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Recent reviews by Koen

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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
42.2 hrs on record (22.4 hrs at review time)
TL;DR: This is the perfect shooting gallery. It also has a great story and atmosphere. I highly recommend you give this game a shot!


The short version

Pros:
+Great story
+Atmosphere resembles the best of Western movies
+Shooting mechanics
+Bullet time
+Skills/upgrades are actually useful, unlike in some other shooters/action games
+Arcade mode is fun and challenging
+Graphics are somewhat comical but quite nice
+Voice acting
+Humor
+Immersion
+Overall presentation
+The game feels very polished and bug free

Cons
-Understandably, there is no multiplayer. Bullet time and point scoring system would be very difficult to implement. The are leaderboards, so you can still compete with friends.
-Tomahawk/throwing axes and bow and arrows would have been nice for when your ears ache from all the gunshots.

My thanks go out to Yosemite Sam for recommending me this game.
Posted December 26, 2018. Last edited December 26, 2018.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
43.2 hrs on record (31.6 hrs at review time)
Cask strength entertainment. Don't forget to pick up the hard hat (during prologue) if you want your enemies to put up a fight.
Posted March 26, 2018.
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137 people found this review helpful
12 people found this review funny
0.0 hrs on record
***
Update: An honest review seems not too widely appreciated on Steam today. 85% not helpful? Come on. You can't possibly have read it. I noticed many positive reviews being downvoted and also noticed a lot of hate against "politics in games". Personally I don't find the game very politically tinted, though I can imagine people are annoyed at some of the writing because it lacks subtlety. Remember that art (books, movies, music and also Games) are a means of expression. The Witcher, for example, is all about politics, yet I hear no complaints there. Everyone knew Beamdog's writing would not be up to Baldur's Gate standards. Hence my conclusion they should have made it a separate game. Anyway, it's an enjoyable experience and players should just appreciate it for what it is.

BTW, regarding Mods, last I checked it was possible to revert to version 1.3 in game properties under Betas.

***

Baldur's Gate, the Bhaalspawn Saga. Many argue it is the best RPG of all time. Who would dare add an extra chapter to a masterpiece which the original creators deemed finished? Beamdog dared. I just had to see this. I bought the game instantly after release and must say it exceeds my expectations.

The gameplay has been improved on various aspects. AI is better and battles are fresh and fun. Pathfinding is noticably improved (I did increase the number of nodes in the baldur.lua file out of sheer habit). The User Interface has been tweaked with a new map system, more functional off-hand slot, quick-loot system and large ammo stacks. The UI appearance is also new and scales better than the old one. (Its appearance remains, of course, a matter of taste. You can see for yourself in one of many gameplay videos.)

Environments are beautifully designed and are cosmetically on par with the original game. The sound track is nicely Baldur's Gate themed, giving a sense of nostalgia as well as freshness. Aesthetically, the game is a true BG title.

Single Player mode gave me a pretty smooth experience with few bugs. Multi Player I have yet to try (though I expect some bugs there from what I've seen from others).

Finally, there's the writing. I expected nothing too great here, so my disappointment wasn't too bad either. The writing is actually better than I expected. Still, the quality is far from the original here. Characters are in some cases severely flattened, most notably Imoen, but also Irenicus, Minsc and others. Realistically, it's impossible for a different writer to have the same characters in mind as the original writers, so no shock here. The mystery surrounding characters is a good thing, and much of it has been removed in Siege of Dragonspear. It doesn't have the subtlety of the original and is in some cases blatantly revealing. Voicing by the original actors does not obscure these flaws. Hearing their voices again was quite nice though.

Beamdog showed some guts in adding to a masterpiece, even though they shouldn't have. Had they made a separate adventure, situated somewhere along the Sword Coast or anywhere in the Forgotten Realms, I probably would have been happier. All in all SoD is an enjoyable experience. It's not a true BG title, but a good game in it's own right.
Posted April 3, 2016. Last edited April 4, 2016.
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2 people found this review helpful
30.2 hrs on record (21.4 hrs at review time)
This game is sold as a Linux title. It is most definitely NOT! Even after applying all recommended fixes, it just keeps on crashing. Even a fresh install of another distro left me with the exact same issues. If you're on Linux, do not buy this!

Most about the game itself has been said by others. There are just some minor details I can add. The hours I put into The Witcher 2 gave me a good impression. Gameplay is fun and challenging enough in Dark mode. What slightly annoyed me was the continuous use of the word "ploughing", as if it was a statement meant to break some taboo unknown to me. It reminded me faintly of the use of "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" in Pulp Fiction, except back then it was still good for a smile. Maybe I'm just getting old and bitter. ;) Another thing that I found noteworthy is the cowardly kicks Geralt dealt his opponents after a fistfight while they were on their backs on the ground. Geralt is supposed to be a brave guy, such cowardice doesn't really seem to fit his character in my opinion. Finally, the voice acting of Geralt's friends Triss and Dandelion seems a bit flat and emotionless compared to the acting in the first part of The Witcher. I'm talking about the English version here. It might get better later in the game, but I did not get past chapter one. I wasn't too bothered by the voice acting, but the difference was noticable to me.

I liked enough about the game itself to want to keep playing. The crashes prevented me from enjoying my experience. This is not okay for a game marketed as a Linux title.
Posted November 11, 2015.
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114 people found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
432.7 hrs on record (25.1 hrs at review time)
Baldur's Gate is truly a masterpiece. Despite it's beauty, tactical depth and great story, the game does not take itself too seriously. This cannot be said of many other leading RPG titles, which I soon begin to find rather corny. If you like RPGs and have not played Baldur's Gate, then this is an absolute must, you do not even need to waste your time reading this review but of course you are welcome to. If you have played the original BG and are curious about Beamdog's boob job, I share with you my opinion.


The original game's two main lackings are native widescreen support and Linux support (I use Ubuntu/Mint). Interestingly, the Steam store lists BGEE as a Windows/Mac title, while BG2EE is listed as Windows/Mac/Linux. Both titles run perfectly on Linux since the latest patches.

The reason for me to buy Beamdog's re-release was simply curiosity. Where would anyone find the guts to mess with this classic work of art? What would they change about it?


First looks and User Interface
My first impression of BGEE was honestly not that great. It was still before Linux support was added. The aesthetics just turned me off. The changed logo, the sword with the text "Enhanced Edition", the user interface which had it's old-skool goldish buttons replaced with red "open-missile-silo-doors"-buttons. It all just took away some of the original game's magic. Perhaps mostly nostalgic feelings on my part.

Once hours inside the game the UI didn't really bother me anymore. Since recent updates, I was pleasantly surprised by the "Quick loot"-button that was added to the bottom panel. This made looting a whole lot easier, since it is no longer necessary to check all the corpses individually for good loot, potions, scrolls, etc.


More aesthetics
Not only the UI has had a makeover. The movies are also replaced. The new ones are not 3d-animated like the old ones. The new movies are built from nice artistic drawings. The drawings look really good and are accompanied by the trusty old sounds of the original game.

The character models have also been updated, though they are still not 'HD'. The pre-rendered environments are still the same as in the original BG. These were already stunningly beautiful anyway, no need to make changes there.


Gameplay
There are some major changes to the gameplay. Characters are now created in the same fashion as in BG2. This means that not only can one choose from various classes, but many classes have kits to choose from, with each its own abilities and restrictions. Also, the Half-Orc is now a playable race as in BG2.

Weapon proficiencies are also updated to the BG2 standard, which means that the points are no longer put into groups of weapons (for example there used to be one group of large swords, containing two-handed, bastard and long swords and another group of blunt weapons, containing staves, maces, clubs and hammers). The new system forces you to choose specific weapons, thus making switching between various weapons in the same group impossible if you have not spent any points on the other weapon.

Because of the relatively low level cap in BG1, you will find each character using one or two types of weapons throughout the whole game. This is not a problem, but it is a significant deviation from the original. The weapon styles from BG2 have also been added. This new proficiency system works really well at the higher character levels achieved in BG2, but has minor shortcomings in a game where characters reach level 8-10 and thus do not have too many points to spend.

Two-Weapon Fighting
As mentioned before, the weapon styles from BG2 have been imported. Two-Weapon Fighting is now also possible, which adds lots of fun to the game. You are now able to shred your opponents in seconds, sacrificing the protection of a shield. While shields in BG are not too powerful and one can easily manage without, dual-wielding is somewhat (if not more) overpowered. My Half-Orc berserker has 3 attacks per round wielding dual bastard swords. With 19 strenght, 3 points in two-weapon fighting, 3 in bastard sword and berserker rage (granting protection against hold, fear and other hazards, plus combat bonuses) he is an insanely strong melee fighter, one you would never encounter in the original game.

Special abilities
I mentioned the berserker rage, but many of the class kit abilities are very powerful. Some good examples are the priest of Helm's Seeking Sword (3 attacks per round with huge THAC0 bonus) and True Sight. The newly added "Shadowdancer" kit with its hide-in-plain-sight ability is also quite powerful, being able to backstab, hide and backstab again. There are many more new abilities that will aid you in your fight against (or for your own) evil.


Balance
The battles in BG1 often used to be insanely difficult, but they were not designed for all these newly added features. This makes the enhanced edition somewhat less challenging than the original, but still very challenging. Only the greatest tactical geniuses would complain that the game has become easy. You should consider putting the difficulty slider one notch to the right compared to what you were used to in the original. Because of all the new additions, you will be well equipped for some tougher beasties.


New adventures
For me, not too interesting. They are not of the same quality as the original storyline. Then again, that quality is extremely rare. If you do not like the new quests then you can always just skip them.


Conclusion
The enhanced edition is a welcome re-release of a brilliant game. It offers some great improvements while leaving just minor scars.

+Native support for widescreen and higher resolutions
+Native support for Mac and Linux (no more messing around with Wine)
+Zoom function (though when zoomed in the game looks a bit crude)
+Quick loot function eliminates the hassle of searching every corpse individually
+New kits and abilities add fun
+Bug fixes
+Beamdog still provides updates, they have shown their love for this game and do not seem to have done all this for some easy cash (unlike some others).

-Aesthetics (mainly logo and user interface) could have been better/more faithful to the original
-The balance and difficulty of the game are slightly compromised by addition of the new kits, abilities and two-weapon fighting.
Posted January 19, 2015. Last edited January 19, 2015.
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Showing 1-5 of 5 entries