So the HD remake of Baldur's Gate is out for PC today and should be out soon for iOS and Android. Also included is revamped multiplayer and the game is supposedly easier via raised level cap. http://www.baldursgate.com/windows.en.html $20.

I never played the original but was thinking of picking this up as well as gifting it for Christmas. How good was the original? FF7 is one of my favorite games of all time so I'm no stranger to RPG game.

BG2 is a lot better but it's a good RPG

Download is so so slow.

omgomg sooo getting this.

Will get this for sure, hopefully they do BG2 as well.

If you already own BG1 and BG2 it might be worth looking at EasyTutu (also see here for other Tutu stuff). It lets you play BG1 using the BG2 engine, fixes all the old bugs and also lets you use other "Tutu" mods (the "Hard Times" mod is worth a look and also the ones that add BG2 style NPC banter and/or move the position of the NPCs to make them easier to add to your team early on, etc).

I think if you choose to play BG1:EE instead you risk missing out on the extra mods and from what I read in a forum post, it's not going to be possible to move your party over from BG1:EE to stock BG2 (they are going to make a BG2:EE though, but no idea on the timeframe...).

The only real advantage I can see is the 3 new NPCs you get might make the game different to play and also you lessen the chance of a mod-****up breaking some part of the game/story (although if you follow the instructions for EasyTutu and don't go mad installing every mod going, you are unlikely to run into this anyway...).

Juk

EDIT: If you have never played BG before though then it's definitely worth a look (as are all the other Infinity Engine games). Not sure how younger people will take to it after being spoilt with all the 3D RPGs, but if you are a bit older and played any table-top D&D as a kid you'll find it pretty similar (the back-story is pretty good too!).

From what I read, they are contractually obligated to produce BG2:EE (whatever the sales of BG1:EE are...) so it's near certain.

No idea on the timeframe though and it could be a long wait to move your Party over to BG2:EE (see above post).

Juk

The team that is working on BG:EE and BG2:EE are actually old Bioware employees from the 90's and 00's so they are very familiar with the game and how to update it to the new generation.

There's also supposed to be a iPad version coming out soon. Even further, you will be able to play on an ipad with your friends on a PC or Mac.

Bought and DLed last night. I'll give my impressions later.

Somehow I never played BG1, even though I love BG2.

Downloading now...

Hmm definitely interested in this for the iPad. Anyone know if I'd need to buy two copies to play on PC and iPad?

Seems to be the case.

Would it be better to buy this or get the original and download loads of mods?
.

Have you ever played BG1 before?

It's only recommended to play with mods if you have played at least one run through standard BG1 before (so you can spot when the mods have broken something, etc). You would still want to install EasyTutu/Degreenifier/Tutufix (to make BG1 play in the BG2 engine) and some of BG1NPC (to make the joinable NPCs have more banter with each other; BG2-style), but I'd leave the rest of the mods out for your first play-through...

If you have never played BG1 before then BG1:EE is prolly the better option (people are working on converting the old mods now anyway so by the time you've played it through once they will be ready and tested), but it might be worth waiting a little bit until the BG1NPC mod gets updated to work with BG1:EE as it really does improve the game play considerably.

Juk

BG:EE basically already is BG in BG2 engine, from what I can tell.

I loved the original BG game. I never did complete it...now would be a good time to :-)

Thanks for the info. I haven't played BG1 before, just BG2. I'm ok playing with any mod for the first playthrough that genuinely enhances the gameplay. But if the mod community is converting mods to EE, I'll just wait.

I'd just buy the original versions. I'd recommend these mods for bg1:

Widescreen
Banter Pack
Unfinished Business

atm bgtrilogy seems to be the way to go if you want to play bg1 with bg1 UI. Trilogy was pain to install though, it combines 1 and 2 into one huge game (well you still finish 1 completely before going #2.)

having my characters start with no HP at all is annoying. How exactly are you supposed to heal as at lvl 1/2 etc? Do you basically need to run with a healer? I gain back like one HP per night sleep at the inn and I cannot afford to pay for healing at the temple.

HALP

If i remember correctly, the inn had different priced rooms, the more expensive the room, the more hit points you recover.

Just rolled a battle cleric so I don't have to be assed with sleeping 3 days per fight. Still does pretty sick damage with 19/18/19

There should be an option in your Gameplay options "Rest until Healed". You can also just rest in wilddoor areas. But yes, you can die a lot lvl1-3 if you don't know what to do. Some areas for example have Black Talon Mercenaries who will 1-shot half of your party members.

I know you can rest until healed but RP wise it seems ridiculous to be sleeping that much time.

On the other hand it seems silly that a major injury doesn't take a long long time to heal.

I don't even know. Battle Cleric is making the game go smoother by a huge margin.

when i played the original i always found that if i tried to rest out doors i was always attacked. I think i found one area that i wasnt.

As for taking damage early in the game, my tactic was always to take new members when i could and ensuring my characters had ranged weapons, with one character as the 'bait' who would get chased by enemies while the others shoot them..

I'm going to have to dig it out and see if i can get it to load on my PC.

Yeah you will often be attacked, if you rest in the first zones though there is nothing dangerous, just gibberlings or wolves.

Ranged weapons are really strong in BG, really boring too though. Real men play with 0 ranged character. (well, you can give you mage a sling.)