Have you played an Infinity Engine game before?

[FlintlockJazz]

Something Chris Avellone said in an interview about whether those who donated to the Kickstarter had actually played the games being used as reference before at all and what the proportion of us had not actually played Infinity Engine games got me thinking. Here's what I'm refering to:

 

I’ll be honest and say that a chunk of our fanbase may not have played the Infinity Engine games, but they may be responding to many of the same elements that resonated with the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter and are willing to support those.

 

For example, they may be Obsidian fans willing to support the company, they may be people that want to see an RPG of our creation regardless of format, or they may be fans of developers inside the studio (like my unabashed fanboyism for Tim Cain – and his cooking). We are thankful for all of these things.

 

I’d like to believe that the majority of our supporters did play the old school Infinity Engine games and know what makes them special to us. I don’t have any metrics for this, however. I can only trust MY SOUL (explicit circular reference to answer to first question).

 

I'm intrigued, just how many of us did play these games and how many did not? Forum poll is not going to be by any means accurate but I'd be interested to see what we get...

[Starwars]

I've played them and have different views on them. Torment is one of my all time favorites. The Icewind Dales are fun games, as is Baldur's Gate 2, but I'm not that big a fan of them. Baldur's Gate 1 is not a game I particularly enjoy.

 

The reason I pledged doesn't have much to do with the IE games themselves, but more with the fact that I want Obsidian to make an old-school game with some similarities to the design of the IE games. I hope that it will still feel like its own thing more than an IE "rehash" so to speak. I would love for more Fallout/Arcanum, and even some Darklands/Realms of Arkania mixed in there as well, coupled with things from Obsidian's later games.

[Merin]

I bought Baldur's Gate right when it was released - but I've never finished it. I pre-ordered the Collector's Edition to BG2 from Electronics Boutique (R.I.P.) and played it to completion, including Throne of Bhaal, twice. I've played Icewind Dale more times than I can count. I also played Icewind Dale 2 a couple times, and... well, I own Planescape: Torment, so I guess it counts, but I didn't buy it until years after it came out and I've never gotten very far into it.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Merin

[Gorth]

Where is the "I refused to vote" option?

 

Played them all. Some more than others. Only completed BG1 twice. Some of them plenty of times over the last decade. Currently replaying IWD and an ongoing game of PS:T trying out the current version of the Unfinished Business mods for both.

[Gurkog]

I bought mulitple copies of PS:T and BG 2 back in the day, but I nevver tried the IWD series until recently because I am not a huge fan of pure dungeon crawlers. IWD had much better dungeon design than the others and the combat was enjoyable enough for me to finish the games. I have played the original Fallout games and BG ones more times than I can remember and enjoyed them tremendously. I liked the Fallout series more though, but that is just me prefering a focus on a single character over parties.

[Sargallath Abraxium]

...played 'em all repeatedly; BG was groundbreakin', SoA was a disappointment, ToB was, well, let's jus' say I ain't a fan...IWD was awesomeness, HoW/TotL was beautiful and IWD 2 was damn fine fer bein' what it was an' when it was...Planescape: Torment be the greatest accomplishment in gamin' history an' I's imagines I's played it more than the average age on this board now...

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

[Piccolo]

I would be very surprised if there are many people excited enough about Project Eternity to be on these forums, who haven't played at least one IE game.

 

To those who haven't - why? Why wait for 2014 when you can have a similar experience now?

Edited September 27, 2012 by Piccolo

[Kira]

Played them, loved them. Would rank PST highest, BG afterwards. IWD, I wasn't a fan of the genre, I've honestly tried a couple of times to get in to them but failed. It's not for me, I'm looking for a character with a story or a background, or I won't last long.

[entrerix]

i've played them all

 

torment is the best one

[Stun]

Played them all so many times that I no longer measure their replayability by how many playthroughs I've done. Instead, I just count the number of Years I've been playing them.

 

Except for IWD2, which I've only played once, because it bored me to tears (I still have nightmares about the ice temple)

Edited September 27, 2012 by Stun

[Brother Pain]

I own and have played BG (with expansion), BGII, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale.

 

While the writing in them was superb, the engine and game system (AD&D 2nd Ed.) was always the weak point that meant I never finished most of them. Even Planescape: Torment which is probably in my top 3 games of all time (together with the first Gabriel Knight and Fallout btw) would actually have been a much better game if I could have skipped the combat altogether.

[nikolokolus]

I played BG 1 about 2 1/2 times, but got a little bored/sidetracked on my last playthrough

 

BG 2 I played probably six times to completion.

 

Torment I loved a lot but only managed 1 full playthrough, it was just hard to find the replay value, mostly because I had trouble sustaing an evil second playthrough

 

The IWD games were good but dungeon crawling wasn't my favorite so I only managed to get through each one time.

 

Fallout one and two on the other hand? I played those things multiple times and they're still my favorite Blackisle/Infinity style games.

[Death Machine Miyagi]

Any RPG fan who hasn't played them really, really, really, really needs to do so right now.

 

Go to GoG.com. Buy them. Right now.

 

Also: The BG series and Torment are greatly enriched by he abundance of mods released for them. Get those, too.

 

But I would be honestly surprised if there were any great number of people donating who haven't played them. They're old, but they're not Wasteland old.

[NerdBoner]

played them all, anyone who hasn't is an *expletive deleted*

[arrowhead]

I've done 3 playthroughs of BG1 (using BGTuTu) and BG2, and 1 playthrough for PST. I still haven't played IWD.

[Death Machine Miyagi]

Torment I loved a lot but only managed 1 full playthrough, it was just hard to find the replay value, mostly because I had trouble sustaing an evil second playthrough

 

I've played Torment a bunch of times. I'm not sure I ever managed to complete an evil playthrough.

 

An evil playthrough in...say, Knights of the Old Republic or whatever can be hilarious in a blackly comic kind of way. An evil Torment playthrough is just plain depressing.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Death Machine Miyagi

[gandalf.nho]

Yes, I played all of them, including the expansions

[Ink Blot]

Played them all and constantly go back to them year after year. Can't even begin to guess how many time I've gone through them all.

[Aedelric]

Yes and enjoyed them.

 

Also, why would anyone be here if they had not?

[Death Machine Miyagi]

Also, why would anyone be here if they had not?

 

I've never played Wasteland but I'm still rooting for Brian Fargo and Wasteland 2. Even if you aren't familiar with the game, you can still be familiar with the creators or RPGs in general and want to see what a studio can do when freed from the shackles of a publisher telling them what to add or remove and to release by Christmas, finished or not.

[Shevek]

I absolutely LOVE the IE games. I especially love to replay BG1/2 with their XPACs. I am currently playing a Big World install of BG1/2 (the ulltimate rpg when combined in my humble opinion). I have a custom party of a Half Elven Cleric/Ranger (its like cheating but I don't care), a Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist (I love importing in that IWD trusted defender helm at later levels) and a Elven Fighter/Thief with a custom Archer-style Kit applied to the Fighter half using Shadowkeeper (the custom kit is like an Archer that gets an Assassin's poison instead of Called Shot, the backstab multiplier is capped at x2 and she gets poison immunity at later levels - I decided thats how I wanted to play, the rules be damned). Man, if the devs release even some basic mod tools like NearInfinity (which the community created for the IE games) and some 3D import/export plugins, I'd be in heaven.

 

This play through, I am playing at Core Rules difficulty at low levels (then ramping up) and I skipped most of the challenge mods since I am just going through with a 3-man party. I am having such a blast that Guild Wars 2 is just gonna have to wait.

 

I have never experienced this much freedom in an rpg. I can totally remake the classes and their abilities. Most of the times, I get that dev feel just sitting down weighing what would be OP and what wouldn't. What needs to be buffed and what needs to be nerfed. I CAN do that. Don't like the way grandmastery works? Heck change it to whatever you like or use a mod some guy made. Don't like the included racial bonuses? Heck, make your own. Then I can totally replay the game using a truly custom party. The tactical goodness is insanely different each and everytime I play.

 

I love that Obsidian is recreating SOME of that by allowing us to select different modes. That being said, I still very much hope we get the option to mod and also to use custom crafted npcs.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Shevek

[Sargallath Abraxium]

...by the sounds o' things, lad, ya dunna like BG as much as ya like munchkinizin' it...

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

[JediMB]

Yes, but I will admit... only briefly.

 

Tried Planescape: Torment for an hour or two and absolutely loved it, so I plan to return to the game very soon. (I just want to finish Divine Divinity first.)

 

Also tried Baldur's Gate in multiplayer, and let's just say I think the multiplayer part ruined it for me. I've pre-ordered the Enhanced Edition and will play once that is out.

[JWestfall]

Never heard of them, I thought Obsidian made JRPGs.

 

 

Nah, played BG & BG2 alot back in the day, PS:T I actually didn't enjoy all that much (you may throw rocks now), never played IWD or the sequel but I've been pondering picking it up on GOG.

[Sargallath Abraxium]

Never heard of them, I thought Obsidian made JRPGs.

 

 

Nah, played BG & BG2 alot back in the day, PS:T I actually didn't enjoy all that much (you may throw rocks now), never played IWD or the sequel but I've been pondering picking it up on GOG.

 

 

~ throwing rocks boulders asteroids ~

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

Edited September 27, 2012 by Sargallath Abraxium