Complete vs Enhanced, and BG1?

[Riony]

Hey folks. Just had two quick questions.

I'm really looking to get into BG2, but I'm not sure which version to purchase. I know a lot of people were saying that the "Complete Edition" was better than the "Enhanced" version mainly because there were apparently a ton of bugs in the later. Did the 1.3 patch fix the issues it had, or would it still be better to grab the Complete edition?

Also, would you recommend playing (or reading about) BG1 first? Does the second game tie heavily into the first game?

Thanks in advance!

[Jigramunt]

You will absolutely positively need to read or better yet,play baldur's gate 1.That makes it so you dont ask yourself <why does this npc know me and i dont?> every 5 minutes.There are also some crucial story elements going in at BG2 expansion that will require you knowing the BG1 story.

Why wouldn't you play BG1 first though?The game is amazing!

[kaiyl_kariashi]

Hard to say really....EE is slowly becoming the definitive version...not for anything included in the game, but for the new externalization of resources that makes EE far more moddable then the original games ever were.

As for which to play first, I honestly believe BG1 is the best part of the series. It's an open world adventure where you're free to go your own way. Where as BG2 is far more linear in it's practice with areas that just feel like they exist for the purpose of questing hubs and not because they're a part of the world.

(Which is very true....BG1 was actually very accurate to the setting in terms of it's locations/designs, but BG2 just pulled a bunch of crap out of their ass for locations, and even the city of Athkatla looks and acts nothing like one in the campaign setting for 2nd. The only part of BG2 that is even remotely correct is the Island of Byrnnlaw and Spellhold. It utterly destroyed my immersion, though someone not as familar might enjoy it more but it comes off as much more arcady and gamey then the first game did).

I mean seriously....a temple of talos...opperating OPENLY in a city that only recognizes the Triad and a few farming or trade oriented gods. And DESPISES any caster that uses destructive magic be they divine or arcane (which is all Talos and his priests do...his clerics can't even cast healing spells because he himself is incapable of creation and can't even grant them healing magic even if would ultimately help his goals).

yes...there is actually a temple to talos in the Amn region, but it's on top of the tallest mountain in the region and purposely hidden to avoid the entire might of Amn coming to crush it.

[Riony]

Awesome, thanks for the replies! It looks like i'll be picking up the EE edition then. Now i'm tempted to grab both BG1 and 2! I'll wait until the Steam Summer Sale starts to see if they end up on there.

Thanks again for the info.

[Riony]

Hey folks! I just wanted to thank you again for your replies and let you know I ended up buying both BG1 and BG2 since the enhanced versions are on sale currently! :D Thanks again for your feedback!

[AlexMBrennan]

I'm really looking to get into BG2, but I'm not sure which version to purchase. I know a lot of people were saying that the "Complete Edition" was better than the "Enhanced" version mainly because there were apparently a ton of bugs in the later. Did the 1.3 patch fix the issues it had, or would it still be better to grab the Complete edition?

Simply put, the original BG came out in 1998 and things have changed a bit since then (you know, back then we had only one user account and everyone was admin).

Unless you are still using Windows 95, the original game will run poorly on your computer.

[danconnors]

It played OK on my Windows XP machine, but Windows 7, ugh. I just don't understand Microsoft's refusal to make backwards compatible software. Seven takes up so much disk space as it is that for a gigabyte more you could put in every version of windows ever made and have the computer ask you at turn on which version you want to use this session.

[knas]

EE versions run smoothly, have a bunch of extra content, both NPCs and areas, does MP w/o hassle and has some nifty new features like the loot mechanic. Definately worthy of your money.

[PFC Chamberlain]

I have windows 7, 4gbs of Ram and an i5 quad-core, no gfx card and both run fine.

If you intend to play by yourself, just get the games from gog.com for cheaper. If you want to play with friends (like me) EE is the way to go. THe servers are (usually) very reliable, and setting up port forwarding and such to allow tcp/ip play is painful. EE has stable multiplayer.