Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

I quite liked the Enhanced Edition. It just feels a little more polished than running the original data in GemRB. However, I can't find my original media now, and they sadly still built the Enhanced Edition for x86 ... Of course, no OS is x86 now, and since I usually run Linux, I'm really struggling to find x86 libraries to get it to work. (particularly struggling with libssl.so.1.0.0:i386 ... again, ssl should only be necessary for the online / multiplayer features they added, and I've never used) Ironic, that the Enhanced Edition is harder to get to work on a contemporary OS than the original, just because GemRB is Open Source, and you can even compile it yourself to ARM binaries to work on a Raspberry Pi, if you want.

Heckin' orc racism right at the start.

If Beamdog isn't going to let customers purchase (or review) the original version, then I don't see a problem posting this review for the original version on the Enhanced Edition page. Is Baldur's Gate 1 worth playing if you didn't grow up with it? Definitely yes. It might not be totally 100% the greatest game ever made forever and always, but you really should play it if you like isometric RPGs. One of the biggest hurdles for new players (like me) was just how open the game really is. Baldur's Gate is borderline a sandbox RPG. It expects you to visit side locations on the map regularly, especially in the beginning. If you really want a story to lead you around, the game is going to be hard to get into at first (but it will get more prominent). Speaking of the story: it's definitely not poor or lacking, but it is barebones. In the beginning, it's almost non-existent. There's a nice twist at the end too, if you haven't played BG2 yet. The world is pretty bland, to be frank. It's your average Forgotten Realms setting -think of every high fantasy trope you can and it's here (yes, Drizzt is in the game). The characters are surprisingly shallow and not very interesting. You really would lose nothing of value if you started your first game in multiplayer and made your whole team of custom characters. If you have the patience for a very slow and unforgiving isometric RPG, you can do a million times worse than BG1. Most people will prefer BG2, and I can understand why, but to be honest there really aren't many games even from the same studios that have you exploring the wide open wilderness like BG1. Slap on the widescreen mod and some bug fixes and have at it. Even with the ripoff Beamdog 'package deal' BS, you could do a whole lot worse for the price.

If you buy the EE you get the classic edition (more->serial key and there is your key.) The original game is 5 star.

Did not expect to really like this game. However, it looks good and plays fairly well. Not over complex either.