Erm, resolution? Is there anyone who still plays Baldur's Gate without the widesreen mod? Or an assortment of other fixes and enhancements, for that matter. Beamdog's versions are nice if you want to install and jump right into the game, but they don't really offer much more than modded originals.
To answer the OP's question, I must honestly say: play them all. The order doesn't matter. I would play BG1 before BG2 just to know the whole story and to import my character (I use the Trilogy mod for a seamless experience on BG2 engine). However, BG2 is a great game even on its own.
I played BG when the game first came out in 1998. I loved it! I followed this up with BG2 and then ToB which I thought were improvements and for me set the benchmark for future RPG action/adventure gaming. I'm currently around level 4 in PoE and this is so reminiscent of those games and NWN2, I'm starting to have a "Happy Days" experience.
Too early to tell which is better, and I haven't played either the BG series or NWN2 for a long time, so I'm afraid I'm going to sit on the fence on this one. However as the system specs for PoE are more demanding than they were for the previous games I'm going to make some guesstimates about the technical aspect of game presentation for widescreens monitors such as my 24" IIyama and it's 1920 x1200 display which is a home run when compared to my old CRT monitors. Also display characteristics such as textures etc will be so much better, but so far the story telling and plot seem on a par across the whole spectrum of D & D style action adventure RPGs . There is the other issue about whether gamers requirements for game content may have changed over the years. Like the Charleston and the Foxtrot, some dances don't go down as well at today's club venues without some considerable work on the choreography
One thing I noticed as a newcomer to these forums was an old discussion on whether romance options in PoE were a worthwhile addition, and if the PoE team's view that if romance stories are going to be included they should be done well. To get to that grade of quality requires a lot of time and effort and a decision ( I think the right one) was made to exclude them from the content of the PoE initial release. BG2 (and concluded in the ToB extension) Contained three well written female romances for male PCs.I played them all and while I didn't particularly like one of the NPCs the romances without exception were extremely well put together. I played one more than the other 2 as I found the LTs much more interesting, mature, and less emotive if that is possible. The NPC concerned was classed as "Neutral" so I guess for me the romance leaned towards the objective and practical, rather than the protective and nurturing role traditionally common to male/female relationship writing in those days.
One thing that is still undisputed for me is that Minsc (BG!, BG", ToB) still is by far the best NPC I have come across (not forgetting Boo of course)
