Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance vs. BG:DA2

[freelunch]

I have BG:DA for X-BOX but I've never played far into it. now that the price has dropped on the sequel I'm considering trading in and trading up - are there enough improvements in the second game to justify this, or am I better off keeping the first one?

[Draco]

There are definitely lots of nice improvements that make it worth trading up:

• More playable characters (barbarian, monk, rogue, necromancer, cleric (and Drizzt and Artemis Entraire unlockable).
• Dual Wielding!
• Co-op is better because gold collection is pooled, rather than each player having a seperate amount.
• Up to 5 assignable hot-key spells/special abilities at one time (rather than just 1) (the biggest improvement IMO!).
• Less linear, more individual quest driven story.
• Custom weapon/armor/items. You can find/buy jewels that give weapons, armor and items certain properties. E.g, rubies make your sword have a fire effect, or your armor protect you from fire better. Diamonds give your weapons a "frost" effect, ect. Others might increase the "to hit" or give a speed burst. The more jewels you add, the greater the effect. Very cool combos are possible!

Things I didn't like about BG:DA 2:

• Music is from the first BG:DA and Icewind Dale for the PC (although Jeremy Soule did music for both those games).
• Spells for the Necromancer suck (and I mean ALL of them) compared to the magic-user in BG:DA 1
• Personally, I thought the graphics were slightly muddied (and I have component inputs using an HDTV).

All in all though, an excellent game an a good follow-up to Dark Alliance 1.

[dangerballs]

The gameplay is also a lot faster and you will die quicker in DA2. You will have to learn to love the block button.

[Dirt]

I just don't get BG: Alliance. It was one of the most boring games I've ever played. I dunno why, I liked Gauntlet as a kid.

[infoghost]

I liked DA II better, as there was more variety, had a much longer quest, and more characters.

I didn't like the weapon-creation system. It was too easy to make a good weapon early on and stick with it. The loot that dropped was pretty generic too. In the first, you'd at least find some decent weapons as you went on.

Overall, I'd get DA II, it's a much better value.

[Jaymann]

I just started playing Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on PS4 and I'm loving it. It's 20 years old, but got a facelift. Feels more like the Diablo experience than that Diablo: Immortal nonsense. Leveling is slow. Items are rare but obtainable. Gold takes time but is actually worth something. Quests are basic, but you don't need a spreadsheet to keep track of them. There's no save anywhere, but save points are plentiful. There are even shortcuts to town. Is also available for PC on Steam.

Glad to hear there is a DA2, that will be next up for me.

[Jaymann]

Finished DA1 as an archer and really enjoyed it, here are some thoughts:

One thing I hated was if you don't loot something right away it turns invisible. It's still there but you have to click where it dropped to find it. This was especially irritating when I had to backtrack to find arrows after there were no more merchants.

You need to explore every square inch and kill all enemies. There are no re-spawns, so if you don't you will come up short when you want to gain a level before a boss fight.

Treasure chests give random loot that will change if you reload. This becomes more important in late game when quality items start to drop.

Edit: One more nitpick:

Spoiler:

You talk to an guy just before the final boss. They should have made him a merchant to reward you for collecting gold and items. As is, all that stuff is worthless.

Now on to DA2.

[Skinypupy]

Dark Alliance II releases next week

I had fun with DA1, even if that was mostly nostalgia powered as its not really a great game. I’ll pick this one up, and I’m expecting much the same.

[Jaymann]

July 20th, of this year? Will keep an eye out for this.

[Skinypupy]

BG:DA2 released this morning and I picked it up on Switch.

Like the first game, this is a perfectly serviceable port with the only improvement being some higher-res graphics. It brings absolutely nothing new to the table and is very much a relic of it's time (i.e. rather janky and clunky). It's certainly not a great game, and I'm honestly not even sure it's a good one, tbh. In fact, I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone (especially at $30) who didn't have serious nostalgia for the original.

I happen to have that nostalgia, so I'm quite enjoying it.