| | |  | Role-Playing | Home » » » » Baldur's Gate - 4 in 1 Box Set Compilation | | | | | | | Description: | | Murdered by traitors and resurrected as an evil lich, Erathia's undead king leads an invasion of his former kingdom. Little resistance is met until his daughter Katherine, Queen of Enroth, returns to her homeland with elite Enrothian warriors. | | | Product Details: | | | Product Weight:
| 0.09 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.25 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 86 reviews |
| | | Game Information: | | | Platform:
| Windows XP | | Media:
| CD-ROM / DVD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 86 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
217 of 220 found the following review helpful:
 So much fun, it's dangerousJul 27, 2008
By Charles P. Frederick
First off, any person who has played a bunch of computer games will tell you this: The amount of fun you have in a game, after say the first day of playing it, is totally irrelevant to the game's graphics. The BG collection is a good example.
I too think it is better than the Neverwinter series, for one main reason:
BG and especially BGII are extremely open and non-linear. Yes, of course the game has limits, but there are so many optional areas, quests, characters, and items, and more importantly, so many decisions you have to make in each play-through that open some doors and close others, that you can play this game probably ten times in a row and still discover fun new things.
Even concepts which seem like game-universe "laws" can be surpassed once you gain enough skill as a player. I'm not talking about cheating. For example, you might think the Cowled Wizards are impossible to resist when they arrest you, right? Nope, not for a creative tactician. Or, you might think that it's impossible to beat the game using just three, two, or even one single character. But it's actually very possible--just more intellectually challenging and rewarding. Most do that with a fighter/mage or fighter/thief, though, to get the maximum number of abilities. But you couldn't do it with a single, lonely armor-less kensai fighter, right? Think again...
The great thing about these "implied" challenges, in addition to every other normal challenge in the game, is that even though they are ridiculously difficult, you still don't need a cheat sheet to do them, because since the game contains hundreds of items, spells, and abilities, (access to all of which have a sort of "open this door and shut that one" style) there are still a million different ways to complete even the most difficult challenges.
This is why the Baldur's Gate games are huge fun the first time, for the above-average (not great) story, and even more the second and third, to explore all the variations and possibilities within that story.
Finally, a note for new players:
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The only complaint I would have is that in order to play a Fighter character, you can't just choose one weapon specialization and go with it--you have to have advance knowledge of what weapons exist in order not to be stuck with crappy weapons during critical endgame duels.
If you are about to buy this game, let me tell you a few things that will save the need for the cheapening feeling of using a game guide or deciding to reboot your character halfway through:
-The one and only great 2-handed sword can only be used by Thieves and Paladins, though it comes early in the game. It is by far the best weapon in the game
-There is a good mix of low-to-mid level longswords, but few great ones
-There is only one good bastard sword and it comes late in the game
-There is only one good battle axe, and it is great, but it comes late in the game
-There are a good mix of low-to-high level Halberd weapons
-More attacks per round *usually* nets you more total damage than a higher damage per hit weapon, because all the different weapon types do not have a wide spread of damage ranges. I.E, most of the damage you do at a high level does not come from your weapon.
-Some liches can only be hit by +4 or higher weapons.
-NEVER be a sorcerer for your first playthrough...you will inevitably choose spells that sound good on paper but fall flat in practice...be a wizard instead, you will get more (real-life) experience that way.
That's it--all the rest you can figure out yourself, with a little patience and experimentation. Happy adventuring!
51 of 51 found the following review helpful:
Great game still holds up after all these yearsFeb 10, 2010
By A. Perala
I purchased this when I was on a retro-gaming kick a while back, and out of all the older games, I think this one stood out as the most enjoyable. Since there are plenty of older reviews detailing the game features, I would like to point out a few things about the distribution.
First, there is no printed manual, only a .pdf file contained on the disk. Also, the box itself is pretty flimsy, with the discs stacked on top of each other and held with rings that are too stiff. The way this is packaged makes the discs very prone to scratching, so I would inspect your discs first, then transfer them to another case. Compare this to the Diablo II box set which comes with a nicer jewel case and a booklet for about the same price, and you can see that Atari is treating this as a cheap-o product instead of the gaming classic it really is.
Secondly, installing on Windows Vista can be a pain. Don't do the auto-run install, or files will be missing and the game will crash. I did this originally and thought my discs were corrupted, but it was actually a Windows Vista problem. Find the setup.exe file by exploring the disc and right-click "run as administrator" and it should install properly. Do this for all 4-discs. If you are using 64-bit Vista it will be even more of challenge to get this installed. I recommend disabling autoplay altogether, and perhaps even installing from safe mode.
Thirdly, you SHOULD download and install (again, run as adminstrator) the Throne of Bhaal patch from Bioware's site. But DO NOT install the Tales of the Sword Coast patch. This version is essentially the same as the "original saga" version, so you don't need to patch it. If you do, the game will start asking for disc 6 or other discs, and you will have to uninstall then reinstall it.
Finally, there is a player-created unofficial mod called "Easy TuTu" you should download after you've played through it, if you decide to do another play through. It brings the features, including additional classes, kits and proficiencies of BG2 to BG1 so you can have a more enjoyable experience. Although it is a bit buggy, so I recommend your first playthrough of BG1 be the unmodded original game.
If you love role-playing games, or just looking for a retro PC gaming experience, then this is definitely worth the money, if with the aforementioned issues. The game is exceptionally fun, having a great story, as well as good tactical and varied combat that will having you comeback for many replays with different class and alignment combos.
80 of 84 found the following review helpful:
Let's go back to when there were better games.Apr 20, 2008
By M. Diaz
"Smoke"
So you want to try out some of bio ware's older games? Here is a secret. These games are better than the recent Neverwinter series. "What?" you say, "How could you." Well it's true. Sure it has AD&D version 2 which is an older ruleset than the Neverwinter series has, but you won't care. I'll assume you don't need great graphics to enjoy a game. Why would you even consider buying a game from the late 90's if you cared about graphics right? So I'll say the graphics were great for it's time and now I will leave the graphics alone. So how is this game so good? The answer is open ended gameplay, great combat system, and a great quest system. Exploration is another great thing about this game. To fully explore every part of the world will take you a long time, and you will find many fun little battles along the way. You can stray off from the main quest to explore the wilderness if you want, and pretty much it is part of what makes this game so great. The game has simpler combat and character customization than NWN, but it is not a negative factor. Simplicity is not always a bad thing. In truth the combat isn't really simple, it is just simpler than NWN. So should you buy? Yeah. Baldur's Gate is a wonderful adventure and baldur's gate 2 is even better. It's time to go back in time.
21 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 Compatible w/ XP & Vista, not perfectApr 14, 2010
By Kevin A. Thiesen
While it will work just fine on my copy of XP Pro (SP3), it requires some work-arounds to get it there. Playing BGI without the TotSC expansion is buggy, but even after installing the expansion, you'll probably still need to go into your DirectX Diagnostic tool and switch off the DirectX features on the Display tab, as well as adjust a few in-game graphic settings. Otherwise you may get trails from your mouse along the edges of the screen, and flickering borders around your selected character's portrait.
Also, the volume on the sound seems artificially high whenever I load a game. Saving or quicksaving puts it back down to normal, so this is an easy fix.
I have yet to get to the second game (I've played it through many times before, but not with this box set), so I cannot yet comment on that.
Once you've found a solution that works however, you'll greatly enjoy this game. This is one of the best RPGs in history, and is still fun for me to play over a decade after its initial release and despite multiple play-throughs.
For the sake of full disclosure, I am using a GeForce 8500GT video card (driver v. 6.14...), with a Soundmax Digital Audio card (driver v. 5.12...). My DirectX version is 9.0c.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Balur's Gate set: a good buyMar 15, 2008
By Frodofriend
The Baldur's Gate boxed set is a lot of role-playing for the money. I am not all the way through it yet, but estimate the full play-through time at 100 hours+. As a long-time D&D buff, I find the logic-puzzles and combat encounters entertaining and challenging. I recommend the set.
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