Baldur's Gate 2 - Retrospective Review

[HiddenX]

Ye Old Entertainment looks back at Baldur's Gate 2:

Baldurs Gate 2: Was it really that great? Or is it our nostalgia talking? Worth Playing in 2023?

More information.

 

[JFarrell71]

Never heard of it.

 

[fatknacker50]

If you're having to ask, you don't belong here...

 

[Redglyph]

Never heard of it.

Probably a prequel to Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[Arkadia7]

I spent tons of hours playing both Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2...that was before I joined steam, so it doesn't show up on my played games there. I probably spent more than 200 hours on each game, to say the least. Maybe 300 plus even, not sure.

My favorite is Baldur's Gate, but BG 2 was awesome as well. I just think the way the map worked in the first game, BG 1, was much better and felt a lot more interesting in exploration and freedom. And high level D&D eventually gets silly too, after awhile, at least in the crpgs' - as many will agree.

 

[Irien]

Did anyone else play BG1 so much the game crashed because you did too many quests (I think if you did it with the expansion)? I think they patched that out later, but I remember having to skip some of the later quests in Baldur's Gate itself because I'd just done *too much* in the game. Good times

 

[JDR13]

Good video, but I'm not a fan of when he randomly throws in completely unrelated stuff to comment on.

And high level D&D eventually gets silly too, after awhile, at least in the crpgs' - as many will agree.

I didn't have that issue with BG2, but it definitely gets that way in Throne of Bhaal.

 

[rjshae]

At the time there wasn't much competition for this style of game, so it's natural that it stands out in the memory. There are some characters I still remember fondly, but I'm not a fan of the archaic AD&D system.

 

[bjon045]

At the time there wasn't much competition for this style of game, so it's natural that it stands out in the memory. There are some characters I still remember fondly, but I'm not a fan of the archaic AD&D system.

It released the same year as Icewind Dale. The next year was Arcanum (same time as BG2 ToB). Less than a year before BG2 was Torment. Then there was a slew of games trying to cash on the original BG i.e. Dark Alliance etc. Then there was a whole bunch of cRPG around the same time i.e. Gothic, M&M7, Anachronox and a little game called Diablo 2 as well as a host of less memorable cRPGs A whole host of famous jRPGs also released at the same time (Zelda MM, FF etc). My people consider it to be the second golden age of the cRPG (and gaming in general as many big genres were also established i.e. GTA 3).

I'm not sure I would say there wasn't much competition I would just say that there was a hell of a lot of good games released in those years.

 

[JDR13]

It released the same year as Icewind Dale. The next year was Arcanum (same time as BG2 ToB). Less than a year before BG2 was Torment. Then there was a slew of games trying to cash on the original BG i.e. Dark Alliance etc. Then there was a whole bunch of cRPG around the same time i.e. Gothic, M&M7, Anachronox and a little game called Diablo 2 as well as a host of less memorable cRPGs A whole host of famous jRPGs also released at the same time (Zelda MM, FF etc). My people consider it to be the second golden age of the cRPG (and gaming in general as many big genres were also established i.e. GTA 3).

I'm not sure I would say there wasn't much competition I would just say that there was a hell of a lot of good games released in those years.

To be fair, he said this style of game not RPGs in general. Other than IWD and Torment, you didn't name any games that are really similar.

 

[bjon045]

To be fair, he said this style of game not RPGs in general. Other than IWD and Torment, you didn't name any games that are really similar.

Yes, but then if you look at 2002-2015 there was basically no similar games at all!! 1999-2003 was literally the only point in time we were getting a host of similar games i.e. Fallout, Fallout 2, Lionheart, BG1&2, IWD, Torment, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil etc. Despite Diablo 2 and Dark Alliance being action based are far closer to the BG style than most of the 3d First person style we would get for the next decade!

I can only think of a couple of Isometric BG style games that got released after 2003 and the main one was Pools of Radiance and that was a steaming turd. Did I miss something good that came out before 2015?

 

[JDR13]

Yes, but then if you look at 2002-2015 there was basically no similar games at all!! 1999-2003 was literally the only point in time we were getting a host of similar games i.e. Fallout, Fallout 2, Lionheart, BG1&2, IWD, Torment, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil etc. Despite Diablo 2 and Dark Alliance being action based are far closer to the BG style than most of the 3d First person style we would get for the next decade!

I think he's talking about RTwP though and perhaps D&D as well. But yeah, I agree there was a dearth of party-based RPGs for awhile after that. It wasn't until Pillars of Eternity that we finally got something close to that again.

 

[Redglyph]

The video has a few good points, but I agree there's too much random stuff. As always his style is heavy-handed and too silly for its own good. He should work for Larian.

I played BG for the first time a couple of years ago, and I found it quite good but not exceptional - I lost my motivation after a while and never finished it. My main complaint is the ruleset, which I find confusing with its THAC0 and reversed armour count. And the inventory is a pain to manage. I'm not talking about the graphics, of course, it was OK enough for that sort of game that has more important features to offer.

For the content alone, Owlcat's games left a more lasting impression. For the combat even more.

But I'm more attached to a few other games like NWN because of the "first time" effect and other events of the time that I associate with these games. And they aren't exceptional either, so I think what YOE calls "nostalgia" has a dominant role there.

 

[Couchpotato]

Nostalgia and rose tinted goggles for the win my fellow Watchers.

I love playing the NWN games to the point of being fanatical, but sadly their not great games. What makes them good is the mod community. Just like the Baldur's Gate games.

 

[Stingray]

My favorite is Baldur's Gate, but BG 2 was awesome as well. I just think the way the map worked in the first game, BG 1, was much better and felt a lot more interesting in exploration and freedom. And high level D&D eventually gets silly too, after awhile, at least in the crpgs' - as many will agree.

The way the map worked in BG1 was better, but there wasn't much interesting to find. The actual exploration was pretty unsatisfying.

 

[gabrielarantest]

Nostalgia and rose tinted goggles for the win my fellow Watchers.

I love playing the NWN games to the point of being fanatical, but sadly their not great games. What makes them good is the mod community. Just like the Baldur's Gate games.

It's not only about nostalgia. You also have to compare games that had the same level of tecnology and knowledge available.

For example, my fav game of all time is NWN2. Some people hate it. And I understand why: the gameplay is not great. But at the time of NWN1 and 2, video game technology was rapidly changing (e.g., from 2D to 3D) and developers were trying new things. If you compare NWN games to the Pathfinder games (which are among my favorites) of course Pathfinder games will seem more superior. But OwlCat has available to them better technologies and a history of published games throughout the years that allows developers to understand what works and what doesn't work in a cRPG. Yet, the NWN games spark in me a sense and wonder and magic that the Pathfinder games weren't able to replicate. It could be nostalgia affecting my judgment, but also good quality in the writing and design on Obsidian/Bioware part.

 

[JDR13]

I played BG for the first time a couple of years ago, and I found it quite good but not exceptional - I lost my motivation after a while and never finished it. My main complaint is the ruleset, which I find confusing with its THAC0 and reversed armour count. And the inventory is a pain to manage. I'm not talking about the graphics, of course, it was OK enough for that sort of game that has more important features to offer.

That's likely to be the experience anytime you play a game that long after it was released. I think BG 1 & 2 were better for their time though than any of their spiritual successors have been.

Regarding the inventory, I like how they did it in those games. I vastly prefer when every character in the party has their own inventory. I hate how later games dumbed it down by using a shared inventory for the sake of convenience.

 

[Redglyph]

Regarding the inventory, I like how they did it in those games. I vastly prefer when every character in the party has their own inventory. I hate how later games dumbed it down by using a shared inventory for the sake of convenience.

Question of preference. I used to like that but not anymore, micro-managing party inventories is not my preferred activity, even if it's more realistic. Well, at least it wasn't a tetris-like inventory.

I agree that the comparison isn't easy for a game that old. Still, I have fonder memories of NWN than more recent RPG, despite its poor OC and the fact it's quite old too. I don't think its mechanics were so superior either.

 

[purpleblob]

Nolstagia or not, I still feel I enjoyed BG2 the most of all games I have played. So it still stands as the best game of all time for me

WotR is a close second but still didn't manage to dethrone BG2

 

[JFarrell71]

The way the map worked in BG1 was better, but there wasn't much interesting to find. The actual exploration was pretty unsatisfying.

My issue with it exactly.