holidays are over.

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Stark
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Stark »

Oh, sorry. It's been 'enhanced' somehow and released on mobile and PC. I believe it has some small amount of new content.
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Zinegata »

Thanks for reminding me to check the local store to see if they have it :D.
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Thanas
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Thanas »

It now works on the Ipad, which is a great idea. Other than that, they mostly took the great mods the community has been making over the last years and rolled them into one.

I still love it, but somebody who has already played it and does not like long dialogues or 2D play probably will not really like it. Still the best RPG out there IMO though.
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Stark
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Stark »

I've heard because of the primitive engine it's not very touch friendly with doorways and tiny buttons, is that your experience?
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Thanas »

Stark wrote:I've heard because of the primitive engine it's not very touch friendly with doorways and tiny buttons, is that your experience?
I don't play it on touch, so I can't answer to that.

But really, the thing which is the only reason I bought it is that I can now play the most important mods without the hours of setup time it took me otherwise just to delete parts of scripts that were not working etc. For that, it is an impressive job, though my own custom-modded BG is still better due to it doing things exactly the way I want. So - if you already have tons of mods installed, you don't need it. If you don't have that however and just want a great RPG to get lost in for countless hours, this is it.

But it probably is not good for playing on the daily commute unless your commute is over 1 hour or so. I mean, just walking from one city to the next takes at least ten minutes or so.
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba »

Man, replaying BG after a decade+ of other Bioware RPGs is a bit of a trip down 'I completely forgot games were like this' lane. For one thing, and I don't know whether it's coddling or a quality-of-life improvement in games since then, but the actual lethality of combat really jumps out. 5 paces out of Candlekeep and a black bear mauls Imoen to death. Guess it's time to reload! Other 90s stuff of the kind that alternately rewards pure luck, obsession, and pre-knowledge of the game abounds, and whether you find it irritating, nostalgically enjoyable or just of historical interest is basically subjective, I guess.

There is a lot of stuff I enjoy in the format, like the lack of explicit direction of most of the game, and shit like running into an unfamiliar area to see what's what, encountering a flesh golem I have no way of hurting, immediately fleeing only to have the flesh golem chase me out of its dungeon to the wilderness zone, and continuing to try to escape to civilization only to end up in a random encounter against evil skeletons that nearlymurder everybody, and trying to rest only to be woken up by wolves that finish the job, but the interface hasn't really been improved to levels anywhere near modern games, and going through the inventory system remains an egregious hassle, and spending ages just walking around the maps to get to places and the extraordinary length of time it takes to level up since this was a game designed to take dozens of hours where the level cap is 6 means that there's a huge amount of time and energy you have to expend to have much fun, so I don't think I'll continue playing. Bonus marks for Commander Sheppard trying his damnedest to do a vaguely Middle Eastern accent and falling hilariously short.
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Re: Has anyone played the re-release Baldurs Gate?

Post by Stofsk »

For anyone who is still interested in this: Gamebanshee gave a withering review for BG:EE a couple of days ago. They made a few points that I'll summarise here: the gameplay is buggier than the original version (which has had over a decade to fix those bugs), that there's a real lack of 'enhancements' to justify the title Enhanced Edition and somethings are detrimental (which is IMO a bigger issue than the former), and that the price is quite an ask when the original version sells for half the price and has the advantage of said decade's worth of mods. Hell I think I got the 4-in-1 Baldur's Gate Saga for less money than $20USD.

Recent patches may have ameliorated some of the above concerns but I can't help but hesitate to spend money on getting the game to see for myself. The new content doesn't seem like it's worth the premium either. A shame, as I was interested in this in the hopes it might lead to BG3.
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