some gaming advice requested...

In My Humble Opinion
1

now, to start, i wasn’t entirely sure about the balance of power between this new “arts” forum and IMHO, so i put it here because i was asking opinions;

now, sometime over this weekend here, i would like to buy a game. this game will be an RPG, either “Baldur’s Gate” or “Planescape: Torment”.

both of these games came out a few years ago during my “puzzle Games” phase, where the only games i played were ones like “Dr. Brain”, i never even payed the slightest attention to either one.

now i would like to try one, as they would be very cheap from a bargain bin.

however, i have no idea which i should get.

“Baldur’s Gate” is supposed to be very, very good.
but, “Planscape: Torment” looks like it has a bit of the steampunk feel i wanted; one of the characters is a robot! originally i was going to get “Arcanum: of steamworks and Magiyk Obscura” for my steampunk dose, but it turned out that “Arcanum” has more bugs than “Fallout: Tactics”.

so, i would like arguments for and against both games, hopefully with some issues and specific details of high and low points.

2

Planescape.

Planescape.

Planescape.

PLANESCAPE!

[sub]I always wanted to do that.[/sub]

Planescape absolutely rocks. I mean it rocks. The storyline, the characters, and the dialogue are all amazing, as well as the locales you visit. It’s not exactly steampunk, but much of the architecture hints at it.

The game is not very combat-oriented; there are fights, but much of your experience comes from conversations and figuring things out.

I’ve never played Baldur’s Gate, personally, but Planescape: Torment is too good to pass up.

And I’d write more, but I’m about ready to fall asleep at the keyboard. Mmm…Planescape…

[sub]And Arcanum is full of bugs? That sucks! But then, what do you expect…?[/sub]

3

Depends on what you are looking for:

Planescape has a very intricate plot, and pretty compelling story and characters. But because of this, you will do a LOT of reading. The combat is not that big a deal in it. IT does have a strange, nearly Steampunk feel to it. If you liked the movie Memento, this game shares a lot of common elements with it. Gamewise, the engine is a little clunky, but then again, by the time I played it, I had played later versions of the engine, and so it seemed awkward to me. If you haven’t played any of the other Infinity Engine games (Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, etc) you may not notice any problem. Planescape has a fairly linear plot, but you can make choices that determine your eventual outcome. I know of at least two different endings, and I think there’s at least one more. There is one ending, the one I got, that does not end with a big knock-out battle with a huge “boss enemy” which appealed to me, since I think that’s usually a dumb way to end a game.

Baldur’s Gate is more straight-up D&D. The plot is pretty linear, and some people have found it very confusing, but that was not my experience, and there are plenty of walkthroughs online to help you if you do get stuck. The plot was nothing special, typical fantasy stuff. There’s an expansion to this, but like all the other expansions for these games, it only adds a few more weapons, some spells, and an INSANELY difficult battle. It’s built very much on the idea of “bosses” with a set of combats all leading to bigger combats. I tend to not usually like this sort of thing, but it didn’t really bother me that much. The combat is sort of real-time, but you can pause to change what your characters are doing, which I REALLY liekd because in general I don’t like real-time combat. I found this system to be a nice happy medium.

You didn’t ask, but if you like the combat aspect, Icewind Dale is even more combat-heavy.

All of them have nice graphics, great music, and I found a lot of fun. The first two you can pick up for about $20 each, tops, so you might not have to choose. If you plan to play both, I might suggets Planescape first just because if you play BG first, you might find the Planescape controls clunkier, like I did.

4

I’ve played all of the games with the Infinity Engine. If you’ve got time, and access to all of the games, I’d recommend playing them in this order:[ul][]Baldur’s Gate. You’ll become familiar with the engine, and it’s really not all that tough. It’s possible to rush pretty quickly through the game. (Play the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion at the same time.)[]Baldur’s Gate II. It segues nicely from the first, the expansion Throne of Bhaal has recently been released, and the engine is more fine-tuned.[]Planescape. I enjoyed the story for this most of all, but I can see how the engine might be frustrating to a novice.[]Icewind Dale. This game was just FUN. No pretension at a story, a fun battle with a dragon that wasn’t insanely difficult, and I looked forward to playing it without any worry about trying to remember where I was in the plot. (I think the battle with the dragon really did it for me, since there are a few dragons you can fight in BG2 - but the AI is poor enough to allow you to kill the dragons without them even attacking you.)[/ul]Come to think of it, I think I’ll start BG2 over again … that game had so much to offer.

5

excellent!

planescape looks great, for all the reasons i expected, and the “low combat” thing makes it even more appealing (you remember what i said about puzzle games, right?)! so, in a few minutes, i am going to head over to Comp-USA and start dumpster-diving the bargain bin. if i see Baldur’s, i might grab it too if it’s cheap enough, but Planescape is my target. thanks for the help, all!

6

ok…

i am back from the store. it took awile to find both games, but i got them.

baldur’s gate was easy; they had rereleaced it and had a whole bunch on the shelf next to the sequel.

Planescape was harder; i managed to find it in the bargain bin, but the plastic wrap was cut. i bought it, but had them let me open it in front of the manager so i could make sure the CDs and the manual were still in there and return it for money if they weren’t.

they were.

so, i am about to load up Planescape and try it all out!
and, yet again, thanks all for your help!

7

Oh, catch me in an amorous position with a chainsaw!

Last night i played for about four hours, and finished the evening just escaping the mortuary at the beginning.
i wasn’t so terribly hooked, but i did think it was a great game i would like to continue.

Skip to this morning, circa ten A.M.

I thought that i would play a little Planescape before i went to get breakfast, and i would try Baldur’s Gate out in the afternoon.

Well, it is more than seven hours later and i just remembered that i might want to stop playing Planescape and go get some breakfast.

This is, without a doubt, the best game i have ever played. I could not stop for nearly eight hours… NOT EVEN TO EAT!

I love the engine and gameplay controls- so incredibly intuitive and streamlined!
Now that i have pledged my love for Planescape, let me throw another question out to yonder masses;

I am currently at the Buried Village. I am about to go hunting for the bronze sphere. I would like to change to a mage before I go down; I am nearing the end of my fifth level, and I don’t want to accidentally go to the seventh level Fighter bonus; I want the Tattoo of the Magi eventually, and you need to get both Wizard bonuses to use it.
So… How do i get to change into a Mage?

8

If I recall, there is a person in Ragpicker’s Square who can teach Mage to you. I think. It’s been a while since I played it.

9

Not affiliated with me, it just was the best site I found. To get mage-ified, check out the old hag’s hut in Ragpicker’s square. But she’s going to send you on a bunch of quests, which all involve gaining a ton of experience, which means that if you don’t want to make it to level 7 fighter …

I’d also suggest loading up on the charms that shoot out the swarming spell before going after the golden thing. You’re coming up on the best surprize in the game, IMHO.

-LV

10

okey dokey. i will go back and try to get the old lady to do me out like that.

i had a thought, about the XP…

go thief, do the quests, come out with a level three abouts thief so i might later get a Mage growing with out trouble. (though i will end a level or two lower than otherwise…)