Baldur's Gate: EE - Is it still the best RPG of all time?
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- Опубликовано: 26 июн 2024
- It's been over ten years since Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was released, and whether you're a diehard fan of the game or you've never even heard of it, it's time to give it a retrospective review.
In this video, we'll be taking a look at Baldur's Gate: EE and whether it still stands the test of time. We'll be discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the game, and whether or not it's still the best RPG of all time. So tell us, does Baldur's Gate: EE still hold up ten years later?
Baldur's Gate: EE - Is it still the best RPG of all time?
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CHAPTERS
_______________________________
04:19 - CANDLEKEEP
14:53 - FRIENDLY ARM INN
26:11 - BEREGOST
31:14 - NASHKEL
42:24 - MINSC AND DYNAHEIR
48:00 - NASHKEL MINES
1:01:35 - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
1:07:07 - CLOAKWOOD IS A NIGHTMARE
1:16:46 - BALDUR'S GATE IS THE TITLE OF A GAME 
Игры
I'm sad that I never really comprehended the game back then. I tried it a few times and eventually gave up when I was a kid. I think I missed out on what could've been a life-long interest. While I do like it now, it just isn't the same as discovering something when you're young.
I'm indian and here dnd culture is non existent and even gaming is often limited to fps and platformers. However is still chanced upon icewind dale and decided to get it on pc very young, and tried it. Loved the atmosphere and was entranced by the possibilities rpg's offer but ultimately gave up because too complex. Don't worry kids are dumb you can still enjoy it now.
I literally scrolled down to comment this exact thing. Me and my dad were both really into Diablo and D&D, so when he brought home Baldur's Gate we were super excited, but then I think we decided it was "too boring" at the same time and gave up on it. Later on we'd play Fallout 2 together, I guess the setting was interesting enough that it carried us through the more complex RPG stuff, if only we'd gone back to BG afterwards.
For me, it was Neverwinter Nights. I was more obsessed with creating a character than actually progressing the story with complex game mechanics. Never got past the first chapter.
@@resrer you're not missing anything, NWN was one of the most generic adventure games bioware put out even when they were considered good.
@@resrer i know that feeling, i just went around the starter town for hours and hours
I have beaten BG1 no less than 20 times, and I had no idea Charm could be used outside of combat.
I'm reminded of a story I read about charm in an old pamphlet my dad had for dnd. It tells you about charm through a story about a guy that wanders into a harpies cave and gets charmed and kept as a slave until he is used as food. Coolest way to die in a game ever.
@@StratEdgyProductions damn, I wouldn't even be mad
My favourite use for Charm is on Algernon. The dude in Feldepost's Inn in Beregost who has "Algernon's Cloak" which gives you +2 Charisma. Charm him and send him over to Tranzig's room (after you have finished the Nashkel Mines). Tranzig will kill him, you get no reputation loss and you get his cloak (which is kinda helpfull in the beginning to get some discount at the stores).
id prefer to be charmed and used for reproduction
but to each his own lol
@@gyozanomics charmed for FOOD. Pretty sure harpies are the small half bird women. You would NOT want to be charmed into mating with those lmfao
Finally, someone who said that about arrows and how deadly they actually are. I've been tired of how bows and arrows are portrayed in a lot of media as being relatively weak as someone who practices traditional Archery. Thanks Strat!
Bows,crossbows and slings in BG1 was literally death from above! Loved it.
Problem with archery in how it's usually portrayed is that it's either weak and useless or it's the literal god weapon. The weapon to rule the world. There's little to no middle ground. Even among fans and haters, and people who knows nothing.
Games like souls style games make bows and crossbows very underpowered.
Skyrim, of all games, really show how powerful bows are
I wanted to say the same thing as someone who practices traditional archery in Kingdom Come Deliverance!
@@osets2117 Skyrim makes them powerful, but also veeery unrealistic. The only newer game that has its bows right is Kingdom Come, imo
Minsc is Rashemi. If you know anything about the lore of the Forgotten Realms, you know what he and his witch are up to.
It's basically a test of manhood. The witches of Rashemi are sent on a pilgrimage of sorts once they get to a certain point in their studies, and a young beserker is tasked with guarding said witch until they complete their journey and return home. If the Witch dies, generally speaking, the berserker isn't allowed to come home- though exceptions can be made on occasion.
Dynaheir and Edwin don't get along not just because personal differences- but because Thay And Rashamen share borders- And they don't get along in the least. (Rashemen trends towards Chaotic Good, while Thay trends towards Lawful Evil. There are generations of bad blood, as you would probably expect.)
I empathize with the whole "self indulgent hobby" thing, I'm so jealous of people who had friends growing up that had very similar interests. I had my gaming friends but they were all on console, and I had my music friends but none of them ever wanted to get good enough that we could actually sit down and have a real band. I do think my tastes are more fringe and unique because of it though, I definitely got into some weird games and music because I didn't have to get on Counter Strike every night, or practice Red Hot Chili Peppers songs for the battle of the bands.
I appreciate the respectful way you placed a positive spin on your retrospective. Saying that your interests were more focused, specific even, without calling better quality in comparison to others.
We all have our interests that bring us joy, so long as we find them to be a positive experience that's all that matters.
"To each, their own", as they say.
But, I understand that it makes it hard when others don't share the same interest, to that degree at least, especially those within our immediate circles.
But as you can see, there are those who can enjoy those "self-indulgent hobbies", they are out there amidst the billions of us mortals that live on this Terra Firma!
Same, brother.. exactly the same.
"side quests are not worth doing" and "I'm level 1 at Nashkel Mines" might be connected.
I will be honest. I kill Neera outright. That stupid ambush quest she drags you into is fury inucing. "Thanks for saving me. Can I join your party?" "Sure. Come over here with us. *Murder. Loot scroll or gem bag whatever she has. Boot corpse from party.* Thanks Dad!"
As for burglary in this game? 19 strength half-orc fighter thief. The best burglary tool is your bare fist, the game does not treat unarmed combat as murderous armed assault. I've gone into homes and punched every man woman and child into unconsciousness then punched their drawers and storage trunks open to take their stuff. When they're unconscious they don't witness crime.
A victimless crime in all cases.
First time I played BGEE I already had a mod installed to remove all new content. Never seen the new NPCs and after watching this video I am glad I used it.
"Im not that kind of thief."
I was open to having Neera around. Then i did her quest and she turned out to be a bitch. Then i played BG 2 and she turned to be a MAJOR bitch.
The thayan wizards can have her for all i care.
What did he mean when he mentioned modern politics and sensibilities? I don't remember Neera being politically charged, just a chaotic troublemaker.
I like the walk towards the friendly arms inn tho.
Being a lone rogue, bard or wizard going through that trail is so frigging scary. You are just a kid that has never left candlekeep basically. And everything can one shot you. Good times :)
In the original game, the cloak of Algernon has a infinite number of charms to be used on each and every creature (contrary to the cham spell, which only works on humanoids) as long as it isn't magic or breath resistant. When I was a kid, I did a "charm everything" run, where in each map, I charmed every creature I encountered. It was indeed very fun and I got to read many alternative dialogues that way.
HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED...Minsk's hamster's squeak made it into Mass Effect when you interact with the hamster in your cabin.
Minsc' Hamster was a multidimensional being, very powerful. Anything else strange going on with the space hamster? He could be the same one.
The secondary reason for melee weapons breaking all the time in BG1 is that it "encourages" the player to use ranged weapons instead (which are much better in the early game anyway). It's pretty clever game design.
I miss the era of time where RPGs were actual, honest to God RPGs.
Actual choice and consequence.
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 hearken back to that era of time I desperately crave for.
WOTR
Underrail, Age of Decadence, Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game, there's three great CRPGs to give a shot at. In fact, Underrail plus it's expansion pack, Expedition is $19.98 on Steam and GoG.
Well we got Disco Elysium. Um though I think they fired the main writers and artists lol.
@@GangsterFrankensteinComputer They did. :(
@@GangsterFrankensteinComputer but wasent this game finished?
As someone who just got into the Pathfinder games, it's amazing to see how much stuff is taken from this game. I had no idea they were so similar.
Can't speak for 2, but the original Pathfinder is just D&D 3.5 edition continued. It's literally the same game with ongoing development but divorced from the plot & world of The Forgotten Realms/Wizards of The Coast properties. With a LOT of expansion... just, limitless expansion of the same system.
It gets PRETTY damn crunchy with the math past a certain point though and I don't really favor the system for most people just getting into tabletop because too many of the people who are into it get way deep into having all the supplements and going crazy with options. It's more mind numbing than my last sentence for newbies. Still, great game though; basically directly compatible with all published D&D 3.5 "stuff" with almost no work "converting" anything.
@@abortedlord Oh yeah, I'm familiar with the tabletop games. I was referring to the computer games (the two Pathfinder games from Owlcat).
Everything is similar - the character building, equipment, trapfinding, combat, spells, and even the UI. I had no idea these new games traced all the way back to the original Baldurs Gate, and barely anything changed. Basically just a different adventure with a new coat of paint.
@@abortedlord my only issue with running pathfinder content and 3.5 content is the balancing. Magic in 3.5 is way way way too OP but everything in pathfinder shits on 90% of the classes from 3.5. I'm the GM of my group and I think making sure every party member can at least contribute to fights/dialogue/puzzles is a necessity. If you have a 3.5 fighter in your party and a pathfinder fighter in your party, the 3.5 player is gonna feel like a side character.
And that's not even getting into the 50+ spells from 3.5 that just have to be straight up banned if you're running pathfinder content.
@@virn333 'magic strong' is the main problem with 3.5. Imo the pathfinder devs went out of their way to pump up martial classes.
BG1 and BG2 are basically what made CRPGs what they are today
With mods it's definitely a lot better in modern day. People are making apps with built in modlists to auto deck out your game. I like to spice up the game by getting more kits. Currently playing a ranger/mage
Avoid the Sandrah saga like the plague. More content =/= better conent.
There’s sadly so many mods with zero regards to balance, tons of typos and weird special snowflake stuff or no regards to setting etc. haven’t found a good content mod yet, other than some of the item upgrades/inclusions from SoD (particularly like the teleportation spear). Chosen of Cyric encounter seems fine too
@@maomaeramnon3870 I've enjoyed a few of the really simple additions like ascalons quest pack, unfinished business and kit mods. Anytime a modder introduces new items they tend to break balance. I make my own edits to the rules alongside things like scales of balance to give it some variety
I would love another Wrath of Righteous video especially with all the updates they have given it. It is also on sale right now for anyone wanting to get it like 60% off I think.
same ! more WOTR vids
bump this up
I second this. That game is quickly becoming one of the greats.
How is it? Haven't played it since launch
@@t2av159 Most of the bugs have been fixed they added some new classes (I think) couple of UI adjustments and a bunch of new ending slides when you beat the game to tell you what happened to your companions.
This was the first game I ever played where I could make my own character. Me and one of my friends loved it, especially when we discovered we could play with two of our own made characters on my PC and pause the game and choose what we wanted our little men to do. Some great little stories in the game, though the second game took many, many hours of my teenage life.
Pro tip for anyone starting a BG:1 playthrough. Get access to the protection from petrification spell. Find the map cell to the east with the basilisks and gnome mage, apply and then kill the basilisks and mage for a ton of early xp.
Even better, in the middle left side of that map is the ghoul Korax who will befriend you for like 10 real time minutes. Being undead, it's immune to the basilisk gaze. Scout with him out ahead with all your friends with ranged weapons, and you can get easy exp and jump up as far as 3 or 4 from lvl 1.
@@jasonlasica7651 That too, I just feel too bad for Korax 😭
That's only half the fun, when you rest in these areas you can spawn more and more basillisks and get even more EXP. I also remember a cave, somewhere on the coast, where you could rest and spam very nice EXP fat golems to kill
@@adammusia9527 Sadly, the Enhanced Edition removed the respawn of these golems. In the original version, my go-to was "obtain a magic weapon and then go to the xp cap thanks to the infinite 2000xp golem cave". A bit broken I'll admit.
@funram maybe it was in one of the patches, because I could swear that when I played EE on release, I did some golem resting (or maybe it's just my '99 memory resurfacing, I hear that old people often remember the past better than anything in the present). I'm pretty sure that resting in the Mutamin's Garden (or travelling back and forth in this general area) still respawns basilisks, which are much juicier EXP-wise, also wyverns n Cloakwood respawn nicely. If they fixed all that with one of the patches, I'm gonna be sad
Just played through this game for the first time ever in 2022. Definitely lives up to its legendary reputation. The hard early lesson is equip your whole party with bows and slings.
melee in BG1 is a mug's game, all you'll do as a melee character in low level AD&D is eat shit and die
i always thought it was boring when i saw it back then and its boring now that i played it.
bad taste@@arkgaharandan5881
During the candlekeep tutorial you can go in the house with the practice battles, take all the equipment from the characters inside, save, and load that save as a new game. Then you get to keep all that free equipment to start the game.
"If you have more than 4 legs I dont fuck with you."
Ive never felt more seen in my life
I have to point out, your review is very in accurate because of your assumptions about the game. As an example; at the Friendly Arm Inn there are litteraly 7 quests and 1 easter egg, with 4 instances of world building.
QUESTS:
One guy upstairs wannts his boots and wine from his home in beregost, beset by giant spiders
One guy wants the belt from the ogre
One guy upstairs on the 3rd floor lost a cloak in Cloakwood, which gets recovered in ch4
On the ground floor you can talk to the innkeep and learn he was an ex-adventuerer who cleared the keep of baddies and setup an inn, his friends went on with life. Worldbuilding.
There is a noble who you can lie to to get the Golden Pantaloons, a useless item that gets imported into Baldurs Gate 2, where you get the Silver Pantaloons, before going onward to Throne of Bhall and getting the Coppeer Pantalones, then merging all 3 into the Prismatic Pantaloons that let you turn into an Adamantine Golem.
There is a quest from a woman who was robbed on the road, lost her ring, you can go north of the inn on the same map and get it back.
You could argue its repetative, but the dialoge is great, the writing is great, and alot of the things they do is to sell you on the idea that your playing dnd, with a dm, at a tabble. Its also meant to world build.
"The Friendly Arm Inn is a boring place with 1 boring quest and nothing else" is just inaccurate.
Im 15 minutes in and he's been wrong so many times
Ayyy great timing!!! i literally just started playing this game two days ago, before this vid came out, for the first time. (And just found your channel/videos about a week ago - digging them)
Had a bit of a learning curve even though i got into/loved pillars of eternity…. but after getting thru the first two chapters ive got the hang of it and can’t put it down! Absolutely
love it, excited to go thru all the follow ups - II, iWD, planescape torment.
Thank you for having such in-depth and interesting analyses on such great games. Not only giving some ppl nostalgia/replay inspo; but also introducing a bunch of ppl to games they might never stumble across otherwise!
I wanted to add something else: new characters aren't bad, but they stick out due to having quests and much more voiced dialogues and banter, it's weird to play party that's half mute and half chatty, however if you play full Beamdog party, you'll actually have some fun and won't see them as so out of place. I've done such a playthrough, and it was very fun, much better than a mixed party, and I'm an OG l33t 90s fan, I very much recommend doing that sometime.
Also, well, in BG2 we have much more dialogue voiced and lots of companion quests, so Beamdog NPCs won't stick out there as well
Yup. I don't think I can play without the NPC Project after having played BG2 for years to make all those NPCs come alive.
The game actually gives you non cheesy ways to beat high level forced fights. It rewards exploration and you can find numerous potions and magical items in the two "empty" areas before you get to the friendly arm inn. Use your potions when you get them.
Yeah, this is one genre where your consumable items are not disposable junk. They create huge effects and the game expects you to take advantage of the ones you find and wants you to buy more. Also greatly rewards spell buffs to similar effect. It's not the player's fault necessarily considering most RPGs since 1990 have been opposed to that philosophy and just encourage using the most damaging attacks over and over no matter what to win.
I found the one magic item in the original version that really made the game too easy was the wand of monster summoning. You could flood a room with gnolls and hobgoblins and just cast spells and volley arrows never having to engage. The put limits on it in BG2 and the EE versions to fix it. I think they also changed the spell improved invisibility too because it was too powerful.
[15:00] Fun fact, in original BG1 this character was named Elminster, not an Old Man like in BG1:EE.
Hide in shadows was great. It was more than by chance though. Standing in a shadow made a big difference, at least at lower levels, when hiding or staying hidden successfully
Strat, you madman, you managed to slap in an arrow-to-the-knee joke when there was nary the sight of Skyrim to be seen. Glorious. For real though, I'm glad you put this out. I used to adore BG and play the hell out of it back in the day, but recently thinking back on it I pretty much couldn't remember a single thing in the game. The only thing I remembered was Viconia, and even then that's primarily because she was a popular Skyrim mod for a while lol. It's nice being reminded of all the things I loved (and hated) about the game.
the thing about freezing/disintegrating enemies makes me think of all the piles of ash in fallout from which I've looted complete pieces of armor and intact weapons
Do baldurs gate 2 next. I absolutely love both baldurs gate games
I have a pretty hard time deciding which one is better.
Overall I think Baldur's Gate 2 is better, but Enhanced Edition content is more intrusive and annoying.
Having just read the novels and not having played the game yet, I see the names Jaheira and Khalid. UHOH
Hey! I've watched your content before! I thought I recognized your face from somewhere. I watched your 3d pixel art videos when I was coming up with texturing ideas for a project. Thanks for what you do!
@@StratEdgyProductions 🥰
Man, Strat. I REALLY appreciate your emphasis on actually ROLE-PLAYING the games you review, your character voices are a nice touch at times as well! For real though, I've seen I don't know how many RPG game videos and reviews that don't seem to get into the roleplay themselves, which in turn impacts their review because they aren't fully engaging with the systems like you HAVE TO DO with DnD and other Pen and Paper tabletops of ye olden times. Watching your videos reminded me to stop trying so hard to beat the game and actually remember to use my imagination a little bit and PLAY THE GAME. So thank you for that, buddy ol pal, it's much appreciated and a breast of fresh air!
I am running a Baldur's gate 1 campaign with my wife. The lore tidbits were very helpful, thank you!
A new video? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the world, localized entirely within my timezone?! May i see it?!
Never apologise for long videos, guy! This is excellent pre-bedtime stuff!
mount and blade:warband had a simplified but similar companion mechanic. all of the companions have backstories, but they were little more than text blocks. but there were usually two potential companions who had similar skills but, due to their in game lore, wouldn't get along, and one of them would eventually leave. you could overcome this sometimes with a charisma check, but it added an element of role play in that you could tailor your party to those who fit the type of character you were playing, since your decisions would either improve or reduce your relation with certain characters
Never played the EE's. However, the original BG and BG2 are some of the best RPG's ever. So many things to do, particularly in BG2, outside of the main quests
Jim Cummings has done so much voice acting in video games, always a treat to hear him.
1:08:55 the teleporting spider bit gets me every time
unless it's a bug that will crash the game or lock you out remaster devs need to leave games as PURE to the original as possible and just update the visuals! period!
Baldur’s Gate will hold up in 3022.
I really like these long videos on CRPG's, because there aren't many to go around.
And yes I would 100000% want another Wrath of the Righteous video from you given that it's my favorite post kickstarter rennaisance of CRPG's.
This was the second in the series I played while waiting for throne of Bhaal. Irenicus's dungeon was such a good intro to the series, but 1 had to happen so 2 could really shine.
For me the fact that I played first BG2 completely ruined my experience with BG1, they really extended everything in BG2.
True, I played SoA before bg1 one and boy was it rough going, the starting point and early pacing is just plain bad
Played it and the second one all the way through first time in 2020. It rules, played 400 hours per game. Shit is dope
STRAT-EDGY Do Neverwinter Nights next please. It is like Baldur's Gate but with 3D Graffics. And a sequel to Baldur's Gate.
Ah, so many sleepless nights wasted in that game. The map and quest editor ate too many hours of my life :)
@@mdo favorite race?
in case you need an NWN breakdown while you wait for strat look up noah gervais' video on it, he goes into the base game, the dlc and i think NWN2 as well
Just started playing through BG now. Getting real drunk so I don't remember any spoilers. If anyone needs any convincing to play this, if you get caught stealing in the tutorial town you can call the guard a bald virgin before he kills you.
My experience with BGEE: walking into a room full of basilisks without any way to counter or stealthy pass them, had to sacrifice all my companions to pass my protagonist through them and then gave up one the game with my character completely alone
Deus Ex mankind divided had a command line, until they realised you can't charge or cheat dlc if people can just do it for free
yes that's exactly how item dlc, collectors edition and preorder bonus items ruin games and modding - you can't allow the player to just make an equivalent item themselves if you want to pretend that an extra medkit in the inventory at start of the game is worth paying extra for.
@@lasskinn474 I was so annoyed to learn that my pre order items in mankind divided were one time dlc and gone after you used them in one playthrough
BG1 was always my favorite of the two games. I loved BG2 (not Throne of Bhaal), don't get me wrong, but there was always something more mysterious about the first one. I played it for the first time back in 1998 and was very apprehensive when the Beamdog EEs came out. I like the features that have been added like the improved map screen, highlight all, quick loot, and quick load. Things can be improved with a few tweaks and mods:
* Convenient EE NPCs (Remove Beamdog NPCs)
* BGEE Use classic movies
* LeUI BG1 EE
* and CDTweaks
Also, avoid Siege of Dragonspear like the plague. It doesn't fit the story and game at all and it has no bearing on BG2 whatsoever.
low level dnd is superior imo, i 100% agree on BG1
the thing is it makes those intense encounters all the more memorable if you ask me; i had a much more rich experience in BG1
Absolutely agree. I love BG2 to death, but the power creep becomes so much. Even in vanilla BG2, Minsc with a Crom Faeyr and Belm buffed with Improved Haste just wrecks everything. ToB just makes it even worse, nevermind the story and lazy level copy pasting they did.
I have to disagree regarding Siege of Dragonspear.
It's not nearly as bad as people tend to portray it. It's a solid campaign, with great sound track, pretty good combat encounters, varied quest outcomes, and good character moments.
It's biggest failing, is that it's completely linear, which can result into quests failing if you "progress too fast", an even bigger glaring issue with games like Dragons Dogma.
As for having no bearing to BG2, that is unfortunately true for BG1 as well. I mean BG1 doesn't really have any build up for you companions, so the only thing you'd miss is how Imoen's personality took drastic change between BG1 -> BG2 due to her trauma, and that Sarevok is really evil. However, if you are new to CRPGs, playing through SoD will give you two to three extra levels, so the early games is easier in BG2 if you export your character, especially if you are going with Kensai/Rogue etc. build with a human.
First time I beat bg2ee, solo sorcerer lol I've never actually beat any of the baldur's gates with a full party, I beat the game once with a monk and viconia thats it(only party member). I did a bit of jaheira questline to see her romance, but thats it.
nothing can have bearing on BG2's beginning because of the way it's written. what SoD does is be an okay epilogue/side adventure for charname post BG1. it's biggest issue is that it's plotted more like modern RPGs that have a linear main plot with small side objectives compared to the more spaghetti wandering plot of BG1 pre Nashkel and BG2’s first half
"best" depends on what you want. I still love Baldurs Gate 2 more than any other game I can think of right now. It replaced a lot of the aimless wandering in barren countryside with more dungeons and varied city zones. And a better story.
I've spent the summer playing _all_ of BG I and II (essentially every possible quest + a lot of great mods). The age definitely shows, but the gameplay and story still holds up.
Very excited for BG III!
I binged your videos in my headphones an entire 12 hour shift. Thank you!
Love your commentary. Best critiques on the platform. Thank you
Wrath is amazing, really feels like the BG2 to kingmaker IMO
yes
@@debrickashaw9387 Too bad we will never get a ToB for Wrath. That would be the tits. I dont just wanna get Arue pregnant or anything haha no nothing weird going on over here he he he......
love your thumbnails + you´re f*ckin funny, keep it up man!
Baldur's Gate is one of those games that is so good, as soon as I see a video on it, I just want to go back and play it again.
Me too. I've played this game dozens of times and there are still race and class combinations I haven't tried, and quests I've never completed.
wow i have never thought of hobbies as a way to be social as opposed to self indulgent...damn
Gonna have to rewatch the warlockracy BG video after this.
Still haven't beaten Baldur's Gate 2, but Ive beaten Bg1 EE like 7 times with my cousin. I loved the multiplayer additon and even though it wasn't perfect, It enhanced my enjoyment of the game 10 fold.
I know nothing about these games but I’m watching cause you make it entertaining. I really liked your Prey video and you’re a great creator hope you’re doing well sir.
17:33 that's why you don't go to Friendly Arm at lvl 1. *Learned that very early on with BGEE.* First thing I do, is ditch Imoen (and everyone else along the way), and spend some quality time killing wolves, gibberings and bears in the first two areas. They're all slower then the PC, you can kite them. Bears especially give a nice chunk of XP. Just don't let them hit you, they're VERY LIKELY to 1 shot you. With just one character, you get XP fast for that 2nd level. Even 3rd one, if you don't mind grinding some more and sleeping a few nights in the open. Also you can do the first quest at Friendly Arm w/o even needing to meet the mage (the first house on the left past the drawbridge has a questgiver in it). Another 500-so XP. Hobgoblins in that area don't have anything ranged, which makes them easy pickings. Trick is to be able to use a ranged weapon and have a lot of arrows/bolts/darts whatever. And avoid fighting kobolds (they usually pack bows) unless you can get the jump on them. Once you're at level 2 or 3, that mage is a breeze to kill 1 on 1. You can even cheese him out, there's a couple of houses you can go in-out of whenever he's about to cast a spell, but usually I don't have to, I just rain arrows at him and disrupt his spellcasting.
I don't even make a party until I'm level 3. I'm soloing the first two levels. Because you're right, getting one-shot by a random spell or hit at lvl 1 is NOT fun. And having a party leech away that critical early XP is frustrating as fuck. Honestly the game itself should start with the PC at level 3, IMO. Those early assassins in Candlekeep should give you way more XP when you kill them. You don't really lose much of the 'beginner experience', starting at 3 instead of 1. And you can actually take an odd hit or two.
Goddamn 18yo strat-edgy was a fucking chad
“Every extra dollar keeps me off the stripper pole” aye aye, capm!
Oh, yes. I remember that part when Sarevok bestowed Eliza Thornberry the power to talk to animals.
Hey , you ever thought about a cursed Deadly Premonition DC vid? Love the video . Great job. Keep it up and keep healthy.
I was a Baldur's Gate, then Fallout, baby. God, I miss those days so hard. I basically start a new Baldur's Gate (1) playthrough every other Fall - and a new Fallout playthrough every other Spring.
I remember playing Baldur's Gate for the first time at my local library. They had some older PC games installed for people to come in and play when I was in high school. I think I was one of like 3 people who took advantage of that. I really liked it, but obviously never finished it. I might have to go back for a full run.
41:41 In the Golden Sun duology for GBA, you could mind-read people.
Also had stuff like plot points and sequel hints.
hey I know people praise your voice and narrative critique storytelling. but I'm noticing your spicy fun editin, so just wanted to let you know that its not going unnoticed.
You may want sword coast strategems for more interesting fights in another playthrough. I use a mod to bring back the classic movies, they were just so well done the new ones struggle to capture how well they worked for setting up the story. Eg the final movie was much better in the original
I totally agree. The Enhanced Edition cutscenes disappointed me. I was hoping they would sharpen the original FMV's. But they replaced them with a comic book style approach. It took the impact from them.
@@01What10 there's been upscales done which has been good. They may as well have left the nostalgia there for its charm
@@01What10 Someone has uploaded an AI upboost online drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rUWNZ04eSvm7Tkh37UMIj2ZogZJt0XX6
Playing BG1 and BG2 with a friend when it came out on local network over an LPT cable was the best gaming experience I've had.
off topic: It is nice to see you arround doing vids. Are you feeling better these days?
Great video Strat. I especially appreciate the length of your videos because I like to do this thing where I play long, entertaining videos about a game in the background while I play similar games. I don't do this with every game as sometimes the tedium with some games that videos like this take the edge off of is cleverly exploited by the game devs and is used as a game mechanic. Anyways high quality channel! I've been watching since that How to Daggerfall video (I'm very much into Daggerfall) and I'm looking forward to what you do in the future.
im so used to play this game with mods that add tones of dialogue to the companion npcs. Arent the emerald enclave the tree huggers not the harpers?
Ancient memory, when I was a kid my dad had this game on his PC, and we didn't have an internet connection
I would make full parties in LAN with "gamer names" like butterfly999 or xxxNINJAxxx and pretend I was playing online
did the same with Worms.
I still play this game relentlessly, but as a nod to issues of slow leveling and pointless sidequests you brought up in your review, I mostly play the game as a solo character, complete the fastest / easiest talking (no combat required) quests, then then grab the greenstone amulet and kill sirens or potions of mirrored eyes and kill the basilisks for huge xp that's relatively safe. Then I'm usually high enough level to solo / speedrun the rest of the main quest, with occasional diversions for tomes and the best gear. I hit max level by the end of the game and usually the only tricky part is the boss battles (especially the end boss), but when you are soloing you can usually afford enough potions to cheese those fights too.
I don't know that I've even played a lot of the fetch side quests. And I think I've probably forgotten about all of them that aren't directly in my regular route and/or don't relate to what gear I want for the endgame. One of these days I really should play for a set of characters I haven't played with before to learn their stories and see how they interact with other characters, but honestly, most days it just feels like an xp drain and padding out the runtime.
I love this channel. A sisters of mercy reference in the last one i watched, and a skinny puppy one in this one?
With mods, like EET, and especially Sword Coast Stratagems for the Ai, it's still epic 20+ years later.
Just started the vid, and I now realize I caught a lucky break since I went to a school where I was able to befriend a few fellas who actually knew and were into similar video games as myself. That was back in middle school and our small crew talked about RPG's a fuck-ton because it was fun just having discussion as we hadn't been able to do so up to then.
As someone who saw the enhanced edition ending first, I got the exact same impression from both wndings. That there were tons more children of Bhaal out there. You see the other statues to the left and right snd the camera pans down to show all the other reliefs in the wall where more statues are. I'm not sure what you were missing.
that jar in the asshole picture reference brought back some horrible memories...
one of the things ive always found funny is people talking about time limits on quests before the companions f off to someplace else is that you can complete around 75% of the game and beat the final boss before triggering those limits so its not a real big concern to do them unless you really want to. in the case of minsc i have never done his companion side quest, i tried it and died then i left and forgot about it.
first time i played the game it felt slow, but after that i knew where to go for loot and companions so that sped things up a lot. the game never really felt long and enhanced feels like its easier to level up so still doesnt feel like a long game. probably spent 28h as my longest run just walking around trying to get 100% map explored and do everything. theres so many ways to cheese the fighting in BG 1-2. nice video ^,^
47:10 In a game where resurrection services exist.. sure you have to take a 3rd mortgage to afford it, but.. they do have them. could you take the kid-corpse to a priest and get his soul shoved back in his husk? maybe take him to a necromancer and have him reanimate him.. still be able to do the farm work until you can produce and raise another crotch spawn.
You're opening comments are exactly how I felt about this game
[18:00] It could be intentional since old school D&D somewhat expected players to use their own intelligence rather than roleplaying your character at its INT score. Death came so easy at level 1 that players tried to give themselves every possible advantage in a fight. Every character had a ranged weapon as soon as they could get one, and flaming lantern oil was a staple - so much so that later editions had rules for it. (Yes I know what edition of D&D Baldur's Gate is based on, I'm just calling anything before 3rd old school.)
Sad to see these Ankheg husks being left behind. I buy that whole armor shop in Berengost selling those shells over there.
Idk i kinda expected you to go apeshit unchill with some kind of physics based Theory with that backgroundmusic round about min 15.
Came here from your blood omen video, I had just started playing BO and really enjoyed. I Love BG as well, but only ever played BG 2, number 1 is on my list!
Anyway, you have a new subscriber
I love Boulder's gate 1 and 2 and icewind Dale, I'm currently doing a playthrough with my wife in which we read all the character dialogue out to each other with voices. Great time, often very funny.
The added content should have just been a DLC tick box. I would have checked it but I understand needing to preserve the original history of the game.
“It was a way for me to play DnD without having friends to play DnD.”
Yeah, relatable.
“It’s not like I didn’t have friends…”
Oh. Nevermind.
I found this game around 18 when I was looking for new DnD video games. I'd played the Gold Box series as a kid, and low and behold, SSI was making a new PoR! There was also an ad for a game called Galdur's Gate coming out first, from a team of 13 or 14 people named Bioware. I bought it and expected very little. Then I was hooked. I didn't get bored, and must've spent 150 hours on my first playthrough. Oh, to get the command line you had to edit the .ini file in the original btw. I believe it was just setting a value to = 1. Or 0, I forget now.
You mentioned being able to do a lot in the game, especially for it's time, but one thing you didn't mention was the Basilisks. Those things had me carrying party members back to cities so many bloody times it was ruining the game. Then I remembered a scene from "Clash of the Titans" where Pericles (or Theseus, I forget which) used the silver shield to reflect the Medusa's gaze back at her. So I equipped everyone in my party with a mirror, and what do you know, the gazes were reflected back and the buggers turned into statues. Yep, they thought the encounter through well enough to have the gaze reflect off the mirrors, assuming you weren't looking because you were smart enough to use mirrors in one of your hands, and "Gaze Reflected" would actually show as the result of an action, then the Basilisk's save, and whelp, it certainly made that encounter much, much easier. Flesh to Stone was also a 4rth level Cleric spell as well, so unless you were level 4 and had a scroll or were level 7 and had it memorized, you were trekking back to a temple if you didn't have that option available. Or loading a save. I heard in the new version it's a level 1 or 2 spell which is crazy cheesy, but whatever. I guess expecting people to think through the encounter is too much?
I remember Bioware being *INCREDIBLY* cool back then as well. They used my old message board nickname as a character in _"Throne of Bhaal,"_ along with a bunch of other regular posters like "Gromnir", "Hrothgar Firehammer", Detry Greyhiam and a few others. Heh, I got to be an annoying yet unkillable imp. Go figure.
We begged for horses so badly because of the damn wooded areas you mentioned, where there were few areas of interest, MMO style fetch quests and just that slow drag of levels 1-3. They didn't give us horses (or pointy hats), but they did invite us to GenCon in 2001 where they were showing off Neverwinter Nights, so that was cool. Lol, I thought Milwaukee was like _"Happy Days,"_ but I'll be darned it was a real city of just over 1m people. I ended up meeting a booth girl, moving her back to the East Coast, but that's a story for another day...
Back to BG1. I remember finding that level 1 ring of wizardry in my 2nd playthrough. Oh my word did that extra level 1 spell help immensely. It was also on 1 pixel which could barely be seen if you went over it on a 14" CRT. 1 bloody pixel. Under a tree! Ugh. There were so many Easter Eggs in that game it is ridiculous. You also left out bumping into Drizzt. You could fight him, and if you won get his armor and 2 scimitars along with his Boots of Speed. Only one scimitar was labled btw. I believe it was Twinkle, and Icingdeath was listed as a +3 Frostbrand/Sword of Frost. Or, you could pickpocket him and get Twinkle in which case he isn't hostile to you in BG 2.
I suppose that's enough rambling from me. Great vid and keep them coming!
Hey are there any CRPGs based on Pathfinder or 3.5 that have both Weapon Finesse and the equivalent of Deadly Agility (DEX to Damage)?
I want a Wrath of the Righteous video! I love Wrath of the Righteous. Such a good game. I love the different mythic paths and stories.
The map areas of Cloakwood are manageable. The random encounters between the map areas are bs.
I'm playing BG EE but I don't have that brown coloured UI, mine looks the same as the original game, is that a mod or something like that? Graphics look a bit sharper as well than mine.
I would really like a Wrath of The Righteous update review or whatever you would prefer.
When you said that traps are treated like claymores, thanks to the setting of the game, I was just watching for two minutes straight before realising you didn't mean the two handed sword and it was not a joke about some obscure D&D rule with zweihanders
Haha love the video and the Delco accent is like talking to someone at my local bar
I'm just starting this video but I remember opening that three-part sleeve with all the CDs in it and just feeling stress 😅, I might have been 14 at the time. But then I got about an hour into the game and everything clicked, and I could not put that game down no matter how many times it brutalized me. Or how difficult it was wrestling with my own adhd.
I absolutely love the enhanced edition for this entire series, I even bought an extra copy for my phone. I'm about halfway through it now and I'm having a lot of fun and I like the ability to zoom in and out.
I wonder how he's going to talk about one of my most beloved games...
"I skip all the exploring and side quests"
"If you do side-quests, you get trapped in a room with spiders on level one"
Gee, I wonder if experience, as one might receive for doing side quests, could do anything to help here!
Jokes aside though, Baldurs Gate was designed with a "mess around and find out" philosophy.
The game will absolutely let you stick your nuts into the campfire if that's what floats your boat.
You can try to rob Elminster, if you like.
You can skip all the quests and fight encounters on level 1 when you ought to have been level 4.
You can run past petrified people and tackle a basilisk encounter with zero preps or remedies.
You can click a grave too often and get blowner' upper'd by some lvl 9000 cheese wizard.
Half the fun of the game was in seeing where you could or couldn't mess around. That and exploration was pretty rewarding because of how much experience you need to level, the rarity of magic items or the gold to buy it and how much difference levels made in combat.
Fetching a ring from a hobgoblin wasn't that exciting, but getting your hands on your first magic item paid for with the reward gold or getting access to level 2 spells because of the experience you gained was!