Hey, I just wanted to comment on my experience so far with BG:EE, and potentially give some people with disappointments, etc. a couple of things to think about.
First of all, my pre-load went smoothly and my game runs well, I have experienced no game-breaking bugs (yet). I understand that there are people who have not had such a smooth experience, and I sympathize with your reactions, although there seems to be an inordinate amount of negativity from those experiencing issues.
I am pleased so far, the game is as I expected it to be, so I thought I'd touch a bit on expectations. For those that bought this game without researching what exactly it was (and were expecting a full remake), I do understand your frustration. However, the developers have made it very clear from the beginning what exactly this Enhanced Edition would encompass, and they have delivered on their promises. I won't get too much into all the complaints along the lines of "this is just BG with some mods..." because I feel that I have addressed enough of these complaints prior to release, and in my eyes that argument has no merit.
There seem to have been some unrealistic expectations regarding a bug-free release, so I thought I'd touch on that as well. In my experience, there is essentially no such thing as a bug-free release, most games are buggy upon release. This game has been developed by a (relatively) small team of developers, and I was certainly expecting some bugs. They are, as always, completely responsive and accountable as concerns these bugs. They are taking great strides to ensure that all bugs are being worked on. So, have some patience, and let them know if you're having issues.
On a similar note, I saw a thread concerning the loss of the "first playthrough" experience due to bugs. I believe that there's some nostalgia-related misremembering going on in these cases, and I doubt that all those fondly-remembered first playthroughs of the original BG are memories of playthroughs on the day of release. More likely, you're just remembering the experience of playing this game for the first time, whenever that was (probably quite a while after release), and the great experience of the first file that you played to completion. Expecting that experience again is unreasonable, this is not a different game, but rather an "enhanced version" of the game that so many of us have come to know and love. Over time, the patching process will (I'm assuming) take care of the bugs out there, and we will all build fond memories of playing this enhanced edition as well and, with some luck, eventually be able to play BG 3 for the first time.
There are some issues I've run into, all of which have already been reported by others. Again, I fully expected a few bugs, so I'm not all that concerned, although I will probably wait for a bit of patching before playing a serious playthrough of the main campaign. I did see one suggestion concerning a public beta as a means for discovering issues with a large range of machines, which I thought sounded like a very good idea. I'm not sure if this is possible or not for BG2:EE but, if it is, I think that it would be a great idea. I would also like to say thank you to all the developers and beta testers. I know that you all worked (and are continuing to work) very, very hard to bring this game to us, and we greatly appreciate it. I only feel compelled to mention this because of some of the hate that has been directed at the devs and beta testers in particular. The beta testers did a lot of work which was, if I'm not mistaken, unpaid. So, thank you.
There are some things that I am displeased with regarding BG:EE, so I thought I'd mention what I would have liked/would like to see with BG:EE.
1. I was disappointed to discover that the Nietzsche quote was taken out of the beginning of the game, seeing the words "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you" at the beginning of my BG experience was quite fulfilling, even before I knew who Nietzsche was. It's a small thing, and I doubt they'll change their minds on it, but I think that it was a great quote to have at the beginning of this game.
2. Zoom lock. This may be a moot point as I've seen it mentioned already, so they may already be working on a solution to this; but I would definitely appreciate the ability to not have the zoom reset on area transitions.
3. Generally increased customization. There are some Options Menu issues I've encountered which I believe to be bugs, so I'll pass over those. Ultimately, the ability to change the FPS and all the other varied options that used to belong to BGconfig should have been brought over to an in-game configuration menu in my opinion. I would appreciate more control over the game in an enhanced version, not less.
4. Game balance. The addition of BG2 kits and features leads to a corrosion of the balance in BG1. These are all issues that exist when playing the original BG1 via Tutu or BGT. These additions make the game considerably easier. While I think that this issue will only actually bother a small number of us, I do believe that it affects the quality of the entire game. I would have really liked to see some work done on balancing these BG2 elements which were incorporated into BG (Thanks to @sazaland for bringing this up).
That's all that I can think of off the top of my head. I really do greatly appreciate what this team is doing, and am very much hoping that this game (and BG2:EE) does well enough to allow them to potentially enhance PS:T and the IWD games, and hopefully to create a BG3 as well.
First of all, my pre-load went smoothly and my game runs well, I have experienced no game-breaking bugs (yet). I understand that there are people who have not had such a smooth experience, and I sympathize with your reactions, although there seems to be an inordinate amount of negativity from those experiencing issues.
I am pleased so far, the game is as I expected it to be, so I thought I'd touch a bit on expectations. For those that bought this game without researching what exactly it was (and were expecting a full remake), I do understand your frustration. However, the developers have made it very clear from the beginning what exactly this Enhanced Edition would encompass, and they have delivered on their promises. I won't get too much into all the complaints along the lines of "this is just BG with some mods..." because I feel that I have addressed enough of these complaints prior to release, and in my eyes that argument has no merit.
There seem to have been some unrealistic expectations regarding a bug-free release, so I thought I'd touch on that as well. In my experience, there is essentially no such thing as a bug-free release, most games are buggy upon release. This game has been developed by a (relatively) small team of developers, and I was certainly expecting some bugs. They are, as always, completely responsive and accountable as concerns these bugs. They are taking great strides to ensure that all bugs are being worked on. So, have some patience, and let them know if you're having issues.
On a similar note, I saw a thread concerning the loss of the "first playthrough" experience due to bugs. I believe that there's some nostalgia-related misremembering going on in these cases, and I doubt that all those fondly-remembered first playthroughs of the original BG are memories of playthroughs on the day of release. More likely, you're just remembering the experience of playing this game for the first time, whenever that was (probably quite a while after release), and the great experience of the first file that you played to completion. Expecting that experience again is unreasonable, this is not a different game, but rather an "enhanced version" of the game that so many of us have come to know and love. Over time, the patching process will (I'm assuming) take care of the bugs out there, and we will all build fond memories of playing this enhanced edition as well and, with some luck, eventually be able to play BG 3 for the first time.
There are some issues I've run into, all of which have already been reported by others. Again, I fully expected a few bugs, so I'm not all that concerned, although I will probably wait for a bit of patching before playing a serious playthrough of the main campaign. I did see one suggestion concerning a public beta as a means for discovering issues with a large range of machines, which I thought sounded like a very good idea. I'm not sure if this is possible or not for BG2:EE but, if it is, I think that it would be a great idea. I would also like to say thank you to all the developers and beta testers. I know that you all worked (and are continuing to work) very, very hard to bring this game to us, and we greatly appreciate it. I only feel compelled to mention this because of some of the hate that has been directed at the devs and beta testers in particular. The beta testers did a lot of work which was, if I'm not mistaken, unpaid. So, thank you.
There are some things that I am displeased with regarding BG:EE, so I thought I'd mention what I would have liked/would like to see with BG:EE.
1. I was disappointed to discover that the Nietzsche quote was taken out of the beginning of the game, seeing the words "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you" at the beginning of my BG experience was quite fulfilling, even before I knew who Nietzsche was. It's a small thing, and I doubt they'll change their minds on it, but I think that it was a great quote to have at the beginning of this game.
2. Zoom lock. This may be a moot point as I've seen it mentioned already, so they may already be working on a solution to this; but I would definitely appreciate the ability to not have the zoom reset on area transitions.
3. Generally increased customization. There are some Options Menu issues I've encountered which I believe to be bugs, so I'll pass over those. Ultimately, the ability to change the FPS and all the other varied options that used to belong to BGconfig should have been brought over to an in-game configuration menu in my opinion. I would appreciate more control over the game in an enhanced version, not less.
4. Game balance. The addition of BG2 kits and features leads to a corrosion of the balance in BG1. These are all issues that exist when playing the original BG1 via Tutu or BGT. These additions make the game considerably easier. While I think that this issue will only actually bother a small number of us, I do believe that it affects the quality of the entire game. I would have really liked to see some work done on balancing these BG2 elements which were incorporated into BG (Thanks to @sazaland for bringing this up).
That's all that I can think of off the top of my head. I really do greatly appreciate what this team is doing, and am very much hoping that this game (and BG2:EE) does well enough to allow them to potentially enhance PS:T and the IWD games, and hopefully to create a BG3 as well.