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The ironic thing regarding Edwin's incompetence is, that he's in fact the most powerful playable wizard/mage in the game. Even stronger than any PC Spellcaster (unless you play a wild mage or a sorcerer)
Now that I have reached the end, I... really have to say I agree. But then Baldur's Gate felt like the computer game version of an epic multi-volume fantasy novel series to me, and I was always (well, from the age of 11 onwards) quite the reader and more a fan of fantasy novels than anything else. I am not however a huge gamer - I'm not going out getting every new game that comes out, but instead I will find one game I love and play it over and over and over. Baldur's Gate was one of the first games to grab me like that and led me to one of the first online fanfic-dedicated communities I got involved in (ever heard of The Attic?). Even after I wandered away from there, there was a lingering fondness and the occasional wish to go back and play it over again, perhaps with mods... and I think a lot of what you have said here is why it is that good that I kept going back. ...And I am going back again now - I have BG2 EE on laybuy (along with Icewind Dale EE).
how did it hold up honestly? it's a very old game, and I wonder what its like for people like me who didnt play it when it came out. I have played all the modern crpgs like DOS 1+2, pillars of eternity etc, hw does it stack to those?
@@n0cturnalgamer bg2 is still amazing, specially if you play the Extended Edition, IMO i still think it's the best rpg/D&D game ever made until now (and i'm waiting very hyped for BG3)
@@n0cturnalgamer IDK if you know how UI worked back then. Because basically the pleasure of the game will mostly come down to how quickly you manage to learn the UI. It isn't bad - in fact it still holds up. But I'm a guy who did play it when it came out. So for me it is couple of minutes of refreshing my memories - and from then on I can basically experience the whole 200 hours of gameplay that the game offers (depending obviously on how much side quests and character's quests you will do). Still love it and it has this beautiful drawn backgrounds. I prefer Planescape Torment, but that is very much personal preference. BG2 is more Grand. PT while still having this big narrative and world (well not that big in the game) is much more character driven.
Yes, still watching really old videos. What can I say, there is a lot of them and I found the channel really late, so there is a massive back-catalogue. One thing I saw in BG2 that I don't remember seeing previously was the party members fighting each other. Yes, they'd leave if you got too Good or too Evil, but they would also fight each other if certain party combos went on too long. It would start with grumbling, but end up fighting. For example, Edwin/Edwina would constantly have a go at Minsc's failure to save Dinah, but, if they were kept together in the party too long, eventually Minsc would attack him/her. I had to watch for this since both were useful. Edwin/Edwina was generally more useful than Minsc, so eventually I had to swap Minsc out for Korgan, since Edwin was by far the most powerful mage, but Minsc was a swappable tank (albeit a funny one). [I swapped Minsc for Korgan because Viconia was the best Cleric - IMO - and the Paladin (can't remember his name, never played him) had a go at her later on too, so that's another tank off the list.] [I generally played a thief because you needed a good thief and the Epic traps were awesome - could one-shot Irenicus if you knew what you were doing - and Imeon and Nadia weren't good enough thieves and the gnome was annoying.]
The line is “Corn? When’s I eat corn?” You philistine! :P Scones? Pah! ;) only recently discovered your content, and really enjoying going through your back catalogue :)
On the subject of open-endedness, BG1 did the same beforehand. You're pretty-much free between quests to run off into side-areas and wander around, do little one-map quests, and then eventually return to the main quest. I don't think things like plot-hooks were as good though. I also think the lack of good plot-hooks in BG1 also made things feel like they had less drive. I mean, in BG2 you get told "It's important you get this done as soon as possible!", and though you know there's no quest timer or such (there were a few, especially on romance events), you feel driven to get the quest done. BG1 didn't have that feeling of drive nearly as much, it was more like "Oh, here's notes in the pocket of this guy we just killed. They say we can find his superior in Map X"... and then you wander through maps S, T, U, V and W, and two or three dungeons attached (actually I am thinking specifically of the course from after the Nashkel mines, heading northwards and possibly going to the map with the old broken bridge, the one with the ruined school, and up to the forests in the middle-north), before you actually get around to to the next quest-beat. BG2 also had the plot-hooks for those random not-main-story quests inserted better. BG2 had quest-givers who approached Charname and asked for help. BG1 didn't (except for some of the companion quests, like Minsc and Edwin wanting to enlist Charname to go after Dynaheir), and you had to go wandering around all those side-maps just to find what was hidden in them.
Only watched the first 5 minutes at the time of writing - I will watch more and I like it so far. But before I forget I need to comment that Baldur's Gate more revived the interest in D&D computer games. In the late 80s and early 90s the Gold Box games, like Pool of Radiance, already were decently popular (for the time anyway) party based D&D crpgs. Baldur's Gate in my opinion is very clearly an evolution of those older games, rather than the originator.
BG2 wasn't the reason lengthy recorded voice acting was included in RPGs, advancement in technology was. CDROMS and the popularity of harddrives enabled the possibility and if BG2 didn't do it, the next game released at that time would have.
baldurs gate 1 to me with out the mod that allows you to play it in the 2nd game engine [ what they used for the ee] is almost unplayable imo. i tried playing it with it but i always stopped because i could not stand it with out that or the npc project mod that allowed the npcs to talk like in baldurs gate 2.
valid and coherent arguments. I´m recommending your videos to my English students who like videogames. You speak very clear and have interesting ideas xD
Totally... many people have at their best game of history list, FF VI and chrono triger, but for me those are my second and third and Baldurs Gate 2 is my number 1, and I can't but my finger on why, maybe the characters the story de replay value de content and customization dunno, but when I think in the game that changed my vision of gaming, I just think on baldurs gate, btw I played Baldur's Gate before FFVI
That's true but back in the day when video games was not THAT succesfull on the market the video game makers had to really make it good so that someone would ACTUALLY buy it. Today: Video games are so succesfull that even if a game is shit, it will sell, atleast somewhat. Therefore the creators does not have to work as hard to earn their money.
Not really. Interplay sold out and shut down not long after BG2 because they didn't release a hit before becoming publicly traded. A full BG3 didn't happen because Bioware didn't want to continue with Interplay and they still had the rights to the IP. Profit seeking is why the series went out on a bit of a whimper with TOB instead of with a full sequel. Gaming has always been hit driven. It's just that today's design process is too expensive compared to the olden days.
Does anyone else wish they could play a D&D campaign that Archengeia designs and DM's? He's making me nostalgic for good old pencil and paper roleplay gaming...
BG2 was a much more complete, well-rounded game than Planescape: Torment. Voice acting, music, level designs, graphic artistry, tactical combat, interesting NPCs and character development, funny dialogue...it had it all. PT had an engaging story and some other elements, but the combat was just awful. I really wanted to like it, but its great story just couldn't compensate for the horrendous combat and other clunky traits that I can't recall lo these many years later.
+Frank Burns Almost everything you mentioned, Ps:T does equally well or better. The only obvious thing lacking in that game was a good combat, which most of the time was rigid, dull and clunky in comparison to BGs fluent and well-designed combat system. Also, it lacked in freedom of designing the main character and party setup, and thus offered nothing in replayability after the first 2-3 times. However, come storytelling, setting, plot, character design and all that stuff, Ps:T was way above BG. While BG was good, it was mainly just a version of bad guy appears, beat bad guy, win game, filled with some decent but still common allies.. PsT was a philosophical journey filled with very intricate characters, and had way more to discover in that department. Saying that BG had more interesting characters makes me think you didn't really play the game.
tenrecc I didn't play it beyond the first few hours, which was more than enough to indicate it would be a painful experience. The combat system made it virtually unplayable, and the artwork, atmosphere, and music couldn't hold a candle to BG2 or even BG1. And of course, no party banter, which was a huge part of the BG games' charms. I have no idea if the loot, leveling, and other elements that were so amazing in BG were even close in Planescape, but like I said, it was just unplayable.
Frank Burns It's understandable that you quit, I won't disagree that the combat system is atrocious. And if you didn't like the artwork, atmosphere and music, well that's taste and pretty subjective, for me it's on par or better than BG2s. But you did miss out a lot if you care about plot, characters, and an all around immersive and well-written experience. Just as an example, Wis, Cha and Int matters tenfold more in this game since it heavily influences your options in dialogues. While that happens now and then in BG2, it happens constantly in PsT, and playing a dumb warrior or smart mage is like having the game tell two very different stories. Also followers have very long character developments, with huge interactions which can grant them up to 25 in some stats simply due to interacting with them throughout the story and having the right stats to say the right things. Just consider this, despite being a game where the central mechanic is abysmal, and the fact it's from 1999, it still manages to not only do well, but insanely well on a lot of high merit lists (#1 RPG on metacritic user list, #5 on IMDBs best video games of all times, etc). I'm willing to bet that's a feat that PsT is the only video game in the world to have pulled off, and it's all because the story is by far the best one ever told in a video game.
tenrecc Yeah, its high ratings were the reason I gave it a go, especially since those praising it were, almost by definition, fans of BG, and thus likely to like the same things in a game that I like. I just couldn't get into it; sometimes a single aspect of an otherwise excellent game can ruin the whole experience. I'm an old-school RPG fanatic, from the entire Ultima series, and the "Gold Box" games including Pools of Radiance, etc., through Dragon Age: Origins, and I'd kill for an authentic Baldur's Gate 3 (played Pillars of Eternity, which tried hard to be just that, but was really just kinda "meh."), but Planescape: Torment missed the mark for me; I know it has an avid fan base to this day, but it really was and is a sort of cult phenomenon, compared to the broader appeal of the BG games. On a related note, Dragon Age really jumped the fkng shark after Origins. Games just keep getting dumbed down.
Frank Burns I know the feeling, unfortunately. I never played through Fallout 2 despite the fact that it probably would've ended up in my top5 list. Just couldn't get into it, and I'm not even sure what the reason for it was. And yeah, if it wasn't revealed through my comments, I'm an avid BG2 player too. So avid that it's without a doubt my #1 game of all times. PsT close second, but falls because of the combat system and lousy replayability. DA:O and Pillars were both decent and fun to fill the void with, but nothing spectacular. If you havn't played Divinity: Original Sin I'd highly recommend it, one of the better RPGs I've ever played, especially combat-wise. Second best after BGs imho, so if it's challenging and interesting combat systems you're after, that's really a game I'd recommend. Also guessing you're pretty stoked for Siege of Dragonspear? ;)
12:35 I've read them, and I find it amazing how an author has managed to make his protagonist so bland and unlikable. I'm writing my own story based on the Baldur's Gate games and my character has better character development than that seven foot tall dumb sasquatch.
