Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

[Bester]

The casting spell voices sound "dulled down", like they're coming from behind the corner or something. And they sound way too quite compared to other sound effects. I cast "haste" - I can barely hear the spell words and then I'm deafened by the sound of the spell being applied to the target. And I can't even change this **** because both casting voices and spell effects are on the same setting bar.

 

What the ****!

 

I remember Trent Oster complaining about how "the sound code is very bad and it's a surprise that it works". Well IT WORKED, and now it DOESN'T.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Bester

[Bester]

Can't change their ugly font that they bought on the first font site on google for 10 bucks... can't change it to anything else from the mods because now their modified infinity engine refuses to use fonts from "normal.bam" in the override folder. And that's been a problem since BG1EE. And they didn't do **** to fix it.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Bester

[Bester]

UGGGHHHHH. Remember how your spells button or special abilities button used to be golden when you had spells or special abilities and grey when you had none? Well NOW IT'S ALWAYS GREY.

[Monte Carlo]

Bester, dude, can you perhaps post more than one point per entry?

[Nepenthe]

I got the BG1 EE super cheap on Steam.

 

It's polished enough, but without the easy mod support it won't replace the experience I have now. However, a year from now when both BG1 / BG2 EE are out and fully mod compatible... it will be a marvellous experience.

 

They've done a lot of externalisations to make modder access easier, as well.

[Nepenthe]

I got the BG1 EE super cheap on Steam.

 

It's polished enough, but without the easy mod support it won't replace the experience I have now. However, a year from now when both BG1 / BG2 EE are out and fully mod compatible... it will be a marvellous experience.

 

Out of curiosty, what are the mods you consider essential for you experience?

 

(See, I can multipost, too!)

Edited December 2, 2013 by Nepenthe

[Monte Carlo]

 

I got the BG1 EE super cheap on Steam.

 

It's polished enough, but without the easy mod support it won't replace the experience I have now. However, a year from now when both BG1 / BG2 EE are out and fully mod compatible... it will be a marvellous experience.

 

Out of curiosty, what are the mods you consider essential for you experience?

 

 

 

 

For me it's mainly fix-packs and tweaks, plus some Weimer stuff like Tactics (ahahaahahaa improved Chateau Irenicus is hilarious). Unfinished Business is essential, as is aVENGERS thief mod. Dave Gaider's re-worked ToB endgame, Ascension and Redemption (one is a fan mod iirc) always get added. I like mods that add tougher challenges, improve scripts and AI and add more loot. I'm currently playing the whole saga with an anti-paladin (part of the tactics mod) and my own evil party made with MP and cut-and-pasted into the single player saves folder. Shadowkeeper is also a no-brainer.

 

Basically, I've played it so much now I like to play as gonzo as possible with weird party / npc combos or themed parties with lots of OTT powaz and loot. Even though 2E AD&D is stoopid, it's still 10x richer than current rulesets and allows for lots of tinkering.

 

And (please listen, PE devs) you can make bad decisions and gimpy characters. My sub-optimal Jester playthrough was enormous fun, for example.

[Nepenthe]

 

 

I got the BG1 EE super cheap on Steam.

 

It's polished enough, but without the easy mod support it won't replace the experience I have now. However, a year from now when both BG1 / BG2 EE are out and fully mod compatible... it will be a marvellous experience.

 

Out of curiosty, what are the mods you consider essential for you experience?

 

 

 

 

For me it's mainly fix-packs and tweaks, plus some Weimer stuff like Tactics (ahahaahahaa improved Chateau Irenicus is hilarious). Unfinished Business is essential, as is aVENGERS thief mod. Dave Gaider's re-worked ToB endgame, Ascension and Redemption (one is a fan mod iirc) always get added. I like mods that add tougher challenges, improve scripts and AI and add more loot. I'm currently playing the whole saga with an anti-paladin (part of the tactics mod) and my own evil party made with MP and cut-and-pasted into the single player saves folder. Shadowkeeper is also a no-brainer.

 

Basically, I've played it so much now I like to play as gonzo as possible with weird party / npc combos or themed parties with lots of OTT powaz and loot. Even though 2E AD&D is stoopid, it's still 10x richer than current rulesets and allows for lots of tinkering.

 

And (please listen, PE devs) you can make bad decisions and gimpy characters. My sub-optimal Jester playthrough was enormous fun, for example.

 

 

Well, the latest version of unfinished business is already compatible with the EEs. There's also a new version of Shadowkeeper, EEKeeper, that is already functional and that they are looking at making multiplatform, too. But yeah, Ascension apparently isn't yet.

[Mamoulian War]

The casting spell voices sound "dulled down", like they're coming from behind the corner or something. And they sound way too quite compared to other sound effects. I cast "haste" - I can barely hear the spell words and then I'm deafened by the sound of the spell being applied to the target. And I can't even change this **** because both casting voices and spell effects are on the same setting bar.

 

What the ****!

 

I remember Trent Oster complaining about how "the sound code is very bad and it's a surprise that it works". Well IT WORKED, and now it DOESN'T.

 

That's called Dolby Surround, you either turn off in-game 3D sound or buy a proper sound system...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Monte, which tactics mod has the anti-paladin kit?

 

When BG2EE works with item upgrades(or someone creates an improved version) or item revisions, level1npcs, tweak and fix packs, various kit mods, and it is less than $15, I will pick it up.

[Monte Carlo]

Wes Weimer's tactics can be found at http://weidu.org/main.html

[Bester]

 

The casting spell voices sound "dulled down", like they're coming from behind the corner or something. And they sound way too quite compared to other sound effects. I cast "haste" - I can barely hear the spell words and then I'm deafened by the sound of the spell being applied to the target. And I can't even change this **** because both casting voices and spell effects are on the same setting bar.

 

What the ****!

 

I remember Trent Oster complaining about how "the sound code is very bad and it's a surprise that it works". Well IT WORKED, and now it DOESN'T.

 

That's called Dolby Surround, you either turn off in-game 3D sound or buy a proper sound system...

 

But there's no such option in-game. How do I turn it off? There's no baldur.ini like there used to be.

 

Found baldur.ini but there's no such option.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Bester

[Bartimaeus]

 

 

The casting spell voices sound "dulled down", like they're coming from behind the corner or something. And they sound way too quite compared to other sound effects. I cast "haste" - I can barely hear the spell words and then I'm deafened by the sound of the spell being applied to the target. And I can't even change this **** because both casting voices and spell effects are on the same setting bar.

 

What the ****!

 

I remember Trent Oster complaining about how "the sound code is very bad and it's a surprise that it works". Well IT WORKED, and now it DOESN'T.

 

That's called Dolby Surround, you either turn off in-game 3D sound or buy a proper sound system...

 

But there's no such option in-game. How do I turn it off? There's no baldur.ini like there used to be.

 

 

Isn't there in the user documents folder?

[Bester]

Has anyone got a non-english version? I'm interested in font files that looks like /lang/ja_JP/fonts/MSGOTHIC.bmp or PERMIAN.bmp from russian version, or any other font file from any other version.

[Bester]

I'm interested in making a mod with a custom font. Putting "normal.bam" in the override folder doesn't work anymore, so I'm looking for a new way.

In baldur.ini there are interesting lines

'Fonts', 'ko_KR', 'UNBOM',
'Fonts', 'zh_CN', 'SIMSUN',
'Fonts', 'ja_JP', 'MSGOTHIC',
'Fonts', 'ru_RU', 'PERMIAN',
'Fonts', 'uk_UA', 'PERMIAN',

 

In the multi-language version of the game, there are files such as ...... Gate Enhanced Edition/lang/ja_JP/fonts/MSGOTHIC.bmp (4.0M)

Unfortunately I don't have a multi-language version.

 

Adding a line to baldur.ini     'Fonts',    'en_US',    'TEST',   does the trick in changing the font the game uses. I made an empty file and put it in /lang/en_US/fonts/TEST.bmp and it changed all the letters to empty spaces in game. So this does work. Unfortunately I can't imagine what the proper structure of such a bmp file should be. Does anyone have a multi-language version please? I need to have a look at those .bmp files.

[Bester]

Nevermind, got it from somewhere else.

[Nepenthe]

 

The casting spell voices sound "dulled down", like they're coming from behind the corner or something. And they sound way too quite compared to other sound effects. I cast "haste" - I can barely hear the spell words and then I'm deafened by the sound of the spell being applied to the target. And I can't even change this **** because both casting voices and spell effects are on the same setting bar.

 

What the ****!

 

I remember Trent Oster complaining about how "the sound code is very bad and it's a surprise that it works". Well IT WORKED, and now it DOESN'T.

 

That's called Dolby Surround, you either turn off in-game 3D sound or buy a proper sound system...

 

 

See, I was about to comment that I've had no issues, and I have a multichannel setup (which actually gives me a lot of problems with other games).

[CoM_Solaufein]

Do we find the EE games better than the originals? I really would like to see reviews on the EE games. Pros, Cons, constructive feedback.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Do we find the EE games better than the originals? I really would like to see reviews on the EE games. Pros, Cons, constructive feedback.

I think so, but not enough to justify paying $15 more.

 

Pros:

1.UI was easier to navigate, and had more detailed information

2.It is possible to have an all-evil party in BG2 without using mods or more than one player-generated character, and there is a thief that progresses as a thief other than Yoshimo or Jan Jansen

3.It looks better than BG2 with a widescreen mod

4.Grand Mastery is more balanced than Vanilla BG2 GM or True Grand Mastery GM.

 

Cons:

1.(BGEE)Mods that alter equipment stats(such as the "rebalanced weapon proficiency" component of BG2 Tweaks) don't work. When installed, the descriptions are dialogue from the game rather than an accurate description of the item

2.(Subjective and likely controversial)I would have preferred using the 3.5 ruleset rather than 2E

3.Kits and items seem to be pretty unbalanced

4.The new content that I've played(haven't gotten around to the BG2EE stuff yet) is around the quality of some of the better quest mods, but can feel pretty jarring, particularly Neira

5.Portraits included in BGEE aren't in BG2EE

 

Constructive feedback:

1.The weapon styles should be improved(except maybe for TWF). Two-Handed and Single-Weapon style are too front-loaded and Sword&Shield style is too weak after BGEE. I think the second * should increase benefits by roughly 75% and that S&S should provide a universal AC bonus and/or damage resistance.

2.There should be at least two +5(+6 for 2-handers) weapons of each type in the game. Holy Swords(Carsomyr and Purifier) should deal that extra damage against all Evil foes, not just the Chaotic Evil ones.

3.There should be more quests that don't involve new companions.

Edited March 22, 2014 by KaineParker

[Bartimaeus]

Pros:

Sadly irrelevant in my case. Awesome sprites/paperdolls by Erephine and co. Seriously. Various other things.

 

Cons:

I am a so called "purist" and don't like the addition of new content that I haven't personally approved. The new party members (that I basically consider to be fanfic grafted onto the games) bother me enough that although I could remove them easily enough with DLTCEP or Near Infinity, I feel as though the developers had their priorities so incredibly mixed up for these "enhanced editions" that I am loath to support them. I think I would actually be more inclined to recommend them if they had a $5 "remove all this extra stuff" DLC. I probably still wouldn't, of course, because that'd be utter nonsense, but nevertheless.

 

That's in addition to not all mods working correctly...which means if I'm actually playing, I'm playing non-EE, regardless of all other factors.

 

Had at least the NPCs and their relevant quests been split off into like a $5 DLC, it would be oh so much easier for me to be happy with the games. I probably would've even bought it, (though I would've had it disabled). My idea of "enhancing" a game does not involve adding a bunch of half-baked junk that sticks out like a sore thumb that I (with no prior history of expertise to suggest that it would actually fit in the game) thought up myself in an afternoon.

 

Away with you, beggar!

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Bugs that haven't been fixed since release and balancing issues that detract from the game. I couldn't recommend it to anyone, and I was a fervent supporter and pre-ordered this. Was a huge disappointment considering the GOG version works perfectly and BGEE is a step backwards. I didn't buy BG2EE. Once bitten, twice shy.

[Bester]

Lol http://killscreendaily.com/articles/articles/feature/why-i-quit-playing-baldurs-gate-2/

[Bester]

Do we find the EE games better than the originals? I really would like to see reviews on the EE games. Pros, Cons, constructive feedback.

 

The voice actors for the Black Pits in BG2EE were horrible, pure badness: they didn't want to sound "normal" (maybe they sounded too american), so they all made up horrible accents like swedish, german, french and whatnot. Oh god, it was painful to listen to.

 

You can't have people from the street reading texts after brilliant BG2 voice actors. And you can't make them sound like they're struggling with english because they're all sorts of europeans, it's Faerun, not dota2 solo queue. Just horrible.

 

I felt no immersion, it was so bothersome, that I just dropped the game after 20 minutes.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Bester

[213374U]

Lol http://killscreendaily.com/articles/articles/feature/why-i-quit-playing-baldurs-gate-2/

 

Interesting read—a well-articulated piece in the bigger debate of whether games are art and their dependence of the (technological) circumstances surrounding their creation. Unfortunately, its basis seems to be that the author just couldn't get into BG2EE, which is, in my mind, a very weak starting proposition.

 

Doesn't really say anything of substance about BG2EE, per se.

[Bester]

He's just an attention whore.