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[Riddler]

Was it any good? I've heard about it a lot, and was torn between buying it or Homeworld when I was a kid, but I somehow never got around to really finding out how good it was.

Is it worth the effort of an ebay scouring to find a good deal, or can I find it somewhere else? I had assumed it was still selling somewhere, so I hadn't been quite willing to resort to more buccaneer methods.

Sooo.. Any comments on the game? Any major mods that are needed/highly reccomended? Can I even run the game on a 64-bit system, or will I need to work some voodoo magic?

[Untouchable]

It's one of the greatest Western RPGs of all time for a very good reason. It's Bioware at their very best and why Dragon Age is seen as a successor to the series.

It's runs in XP without any issues and you should be able to buy the Baldur's Gate 4 in 1 set fairly cheaply. It's 1 & 2 plus both expansion packs and sells in Australia for about 30 bucks.

The best mod is Unfinished Business. It adds in a lot of cut content or stuff that couldn't be put in. It was made with the blessing of one of the head designers for the game who also created the Ascension mod. That's hard as balls so it's recommended for people that are good at it.

[Riddler]

Hmm.. Alrighty. I suppose I'll pick it up then. GOG has it for 10, but it'll be a couple days till my transfer is done

[Orangebottle]

Was it any good? I've heard about it a lot, and was torn between buying it or Homeworld when I was a kid, but I somehow never got around to really finding out how good it was.

Is it worth the effort of an ebay scouring to find a good deal, or can I find it somewhere else? I had assumed it was still selling somewhere, so I hadn't been quite willing to resort to more buccaneer methods.

Sooo.. Any comments on the game? Any major mods that are needed/highly reccomended? Can I even run the game on a 64-bit system, or will I need to work some voodoo magic?

Three words.

PLAY. THIS. GAME.

Words cannot express how awesome this game is.

[Denzi]

To be the voice of slightly less bias (and possibly play devil's advocate) I'd suggest checking out a let's play of Baldur's gate 2. I won't refute that it's a good game, but the combat is really different from AD&D rules in some places due to the whole 'real time is better than turn-based' theory that went into the game engine. If you're looking for a game with a good story and a lot of character everyone I know always recommend Planescape Torment. On the other hand if you want a good old-school RPG you can play with friends that is D&D inspired you can't really get much better than Baldur's Gate. I will warn you that combat will quickly turn into...

*engaged in combat, game auto paused(if setting is set)*
*tell fighters to fight, casters to cast*
*unpause*
*something happened, hit space to pause the game*
*repeat from step 2 until enemies are killed*
*loot what you killed*
*Did you use too many spells? Take too much damage? rest to heal up*
*more enemies? Return to start*

[KatalDT]

*engaged in combat, game auto paused(if setting is set)*
*tell fighters to fight, casters to cast*
*unpause*
*something happened, hit space to pause the game*
*repeat from step 2 until enemies are killed*
*loot what you killed*
*Did you use too many spells? Take too much damage? rest to heal up*
*more enemies? Return to start*

Thee combat runs somewhat like Dragon Age does at harder difficulties.

[Denzi]

No clue what DA played like at harder difficulties, I imagine it was the same press-space, assign orders, press-space as the standard difficulty though. DA really disappointed me when it came out though and was claimed (either by fans or the producers) to be a successor to Baldur's Gate, though in retrospect that was just me looking back on Baldur's Gate like the amazing game a big fan would look at it as and letting myself be disappointed with standards that even BG2 couldn't live up to (and possibly PST).

They're good games in their own right but in the end the combat boils down to spending 15 minutes paused and issuing orders for a 2 minute fight.

[KatalDT]

No clue what DA played like at harder difficulties, I imagine it was the same press-space, assign orders, press-space as the standard difficulty though. DA really disappointed me when it came out though and was claimed (either by fans or the producers) to be a successor to Baldur's Gate, though in retrospect that was just me looking back on Baldur's Gate like the amazing game a big fan would look at it as and letting myself be disappointed with standards that even BG2 couldn't live up to (and possibly PST).

They're good games in their own right but in the end the combat boils down to spending 15 minutes paused and issuing orders for a 2 minute fight.

In the regular difficulty for DA, you could generally just set your companions to whatever behaviors you wanted and play it out in real time, only pausing if something went wrong and you had to salvage it. The harder difficulties pretty much required you to do the pseudo-turn based style, which I didn't enjoy very much... so even though I like a challenge I ended up not playing it on the harder difficulties. So tedious.

[Paul]

I guess it depends on your playstyle. When I played through BG and BG2 I did combat mostly unpaused, only pausing to plan big fights or to line up very important spells (like a heal on someone about to die, or a nice fireball on that group of perfectly clumped enemies). Mostly I played it letting my guys pick their own targets with AI control, and directing the main character in real time.

Also, I wouldn't suggest it for a first playthrough (since the NPC content is fun) but you can play through the games quite viably as a solo character (or a duo, I played one through with nothing but me and Imoen).

[Orangebottle]

The magic system in BGII is much better than DA's, in my opinion. More spells, better spells, and more options.
Also, the companions you can add to your party feel much more real than Dragon Age's, even though the graphics are worse.
Also there's no 'mana' system like all these modern RPGs feel they need to restrict your spellcasting with. And there's no cooldown system either. Spells are restricted by how many you can cast per day/have memorized, and that's it.

You should play BGII with it's expansion pack, just to play as a wild mage. It's not necessarily the most useful type of mage, but it's freaking hilarious. Cast a fireball, watch it turn into a healball! Cast Knock, suddenly a bunch of squirrels appear! Of course, I tend to spam Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, so I get more spell effects.

I didn't play through the first for a couple of reasons:
1.The engine is slower.
2.I couldn't be arsed to go through the tutorial when I already know how to play games in this style.
3."HI! I'M IMOEN!"

They made her much more tolerable in the second game.