I beat BG1 for the first time about 4 days ago, and even made a post on here voicing my complaints and asking if BG2 was the same.

I enjoyed BG1 but found many flaws that were especially frustrating for me. I assumed I would never replay the game because, although it was a good time, there were plenty of bad times as well.

But in the past couple days since beating BG1, I started a new character…and the game is so much better now? I planned to replay the game entirely so my BG2 character would be a different class since I got bored of my first one. I also upped the difficulty a bit as well.

And idk what it is, but I can’t put the game down! I only started this second playthrough to make a good BG2 character. I went in with the expectation of a slog, since much of my first playthrough was like that. But everything feels…more engaging? I’m noticing details in the story I didn’t see before, I’m approaching combat more tactically, building a new party with brand new companions (Baeloth, Edwin, and Kaigan make the early game a breeze…)

I’m seriously so surprised that instead of trudging through BG1 again and only powering through with the hope of playing and loving BG2, I’m instead just having a good time replaying the game. My complaints still hold up…but honestly I’ve barely noticed them on this new playthrough.

Has this been anyone else’s experience? All I can say now is that I can easily see why these games are being talked about decades later.

It took a while for BG1 to grow on me…but man does it deserve to be a classic.

I hope BG2 is the same way for me!

Hey all!

So, I love love love Ryoko Kui's (mangaka of Dungeon Meshi) portraits for Baldur's Gate. I use them almost all the time. There's just one problem: she didn't do every character. She's done most of the playable characters (including the EE companions), but a couple in BG1 are missing, along with Sarevok for BG2. The villains in BG2 are also absent and I need Irenicus.

(as far as I can tell -- if she's drawn them somewhere else, I haven't been able to find them.)

To anyone else who uses Kui's portraits: I'm looking for portraits that wouldn't look out-of-place next to hers. Do you have any suggestions?

To anyone who's a portrait expert but doesn't know what I'm talking about, check these out:

BG1

BG2

The redraws by u/RoorenArt (BG1, BG2) are also pretty good, but not quite what I'm looking for. (I might have to grab Sarevok if nothing else, though.)