Has anyone changed their lives after playing BG2 for the first time?

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Well, that's a heavy topic for your first post.

I wouldn't exactly call BG2 a life-changing experience, but it has made me a lot friends over the years.

If anything, Ps:T is the game that has the potential to significantly impact someone's life. It asks some pretty important questions with no definite answers.

 

I started pickpocketing random people on the street to get gems and scrolls. If someone is standing for a long time in one place I ask if they have quest for me....

 

No, I already was the perfect Avatar after Ultima 6

 

Changed my life? No. I did find this nice, quiet little place on the interwebs that was mostly about this game, though.

 

BG2 didn't change much for me. Curse of the Azure Bonds and to a lessor extent Pool Of Radiance (I got Curse first as a Christmas present, then asked for and got PoR for my birthday a few months later) on the other hand led to myself and several other junior high students forming an AD&D group and getting involved in Dungeons and Dragons, along with some lifelong friendships.

It started on the first day back at school, when people were talking about what they got for Christmas, and we started talking about the Gold Box Games, of which I believe only PoR and CoTAB were available. Talking about how great a game it was, and that the setting as well as the system portrayed in the game was interesting.
It eventually led to us obtaining some AD&D books to learn more about the setting, and deciding to give it a go.
Eight years of enjoyable roll playing was the result.

Now I'm nostalgic, I really miss those good times. My group broke up the fall after we graduated from high school as everyone but me went to a different school in another part of the country, and due to conflicting summer job schedules, we were unable to reform the group the next summer as planned. We could never get one of the good DMs and enough players together at the same time and several of us (like me) were bad DMs as we didn't do so good improvising if the group went off the planned path. The group wasn't that big, so there wasn't exactly a surplus of DM's and players.

 

I can't say I miss my first D&D group, although I still RP with one of those guys. I've had many great ones since, however.

 

I only had the one, though the membership grew and shrank. I've been feeling nostalgic for it since I turned 36, odd since it was literally half a lifetime ago when we broke up.

I wouldn't mind finding another one, but my group pretty much limited themselves to AD&D 2.0 due to limited funds to purchase books, and we didn't want to spend the money on a new system. I'd either have to learn a new system or find a group still playing AD&D 2.0.

Now this song comes to mind for some reason...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O5EeBjxhiY

 

Actually, this came out when I was a kid, and while it did not CHANGE my life, per se, it certainly helped to shape it. It was my first time with something that I had total control over and had consequence to my actions with it. Honestly, it even taught me a few things. I learned about defending your weaker characters and how to maximize the ability of your more tanky guys (Minsc, lookin' at you, big guy) and it even taught me that sometimes, even if you love a character and try to not do something, you will be forced to make a decision that you won't be happy with. Yoshimo was that moment for me.
It was also the first game that my uncle taught me to cheat on... Little me learned very quickly what a TERRIBLE idea it was to cheat in a Black Dragon.... Yeah. I was not ready for how that went down... Neither was anybody in the Government District.....

 

Narrator:Nobody expects you to cheat in a Black Dragon Inquisition.
It's chief weapon is the surprise of catching everyone with their pants down unprepared.
That's it, just surprise.
Random Heckler:What about the fear aura making people panic instead of react in a rational and organized fashion?
Narrator:OK, it's chief advantages are surprise and fear
Random Heckler: What about that thick hide rendering it immune to anything less than a +2 weapon?
Narrator: Oh forget it, you've ruined the whole effect.

 

Not really changed majorly, but it did teach- or at least reinforce- an outlook. To be open minded.

I first got BG1 as a birthday present back in 2001. Back then I was very much into the immersive 1st person, cool 3D graphics type stuff- Half lLife, Thief and realistic flight sims. Then someone handed me BG as a present. I was mildy puzzled, as although I played D&D for a couple years when I was young I thought I'd outgrown it. And the graphics were very different from what I was used to. The game too didn't seem exciting at first either. Running a few errands to heal a sick cow etc. But after a few days I was hooked. It was extremely immersive and rewarding.

Some people would have probably it put up into the attic, or sold it on ebay if they didn't see any immediate appeal to it. I persevered and was rewarded!