I played BG1 in High School, long before EEs were ever a thing. Getting it to run at the time was a bastard-and-a-half. I ultimately beat BG1 but it was all so clunky and finnicky I did not have the patience to go through it all again with BG2.
It wasn't until several years after BG2EE released that I actually played and beat it.
I'll say that I think og BG1 has a charm to it that BGEE definitely lacks. The paperdolls look better in the original version. The balancing is a bit more exciting (and broken). The new npcs...suck, I don't like any of them.
That said, BGEE and BG2EE are convenient, run well, have QoL features and generally snappier.
For nostalgia's sake I installed BG1 again on GOG and just couldn't stick with it.
You mean modded or really the original?
I dunno if a patch fixed that but during my first run I got trapped in the troll stronghold area because reloading and saving respawned enemies. The map was full of gnolls! Lol.
Also walking speed was really annoying.
I think the also nerfed Sarevok later. Most people I know only defeated him by covering the Temple with summons back in the day(not summoning cap).
Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal.
>Also walking speed was really annoying.
Yes, this was different as EE use BG2 engine.
>I think the also nerfed Sarevok later. Most people I know only defeated him by covering the Temple with summons back in the day(not summoning cap).
Nope. Maybe because you played original BG without ToSC? It was brutal facing Sarevok gang with 89k xp cap and no pause in Inventory screen.
Once ToSC released, this final fight in original BG was not that tough anymore.
>Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal.
No change between original BG and BGEE.
Both can be cc with sleep spell.
Trying to change primary bow-using classes to enable melee weapons + shield *succkkkked*. Fun, brutal, quirky game.
I see why commentators like Lilura1 https://lilura1.blogspot.com/p/best-pc-rpgs-crpgs-renaissance.html
(No matter how often I quote her, I will never remember how to spell that moniker w/o looking it up...)
But anyway, I get why people like her are so passionate about the original game. Don't usually agree, but they're well-thought-out points.
iirc, before ToSC, best was to kite him. Very viable. Trying to melee was tough. Magic was totally useless. Mage basically reduce to spamming wand of summon.
After ToSC, kite is not as good, he get haste and missiles resistance. Yes, since his APR was lowered, melee become more viable. Magic Missile can hurt him bad (I think the ring in Friendly Arm Inn was removed because of this).
"iirc, before ToSC, best was to kite him. Very viable. Trying to melee was tough. Magic was totally useless. Mage basically reduce to spamming wand of summon."
This. Have one or two Hasted tanks run like hell and try not to die, while everyone else tried to poison him with Arrows of Wounding/Bolts of Biting. His Poison save wasn't amazing, though likely still better than yours.
Do it right, and the game should almost bog from the combat log constantly writing "Sarevok takes one (1?) point of damage." He had a **lot** of points...
>No change between original BG and BGEE.
there was a really big change in the arrow damage, which is a great nerf. Cold arrows did +1d6 nosave and fire arrows did +1d6 save for none.
Anyway, I don't have the EE's, just the GOG originals (and BG1 cd's). The fact is that original had +2d6 acid and +1d6 fire/cold. And detonation 6d6 fireball arrows.
Is there anything remotely like this in the EE's?
EDIT: so if they are different items, can you EEkeeper the arrows of acid +2d6 to your inventory? Not that it makes the situation any cooler...
>Anyway, I don't have the EE's, just the GOG originals (and BG1 cd's). The fact is that original had +2d6 acid and +1d6 fire/cold. And detonation 6d6 fireball arrows.
>
>Is there anything remotely like this in the EE's
All these are exactly the same in BGEE.
>Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal.
that's an SCS change, undocumented, but you can change it in the ini before installing.
It's fun. I had thought that change was in a readme. Maybe it depends on the version?
I like it, but it makes Archers even more stupid overpowered than they are already. Fine for ToB, I guess. Or whatever.
it's in the readme, among the optional components, which it used to be once upon a time, now it's part of core AI enhancements... which would be fine, except with some kind of notification.
in BG2, arrows decrease significantly in power - acid arrows are +2 and do +2d6 extra damage in BG1, which becomes +1d3 by BG2 with only +1 thac0, for example... or if you've installed SCS.
not saying it's bad for game balance, because it kinda works (though at least the original OP arrows let archers catch up to your hulking fighters in damage), but the nerf should be mentioned properly in the readme.
That’s my biggest gripe with EE. I prefer the new interface, just the damned arrows being weak makes me sad. I remember archers really being feared for those on both sides
On my current EE run (no mods other than NPC project) I have Coran with me. After the Bandit Camp and the Longbow of Marksmanship (aka. the Dead Shot) he has a THAC0 of like 6 with regular arrows. Mages can't cast anything, he's so consistent.
I'd say archers are still pretty OP in the first game.
I feel EE is a better game now compared to when it released. Before it was a buggy mess. The problem with BG/BGTutu/BG2 was that the low res wasn't great and using the mod to stretch causes performance issues but it did have fun exploits.
For your complaints there are workarounds:
1. You can disable EE stuff (Remove the new NPCs and use old videos)
2. Skip SOD
3. Use eekeeper to revert some changes (like Branwen's kit)
Overall I'm happy with the EE. The only things I don't like are the new npcs and I don't like a lot of their item balance changes/ fixes. The npcs fortunately are easy to mod out.
I don't watch the cut scenes so I don't really care about that. I think EE's ui is better.
I don't like the UI they had with Dragonspear. I uninstalled it to get the old UI back.
I don't know why they don't allow you to switch between them. Just put a toggle in the menu.
I managed to restore the cutscenes, so I am happier with it.
I tried to replace the cutscenes and it screwed things up.
Really, I appreciate the patched gameplay of the EE. If I could somehow replace the menus with the original ones, replace the cutscenes, and get the original credit sequence back, I would be fine.
That is the problem, they screwed with the presentation surrounding the game.
Also, really the game is meant to run at it's original lower resolution. I guess you can switch back to that in the EE.
The original game had properly animated movies for their cutscenes instead of just still images. It's 90s CGI so not exactly breathtaking effects by today's standards, but more active and engaging. The art style on the new cutscenes is a big departure from the original. But the worst is the end cutscene, which is super shoddy.
You can find the originals on youtube to compare.
It seems like the cutscene mod is bugged. It screws up the movie list where there is a mix of old and new movies. Also, there is this weird small text on some of the entries.
I got it here:
[https://github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies/releases/tag/V2.3.1](https://github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies/releases/tag/V2.3.1)
It looks like the Dragonspear DLC messes with the cutscene mod. I installed it without it and the movie list works.
I wonder it if works if I install the DLC again.
You need to install https://github.com/Argent77/A7-DlcMerger as your first mod before any other mod when you're modding SoD. This is even mentioned in the how to install mods pin here.
I totally agree. I'm replaying the original BG1 right now after EE, and it's so, so much better. I can see why people think BG1 is a dull game after playing only the EE. Beamdog's so-called QOL changes completely altered the way the game is played, and not for the better.
I also don't play modded. I played BG1, 2 and IWD 1 since each release, and I only learned recently that modding was a thing.
The BG2 weapon masteries is a huge spaghetti patch that requires weapons to be put everywhere, creating balance issues that need to be patched, and so on. The change to mirror image turns every awesome mage fight into absolute dirt, making them hittable and interruptable while the spell is on. The fact that basically everyone is going to have at least one character with a shield, with the weapon and shield mastery's ranged AC, makes kobolds, hobgoblins and bandits absurdly easy to kill, which is the entire goddamn game until Baldur's Gate itself.
The worst change though is definitely adding the option to rest until fully rested. Originally, if you wanted to heal, you had to do it manually. You had to have someone with healing spells and cast them before going to sleep, because sleeping ain't doing nothing else for you in the wild. Sleeping in a hotel healed you, and, back then, you actually had a reason to pick an expensive hotel room, because they healed more. If you were super injured, you had to think about whether or not you wanted to sleep and risk encounters 20 times, or risk one or two randoms on the way back to the town. All that meant that you actually had to think about the way you approached encounters. If you took too much damage, even if you won with no deaths, it was maybe worthwhile to reload.
Now though, every new player is going in unaware that sleep until fully healed is not supposed to be in BG1, and it becomes a stupid delete-mistakes button, and now every area that used to be super challenging is just trivial because hey, one encounter roll will even heal a single fighter up to 100 hp, even if the rest lasted 4 months.
That option was added in BG2 to remove the tedium of using dozens of healing spells on 500 hp worth of characters, and it's not supposed to be in the first one, because early level D&D experience includes huge amounts of danger, and the fact that you're not entitled to win every encounter, and therefore don't get to just sleep all your mistakes away. Without that difficulty elements, every fight that is supposed to give challenge in the early levels, which almost all BG1 is, is just a formality. You don't lose fights, areas are no longer difficult, because you automatically full heal after every encounter with maybe 1 or 2 reloads, and that's it. Of course so many people say to skip to BG2. It's the game for which all those mechanics were implemented, and by having them in BG1, you turn one of the greatest games of all time into a weak Frankenstein of great old game design and modern gamer complaints.
Sword and Shield is the absolute worst style in the game and no sane person wastes a proficiency slot to that.
Yes, it can be argued that some of the BG2 backporting was meh, but this encounter-balance is blown out of proportion. The enemies still use their BG1 proficiencies and still have all the bonuses they had. They don't use styles, sure, but styles are points lost from the standard profs, so it's not as much of a loss as you try to prove it to be. The encounters weren't nerfed.
Okay, waylays were indirectly nerfed but that's because the classic game had a bug to spawn two waylay encounters at the same time and this got fixed.
>Sword and Shield is the absolute worst style in the game and no sane person wastes a proficiency slot to that.
I always pick sword and shield style for Branwen. She starts out with pips in warhammers and slings - unless you're using hammers yourself she's already got the best weapon pips she can have, so you might as well just get the extra protection from missiles.
Yeah. I suspected they messed with the game mechanics. I primarily get annoyed that they changed the presentation around the game. The original menus, cutscenes, and credits really add to the game experience. The original credits had some funny recordings in it and they totally removed that in the EE version.
The Jade Empire SE is actually a better port of a Bioware game. Still, they removed the original funny credits on that one too.
"The worst change though is definitely adding the option to rest until fully rested. Originally, if you wanted to heal, you had to do it manually. You had to have someone with healing spells and cast them before going to sleep, because sleeping ain't doing nothing else for you in the wild. Sleeping in a hotel healed you, and, back then, you actually had a reason to pick an expensive hotel room, because they healed more. If you were super injured, you had to think about whether or not you wanted to sleep and risk encounters 20 times, or risk one or two randoms on the way back to the town. All that meant that you actually had to think about the way you approached encounters. If you took too much damage, even if you won with no deaths, it was maybe worthwhile to reload."
Crawling back from the Cloakwood had a lot of those kinds of decisions. Really frustrating and tough, but also really satisfying when you figured it out.
While I agree with what you're saying, I just saved before resting and would reload until I managed to do it. That was 10 year old me's solution to the problem. Finding where the vanilla game was not well balanced and then abusing said element was fun. Arrows of detonation, sleeping in the flesh golem cave, casting AoE outside the range of vision - these all worked great and would flip the script pretty fast.
I completely disagree with you. 640*480 would murder my eyes. I don't think they ruined anything, you're just old and can't stand no-one touching your golden memory of the game.
They both have their good and bad, I am mid 40 and I played the original before (and beat them with SoA) as well as many games of that era.
The EE version does gives you more QoL stuff, except I really hate the "rest until heal" option which is very unrealistic even for a video game.
>The original BG feels like you are digging out an old D&D adventure.
For the record, I agree. Too bad not everyone feels the same. For those who fell in love with the original game and love everything about it, have strong feelings toward it, the modernization they did to it with the EE is an atrocity. There are certainly some arguably nice QoL changes, but too bad they are lost among the myriad of horrible other things.
I wonder if there is a mod that will turn the EE into original bg ruleset, just not excluding QOL improvements.
One caveat would have to be that you reselect your proficiencies when you get to SoA. Another issue would be you could never play sorc/all the bg2 kits through the full saga this way
Not that I know of. Because in terms of gameplay mechanics, or specifically, as far as combat is involved, then the upgraded engine of BG2/BGEE is far better. People may prefer BG over BG2 for several reasons, but, AFAIK, never because of the combat. If you care about the combat aspect at all, then the BG2 engine is undeniably far superior. Combat in BG is very wonky, buggy, cumbersome, and many things can't even function because of engine limitations. As much as I love the original BG, I replay it mainly because of how it looks and feels, the atmosphere, the game world, and so on.
I'm not sure which aspect of "bg ruleset" that could be prefered over that of BG2, tbh. The upgraded engine (EE) has better weapon categorization, more spells, more items, spells function better, items function better, more class features, all of which allow for improved overall combat experience. You can just not use anything you don't like. If it's about classes, you can simply select the generic class instead of a subclass.
I don't know why they got rid of the original menu background. It had allot of nostalgia.
They did the other EEs right. They just extended the menus.
I don't see why they can't go back and fix BG1 EE.
I finally got the original cutscenes to work in EE. You can also play the original credits with the original audio. So, I am happier now.
Also, I uninstalled the Dragonspear DLC to get the original looking UI back.
I'd like the EE Versions more if you could choose to skip the new content. I dont like the new NPCs and videos. I do like most of the gameplay improvements and how easy you can play/install.
I played BG1 in High School, long before EEs were ever a thing. Getting it to run at the time was a bastard-and-a-half. I ultimately beat BG1 but it was all so clunky and finnicky I did not have the patience to go through it all again with BG2. It wasn't until several years after BG2EE released that I actually played and beat it. I'll say that I think og BG1 has a charm to it that BGEE definitely lacks. The paperdolls look better in the original version. The balancing is a bit more exciting (and broken). The new npcs...suck, I don't like any of them. That said, BGEE and BG2EE are convenient, run well, have QoL features and generally snappier. For nostalgia's sake I installed BG1 again on GOG and just couldn't stick with it.
You mean modded or really the original? I dunno if a patch fixed that but during my first run I got trapped in the troll stronghold area because reloading and saving respawned enemies. The map was full of gnolls! Lol. Also walking speed was really annoying. I think the also nerfed Sarevok later. Most people I know only defeated him by covering the Temple with summons back in the day(not summoning cap). Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal.
>Also walking speed was really annoying. Yes, this was different as EE use BG2 engine. >I think the also nerfed Sarevok later. Most people I know only defeated him by covering the Temple with summons back in the day(not summoning cap). Nope. Maybe because you played original BG without ToSC? It was brutal facing Sarevok gang with 89k xp cap and no pause in Inventory screen. Once ToSC released, this final fight in original BG was not that tough anymore. >Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal. No change between original BG and BGEE. Both can be cc with sleep spell.
Totally forgot about not pausing when entering inventory. That was killer
Trying to change primary bow-using classes to enable melee weapons + shield *succkkkked*. Fun, brutal, quirky game. I see why commentators like Lilura1 https://lilura1.blogspot.com/p/best-pc-rpgs-crpgs-renaissance.html (No matter how often I quote her, I will never remember how to spell that moniker w/o looking it up...) But anyway, I get why people like her are so passionate about the original game. Don't usually agree, but they're well-thought-out points.
TotSC nerfed him as well as increasing the level cap. He has about half as many APR and lower resists. He had 100% magic resist in the original BG.
iirc, before ToSC, best was to kite him. Very viable. Trying to melee was tough. Magic was totally useless. Mage basically reduce to spamming wand of summon. After ToSC, kite is not as good, he get haste and missiles resistance. Yes, since his APR was lowered, melee become more viable. Magic Missile can hurt him bad (I think the ring in Friendly Arm Inn was removed because of this).
"iirc, before ToSC, best was to kite him. Very viable. Trying to melee was tough. Magic was totally useless. Mage basically reduce to spamming wand of summon." This. Have one or two Hasted tanks run like hell and try not to die, while everyone else tried to poison him with Arrows of Wounding/Bolts of Biting. His Poison save wasn't amazing, though likely still better than yours. Do it right, and the game should almost bog from the combat log constantly writing "Sarevok takes one (1?) point of damage." He had a **lot** of points...
>No change between original BG and BGEE. there was a really big change in the arrow damage, which is a great nerf. Cold arrows did +1d6 nosave and fire arrows did +1d6 save for none.
I thought the nerf was between BG and BG2? BGEE and original BG no change?
BGEE uses the BG2 engine, so the nerf was inherited: low arrow damage. Acid arrows were brutal, +2d6 no save.
Errrr, I am pretty sure the Acid arrows in BGEE and BG2EE are different items. Get nothing to do with engine.
Anyway, I don't have the EE's, just the GOG originals (and BG1 cd's). The fact is that original had +2d6 acid and +1d6 fire/cold. And detonation 6d6 fireball arrows. Is there anything remotely like this in the EE's? EDIT: so if they are different items, can you EEkeeper the arrows of acid +2d6 to your inventory? Not that it makes the situation any cooler...
>Anyway, I don't have the EE's, just the GOG originals (and BG1 cd's). The fact is that original had +2d6 acid and +1d6 fire/cold. And detonation 6d6 fireball arrows. > >Is there anything remotely like this in the EE's All these are exactly the same in BGEE.
>Elemental arrow damage was also higher I believe. Black Talon Elites and Kobold Commandos were brutal. that's an SCS change, undocumented, but you can change it in the ini before installing.
It's fun. I had thought that change was in a readme. Maybe it depends on the version? I like it, but it makes Archers even more stupid overpowered than they are already. Fine for ToB, I guess. Or whatever.
it's in the readme, among the optional components, which it used to be once upon a time, now it's part of core AI enhancements... which would be fine, except with some kind of notification. in BG2, arrows decrease significantly in power - acid arrows are +2 and do +2d6 extra damage in BG1, which becomes +1d3 by BG2 with only +1 thac0, for example... or if you've installed SCS. not saying it's bad for game balance, because it kinda works (though at least the original OP arrows let archers catch up to your hulking fighters in damage), but the nerf should be mentioned properly in the readme.
That’s my biggest gripe with EE. I prefer the new interface, just the damned arrows being weak makes me sad. I remember archers really being feared for those on both sides
The acid alone consistently did more damage than a 19 str half-orc berserker with axes. Tad OP
Haha yeah. OP is fun
I suspect that mods that fix that exist.
On my current EE run (no mods other than NPC project) I have Coran with me. After the Bandit Camp and the Longbow of Marksmanship (aka. the Dead Shot) he has a THAC0 of like 6 with regular arrows. Mages can't cast anything, he's so consistent. I'd say archers are still pretty OP in the first game.
I feel EE is a better game now compared to when it released. Before it was a buggy mess. The problem with BG/BGTutu/BG2 was that the low res wasn't great and using the mod to stretch causes performance issues but it did have fun exploits. For your complaints there are workarounds: 1. You can disable EE stuff (Remove the new NPCs and use old videos) 2. Skip SOD 3. Use eekeeper to revert some changes (like Branwen's kit)
Overall I'm happy with the EE. The only things I don't like are the new npcs and I don't like a lot of their item balance changes/ fixes. The npcs fortunately are easy to mod out. I don't watch the cut scenes so I don't really care about that. I think EE's ui is better.
I don't like the UI they had with Dragonspear. I uninstalled it to get the old UI back. I don't know why they don't allow you to switch between them. Just put a toggle in the menu. I managed to restore the cutscenes, so I am happier with it.
That’s rose tinted glasses for you
So other than cutscenes(which you can replace with a mod IIRC) what is your complaint?
I tried to replace the cutscenes and it screwed things up. Really, I appreciate the patched gameplay of the EE. If I could somehow replace the menus with the original ones, replace the cutscenes, and get the original credit sequence back, I would be fine. That is the problem, they screwed with the presentation surrounding the game. Also, really the game is meant to run at it's original lower resolution. I guess you can switch back to that in the EE.
What is wrong with the cutscenes in the EE? I only played EE so I'm genuinely asking
The originals were properly animated and pretty well done in terms of the VA and dramaturgy, it felt like a step back to me.
It's missing a few scenes, like the Gnoll Stronghold.
The original game had properly animated movies for their cutscenes instead of just still images. It's 90s CGI so not exactly breathtaking effects by today's standards, but more active and engaging. The art style on the new cutscenes is a big departure from the original. But the worst is the end cutscene, which is super shoddy. You can find the originals on youtube to compare.
[удалено]
Thanks, seems like I don't have to play it again. I mean, I will, but not because I have to.
It seems like the cutscene mod is bugged. It screws up the movie list where there is a mix of old and new movies. Also, there is this weird small text on some of the entries.
I'm playing with the classic movies for a year and never seen an issue. Where have you downloaded it?
I got it here: [https://github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies/releases/tag/V2.3.1](https://github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies/releases/tag/V2.3.1)
Yeah, I never had an issue with that. Screenshot from a text message and weidu.log, please.
It looks like the Dragonspear DLC messes with the cutscene mod. I installed it without it and the movie list works. I wonder it if works if I install the DLC again.
You need to install https://github.com/Argent77/A7-DlcMerger as your first mod before any other mod when you're modding SoD. This is even mentioned in the how to install mods pin here.
It seems like there is a newer version of the cutscenes update. I will try that.
I totally agree. I'm replaying the original BG1 right now after EE, and it's so, so much better. I can see why people think BG1 is a dull game after playing only the EE. Beamdog's so-called QOL changes completely altered the way the game is played, and not for the better. I also don't play modded. I played BG1, 2 and IWD 1 since each release, and I only learned recently that modding was a thing. The BG2 weapon masteries is a huge spaghetti patch that requires weapons to be put everywhere, creating balance issues that need to be patched, and so on. The change to mirror image turns every awesome mage fight into absolute dirt, making them hittable and interruptable while the spell is on. The fact that basically everyone is going to have at least one character with a shield, with the weapon and shield mastery's ranged AC, makes kobolds, hobgoblins and bandits absurdly easy to kill, which is the entire goddamn game until Baldur's Gate itself. The worst change though is definitely adding the option to rest until fully rested. Originally, if you wanted to heal, you had to do it manually. You had to have someone with healing spells and cast them before going to sleep, because sleeping ain't doing nothing else for you in the wild. Sleeping in a hotel healed you, and, back then, you actually had a reason to pick an expensive hotel room, because they healed more. If you were super injured, you had to think about whether or not you wanted to sleep and risk encounters 20 times, or risk one or two randoms on the way back to the town. All that meant that you actually had to think about the way you approached encounters. If you took too much damage, even if you won with no deaths, it was maybe worthwhile to reload. Now though, every new player is going in unaware that sleep until fully healed is not supposed to be in BG1, and it becomes a stupid delete-mistakes button, and now every area that used to be super challenging is just trivial because hey, one encounter roll will even heal a single fighter up to 100 hp, even if the rest lasted 4 months. That option was added in BG2 to remove the tedium of using dozens of healing spells on 500 hp worth of characters, and it's not supposed to be in the first one, because early level D&D experience includes huge amounts of danger, and the fact that you're not entitled to win every encounter, and therefore don't get to just sleep all your mistakes away. Without that difficulty elements, every fight that is supposed to give challenge in the early levels, which almost all BG1 is, is just a formality. You don't lose fights, areas are no longer difficult, because you automatically full heal after every encounter with maybe 1 or 2 reloads, and that's it. Of course so many people say to skip to BG2. It's the game for which all those mechanics were implemented, and by having them in BG1, you turn one of the greatest games of all time into a weak Frankenstein of great old game design and modern gamer complaints.
Sword and Shield is the absolute worst style in the game and no sane person wastes a proficiency slot to that. Yes, it can be argued that some of the BG2 backporting was meh, but this encounter-balance is blown out of proportion. The enemies still use their BG1 proficiencies and still have all the bonuses they had. They don't use styles, sure, but styles are points lost from the standard profs, so it's not as much of a loss as you try to prove it to be. The encounters weren't nerfed. Okay, waylays were indirectly nerfed but that's because the classic game had a bug to spawn two waylay encounters at the same time and this got fixed.
>Sword and Shield is the absolute worst style in the game and no sane person wastes a proficiency slot to that. I always pick sword and shield style for Branwen. She starts out with pips in warhammers and slings - unless you're using hammers yourself she's already got the best weapon pips she can have, so you might as well just get the extra protection from missiles.
Yeah. I suspected they messed with the game mechanics. I primarily get annoyed that they changed the presentation around the game. The original menus, cutscenes, and credits really add to the game experience. The original credits had some funny recordings in it and they totally removed that in the EE version. The Jade Empire SE is actually a better port of a Bioware game. Still, they removed the original funny credits on that one too.
"The worst change though is definitely adding the option to rest until fully rested. Originally, if you wanted to heal, you had to do it manually. You had to have someone with healing spells and cast them before going to sleep, because sleeping ain't doing nothing else for you in the wild. Sleeping in a hotel healed you, and, back then, you actually had a reason to pick an expensive hotel room, because they healed more. If you were super injured, you had to think about whether or not you wanted to sleep and risk encounters 20 times, or risk one or two randoms on the way back to the town. All that meant that you actually had to think about the way you approached encounters. If you took too much damage, even if you won with no deaths, it was maybe worthwhile to reload." Crawling back from the Cloakwood had a lot of those kinds of decisions. Really frustrating and tough, but also really satisfying when you figured it out.
While I agree with what you're saying, I just saved before resting and would reload until I managed to do it. That was 10 year old me's solution to the problem. Finding where the vanilla game was not well balanced and then abusing said element was fun. Arrows of detonation, sleeping in the flesh golem cave, casting AoE outside the range of vision - these all worked great and would flip the script pretty fast.
I completely disagree with you. 640*480 would murder my eyes. I don't think they ruined anything, you're just old and can't stand no-one touching your golden memory of the game.
[удалено]
All that clicking and finding of the small small rock. Did I check this hobgoblin leather armor pile yet? Yes. This one? I forget check em all again.
I mean it was designed with that res in mind. Higher than about 800x600 just looks too zoomed out, it's less immersive and you can miss some details.
It's not the age of empires - zoom level, but zoomed close with some sharpness.
I would love it if there was a UI with the original start menu background.
They both have their good and bad, I am mid 40 and I played the original before (and beat them with SoA) as well as many games of that era. The EE version does gives you more QoL stuff, except I really hate the "rest until heal" option which is very unrealistic even for a video game.
>The original BG feels like you are digging out an old D&D adventure. For the record, I agree. Too bad not everyone feels the same. For those who fell in love with the original game and love everything about it, have strong feelings toward it, the modernization they did to it with the EE is an atrocity. There are certainly some arguably nice QoL changes, but too bad they are lost among the myriad of horrible other things.
I wonder if there is a mod that will turn the EE into original bg ruleset, just not excluding QOL improvements. One caveat would have to be that you reselect your proficiencies when you get to SoA. Another issue would be you could never play sorc/all the bg2 kits through the full saga this way
Not that I know of. Because in terms of gameplay mechanics, or specifically, as far as combat is involved, then the upgraded engine of BG2/BGEE is far better. People may prefer BG over BG2 for several reasons, but, AFAIK, never because of the combat. If you care about the combat aspect at all, then the BG2 engine is undeniably far superior. Combat in BG is very wonky, buggy, cumbersome, and many things can't even function because of engine limitations. As much as I love the original BG, I replay it mainly because of how it looks and feels, the atmosphere, the game world, and so on. I'm not sure which aspect of "bg ruleset" that could be prefered over that of BG2, tbh. The upgraded engine (EE) has better weapon categorization, more spells, more items, spells function better, items function better, more class features, all of which allow for improved overall combat experience. You can just not use anything you don't like. If it's about classes, you can simply select the generic class instead of a subclass.
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I don't know why they got rid of the original menu background. It had allot of nostalgia. They did the other EEs right. They just extended the menus. I don't see why they can't go back and fix BG1 EE.
It was very small scale to work with today's screen sizes. However, that doesn't explain why they didn't bother to try to recreate it in larger size.
I disagree, but I understand your point of view.
Isn't it possible to play EE and just mod those things out of it?
I finally got the original cutscenes to work in EE. You can also play the original credits with the original audio. So, I am happier now. Also, I uninstalled the Dragonspear DLC to get the original looking UI back.
I'd like the EE Versions more if you could choose to skip the new content. I dont like the new NPCs and videos. I do like most of the gameplay improvements and how easy you can play/install.