What are your thoughts so far? It seems to play almost exactly like the original for me. Also, I had forgotten how silly THAC0 is.
I'm one of the few people who didn't like the original enough to actually finish it. Then again, I've previously stated my case against AD&D in general, especially as it evolved from its more simple origins. I prefer simpler, much more elegant games systems (Fantasy Trip was excellent, which was the basis for GURPS; Paranoia also had a very simple and incredibly fun game system, where you didn't have to spend hours to learn the game system -- heck, there was even a rule that stated that players were not allowed to know the rules. Best rule ever. Only D&D-based game I've ever actually liked, since C64 days, was Planescape: Torment, and even in that game, I felt the magic system and character building was somewhat painful to have to deal with -- still much better than most D&D games today.
I don't have it because I've gotten BG 1 & 2 from GoG and modded them into a higher resolution and transferred BG 1 into BG2's engine. I'm not entirely sure about what the difference is between that one and what I did.
The main differences I've seen so far: More classes than the original BG1. Monk, some specializations, wizard slayer, wild mage, etc Supposedly better multiplayer implementation (haven't tried it yet). As far as I can tell these classes are basically imported from BG2 with the same rules. "The Pit" add-on, which is basically a fighting arena. Only played it a little bit so far but it seems interesting. Also has full voice acting for all the NPCs, which is nice. Slightly different interface. Native support for high res scaling, interface is more blue than grey like the original Cutscenes have been replaced with animated/drawn stills, but still use the same old voice acting. I think the new and original are about equal in quality. Journal is much more organized by quest...or if there is not a quest, by common thread or rumor You can now hit TAB to show containers and boxes like in BG2 You can now zoom in with mousewheel New menu music (about as good as the original menu music) Some magical items now have names (ex: ring of protection + 1 is now "Prince's Ring") Significantly faster saving and loading (almost instant rather than giving a loading screen for a few seconds). Loading time in general is almost nonexistent. Some of the spell graphics (such as entangle) have been replaced with Icewind Dale graphics. I like both but I'd prefer the original :*( A few item containers have been imported from Icewind Dale 2 (Gem Bag, Scroll Case, Potion Case), which makes life significantly better. Drops seem to have been adjusted, with random encounters having a much higher chance to drop spell scrolls than before. Ankheg Armor is no longer magical, so you can equip ring of protection +1 with it, etc. There's some debate on the forums over whether or not this is intended or a bug. Biggest drawback so far: I can't seem to find any way to change the AI Refresh rate, so I'm stuck at the default game speed which is a bit slow for my tastes (especially with big open spaces to explore). Other than those changes, it feels about the same. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. It would have been nice if they'd used 3.5 rules instead of AD&D with the crappy THAC0 system and other silly things, but it's bearable.
SkyMuffin covered the good side. The bad however is that there seems to be a bug with Radeon GPUs at the moment. Fullscreen mode is flickering in a bad way so you cannot always see what is happening. But this is easily fixed by ALT+Enter. I read about other bugs that linger on, but that was the only one that sounded game-breaking. And I wager a patch or GPU driver patch will fix this issue.
I forgot about how annoying Noober is. Also, i have foiled four assassination attempts so far. Playing monk is kind of silly. Since my movespeed is 2x that of the average person, I've just been kiting circles around my enemies and wiping them out with a sling. Not necessarily a flaw in the game itself but in the D&D rules. Still pretty fun.
Probably not worth it for me, then. I already spent the time to upgrade/mod my BG's. For one who hasn't I guess it'd be a wash between them spending their time on the originals to make it equal-ish or money on the new one. Thanks for the rundown!
I didn't buy it after all. Mods do pretty much everything the EE does and also add significant amount of not-bad content. I guess EE fixes some things that are not possible through modding because it's a somewhat different engine. I'll probably buy it when BG2EE comes out, but for now the price is a tad too high for what's provided in my opinion. Edit: It's probably worth it for those who want BG on their tablet. I don't care about that though.
Added a few more things I've noticed. A few item containers have been imported from Icewind Dale 2 (Gem Bag, Scroll Case, Potion Case), which makes life significantly better. Bag of Holding does not appear to be in the CLUAConsole so I'm assuming it is not in the game. Drops seem to have been adjusted, with random encounters having a much higher chance to drop spell scrolls than before. Ankheg Armor is no longer magical, so you can equip ring of protection +1 with it, etc. There's some debate on the forums over whether or not this is intended or a bug. Biggest drawback so far: I can't seem to find any way to change the AI Refresh rate, so I'm stuck at the default game speed which is a bit slow for my tastes (especially with big open spaces to explore).
Monks are so ridiculous in this game. I can outrun everyone, and with a sling I can wipe them out Stat bonus, +1 sling, +2 bracers = +6 to all rolls with my sling Silke? NIMBUL? As soon as I see them I just run off screen, sleep so their spell buffs wear off, then run back and pelt them with bullets. In Icewind Dale 1 + 2 monks aren't so bad because the terrain is a lot more enclosed and you are forced to fight. But in Baldur's Gate you have huge swaths of land.
In NWN its worse because there's some kind of exponential scaling and 40 monk w/ haste moves at mach 4. Edit: Specifically; new speed = (old speed) + (old speed)*(effect bonus) + base*(monk bonus) Base speed is 4 m / s movement speed. Monk bonus at 40 is 230%. So when affected by haste (1.5x): new speed = (4*2.3) + (4*2.3)*(1.5) + (4*2.3) = 32.2 m/s This is so fast that auras on the monk get left behind by the game engine, trailing the monk by as much as a whole map. In short, you don't even need to use a sling. You just run circles around them and punch them when they start lagging or something. And that's why fuck you monks.
Once a monk takes epic levels, they start to move so fast that the air friction on them is so great it inflames their clothing; literally turning them into a human torch. Thanks solely to their innate resistances (and the weakness of mundane fire), they can survive this.
I never played the originals (I know, I know!). Should I go for the enhanced edition, or grab the gog versions and mod them?
the enhanced is a lot smoother, and most of the mod community is already moving to port stuff to it, so you should go with that.
I'd only be interested if there were some huge content mods, like total conversions... at which point why make it BG1 anyway? I played through the original... even bought the expansion(tales of the sword coast), but never finished that one, I think I still have the original box and everything for that. BG2 is a much superior game anyway(and I have played through it + throne of baal more than once!)
