This is a playable and really solid port of the classic game that stays true to the spirit of the original.
I run it in Linux and it is solid. And to see my favorite game on Linux is amazing.
After 20 years, the game still holds magic.

If you are looking for the latest, glitzy, high-graphics, this isn't it. But if you love tactical combat RPGs.... you *have* to play this game.

It took me 22 years, but I finally finished Baldur's Gate, tonight.

We did it, Boo. By Lathander, we did it.

Baldur's Gate - A 16 year old game stands up to the test of time, and it's co-op!

So during the steam summer sale, a friend of mine bought me Baldur's Gate 1(Enhanced Edition) so we could play together(the 4 pack was 20 bucks). 6 months later, we had never played together once so I finally decided that I wanted to play, so I played it solo.

Now there's a few things you should know about Baldur's Gate. The game was originally released in 1998. I played it while I was in high school my senior year. It introduced a LOT of new people to Dungeons & Dragons. It's a 3rd person isometric RPG in which you control all members of your party. It's paused based(instead of turn based), which means that when combat starts, you pause, issue commands, unpause, wait for something to happen, pause again, issue commands, etc, etc. There are lots of games with that type of system now, but as far as I know, BG was the first.

So the way you're -supposed- to play it solo is to create one character and go along recruiting AI NPCs to join your party of up to six. Well you can get around all that by playing in multiplayer mode by yourself. Multiplayer mode lets you create all six party members and tweak them to your desire. You can also export/import different characters at any time. You can easily get away with this from an RP(roleplaying) perspective by saving your game in an inn and swapping party members in and out saying "Oh I met this guy at this inn". So to start with, I created my own party of 3: Human Fighter(me), Paladin, and Cleric, then I pick up NPCs along the way. Not completely satisfied with the NPCs in game, I finished the game with 5/6 party members self generated, and only one in-game NPC(Yeslick the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric). If you enjoy character creation and tweaking things and micromanaging party members, gear, stats, and other RPG elements, this game is definately for you.

Lets talk about the story. This is where the game really drew a lot of people in. For those of you that have already played, you know what I'm talking about. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone that may play the game in the future(even if it IS 16 years old), but it's a great, great story that lets you choose your own path. Of course my path is that of the good soldier fighting for... well... good. But if you enjoy the darker side of things, it's always allowed, which a lot of games give you trouble doing. You can lie, cheat, steal, and murder and still complete the game.

Oftentimes now that I'm in my 3rd decade of life, I've gone back and tried to play games from my childhood that I remember really enjoying, and graphically none of them have stood up to the test of time(X-Com, Doom, etc). Since all of the assets in BG are more or less hand drawn and the enhanced edition lets you play at your native resolution, the game still looks pretty damn good, especially amidst the recent indy dev 8 bit gaming boom. So graphically, it passes the test. The environments are pretty freakin cool too. A whole lot of unique, hand drawn areas that I had forgotten about since I first played a long time ago that made me say "huh, cool" when I came across them recently.

And now let's talk difficulty. Holy ♥♥♥♥ is this game hard. It's been so long since I've played a game that didn't just blatantly hold my hand and coddle me the whole way through I'd forgotten what it's like to play a game that punishes you. AD&D 2.0 core rules are a huge ♥♥♥♥♥ and completely unforgiving. There are 5 difficulty levels in the game:

-Easy - Everything does half damage, all hit point gains per level are maximized, and characters can't permanently die.

- Normal - Everything does 75% damage, all hit point gains per level are maximized, and characters can't permanently die.

- Core Rules - Everything does 100% damage, hit point gains are randomized(so you can get as little as 1 hp/level on your badass front-line fighter that needs ~10 hp/level), and characters can permanently die.

- Hard - Everything does 150% damage

- Insane - Everything does 200% damage and you are a satan worshipping masochist

I may have added that last little part on the insane bit.

So being the badass gaming veteran I am, I of course choose Core Rules. I understand what THAC0 is, I know what the different classes are, I know how to D&D. I'm good.

Or so I thought.

I'm actually not as good as I had thought. I had to do a LOT of fights multiple times because Jesus Christ, this game can be hard. Mostly with the crowd control abilities the enemies get(note - If you fight against a group that has a mage, KEEP YOUR PARTY SPREAD OUT just like in ArmA). A lot of times I'd get hit with an AoE fear or confuse or stun, etc, etc, etc. It could be infuriating, but I kept re-loading and going at the fights in different manners from different angles, and analyzing my party and their abilities and switching things around until finally, at the end of the game, I had SOME sort of idea of what I was doing... I thought... until the final battle.

Let's just say that the final battle in Baldur's Gate had me curled up in a fetal position in the corner of my room praying to Torm asking him what I had done so poorly to have been punished so badly.

So somewhere between 20 and 50 attempts later, I managed to defeat the final boss and win the game. I even had to google strategies for the final boss. I actually felt a sense of accomplishment like I haven't felt in a game in a long, long time. The funny part is, 17 year old me beat the game in 1998 without the internet for guidance. I have NO CLUE how I managed that feat.

So I immediately went to steam and bought Baldur's Gate 2 enhanced edition, even though it's not on sale, and started a new game. This time, however, I'm playing on normal mode. It seems to be a much better balance of playability vs difficulty. I've still lost some fights, but I've learned a whole damn lot and built my party around the strengths needed.

I have a Cavalier paladin because he: 1. Can't be feared, charmed, mind controller, or poisoned; and 2. He can make the entire party immune to fear pretty much all the time. He's also a badass tank alongside my main character which is a frontline fully maximized fighter with sword and shield. I also have a pure Dwarven Cleric, Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Mage, and Dragon Disciple Sorcerer. I dual classed the Thief and Mage with Fighter bases so they could use longbows for good DPS instead of being relegated to a shortbow and a sling. The nice side to that is that they get fighter HP for their first 7 levels so they're pretty beefy on top of it all.

I just pretend(roleplay) that my entire group is a squad of trained military soldiers that have been sent on a mission, so they almost all have that base fighter class from their military training.

So I have 2 tanks(FIghter/Cavalier Paladin), a pure healing Cleric, and 3 pure DPS(Thief/Mage/Sorcerer). But don't be fooled, that fighter and paladin can put out some melee hurt too. The cleric is really the only non-dps class. Oh... Make sure you -always- have a thief in your party with the script that makes him passively detect traps. Trust me on this. You don't necessarily need a thief/rogue that can stealth, but you damn sure need one that can detect/disarm traps and pick locks.

And on that note, there are pre-set scripts that you can use for each character. There are about 20 for all the different classes in the game to mess around with. I pretty much have my whole group on the standard "I see an enemy and attack with my equipped weapon", except for my rogue, who is set to always passively detect traps when not in combat, and my cleric who is set to dynamically run around and heal. I micromanage everything else(mage spells mostly).

Read the rest of this review here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Jester814/discussions/0/648817377413793428/

It took me three tries to get into this game properly and I want to share some tips for new starters that I had to learn through trial and error.

First things first, for the love of God, if you have never played ADnD before do not play on core rules setting, or frankly even normal difficulty. Easy or story mode is the way to go. Easy provides enough challenge for the new player to sink their teeth into, story basically turns the combat into an automatic affair, which might seem boring but is absolutely preferable to being murdered constantly without really knowing why or what to do about it. I played my first playthrough on core rules thinking I would get the 'authentic' Baldur's Gate experience, and, frankly, I wish I had given myself the grace to lower it at some point in the process. This is true for every game, but it is especially true here; there is no shame in pushing that slider down to whatever level feels manageable.

Second, autopause is your friend. With exception of maybe damage I recommend turning basically all of them on at the start and then get rid of whatever ones annoy you most as time goes on.

Finally, remember this game is largely a slow and relatively low stakes adventure, especially in the mid section. Mess around, go exploring, find out what you like. Learning how to take your time is key to enjoying the experience. Listen to the birds, appreciate the environments, grow to love the sound of your characters' footsteps. Games that operate at the pace this one proceeds at are rare these days, so learning how to slow down is, I think, maybe the biggest hump to get over before you can really fully fall in love with it. Level ups, story info, new areas, everything comes slowly in this game. Breathe out and take your time, there's no rush.

Take these going forward and I think you'll start to understand what it was people fell in love with back in the day. As someone with an interest in gaming history and a love for modern CRPGs, I went back into this without a clear vision of what to expect and it took me a while to see the sparkle through all the esoteric mechanical elements. Work with these strange features and they'll do you wonders, though.

I was very young when this game came out, and I already knew by then that I was and still am a save scum lord.

The original Baldur's Gate is one of my favourite games, second only to its successor and is a game any rpg fan must play. Due to its art style for a game that came out in 1998 it still holds up well today. Graphically this game still looks beautiful due to 2d painting-esque backdrops and thirdperson isometric viewpoint.

The gameplay also has an incredible amount of depth to it and the combat is very tactical and varied depending on the class you play and the party setup you choose. The game is also from an era when games were unforgiving and actually provided the player with a challenge. The combat is similar to Dragon Age: Origins where it can be free-flowing and action oriented but it is highly recommended that players take it slowly and utilise pausing to setup properly between rounds during combat.

The game being built upon the ruleset of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons has a lot of depth to classes and the classes will all playout and feel very different which offers a lot of replayability ontop of just choosing and adhering to different alignments.

Also due to the game being built upon AD&D and being set in a D&D realm the game has an incredible amount of history and backstory in there that the world feels real and is incredibly dark and gritty which ties in great with the dark tones of the main story.

Without spoiling too much of the story it starts with very humble beginning and quickly thrusts the player into a world descending into turmoil with bandits and bad guys wanting to kill you at every turn you must uncover the sinister plot that is unfolding and discover your own dark heritage in the process.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this game although I will warn that there is a lot of reading involved and that the combat is designed to played slowly (unlike diablo and games of its ilk) and very tactically but for those that love a game with a great story this game is undoubtedly one you should play.

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.

A classic, brilliant game. With so many options. It is a must play for every single RPG fan out there.

For those coming here from BG3/newer D&D, some advice. Look up the THAC0 system. This game uses it instead of Armor Class. It's a good system but also very confusing when first starting out. Additionally, damage immunity is common. Your wizard is going to need spells to strip it away. It's a *very* hard game.

Turning comments on if anyone wants to add more advice there.

I might be far from finished with this game, but I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The short version:

- It is old. So the graphics are rather simple, and you might be annoyed with some control features
- The amount of content is huge. You will have enough to do for weeks.

Now some info and recommendations for this type of game:

- It is a Dungeons and Dragons Style RPG. This means three things:
1: You cannot be good at everything. Carefully consider who you wish to be and what your skills are. That also includes moral actions. You cannot be a ♥♥♥♥ and a saint at the same time.
- Save regularly. Fights are dependent on a random number factor. This can kill you in a second, or let you win with ease.
- You cannot complete every quest in one playthrough. Some will only be available if you're aggressive or an ass, or if you pick the corresponding companions.

Some recommendations for the game itself:
- Maps / graphics are static and cannot be viewed from a different angle. Move your cursor around to find hidden entrances and stuff to click.
- Check the loot of every enemy you killed. Quest items are not always marked and WILL disappear after a while.
- Look into every house / interior and talk to everyone. Many quests are hidden this way.
- Leaving any area in a specific direction actually matters. Leave an area upwards, you will find new places in that direction. Same to the left, right, etc
- lower or negative stat values from an item CAN be better. Just see which values turn green (better) or red (worse)

Ah, Baldur's Gate... Where can I even begin?

Imagine an innocent young boy, barely six years old, living with his family in a relatively isolated part of Southern Australia in the early 2000s. He enjoyed life to the fullest; he had the best of friends; and his school-life was actually quite fun, for the most part.

Then comes along his older, teenage brother. Moody, smelly, and practically three times the height... but with a mind for a great taste in video games. Duke Nukem, Diablo, and Grand Theft Auto to name a few. But then there was Baldur's Gate.

This was a game that was, to me at that time, the equivalent of experiencing a game like Skyrim in a first-time playthrough. The music was moody and immersive; the color palette was beautiful and vibrant; the voices and sound effects sounded as though they'd been recorded a decade into the future; and the gameplay was something that I could never ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ understand.

And I loved every minute of it.

When my brother wasn't immersing his time into the game, I took his place. I created character after character, experimenting with the selection of spells, trinkets, and weaponry as if I was in a candy shop, and the whole world felt so much bigger than it actually was. Mind you, this was in a time where you had to remove Disc 1 and insert Disc 2 in order to enter certain areas, so each disc felt like a weight of gold in the palm of my hand; beautiful and mesmerizing, but also delicate and fragile.

This was not a game, I soon discovered. This was a work of art. A stroke of genius. A technological marvel that superseded any other Adventure RPG of its kind for decades to come.

This was the game. Grand Theft Auto was unique and intricate in its own way; Duke Nukem was a masterpiece in the action-adventure genre; and Diablo was its own fearful challenge, but nonetheless a treat to the dedicated gamer. But Baldur's Gate... this was the first game I ever played where the choices you made actually meant something, and that whatever you did had some sort of impact on the resulting gameplay, whether it was big or small.

I'll never forget the memories I created with this game. It was well ahead of its time, for 1998, but nonetheless I feel its one of the many grandfathers of modern Open-World Adventure RPGs to date. Nothing will ever do the original version justice, so the Enhanced Edition is of course no exception. Alas, however, not many people still own an old desktop with a monitor the size of a dining chair, with Windows 2000 as the classic operating system. So I suppose the EE will do just fine.

But on that note, the EE barely changes the game at all. It fixes some minor story/narrative bugs and some pathfinding glitches, as well as modernizing the UI and adding some slight graphical improvements... yanno, the usual. But nothing that trails off from how the original game played.

I doubt you'll ever have the same experience that I had, what with so many modern Adventure RPGs proving to be a tough competition. But if you're into a rich player-driven narrative, isometric AD&D-style combat, and an extensive D&D universe, then I can highly recommend Baldur's Gate as well as the sequel.

Now go for the eyes, Boo. Go for the eyes! RrraaaAAGHGHH!!!