Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How ‘Baldur’s Gate’ Saved the Computer RPG

theringer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 201 posts

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

#81

Post by deepakhj »

bmurphy1976 wrote: post #43
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

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…

Check out Witcher 3!

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

#82

Post by cannonedhamster »

bmurphy1976 wrote: post #43
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

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…

I highly recommend you give the Exile series from Spiderweb Software a chance if you haven't. It's a bit dated graphically, but it's engine has been kept up and there's some new Avadon series as well. It's hands down some of the best storytelling and I've easily played hundreds of hours. I've definitely played from night to morning without realizing it more than a few times.

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

#83

Post by Sharlin »

ionised wrote: post #24
_void wrote: post #2

Would not forget this game ever, first time had to install using 5CDs, endless hours spent discovering this amazing world and story these guys have built. Hands down to Black Isle Studios for BG series, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment.

They were all great but Planescape Torment was my favourite of the lot. Such a well-written game.

After almost 20 years, the original Torment is still unparalleled in many ways. It redefined what it means to tell a truly great story in a video game.

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

#84

Post by fuball63 »

Baldur's Gate was really difficult as a kid. Without fully understanding how the stat system worked or the pause/play combat, my siblings and I really struggled with it.

What we would do to overcome the difficulty was ramp our characters level when starting the game. In Candlekeep Inn, we would buy as many darts as we could afford, and throw them at the sorcerer in the lobby. Before he could retaliate, we would run up the stairs to safety.

Repeat this a few dozen times, and he eventually dies, and you get a huge XP boost. Then you export the character, start a new game, and do the same thing.

One time we did this enough to be able to kill the character's father before leaving Candlekeep. Good times.

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

#85

Post by cannonedhamster »

mratsim wrote: post #68

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 br…

Looks like the whole Gibberlings website is temporarily offline, but it will be back up shortly.

https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/a736rl/gibberl...

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

#87

Post by Puer »

My greatest accomplishment as a kid was beating BG2 on "Insane" difficulty as a solo character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8JV3z-Oeo

I must have played through the game at least two dozen times and I never got tired of it. To this day it's still my favorite game of all time. Modern RPGs just don't compare in terms of storytelling and gameplay experience, in my opinion.

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

#88

Post by edaemon »

msluyter wrote: post #80

Incidentally, BG1, BG2, & Icewind Dale are available on iOS and play quite well on an iPad pro. Perhaps even better than on a PC, as using the touch screen is easier than moving a mouse around.

They're also incidentally available DRM-free for a few dollars in the GOG winter sale:

https://www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_enhanced_edition

https://www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_2_enhanced_edition

https://www.gog.com/game/icewind_dale_enhanced_edition

https://www.gog.com/game/icewind_dale_2

Some friends and I just started a BG2 game last night.

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

#89

Post by projectramo »

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?).

I hate to have to correct fellow HNers in a public forum but you two have left me with no other choice: Ultima V is clearly the best of the Ultima games.

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

#90

Post by elefanten »

cannonedhamster wrote: post #82
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…

I highly recommend you give the Exile series from Spiderweb Software a chance if you haven't. It's a bit dated graphically, but it's engine has been kept up and there's some new Avadon series as well. It's hands down some of the best storytelling and I've easily played hundreds of hours. I've definitely played from night to morning without realizing it more than a few times.

I remember ordering from a catalog and getting the fat envelope of 3.5 inch disks. Those games were amazing.

Many of them are on Steam now. And the creator Jeff Vogel is an interesting Twitter follow.

Post reply on HN