Wayward Son
Fails to keep valuable team members alive
Author of a series involving Greek mythology that I read when I was younger that involved hundreds of children of the gods.
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Completed Let's solo Baldur's Gate 2 on Insane (feat. The Codex)
- Thread starter MicoSelva
- Start date
Last time on Let's Insane Solo Baldur's Gate 2:
Remember, using incendiary devices and/or spells in an enclosed space is actually a terrible idea.
Special Update #03C: Enhanced Memories, part III
It seems like forever since I have been to Candlekeep. Oh, wait, no it doesn't.
I am not sure if I like how the dialogue is displayed in this version of the game. Somehow it looks much cleaner in the original.
I forgot which floor we are supposed to reach.
Yeah, I know. I am a child of Bhaal.
This information is actually surprisingly easy to miss in the original game.
That is why we were hammered with it constantly in the second game.
Oh, shit, I must have missed him.
Probably his scripted dialogue did not trigger because of your stealth.
Did I just foil his plan?
I doubt that. Railroads will be railroads.
Ha! Let's see if you can take me on.
Apparently, yes.
Death Count: 1
Load game.
Auto-death bullshit!
Fuck you!
I could probably Wish out of here.
With your wisdom score? Dream on.
WTF, are you completely senile?
Eventually we are teleported out of the cell.
Just a couple of short stops before we run through this place.
I'll take that!
Ten more of these and you might start considering those Wish spells.
Fuck off.
Your increased wisdom does not seem to help just yet. Maybe you need to get used to it.
Did I already tell you to fuck off?
You already forgot? Makes sense. Low wisdom sometimes shows as short memory.
Gotcha.
Shit!
'Gotcha' indeed.
Let's see.
Ok, so phase spiders can't hurt me. I am not seeing much sense in how this works.
Oh, no, no, no.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Fuck!
Are you going to die here? Because that would be hilarious.
Shit!
I smell a death screen incoming...
More like your own farts.
No! Ghast! Will! Kill! ME!
Alright, I think we're done with traps at this point.
Famous last words?
Don't mind me, I'm just a ghost.
You will be, if you take any more damage.
I have neither time nor will to deal with this bunch.
And here's the exit.
Keep waiting, bros. I'm sure they're coming soon.
Ahahahahaha. No.
Alright! We're out!
Yeah, I know.
The quickest way to Undercellar was through here, if I remember correctly.
Well, you must be getting adjusted to your higher Wisdom, because you're right.
Even though Larze wears nice gauntlets, we will be skipping him this time.
No royal quality room? What a dump!
Yeah, blood is cool. All red, and liquid...
It flows from the guts of your enemies like a river of victory...
Um, yeah. It also inspired some cool metal songs. Like this one:
Huh? What? I got lost in thought.
I could tell.
I don't think I need much preparation to take on a couple of low-level thieves.
I may have made a mistake.
Let's try and salvage this situation.
Oh, fuck, would you cut that out for a second!?
Hey, an actual legit death. That is somewhat surprising.
Death Count: 2
Loading.
I forgot that nothing is low level here, because this is the LEGACY OF BHAAL (TM).
Maybe running head first into the encounter was not the wisest thing to do.
Told you. Ten more books.
However, since I have been able to casually slay dragons, I should be able to handle these two without much problem too...
Go, my pretty!
Let's cause more chaos.
Nevermind, they both resisted it.
Now this fight is going more to my liking!
Bye.
*cough* Fuck *cough* you *cough*
Good thing brosword does not need to breathe.
Showoff.
Let's get the paperwork.
Aha, evidence!
And the key that pretends not to be one.
I remember times when I did not even bother to pick up +3 weapons.
I still prefer good abilities over pure +X enchantment on a weapon.
Being the one who is actually FIGHTING, I prefer to have both. At the same time.
WHAT? I DID NOT QUITE GET THAT! CAN I GET A QUEST COMPASS TOO?
This is the last world map travel we will do in this playthrough.
Ominous.
I always appreciated the irony of the invitation to the coronation actually coming from Sarevok.
It is-a-me! Ha-ha!
This dialogue box should have clued us that we will be in trouble here, but I did not pay enough attention.
That Liia girl is taking an awful lot of damage here.
Then get as much use of this time stop as you can.
Will do.
Casting this turned out to be a mistake, as you will see in the next screenshot.
Well, shit. It affected mostly our allies.
Why don't you just die!?
I think Liia is dead.
Well, shit.
Belt is not doing so great either.
Everyone's a critic! Maybe you'd like to switch places?
Oh, this isn't good.
Failing to save both Liia and Belt results in a scripted death.
Death Count: 3
Reload.
Fine, let's take this seriously.
I should have figured out this way of taking screenshots of spellcasting earlier (or remember it later).
Since I don't have any haste prepared, this will do.
Hey, Sarevok, I've prepared a few surprises for you to celebrate your coronation.
So, give me a moment.
First, let's knock down those inflated saving throws of your lackeys.
Next, let's cast a crowd control spell that ONLY AFFECTS ENEMIES.
I hereby gift you this fine sword.
Babadook!
Never heard of this one.
Me too. But James Rolfe covered it in a recent Monster Madness episode.
Ok, the situation looks much better now.
Eraserhead!
Monster Madness?
Yup.
Good thing our grand dukes have bloated HP too.
FUCK YEAH!
Your forces are dwindling, Sarevok.
Owned.
And that's two...
Three...
...And four.
OH SNAP!
Looks like someone's sword is not magical enough.
Wow, I forgot how the game sets you straight on killing Sarevok at this point. Not very subtle.
Yeah, what if I wanted to join forces with him?
Would you even want to join forces with him?
No, because he's a huge dick, but I still should have the ability to do it.
Fuck you, Sarevok, leaving dead whores in your trail. That's my gig!
Let's see if Beamdog fucked up implementation of this spell.
That's not an undead.
Let's just ignore it.
Oh, hey, are you undead?
Well, either you aren't undead, or I'm requesting a refund on that scroll.
Did you even pay for it?
That's beside the point!
Looks like its working! These skeletons are actually ignoring me.
But the oozes are slowly gaining on you.
FFS, so many traps. How did Sarevok get through here?
Bye, tell the oozes I had to run.
Well, I certainly haven't seen invisible stalkers in a while.
Down you go.
Shit, I stepped right into this one.
Another dead guy. I must be on the right track.
Wow, these oozes are relentless.
Relentless, but completely unable to deal with stealth.
So, if these guys are here to kill Sarevok, why are they facing the other way?
They must have smelled those oozes.
Anybody home?
Maybe we should rest first?
Good idea.
I do not quite get how Gorion could have been my substitute parent if he was a human. I thought elven childhood lasts for decades in D&D.
Hm. He was a mage, so he could have lived longer than normal.
But I am supposed to be not much older than Imoen. Also, all these middle-aged people in Candlekeep seem to have known me throughout my childhood.
Let me check... Okay. No, everything is fine. Elves become physically mature around 25 and emotionally mature at 125. So, you must be around 27, maybe 30. And this actually explains A LOT.
Fuck you.
Hopefully they have some board games in there.
Yeah, let's.
What are these little blue circles?
Bats. I believe they are a new addition to the place.
But... Why?
Your guess is as good as mine.
I am not sure what this spell is and who cast it.
Ok, it is a Cloud Kill, cast by Semaj.
*gasp*
This is the spot where we die.
Death Count: 4
Low-dingo.
Since we're done with the suicidal approach, let's try the fun one.
Agreed.
First things first.
I always wanted to try something in this place.
Let's see if you have what it takes to be the child of Bhaal, Sari-boy.
Have fun!
You must be a friend of my brother's. Let me introduce you to some of mine.
This is Xedoc.
Howdy.
And this is Haky.
RIP MAGIC!
Very fun at parties.
Bro, I understand you're scared, but you should have just used the toilet before this.
I'm leaving until someone casts zone of sweet air.
Sarevok and Tazok seem to be having fun with that pit fiend.
You could help me shooting him, you know.
You should have paid attention when you cast my spell. I don't have a bow in my quick slot.
Got him!
Let's deal with Angelo now. Make yourself useful somehow. Cast spells or something.
Sure, why not.
That's it for the wimpy mages.
Looks like Tazok decided to give up on fiend fighting.
BOOOYAH!
Why is the pit fiend attacking us?
I think our protection from evil has expired!
Shit.
The good news is Tazok has expired too.
You are going to have to tank for me there.
I expected as much.
I will at least try to do it effectively.
And he disappeared. Great timing.
You're not getting away so easily.
Apparently not.
Let's dance, brother!
IT'S A DEMON! IT'S A DEMON!
What an idiot.
Heh, heh, what happened to your magic resistance, Sari-boy?
Looks like there is still no love lost between Sarevok and the pit fiend.
Exactly as planned.
Shit, I can't see a damn thing of what's going on.
Time for a more direct approach.
I may have lost all my good swords, but I still have this one.
That was easy.
Just you and me now, bro.
He can't actually hurt me. This is almost unfair.
'Almost'?
Good night.
This outro movie is virtually identical to the original. I would ask what was the point, but I guess if they replaced them all, they replaced them all.
This way our (repeated) journey comes to an end. I did not plan a full playthrough when I started dicking around with Enhanced Edition, but the new difficulty level (and ability to import ToB character) intrigued me, and it somehow started and played itself, as a quasi-speedrun (I should try that sometime). Also, I was not joking when I wrote that this whole playthrough took me less time than defeating Amelissan in BG2. I need to think how much details of those attempts I want to show you, or we will all be here for five very uninteresting updates, but I will definitely include all death screens I managed to catch in screenshots.
As for the new Legacy of Bhaal difficulty in BG:EE, unfortunately, it sucks. While it actually does make the game significantly more difficult, it also makes it much more annoying because of the HP and enemy level bloat. This causes many problems including straight up breaking of some spells, which do not work at all (Death Spell) or work much worse than originally intended (Cloud Kill, power words). Because of that I do not recommend it as a self-challenge.
Next time: The final special update, including potion contest resolution, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition review and some thoughts on Baldur's Gate overall.
Remember, using incendiary devices and/or spells in an enclosed space is actually a terrible idea.
Special Update #03C: Enhanced Memories, part III
I am not sure if I like how the dialogue is displayed in this version of the game. Somehow it looks much cleaner in the original.
This information is actually surprisingly easy to miss in the original game.
Probably his scripted dialogue did not trigger because of your stealth.
I doubt that. Railroads will be railroads.
Apparently, yes.
Death Count: 1
Load game.
With your wisdom score? Dream on.
Eventually we are teleported out of the cell.
Ten more of these and you might start considering those Wish spells.
Your increased wisdom does not seem to help just yet. Maybe you need to get used to it.
You already forgot? Makes sense. Low wisdom sometimes shows as short memory.
'Gotcha' indeed.
Are you going to die here? Because that would be hilarious.
I smell a death screen incoming...
Famous last words?
You will be, if you take any more damage.
Well, you must be getting adjusted to your higher Wisdom, because you're right.
Even though Larze wears nice gauntlets, we will be skipping him this time.
Um, yeah. It also inspired some cool metal songs. Like this one:
I could tell.
Hey, an actual legit death. That is somewhat surprising.
Death Count: 2
Loading.
Told you. Ten more books.
I still prefer good abilities over pure +X enchantment on a weapon.
This is the last world map travel we will do in this playthrough.
I always appreciated the irony of the invitation to the coronation actually coming from Sarevok.
This dialogue box should have clued us that we will be in trouble here, but I did not pay enough attention.
Then get as much use of this time stop as you can.
Casting this turned out to be a mistake, as you will see in the next screenshot.
I think Liia is dead.
Belt is not doing so great either.
Failing to save both Liia and Belt results in a scripted death.
Death Count: 3
Reload.
I should have figured out this way of taking screenshots of spellcasting earlier (or remember it later).
Never heard of this one.
Monster Madness?
Wow, I forgot how the game sets you straight on killing Sarevok at this point. Not very subtle.
Would you even want to join forces with him?
Did you even pay for it?
But the oozes are slowly gaining on you.
Relentless, but completely unable to deal with stealth.
They must have smelled those oozes.
Maybe we should rest first?
Hm. He was a mage, so he could have lived longer than normal.
Let me check... Okay. No, everything is fine. Elves become physically mature around 25 and emotionally mature at 125. So, you must be around 27, maybe 30. And this actually explains A LOT.
Bats. I believe they are a new addition to the place.
Your guess is as good as mine.
I am not sure what this spell is and who cast it.
Ok, it is a Cloud Kill, cast by Semaj.
This is the spot where we die.
Death Count: 4
Low-dingo.
Agreed.
I always wanted to try something in this place.
Looks like there is still no love lost between Sarevok and the pit fiend.
'Almost'?
This outro movie is virtually identical to the original. I would ask what was the point, but I guess if they replaced them all, they replaced them all.
This way our (repeated) journey comes to an end. I did not plan a full playthrough when I started dicking around with Enhanced Edition, but the new difficulty level (and ability to import ToB character) intrigued me, and it somehow started and played itself, as a quasi-speedrun (I should try that sometime). Also, I was not joking when I wrote that this whole playthrough took me less time than defeating Amelissan in BG2. I need to think how much details of those attempts I want to show you, or we will all be here for five very uninteresting updates, but I will definitely include all death screens I managed to catch in screenshots.
As for the new Legacy of Bhaal difficulty in BG:EE, unfortunately, it sucks. While it actually does make the game significantly more difficult, it also makes it much more annoying because of the HP and enemy level bloat. This causes many problems including straight up breaking of some spells, which do not work at all (Death Spell) or work much worse than originally intended (Cloud Kill, power words). Because of that I do not recommend it as a self-challenge.
Next time: The final special update, including potion contest resolution, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition review and some thoughts on Baldur's Gate overall.
Last edited:
I will not be able to post the last special update today (still a lot of writing to do on this one), but because I know everyone is just dying to know who won the potion contest, here are the results.
List of contestants and their declared numbers:
469 - Havoc
211 - Krivol
200 - ALchymist
180 - t
179 - Storyfag
170 - Abelian
160 - Darth Roxor
140 - Nevill
120 - Azeot
Let me spoil the anticipation by saying that the guys declaring more rather than less were more on point, since I was able to fill The Codex's two potion cases that hold 100 potions each, and still had a lot of leftover, which was put into a Bag of Holding.
That is 318 potions in total: 168 potions of extra healing and 150 potions of superior healing. This means Krivol was the closest, even if still off by over 100. Havoc had a good idea with declaring more than everyone else, but he overshoot by too much.
Congratulations Krivol. You can choose your reward from the following (just one, obviously):
1. A copy of any Steam or GOG game up to $10 in value, or $20 if you choose an RPG or some other INCLINE game (the base price may be higher, if you are willing to wait until the game gets discounted to or below $10/$20; I have the final word whether the game is INCLINE or not).
1a. I guess the above option can include Humble Store and other Steam resellers too (at least the ones I already have an account at).
2. A Steam key for Torment: Tides of Numenera (including Early Access).
3. A digital copy of Wasteland 3 on Steam, GOG, or even on a console (obviously you will have to wait until it is released on the selected platform).
4. A Codex donation of up to $20 in your name, so you can get ad-free time or something.
5. Early Access to the final update of this LP by at least seven days (no idea why you would choose this, but hey, the option is here).
List of contestants and their declared numbers:
469 - Havoc
211 - Krivol
200 - ALchymist
180 - t
179 - Storyfag
170 - Abelian
160 - Darth Roxor
140 - Nevill
120 - Azeot
Let me spoil the anticipation by saying that the guys declaring more rather than less were more on point, since I was able to fill The Codex's two potion cases that hold 100 potions each, and still had a lot of leftover, which was put into a Bag of Holding.
That is 318 potions in total: 168 potions of extra healing and 150 potions of superior healing. This means Krivol was the closest, even if still off by over 100. Havoc had a good idea with declaring more than everyone else, but he overshoot by too much.
Congratulations Krivol. You can choose your reward from the following (just one, obviously):
1. A copy of any Steam or GOG game up to $10 in value, or $20 if you choose an RPG or some other INCLINE game (the base price may be higher, if you are willing to wait until the game gets discounted to or below $10/$20; I have the final word whether the game is INCLINE or not).
1a. I guess the above option can include Humble Store and other Steam resellers too (at least the ones I already have an account at).
2. A Steam key for Torment: Tides of Numenera (including Early Access).
3. A digital copy of Wasteland 3 on Steam, GOG, or even on a console (obviously you will have to wait until it is released on the selected platform).
4. A Codex donation of up to $20 in your name, so you can get ad-free time or something.
5. Early Access to the final update of this LP by at least seven days (no idea why you would choose this, but hey, the option is here).
Last edited:
Krivol
Magister
Good for me! 
Hmm... hard choice, I will think about it for a while, will probably go with 2 or 1 (Battle Brothers looks awesome, if you consider it very incline, as it costs 19,99 euro).
Oh God, first won lottery in my life.
Will go drunk today.
No I won't - already drunk.
Kurwa, so happy, man! :D
Hmm... hard choice, I will think about it for a while, will probably go with 2 or 1 (Battle Brothers looks awesome, if you consider it very incline, as it costs 19,99 euro).
Oh God, first won lottery in my life.
Will go drunk today.
No I won't - already drunk.
Kurwa, so happy, man! :D
Battle Brothers is definitelyGood for me!
Hmm... hard choice, I will think about it for a while, will probably go with 2 or 1 (Battle Brothers looks awesome, if you consider it very incline, as it costs 19,99 euro).
Oh God, first won lottery in my life.
Will go drunk today.
No I won't - already drunk.
Kurwa, so happy, man! :D
so yeah, it qualifies. Let me know what you decide in this thread or via PM (no hurry).
I'd have picked Battle Brothers as well. Looks sweet, have just had other games on my plate so far.
Krivol
Magister
Ok, from games I played few (and didn't like most of them tbh, like Pillars of Balancity)0, have few and going to buy anyway few, have very little hope for Numenemonumonora and didn't like WL2 (probably will give it some more time later).
So i think Battle Brothers is good.
But as I have some games to play (and no time at all) - no need to hurry there, you can easily wait for some sale or sth.
Yeah, 5th point was temtating too, but you know, even p. 3 would be faster
games I played few (and didn't like most of them tbh, like Pillars of Balancity)0, have few and going to buy anyway few, have very little hope for Numenemonumonora and didn't like WL2 (probably will give it some more time later).So i think Battle Brothers is good.
But as I have some games to play (and no time at all) - no need to hurry there, you can easily wait for some sale or sth.
Yeah, 5th point was temtating too, but you know, even p. 3 would be faster
Good choice. Add me to friends list on Steam (-> my profile <-) or send me your email via PM, so I can gift the game to you. I will gladly pay full price to support the devs, so there is no need to wait for a sale.Ok, from
So i think Battle Brothers is good.
(If we are already friends on Steam, I apologize for forgetting - I have lost track of that friends list a long time ago. In that case just remind me what your Steam handle is.)
hoverdog
dog that is hovering, Wastelands Interactive
Baron Dupek
Arcane
Too busy firing zNietzsche
Soon there will be christmas too and they will not be cancelled by towelheads
Soon there will be christmas too and they will not be cancelled by towelheads
Bros, it looks like photobucket screwed me over and deleted most if not all of the images I used for my LPs. If you notice any missing images in this LP (or BG1 LP), let me know, so I can fix them.
As for the updates, at least one of those should appear next week, and we are only two away from the end.
As for the updates, at least one of those should appear next week, and we are only two away from the end.
Baron Dupek
Arcane
Damn I wanted to PDF all your BG LPs, should do it earlier
Hope it doesn't end like minus.com where everything is purged (I had to fix my two LPs on imgur) yet site is still online.
Hope it doesn't end like minus.com where everything is purged (I had to fix my two LPs on imgur) yet site is still online.
Special Update #04: Final Procrastination
Some random thoughts about Baldur's Gate and RPGs overall
I started my RPG adventure in pen&paper, first with a Polish D&D-like Kryształy Czasu (Crystals of Time) and Oko Yrrhedesa (The Eye of Yrrhedes), a RPG-for-beginners system created by Andrzej Sapkowski (yes, the same guy who writes The Witcher book series), and later with World of Darkness (mostly Werewolf: The ApECOlypse). My contact with D&D back then was limited to reading a few articles and adventure modules in a Polish RPG magazine Magia i Miecz (Magic and Sword, or maybe Sword and Sorcery) and wondering what Str 18/98 meant.
The game even had Witcher world as its setting, although that was not explicitly stated.
Baldur's Gate was my first real foray into the system and one of its many worlds. Since I had no real idea how everything worked (and even though I have read the manual prior to starting the game), my first character still sucked major balls. He was a bard, with an unusually high total stat number of 93 (do not ask how long it took to roll that), which would be great if I did not distribute those points like a total noob (and also if I had not made him a bard). Needless to say, my character's contribution to the final combat amounted to playing the harp, while Khalid and Minsc tanked for Coran who shot Sarevok with Arrows of Piercing. It was a bit better in BG2, when he got some stat boosts, switched to Blade kit and eventually became almost competent at fighting.
Oh yeah, I still have my save games and character files from back then, why would you ask?
I wrongly considered myself highly proficient in English language back then, but if the game was not localized by CD Projekt (chaos-gods-bless-them), I would probably be never able to play it. Not me, and not 99% of people who did play it back then, the number of which included everyone I know (who had access to a PC), even my sister and my uncle, both of whom never played any other RPG before or after that in their lives (although I will give my uncle credit for finishing the original Civilization more times than any other person I know). The game was a smash hit here in Poland (by which I mean it sold around 50K copies), and has changed the landscape of the local gaming market, making CRPGs a mainstream genre for a few years - at least until the release of Diablo 2 expansion, Lord of Destruction.
That box.
Nobody I knew played Baldur's Gate as much as me, though. I was the only one in the area who owned a legit copy, and damn, did I get my money's worth. By the time BG2 was released, my CDs were so worn out from constant disc swapping, that CD2 (containing areas such as Beregost) cracked. I replayed the game more times than I feel comfortable to admit (I laugh at Skyway playing KoTOR seven times for different reasons than everybody else, and it is a bitter laugh), with every party composition I could think of to increase replay value (my "Kneebreakers" party of dwarves, halflings and gnomes is still the best), and eventually without a party at all. Planescape: Torment distracted me for a while, but after I finished it, it was back to the Sword Coast for me.
The best video game villain of all time? Well, definitely one of best fleshed-out.
While I also love Baldur's Gate 2 THIS MUCH, I have spent significantly less time with it. Counting this LP, I finished the game four times, once as a good dwarven fighter, once as an evil blade (evolved from my BG1 bard) and once as a neutral fighter/mage/thief (just the regular game, without Throne of Bhaal). I think I enjoyed the evil playthrough the most, mostly because evil-aligned party members are more interesting (also, that Viconia romance ). I consider the game to be ultimate PC D&D experience - if you want to play D&D on a PC, in my opinion you cannot choose better than Baldur's Gate 2. Also, Irenicus manages to top Sarevok as a villain through sheer screen-time (the game dedicates so much time to him that you may consider the story to be more about him than about you). However, in my personal top list, the original game remains one spot higher than BG2.
I consider Planescape: Torment to be the greatest RPG of all time, but it might be dishonest to say it is my favourite.
Why? Because no other game gave me a similar sense of adventure like the original Baldur's Gate did. Being thrown out there, into the world, alone (except Imoen), with no ability to return to Candlekeep, a mystery to solve and bounty hunters on your trail, travelling through forests and hills, visiting towns, exploring dungeons, fighting enemies, meeting interesting people, gathering treasure - that was the shit. A lot of that can probably be accounted to the game appearing at exactly the right time - I was sixteen and highly impressionable back then. Maybe if I was born two years later, I would be saying the same things about Morrowind (best regards to felipepepe ), but adventuring, as in being an adventurer and going on adventures will always bring Baldur's Gate to my mind first, in eighteen years, I have found nothing able to top it in this regard.
This is how I feel when playing Baldur's Gate.
Baldur's Gate 2, a great game in its own right (objectively better than BG1 in most aspects) was too epic with all the soul-stealing and later god succession wars, IceWind Dale 1 was about mercenaries solving one specific problem, and too linear (I do not even remember what IWD2 was about), Pillars of Eternity, quality aside, took itself way too seriously from the start. A few games came close but missed something - Planescape: Torment, the best game ever, is a magnificent journey, but very exhausting and lacking that whimsical feel; Chrono Trigger, another great title, and my favourite JRPG, is me following Crono's story, not making my own; Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons gets the feeling and themes of adventure right, but is very short and too linear; Divinity: Original Sin has the right mood and does exploration almost perfectly, but I quickly lost interest when its story escalated to epic levels (which did not take long); The Witcher 3, a surprise addition to this list, is a completely different game to Baldur's Gate, but I am enjoying some of its parts, like dungeon crawling and map exploration much more than I expected to, and it does scratch that adventurer's itch quite a bit (also, Novigrad might me the coolest RPG city since Sigil).
Not many games get expansions seventeen years after release.
Ignoring my obsession about adventuring, however, I do think that Baldur's Gate is simply a great game, and it seems like this sentiment is shared by many people. We live in the age of remaking and remastering old shit (also, new shit), so the appearance of Enhanced Edition was not a huge surprise, and news about it was easily eclipsed by then-hyped Pillars of Eternity. However, such a remaster getting an expansion pack with completely new content is somewhat unheard of, and while we all like to mock Beamdog for their many faults and mistakes, we cannot actually call their approach a low-effort one. For me, this means Baldur's Gate is special - and no I do not mean 'special' as an euphemism for 'retarded', like I am sure some people will choose to read this sentence.
Regarding that Enhanced Edition, though - is it any good?
BG Enhanced Edition Rambling Review
I tried playing BGEE first soon after its release, and... it was not very good back then. It was not exactly broken, since I was able to complete The Black Pits module without much problems, but the game had numerous bugs, lacked polish in some aspects and interface changes made for an unpleasant experience, especially since I was so used to how the game had always looked and felt. However, it did sow some promise when it came to engine improvements - the original (and GOG release) does not work well with modern CPUs and always puts load close to 100% on the core where it is running - even if the game is only showing main menu. This did not happen with Enhanced Edition, so I had some hints that Beamdog can actually be competent when they want to. I decided to put the game away and check it later, since nowadays games seem to be never finished on release and see patches months and even years after release.
Thanks, but I do not do Early Access.
That later turned out to be almost four years later. (That is how much time I have for games these days ). In the meantime, Beamdog managed to patch BGEE multiple times, release BG2 EE, patch that too, release IWD EE, patch that one also and then announce and release an expansion to BGEE called Siege of Dragonspear. While I ignored most of these events (after all I was not going to restart my LP by moving to BG2 EE), that last one grabbed my attention, and I had decided to give the Enhanced Edition another go. And I was pleasantly surprised.
They have even changed the title screen.
While the game is still not 100% bug free (which one is? Tetris?), and contains some hard-to-explain quirks, it plays really, really well. Many of the long-present bugs have been fixed (you can finally wear ankheg plate together with a ring of protection!) and new interface is actually very comfortable to use and allows to easily locate relevant information. A good example is character screen, which is now divided into tabs, so everything you want to know is just one click away. Larger and higher-resolution fonts are nice to have too.
Combat Stats tab displays detailed breakdown of Armor Class, among others.
Some of the improvements I did not even realise I wanted until I got them. A simple thing like separating spells from different levels in the quick-cast bar turns out to make a lot of difference in the heat of the moment, when your eyes are searching for that one specific spell icon. THAC0 and damage numbers in the inventory screen will probably always look out of place to me (since I am so used to the traditional BG1 inventory), but they are very useful too. I do not know which of these improvements come from Beamdog and which are a result of fan feedback, but I applaud the devs for including them either way.
New spellbook screen is just straight-up better than the old one.
What is also worth noting, the game runs really, really well, finally taking advantage of all that computing power we have gained since the release of the original. System requirements of Enhanced Edition are obviously way higher than the original (for example, Steam lists 512MB RAM as minimum, while the original needed... 16MB), but could not be called high by anyone who bought even a low-end a PC in the last ten years. This game literally runs on anything, including the cheapest netbooks and tablets you can get (and yes, you can play on a touchscreen, even though touchscreen controls are not native like in the iOS and Android versions). And last, but not last, loading times are extremely fast, especially compared to the original version which tends to take its time even on an SSD.
This is how long it takes to load a saved game in BG:EE on a fast hard-drive (not an SSD).
It is not all strawberries and ice-cream, though, because BG:EE still suffers from some unnecessary annoyances. First of all, new companions are pushy - they initiate dialogue and try to force their way into your party, unlike the original ones who politely wait until you talk to them. I know that devs are proud of their work and want the player to see it, but I still found that irritating (at least you can tell them to go away, and they obey - watch and learn, Imoen). I mentioned no game is 100% bug free, and I am impressed that the game allowed me to import a completely broken Throne of Bhaal character and did not crap out, but I still encountered more bugs and glitches than I would have expected during my four-hour playthrough, although they were all minor and easily ignored. Also, I do not like the new look of dialogue screen and found it a pain to operate (and take screenshots of). Also, the less said about the The Black Pits adventure module the better - it is not worth your time, unless you seriously cannot get enough of Infinity Engine's combat system.
I like the use of colour, but do we really need that last line displayed twice?
What about all the unnecessary streamlining? Does Baldur's Gate really need pop-ups informing us about new quest and tl;dr summaries of what to do next for people who do not read dialogues in their RPGs? (No, it does not.) To be honest those only bothered me in the most superficial way possible, and can all be turned off in the options to suit anyone's playstyle, so no complains here. What bothers me more is that the new highest difficulty setting called Legacy of Bhaal not only spoils the game's plot twist with its name, but is also more annoying than truly challenging, since it boosts enemy levels and HP beyond any reason, prolonging every combat and breaking many spells and abilities in the process. There are better ways to do this, Beamdog.
You can customize to your heart's content.
Some of the streamlining is arguably for the better. While I have always enjoyed the organic nature of Baldur's Gate journal, finding information in it was a nuisance at least and a time-eating chore at worst, depending on how recent it was. New journal is more akin to something we will find in a modern game (but also classics like Fallout or Torment), except it looks better than most attempts (in my opinion) and still keeps a separate tab for random not-directly-quest-related information gathered on the journey. Nicely done.
I like the new journal. Also: 900 gold, hell yeah!
I have not played Siege of Dragonspear yet, because while I appreciate Beamdog's technical improvements to the game, their content creation skills have not given me much confidence so far (*cough*blackpits*cough*), so I need time to convince myself it will be worth it. However, if - or rather when - I play Baldur's Gate again, it will definitely be the Enhanced Edition. This will not be true for all people, especially those who enjoy the game only heavily modded, but for me this is definitely the superior version, and its advantages outweigh disadvantages by a large margin.
Next time: The definitively final update.
I started my RPG adventure in pen&paper, first with a Polish D&D-like Kryształy Czasu (Crystals of Time) and Oko Yrrhedesa (The Eye of Yrrhedes), a RPG-for-beginners system created by Andrzej Sapkowski (yes, the same guy who writes The Witcher book series), and later with World of Darkness (mostly Werewolf: The ApECOlypse). My contact with D&D back then was limited to reading a few articles and adventure modules in a Polish RPG magazine Magia i Miecz (Magic and Sword, or maybe Sword and Sorcery) and wondering what Str 18/98 meant.
The game even had Witcher world as its setting, although that was not explicitly stated.
Baldur's Gate was my first real foray into the system and one of its many worlds. Since I had no real idea how everything worked (and even though I have read the manual prior to starting the game), my first character still sucked major balls. He was a bard, with an unusually high total stat number of 93 (do not ask how long it took to roll that), which would be great if I did not distribute those points like a total noob (and also if I had not made him a bard). Needless to say, my character's contribution to the final combat amounted to playing the harp, while Khalid and Minsc tanked for Coran who shot Sarevok with Arrows of Piercing. It was a bit better in BG2, when he got some stat boosts, switched to Blade kit and eventually became almost competent at fighting.
Oh yeah, I still have my save games and character files from back then, why would you ask?
I wrongly considered myself highly proficient in English language back then, but if the game was not localized by CD Projekt (chaos-gods-bless-them), I would probably be never able to play it. Not me, and not 99% of people who did play it back then, the number of which included everyone I know (who had access to a PC), even my sister and my uncle, both of whom never played any other RPG before or after that in their lives (although I will give my uncle credit for finishing the original Civilization more times than any other person I know). The game was a smash hit here in Poland (by which I mean it sold around 50K copies), and has changed the landscape of the local gaming market, making CRPGs a mainstream genre for a few years - at least until the release of Diablo 2 expansion, Lord of Destruction.
That box.
Nobody I knew played Baldur's Gate as much as me, though. I was the only one in the area who owned a legit copy, and damn, did I get my money's worth. By the time BG2 was released, my CDs were so worn out from constant disc swapping, that CD2 (containing areas such as Beregost) cracked. I replayed the game more times than I feel comfortable to admit (I laugh at Skyway playing KoTOR seven times for different reasons than everybody else, and it is a bitter laugh), with every party composition I could think of to increase replay value (my "Kneebreakers" party of dwarves, halflings and gnomes is still the best), and eventually without a party at all. Planescape: Torment distracted me for a while, but after I finished it, it was back to the Sword Coast for me.
The best video game villain of all time? Well, definitely one of best fleshed-out.
While I also love Baldur's Gate 2 THIS MUCH, I have spent significantly less time with it. Counting this LP, I finished the game four times, once as a good dwarven fighter, once as an evil blade (evolved from my BG1 bard) and once as a neutral fighter/mage/thief (just the regular game, without Throne of Bhaal). I think I enjoyed the evil playthrough the most, mostly because evil-aligned party members are more interesting (also, that Viconia romance
). I consider the game to be ultimate PC D&D experience - if you want to play D&D on a PC, in my opinion you cannot choose better than Baldur's Gate 2. Also, Irenicus manages to top Sarevok as a villain through sheer screen-time (the game dedicates so much time to him that you may consider the story to be more about him than about you). However, in my personal top list, the original game remains one spot higher than BG2.
I consider Planescape: Torment to be the greatest RPG of all time, but it might be dishonest to say it is my favourite.
Why? Because no other game gave me a similar sense of adventure like the original Baldur's Gate did. Being thrown out there, into the world, alone (except Imoen), with no ability to return to Candlekeep, a mystery to solve and bounty hunters on your trail, travelling through forests and hills, visiting towns, exploring dungeons, fighting enemies, meeting interesting people, gathering treasure - that was the shit. A lot of that can probably be accounted to the game appearing at exactly the right time - I was sixteen and highly impressionable back then. Maybe if I was born two years later, I would be saying the same things about Morrowind (best regards to felipepepe ), but adventuring, as in being an adventurer and going on adventures will always bring Baldur's Gate to my mind first, in eighteen years, I have found nothing able to top it in this regard.
This is how I feel when playing Baldur's Gate.
Baldur's Gate 2, a great game in its own right (objectively better than BG1 in most aspects) was too epic with all the soul-stealing and later god succession wars, IceWind Dale 1 was about mercenaries solving one specific problem, and too linear (I do not even remember what IWD2 was about), Pillars of Eternity, quality aside, took itself way too seriously from the start. A few games came close but missed something - Planescape: Torment, the best game ever, is a magnificent journey, but very exhausting and lacking that whimsical feel; Chrono Trigger, another great title, and my favourite JRPG, is me following Crono's story, not making my own; Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons gets the feeling and themes of adventure right, but is very short and too linear; Divinity: Original Sin has the right mood and does exploration almost perfectly, but I quickly lost interest when its story escalated to epic levels (which did not take long); The Witcher 3, a surprise addition to this list, is a completely different game to Baldur's Gate, but I am enjoying some of its parts, like dungeon crawling and map exploration much more than I expected to, and it does scratch that adventurer's itch quite a bit (also, Novigrad might me the coolest RPG city since Sigil).
Not many games get expansions seventeen years after release.
Ignoring my obsession about adventuring, however, I do think that Baldur's Gate is simply a great game, and it seems like this sentiment is shared by many people. We live in the age of remaking and remastering old shit (also, new shit), so the appearance of Enhanced Edition was not a huge surprise, and news about it was easily eclipsed by then-hyped Pillars of Eternity. However, such a remaster getting an expansion pack with completely new content is somewhat unheard of, and while we all like to mock Beamdog for their many faults and mistakes, we cannot actually call their approach a low-effort one. For me, this means Baldur's Gate is special - and no I do not mean 'special' as an euphemism for 'retarded', like I am sure some people will choose to read this sentence.
Regarding that Enhanced Edition, though - is it any good?
BG Enhanced Edition Rambling Review
I tried playing BGEE first soon after its release, and... it was not very good back then. It was not exactly broken, since I was able to complete The Black Pits module without much problems, but the game had numerous bugs, lacked polish in some aspects and interface changes made for an unpleasant experience, especially since I was so used to how the game had always looked and felt. However, it did sow some promise when it came to engine improvements - the original (and GOG release) does not work well with modern CPUs and always puts load close to 100% on the core where it is running - even if the game is only showing main menu. This did not happen with Enhanced Edition, so I had some hints that Beamdog can actually be competent when they want to. I decided to put the game away and check it later, since nowadays games seem to be never finished on release and see patches months and even years after release.
Thanks, but I do not do Early Access.
That later turned out to be almost four years later. (That is how much time I have for games these days
). In the meantime, Beamdog managed to patch BGEE multiple times, release BG2 EE, patch that too, release IWD EE, patch that one also and then announce and release an expansion to BGEE called Siege of Dragonspear. While I ignored most of these events (after all I was not going to restart my LP by moving to BG2 EE), that last one grabbed my attention, and I had decided to give the Enhanced Edition another go. And I was pleasantly surprised.
They have even changed the title screen.
While the game is still not 100% bug free (which one is? Tetris?), and contains some hard-to-explain quirks, it plays really, really well. Many of the long-present bugs have been fixed (you can finally wear ankheg plate together with a ring of protection!) and new interface is actually very comfortable to use and allows to easily locate relevant information. A good example is character screen, which is now divided into tabs, so everything you want to know is just one click away. Larger and higher-resolution fonts are nice to have too.
Combat Stats tab displays detailed breakdown of Armor Class, among others.
Some of the improvements I did not even realise I wanted until I got them. A simple thing like separating spells from different levels in the quick-cast bar turns out to make a lot of difference in the heat of the moment, when your eyes are searching for that one specific spell icon. THAC0 and damage numbers in the inventory screen will probably always look out of place to me (since I am so used to the traditional BG1 inventory), but they are very useful too. I do not know which of these improvements come from Beamdog and which are a result of fan feedback, but I applaud the devs for including them either way.
New spellbook screen is just straight-up better than the old one.
What is also worth noting, the game runs really, really well, finally taking advantage of all that computing power we have gained since the release of the original. System requirements of Enhanced Edition are obviously way higher than the original (for example, Steam lists 512MB RAM as minimum, while the original needed... 16MB), but could not be called high by anyone who bought even a low-end a PC in the last ten years. This game literally runs on anything, including the cheapest netbooks and tablets you can get (and yes, you can play on a touchscreen, even though touchscreen controls are not native like in the iOS and Android versions). And last, but not last, loading times are extremely fast, especially compared to the original version which tends to take its time even on an SSD.
This is how long it takes to load a saved game in BG:EE on a fast hard-drive (not an SSD).
It is not all strawberries and ice-cream, though, because BG:EE still suffers from some unnecessary annoyances. First of all, new companions are pushy - they initiate dialogue and try to force their way into your party, unlike the original ones who politely wait until you talk to them. I know that devs are proud of their work and want the player to see it, but I still found that irritating (at least you can tell them to go away, and they obey - watch and learn, Imoen). I mentioned no game is 100% bug free, and I am impressed that the game allowed me to import a completely broken Throne of Bhaal character and did not crap out, but I still encountered more bugs and glitches than I would have expected during my four-hour playthrough, although they were all minor and easily ignored. Also, I do not like the new look of dialogue screen and found it a pain to operate (and take screenshots of). Also, the less said about the The Black Pits adventure module the better - it is not worth your time, unless you seriously cannot get enough of Infinity Engine's combat system.
I like the use of colour, but do we really need that last line displayed twice?
What about all the unnecessary streamlining? Does Baldur's Gate really need pop-ups informing us about new quest and tl;dr summaries of what to do next for people who do not read dialogues in their RPGs? (No, it does not.) To be honest those only bothered me in the most superficial way possible, and can all be turned off in the options to suit anyone's playstyle, so no complains here. What bothers me more is that the new highest difficulty setting called Legacy of Bhaal not only spoils the game's plot twist with its name, but is also more annoying than truly challenging, since it boosts enemy levels and HP beyond any reason, prolonging every combat and breaking many spells and abilities in the process. There are better ways to do this, Beamdog.
You can customize to your heart's content.
Some of the streamlining is arguably for the better. While I have always enjoyed the organic nature of Baldur's Gate journal, finding information in it was a nuisance at least and a time-eating chore at worst, depending on how recent it was. New journal is more akin to something we will find in a modern game (but also classics like Fallout or Torment), except it looks better than most attempts (in my opinion) and still keeps a separate tab for random not-directly-quest-related information gathered on the journey. Nicely done.
I like the new journal. Also: 900 gold, hell yeah!
I have not played Siege of Dragonspear yet, because while I appreciate Beamdog's technical improvements to the game, their content creation skills have not given me much confidence so far (*cough*blackpits*cough*), so I need time to convince myself it will be worth it. However, if - or rather when - I play Baldur's Gate again, it will definitely be the Enhanced Edition. This will not be true for all people, especially those who enjoy the game only heavily modded, but for me this is definitely the superior version, and its advantages outweigh disadvantages by a large margin.
Next time: The definitively final update.
Last edited:
Sorry if there are any typos in the above update, I wanted to get it out today, since you guys have waited long enough.
Also, I will appreciate a page bump, since the last update will be... pretty big.
---
Also, I will appreciate a page bump, since the last update will be... pretty big.
---
No worries, I have everything archived. Just let me know if you see any broken image links in my LPs, I can fix them rather fast.Damn I wanted to PDF all your BG LPs, should do it earlier
Hope it doesn't end like minus.com where everything is purged (I had to fix my two LPs on imgur) yet site is still online.
You don't really need a page bump, do you?
It is quite astonishing how similar my own experiences are. Though I did have a brush with the AD&D rulebook before getting my grubby mits on BG itself. Still, the first game to truly rival the sense of adventure found in BG is, indeed, The Witcher 3.
Are you taking requests?
Baron Dupek
Arcane
I am going to HURT someone.
That's some weird naming for BLOOD SACRIFICE
goats? cattle? gaming journalists?
What can boost up the final upgrade?
It is going to happen in December, unless... Well, it is going to happen in December. Early December.
- Joined
- May 13, 2009
- Messages
- 28,587
Note that he doesn't say what year.
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