>Game opens with a pretty cool beginner/tutorial dungeon
>Right after that's over you get dumped in a giant city and the plot gets locked behind a specific amount of gold you have to get before you are allowed to advance the story
>You're left to wander around doing random shit in the mean time
Who thought this would be a good idea?
>>318790758
>pretty cool beginner/tutorial dungeon
Really anon? Really?
That shithole was a fucking nightmare to go through every time.
>>318790758
You must gather your party before venturing forth.
I don't understand what the problem is
>>318791820
He doesn't want to play.
>>318791820
I don't want to do random fetch quests. I want to dive into the story.
The IWD games were much, much better structured IMO.
>>318791918
there are no fetch quests in BG2
>>318792041
Well how about "boring quests" then? From the starter quests you have: Aerie, Nalia, Korgan, and that ghost kid .
Aerie's quest is good
the others are fucking awful
by the time you're done with those a couple of hours have gone by with
>game gives you freedom to do what you want
>can easily earn the 15k gold in no time with all the shit you can do
>complains
>>318792494
I strongly disagree with you about side quests in BG2 being boring.
if you find questing boring perhaps you shouldn't play cRPGs. play a shooter like Fallout 4 or something, where you can pretend you're playing RPG
Garrick not being recruitable was objectively the worst thing about BG2
>>318792949
>BG1
>just got out of tutorial
>meet that fag
>agree to help him
>whole team gets 1-shotted by bouncing lightnnig bolt
no, fuck this guy with a cactus
>>318792764
but Nalia's and Korgan's quest are literally just mindless battles just like Fallout 4. The ghost kid's quest is about as interesting as a children's picture book. If you find shit like that interesting why not just go read a children's book? That seems to be the kind of shallowness you are after.
Do I need to play BG1 to understand BG2?
I remember giving BG2 a try a while ago and it seemed like a direct continuation from BG1, but couldn't keep playing because my hard drive broke.
>>318793257
Nadia takes to to her family castle where you fight challenging battles, solve puzzles and have to watch out for traps
Korgan takes you to a spooky dungeon and then to city slums and is generally the best NPC around
There are also dozens of other side quests if you don't like those two. come back when you've finished the game instead of spoutic simplistic, uneducated opinions.
>>318793425
You'll get a synopsis at the start so not really.
>>318793425
You don't need to play BG1 to enjoy BG2. I recommend it though. It doesn't take very long and helps to contextualize the second game
>>318793425
BG1 is actually a fairly bad game that gets good rep from its relationship to another much better game
>>318793514
Again, the fact that you find those quests interesting says a lot about you.
Picture related
This is what you should be consuming. Leave the RPGs to the adults.
>>318793757
Your lack of arguments has led you to shitposting. Good job, go back to Call of Duty.
>>318793680
A bad game? I can understand enjoying it less than 2 , but what makes it bad?
>>318793901
I could see people disliking the low level combat.
>>318790758
Go to watchers keep with a thief and steal everything in the first 2-3 rooms on floor 1. Go out, sell and you should have the 20k.
>>318793901
the fact its using a D&D ruleset favors HEAVILY against it
simply put low lv D&D does not work in videogame format due to the extremely limited amount of options each character has
>>318793901
>miss
>miss
>miss
>*hit*
>miss
>miss
>miss
>>318793901
combat is too hard for modern day /v/ plebs
>>318794076
I can understand not enjoying that. That said the low level d&d feel is why I love it, personally. BG2 is a game with far more depth and options but I just love the low level feel of the original.
>>318794206
combat isn't hard at all, difficulty simply does not come into play
if your opponent has a ranged weapon capable of insta-killing one of your party members no amount of skill will prevent a lucky roll
>>318794310
low lv D&D is great, if played in tabletop format where DM fiat and player creativity factor into the narrative
this however is impossible in videogame format, it simply does not allow you to get creative
>>318790758
>retty cool beginner/tutorial dungeon
It gets annoying very fast, once you replay. But it's a nice introduction into the game itself.
>Right after that's over you get dumped in a giant city
There are literally two quarters you can visit, one has the shops and the other has the quests, which is communicated to you by several NPCs.
>plot gets locked behind a specific amount of gold you have to get before you are allowed to advance the story
The amount of gold is less than you earn in one quest. In fact, most parties still require some leveling after that before they can comfortably advance the quest.
See it like this. BG2 starts off at a higher level. That means what was challenging in BG1 is now no threat anymore. But the new, dangerous monsters can't just roam the land. A dragon should never be a random encounter, thus BG2 is now segregated into a bunch of big quests and specialised areas. This also allows BG2 to focus more strongly on NPCs. Which is reflected in their reduced number but more fleshed out nature.
Really, BG2 has pretty much a perfect blend of handcrafted content (all of it) and stuff to explore and find on your own.
>>318792494
r u joking? there's fucking plenty which take you right out of the city and all over the place. it sounds like your shit opinion literally just comes from not playing the game
>>318790758
>Who thought this would be a good idea?
Dumbass, go play Skyrim if you want someone to hold your hand.
>>318792494
>>318791918
Retard, BG2 has the best side quest out of any game.
>want to play bg2
>character creator
>go off and read the d&d rules for a day
>read about all of the classes
And in the two days of preparations I've made I forget about the game and then repeat this process every time its mentioned.
>"Greetings. I am Edwin Odesseiron. You simians may merely refer to me as 'Sir,' if you prefer a less... syllable-intensive workout."
>>318792494
>not liking the best character in the game Korgan
Best party member coming through
>>318796674
Play a real rpg like Paranoia where reading the rules is for mutant commie traitors.
>>318790758
that openness is a great quality though.
Agree it was a bit soon into the game.
>>318797339
>Squire/apprentice/orwhateverthefuckhewas
>Best at anything
Did you mistakenly post that over the based Hand of Torm, Keldorn?
>>318797838
Keldorn and Anomen are great to have together in the party tho.
Besides Keldorn can't cast amazing high level cleric spells.
Also at high level Anomen will out-melee Keldorn.
>>318798529
Didn't know about that since I never actually picked him up since my cleric was Aerie or Viconia most of my breakthroughs, and he never appealed to me enough to fill a slot.
>>318793901
Low-Level D&d is just not very exciting.
>Most scary undead you'll face
BG1: Skeleton Warrior BG2: Demilich
>Most Exotic location you'll visit
BG1: A medium-sized city BG2: Tons of different planes including both Hell and the Abyss
>Most exotic aberration you'll encounter
BG1: Basilisk BG2: Beholder and Dragon
>>318798895
Anomen is a better cleric than both of them.
Aerie is almost never worth using. And too many people conflict with Viconiaeven though she's my waifu
>>318799081
>Most scary undead you'll face
>BG1: Skeleton Warrior
Uh. Scariest would be the Death Knight.
>>318799081
Low level D&D has a kind of simplistic charm to it though.
There's something to be said for the campaign just being a bunch of nobodies and not ultra high level demi-god mary sues fighting to make sure that reality doesn't unravel.
>>318797339
KILL YOURSELF FUCKING FAGGOT, I HATE YOU
>>318791790
I READ THAT IN HIS FUCKING VOICE GODDAMMIT
>>318795651
Yeah, it's a shame they are much better than the main quests.
>>318795651
Which sidequest are you referring to? Unless you just mean in general.
>>318799081
Low level d&d is about a sense of adventure and telling more mundane or grounded stories. That's something I enjoy.
>>318799342
Once you realise all high-level encounters are the same, high-level D&D is boring as well, at least in the case of BG2.
>>318799539
The sidequests are great, but Infiltrating Ust Natha and helping all the innocents there while at the same time obliterating at least three great houses and throwing the whole place into dissaray is GOAT-tier.
>>318796674
I feel the same way. I like CRPGs, but dislike the D&D ruleset.
>>318799672
I wouldn't go that far. All the REALLY high level shit in BG2 requires specific tactics to take it out.
Unless you just cheese andShapechange -> Illithid
>>318791918
Actually just explore the town.
The game has a ton of side quests that have there own plot lines and dungeons.
As big as main quests in other games.
Like the Beholder Cult in the seers or the temple of shadows.
>>318799778
It's a little overkill that the entire underdark is purely side-quests though.
>>318799805
Why in the world would you do that when the passive abilities don't work with shapechange?
I defeated Sarevok in Baldur's Gate 1 by emptying two full rings of summoning. It was my 6 dudes and about 50 Gnolls, Hobgoblin Archers, Wolves, and fucking Wild Dogs vs. the end boss, running at about 10 FPS.
God damn, did I love that shit.
>>318790758
It's called exploration.
>>318800019
Nah, it's called filler. If it was exploration, you would eventually discover something. You don't.
>>318799958
Because when you shapechange illithid, everything no matter how many hp it has dies in 3 hits max.
>>318800121
Confirmed for not playing the game
IWD2 is superior.
>>318800525
Blasphemy.
>>318800274
Tell me, how much do you discover about Irenicus while trudging through Athkatla? The Cowled Wizard? Your soulbusiness/bhaalspawns in general? There's is next to nothing of value gained during chapter 2.
>Summon limit reduced from whatever it was if there even was any to single digits
It's petty, but that made me really salty.
>>318800631
Why is it only the main quest that interests you? Are you autistic?
There is plenty to be discovered, learned and experienced.
The stronghold that you become the new lord of, the skinner murders, getting 'baited' into your first dragon encounter.
>>318800956
>Look at the Summoner and laugh, kids!
Ha ha ha ha.
>>318800958
I don't mind sidequests. I mind games/stories that's so shallow that they need to have entire chapters dedicated to sidequests, even at the start of the game where you are meant to be pulled into the story.
>>318800958
>first dragon encounter
I wasn't baited into encountering theShadow Dragon
>>318801252
But you are pulled into the story, this motherfucker tortured your entire party and your childhood friend, to somehow trigger some 'secret power'.
What more do you want?
The first chapter gives you some freedom to explore the world, get to know the city and process everything that just happened
>improved Illych
Have you defeated him, /v/?
>>318801614
Yeah, thank god Imoen used magic outside, so Irenicus could remain relevant, if just barely.
>>318801357
I suppose 'first' was a bit too subjective, but all the same, that entire area was pretty damn great
>>318795651
>Better than anything in Zelda
>Better then even then anything in the city of Baldur's Gate in the original
>>318793257
>you're supposed to be a hero/demigod/chosen one
>you spend most of the game doing random pleb shit for money and trinkets
why do wrpgs constantly get this wrong?
>>318802479
Jrpgs do the same thing. Cmon now.
>>318793901
It's not. Not only that, it's better than BG2 because there's way more open exploration and discovery, while BGII is mostly comprised of fetch quests and doesn’t even let you access half the places until some NPC event marks them on your map. You really should play it, even with mods if you want, to properly play the full BG experience. The city of Baldur's Gate itself is the best location in any of the games.
>>318802479
>You spend most of the game doing random pleb shit for money and trinkets
Nobody is forcing you to do that, only in chapter 1 and maybe 2, aka the beginning.
If you really want you can say fuck everyone and only do the main quests, which usually have you do stuff for important people who's interests tie into your own.
The demigod part doesn't even come into play until much later in the game anyway.
>>318802848
>while BGII is mostly comprised of fetch quests
Is this some new kind of meme?
>>318802848
This. BG1 just works and the final battle, especially with Stratagems (which is mostly shit), is the most memorable part of the entire BG saga.
>>318803519
No, how? Most of the time you're told where to go and what your objective is, then it's simply a matter of executing it and deciding to fight whatever pops up to try and stop you then following the dialogue prompts. I assume you have a very low, derogatory standard for what counts as a 'fetch quest', and that it means MMORPG style "get me (x) number of trinkets from (random enemy) in (location z)".
>>318797339
>invite him to my party
>do some quests generally not being too altruistic to the people
>he gets summoned by his Order
>fails his apprenticeship
>doesn't become a Paladin
>loses his shit
>gets expelled
>we leave
>...geez Anomen, ya sure fucked that up
>I WILL STRANGLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS
>have to put him down
>The End
>>318803567
the final battle, especially with Stratagems (which is mostly shit), is the most memorable part of the entire BG saga
This too.It's great to see a proper fight where the enemy is capable of doing things like actively countering your summons with AoE and the like.
>>318802848
from someone who has physical and steam copies of BG1 and 2, BG1 is extremely boring until the city of baldur's gate, it suffers from the same syndrome every other D&D PC game suffers from: it's a low level adventure, and most of the game is spent using mundane gear and level 1-2 spells. The last hour or two of BG1 is fantastic, but on the whole it's inferior to BG2. This is the same reason why Storm of Zehir for NWN2 sucked.
>>318804440
>it's a low level adventure, and most of the game is spent using mundane gear and level 1-2 spells
That's part of what I enjoy about D&D games
>>318804073
Was baldur's gate 1 any different then? I don't remember any quest that required more than just reading the journal
>>318804073
Its exactly the same in BG1. Every quest you get in BG1 is a fetch quest by your standard.
>>318804713
do you really have fun spending 30 hours killing the same enemies with the same gear the entire game and never getting any upgrades? oh boy it's gnoll #400000 or generic humanoid bandit with shitty mundane gear that sells for 3 gold and isn't an upgrade #6000000
how is that even remotely fun? you might get a +1 longsword after 40 hours of play!
>>318799081
Have you ever finished Durlags Tower?
>>318804073
>I assume you have a very low, derogatory standard for what counts as a 'fetch quest', and that it means MMORPG style "get me (x) number of trinkets from (random enemy) in (location z)".
Yeah because that's the definition of a fucking fetch quest. What you are describing is a quest. Most quests involve going somewhere and probably fighting some monsters but it's not a fetch quest unless you're supposed to get some specific item someone wants you to have with absolutely no reward for you and it's not "following dialogue prompts" when the game contains interesting side stories and characters and roleplaying.
How are the bridge murders a fetch quest? How is solving the crisis in Umar Hills a fetch quest? How are the druids a fetch quest? How is saving the theater group a fetch quest? How is Firkraag's Dungeon a fetch quest? How is the fucking planetary sphere a fetch quest?
Even the actual fetch quests in this game like destroying the Cult of the Eyeless are great.
>>318805238
Its very evident you've never actually played any rpgs before if you think D&D boils down to mindlessly killing enemies to sell their loot and getting upgrades to your gear.
>>318805238
Guess it depends on the game and while I didn't enjoy BG1 because it was too simple I get what these anon's are saying.
I recently played some games that had this low level charme to it. I played some D&D board game and recently played another round of Grimrock 2 where finding a longsword or some mildly enchanted dagger are huge upgrades to your character that will last for a long time and have a considerable impact on your build.
>>318805430
well, half the fun of a D&D game is combat, besides questing and roleplaying
if the combat is fucking boring the questing had better be top notch to support the rest of the game, but in BG1 it's not until you reach endgame like durlag's tower.
i don't even know why i responded to you if your opening statement is HURR YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED ANY RPG'S, i have a fucking boxed copy of ultima 0: akalabeth which i guarantee is older than you, sport.
>>318790758
>you don't even have to go through that guy with the $20,000, there's other options for getting the info
>80% of the game takes place in the lead-up to that, where you do a fuckton of shit in and out of the city
So your complaint is that there isn't enough hand-holding or railroading as to what you should be doing next?
this board is so shit, I wonder if there's other video game forums worth visiting
>>318805639
>half the fun of a D&D game is combat
Ahh so you've never played actual D&D. You've only played crpgs.
>>318805717
you're clearly just trolling at this point, since P&P D&D was never brought up, and is radically different from the PC games.
ID filtered.
>>318805683
It's called pacing.
>>318804990
>>318805025
Most of the actual quests in BG1 are still fetch quests, but what I'm saying is that the game as a whole allows a lot more travelling around to various locations on a whim to see what you can find, which is comparatively lacking in BG2.
>>318805683
>there's other options for getting the info
Wait there is? Are there other ways to get to Spellhold that I never tried? I guess the Cowled Wizards would help you...?
>>318806306
No. He's trolling you. You have to pick either the Shadow Thieves or the Vampire Guild to progress. And you have to pay one of them 15k gold.
>>318806236
Save for chapter Underdark, that's just not true.
>>318806481
Depends on what you mean. BG2 is packed with content, but in a relatively constrained way. There isn't the same level of open space, most of the time you're walking through narrower paths and can't decide to wander off the map to try to find somewhere new.
>>318806781
I wouldn't call it lacking in BG2 though, you can do it if you want to, not with the same freedom as BG1 i'll give you that, but I definitely wouldn't call it lacking, even comparatively.
>>318790758
>irenicus' dungeon is good
>wandering around after escaping is bad
Fuck you, non-linearity is good for RPGs.
If you're really concerned about wandering around, then let me remind you of this: Assuming you didn't kick her before heading to the slums, Jaheira suggests heading to the Copper Coronet in the slums, at which point Nalia will approach you with her quest that gives you nearly 15k
4/10 i replied
>>318799081
>scariest thing is not bows and arrows for BG1
missile damage in the game can one hit you because its so bugged.
>>318807205
>because its so bugged
Missile damage isn't bugged. Its working exactly as its supposed to.
>>318802083
yeah
>>318803302
>nobody is forcing you
nobody is forcing you to play the game at all. arguing that you can just ignore 80% of a game if you don't like it is hardly an argument.
>>318790758
You probably complain about FF13 and lack of freedom and yet here you are complaining about too much freedom.
>>318807642
It is if you go into a game with unrealistic expectations.
What's wrong with being a good person who helps or an evil guy that just kills everyone? That's hardly 'pleb shit'.
If you want to be special god snowflake you can fuck off to Skyrim or something.
Alternatively everything after chapter 4, especially ToB is right up your alley. Not that you played that far into the game, but still.
>>318807709
I honestly felt the same way at first, even after playing the original game.
In BG, you start off, do a short introductory segment, then are thrown out into the world. You are given the direction to go to the Friendly Arm Inn, but you are free to do whatever you want, limited only by your own capacity to survive.
In BG2 you explode into the middle of a city, given no real bearings on how to navigate it, people fuck you up for trying to use magic and you have to somehow get a bunch of old. Openness is good, but the game doesn't let you form an idea what you'd expect or want to do before throwing you into a maze of NPCs.
>>318806468
>"no, he's trolling you"
>but he's right
>>318800958
Why is it that you can't give an answer to his question? Stop avoiding it and just tell him what you discover.
>>318800525
But IWD2 is just BG2 with 5% of the story.
>>318810396
I gave 3 perfectly fine examples of things you can discover
>>318810396
If by some retarded miracle you meant about Irenicus himself, then it's largely nothing because, who would have fucking thought, it's the beginning of the game.
You do know however that he somehow knows about the gift you and Imoen have, he can take on the cowling wizards for a moderate duration in a 6:1 even though they clearly dominate the city.
Any and all magic used, the wizards will know about it and they are easily manipulated by money (magic licenses).
If all of this isn't enough to keep you interested for the first 6-7 hours of a 50+ hour game, then maybe these games aren't for you.
>>318807887
>What's wrong with being a good person who helps or an evil guy that just kills everyone?
because it doesn't fit the idea that your character is supposed to be heroic and important. it's like if you had an episode of 24 where jack bauer spent most of the time shopping for groceries and helping old ladies cross the street and only fought terrorists for the last 5 minutes.
>>318812710
But you're not supposed to be.
That's why RPG's are great, your character is what you want them to be.
The only thing your character is supposed to be is gifted with a divine soul. That's it. What kind of hero/person/villain/whatever you want them to be is up to you.
>>318812710
Besides,
>Rescuing a son, catching a killer, cleansing evil from a forest, wiping out a cult, rescuing a family
>pleb shit
Fucking what?
>>318799514
Both of the games have amazing sound design. All the sounds and dialogue burn into your brain forever, because they sound so right.
>>318809321
No he's not. There's literally no way to progress the story without joining one of the sides and paying 15k gold.
Well no ways that aren't cheating.
>>318790758
>>You're left to wander around doing random shit in the mean time
Whoever it was, he was genius.
It was a means to incorporate being an adventure into the main story. You HAD to have different adventures so you could proceed your main goal.
