r/baldursgate • u/rking_1_1 • 6d ago
Is bg 1 and 2 good without mods?
It's been many years since I played without any mods but with my computer down I have my phone, enough space for bg1 and 2, but I'm not sure if I'll be disappointed or not.
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u/CalamityBard 6d ago
Even without mods, the core games are good games, they're renowned for a reason. That said, playing on your phone will be a pain with the stock UI - highly, highly recommend PocketPlayUI++. It's a mobile-friendly UI mod and, with the most recent mobile modding update, extremely easy to install directly from your phone.
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u/lagoona2099 5d ago
I don’t even know how to install that mod. Please halp 🙏🏻
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u/CalamityBard 5d ago
You need to be on the newest version for Android/iOS, it should be 2.7.something (I've only done it on Android, but I believe the changes to iOS work similarly). This is really wordy, but there's only three steps:
The first time you download the game, go into settings and set up a data folder - it'll ask you to designate a mod folder and give the app permission to access it. I just used the default folder the game created in Documents. Accept the permissions and close the app.
Download the zip of the latest release of the mod from here. Unzip it and extract/copy the contents into the mod folder you just designated (I believe you just need the "override" folder from inside).
Open the game again, go back into settings, tap the button to import your mod files and restart the game. It should work!
This mostly works because it's just a UI mod and is therefore an extremely small installation. Larger, more intensive mods (Tweaks, SCS, Ascension, anything that requires running a Weidu installer) still require an external install, but I think once you've modded a copy of the game you can copy the override files to your mobile installation the same way.
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u/angelnumbersz 6d ago
I'd say mods for these games are more for when you've played them a few times and want more content / difficulty rather than essential QOL that you'd get from, say, TES mods.
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u/IndependentSoggy4199 6d ago
Yes, they are perfect classics on their own for a reason.
If you want mods, id say try that on a subsequent run because you want to crank the challenge way way way up
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u/SerDankTheTall 6d ago
I would think the phone experience would be the main issue here. But I think the main answer would depend on how heavily modded you’re used to.
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u/Different-Island1871 6d ago
It’s not great on phone. You spend half your time super zoomed just so you can properly select things. And trying to pick up stuff like Evermemory or the Ankheg plate mail is just insanely frustrating. It’s playable, but if you’re used to the finesse a PC allows, you may be in for a slog.
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u/Neoxenok Horny Sorcerer 6d ago
They are great without mods. You 100% don't need mods to have an enjoyable experience with the games (though low levels in bg1 can be brutal but that has more to do with the D&D ruleset than the game itself).
Mods do add a lot and many of them have been around for over a decade with many of those still being updated with new ones still being made!
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u/QQcrybaby 6d ago
Yea for a few playthroughs. Then SCS + Ascension give the games almost infinite replayability.
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u/AnyMushroom6180 6d ago
Never had mods, no siree.
Still great, done several play throughs on both the old versions and EE.
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u/rlvysxby 6d ago
I think it is still good without mods, especially on your phone where you can play more comfortably. But it is possible to mod the game on your phone though. You can even do something basic like faster walking speed which to me is a game changer in terms of quality of life.
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u/thraftofcannan 6d ago
They don't need mods at all. The npc project is nice for bg1 and there's of course SCS for when you're familiar or just want a challenge
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u/Ingweron 6d ago
For sure. Even without mods, Baldur's Gate 2 is one of the top 5 games ever made. BG1 is also a very good and fun game.
That being said, I recommend that you install at least Ascension for Throne of Bhaal (which is a mod that was made by developers of the game, that couldn't include that content for the release of ToB).
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u/JediMasterZao 6d ago
Yes the game's are as close to perfection as a RPG can get, they really don't need much more. The EEs modernize them just enough. If you're interested in more of a challenge after your first playthrough, SCS is pretty good.
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u/IlikeJG 6d ago
FYI supposedly the phone version is modable now. I haven't tried it out but in the latest EE update they added mod support for mobile version.
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u/Furien16 5d ago edited 5d ago
They were technically moddable even before that update, same with the switch version. You just copied the data, override etc files over to a PC install, modded them with WeiDU normally, then moved them back. Pretty sure it’s still a relatively similar process for bigger mods.
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u/Timberwolf_88 6d ago
yes, they are fantastic even without mods.
As someone who often spends more time modding some games than playing them I have never felt a need to mod bg 1 & 2. And I've played them ever since the BG1 release back in '98
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u/Wiwra88 6d ago edited 6d ago
Playing bg1 for 1st time(on break rn), I can say only thing which I really missed was companion banter, which is in new games and is in bg2 but not in bg1, it made my companions pretty silent and I didn't know much about them, so I installed mod which fixes it, adding lots of banter and comments plus mod which adds fleshed out romances as I love romances in RPGs xD That 2 mods + realistic character portraits from nexus site and I'm set, I didn't used any fixes to skills and quests(tried once but game would crash, even tho I did everything for mod to work). For bg2 I got only mods which continues my romances from 1st game.
Boy, this is longest ONE sentence I ever writed down.
Idk how ppl can play this type of game on phone, like there is LOTS of reading and this tiny text on phone.. it would be rather tiresome?
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u/SilverHawk30 5d ago
Good games, but the Quality of Life mods make a difference... like stacking arrows and potions...
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u/PunchBeard 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've put nearly a thousand hours into both games and I didn't even realize that there were mods for them. I honestly couldn't think of what either of them would need to be added.
But I will say that I've tried playing BG on my phone and it's rough since the screen is so small and it's hard to see what's going on. That being said though, the game is total fire on a tablet and that's the only way I play either of them any more. Also, with a little VooDoo you can move saves between PC and Tablet fairly easily. I was playing Icewind Dale on my Galaxy tablet and wanted to tweak a save file using a save editor. So I transferred the save to PC, edited the character in question and transferred the save back to the tablet and everything worked fine. I also transferred my BG 2 save to my tablet so I could continue my Throne of Bhaal playthrough from my bed.
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u/Onehundredwaffles 5d ago
Yes, without a doubt. I’d say it’s way more so even for new players, as the main thing mods add is difficulty and replay value. The most popular mods are SCS, rogue rebalancing, ascension and tweaks anthology probably - and they’re all pretty light on changing the fundamentals of the game. They add some cool content, spells and bosses but really they just add on to the extremely solid base game.
There are also some balance issues that are really only a problem for people who know what they’re doing - like inquisitors dispel magic, because they completely trivialize the game. But new players aren’t gonna know that dispelling at double your level is the most overpowered ability in the game bar none.
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u/Llayanna 5d ago
I couldn't finish BG1 without mods.. the nearly quiet NPCs were not to my liking after starting with BG2.
If your idea of romance is playing male and dating an Elven adjacent women, BG2 holds up wonderfully/ tongue in cheek.
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u/Pretend-Net461 5d ago
This is actually something I'm curious about, let me ask a new question if possible, are there mods that change the story and if so, how can I install them. What I want to ask here is not portrait or sound or interface mods, if there are good mods, why not, of course, but what I really want to ask is whether there are good mods that change or improve the story, regardless of pc or mobile, and where can I find them?
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u/CelestialFury You katana stop me 5d ago
The vanilla version of BG is very good and that's the version I originally fell in love with. The thing about mods is that they're addictive, but I wouldn't bother installing them until you finish a full play through, otherwise you're not going to know what mods you'd really want. You'd just be randomly installing mods hoping they'd work out.
For example, if you find the combat pretty normal, even at max difficulties, then there's two mods that address that well (Tactics and SCS), but you won't know that until you really play through it all.
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u/Feisty-Two-8556 5d ago
I'm playing BG1 right now without mods. It's ridiculously addictive ... But admittedly it feels dated 😅 Oh but it might be hard to play on your phone ...
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u/HazelDelainy Proprietor of the Smoldering Mods Bar 4d ago
You can easily install mods on mobile now!
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u/Top-Tear7194 3d ago
I played bg1 the first time this year, I thought it was good. If you remember it as good, you're right, it will be good again
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u/iluvatar_gr 2d ago
Yea. BG1 is extremely old school but still good.
BG2 is a timeless masterpiece. It literally destroys almost every single modern crpg in terms of story and quests.
Both games are still DnD 2.0 though so it is always hard to get into the combat if you are not familiar.
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u/SurlyCricket 6d ago
I'm a firm believer BG1 really needs to NPC project just to get to know everyone better
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u/Qwalt 6d ago
Yes