Baldur's Gate 2 + AD&D 2e --- Enhanced Edition Re-Re-Retro-Retrospective

[innerdude]

I don't know what possessed me, but four weeks ago on a total whim I re-downloaded Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 Enhanced Editions from GOG.

I'm pretty sure at this point in my life I've bought both of those games at least 3 times now---the original CD-ROM versions (BG1 in '98, BG2 in '00), the GOG.com "Collection" editions, and now the Beamdog/GOG "Enhanced Editions".

Baldur's Gate 2 was released in September 2000---it's 25 years old this fall. I bought it on Day 1 release (seriously, where did the time go? BG2 released in September 2000??? How old am I again???).

I finished BG1 the summer before BG2 dropped. Took me about 120 hours. BG2? Didn't finish the actual campaign until 2012.

No joke. 12 years.

I must have restarted that game with a new character at least 8 or 9 times. Because without mods, you couldn't see all of the content at once, depending on your class (each class had a different "stronghold" quest. So you kind have had to try all of them). When I bought the game, I was a single, early-twenty-something working a dead-end retail job. When I finished it 12 years later, I was a married-with-2-kids professional technical writer and web developer.

Yeah.

So anyway, for whatever reason, I just had a hankering to mess around in these games again. Revisit the amazing hand-drawn art and animations, muck about with the old AD&D 2 backbone, get lost in the nostalgia of the old inventory management system.

But since it was now December 2024 (and I'd previously beaten both games), I didn't really want to play the games again; I just wanted to experience them again. So I downloaded Beamdog's semi-official Infinity Engine mod tool, EEKeeper, and threw together a couple of custom characters that would cover all of my bases (a Fighter / Mage / Thief multi-class and a pure Paladin).

And promptly boosted every single one of their stats to the moon. All attributes set to 19. 250 hit points at first level. THAC-0 changed from default 20 down to 2. Attacks per round set to 5. Max proficiencies in every weapon type and style. Max thief skills for the thief. Boosted casting so that each character had at least 15 spell slots in each possible caster level (1-9 for the mage; 1-7 for the pally). All spells worth a darn pre-memorized.

Oh, and of course, since you can import characters with inventory items pre-filled, I set up the pally as a "pack mule" to pre-import 6 Rings of Regeneration (because why bother with healing spells at all?) and 6 Boots of Speed (because why walk around those old Baldur's Gate maps at the painfully slow default speed?). Oh, and maybe some Elven Chain, Ankheg Plate mail, a couple of longbows +2, a flaming sword, and the Frostreaver axe +3. Oh, and 50 copies each of the fancy Tomes that permanently raise core stats to use on the random additional NPC party members I'd pick up along the way.

So when I say I "played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 over the Christmas break in 2024," it's not an entirely accurate statement.

Needless to say, Baldur's Gate 1 was an absolute romping cakewalk. There's just nothing high-powered enough in BG1 to even bother with characters maxxed out like that. I think maybe the last two fights with Sarevok may have slightly pushed the needle of difficulty, but only just. I blew through the whole game in about 20 hours---and 6 of those hours were just Durlag's Tower. I'm just now coming out of the Underdark in BG2, doing a few random this-'n-thats until getting ready to take the final plunge into the finale. And there's honestly been some challenge---illithids, beholders, and high-level casters can still cause problems in fights. Even with 250 HP for the two custom PCs, there's still stuff out there that can punish you hard enough.

But in addition to re-gaining a deep appreciation for the artistry and talent it took to put the game together, my biggest takeaway from it all is just how insanely illogical and obtuse AD&D actually was. I mean, I vaguely, kind of-sort of remember it, but it was all brought back to the fore.

• The numbers
  • What in....? Why do AC and THAC-0 go down?
  • If I wasn't cheating, 3d6, in attribute order? My highest stat might be a 14 if I'm lucky?
  • If I wasn't cheating, why would a thief have to gain a minimum of 7 or 8 levels before becoming even remotely competent at, you know, being a thief?
  • How are you supposed to account for the weapon proficiency modifiers at all times?
  • Ranges represented in feet and yards. This is actually worse as presented in the BG computer space, because how far exactly is 15 feet for that fireball radius?
• The fiddlyness
  • How in the world would you account for weapon speed factors in a non-computer game? I'm certain those probably got tossed out the window by a lot of GMs.
  • Having to account for the various weapon "styles", then slowly realizing that two-weapon fighting is so meaningfully better than all other options, that there's no reason to bother with anything else.
  • Having to constantly reconfigure armor / protections for the mages, because mages aren't supposed to wear armor (but somehow Elven Chain and Bracers of AC 3 are fine?).
  • Having to re-enable spell sequencers / spell triggers after every encounter.
• The gamist elements
  • Only humans can dual class, but only demi-humans can multi-class? What?
    • Oh, and not all classes allow for dual- / multi-class combination? Why in the world can't I make a ranger/thief, or a fighter/paladin?
  • Getting hit by anything disrupts a spell cast. Hmmm, okay. I mean, at least it's consistent for both me and opponents, but still.
    • I mean, I remember this from earlier playthroughs, but for some reason it really stood out to me this time. Because it's just so easy to cheese from the PC side (archers away, fire at will at the casters!).
  • Tracking all of the "rock / paper / scissors" combinations to fight through conditions / damage types / immunities.
    • The endless stacking of spell protections vs. the spell "breach" effects is just . . . mind numbing. Who actually would want to engage with that at a tactical level? And the fact that they introduce the Nishruu and Hashakaru to the game specifically just to counter them is equally weird.
  • And really, Vancian casting as a whole . . . sigh. Yeah. There's a massive reason I moved to Savage Worlds and never looked back.
• The "Screw you, I'm the GM and I'm going to make you my b***" elements
  • The mind control effects---fear, confusion, dire charm, illithid special abilities, the list goes on. By half way through BG2, it became apparent that the Chaotic Commands cleric spell is literally the most important spell in the game if you want your party to live. No exaggeration.
  • Level drain. Oh my gosh, level drain. Vampires. And Vampiric Whatevers --- Vampiric Shadows, Shadow Trolls, Mummies . . . .
    • Oh, and the fact that both Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration instantly fatigue your cleric after casting.
    • And, really, if this weren't a computer game, why would any GM and player ever want to mess with this? "Oh sorry, you got hit twice by the vampire . . . so until you get a Restoration potion or spell, recalculate every meaningful statistical value on your character sheet."
• The general "We can't really map a pen-and-paper game to a computer" problems
  • Trap finding, and the fact that the game measures the actual rounds in actual 10 second increments, so even if you turn on the trapfinding thief ability, it could take an additional 8-9 seconds for the trap to actually appear, because of course it's more fun for your character to just walk around the room and trigger them all.
  • The Alignment-based tomfoolery specific to BG --- What, so evil-aligned characters will just bail on me if I become "too heroic?" But it's fine because I can go around killing random villagers at will, as long as I've got enough cash to pay some priest in a temple to increase my reputation back up?
  • The rampant murder-hobo approach to the game.
    • After 40-ish hours of BG2, I checked my main character's kill count. Over 600 kills, just for the main character. That didn't include the 5 members of the party. In real life, every person running around with the main PC would either have to be psychopaths or suffering from PTSD so badly as to render them nigh catatonic.

Most of all, the "proud nails" of AD&D 2's original wargame origins were just . . . so . . . prominent. And maybe the impersonal nature of a computer / lack of human GM exacerbated it, but it was very, very, very obvious that the vast majority of AD&D's rules were to bring about battlefield condition emulation. The plot, the wonderful (wonderful) art, sound design, were all really just there to serve the endless dishes of "Here's something to fight, smash it."

Was it fun? On the whole, yes. I've enjoyed my time revisiting these two games. But it's really interesting how revealing they are of where RPG play really stood in the year 1998.

*Edit: fixed typos

 

[MGibster]

Most of all, the "proud nails" of AD&D 2's original wargame origins were just . . . so . . . prominent. And maybe the impersonal nature of a computer / lack of human GM exacerbated it, but it was very, very, very obvious that the vast majority of AD&D's rules were to bring about battlefield condition emulation. The plot, the wonderful (wonderful) art, sound design, were all really just there to serve the endless dishes of "Here's something to fight, smash it."

I think a big part of that is CRPGs were somewhat limited at the time and BG 1 & 2 were above average for that particular time period in my opinion. Yeah, the plot really was just there to serve endless dishes of Fight! But David Warner as Jon Irenicus was fantastic.

How in the world would you account for weapon speed factors in a non-computer game? I'm certain those probably got tossed out the window by a lot of GMs.

My group tried and didn't use them for very long. They were fiddly and we thought they didn't make sense. Yeah, I guess you can stab faster with that dagger than I can swing my axe, but try getting close to me with that dagger while I've got my axe.

 

[Gecko85]

Sure, 2e had plenty of "screw you" moments, but it had nothing on 1e. Got bit by a spider? (Or any number of poisonous beings...) If you fail your save, you're dead. Dead, dead.

 

[Scribe]

The rampant murder-hobo approach to the game.

• After 40-ish hours of BG2, I checked my main character's kill count. Over 600 kills, just for the main character. That didn't include the 5 members of the party.

 

[cbwjm]

There's a story mode for the enhanced editions, no need to alter your character with the keeper app (I used to use it extensively back in the day) unless you want to get a head start on levelling.

3d6 for stats wasn't common from what I can tell, and in the baldurs gate games it was all adjustable anyway. You pretty much just used a dice pool to generate a number of points to get your PC set up.

I don't know if we used weapon and casting speed for our entire 2e career, but given it was just a number you added to individual initiative, it wasn't exactly difficult.

 

[Velderan]

Regarding tracking weapon speeds and weapon proficiency modifiers, they weren't hard to manage in the games I played in. You wrote everything down on your character sheet and just added a single number to your roll like you do now in 5e and other games. Since you tended to use the same 2 or 3 weapons at most, you were largely using the same numbers each round.

I think we did 3d6 down the row for our first characters before immediately realizing how limiting it was for making the character you wanted and we landed on 4d6, drop the lowest die, and arrange as you like. It still meant classes like Paladin weren't as common, but it certainly improved your chances if that's what you wanted to play.

 

[innerdude]

Regarding tracking weapon speeds and weapon proficiency modifiers, they weren't hard to manage in the games I played in. You wrote everything down on your character sheet and just added a single number to your roll like you do now in 5e and other games. Since you tended to use the same 2 or 3 weapons at most, you were largely using the same numbers each round.

I think we did 3d6 down the row for our first characters before immediately realizing how limiting it was for making the character you wanted and we landed on 4d6, drop the lowest die, and arrange as you like. It still meant classes like Paladin weren't as common, but it certainly improved your chances if that's what you wanted to play.

Well it's actually fairly hilarious in Baldur's Gate, because you typically select your class BEFORE you roll your stats.

And depending on what class you select, you can actually get a mandatory "boost" to the stats. For example, if you select Paladin as your class, the game guarantees that your WIS and CHA will both be high enough to meet the minimum requirements. So you actually end up with higher core status by choosing a class that has mandatory minimums.

Of course, before I started modding the game, my earliest playthroughs of BG1 meant hours---literally, hours---spent hitting the Reroll button on the char gen page. (I had all the time in the world and I was stubborn, lol.)

The two times it super paid off --- I ended up with a Fighter/Thief character with enough stat points (I am not lying about this) that after reconfiguring the stat blocks, ended up with a straight up

STR: 18/45
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHA: 14

The other one was a Paladin that ended up:

STR: 18/98
DEX: 16
CON: 17
INT: 13
WIS: 16
CHA: 17

Ah, good times. The sound of that "click" when you hit the button still echoes in the recesses of my brain sometimes.

 

[Velderan]

Well it's actually fairly hilarious in Baldur's Gate, because you typically select your class BEFORE you roll your stats.

And depending on what class you select, you can actually get a mandatory "boost" to the stats. For example, if you select Paladin as your class, the game guarantees that your WIS and CHA will both be high enough to meet the minimum requirements. So you actually end up with higher core status by choosing a class that has mandatory minimums.

Of course, before I started modding the game, my earliest playthroughs of BG1 meant hours---literally, hours---spent hitting the Reroll button on the char gen page. (I had all the time in the world and I was stubborn, lol.)

The two times it super paid off --- I ended up with a Fighter/Thief character with enough stat points (I am not lying about this) that after reconfiguring the stat blocks, ended up with a straight up

STR: 18/45
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHA: 14

The other one was a Paladin that ended up:

STR: 18/98
DEX: 16
CON: 17
INT: 13
WIS: 16
CHA: 17

Ah, good times. The sound of that "click" when you hit the button still echoes in the recesses of my brain sometimes.

The amount of time I spent hitting reroll on D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun for Sega Genesis..

 

[innerdude]

Couple more thoughts while I'm thinking of it ----

• The "5-minute workday" effect is soooooo much a thing here. One of the things that interested me is just how much of BG / AD&D 2's enforced pacing is tied directly to HP + spell availability. By boosting my two "core" PCs' hit points way up and tossing regeneration rings on the whole party, suddenly the enforced pacing of "Oh my gosh, I've had to spend all my healing, have to rest and wait for healing to come back so I can go on" disappeared. Which also has the effect of significantly reducing the risk of "wandering monsters" when "making camp" in a dungeon or outdoors. It's a really interesting synergy / spiral effect that became incredibly evident. Take that synergy / spiral effect away, and it's amazing how much faster I could move through the game.
• Going back to the alignment / party reputation thing --- I also just barely noticed that party reputation suffers more if you do something "off alignment" when your reputation is higher. Almost as if the game is saying, "Well, your reputation is currently 18 out of 20. You killing a random villager is somehow more morally reprehensible so we're going to lower your reputation by 8. But if your reputation is only an 11 out of 20, killing an innocent villager only lowers your reputation by 3. So because you're not such a goody-goody, it's not so bad to just do random acts of violence." (Say what? LOL.)

 

[Scribe]

Ah, good times. The sound of that "click" when you hit the button still echoes in the recesses of my brain sometimes.

I used to talk to my GF (now Wife) on the phone, and I'd just be re-rolling those stats for an hour. I played through BG1/2 way too many times