BG1(Enhanced, BG2(Enhanced), or Pillars?

[Matt516]

I'm gonna buck the trend and recommend the EE of the BGs, not the originals. Though to be honest, I'd just recommend you play Pillars first. Coming into it completely blind, Pillars and BG both have weird design decisions but Pillars has less of them. The writing in Pillars is also better - though the BG writing is more over the top of you're into that sort of thing.

 

Ultimately, I'd recommend you play them both. The order doesn't really matter. The BG series is considered classic for a reason, and Pillars is a very excellent RPG in its own right.

[Matt516]

As for Pillars or BG first... I can't really say, I played BG I was a teenager, I wasn't in the same emotional state than now. My "gut feelings" is that the BG is superior (but Pillars is still great), but I don't know if that's what I would say if I had played them both at the same age.

Exactly, and same here. I've got massive nostalgia for BG (as do 90% of the posters on this forum), so you'll want to keep that in mind. We will never really know which game is "better" since we played BG first and are thus measuring Pillars according to it. My hunch is that for a complete newcomer, Pillars will be seen as the better game. Who knows, though?

[PIP-Clownboy]

I'm gonna buck the trend and recommend the EE of the BGs, not the originals. Though to be honest, I'd just recommend you play Pillars first. Coming into it completely blind, Pillars and BG both have weird design decisions but Pillars has less of them. The writing in Pillars is also better - though the BG writing is more over the top of you're into that sort of thing.

 

Ultimately, I'd recommend you play them both. The order doesn't really matter. The BG series is considered classic for a reason, and Pillars is a very excellent RPG in its own right.

 

I'd say order matters.. BG's isn't as content rich as BG2 but the writing is on par and is paced a bit better. I could see BG2 being overwhelming for someone that hasn't played the series before. 

[Matt516]

@PIP: oh, absolutely. I meant that it doesn't really matter if you play the BG series or PoE first. BG 1 is absolutely essential before 2 for a newcomer to the series, imo.

[Vaalac]

I'd say PoE first. It's a very good game and it will be way easier for you to discover this kind of game. It you really like it then play BGI and then BG2 which are amazing.

[VioNectro]

It doesn't matter when you play PoE, only make sure for certain you do BG1 before doing BG2.

[RedSocialKnight]

It's hard for me to judge as someone who has loved these games for 20 years, but I think if you're not used to the isometric style, the more modern interface of PoE would make an easier introduction.

 

And, rose-colored glasses aside, the 2nd-edition D&D ruleset of the BG games is in many ways nonsensical and impenetrable (and I say that as someone who played and loved 2nd ed tabletop when the books were new).

 

But, if you have a taste for whimsy, the goofy charm of the BG characters is something that's never been quite replicated in any later games, even those that have stronger character writing overall.

[GreyFox]

Do BG1 then BG2 while you wait for Pillars to get out of beta.

[Jasta11]

Enhanced Editions don't add quite enough for what they ask. if you can get them with Steam sales, however, they are well worth it. Otherwise, stick to GoG normal editions if you aren,t afraid of tinkering with mods a bit.

 

BG1: quirky humor, more exploration, low-level D&D combat (far more fun than high-level one IMO), but probably the least amount of fun content overall. Difficulty curve is pretty good.

 

BG2: better writing than BG1 overall, more demanding (and sometimes tedious) combat, great main quest and villain, Athkatla is a nice city, tons and tons of content and mods. Mages are OP and some fights are infuriatingly stupidly designed (Kangaxxx!).

 

PoE: Best combat of the bunch by a fair margin, best writing, less exploration, less quirky/memorable companions, less tedious gameplay overall, more modern UI. Overall probably the easiest of the 3 on normal difficulty too, but has a few really hard bosses.

 

Overall, I prefer PoE. It has the right dose of ye olde school feeling while having enough modern conviences so that it doesn't become tedious to play, and has loads of good design decisions and better writing as well.

 

The thing is, now that I've played PoE I can't go back to BG. It just plays less well. Can't explain it in much detail, but it does.

[Matt516]

Do BG1 then BG2 while you wait for Pillars to get out of beta.

So clever. Much sarcasm.

 

Really though... You were in the Beta, no? You know what dramatic improvements they've made. This kind of exaggerated negativity just comes off as petulant at this point.

[Fuz]

I recommend the proper BG1 and BG2 games, not enhanced. Enhanced costs twice as much, and the new content they add is not as good as the original, and they do some things like produce an uglier UI (though you can judge which one you like better, based on screenshots). BG series has also been extensively modded over the last 15 years, and while some mods do work with EEs, the originals allow greater flexibility. Most improvements made by EE are very minor as well and have been modded in years ago, e.g. the widescreen mod. If you don't really want to mod your game, you don't mind spending more money, then EE could be an option.

 

BG1 and BG2 are pretty different games with different strengths. You can start with BG2, but both are fun games I think. BG1 stresses wilderness exploration and low-level combat. BG2 has a big city full of sidequests, strongholds, intense mage combat, etc., but loses the 'charm' of BG1. Pillars is again a pretty different experience because it combines aspects of both, and also has its own combat system, etc. 

 

If you don't normally play old games often maybe you should start with Pillars. But I'd say all three are great, and the order doesn't matter too much.

Exactly this.

 

(BG1 also had better character portraits, btw)

[Matt516]

Oh yeah, the portraits in 2 ate terrible.

[Malovane]

I would suggest the original BG1 and BG2. Unfortunately, it's a little bit of a pain to get running right, and with decent graphics, on a modern era machine. While I own both of the original games, I did purchase the Enhanced Editions for the reasons of convenience in this regard. They also seem to have cleaned up a number of issues with the old code, including a number of exploits. I know it's heresy to many here, but I'm a big BG fan and do like the Enhanced Edition.

 

Regardless, I would really start with BG1 of any stripe, then go on to BG2 with an imported character from BG1. It's a great story overall. Afterwards, pick up Planescape: Torment (in my opinion 2nd only to BG2). Then move on to PoE. Good games all.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Malovane

[Parsong]

I might be a minority but I prefer EE over Original.  The new items, companions, quests, scaled UI, and area-loot are kinda cool.  It also seems to load/save/transition crazy faster. The two new Monk kits are decent.   There are some mod incompatibilities, but I personally was able to use all the ones I liked. (Tweaks,SCS, Monk Oversight).  However If you wan to go crazy with the mods Original is probably better for you.

 

As far as Vs. PoE goes, I'd give a slight edge to BG due to far more builds & playstyles and better stealth/rest (imo) but you can't go wrong with either.  After playing any of the BG you'll probably end up gettin PoE no matter what.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Parsong

[Caerdon]

I too prefer EE over the modded vanilla. It's clear as day that the codebase has been improved a lot, it just feels so much slicker in every way. And I've had no problems getting all the important mods like Stratagems and Item Randomizer to work.

[Elgyn]

I really enjoy the technical upgrades of EE, but I found almost all the new content in the game pretty horrible, imbalanced (The Stupifier, seriously.), missing a lot of the charm of the original games (the dialogues and the item descriptions are all inferior to many fan made mods, which I found fit into the game seamlessly - like Item Revisions, BGNPC Project, etc..) and better off skipping over.

 

I actually had to stop the game because I was laughing so hard at how bad the voice acting was in the Wild Mage scene in the Bridge District in BG2. I felt a little crummy too as it was obviously employee's doing the voice acting, and it made me feel like a little bit of a **** laughing at their efforts. But it still was bad. So very bad.

[Daemonjax]

You're going to get all 3 at some point.  May as well be now.

[Parsong]

You're going to get all 3 at some point.  May as well be now.

 

a bg1, bg2, and poe playthrough.....so much bliss

[VahnXIII]

I have such a bad syndrome with this. I'll start playing BG:EE, then get distracted by D:OS, then get distracted by Dragon Age Inquisition, then went back to BG:EE only to have PoE released....first world issues I guess.

 

I plan on completing PoE, then going back to my fighter/mage in BG;EE and go into BG2:EE. Perhaps I'll even get back into D:OS. By the time I'm done with all of that, I'm sure there will expansions and new titles in the works!

 

Play as many of them as you can!

[NoQuitt]

 

Do BG1 then BG2 while you wait for Pillars to get out of beta.

So clever. Much sarcasm.

 

Really though... You were in the Beta, no? You know what dramatic improvements they've made. This kind of exaggerated negativity just comes off as petulant at this point.

 

I agree with his point though. I would advise OP to play BG1/2 and then pick up PoE when it's a bit more polished. PoE is a fantastic game, and I feel OP would be better off doing a play through later on when there aren't so many issues. I am considering dusting off my copy of BG2 and coming back to PoE after patch 1.05 so I can have a more enjoyable experience. 

[dmhancock]

I'm one of the few who adored baldurs gate 1&2 and then adored it more with the EE's. The EE's put a tonne of polish on them imo.

 

I'm also one of the guys who preferred BG1, but this is maybe a nostalgia thing. The story really got me by the eye balls and unravelling everything was brilliant fun.

[Gilker]

Enhanced Editions don't add quite enough for what they ask. if you can get them with Steam sales, however, they are well worth it. Otherwise, stick to GoG normal editions if you aren,t afraid of tinkering with mods a bit.

 

BG1: quirky humor, more exploration, low-level D&D combat (far more fun than high-level one IMO), but probably the least amount of fun content overall. Difficulty curve is pretty good.

 

BG2: better writing than BG1 overall, more demanding (and sometimes tedious) combat, great main quest and villain, Athkatla is a nice city, tons and tons of content and mods. Mages are OP and some fights are infuriatingly stupidly designed (Kangaxxx!).

 

PoE: Best combat of the bunch by a fair margin, best writing, less exploration, less quirky/memorable companions, less tedious gameplay overall, more modern UI. Overall probably the easiest of the 3 on normal difficulty too, but has a few really hard bosses.

 

Overall, I prefer PoE. It has the right dose of ye olde school feeling while having enough modern conviences so that it doesn't become tedious to play, and has loads of good design decisions and better writing as well.

 

The thing is, now that I've played PoE I can't go back to BG. It just plays less well. Can't explain it in much detail, but it does.

 

i really think that PoE missed some fights against powerfull wizards like whe had back in BG II, the kind of fights you had agains liches and half-liches. contrary to you, i really loved the fight against Kangaxx. that particular enemy was casting Imprisonment "full-auto", no save, no magical resistance, just pure doom for your party. you actually had to think or winning agains kangaxx was impossible. in the end, you win that fight with a plan, and it felt like a great accomplishment against an extraordinary opponent. no such fights in PoE.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Gilker