I want to play Baldur’s Gate 2 because I’ve always heard such good things about it. I’m wondering how essential it is to play through part one first.
Your opinions?
I never played the first one and didn’t have any problem keeping up with 2’s storyline.
Baldurs Gate II is designed so you can play it without having played one. The story is filled in for you along the way, so no you don't absolutly have to play one to understand what is going on.
That said, part one is great fun, and belive me if you like this sort of game, you will want to maximize your BG experience an play it too.
“Go for the eyes Boo!”
You don’t have to have played the first one. The first one was good, but the 2nd is far superior, so if you don’t have the time to play both, skip it.
The only thing I’d be leery of in giving you a go ahead to play Baldur’s Gate II before BGI is that the story is filled in for you as you go along. There’s no mystery as to what happens in the first one after you’re done with the second one. Kind of like starting in the middle of a series of mystery novels, but not as bad. If that doesn’t bother you, then go for it. They’re both great fun.
God, I love the giant miniature space hamster. Or is it a miniature giant space hamster? I can never remember what order they go in.
“Feel the burning stare of my HAMSTER and change your ways!”
I never got into BG1 though, and I’ve played BG 2 straight through to the expansions end (say 200 hours) 4 or 5 times. I don’t think you’re missing much by skipping 1, there’s a lot of questionable design descisions that they changed for BG2 such as having to walk through screens and screens of empty forest for the sake of “exploring.”
The jokes make more sense if you play BG1 first, and even though they give a basic rundown about what happened in BG1 it’s not in depth. As for the “screens and screens of empty forest” I’d say you got lucky on encounter rolls, because you can have random encounters there and gain exp.
The “exploring” bugged me as well. My second time through 1 I followed a walkthrough that told me where to go in the forests and I found the game much more enjoyable. I was very glad they changed the system for the sequel.
Well, I started to play BGII while playing BG I, and I had the ending of BG I spoiler for me (I still have not finished either one, though.)
The main character (aka you) is the son of a God. If I know my Forgotten Realms history right, it was a dead God that a wizard or priest in the beginning of the second one is trying to bring back by using you.
My memory is hazy (liek the moores of Scotland) so that might be somewhat wrong, but that big part was revleaed to me and I was kinda upset, then realized it was my own fault for palying the sequel before finishing number 1.
I wouldn’t bother with bg1 if you don’t need it to play bg2. That game desperately needed a run command. On top of the tedium of all that slow trudging about (god, the “exploration” elements made me want to fork out my eyes), you only had 6 character levels and a fairly limited selection of equipment you could find. Dull, dull, dull.
I believe you can set the options to “always run” for BG1, can’t you? I can remember running, either there is a command for it, or you can set it up in options. BG1 isn’t as good as BG2 as far as some game design issues, (Then again, how many years were between the two?) but if you play games that have sequels for the sake of enjoying the plot, then you probably should play BG1 first.
Nope, no run command. There was a run command in Planescape: Torment, but it’s the only infinity engine game to feature one.
I also don’t think BG1 is as good as 2 on story issues. The dialogues both with the people you meet and the people in your party are a lot lighter going, with the majority of the game spent on low level combat and fetch quests.
I loved wandering about the world in BG1 exploring everywhere! :mad:
But you don’t have to do so. You can get by looking at less than a third of the total zones, and without actually exploring those throughly.
They are quite different games in themselves, I think. BG does have aspects of the BG1 story to it, and The expansion pack ToB definitely does.
Personally, I would. Simply because BG1 is a great game, and BG2 is a progression of it, so things are done slightly differently. For example, I missed the ‘wilderness’ areas of BG1 in the others. The idea of trekking to Nashkel to restock and just wandering around the countryside in your own way, doing odd quests and levelling up. It had a slightly different feel to it. More rural than amn and because you’re much lower level, you learn some handy tactics for BG2. Ooh, and learn how to use magic. A lot of people don’t get it but if you do, it’s fantastic.
Also, if you do decide to go through the whole thing, and are into this kind of game, there are a few mods I advise you use. First of all, download and use the fixpacks from http://www.baldurdash.org/ and perhaps some tweaks (i.e removing xp/level caps) And make sure you patch any game you have with the official patches from the website too.
Secondly, (and I haven’t done this myself yet, but will next time I replay them) if you’ve got both games, use BG1Tutu . It basically allows you to play BG1 in the BG2 engine, which is a fantastic practical improvement.
One thing that sets BG1 apart is the difficulty level. BG2 is a considerably more forgivning game and you generally do not end up in places you absolutely shouldn’t be in. If you start as a mage or cleric in BG1 you are in for a challenge. I enjoyed the exploring that needed to be done in it, but wasn’t upset to see it go in BG2. The plot in the first one isn’t as rich or well developed as the second one but stands up well against a lot of other similar games. Also if you play either one make sure to get the expansion packs too, they are both great and add a lot to the games.