Baldur's Gate 2 Retrospective | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 6)

[@ChrisDavis_Games]

In what appears to be a remarkable coincidence, Larian Studios is now not-so-subtly hinting at an announcement for Baldur's Gate 3, so I guess that bit about Baldur's Gate games never reaching the number three has been made redundant within an hour of this video's publication. You'd think talking about a 20-year-old game would make you relatively safe from last minute updates, but apparently not. Gotta love video games!

[@emmathepony1992]

lmao

[@silasdarkin7979]

Better start working on that half life 2 video!

[@sunbro6998]

That is hilarious. The updates never stop!!

[@timweenie725]

You knew all along!

[@ciapatyciapacz5354]

With Larian at least the combat should be fun

[@ChrisDavis_Games]

"Let's just accept that Baldur's Gate games aren't meant to reach the number three." That aged well.

[@ikaemos]

Hah! It's like the universe conspired to make this video outdated within hours. Personally, I'm glad it did. I would have liked to see Beamdog's attempt at BG3, but Larian will certainly do a good job at it too.

[@megamike15]

the same day to.

[@kambion]

@@ikaemos WAIT WHAT!?!?!?!

[@johnathanera5863]

@@kambion larian teased us with a baldurs gate 3 logo. Its not a lot and nothing has been officially confirmed tho.

[@Meta_Mage]

I have a question though, why exactly does there need to be a third game in this series? The story had a pretty definitive ending.

[@jacobhuppertz5625]

Oh the post BG3 release and watching this feels amazing. Thank god for Larian and their incredible release

[@america8706]

I remember living with my uncle as a young kid and he had this old Windows 98 pc. It took me a long time before I earned his trust and was able to use his pc but one morning he asked if I wanted to play a game and of course I said yes. I had played MechWarrior and one other game about hunting dinos on school computers but had never sat down at home and been able to play on a pc for more than 15 minutes. My uncle brought out his catalog of game disks and asked what I wanted to play. He had the old X-wing game, this 1940’s era pirate fighter game with mercenaries using zeppelins as carriers, a bunch of other games, but most importantly to me, Baldur’s gate 1. I had played Baldur’s gate on the PS2 with my dad a year or two before and I had alot of fun with it, so being familiar with the world and expecting much of the same I chose that one. He showed me how to install the game on a PC and I loaded it up for the first of many many many times. For the next year or so I struggled through every single encounter and quest I could get my greedy little hands on. Sometimes I would be able to play all day and sometimes I wouldn’t be able to play for weeks. I would constantly harass my uncle about how to get through certain areas or what these spells did. That didn’t last long since he didn’t really have the patience to have a kid yapping at him all the time and he quickly told me that I’d have to figure it all out myself. But Baldur’s Gate consumed me and some of my fondest memories are of playing that game. I never got to beat the game sadly since I had to move back to my dads shortly after I made it to Baldur’s Gate itself but nevertheless the story, combat, and hardcore attitude of the game really taught me to try to strive to be a better person. Maybe not good, but a more skilled version of myself. My uncle who had been playing D&D since it first came out along with other tabletop games was a pretty big influence on how I gamed. He was gruff, blunt, and a bit unlikeable, hell I wouldn’t even say that I liked him all that much. But for all his flaws he was the most true neutral person I have ever met and some days I even miss him. Rip Tom Morton.

[@edmomo4410]

America best story ever

[@elitereptilian200]

cool story dude..

[@alphakodiak16]

C'est la vie. There's bittersweet melancholy written all across your story; glad to have read it.

[@bowlock9901]

Your Uncle was a good man, he gave you much more than you realised at the time, great story, really enjoyed it.

[@56Werdan]

I can recognize one of those games: it's Crimson Skies. Great fun, your uncle had good taste.

[@TheCivildecay]

Baldur's gate 2's graphics aged a lot better than NWN's graphics

[@matternicuss]

NWN never looked that great. It only took a year or two for it to become visually outdated. The engine, however, is legendary, and paved the way for classics like KOTOR and The Witcher.

[@DrakeHunter324]

To be honest that's 3d games in general. The tech keeps on moving. With 2D/isometric games if you nail the art style it'll still look great many years later.

[@michaelstronghold3550]

Style is more important than graphics.

[@kreeperrock]

@@DrakeHunter324 yeah early final fantasy games are still fine to play ff7 makes my eyes bleed nowadays though. Early 3d was horrible.

[@mishking9547]

@@kreeperrock Well here comes the FF7 remake...well atleast all of Midgar :P

[@diestormlie]

"Nowerdays, these are written by Jason Schrier and published on Kotaku." *Chef's Kiss*

[@stevenzemaitis1513]

I miss this series, favorite channel I’ve found on old school rpgs

[@luxinterna3370]

As a DnD and Baldurs Gate 2 nerd, who plays through this game on the highest difficulty every year at least one time since 2000, its quite interesting to see a newcomer playing and rating this masterpiece. well done

[@richiesmoothbrain3944]

I literally thought I wrote this comment because since its release I do exactly what you said. Baldurs gate 2 is the only game i feel i have mastered. Sorcerer is my favorite class followed closely by kensai/mage combo. This is my favorite game of all time.

[@piotrzajas9014]

@@richiesmoothbrain3944 Same here :D

[@Marcus_Halberstram]

That's great and all, but have you ever tried DMT?

[@uniquechannelnames]

@@richiesmoothbrain3944 I highly enjoy Sorcerer too, I recently made a Swashbuckler that I dualed into a mage at lvl 10 and goddamn, that char fuckin kicks ass. I can dual wield (swash gets 3 stars in dual wield) 2 katanas and along with my mage spells I'm pretty unstoppable. If I wanna go all out on the fighting I cast tenser's transformation I get up to -10 AC, -6 THACO.. A powerful character.

[@AmstradHero]

An interesting retrospective, though I think there are a bunch of things you either didn't discover or simply are thinking about things without taking into consideration that this was a game released in 2000. 1. You spend quite a bit of time talking about how you're not good at the combat and simply missed things. The game originally came on 4 cds and took quite a while to install. That gave the player plenty of time to read the manual, which was a nicely presented with a ring binder and was generally a delight to read. Additionaly, load screen hints gave plenty of extra information, and I'm pretty sure one of those was about avoiding level drain. This meant you found things like the first line of the paragraph description of "Negative Plane Protection" - "This spell affords the caster or touched creature partial protection from undead monsters with Negative Energy plane connections (such as vampires) and certain weapons and spells that drain energy levels." All the information you needed to know how to play the game was in the manual. If you're not reading that, you not really playing the game like people played it back when the game was released. This was a time where manuals actually mattered and people read them. 2. In the original version of BG2, there was simply an introduction movie to say that some people in Baldur's Gate became suspicious of your lineage, and then you ended up getting kidnapped in the middle of the night. No arbitrary pre-imprisonment, no convoluted lead-up, just a "someone powerful tracked you down and kidnapped you." Spending a bunch of time criticising BG2's introduction because of the way it's handled in Siege of Dragonspear isn't really a reflection on BG2, but Beamdog's work. It just feels a bit out of place. 3. You mention Minsc getting over Dynaheir quite quickly. While Minsc's addled mental state might account partially for this, he doesn't really forget Dynaheir entirely, and will even adopt Aerie as his new witch if she's in the party. If she ever gets low on health, Minsc will go into a berserk state because he refuses to lose another witch under protection, thus reinforcing that he really has not forgotten about Dynaheir. 4. The book about curing vampirism only comes into play if you have a romance in the game. Your love interest will be stolen away and turned into a vampire in one of the later chapters of the game, and after having to fight against them, you end up having to restore them back to humanity. 5. Complaining about the romances and the restrictions on them feels somewhat overblown - particularly as I said, given the context of the game being released in 2000. Romances were an uncommon thing at this point in games, so the fact that they stick to the societal norms of the time, and adhere to somewhat strict racial limitations of AD&D lore is not really surprising, and criticising it feels a bit like it is lacking in context of when the game was actually released. 6. Neera was an addition to the enhanced edition version of the game - so you issue with her adding a bunch of interruptions didn't occur in the base game. 7. I'm pretty sure that doors in the Illithid dungeon can be forced open if you have sufficient strength. 8. Your complaint about the big boss at the end of Watcher's Keep is essentially a result of your lack of investment in the setting. The big bad of Watcher's Keep is a HUGE figure in the setting, so the fact that you as a player would get to go head to head with it (or even have any involvement in its continued imprisonment) is MASSIVE. It's a massive bit of fan service before fan service became a cheesy and forced - anyone who cared about the Forgotten Realms would have been super excited to deal with it. 9. The complaints about the Pocket Plane feeling too similar to Hell at the end of BG2 also neglects the fact that ToB came out a good nine months after BG2, so it didn't feel repetitive as you've made it sound for people who actually played them without being directly back to back. I'd also contend you're overplaying the similarities between the two, but that's opinion for you. 10. Your complaint about the ending of choosing to be a God not being evil is actually missing a point as well. If you ARE evil and you choose to become a God, you are in fact becoming a new EVIL God, pursuing an evil agenda rather than becoming a more benevolent deity as you would have encountered. Finally, the reason that people believe that Baldur's Gate was originally intended to be a trilogy is because that is explicitly stated within the Throne of Bhaal manual. To quote: "From the start of the Baldur's Gate series, we had always planned to do an epic trilogy. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is the final chapter of the Baldur's Gate trilogy and the conclusion of the Child of Bhaal saga."

[@megamike15]

he really should have played this in production order and waited to do sod when he got to the modern crpg era. i enjoy sod fine but alot of his issues come from him having played sod with out playing bg 2 before so he assumes alot of stuff when he got here.

[@timyo6288]

No, not true at all

[@AmstradHero]

@@timyo6288 Are you replying to me? Because if so, if you're going to disagree with me, you'll need to provide some evidence rather than going "wrong".

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

He even admits that he literally didn't read the spell descriptions when it said that it had a drawback like permanently removing constitution for the summon familiar so it's on him for not actually playing the game

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

@@timyo6288 I love someone who looks at multiple paragraphs and just says no very informative

[@Meta_Mage]

Cant believe you missed out on both Vicionia and Aerie. Still the greatest CRPG experience for me after 30 years of gaming!

[@TheCivildecay]

Yes they were the best

[@tropik5724]

Viccy our girl.

[@alexoelkers2292]

The cool part about Baldurs Gate 2 is that every quest is unique, there aren't any fetch quests or go kill this monster ten times.

[@tunnar79]

Except that one fetch quest for the frigging gong :))

[@megamike15]

there are atlest 1 or 2 minor fetch quests in some districts. but they are the minority of the quests.

[@7dayspking]

There are fetch quests. 'Kill X monsters' are basically unheard of in singleplayer RPGs. Much more likely to find those in MMOs, hack'n Slash games and live service games.

[@7dayspking]

@Silvaren cRPG Then you haven't played many RPGs 'today'.

[@alexoelkers2292]

@@7dayspking There aren't any quests in BG2 that ask you to kill x numbers of monsters. There are a couple minor fetch quests here and there (like most modern RPGS have as well) but definitely less than other games of its time.

[@Don-sc1vz]

I grew up on Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment and R.A. Salvatore books. I just started playing Baldur's Gate 2 again or the first time since it was new because I came across this video. It is so much better than many modern games. Most games, even RPGs, are so watered down now. Kenshi is awesome if anyone reading this hasn't played it yet.

[@Bloodynine606]

Comparing this to Bioware's current work is like comparing Game of Thrones season 1-4 to season 8

[@khal7702]

This was perfect

[@bloodynine3798]

@Makoto Urahama no.

[@tbone9474]

@Makoto Urahama you obviously have 0 taste for good drama and character development

[@okeybuckeye524]

Well said

[@toiletbrush69]

@@tbone9474 What "good drama" and "character development" are you talking about? The show relies solely on shock value to maintain viewer interest.

[@Supagamer1989]

Small tip: Your familiar can be tucked away in your backpack if you initiate dialogue with it. Bonus hp, no danger of constitution loss. Love the videos!

[@tunnar79]

Whaaaaaaaat !? F*ckin hell,I didn't know that and I'm on my 2nd playthrough....

[@dru8137]

>game with the most hours in my steam library, around 300 >never once knew this was a feature

[@chrismurphy4398]

Holy shit! Thank you!

[@s.t.5993]

This game was my first experience with DND and arpgs back in high school. I saw the manual full of information and very intimidating. I used a guide to finish it and it took me 1.5 years. The dark elf area was hard, it took me months to kill the enemies. Wow what a breathtaking game

[@JaredTakesTime]

Baldur's Gate is a truly special game. It's not perfect but I haven't played a game since that is this dense. Removing its historical importance, it still stands up as a game that as you've touched on, leaves you wanting more, not less. And of course, Jon Irenicus set the bar for villains in video games. "I wonder if you are destined to be forgotten. Will your life fade in the shadow of greater beings?" Not your life, Shadows of Amn. Not your life.

[@khal7702]

It was my first RPG...

[@divolg7981]

@Manek Iridius Well, there's no account for poor taste. Also, what the fuck are you even doing here then?

[@jjgiblin]

You killed Aerie? You monster! She was my closest companion and love interest :(

[@andreaswestman8944]

My thoughts exactly :D

[@silentspartan46]

Aerie for Baldur’s Gate 3!!

[@larsulle3842]

So annoying! "Boo-hoo! My wings got clipped! Whimper whimper i wanna be strong!" I couldn't stand having her and Jaheira in the same party. Jaheira complained so much i wanted to feed her to Firkraag, and Aerie was so wimpy i wanted to leave her with the drow.

[@berenedain8427]

My evil party had Aerie for all of about 5 minutes. For some reason she didn't like the drow in my party. I was an equal opportunities employer and wouldn't abide her racist outbursts. XD

[@video_ouija7114]

@@larsulle3842 she says some badass stuff at the end and grew as a character. Not to mention being incredibly strong in battle

[@XenomorphsWrath]

Back when it was new I played BG 2 so often, that I became a walking, living guide to it. I could draw out most of the locations and the trap locations, notable items, npcs, everything. It ended with me beeing able to complet the entire game (BG 2 + ToB) in 2 and a half days (friday afternoon + the weekend) and I must say that I still get the urge to play it. It was a great game, a milestone in cRPG designe and a game that held "best game I have ever played" until I touched the mass effect series. Kotor 2 came close, VERY close, but in the end the bugs put it firmly on the silver pedastle. To everyone who has not played it but is interested in story and character plays - Buy it and take your time. It is complex, but you can manage it if you read through your options and if in doubt, simply go for one of the many "strong builds" you can find online and just execute them. It will feel like you are cheesing or breaking the game, but if you don't want to deal with learning it yourself it's always an option.

[@worstpiloteu1645]

Yup Mass Effect (trilogy) has the best story in a game (series) of all time.

[@TheBarser]

I play it every few years, and think I go at it again which is why I am here. It is just difficult for me not to play as stupid op kensai/mage. It is just to tempting.

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

@@worstpiloteu1645 if you don't count the third game

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

Absolutely do not look online and instead actually play the game and figure stuff out for yourself that is half the fun. My favorite class is a Jester for crying out loud

[@agriphalalbion115]

I love your review videos. Your voice is calm and your script is balanced and well reasoned. Thank you. It's a rare joy to listen to you. I feel much better about how I spent my day.

[@kambion]

lmfao @ "which is why bioware now releases completely bug free games"

[@lilfrostyy8829]

*Stares at Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem*

[@es_three232]

Shhh. Dont ruin it for him. I wanna believe that too.

[@riley8385]

@Heresiarch /woosh

[@bozoclown2925]

@Heresiarch hint: he was joking

[@RyanKaufman]

@@riley8385 It's beautiful when people woosh this hard. Especially when they have dated meem pics

[@tonyguido232]

Still to this day....this is my favorite game of all time. I even bought an old CPU so that I could mess with the voice files.

[@idaret.]

Fun fact about "negative plane protection" - there was loading screen tip about it but bg2:ee is too fast for loading screens so they removed them. I think most people who played original BG2 knew about it.

[@shawngillogly6873]

Yeah. The tips were an important clue in the original version about what would be prominent. Something Pathfinder:Kingmaker recaptured.

[@gaddag1477]

"Dated graphics" NWN looks bad now compared to BG2.

[@moomah5929]

I think BG1 aged worth than BG2, both prerendered graphics and old polygon graphics aged badly. Polygon graphics aged worse most likely, depending on how much detail the prerendered graphics possessed. But I tend to find many games with fully prerendered graphics quite ugly and already prefered classic sprites and pixelart far better looking then newer (mid 90s) games, where the makers thought sterile render graphics are the future.

[@bangchanswebbrowsinghistor5145]

still playing bg2 today. still find the maps gorgeous.

[@megamike15]

i find nwn's graphics charming.

[@7dayspking]

@@moomah5929 'I prefer sprites than pre rendered games'.....ehhhhh. Prerendered games are often claimed to be the best looking games of the 90s, it's hard to say either way. I'd say it varies from game to game.

[@MillenniumEarl014]

NWN EE looks good tho

[@balhaddadinn]

The Alignment detection is used in one quest for the paladin stronghold. But, other than that, yes, it's useful to read the aura of an NPC and can indeed give you a clue about whether or not to expect a trap or deception. Also, there are certain spells like Holy Smite, Holy Word or their opposites, that only affect enemies of certain alignments - I found myself (on my first playthrough, since Ii didn't know then) reading enemy alignments just to be sure what spells will be effective.

[@lukewithann7256]

yoshimo was affected by a geas. i think i read somewhere they wanted to make it possible to save him (someone found dialogue options for him from later in the game) but it was cut due to time constraints. its a real shame too because yoshimo is one of my favourite characters

[@alexoelkers2292]

To this day this game is still my favorite RPG game of all time!

[@MrCristor]

We never saw again such a great villain like Irenicus!

[@TheCivildecay]

Same, I played most populair rpg's (series), and none of them are as good as baldur's gate 2

[@Ciowan]

Mine too.

[@Nard2ndG]

I'm going to check out Scott Lynch, mentioning him side by side with Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson is all I need.

[@demoulius1529]

BG2 has been one of my most beloved gaming memory. It was lovely to hear your experiences with it :)

[@MyKeyMoonShine]

Getting the EEs on sale is the only reason I played these games and I'm so glad I did. BG2 is one of the best games I've ever played and I only played it s a few years ago. I think my favourite thing about it is that some of the side quests are their own huge stories, with areas and characters and massive ramifications, can't think of many games that do this.

[@thedowntowndogg]

Cmon back Chris we need ya!

[@bachstrad1994]

"How wonderfully mad of you" is one of my favorite lines in the game

[@LetsPlayPC]

For as "outdated" as its graphics supposedly were in 2000, this game has aged way better than NWN, which had those hidieous and boring tilesets that look abysmal now.

[@Heya1111]

I don't always agree with you on the details of your critique but it's absolutely great that you've taken the time to articulate them fairly! Thank you!

[@-RTC-]

I remember going into Software Etc. in my hometown and seeing BG2 on the shelf and being so excited to play it. I got it when it first released and loved it. But I never finished it. Every couple years I would revisit it, play 50-70 hours but never actually complete the game. I finally finished it and the expansion about a year ago, and am really glad I finally did. Just listening to this video has me wanting to play it again. That music too. Some of the best video game music ever.

[@mrchuckmorris]

J. Jonah Jameson: "If Spider-Man doesn't wanna be famous, I'll make him INfamous!" Chris Davis: "What's the difference?"

[@megamike15]

chris " i don't know the definition of infamous" davis.

[@waveplay3978]

Great retrospective. I will say that BG2 is probably the best, most complete RPG experience I've ever had. There are RPGs I had more fun with and that I'm more fond of (Vampire Bloodlines for example) but this is a game that is the quintessential RPG in pretty much every way. I played the game back when it was new, but never beat it, only getting as far as the Underdark and getting distracted by the newest shiny game. So I recently replayed it (in 2015) and I couldn't believe just how MUCH there was in this game. So much freedom, so many interesting small stories in the form of quests and secondary dialog. So many companions with fleshed out personalities who you could interact with, do their personal quests, etc. Everywhere I looked, there the game was, offering me something to dive into. But same as you, the combat system is kind of my bane. I never played tabletop D&D and I just can't grok the system. Most of the time I'm using brute force to get over encounters. The difficult ones are sometimes so extremely hard that I'm quickloading for what feels like hours. The spells and status effects are so numerous that figuring it out must be very rewarding and the key to mastering the system (another aspect of this game that is full of meat on its bones), but it becomes mentally exhausting. I beat the game for the first time in that playthrough on normal difficulty, but set it down to "story mode" for Throne of Bhaal, which I don't know if it was the right decision. I'm sure I'd have gone crazy trying to take on all these boss fights, as it's a real gauntlet, but doing it on story mode trivialized the experience to the point where I felt like I'm not getting the proper experience. Overall, this left a weird after taste for me and kind of colored my feelings for the game as a whole. But the base BG2 was amazing.

[@karlobasil8493]

So,in story mode,enemies basically can't kill you,right?

[@waveplay3978]

@@karlobasil8493 Yeah pretty much. You can still die if you play REALLY badly, but it should be a cake walk for anyone who pays even just a bit of attention. If anything the final battles were in a weird spot where I wouldn't die, but the boss would still be able to take a lot of my attacks, so it was just kinda drawn out IIRC.

[@karlobasil8493]

@@waveplay3978 thanks man)And what about bg1?I heard it's pretty much dated game,especially in term of side quests...Did i need to play first game,or i should go straight to the second one?

[@waveplay3978]

@@karlobasil8493 BG1 is a good, very classic D&D RPG. It has a traditional feel to it. "You walk into a tavern and meet somebody who hires you for a dungeon delve" kind of thing. I liked it for that, it's comforting. Also the battles are more simple than in BG2 since you start at level 1 and get to 7 or 8 by the end. So there's fewer, less complex spells and abilities to juggle. Overall it's a good game but it BG2 is a lot better in most aspects. So if you only have time and energy to play one of them probably go for BG2

[@karlobasil8493]

@@waveplay3978 thanks for the answer)btw,who are you romanced in bgs2?

[@SageofStars]

I will say, Watcher's keep is best experienced by those familiar with the setting, the forgotten realms. It's a love letter to those of us who played these games, read the novels of the time, and played ADnD, featuring names(Lum the Mad, Demigorgon, the deck of Many Things) that were touch stones for the community. That is the flaw of course, and yet, I loved the game for it back in the day. It's the nichest of the niche content type.

[@viewtifuljoe99]

Just finished my first playthrough of BG2 and wanted to return to finally watch this video. There is just so much to this game. Despite having spent 85hrs on it and not even doing the expansion yet, I still feel like I rushed through it when I hear about all these sidequests and things I missed.

[@bostonceltics3055]

That's why there are so many people doing multiple playthroughs with a different main char and companions. One of the best games there is, no doubt about that.

[@NKMitch42]

Im always torn on the relationship stuff. Open relationship options are good for fantasy of the player, but im also interested in characters being fully fleshed with their own preferences, it makes them feel more real to me as people than if I can romance everyone, I like the preferences of my companions being as varied as my group of friends irl. And both of those things are important, imo.

[@zanmato86]

Great to see this series continued. This era of gaming was superb. Hundreds of hours in baldurs gate and I still enjoy playing now.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

One thing to note is that actually BioWare did not import any choices between games in Baldur’s Gate. Only the characters sheets and inventory is imported. So for example killing Edwin in 1 won’t affect the game anymore than killing Dorn

[@Shaewaros]

I think most players don't know how to deal with Level Drain. I remember doing all the same mistakes you did first time playing BG2. I'm happy that you didn't give up on learning more about the game mechanisms after encountering these challenges, but it inspired you to read spell descriptions closely. This is the same effect BG2 had on me back in the day - I read the game manual through countless times until I had familiarized myself with most of the game mechanisms. And the game rewards you for experimenting and dedicating time to understand it more thoroughly.

[@DrakeHunter324]

2E rules in general confused many players.

[@Jandau85]

Funny how Bioware was being called out for using an "outdated" engine for BG2, only to put on NWN a few years later on a new engine, but when we look back BG2 looks a LOT nicer than NWN (which is just horrid to behold at this point)...

[@megamike15]

it became more funny when you think besides mass effect [ it was ue] they just used a modified nwn engine up tilll da 2.

[@TheCivildecay]

2D graphics age a lot better than 3D

[@megamike15]

@@TheCivildecay depends on the 3d. i find cell shaded games age alot better then normal 3d.

[@mrchuckmorris]

@@megamike15 That's why Wind Waker looks better and better while Twilight Princess looks worse and worse, even though at the time everyone was like "UGH finally, a *realistic* looking Zelda game!"

[@TheBoxingCannabyte]

To me the infinity engine is like playing DnD on a beautiful moving painting or something. It has an ageless look about it. IF they did some graphics update the most i'd want to see it go is Pillars 2 graphics, and keep as much of the hand-drawn stuff as possible, (updated character models like Pillars 2 would be awesome)

[@TheBoxingCannabyte]

okay, seeing Baldur's Gate 3 and having pre-ordered it....I gotta say i am VERY excited, it didn't do what i wanted, but probably did something MUCH better. That said, I am working on a storyline for my Half-Dwelf-Half-Drow Bhaalspawn that will fit him in a thread from BG1-BG2-TOB-Icewind Dale 1-2, possibly Neverwinter Nights, but definitely ICewind (Ill have to adjust the year the events of IWD happen which seems fine) and the Bhaalspawn re-appears, with amnesia and having had some very major physical changes in BG-3 and im gonna mod Jaheria and Minsc to recognize my character.

[@chriswhetton3584]

This game, and the original, used to come with a massive manual that was incredibly useful. The EE do not come with this obviously, so I wouldn’t consider using the internet cheating when that resource is not available

[@thesaim1036]

Thanks for the nostalgia trip man. I almost forgot how good these games were and how much I loved them. They absolutely blew my mind when I was a kid and your video makes me want to give them another run sooner or later. Cheers!

[@RiceBenderson]

I almost thought you quit making these thank you so much

[@Endarire]

Since you liked the game so much, there are DECADES of mods made for the various Infinity Engine games. Enjoy and thankee!

[@JasonoftheNorth]

Your style and humility are inspiring and refreshing. Reading your Patreon page was such a joy. Thanks for being who you are and sharing your voice with us. 💯

[@ladysundae6545]

Made my morning to see this Patreon notification come through!

[@robd9413]

One of the points of Portal vs Fish City choice is that you get a piece of the Vorpal Sword and a piece of the Wave halberd if you take the city route. The Vorpal sword has an occasional insta-kill against anything (including dragons apparently but I've never pulled that off) and the Wave Halberd has an mostly guaranteed insta-kill against fire-based things (like the greater fire elementals and fire elemental prince in ToB). Both are worth the diversion. Might be other stuff down there too.

[@DrakeHunter324]

Now you made me fire up the game again. I used to pull all nighters playing this game. Too old to pull that off nowadays.

[@ppunion]

@Chris Davis. You sir, you are a MONSTER for making me play the game AGAIN.

[@elitereptilian200]

@Daniel Codd sucks to get old doesn´t it.. *sigh*

[@jasonblankenship5166]

Great retrospective. Loved BG2. However I’m even more excited for your arcanum retrospective as it is probably one of my favorite games of all time, warts and all.

[@Ammothief41]

That vampire energy drain ended my play through of the game years ago. Funny hearing it gave everyone trouble.

[@sebastiencarrieres8825]

At 55:40 , when you say you had to become the slayer, well, actually there's another way to do it as when coming close to the door it says something like huge strength or force of will can open the door. It happens in this dungeon full of creature with amazing mental powers, you can control them, so you don't have to be the slayer...

[@steffanvandepoll]

I guess for people who know a lot about D&D lore, the underdark is an amazing place like truelly.. I guess also for those with knowledge of Salvatore's books meeting Jarlaxle is just a delight.. also the fish in the jar - an actual Aboleth... seeing one in the game is just.. *mind blown... I have nothing but love for these details. Though for most regular players these are things that are just unnoticable. Such a shame.

[@silentspartan46]

The Underdark is my number one part of the game for me. Mindflayers and drow man

[@onnol917]

You did a really nice job on this video and I love the detail about the main villian. He is my favorite bad guy, voice actor did such a good job solidifying him

[@CalloftheWildOfficial]

Great job Chris! I love that you encountered and articulated the level drain woes as well. One of my most memorable times in the game was discovering your 3 points as well, much obliged!

[@Novofreeze]

Been waiting for this. Absolutely adore this series, keep it up mate!

[@CalloftheWildOfficial]

All time favorite!

[@5punkybob]

I was born in 85 and never played dnd at all but my friend the same age played with his parents and a few friends and he introduced me to BG. I purchased it and it was my first RPG I played. I didn’t understand the DnD mechanics but I was able to get through the game without knowing what THAAC0 was so yay!! I never played past the first dungeon in BG2 but I have the EE version on my switch (I own on PC also but never get time on my PC) so I’m starting at BG and will play through to the end of BG2!

[@Saturn2888]

You talked about being able to skip an entire section after rescuing Imoen. I was watching your video thinking "I know I got to the mind flayers in my only playthrough early 2000s, but I sure as heck don't remember this part." Apparently I went directly in the portal. This game is so incredible. I wish I was able to finish it all those years ago. 120 hours in and got stuck in a single battle with mind flayers...

[@megamike15]

the mind flayer dungeon is a side quest in the underdark. what you can skip is the shark city.

[@Saturn2888]

​@@megamike15 This was 20 years ago. I deleted the save years ago thinking I'd never end up beating the game.

[@xzaratulx]

It will forever be my most loved and played game. Amazing review !

[@JuanSolos]

i didn't find your isometric retrospectives until today with Fallout 1 but have been really enjoying them

[@ankujo8924]

Really enjoying listening to your whole take on these games. Went through a similair round of discovery on all these old cRPGs a few years ago myself. Really love them all save for kind of Icewindale. Also only just started Arcanum myself a week ago lol. Which looks like is next in this playlist xD

[@GuyIncognitoIV]

It’s been a long time since I played BG2 and the truly terrible path finding is one of the only things I can remember about it! Despite that, I’m looking forward to replaying it, especially now that I’ve got these enhanced editions - your vids have made me excited to revisit all these classics

[@Photosynthesisbeing]

Baldurs gate 2 is one of the oldest games I've replayed so many times and still play to this day. ToB was a great expansion to this game, fully recommended to all.

[@JD..........]

Very thorough and harsh critique if I’m honest. But a quality one. However I simply have doubts that many folks noticed many of the criticisms pointed out in this critique as they were playing. Twas your job as a reviewer of course, but it is so easy to become fully engrossed in this adventure while having a total blast. This is my most played game of all time btw so I feel qualified to speak on it. Enjoyed your review!

[@Mrityugata]

About the lack of feedback -- in the "feedback" section of the gameplay options you can turn on the to-hit and saving rolls display.

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

Yeah honestly I think he's just playing the wrong type of game if he's whining about the game not playing itself and giving the player too much options for strategy

[@accordDEon]

You can't complain the taking down of the characters on the one, because they are ALL in BG 2. Quayle for example is the uncle of Aerie, you can find Ajantis that you kill from your hand on Windspear etc etc, all of them can be found, you just have to pay attention, I think it is a huge easter egg from this game that I love so much.

[@j.lahtinen7525]

I really like the fact that the game lets you miss out on content - it makes replaying the game more interesting, as you may discover something you missed out on the first time. As to the evil characters, Edwin is great! Aside from the fact that he's the strongest NPC mage in the game, his personality makes for.... interesting times. His personal quest is absolutely hilarious.😁 Arie can be a little whiny (understandable, given her past), but she's a great character too, with many interesting interactions with other party members. And her "war cry" can sometimes be pretty funny; I once defeated a dragon by buffing her up to the max, to give her a high hit chance, and then had her cast "slay living", which would make her next hit slay any living thing, if they fail a save versus spell. So this tiny elf walked up to the huge dragon, letting out her fierce war cry: "I.... I won't let you hurt my friends!", thumping the dragon with her mace; and the dragon failed the spell save and dropped dead on the spot. 🤣

[@megamike15]

i feeel the baldurs gate series is very replayable. there is stuff you willl misss like character quests and banters. and there are so many mods that the amount of party combinations becomes very high.

[@stevequincy388]

One of the best RPGs ever! Back when Bioware was at their prime....now? Errrrr......not so much, classic Bioware is pretty much dead. Also forgot to mention, unless you have a deep knowledge of 2e, there’s no shame in looking up guides on how spells work and which to use in each situation. Games nowadays hold your hand and tell you pretty much everything you need to know, not with BG. I’ve played through both games multiple times and am quite comfortable now, but my first play through was rough trying to figure when to use the correct spells! A simple guide I found on the Internet made BG2 transform from a frustrating experience to one of my favorite games of all time.

[@yorkoh5880]

I faced a similar issue on my first playthrough when I was ~10 or so - Vampires kicked the shit out of me in combat and I never made the connection of being able to defend myself against them with the things you listed. Instead I allied with the vampires to avoid needing to fight them in the early game. Absolute cop out on my part! In any case, really enjoying the vids, and your mindset going into them.

[@CMLew]

There is something interesting character wise about companions only having certain preferences, makes them seem more real and well rounded. Of course much like you being a straight white male that makes it easier for me as some of my preferences are probably more well versed.

[@charlesdexterward7781]

The ultimate BG2 for experienced players: permadeath mode using the famous SCS, Spell Revisions, and Item Revisions mods. The greatest 'fair' difficulty and balancing mods of all time.

[@takarahayashi4124]

the cure for vampirism is based on whether your MC had a lover or not. cause Bhodi turns them into a vampire. Just FYI.

[@TheGrimLlama]

It's really cool to watch reviews for games that had such a big impact on my early life as a gamer. Also I like that you're so honest about your flaws... coz like most of the game isn't THAT hard dude, just read stuff, but then again I've been playing these games since I was like 10. Still very much enjoyed the videos and will come to you when they release BG 3.

[@bcross9109]

Was legit excited to see this video, and it's made me want to play BG2 for the story (even though I bounced off BG1 because of the long dungeon crawls and unintuitive DnD ruleset), BUT oh my god the looping music for 1hour+! Please don't do that to us again, Chris!

[@Garret02]

Actually, Sarevok is super badass (periodically dealing over 200 damage), has cool voice, great dialogs AND you can change his alignment to good through conversations and actions.

[@mrchuckmorris]

Agreed -- for someone who claims to be so story-centric, Chris Davis really dropped the ball on dissing Sarevok. His redemption arc, accepting that the Bhaalspawn will usurp his place in history, moves him from being a generic "Kurgan from Highlander" clone in BG1 into totally new territory. My one wish they never granted (outside of mods) was allowing Solaufein into your party. But he probably would've tread too much on Viconia and even Drizzt's identities. Too many "redeemed Drow" arcs dilutes them all, I suppose.

[@someguy3186]

I remember not knowing how to deal with level drain at all during my first playthrough all those years ago. Like you, I was completely unfamiliar with D&D, with my only previous experience being Planescape: Torment, a game with minimal combat.

[@agathawinters3383]

My favorite companion quest was the Mazzy Fenton questline. This game was amazing.

[@tatuira93]

This series of yours is killer, I'm subscribed to see more of these.

[@martixy2]

4:00 I was drinking water at the time. You made me choke and almost die there. As a veteran AD&D and 3.5e player(I DM a 3.5 session every week), it is endlessly entertaining watching you stumble thru the incredibly complex mechanics. Another reason I'm still on 3.5e instead of moving on to 5e.

[@williethenerfherder2193]

3.5 cleric is so awesome.

[@AM-uo2kf]

I just finished my first main story play through last night clocking in somewhere over 70 hours, and I absolutely agree that it was a bit exhausting. Not bad by any stretch and had I not played baulders gate 1 immediately before it. I really think I would’ve appreciated to even more. And for me by the time I was ready to wrap up and I was in chapter 7 and realise my party composition probably will not get me through this last part. I switched two story mode just to finish it up.

[@JokersVsZombies]

There is a throwing axe in BG2 that is absolutely devastating to vampires. Whenever I play, that weapon is an absolute must for me.

[@billlyons7024]

Weird, I am currently playing through Baldur's Gate Enhanced for the first time, and planning to move on to my second playthrough of Baldur's Gate 2 and TOB after that. The last thing I was expecting was a KZbin video on the series to come up in my alerts.

[@-RTC-]

Hey man, great video. The Baldurs Gate series is my all time favorite. It’s nice to see people still making content about these games. Also regarding Baldurs Gate 3. Holy hell I couldn’t believe it. hopefully it’s good. Larians Divinity games are amazing but they are more humorous and lighthearted. I hope they adjust the art style and overall feel of the game for BG3. If the trailer is any indication, we might be getting what we’ve all wanted! Cheers

[@brent13420]

Never been to your channel, never watched a standard youtube video that was over an hour and I actually watched too! Good work, although this is my Game and I loved listening to you talk about it. I loved hearing your perspective playing it, I have played it so much since I first got it back in 2000. You have done a great service to this game in your retrospective, consider me subscribed, Thank You.

[@Korabro]

Great video as always. Regarding breaking down doors in the mind flayer dungeon (55:30). You can avoid transforming by mind-controlling a mind flayer using the slave collars you can make in the dungeon. When you try to open the door the first time you get a tooltip that tells you that only an illithid or a powerful being can open the door

[@skylarsimes8]

I shall call him........Clarota

[@Rzepik]

RIP Aerie. Somebody finally fell for it.

[@megamike15]

aerie always is in my party. so him killing her makes me sad.

[@bulanet271]

Aerie romance song. Innocence at it's finest.

[@TheCivildecay]

Never expected anyone to actually kill Aerie... She was my waifu (before that was a thing) when I was a teenager

[@bulanet271]

@@TheCivildecay no more acorn cracking for her

[@video_ouija7114]

When I first played the game, i went to the circus right away. Set the tone immediately that your choices have huge impact. The game would just let you kill a companion like that right away, incredible. Fantastic game

[@francesfuego6950]

Never stop making your videos I wonder if you’ll ever do fighting game videos or one about Chrono Trigger

[@kokizzu]

like these kinds of game artstyle, like Arcanum, Sacred 1/2, Diablo 2

[@TheNickcone]

Arcanum is amazing

[@artlessmonster8376]

This is the first of your content I've watched and it was great! Subbed. I especially liked your discussion of bioware romances old vs new. One major difference I've noticed going backward through the bioware catalogue is a shift in where the romance originates - who shows interest first. In newer titles you can choose to flirt (and they may or may not reciprocate - Inquisition's companions do have gender and race preferences), whereas in older titles it will be the compatible companion that will initiate and the player can choose how to respond to that. Going from the newer to older games had me googling which stealth romance option I had accidentally chosen to get all these dudes declaring their undying affection. Also in Beamdog's defence, characters not remembering you killed them in previous games isn't restricted to their EE additions. In my BG1 playthrough I killed Edwin and lost Tzar to a giant spider, but they showed up in BG2. There are dialogue options for it ("Hey, weren't you dead?") and they both respond with something like 'don't worry about the past'. Apparently the explanation is that there is a cleric with a dustpan and broom who follows the PC around from a discreet distance, sweeping up the giblets of recurring characters and resurrecting them.

[@KalleVilenius]

Getting interrupted on every quest by starting another quest is what adventure is all about!

[@scarlb12]

If you ended up making a video on the new Baldur's Gate I would love to watch it! I really loved your videos about the previous ones.

[@phantomeyebrow]

Nice vid. My experience of BG1 was similar to how yours sounded. I found that I learned a lot (relative to where I was) from playing Temple of Elemental Evil. Its a different D&D rule set, but the turn-based gameplay gave me all the feedback I needed to determine what actions and what builds worked and those that did not.

[@ded2thaworld963]

Oh man, about to have a nostalgia seizure. I LOVED the Baldurs gate games and cant count the hours i spent on them.

[@brianelkins8604]

In the original game there were only four romanceable characters. 3 female and one male and none of them could be romanced by the same sex. As far as I know, this was the fist game to introduce romanceable characters. If this is the case then I think we can cut them some slack on the black a variety.

[@Xegethra]

01:41. I like shorter games in general, some longer ones are fun for me but I do tend to burn out on longer stuff. I think that's a reason I don't play MMO's, they're just long and never end. I think limited romance is a good thing, people praise realism in games but want your character to be able to sleep with anyone? In real life not everyone wants to be with everyone else. Not all are compatible. That being said, I do think there should be different NPC's for your different characters while others should be locked off and never can be romanced. That's realism. Going deeper but probably too deep is not all straight characters should like each other, not all gay ones should like each other either. Of course being too limited sucks, may as well not have it at all then. That's assuming the romance is even a romance and not some underwhelming talking that calls itself a romance.

[@genghisdon1]

it is funny hearing you talk about romance options...BG2 was either the first, or among the first to have ANY such thing

[@1911odisea]

Ascension doesn't merely increase the difficulty of boss fights - it also greatly expands the story and content for the Throne of Bhaal expansion. Plus it's considered to be semi-official, as it was created by some of the original developers. I'd be the first to say that it's not for everyone, but it's practically a must have for repeated playtroughs.

[@megamike15]

i kinda don't like it. due to being an early mod it is written weirdly and i tend to have alot of bugs when using it during the final battle.