Baldur’sGatefranchise is no stranger to the gamers of the 90s. It was the trending RPG of its time. The game focuses on letting the player take control of theircharacter from their race to the team they choose. Exploring the mysterious world ofBaldur’s Gatealways has something new in store for the players.
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Baldur’s Gate 2released in 2000, since then modders have been putting out new mods to keep the game fun. Seeing the popularity the studio decided to release a remake ofBaldur’s Gate 2.Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editionstands on the core principals of the original, but new features are added too. This gives a fresh look to the game. While a lot of minor elements are added in the remake, there are a few that stand out the most.
10Exclusive Mods
Before theEnhanced Edition,Baldur’s Gatewas almost a dead game. In an era, when there is so much to entertain ourselves, an old RPG with bugs and outdated mechanics does not seems to catch the attention. That all changed with the release ofEnhanced Edition. It breathed a new life into the franchise, bringing old and new players into the scene.
Modders are active once again because they are provided with even more freedom to bend the rules of the game. Their creativity is the limit. The reason GTA V is played to this day is the community of mods. The novelty never wears off, thuskeeping the experience fun. Some of the old mods work on theEnhanced Editiontoo.
9Screen Resolution Compatibility
In 2000, 720p was the cutting-edge technology of the time. Then came 1080p, UHD and finally 4k, which is about to becomethe talk of yesterday with the advent of 5k. Therefore, developers had to make the game support higher resolutions.
Enhanced Editionsupports 4k on 60fps. Now players can enjoy the game on their triple-monitored gaming setup. The widescreen mod of the old version works but it’s very limited. It can only get to 800x600.
8New Interface
A modern game can be easily recognized by how it looks. The menu icons and the interface all have a familiar look to them. So it was apparent that the team would update the interface of the oldBaldur’s Gate. The whole feel of the game is different. It can be a hit or miss for old players who are coming back for the nostalgic feel.
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This includes changes in the menu icons. Overall, it was a good decision and does not affect the gameplay in any way. So the game can be enjoyed to its full potential. It provides more ease to the players like showing more info.
7New Characters
Three new NPCs- Dorn II-Khan, Neera, and Rasaad- were added in theEnhanced Edition. NPC are an interesting aspect of a game, they make the world feel real. Therefore, NPC needs to be executed perfectly withgood voice acting, relatable stories, and good design.
Neera is a wild mage. She becomes an essential part of the team in a short time. The player’s control over her improves as she levels up. She also flirts, if the main character is male. Dorn and Rasaad are good too. They have their special quests and stories. Dorn fits more in an evil party.
6Black Pits and Siege of Dragonspear
TheEnhanced Editioncontains two new storylines: The Black Pits and Siege of Dragonspear. The Black Pits are a stand-alone story containing a few hours of tactical combat. It takes roughly 8 hours to complete the quest. It also received a sequel-Gladiators of Thay.
The other, Siege of Dragonspear, is available as a DLC. The story may not appeal to many but the boss fights are really fun. Also, there is an NPC named Baeloth, is the owner of Black Pits. It is advised to play SoD before The Black Pits since Baeloth is a crossover character between them. It’s a good experience after completing the main quest and creating a new party to go through it. It’s worth checking out once.
5Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion Pack
Tales of the Sword Coastwas a stand-alone titleBaldur’s Gatetitle released in 1999. It comes box packed with theEnhanced Edition. It is enjoyed best after completing the main quest. Your level will be high enough and mind honed enough to solve the puzzles and tackle different bosses.
They arefour things added in the TotSC expansion pack: Werewolf Island, Ice Island, Durlag’s Tower, and Ulgoth’s Beard. They all have some story that holds all of it together each area should be enjoyed for its battles. Besides, the player’s level will rise pretty quickly while clearing them out. Ulgoth’s Beard and Durlag’s Tower are the best and have some of the toughest bosses in the game, the other two should be tried once.
4Zoom In Or Out
Suppose you’re playing the game on a TV that is 10 feet away. Even if the quality is 4k, everything will look small. This game requires to control the party members and perform other actions by clicking on the screen. It can become a hassle soon.
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That’s where the zoom-in feature comes in. Players can zoom on the character on the screen for better visibility. Zoom in on a mouse can be done by scrolling the wheel or pressing the + and - button on the keyboard. The UI adjusts to the screen and player position, so everything stays in order.
3Better Multiplayer Support
The thing with any game is that it gets boring once the story is completed and there is nothing new to do. At that point, the game has provided all the entertainment it can and now there is nothing new to do. Except in the case of multiplayer games.
Playing a game with friends is more about having fun with them instead of overcoming the game. Reaching the goal is not the best part, collaborating with the members of your team is. The developers realized that, therefore, they improved the multiplayer support of the game. The bugs and common issues that players used to face are all resolved now. They can focus on playing the game more than fixing it up with mods.
2Smoother Graphics
Nowadays, the game’s graphics are becoming ultra-realistic, thanks to the amazing talent of the animators and the hardware progress in the previous years. Graphics have become important in judging the quality of the game. Back in the day, developers had to hold back due to low hardware capabilities. Now the landscape has changed entirely.
As such, theEnhanced Editioncomes with graphics enhancements, so it runs smoother on newer hardware. The game looks nice and less clunky than the original. Mods are also available that further improve the graphics quality of the game. Especially, during dragon fights the game used to start stuttering, that does not happen anymore.
1Patched Bugs
Thefirst part was a buggy mess. As was the case with most of the games releasing at that time. In the development cycle of a game, it goes through multiple phases. Finding and removing bugs is one of them. Unfortunately, the developers got a bit too lax on following the procedure. The result was not perfect.
However, for theEnhanced Edition, the team of developers is very active, they crush every bug, as it’s reported. They keep in close touch with the community and update the game according to the feedback from the players. They have made 400 improvements to the original game until now.
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