BG2 and life. Or the other way around

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Well its been more than 2 years (more or less ?) since BG2 was released and i presume that you have all played through the game a couple of times and spent several days (or weeks, monts,) on this game.

My question is; how has Bg2 affected your lives ? Are you all rpg geeks like me ? The Bg series (+Icewind Dale, the expansion packs+planescape t) have all opened a whole new world to me. I have been playing this game for more than a year now and it is a very comforting part of my life (it may sound a bit serious, but it really is).

Soon this game will be totally dead (some day people will find better games and simply forget BG2) and this message board will die some day. That are the sad facts of life. But isnt it a very longlasting game with many topics to discuss.

I came to this message board in November 2000... And have visited from time to time. My old nick was Sir Phapylon.

Just my little share of nostalgia... (not very little i may say)

 

Right, I really love this game. One of the most perfect games ever. BG was a bit of a "prototype" but now SoA and ToB, or all the other games in this group tend towards pefection.
I use to play Roleplaying games for 7-8 years now(not on computer, but with books), and I find this world of challange and wonders the most beatuiful world I ever imagined.

 

2 years? Nay, I bought the game just a couple of days after it hit the stores almost exactly one year ago.

BG2 didn't change my life, BG1 did. Or rather Fallout. Yes, that was the first CRPG i played. It was about two and a half year ago now, and I've been addicted ever since.

I don't believe that BG2 will die anytime soon. Sure, many a great game are on their way, but I don't think this game will 'die', just get almost mortally wounded. I think that people will still be playing, just as I and many with me still enjoy playing old SNES games.

Ahhh, but I'm ranting. Allow me to end my post here.

 

2 whole f*cking years?!?!?! WOW. And you expect us to be finished??? i haven't even gotten out of the Underdark yet!

 

How come 2 years since Bg2?
Shouldn't it be only a year? As far as I recall, Icewind Dale was released prior to summer 2000. And Baldur's Gate TWO has been released, I think even September 2000.
I am talking about European dates. Did it get out sooner in NA? Are my European dates even correct? Am I full of shit?

 

Greetings Sir Phaapylon!

I'm looking forward to some insightful responses on this topic.

As for myself, a "return" would be a more apt word than "change" with regard to Baldur's Gate. Oh, I've played a number of CRPG's before BG, some of them under the AD&D logo or theme or system. There was the old Pool of Radiance, that turn based, return to the manual for the dialog game, the Ravenloft games that used a shoot 'em type point-of-view, and other RPG's for the PC's and other systems such as the Final Fantasy Series (which I think started for the Super Nintendo), Star Control, Buck Rogers, Wizardry, etc.

But before all of that, there was "Keep on the Borderlands" and the (then) four separate modules (A1 - A4, I think) of "the Slave Lords" and the "World of Greyhawk" Fantasy Setting which started it for me. Yes, I played the old pen, paper and funny looking dice 1st Edition AD&D, when Gary Gygax and TSR were on good terms, there was a stat called "comeliness", and there were a LOT of manuals you had to buy, such as Unearthed Arcana, Wilderness Survival Guide, even Oriental Adventures. I even had a subscription to Dragon Magazine, and we were all in awe of this new class called the psionicist.

When BG came on the scene, all those years of missing those long nights with my friends (who are now all working. some of them are already parents) rolling our 20 sided dice to see who hits what and spending an hour resolving combat due to speed factors and the "new" critical hits chart that were released in the "new" issue of Dragon Magazine, came back to me and planted a somewhat sad yet refreshing feeling inside me, a big, big smile on my face, and a dent on my wallet.

I can definitely say BG made my life better. Even if I can't roll those dice anymore, its been replaced by a left click on the mouse. I love the games on the Bioware Engine in the sense that it has faithfully captured the (A)D&D System. (The cheating that occurs is another issue, right Extremist? )

My life is a LOT different now since those old days. More hassles, more responsibilities. But I make the time, as opposed to just having the time, for BG, BG2, Planescape, IWD, ToB and most importantly, The Sorcerer's Place.

I figure, things that make you smile and feel good should are worth spending your time on.

[This message has been edited by eveningdrive (edited September 29, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by eveningdrive (edited September 29, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by eveningdrive (edited September 29, 2001).]

 

Absolutley. Though i still play paper and pen rpg:s i find that Crpgs (Fallout 1&2 and all the Ad&D games) dont take as much time as gathering a couple of friends, preparing, more preparing, reading rules etc etc. It can be convienient for old roleplayers. With real job, family and a major lack of time
.

Because nowdays it seems that we simply dont have the time to sit down and take the time to roleplay with friends.

I dont think that games like BG2 killed/will kill classic paper and pen rpg:s but it is an excellent option for people that have grown up and dont have the time, or simply for people that love rpg:s.

Im 16 and still meet with my friends on saturdays to play rpg:s....

 

It is more then 4 years ago since BG was released and I played both games, and I enjoyed it. The games made me really more interested in the whole fantasy scene. I read Lord of the Rings just after starting BG and I now read all Tolkien books several times. I also got more interested in D&D and now (this week) I started with the first D&D compaign. BG and BG2 played an important part in the interests I have for Fantasy now... and it all started a bit with BG.

 

Tina2 - I think I first played D&D in 1982 or so while stationed in Guam...We would play for about 60 hours straight in between work week shift rotations. Found that it was a way to "reset" the circadic rhythm (a person's internal clock).

I used to own a Apple 2+ then, and being a DM, progrmammed it to generate my mazes, resolve combat and savings throw rolls and generate random encounters.

Since then, I have routinely sought and played CRPGs - and I have to say that BG2 - not TOB - is probably the closest experience to what I feel was intended/enjoyed back then. Being God-like always seemed less fun to most of those I played with - being the biggest, baddest, meanest SOB on the block gets old for 99% of the people and these characters almost always got retired before they died in battle.

So, yeah, there are some old geezers here...

[This message has been edited by Kailynne Johanne (edited September 29, 2001).]

 

Ahhh, mine fantasy addiction started in 1997, when I was a wee lad of 15. I was reading LoR and playing Daggerfall on my new computer. Then I went to England at the beginning of the summer. There I had a friend who just bought the Player's Handbook and I got introduced to (A)D&D...
You're right Phaapylon, the CRPGs won't kill the pen&paper ones. Why?
Because they can't be compared to the laughs and fun you can have while playing pen&paper with people...
And, the BG2 and ToB won't end yet. You've got a pack of custom MODs comig up.

 

Ooooh, you're all newbies ! I started role-playing in spring 1985 ! Added Live Action role-playing games in spring 1992 und CRPG just in November 2000. I can't even count the games and characters that I've played since I started.
Anyone old around here ?

 

Tina2, go back to my earlier post. The stuff I mention gives me away as an old timer. Imagine, World of Greyhawk and Keep in the Borderlands. Started when I was 11 or 12(that's in 1986 I think)when a couple of friends at school invited me to play during lunch break and after classes. Check out the topic "Marvel Superheroes" in the Whatnots section for some nostalgia.

So Tina2 and Kailynne, add one more to your "old geezers" list...

Sir Phaapylon, I'm glad you are still able to meet with your friends and roll those dice. I agree, there are just somethings a CRPG cannot duplicate from a RPG session. One thing my friends and I are planning, however, is to link our PC's on a LAN network and install SoA and ToB and play multiplayer.I'm the only one in the group who has played the Infinity Engine games so its just a matter of being quiet and praying we don't screw up.

 

I loved the BG series, but am no just starting to play pen-and-paper D&D. The background from BG has made this much easier and more enjoyable. I don't think I would have started pen-and-paper before playing the BG series.

 

Tina2, Live Action Roleplay? What's that?

 

Live action role playing ? Err, well, it's a bit embarrassing most of the time, especially when you accidently meet some strangers ...
What it is: You really PLAY the story. So you dress up in (more or less) silly costumes, you prepare some fake weapons (real are just to dangerous), some stuff to simulate magic like tennis balls for magic missiles or smoke machines for big rituals and the you just play. It need a lot of time for prior preparations. You need at least 2 game masters who plan and organize everything, the story, the schedule and a location (one needs to sleep somewhere). Then you need several people to play the NPC roles and who know what's going on. And the rest are the PCs, who try to figure out what the problem is etc. It's fun, mostly, though people in the media tend to take it way to serious.

 

Tried a LARP (Live Action Role Playing) game once. We were playing the Legend of the Five Rings RPG (based on the WOTC CCG of the same name). It was fun, but in hindsight, I could imagine the stress the Game Masters (there were two) had to go through to prepare it. It was great, with costumes and such. But there were two absolute rules:

1. No touching. Absolutely none. No shaking hands, tapping of shoulders, etc. Especially when playing with people you've just met and members of the opposite sex.

2. No weapons. No need. Combat is never resolved in a LARP session. When we had to break some samurai heads, we went back to the table to roll the dice.

 

I started playing D&D in 1984 and I think I stopped D&D pretty soon afterwards and moved on to other game systems (not all fantasy). We played Champions, Villains & Vigilantes, GURPS, Palladium, Space Opera, Top Secret and a bunch of other stuff. I think most of the fun was in the character creation process. We bought and started playing a lot of systems but the ones named above along with one other game (I forget the name but each weapon type had a separate to hit chart and damage chart against each armor type).

Although D&D will always hold a special place because its the game most people cut their teeth on, I don't think it is the best system out there.

 

I can't really say that Baldur's Gate 2 signiicantly changed my life (besides giving me a pale, sun-starved look and having a detrimenal effect on my a-level grades ). It is, however, a wonderful and diverse game that deserves all the praise that is showered upon it.
On another note, I wouldnt mind trying a bit of p&p rpging. Answer me this; I gave up playing strategy games like Warhammer because of the pathetic bureaucracy that the rule system allowed. Does this happen much in D&D/other RPG systems or does the presence of a fair and impartial DM irradicate this?

 

IF done correctly, the DM provides all of the information, color and oppportunities that the computer does in CRPGs without seeming to be an interference in the game itself. As a former DM, I quickly learned that forethought on my part not only sped up gameplay, but also decreased the necessity for "bureaucratic delays" during game sessions. So, I would say that the DM's facilitation skill is a major part of the experience fun-wise.

If you have a good one, things go well.
If you have a poor one, you tend to quit playing. (Poor is generally defined as someone who doesn;t allow you to play the game the way you want - at least in my experience with players.)

[This message has been edited by Kailynne Johanne (edited September 30, 2001).]

 

I used to play diablo and diablo II exclusively but then I saw the light and at the start of this year I got BG2 and then I got the expansion a week or so ago. I'm sorry if this is smiley intensive but I couldn't resist. Bg2 rules.

Cheers, Void.