i have tested both the classic edition and the enhanced edition on my pc.. somejhow the classic edition causes the cpu to be fully utilized resulting in overheating (though thermal throttling seems to be the right way to describe the behavior). However, the enhanced edition works perfectly fine without stressing the cpu.. does anyone have a workaround for this?

Side by side close up shots of the originals versus EE versions and the originals looks sharper and have better proportions. The UI looks so much better and is actually snappier. Colors also look a bit more natural. Text fits better with the game.
It plays and looks great at 4:3 on a 34 inch lcd! Just need Aspect Ratio scaling + Override scaling mode set by games/programs in your Nvidia control panel, set 1024 rez in the BG2 control panel with 3D acceleration on and the Fullscreen 4:3 is glorious.

Its really sad that the classics are being treated this way as <second class>.

wow this takes the cake

Can you post 2 images so we can see what you mean?

Wow I now have the original will try it on my XP laptop....Thanks

Beamdog shills thinking they are helping Beamdog out, by downvoting.

"The decision to take Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale, and most recently, Planescape: Torment from sale on GOG and bundle them with the Beamdog Enhanced Edition titles was a joint decision between the Beamdog and GOG leadership teams, just as it was when the GOG Definitive Edition Bundles were first announced. "

God, I've had them in my collection for so long, it never occurred to me that they weren't for sale individually anymore. I literally just discovered this, and what a stupid and unneccesary thing to do. You couldn't have three separate products -- original, Beamdog abominations, and bundle? Who's decision was this, and have they been fired yet?

I've been playing through the Baldur's Gate games ever since owning the original big boxed versions from way back in the day, lol. I got the enhanced versions of these games as they released off of Beamdog's site itself. I was excited that they were touching the games up, so I wanted to support them directly, so I owned all of the EE games on Beamdog's clitent.

Recently I decided to repurchase all of the EE games on GOG when they went on sale just to have extra versions just in case Beamdog went under or something and it would be impossible to get the games directly from their website anymore. At first, I thought the classic versions were gone but I read they were bundled with the EE version on GOG. My only complaint really, is that it's a bit unintuitive to get access to the classic versions because you have to go to serial keys. I don't think many people would know how to do that without doing research. I believe if they are bundled, then the classics should just pop up along side the EE additions after buying the bundles.

But other than that, I never really saw much issue people had with the EEs. I believe the SJW talk is blown out of proportion. The EE games are the classics with touch ups and maybe a few aesthetic choices people didn't like. I believe most of the hate comes from the expansion Siege of Dragonspear. I played through it and I didn't get that SJW vibe that everyone is talking about, but maybe it was patched out and I missed it? I'm not sure, but I enjoyed the expansion. I wish you had more freedom and more towns to visit, but it's decent for what it is.

I guess if I had one complaint about the EE editions, it's the journal. I thought that the older journal UI was much better and more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than the basic one they added in. I mean, it functions fine, but the older journal UI just felt like it fit in with that world more, IMO.

I've noticed in this thread it's mainly the same few people that are complaining about the EE versions. Honestly I believe the complaints are highly exaggerated and I've played through the originals tons of times. I love the zoom feature, QOL options, scaling UI so that text is easier to read, etc. You can also turn off those sprite outlines and it easily makes it look better than the originals and their low resolution. I do think that most that play these games are satisfied and it's the vocal minority that is blowing the hate out of proportion judging by the same few posters here in this thread alone.

I missed out on the drama with the writer and stuff though, so maybe that's why I'm not as critical. I'm glad I didn't know about what she was saying about the classics, that probably would've flared where I would've done nothing but hate on the EEs, but after doing a few replays over and over, I prefer them to the originals. I believe the people complaining constantly are in the minority though, from what it seems anyway.

I'm not saying that the EE's are perfect, but I do believe the hate is blown way, way out of proportion.

Just my two cents.

You focused in your post on the reasons why you prefer EEs, but in this thread we just want to have a choice that we used to have: either purchase the originals, or the EEs. I don't care for the EEs, I already have the originals on CDs and on GOG, but it's annoying that they don't have thier own store page and as you mentioned you have to fiddle around with serial keys to get them + they were cheaper before the bundle.

I have my personal reasons not to support Beamdog, but it's not the case that the EEs are just QOL changes. Going for BG2 engine for BG1:EE changes the whole gameplay (dual wielding, kits, walking speed, summon cap, pause in the inventory and many more) and this game was not designed for these features and because of that is way easier (and less fun for me at least).

Don't be fooled by zoom feature, the character animations are inferior to the BG1 ones: they are mirrored, you can check it by turning the character from left to right and it will switch weapon/shield in its hands. The cinematics are a joke and so is the UI.

With time it's of course easier to play on newer systems and I don't blame people for choosing them, but calling them an improvement I cannot agree with.

I don't know why are you focusing on people wanting to have a choice on GOG what to purchase a minority. Even if we are fewer than the Beamdog fans, does that make our point less valid? I don't care how many people support the idea, the idea itself is what matters. Of course I would love for more people show their disapproval, but it's everyone's choice.

Wow, someone went through this whole old thread and downvoted the early votes. Tells you something about Beamdog fanboys.

And Beamdog got a lot of hate here, because of their constant lying. In addition, the initial versions of EE were clearly subpar compared to classic versions which were removed at Beamdog request (which they lied about). The amount of bugs in EE initially was astounding. Beamdog have improved EE over years, and kudos for that, but acting as if there was no problem with Beamdog ever is clearly rewriting a history.

And to this day, I bet many people would be happy to have option to purchase classic editions without the need to also purchase EE.

I would like the original games back on GOG. The "enhanced" editions change elements of the original work, effectively destroying what the original development team had created with what could be considered a fanfiction version. It's a huge problem because what's to stop another company from doing the same to other titles? I get that some people want to make their own version of a game, that's okay. Having the original removed is not okay, it's akin to rewriting someone's work and burning their originals.

Although it could be clearer, and the game page ought to explain how to obtain the Classic Edition, there is one advantage to the current approach: users who buy the Enhanced Edition and choose not to redeem the Classic Edition key can give the CE serial key to someone else to let that person add CE to their account. If the CE were automatically added to the account of the EE purchaser, there would be no way to let someone else use your unused CE. On the other hand, the current scheme has a serious flaw: it requires solving a Google reCAPTCHA to obtain the Classic Edition, because GOG demands solving those for any gift code redemption, which is extremely user hostile.

Luckily two can play this game, and I've just enjoyed a few minutes of reading posts of reasonable and passionate men all the while doing my part of a community service. There's no way Beamturds have more employees than the amount of people truly loving this game around.

They literally had threads on their own forums where their fans were encouraging people to upvote\downvote reviews and comments on GoG. Their fanbase can't get any more pathetic at this point.

And surprise surprise, all new posts including mine pointing this behavior out have been downvoted. JFC, Beamdog and their fans are really loons.