just bought this and playing through the tutorial... dialogue is kinda messed up. chars talk over each other at times. tutorial sometimes advances before i even complete the task i was given. also, 6 people in a party? and each one needs to be micromanaged?? i mean, the mage alone has like 50 different spells... wtf! it seems like battles will be more tedious than exciting. someone tell me that this game is worth the seemingly large time investment necessary to get over the learning curve.
I was a bit worried after the tutorial, too, but you actually get used to everything pretty quick. In fact, I found the tutorial to be pretty unecessary, as you learn just about evything as you go along. Just dive in. It's totally worth it. Like, no other video game really exists to me right now, lol.
Picked up an iPad 4 today, been wanting one since they first came out and finally have the extra money. I missed Baldur's Gate the first time around so I'm really looking forward to playing. It's even the first game I've purchased for it.
There are few decent rumors going around but I'm not worried about chasing that rabbit. Plus our local Apple store will do an exchange for 30 days for new product.
This is why THAC0 is so confusing. When it says Elves get a +1 bonus to their THAC0, what this really means is they can add 1 to their attack rolls. This is reflected in the game by lowering their THAC0 by one (which is good). I know it's confusing. I find it's best to just smile, nod and pretend it makes sense. You will also see weapons with +1, +2 and +3 THAC0 attributes, and these too will lower your THAC0 by the according number.
That was definitely very confusing to me when I started playing. I guess they just didn't want to write a negative-sounding effect on a weapon (e.g., -1 THAC0), even though it would be a good thing in that particular example. I can't believe I never played this game when it originally came out. It's hands down one of the best RPGs I have played. The sheer amount of content and the party customization is something you just don't easily find in a newer RPG. I have to admit though, when I first downloaded the iPad version I was turned off by its difficulty curve. The fact that I wasn't very familiar with D&D rules (and things like AC and THAC0) made it that much harder to understand. But after reading the BG manual a little I decided to give it another shot. The rest is history. I even bought the Mac version too, which is definitely more noob-friendly due to the ability to hover over things with the mouse for tooltips (tapping and holding gets annoying if you are constantly doing it). It is also easier to find doors. Anyway, done ranting. Fun game!
As an old D&D player I have to admit that it is one of the things I like about the changes made in third and fourth edition, by changing to AC and everything being gradient scaled in the same direction. "+" is good, "-" is bad, none of the negative is good for THAC0, but plus is good for attacks, but skills run on percentile, but, etc, etc, etc. they were simpke subsystems but there were too many and distancing fir new players when trying to teach them the system. Second edition was a simpler system then third and fourth but a flawed one, and that's coming from an old dog who was raised with first edition.
Why not just stay consistent and describe those weapons as -1 -2 -3 thac0 attributes, then? That's where my confusion lies. Or at the very least, make the manual and the game consistent in their descriptions.
Yeah, that's old D&D rules for you. Specially engineered to confuse people. The Baldur's Gate games were made to play like computerized D&D with as few compromises as possible, so you get to inherit the madness of THAC0 and Armor Class. And this is all actually improved, by the way. BG:EE is way better about showing you THAC0 and AC right there on the character sheet and displaying more modifiers. Older versions of BG were much worse at showing those numbers.
Best you can do is head to the official boards and check if others are having it and let it be known either way so they can fix it. If anything I will say they have been pretty dedicated to fixing bugs with this game.
I wish the UI would change based on the character selected. I'm at the end of the tutorial and it's not easy to see who is who.
It has been a month since the last update. Anyone know if anything is in the works for the iPad - hopefully to continue to refine some of the touch interface issues?
So is this worth getting? Used to love the game but the last few pages of this thread lead me to think this is rather buggy?
Definitely get it. It's really not that buggy. There are of course a few, as with any game, but the game is very playable and a lot of fun (largely how I remember it from 15 years or so ago).
I downloaded this game a few days ago and am so addicted to this right now. $9.99 is way underpriced for what you are getting, this was THE blockbuster game of its time. I played the original Baldur's Gate on PC back when I was in High School 10+ years ago and it is still top 3 on my list of all time favorite games. There is so much depth in this game, unlike just about any other game that is available on iOS. Almost every single random NPC has something unique to say, or different reply choices to make. This game world is huge! As far as the port of Baldur's Gate to my iPad 4, it looks good. The graphics are dated by today's standards, when I played the original it was cutting edge and blew my mind how awesome the graphics were. A lot of people bought new or upgraded their PCs just to play this game back in the day. That being said, the dated graphics in no way deter from the awesome gameplay, story, or character depth. Not having to keep up with 5 or 6 CDs and 2-3+ minute wait times between areas is a MAJOR improvement of the iPad version. Being a veteran player, I skipped the tutorial and then had to do some figuring out of the controls since I am not using a keyboard or mouse anymore and using a touchscreen. Took me one evening of play to get the controls down pat and now that I know what to do it works well, probably would have saved myself some confusion if I did the tutorial. This is a very skill intensive game compared to most RPGs on the market, you have to strategize your party, characters, skills, formations, and every combat is a challenge assuming you set your difficulty level correctly. This is the way it should be. Also, the pause button is your best friend. I haven't started the Black Pits yet, really engrossed in the main game but looking forward to checking out the new content. Surprising how much of this storyline and areas I have forgotten since my original playthrough, I feel like I am playing it again for the first time. The only thing I can't figure out is the two characters available for in app purchase. Does buying them unlock them as characters in the game, or does it just unlock new character kits for making your main?
