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How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

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Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#61

Post by kgwxd »

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #35
kgwxd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's talk about some new characters and items that mess up the original "feel" of the game that can't be turned off. I'm trying to read without spoiling anything, that's just the theme I'm seeing.

You can tell those characters to go away in your initial interactions with them. I think there are three. One in the Copper Coronet, one in the Graveyard District (or was it Trademeet? I don't remember), and one in a random encounter when moving between Athkatla districts. People who say this "ruins" the game are just angry nerds being angry nerds. BG2 wasn't just great for its time; it's great now .

I yell at that singing ant-eater thing to go away when it shows up in Star Wars, but it never works :) I'll be annoyed enough by the idea, even though I never played the original. I'll pick up the original if I come across it, but if not, I'll just skip it.

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#62

Post by culot »

ascendantlogic wrote: post #51
Waterluvian wrote: post #22

Oh to be a kid again. I've tried a dozen or so RPGs since my childhood and I can't get into any. It's hard to sink deep enough into a world when I have responsibilities. As a kid, the Christmas break or summer break was this magical time where I could do this. My hope is that when I retire I can become re acquainted with crpgs

Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 come very close to recapturing that Baldur's Gate magic. I highly recommend them.

The camera angles on the D:OS 1 really irked me somehow.

The only one I've played in the last like decade+ that gave me that old school RPG vibe, that felt wondrous like when I was a teen in the '90s discovering PC gaming, has been Wasteland II. Though the camera angles on that annoyed me even worse than D:OS!

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#63

Post by mrob »

minikites wrote: post #47
goodbyehorses wrote: post #45

Baldurs Gate was really good, but I think people give it too much credit. Fallout 1$2 and Planescape Torment showed what really is a narrative-driven RPG game, they deserve more attention.

The Fallout series isn't exactly obscure and Fallout 1 in particular is terrible. I got a game over 5 minutes into the game because I walked too far and the arbitrary timer ran out.

That's not an "arbitrary" timer, it's your character's core motivation. Why would somebody wander aimlessly about the desert searching for side quests when their friends and family are dying of thirst? You're supposed to be searching for the water chip, and if you pay attention to the clues you should find it in time. And it's possible to extend the time limit with no consequences in the patched version.

The secondary timer is harder to justify, which is why it was extended to 13 years in the patched version (more than enough time to do everything).

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#64

Post by culot »

bmurphy1976 wrote: post #59
twoodfin wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No Ultima VII? The pinnacle of that series, and still impressive in its scope, IMO.

I agree, Ultima 7 is in my top 3 all time games! I had one or two aborted attempts at replaying it in the past decade, but life intervened. The last time I played through the whole game was well before this era (maybe 15 years ago?).

Looks like the Exult, the Ultima 7 modernization/remake, is still being developed:

https://github.com/exult/exult

Last time I played U7 through so many years ago it was via Exult. I wonder how far its progressed over the last decade? hmm.

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#65

Post by culot »

Aardwolf wrote: post #48
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still possible. I have 3 kids a full time job and a 1 hour driving commute each way. Despite this in the past 6 years I've still managed to play through Ultima VI, Baldur's Gate 1&2 Planescape Torment, 1/2 of Icewind Dale (finally burnt out on infinity engine), Tides of Numenera, Pillars of Eternity, Torment, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Zelda a Link to the Past, Zelda Wind Waker, Hyper L…

Baldur's gate also comes as smartphone apps, it's not super convenient but works, finish an RPG on the loo! :)

Tangent: 'Relentless, Twinsen's Adventure' aka 'Little Big Adventure' is officially available on Android. It's actually kind of fun and playable on the small screen.

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#66

Post by mccada »

Baldur's Gate was the first RPG I played on PC. Had to play it at a friends place (he had a PC), it was a very intriguing game with the strong characterization and choices you could make in the game. Once I finally got a PC, I bought and spent many hours playing Baldur's Gate 2, which was great. This was all in New Zealand, and ironically I now live in Edmonton, Alberta where Bioware first made them. So definitely interesting to delve into the early days history of the company. Thanks for the nostalgia!

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#67

Post by wsc981 »

kgwxd wrote: post #13

I never had a chance to play it as a kid. I just checked GOG, looks like they only have the "Enhanced Edition" which appears to be universally hated. I looked around but finding the original seems to be as hard as finding the unenhanced Star Wars'.

I've bought both the original game back when it was released and the enhanced edition some years ago.

I prefer to play Baldur's Gate in the original engine. Sure there are some annoyances (e.g. small stacks of ammunition), but some mechanics work very differently in the Baldur's Gate 2 engine compared to the Baldur's Gate 1 engine and for me that's a dealbreaker. For example the monster summonings or the weapon skills.

If you've never played the original Baldur's Gate, then you will not be annoyed by these differences though. So if you just want to try the game out for the first time, then surely the Enhanced Edition is a good buy.

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#68

Post by mratsim »

Oh fond times, I bought BG2 the day it was out and the early adopter CD with bonus.

I also spent lots of time scripting the game, like trying to replicate Balthazar IA (the monk spawn of Bhaal that lead one of the last locations in Throne of Bhaal).

Sadly it seems like SCS (Sword Coast Stratagems) does not exist anymore? The IA it introduced is crazy good, though it gets tiring to beat mage and have to stock up on breach/spell-pierces.

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#69

Post by [deleted] »

izacus wrote: post #15
eclyps19 wrote: post #4

If you want to play a modern game that takes you back to Balder’s Gate, definitely check out Divinity Original Sin 2. I never played the first, and I was skeptical about it living up to BG 1 and 2, but after the first couple hours I was hooked. It is very much worthy of the comparison.

It's not really the same type of game though - with its AP based turn combat and significantly less serious setting and quest design. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but if you want a Baldur's Gate modernization, it's Pillars of Eternity / Pillars of Eternity 2 / Tyranny what you should be looking at :)

[deleted]

Re: How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

#70

Post by culot »

greyfox wrote: post #32

I remember Baldurs gate, sure. But i dont recall Baldurs gate being anywhere near as important to the survival of Computer RPG's than Diablo, and more importantly Diablo II. If i'm not mistaken DII had macintosh support out-of-box, and is still played to this day on battle.net

I don't think many computer RPG players took Diablo or Diablo 2 seriously in that respect back then. They weren't really comparable to computer RPGs at the time. They were like console-friendly RPG-lite-type games.
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