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INTRODUCTION
Although I think Baldur's Gate is the best
computer game ever made, this article doesn't reflect my opinion
only. I read the opinions and remarks of many players who
played both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II, and used their
thoughts as well to introduce the features of both games,
from several aspects.
Although my favourite game is Baldur's Gate (including Tales
of the Sword Coast), it is no doubt that I also liked Shadows
of Amn and Throne of Bhaal very very much. I criticize them
a lot, but these games are also my favourites, no matter how
many negative features they have.
It is interesting to notice how different we are. Often the
same feature is liked by one player and disliked by another.
We will see a lot of examples of this below.
Story
Many say that the story of Baldur's Gate
is better than Shadows of Amn's. You start your adventures
in an unknown area, your foster father is dead, and even a
wolf can kill you easily. You aren't supposed to prevent a
crazy mage from becoming immortal, you aren't supposed to
become a god (Throne of Bhaal). The story with the Chill,
the Black Talon Elite and the Iron Throne is more exciting.
However, I also enjoyed the story of Baldur's Gate II, and
I especially liked the Throne of Bhaal. It was a worthy ending
of the saga. The life course of Gorion's ward is a nice story.
Areas
Baldur's Gate is full of explorable areas,
and you aren't led by the plot from scene to scene (like in
Baldur's Gate II). Wandering in the wilderness has a lot of
surprises, and sleeping in this setting is very dangerous,
just like in P&P AD&D. This is one of the most important
features that make players love -- or dislike -- Baldur's
Gate. A player mentioned that he didn't like the free exploring
because he preferred more direction in his games, as he didn't
have too much time to play. Another player found it annoying
that in many areas of Baldur's Gate, there was a big number
of strong creatures but with low XP for kill. When playing
the game for the first time. I was also irritated by this,
but actually this is very realistic and thus correct.
The maps of Baldur's Gate II show the whole area, with marked
locations. Many players, including myself, find this ridiculously
unrealistic. Especially in case of wilderness areas such as
the Umar Hills. This is also something that you either love
or hate. I remember a player who mentioned that he had been
unable to find anything in a "rural town" (he probably
remembered Beregost) because it had been night and raining
in the game and the map hadn't helped...
Encounters
A lot of players don't like Baldur's Gate
because they find the battles too hard. You have been wandering
in the wilderness for hours, and suddenly a group of enemies
attacks you. If you are an inexperienced player of Baldur's
Gate and you aren't prepared to the battle, this will probably
result in a re-load.
Since your characters are at higher level in Baldur's Gate
II, enemies also have to be stronger compared to the first
instalment of Baldur Gate. However, the battles in Baldur's
Gate II are far not as challenging as in Baldur's Gate. In
the opinion of several players, this applies to the final
battles as well. For me, their difficulty was approximately
equal.
Creatures
There are many more types of creatures in
Baldur's Gate II than in the first instalment of the game,
and they undoubtedly improve the gaming experience. I'm not
too familiar with true AD&D, so I will suppose that the
creatures of Baldur's Gate II are from there. Regardless,
I think that several creatures simply don't go well with this
world. The alien-looking Mindflayers would probably show better
in a (horror)-science-fiction movie. I don't like them probably
because I have always preferred classic mythology (giant,
dragon, troll etc.) and mediaval age.
Just like a few other players, I don't prefer the extraplanar
stuff either. I like the Solars (they are like angels) and
the demons are also good, but there is too many of them. It's
okay that the protagonist is much more powerful in Baldur's
Gate II, and thus the enemies are obviously tougher and come
from a wider variety, but simply and solely the whole Tiefling/Demon
War/Watcher's Keep stuff isn't my taste.
Joinable NPCs, interactions
One of the most popular parts of Baldur's
Gate II are the NPC interactions and romances. This is a great
improvement compared to Baldur's Gate. However, the significance
of these features is often overestimated. In my opinion, a
good quest is always better than some interjections between
party members. In Baldur's Gate, many NPCs are wandering in
pairs, and you can pick them up only together. If you want
to part one of them, the other will also follow his or her
companion.
The NPC-related quests (with Anomen, Jan etc.) in Baldur's
Gate II are also a great idea.
To sum up, Baldur's Gate II is undoubtedly better than Baldur's
Gate in the respect of character interactions. The character
of these creatures is much more elaborate either.
Dialogues
Baldur's Gate II has much longer dialogues,
and they are at least as good quality as their Baldur's Gate
versions.
A lot of players miss the dialogues with Charmed creatures.
A player mentioned that he could fix broken quests in Baldur's
Gate via this method, because he could charm the hostile creature
and initiate dialogue with it, and thus continue the quest.
I also heard that the "A mind controlled individual..."
solution isn't true to P&P AD&D -- I cannot confirm
this, because I'm not too familiar with D&D, but I know
that the original charm spell descriptions says that charmed
creatures should consider you as a trusted friend.
I understand that there are a lot of creatures in Baldur's
Gate II, but the majority of them is either immune to charm
or is protected against it in another way, so I don't think
it would have been so terribly much work to add some 'charmed
dialogues' for humanoid creatures and NPCs.
Quests
The quests of Baldur's Gate II are longer
and more complex than the quests of Baldur's Gate, but the
way you get them is artificial. Normally quests aren't thrown
at you... so Baldur's Gate is unrealistic in this respect.
Many players prefer if the 'quests find them', but this is
disliked by those who want to see some reality while playing
these games.
Items, gold
There is no balance in Baldur's Gate II in
this respect. Especially in Throne of Bhaal, where you can
buy lots of items with +3 enchantments at the inn
of Saradush. The protagonist may be much more powerful, the
enemies may be much more dangerous, there may be war -- but
an innkeeper cannot get so many magical items in such
a quantity. Fifty Durlag's Towers wouldn't have hidden
so many of those items in the Tales of the Sword Coast.
As a player pointed out, there was a lot of gold
in Baldur's Gate II. I find this acceptable because the player
is much more powerful than in Baldur's Gate and thus collects
much better magical items, but it may greatly decrease the
gaming experience. In Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword
Coast, you can't buy all of the tempting items in a store,
simply because you can't afford it. This changes only in the
later stages of the game.
Spells
Baldur's Gate II offers a much wider variety
of magical spells than Baldur's Gate. I enjoyed it very much,
but as I recall now, I don't like it. Wizards should cast
FireBalls, Lightning Bolts, Charms, Mirror Images and release
energies, enchantments, should summon creatures etc. Spellstrike?
Lower Resistance? Pierce Magic? Pierce Shield? Summon Hakeshar?
They start to be something like "Protection to Protection
to Protection to Fire", right? Ridiculous. And you are
forced to use the most of these spells.
Wouldn't a full-strength Dispel Magic and a Potion of Magic
Shielding/Protection/Blocking be enough to keep the balance?!
Animations, paperdolls
Many players prefer the Baldur's Gate paperdolls
to BGII ones. The bards don't use the thief avatar in Baldur's
Gate II any more, and in this way they don't look as good
as in BG.
Most people don't agree with me in this, but I like almost
all of BG versions of animations better than the BG2 ones
(warrior, cleric, thief, bard etc.)
However, most players agree that the Flaming Sword animation
is much nicer in Baldur's Gate than in Baldur's Gate II.
And who prefers the BG2 version of Small Shields?
CONCLUSION
It's a matter of personal taste which game
one likes better. And many factors influence this, such as
how experienced the player is, how much free time he or she
has, how old (s)he is and so on.
BG2 - irreality for popularity? But this will be the topic
of another article.
I would like to finish this work by quoting Taluntain, the
founder of Sorcerer's
Place. His words reflect my personal opinion as well.
"To each his own. If anything, in the original Baldur's
Gate this meant a genuine sense of adventure, along with unanswered
questions and surprises down the road. I much preferred it
to BG2, where you jump from one quest or fight to another
over a distance of less than 10 feet. "Real" adventurers
don't start a day by opening their notebook and following
a well-defined plan of exactly where they are going, what
they are going to do, who they are going to kill, and how
long it will take them to level-up. Or by being unable to
move accross the street without getting a new quest or fight.
This is as artificial in BG2 as it gets.
Starting with BG2 and then ToB, the game turned into a hardcore
munchkin-fest, where you were the saviour of everyone and
everything in and around Athkatla, and more. Some people enjoyed
it for that (the majority, I guess), but I didn't. Neither
did some other people posting in this thread. But, as I said,
to each his own. Don't bother trying to convince us that BG2
is better, however. To us, it just isn't."
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