Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Good Game

The great classic RPG in this enhanced edition is revitalized with graphics on the level of its sequel, the expansions and three new companions, which makes it even more difficult to decide on a party formation. Nice to go through this story again.

This game changed the way fantacy games are played.

Baldur’s Gate is a classic. It revived RPGs and started Bioware’s years long career as a leading RPG craftsmen. How does it stand the test of time? It’s… alright. While none of the individual elements stand out, the game is polished and plays well even 20 years after release. The 2nd D&D edition is a bit archaic, with awkward restrictions and really rigid class system and the story is nothing to brag about. Encounters are simplistic often consisting of same types of enemies making any tactics or strategies nonexistent. However, the game has a sense of adventure and warmth, which makes it worth giving a shot, though I would recommend starting with the sequel. It is a much better game in writing, pacing and gameplay. I like the technical side of the EE. Beamdog added a lot of really neat functionality, which make Baldur’s Gate a much more pleasant experience to play. A UI to loot corpses without individually clicking on each one, inventory screen showing changes to stats when equipping items, health bars, zoom, proper though somewhat buggy journal. What I dislike a lot are the creative additions made to the game. For one – “remastered cinematics”. It is shocking to see worse cinematics added to such an old game. Poorly drawn, static images often fail to communicate scenes from the original game and would be better left unchanged. Luckily original cutscenes can be modded back in, which I would strongly recommended doing. Beamdog also added three new companions. While the idea itself isn’t the worst ever, as with enhanced engine there are new classes which aren’t covered by original companions, their design, look and writing simply stick out. It is after all, an old stylized game, and while writing in BG1 isn’t stellar the new additions simply don’t gel with the rest of the experience. EE comes with classic edition, and I would consider giving it a shot first and switching to EE only if experience proves to be too archaic.

Baldur's gate enhanced edition has no flaws that I was able to find. Plays really well. If your new to the game same often during the course of the game. I bought this game on sale for $4.99 on gog. Also got got original saga for free. Thanks GOG for a great deal!