Will BG1 be fun?

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I never played BG1. I started with BG2 and liked the game enough that I am contemplating of buying BG1. Those who have experience of both, can they tell me whether it will be worth spending hours on it, or is BG2 so much better that BG1 won't be fun?

 

I still love BG. It will be a bit of difference graphics wise, unless you use Tutu, but it is definately fun.

 

I personally love BG1. In a lot of ways I prefer it to BG2. From a role-playing perspective and good story, it is fantastic.

 

If you're coming at it from BG2, then you'll probably inevitably be disapointed. It is, in many ways inferior to BG2; as the development team themselves said "BG was our first real RPG, and frankly, we learned a lot while making it." The graphics, etc, are obviously inferior to BG2, and so, arguably is the plot. (I think so, anyway.)

However, considering how hugely accomplished BG2 is in all of these fields, that's not to say that BG is rubbish - far from it. It's just probably not as good as BG2; I iamgine that this would especially be so if you had only ever played BG2.

I'd definetley check it out, if I was you, because it's a great game. However, don't set your expectations unreasonably.

 

I preferred the story and exploration of BG1. Where I felt BG2 was better--character interaction and a better engine--have been addressed more or less by Tutu and the BG1 NPC project.

 

I played BG2 first but I still enjoyed BG1 when I got round to playing it.

 

In my opinion, BG1 is definitely worth it.

The graphics are not that bad, and the concept is the same. What I really liked about BG1 (over BG2) is the ability to explore the whole map. In BG2 you just click on the Umar hills and *bam* you're there. Well, in BG1 you first have to explore.

The only thing that's missing is interaction with your party members and more dialogues with other NPCs (most of the dialogues are not very complex).

And to fully enjoy BG2, you need (IMO) to have played BG1 (and if you import your char., it's even more fun).

 

At the time it came out, IMO, BG1 was the best game i had ever played. Even after all these years, it still ranks pretty high on my list. What i like is, like DarthMuffin said, you have to explore to find new areas (and there's a heck of a lot more areas). Also the proficiency grouping (i.e. large sword: if you can use a long sword, you should be able to use a bastard sword without much trouble, and its better than putting proficiencies in multiple weapons that are basically the same.)

 

I'd actually argue that there was probably too much freedom in BG1. The problem was that throughout most of BG1, the story was essentially mediocre and had poor pace. You went from dungeon to dungeon, trailing after The Iron Throne, but basically getting nowhere. You killed some bandits, found out that they were getting their orders from someone else, and then repeated the exact same thing again. There was no real sense of larger achievement or the sense that you were actually working towards any sort of real overarching goal.

When it did look as if it was getting exciting, and you were making some real progress, when you entered Baldur's Gate City itself, the plot was rushed terribly, and we only got a fleeting glimpse into both Sarevok and The Iron Throne, and their motives. It was, in essence, something of a disapointment.

With BG2, that doesn't happen. From the start, you have very set, specific goals; namely, stop Irenicus and rescue Imoen, whilst Irenicus' motives remain mysterious and unresolved, and you are free to explore Amn so long as desire. You feel like you have something real to work towards. BG1 just didn't have this.

[ July 03, 2004, 00:30: Message edited by: Dranalis DeAealth ]

 

I simply cannot play BG1 anymore due of the horrible AI. You characters will get stuck in the crucial moments, like in the castle against the doppelangers (slow == insta-game over). Graphics really aren't that terrible in windowed mode, and the sounds are adequate too. However, beside the AI, the AD&D aspect is a lot more limited than in BG2, as your characters really aren't levelled up enough to use magic (and thus create strategy).

So, basically; you just create a band of warriors and hack'n'slash your way through the game, cursing the poor pathfinding from start to finish.

 

Oh yes. I forgot to mention that. Be prepared for the abominable pathfinding.

 

Well, it's a great game, still.

 

In many ways, BG1 is not as good as BG2. Not the least of which is the fact that BG2 has more than twice as many class options, more spells, more proficiency types, and the ability to dual-wield.

I recommend checking out one of the projects that allow you to play BG1 in the BG2 engine with the new stuff BG2 has. This greatly improves the game's entertainment factor.

I would say the game is worth playing, but if you've played BG2 you may not be able to stand BG1's engine. I was fortunate enough to have played BG1 first, but now that I have played BG2 I can't play BG1 without the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod.

 

I didn't enjoy BG1 at all. I've played through 60-70% of the game about 3 times and have never been sufficiently engrossed to justify putting in the effort to finish it; the only reason I play it is to get the tomes to raise my character stats so I can import the character to BG2, and once I realized that I could do the exact same thing with Shadowkeeper, BG1 has been collecting dust ever since.

It's a huge step back if you've played BG2 already. You don't have any dialogue with your party members save for a few inane comments they make, and the banter and the romances were some of the best parts of BG2. As mentioned, the pathfinding and AI are terrible. As for the story, it's almost nonexistent until you get more then halfway through the game; until then it's simply an endless series of dull, inane quests like "find these boots, fetch me some wine, etc. etc." Other people apparently enjoyed the plot, but I found that it was pretty much a stock D&D module type of plot.

If you enjoyed the combat aspect of BG2, then you'll definately be disappointed in BG1. Since it's a low level campaign, you're mainly fighting mundane enemies such as kobolds, goblins, etc. which makes for dull encounters, especially when compared to fighting dragons, liches, demons and such in BG2. Mage fights are quite a bit easier in BG1, largely because in a low level campaign, mages really never amount to much, with few exceptions.

In essence, from a tactical gaming perspective, the mundane encounters make the battles less interesting then in BG2, which you should be expecting from a low level campagin. From a role playing perspective, you'll notice the lack of party banter and romances pretty quickly, and you're left to rely on the tactical aspects of the game, which are weaker then BG2.

If you are going to play it, download BG Tutu, which allows you to play BG1 with BG2's engine. I suppose if you did that and tempered your expectations quite a bit, you may enjoy the game, but God knows I've never managed to. If you're itching for a game similar to BG2, I suggest you try to track down Planescape: Torment, which is an absolutely phenominal game, better then BG2 in many ways (although grossly worse in some and showing its age a bit... still much better then BG1 though).

 

Starting at level 5 (when you get fireball) mages become pretty usefull in BG1. Then you can use sleep/horror/web to disable a group of enemies followed up by a fireball. Pretty powerfull. I generally have the idea disabling spells are more powerfull in BG1, because enemies don't have the insane low saving throws that they have in BG2.

And I wouldn't say the tactical aspect of the game is less interesting, just different. There are some good party to party fights which do require some good tactics. Also you can make good use of summons, since there is no restriction on their number. That makes it very cool to play a summoner or a necromancer.

 

Bg1 is definately worth it stil. Although it is very different to Bg2 in that the graphics are a little worse, and you don't have a 'straight path' I loved the freedom to explore the entire area instead of having set areas scattered across a map.
It will take you ages and the story is good and all about discovery. With Tales of the Sword coast installed as well you get a few new areas and the biggest dungeon crawl to hack through.
A challenge and a classic that will have a special place in my heart . Oh, and it's nice to play through the entire saga from start to finish with one character and import them into BG2.

 

Until you realize that you get them only after the middle-point of the game, and even then enemies just tend to ignore them like in IWD2.

Yes, you can actually cast those "powerful" spells a whole two times before needing to rest again. Besides, potions of explosion do the same job far quicker.

 

with bgtutu I still find bg1 to be a great game, I love all the outdoor areas and I find low level fights to be quit fun plus the story in bg1 is still great. but after bg2, I wouldn't play bg1 without tutu.

 

Baldur's Gate is definately worth it.
It's the beginning of a fantastic saga...how can you not like it?

 

BG1 is the superior game. Sure, not in graphics and technology and whatnot, but that's not important.
Get BG1 - you may think it's utter crap, but if you do you're not losing much. And if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself playing a game better than BG2.