Which should I play first?

[dragonsamurai77]

As a little birthday present for myself, I ordered the D&D Classic Anthology off of Amazon, which consists of:
-Baldur's Gate 1, 2, and Expansions
-Icewind Dale 1, 2, and Expansions
-The Temple of Elemental Evil
-Planescape: Torment

For those of you familiar with any of them, where should I begin? I was initially attracted to ToEE from an LP I read part of, and it seems like a very good 3.5 adaption, but I also know that the others are supposed to be really well done. Any suggestions?

[Pronounceable]

Assuming you actually have time for months of solid gaming per day and will really finish all those, start with IWDs. It's what Diablo would be if it was DnD. Then Torment, which is more the greatest fantasy novel evar than a game. Finish with BGs to see how such extremes of gaming can be combined into awesomeness.

But if you don't have such an unhealthy amount of free time, just play BGs.

Toee, on the other hand, is bad and can be skipped wholesale. Maybe there's mods or such which makes it good but I wouldn't know.

[Trazoi]

It depends on two things, what type of RPG you want to play and whether you think you'll have time to play all of them.

The Story <-> Adv.Sim scale of the games is: Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, ToEE. This isn't a ranking of which is better, it's the type of experience you're after. Are you after a good D&D RPG story, or are you after a good D&D party simulator?

However if you think you have only time to play some of them, I can give my opinions:
- Make sure you play Planescape: Torment. It's so many people's Best RPG of All Time for a reason. However it is a very different type of RPG from most others - it's all about the dialog, the combat isn't nearly as important.
- I recommend Baldur's Gate as a good mix between a solid story and D&D mechanics. It is very long though, especially if you're playing 1&2 in sequence.
- Icewind Dale 1&2 are fun, but is less about the story and more about the D&D combat mechanics. It's also quite linear. It's a good candidate for a "pick up, put down for a few weeks, then pick up again" type RPG.
- I never got into ToEE due to bugs and a lackluster voice acting and writing not being too compelling. However it's got a reputation as being the most faithful rendition of the D&D rules, and it's based on a classic module.

[Fri]

Just a head up that icewind dale and toee are much more plotless than torment and baldurs gate. You basicaly play it for the dnd hack and slash that they provide. But eventhough I recognize that Baldurs gate and torment are much better game, I really played ice wind dale and toee much more.

It's just... well, they're plotless, and focus on the dnd mechanic, so I could just whip up some party combination and having fun moving through the world hacking and slashing mindlessly. Especially Toee. Don't forget to get the unofficial patches, since out of the box the game is buggy as hell, but it's really a great dnd 3.5e simulator. The amount of 3.5 rules they put in that game is amazing.

[MonarchAnarch]

Don't listen to these silly people. TOEE is fantastic....WITH the Co8 Mod. This is a MUST HAVE mod. They have fixed this game out of buggy oblivion. Its totally playable with some setup on your end to make it all work (installing the mod). They have added on a whole new city with quests, and many other zones as well.

As stated above, it is THE best representation of 3.0/3.5 rules and gameplay on any game that has DnD slapped on the box. I have played it with and without Co8, it is fantastic. A must do. Its a little slow to start, but once you get in the temple and a bit before it, it's crazy fun.

Just do NOT use hardcore mode. Your save will go corrupt.

[Mordokai]

I really enjoyed IWD2. For pure hack and slash experience, nothing beats the fun. Sure, some puzzles are annoying, but I really like the experience. If you want to play with a rag-tag bunch of inept adventurers, I reccomend on reading Capitan's Garlic LP (http://lparchive.org/Icewind-Dale-2/), just to get a few ideas. Plus, it's a great laugh :smallbiggrin:

BG2 is just the best all around for me. It futures the best villain, hands down. Be sure to check around for some mods, to make the great game even better.

[Morty]

I can't really comment on Icewind Dale and Temple of Elemental Evil... neither of them appealed to me for various reasons.
As for the Baldur's Gate trilogy and Planescape: Torment... I'd suggest starting with Baldur's Gate to ease yourself into the Infinity Engine and the AD&D system. It'll be easier to enjoy Torment's amaing story later on.

[Othesemo]

I've played everything there except for ToEE. Of them, I'd say that Icewind Dale was the best. Whether that means you should play it first or last is up to you.

[Fri]

Its a little slow to start, but once you get in the temple and a bit before it, it's crazy fun.

Just do NOT use hardcore mode. Your save will go corrupt.

Yeah, what do you expect from a hardcore DnD 3.5 simulator :smallwink:?

Really, except if it's a campaign specifically tailored for it, starting from level 1 in a 3.5 game is really painful. Just... take it slowly at the start.

[MonarchAnarch]

Yeah, what do you expect from a hardcore DnD 3.5 simulator :smallwink:?

Really, except if it's a campaign specifically tailored for it, starting from level 1 in a 3.5 game is really painful. Just... take it slowly at the start.

Oh, I'm aware and I know. Can't count how many times my 3.5 group started over...and over..and over.. lol Don't think we ever made it past lvl 11 in a single game.

[Soup]

Edition-wise PS:T, BG and IWD1 are 2e AD&D, with BG2 having a few 3e elements (sorcerers, monks and barbarians).

IWD2 is 3e and ToEE is 3.5e.

going by age you have BG1 -> IWD1 -> PS:T ->BG2 -> IWD2 -> ToEE.

With the BG games you play the same character in the story, going from lvl1 to the high 20s with Throne of Bhaal. There are mods available to allow you to play BG1 with the 2 engine, giving you more character options. It unbalances the game a bit though.

IWD 1 and 2 are different stories, though 2 has some references to the first game. You also revisit some of the areas. Both games reward heavy powergaming and min-maxing, IMO 2 is worse in this respect.
Also, both have horrendous writing, but cool battles. It's the 'Tactics' variant of BG you could say.

PS:T is one of my favourite games ever, but you have to know how to play the game to get the full experience. Your mental attributes are a lot more important than your physical ones, as most combats are simply enough. Despite putting combat on the backburner, the spell system in this game and its accompanying graphics are awesome!
The only thing that annoys me in this game is the weird way multi-classing works.

ToEE... I tried to like this game, I really did. But it just grates on me.

A small warning, BG1, IWD1 and PS:T don't work with newer nVidia cards. There are patches available though performance is still hit or miss. If you start the game and see pink or black boxes behind weapon icons and spell animations, google the fix.

For all the games, find the latest official updates. As well as checking out the unofficial mods. Play your first run without mods for the virgin playthrough, but consider adding some balancing mods if you like.
BG2 still has a huge modding community and is alive and kicking today.

[Cespenar]

PS:T, BG2 and IWD2, in that order. Otherwise, PS:T's graphics and interface might bother you a little.

[Knight13]

Planescape: Torment is the only one of those games that I've played, so I can't comment on the others.

As others have said, PS: T is heavy on story and dialog and light on hack-and-slash. The combat system is very simplistic, you basically just click on a monster and wait for The Nameless One to bash them to death. There isn't enough of it for it to get really boring though, for at least the first half of the game you'll spend a lot more time walking around and talking to people than you will fighting. But the dialog is so fantastic that you just won't care.

A few tips for when you play it:

- Wisdom is by far your most important stat, don't forget. In fact, your mental stats in general are pretty important in this game, but Wisdom is king.
- Talk to EVERYBODY, even the people that aren't named. Questgivers in this game don't have an exclamation mark above their heads and even if they don't have a quest for you, they'll probably have something interesting to say and/or an opportunity for some xp or a bonus.
- If you get an item that doesn't seem to have any apparent use, especially if you get it in a conversation, HOLD ON TO IT. It will almost invariably turn out to be useful later.
- The Nameless One is immortal, so don't worry about dying. In fact, there are some puzzles in the game that require you to die as part of them. The game also offers you various opportunities to kill yourself for fun and profit (literally). At one point you can even kill yourself to win an argument.

[Aotrs Commander]

A small warning, BG1, IWD1 and PS:T don't work with newer nVidia cards. There are patches available though performance is still hit or miss. If you start the game and see pink or black boxes behind weapon icons and spell animations, google the fix.

For all the games, find the latest official updates. As well as checking out the unofficial mods. Play your first run without mods for the virgin playthrough, but consider adding some balancing mods if you like.
BG2 still has a huge modding community and is alive and kicking today.

To save you some time, go to Spellhold Studios and look on their forums for the various graphical and bug fixes (specific link to nVidia fixes) (http://www.shsforums.net/forum/484-ie-help/), and I also very strongly recommend you look into the thing like the Torment fix pack (and equivilents for other games) from the same site, which corrects a large number of typos, bugs and glitches.

[dragonsamurai77]

Sorry for not posting, a bit of a status update and questions. (haven't gotten to far with most of these, BTW)

Torment: Had a couple false starts with stats, about to leave the Mortuary with everything correct.

Baldur's Gate: Just left the tavern.

Icewind Dale 2: Beginning is really slow, think I'm going to make a new party.

ToEE: My 4-caster + Rogue party just hit level 5. Question: how do you get more Wildshape forms? Right now, my Druid can only Wild Shape into a wolf. I know that you have to be "familiar" with the target form, but how do you do that? I tried killing the Brown Bear, but I still can't transform into it. What's going on?

Haven't played the other ones yet.