I was astonished you recommended playing with your own party and skipping the NPCs. Especially in the second one, your interaction with NPC party members is perhaps the most memorable part of the game. Building your own party is fun, but they literally created ice wind dale/2 for you to do that in, so it is a waste to do it in baldur’s gate.
Yea if you are only doing it once or twice ,but if running multiple times the story line being so linear leaves you with just being interrupted by dialogue you've heard before. Also the made party can combine the best set of skills to complement your play style.
Easily 2 of the best games ever made. Part 1 is under rated but I also think its because it has crazy stuff in it. Once you learn it in my opinion it is awesome. Even beung as old school as they are the games are huge and the story is great.
Good job on the review. I bought Baldur’s Gate I at my local used game store back when I was in college. HATED it and shoved it in a drawer. About a year later I was desperate for a new game and pulled it back out telling myself to give it a chance and be patient. Turned out to be one of the most addictive and rewarding games I ever played. That is, until I played the sequel: Shadows of Amn. That game is still in my top three games of all time. The D&D rules will provide a very steep learning curve for those who are not well versed in them but the payoff in gameplay, once you’ve got the hang of things of course, is very much rewarding. To the likes of which haven’t really been replicated in a game (for me) since.
@ModernCrysis I haven't tried it yet. Definitely on my radar but I'd like to grab it when it's on sale. Heard nothing but excellent things about it! Have you played it yet?
Play without the NPC's in your party? NEVER I honestly wish I could have a larger party and agonise when I have to drop certain characters to fit others into the party.
I only picked this collection on Switch just now, after having played BG 1 on PC for a couple hours. I have to say, I love the universe and writing of the game, but I am terrible with the old school pc control methods, so I am glad to be able to give it another go on a handheld with a modern controller design. Also, great review, enjoyed listening to it.
How did you find it in the end? I’m considering getting them once I finish planescape torment. Lots of reviews say the first one is notoriously hard and that you pretty much need to sit with a guide beside you to help beat both games, js that true?
i do not understand people that complain about the games graphics, saying it looks old....but then proceed to play shovel knight or octopath traveler and praise the old school pixel art....from a purely artistic perspective and comparing these games to current pixel graphic ones.....infinity engine games still kick ass
I went through, back in the day, as a human magic user. Once I got Call Lightning for Jaheira, things got interesting. I had a boss mob Dimension Door out during the spell. He DD'd back in and the last bolt got him as he stepped out and killed him mostly off screen. All I could see was his charred feet. There is also the "rabid chicken" cheat that i turned into a 3.5e spell. That was fun.
Even though i am a teen of the modern age,the DnD games literaly got my attention after playing temple of elemental evil, and because of that i got curious as to what the fuss is all about the story of DnD. Now i want to play the games related in the forgotten realms setting starting off with baldur's gate 1 enhanced edition.
Had to sub, glad I was told about this channel. Just peaking at the back catalog of reviews seems I have a few dozen videos to enjoy over the next month or two and add a like and reply to. Thank you for reviewing this former pC masterpieces now thankfully coming to consoles.
Stu Minnis then you should seriously consider playing Planescape: Torment, which is (at least imo) so much better... BG2 was good fun but I found it to be somewhat tedious at the end of throne of Bhal. Torment left me wanting more. The biggest disappointment in the game was the fact that I finished it.
@@ivobalk5217 Disagree completely. While planescape torment had a great story, it can't touch BG2 which had great story, diversity, combat and just gameplay in general
@@ivobalk5217 Torment is definitely a good game, and it has a more involved plot, but in BG2 it really felt like you went on a journey with your companions and your experienced it all together. You were the Bhaalspawn and the central figure, but the party members and the journey as a whole felt like a shared entity that really made you feel like you'd gone through a grand adventurer from nothing to a deity at the end. It's that development over time and the growth of you as a character, the stakes of the events you're involved with, and the development of the NPCs that made it so compelling and engaging. In Torment the nameless is the central figure so much that the rest of the NPCs merely feel like bit parts to his symphony - the ultimate showdown between you and The Transcendent One is amazing, no doubt, but it felt more like a predetermined route through the destiny of the character you were - the journey that your character took BEFORE you started playing. It's more cerebral and there's more mystery, but it's the story and the past actions you didn't take that feel like they're driving the story rather than you. I enjoyed it, and it was a great game, but I don't look upon it with the same fondness I have for the Baldur's Gate saga. However, in the same vein, I would also wholeheartedly recommend Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. While the base NWN2 game is a bit lackluster, Mask of the Betrayer is a fantastic game and story, with so many of the type of subtleties that makes Torment great. The scope of change and choice in MotB really does make the game feel very different depending on your choices.
I still have the original CD-ROM edition of part 1 sitting in my collection. Loved BG1 back in the day, even though it felt a little overwhelming at first. Seeing the huge success of BG3, I can't help but think that parts one and two could use another "remaster" to bring them up to speed engine-/tech-wise with part 3. I don't remember much of 1&2's stories, but if I'm not terribly mistaken, they would make some pretty decent prequels to BG3. Lots of returning characters and locations in part 3. Plus it might be easier for whatever team will take on a BG3-sequel/-follow-up to rely on an established story and characters instead of having to come up with something completely new. Judging from what I read of the devs' comments re. a "true" sequel, this might not happen anyway (higher level D&D characters/parties tend to get a bit crazy WRT to their powers and abilities), so having a revamped version of 1&2 come out as a prequel of sorts might be the only way we'll get to see Baldur's Gate again in a modern RPG in the near future. And besides: I fear if they came up with some sort of follow-up adventure for our BG3-characters, it might be a bit of a let-down. Kinda like DA:O Awakening which felt pretty anti-climactic to me whenever I started it after a play-through of the original story.
I loved these games on the PC, and I enjoyed them on the PS4. Unfortunately, they crashed frequently, and save files were sometimes corrupted and lost, a very frustrating thing to happen after so much time invested in playing them.
I saw this and dark alliance on the Xbox store, which one is the newest or would you recomend getting? I like these types of games but no idea of the timeline of them. Thanks
Wait, they're selling it for 50? That sounds a bit steep, isn't it just a port of Beamdog's Enhanced Edition which was the same as the original with the most popular mods?
I had one question, and it wasn't addressed: load times. On a game this large and this old - that I've already played back in the day - near instantaneous loading of new screens would make all the difference in the world for a decision to bother replaying this or not.
Good video but I wish you explained how it controls. Anybody can watch a review of Baldur's Gate EE but you are currently the only one about the console ports so it's kind of a missed opportunity...
I've been playing for about 6 hours and it controls great! Very similar to Divinity OS2. R2 brings up a wheel for all the menus, L2 for characters. L1 and R1 to cycle between party members. The free movement feels really natural, had a couple little glitches where a character has got stuck for no reason but I'm sure that will get patched. Overall it's great
@@niall2236 thank you! That at least gives me an idea as I played Divinity OS on console . I'd love to support portable re-releases of Infinity Engine games but I hated playing the tablet versions so I really want to know how well theu play. For example, will pixel-hunting drive me nuts, what is pause, how do I select multiple characters, etc.
@@thomasj.9686 for multiple characters you can hold down L2 and choose which characters you want. You can also store 6 groups for quickly selecting a few characters at once which is a great touch. Select everyone by pressing L1 and R1 together. Pause is the + button (for switch, don't know about other systems) and main menu to save and load is the - button. One thing I like is that things you can pick up or interact with show up as blue on screen when you are near by. I've only played in undocked mode and it looks great considering its age. I agree with you about the mobile versions, I hated them. I'm really enjoying playing with a controller. It's not perfect, but they've done a good job
Can you explain how the controls work? As in, how do you move around your character, order an attack or interact with the environment with the controller?
How did you like the controller support? I love Pillars though it definitely got a bit more hectic in the later parts of the game. Also how is performance and bugs? CRPG have a history of being buggy on consoles and I haven't heard much about any which makes me want to believe that they did a great job on the port.
I saw a speedrun once of BG1 with a hero with max dexterity or stealth. Just ran past everything, completing it in 10-ish minutes. Or it was BG2, dont remember. Ordered it physical from amazon for $25, looking forward to playing it (again).
I'm seriously considering picking this up. Born in 96 I never played any of these classics, but massively enjoyed Dragon Age Origins on release. Very tempted to pull the trigger on Switch during these isolation times. Only worry would be they end up too old school/tedious for me...
Dude, go for it. I was born in 2003 and I have played Half Life (1998), RTCW (1999), NOLF (2000) and the Sands of Time (2003) recently and I can tell you that the only thing that has aged in these games that I can think of is graphics. These games are still really fun. Modern games have a focus on graphics and monetisation. Older games, from what I have seen, have a lot more depth - especially RPGs.
Baulders Gate on original Xbox (Dark Alliance) was a beautiful work of art. Sorry, but this enhanced copy plays more like the PC version which required a mouse to point & click your way through the game. Tedious style of play compared to the fully controllable XB version. Am I the only one that prefers it?
Does this play or control better than Pillars of Eternity on the Switch? I'm not crazy about the controls in Pillars as I used to play Baldur's Gate on my PC with a mouse and keyboard, Pillars just felt clunky and not to mention all the bugs in that game.
How did you find it in the end? I’m considering getting them once I finish planescape torment. Lots of reviews say the first one is notoriously hard and that you pretty much need to sit with a guide beside you to help beat both games, js that true?
If you didn’t play this when it was originally released, you probably won’t enjoy it now. Remastered games are for a very niche audience. I never played this back in the day, and I just couldn’t get into this remaster.
If only Minsc were half as good Kagain I would pick him more during the original game. Sure he provides some minimal comic relief with Boo, but I personally never found him all that entertaining. Meanwhile, Kagain's 20 con score, granting him natural regen, makes the game a much smoother experience. Good parties will have to do some reputation management to keep him with the party throughout the game, but it really isn't that big a hassle.
@@johndeighan2495 It requires a little more than that but yea. Mostly just avoiding some of the reputation increasing quests until after you kill Drizzt and such. The real trick is managing your rep so thuroughly you get the right evil and good abilities on your main character while keeping Kagain.
Is this more of a nostalgia purchase or a new player cane pick it up?. I did play divinity original sin and pillars of eternity i Iove those games to pieces plus I'm a big fan biowares dragon age and mass effect games
I would not recommend this series for newer gamers. It is much harder than the games you mentioned and requires metagaming knowledge. You can easily screw up your character development and the beginning of the game is extremely hard because everything can kill you. One mage spell can wipe out your entire party and you have to save after every encounter.
@@nerdigante9366 Dark Souls is hard but fair. Baldur's Gate is hard in a random, janky way. Where random encounters can sink your party, regardless of skill level. I love it, but would not recommend it for beginners.
Just because he has opinion, doesn't mean his wrong. He tried it and thats something huge in my book compared to others young like him and i. Somebody older told me once if u try it and you dony like it, its not for you. Thts okay but at least you gave it a try. This kid even said he "really" tried which shows he loves the genre of dnd. @kolz4ever1980
Hopefully Wal-Mart shoves this into their black friday sales. I got a backlog piling up and I cannot get down with coughing up $50 for a two-pack game that looked like the developers just slapped together to make a quick buck.
Conpare this amazing set of games against the abortion Mass Effect Andromeda and you will see a glimmer of what Bioware used to be. I just bought this compilation for our PS5 as I had no idea it released last year. It's almost finished installing and I will be playing the night away on a truly epic adventure. Addendum- You better believe I'm playing this by the D&D Second Rule Set.
@@cosmiccowboy9358 Well, two 20-year old games that you can frequently get for less than 5€. And if you hate installing mods you can buy Beamdog's Enhanced Editions which do that for you for less than 20€.
@Tripticket your point isn’t relevant the whole point of this edition is bringing these games to console for people that wouldn’t have access to it otherwise so seems more than fair to me two enhanced games and all DLC 50$
Dude hell yeah!!! *Sacred 2 was the reason I brought my xbox360 & PS43 outta retirement and put my 200+ game son display shelves in my den.. It all started because wanted to replay Sacred2.. Talk about a underrated game for sure.. Huuuge map,,almost endless replayability with the different classes.. I surprisingly never played the Saraphim angel chick.. That's my next playthrough whenever that is.. *Sacred 2 needs a remaster for sure.. And Sacred3 was a cashGrab travesty....
I literally watched this because I loved sacred 2 and put hours into it and I also started sacred 1 as battlemage a while back but got too invested in sacred 2. I played as seraphim and completed it recently. Such a good good game, so underrated and overlooked. I got baldur’s gate and also neverwinter nights on pc. I played a little bit of neverwinter nights and it was very different to sacred, of course, I think I’ll keep playing it, it’s interesting, and baldur’s gate I heard was a very highly rated game and it was a classic, so I grabbed it. I kinda hope I get the hang of it when I start playing haha, it’s pretty different to sacred, and I wanna give it a shot. We’re going into 3 weeks tier 4 lockdown after Boxing Day so maybe I’ll start it then. I hope I’m not shit at it hahahah. I’ve never played dnd though so I don’t really know anything about that so let’s hope things at least get explained a bit. Anyway, yes I got sidetracked but I love sacred 2 so much. The graphics I think are super cool for its age too, though. Also, I love how laid back it is and how it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and also, the references and jokes, of course. Great series. Well, the series that was made by ascaron, at least.
Who voiced the jovial voice when you can play through the voices when creating a character it sounds soo familiar a bit like tigger from winnie the pooh
BG are classic games of another era, it is painful to play it now without nostalgia, go for pillars or divinity or pathfinder if you like isometric rpg games.
How so? I replayed them recently while also having played Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Divinity: OS right afterwards. I'll grant that the first Baldur's Gate does drag on a bit and is less interesting at points because it's a low level campaign. But it was never painful to play because of the aging interface, controls or the like. My problem is that goblins, bandits, and bugbears can only provide so much challenge (although there are certainly some rarer, more interesting foes throughout). On the other hand, Divinity: OS's story (fanfiction tier) and itemization (given no thought whatsoever) were so beyond bad it made that game a complete chore to play. To be fair, the tactical combat was great but couldn't save it for me. So it more than likely just comes down to a different strokes for different folks scenario. To be honest, I shudder to think what Larian is going to do to BG3. However, I loved Pathfinder: Kingmaker, so don't see myself as purely blinded by nostalgia, thus preferring only older games. TLDR: Anyhow, sorry for the long reply, but please provide some examples of exactly which elements you feel aged so poorly in the BG games. They still seem surprisingly fun and playable to me.
Brian Anderson thank you for the reply. When I post the comment I mean every word in it, and I still do. Sorry I don’t want to waste time arguing why I should play a 20 year old title over new releases of the same type of game. I need to reply to you cuz I really appreciate your attitude of discussion, but I just do not feel the need to discuss it. If you still enjoy BG it is totally fine, but not for me, and I believe it is not for most of the gamers nowadays. After all BG is Classic but of another era.
@@MrJokersmile88 Hey, no worries about not wanting to discuss it. Thanks for responding back. Just to be clear, I didn't intend to argue with you (i.e. try to change your mind). Rather, I was genuinely interested to know what you felt made the game outdated to the point it was no longer worth revisiting. Anyway, I won't press you to delve into something you'd prefer not to. You're probably right that most people would be better served playing newer titles. I know I'm something of an oddball when it comes to my gaming preferences.
Ahh a more elegant game for a more civilized age. Feast your eyes console peasants this is the game that started it all. It harcons back to the glory days of pc exclusives. All jokes aside this is a great game and I'm glade it's being ported so newer generations can enjoy it to (as long as they can get past the dates graphics) Oh and Long live the PC Master Race.
Unlikely. DiA contains some nice info on the city of Baldur's Gate, which I assume might be somewhat useful, but that's where the connections between the games and the adventure end, more or less.
If you want to play Baldur's Gate, BG II: Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhall or Icewind Dale, just download the Extended Editions from steam or the original games from GoG, the experience will be worlds better than on console.
I lot of ppl, game journos especially, speak about this game in revered tones and write about this game like they know what they're talking about, but some of them are complete bullshitters. Just sayin'.
I don't think real time combat with pauses with so many characters works well enough for an RPG. After al, D&D has always been turn based. This is a compilation of games just for nostalgic games, and even so I can't see the point of playing them with a controller if you own the PC version. In my opinion, DoS II and PoE II are much better games with a lot of quality of life improvements without sacrificing depth.
