I have none of the baldurs gate series, but it looks like something I want to get into. My question is weather I should start with the first and work my way back or just start at 2. Is the original still good for today or is it too buggy--is getting the second going to be too big a leap in the story? help!
thanks in advance for any help

Story-wise, go for both. Start a character in BG1, play to the end, import the character into BG2 and continue the story.

I wouldn't bother with the Tales of the Sword Coast addon for BG1. It doesn't add to the story. Playing it adds many hours to BG1, whereas you probably want to get to BG2 as quick as possible. I spent about 60 hours almost finishing BG1, then I added TOSC and spent about 30 hours on that.

I didn't have any stability problems with BG1, I played it without the patch.

Cheers
Craig

I would recommend you get BG1 and play it through first. Interesting storyline and I don't think it is really buggy (patches are available, I think).

many thanks for your replies!
secondary question: should I get the expansion with the first and play them together or should I save the expansion for after I finish it? Im not quite clear on how the expansion changes teh game mechanics

The expansion just links a few quests together with the original BG1 (or more like dialogue strings), if you plan to get both BG1 and expansion, why not install both of them and play...well, that's what I did (I think the expansion also contains the patch).

I would definitely recommend ToTSC with the first. The first is still an awesome game no matter how old it is. If you get the patch with it it eliminates most of the bugs. and Sword Coast is a really good add-on, I don't know why so many people don't like it. Then get BG2 and play that. I envy you, all those hours of gameplay! You won't regret it.

I agree, TOSC is a good add-on to BG1. My only reservation is that it adds a lot of time to the game, which you may or may not want.

if you are running TOSC, install it before even starting BG1. It adds some features (like item stacking) that help anywhere in the game.

I'm at chapter 6 in BG2, hopefully I'll finish before Christmas. Next year I plan to start BG1 from scratch and play a character right through, eventually (hopefully) to BG3. I;m not sure what the new character will be. Maybe a Thief dualled to a mage... Maybe a bard... Maybe a straight-up Dwarven fighter (I want a swig of good dwarven ale!).

Why would longer time to finish the game be a bad thing? As far as I'm concerned, the more hours you can put into the game, the better it is.

I bought bg1 and bg2 at the same time, but since bg2 was so extremely compelling from the beginning I couldn't resist playing it first. Heh. Now I'm playing bg1 and realize I would have liked bg2 even more if I knew who all these people (You! Didn't I kill you outside Baldurs Gate?) really are. Anyway, I've also had a hard time finding the expansion here in Sweden, and I figured if I'm going to play it, I might as well play with the expansion from the start. Oh well.

Come to think of it, since I played BG1 first, I get to realize that I enjoyed playing BG2 more due to the fact that you know the shortcomings of the first game.You knew the story behind all of it-in detail, unlike when you play BG2 first. Bg2 is only a summary and it doesn't give out all the fun... I'd rather play BG1 first because you might think BG1 is crappy technical wise.

Joelle Lover

TOTSC also gives you some of the best equipment in BG1. Well worth the added hours IMHO!