BG1 and BG2 are Second Edition, I had a memory of BG2 including certain aspects of 3e like feats, but that might have been Icewind Dale 2.
Comment on Baldurs Gate 1 is a fantastic adventure
who@feddit.org 8 hours ago
Thanks for the write-up. I’ve been pondering Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2 in part because I think some of BG3’s characters first appeared in the earlier games.
Which edition of D&D rules does the first game follow?
Davel23@fedia.io 8 hours ago
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
You’re thinking of Icewind Dale 2, which tried to implement Third Edition rules.
who@feddit.org 7 hours ago
I wonder how well I would manage in a 2e world after years of familiarity with 5e, and how difficult it would be to adjust back to 5e afterward.
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
The biggest mental shift is how in 2e lower defenses are better than higher ones, a completely unintuitive system that they dropped for later editions. Everything else is, while not the same, at least similar enough that you wouldn’t get confused.
The lack of cantrips is another, making low level casters miserable to play due to how carefully you need to ration their handful of spells. The lack of bounded accuracy and weapon proficiency system means they won’t be any use in melee, so they’ll mainly spend their time in combat dealing a few points of damage from a distance using weak slings.
(Though higher-level casters are absurd and can basically carry your party, as is tradition for old-school tabletop RPGs.)
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Second Edition. It’s… not great, especially at the low levels the first game starts you at.
who@feddit.org 7 hours ago
Do you mean that survival is hard at those levels? Were you by any chance playing a wizard?
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
2e follows an old-school power curve where you’re pathetically weak at the start and overwhelmingly powerful at the end, but it takes it to extremes. A single bad roll can be a game over in the first game (especially since this edition loves save-or-die effects), while Throne of Bhaal, the final entry in the trilogy, gives every common enemy a +3 or higher magic weapon just to give them a chance against your party and you still mow them down by the dozens.
The sweet spot in 2e is around levels 7-13, which just so happens to be where BG2’s first act sticks you at.