Topic: The Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment & Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights

I searched the forum, but couldn't find anything, so I decided to start a thread about these games coming to Nintendo Switch.

There's one bundle containing Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II and one containing Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale. These are already out. Neverwinter Nights will be released seperately in December.

I just got the Baldur's Gate bundle. This is the first time I've played these games and I think I will start with the first game.

So my first questions are: which race and which class is best for the beginner?

Thanks!

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms, @Quarth .... Class is a lot more important than race but there's plenty of good ones Do you want to be a rogue? A knight? A mage? Dual-classing is an option, too! Well, multi-classing is but that's a bad idea

I was excited about those games. And now I wonder if I should pick them up. I have never played such RPGs.
So I have some questions about them:

1. Are there really dark themes in the games? (undead things? cemeteries? etc.)
2. Do you have some open world freedom?
3. The replayability is ok?

There's quite a variety of undead creatures... The dark themes relate to the whole story, too It's pretty open, with lots of side-quests! I completed all the games on Android, so I certainly think they're replayable

I love Icewind Dale and the original Baldur's Gate. I'm not a fan of the Planescape setting, though (I know technically the Planes include, well, all worlds, but you know what I mean).

As for "best" race/class for a beginner, that's a little tricky with D&D games. I'm not up on my Baldur's Gate minmaxing, so I'm not sure what people have found, but generally newer players will fare better with a high hp class like warrior. Spellcasting classes can be more powerful but require more manipulation of the battle system to stay safe and more knowledge of the spells and effects to actually be effective. With a warrior, just keep your gear as good as possible and start swinging!

Yeah & early game, mages do have a hard time, @rallydefault .... Hence, it wouldn't be recommended to those new to these sorts of games At least with enhanced versions, you can dual-class! So, fighter/warrior to start & combine mage a bit later

@rallydefault @BruceCM

Thanks for the advice! I started with a fighter, going through the tutorial now. Is normal difficulty a good choice for the beginner?

Well, I went for story mode 1st time, @Quarth .... I replayed on easy! Fighter should be a good start, so see how you get on with it

@BruceCM Yeah, I just wanted to play the tutorial to learn the basics. The system seems a little tricky at first glance, but I think I'll learn quickly enough. Turned off auto-pause when encountering enemies, found it a little bit annoying, but maybe I'll need it later on? Will wait and see.

@JaxonH Have you gotten this yet?

@Quarth
Good luck!

Again, it's been a long time for me, but I will say learning to pause and plan and que moves during the battles is the absolute essential skill for these games, especially the later ones like Icewind Dale.

They aren't like a lot other RPGs where you just kind of click on the bad guy and send your horde of allies at them without a worry - positioning is super super important, especially once you start coming up against traps and spells that cover certain areas and positioning rogues for backstab chances, luring enemies through choke points, etc.

Do you guys know anything about Baldur's Gate getting an online co-op option?

Going to buy this today. Just finishing pillars of eternity which was amazing and now ready to take on these classics. I generally go fighters and noting comments in this thread it seems the easiest way to start off.

Are there any gamebreaking bugs in Baldurs Gate or Icewind Dale that make them unplayable on switch. I’ve read that Planetscape Torment has some bad bugs that can make it unplayable.

Anyone finished these games on this system?

@Quarth I know this is an old thread but did you ever finish Baldur's Gate 1 and 2? I haven't heard of these games before but I got curious about the earlier games after seeing how much hype Baldur's Gate 3 has gotten. If you did finish them, what did you think?

I wonder if they started promoting these more after Baldur's Gate 3 blew up. Seems like the logical choice, since there's no way 3 is coming to Switch (though I'd be shocked if it isn't on the next console at some point).

Baldur's Gate 1 is an absolute classic and is considered a "must play" for turn-based RPG fans. I've played it many times. In my opinion, it still holds up pretty darn well, but it's very weird to play on a console.

Most people, though, consider Baldur's Gate 2 to be the better of the original games. I've never finished 2 myself, though, so I can't say.

And of course, Baldur's Gate 3 rocks. If you have a PC and like this genre, you need to give it a shot.