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Start game.
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Character creation.
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Disappointed that goblin isn't an option.
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Disappointed that class is linked to race but whatever it's an old game.
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Can't decide between making my character a half-elf druid avenger or gnome thief.
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Settle on druid avenger because playing as an eco-terrorist sounds fun.
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Become disappointed that druids can only be true neutral.
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I make my characters skin green and give them the old lady voice because fuck you game I wanted to make a goblin.
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Walk into the Inn.
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Insult every noble visiting the inn.
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Leave.
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Enter a house and get jumped by an assassin.
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Die.
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Lmao this game rules.
it may just be the nostalgia speaking, but i think bg1 is better than bg2 in the vibes department.
2 is better mechanically, has better items, the classes and stuff are better, but... (of course, some of this doesnt apply to you since you're probably playing the enhanced edition)
2's villain is shit and the story is bad. 1 is childish and b-movie level, but still better IMHO.
also, the pacing. in 2, you're thrown out into a big city immediately after the too long intro dungeon. in bg1, the big city comes at the end, you start out finding lost dogs in the forest and shit.
no idea about 3, i'll probably never bother to play it. i'm too
at this point.
Irenicus' backstory and the overall plot post-Spellhold are random and silly.
Irenicus' voice acting and most of his lines are great.
yeah, it's a great voice actor (and some great dialogue) wasted on a ... not even a generic villain, just a plain uninteresting one. beige.
Eh they both have pacing issues imo BG1 should went to Baldurs Gate after the mines, the whole bandits in the cloakwood thing drags quite a bit and I think it's really telling that almost everyone skips that part of the story when talking about BG1. If you cut out that chapter and let the big city breathe a little bit more it would've been perfect. BG2 has a way too long intro dungeon that's true but I don't think that being in the big city immediately is wrong because it picks up from where BG1 kinda ends so to me it is more
Intro Area->Small Forest->Small towns->Big City->Intro Dungeon->Big City->Underdark->Hell
Also yeah I feel the same about 3 because I hear stuff like 200h playthrough and I just go "nope"
fair, the spider forest shit was annoyingly long. i didnt mind the bandit camp bits. i liked the cloakwood mines too, really. but the fucking spider and ettercap infested forest you have to wade through to get to it... ugh.
but i also really enjoyed just exploring the mostly empty bits on the side, which were 100% plot-irrelevant little universes in themselves with just a few little quests.
There are a lot of cool things out in the boonies, weird encounters, weird quests, weird items.
I enjoy the side adventures but sometimes you want to get through it faster and that part always drags for me even just splitting it into Bandit Camp->BG->Mine would be much better for pacing imo.
Ehhh you might get to 200 hours if you take your time and check everything. My playthrough looks like it'll be sub 100 hours
spoiler
You go to the city in the final act
You pretty much mirror my exact thinking lol
I also prefer Sarevok's B-movie haminess over Irenicus. Irenicus's motivation was never that interesting and his character wasn't hammy enough to be fun.
One of the most popular BG2 mods was a mod to just skip the intro dungeon with all the items in your inventory. Candlekeep was much shorter and you could leave at any time by talking to Gorion.
I love BG1's "we're just throw you in the middle of nowhere and let you wander around getting lost." In BG2, you're stuck at Irenicus's dungeon, then you're stuck at the city, then you're stuck at Spellhold, then you're stuck at the Underdark.
and 2 doesnt have any "pointless" areas. it's all quest hubs, basically.
God I remember finding Rufie and returning him to the 'kid' for the first time lmao