Hello!

As a player coming from Boardgames, I prefer turn-based games because
I like to have time to "think"; all the games I have bought on GOG are turn-based
and I'm very happy (AGE OF WONDERS and HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC series are great!)

I have tried also some FPS but I'm not that type of player because I'm slow at firing for example.

But sincerely I'd love to try a game like BG2 ... I like RPG and FANTASY themes so BG2 it is the perfect mix of my favorite type of games, and I love the AD&D World as well.
The problem? BG2 is in real-time so I'm asking you few questions:

1) have I any hope to play it? a player like me, a slow turn-based one?
2) is the player required to act in a few moments or he/she has the time to think?
3) can you pause the action so you can give the orders at your party members?

Thanks in advance!

Roberto

Yes, you have hope. I prefer turn based and I still played it. Mages would be your weak point though.

You're required to act quick, but you have time to prepare

and YES! THANK THE GODS, you can pause the game. by pressing the space key, You can't access your inventory at the time though.

Hope this Helps,
Lan.

Edit: P.S. should have made this a question thread

Yes, you can pause as often as you want, and you can give orders while the game is paused - so there's plenty of time to determine the best strategy.

Why mages? I don't consider myself a very fast player and I've played a mage just fine in BG1 and BG2. Timing is of course important with spells, but IIRC you can pause the game and cast a spell, and the casting will begin when you unpause.

You can. But if You are like me and prefer things quickly done. You'll stock your rank with mainly damage dealers. Mages are also on the fly at times, more so in heated combat. You HAVE to pay attention to them, Clerics included

1) Yes, it's extremely easy.
2) Pressing the space key for pausing is the only thing you might want to do fast. If you enable auto-pause in the options you don't even have to do this. You don't have to be fast when accessing the inventory either, the game does auto-pause then.
3) Any time. You can assign orders while the game is paused.

You can actually set the game to automatically pause at many different instances, including after each DnD "round" so that it feels like it's turn based. I think that's a bit much, but I set the game to autmatically pause when you cast spell, when enemies are sighted, traps are found, and your characters are badly wounded. So you see you have a lot of options with that, and I wouldn't worry about the speed of the game. The hard part is just learning the game at first, especially which spells to use and how to take out mage defenses.

Like mushaden pointed out, you can set the game to auto pause at many different events. You could select them all and then later deselect the ones that annoy you like "pause when character hit"
If you want a D&D game that resembles the pen and paper version as close as possible I can recommend Temple of elemental evil which is based on 3rd edition rules. This game even implements things like the 5-foot step and readying actions.

Thanks to all ... I have bought it!

Roberto

Also look around for games like Wizardry8 & Mist... both true to the old P&P games.

In a way BG2 is ALMOST turn-based. You just don't have to issue orders every turn. If you tell a character to attack, they will continue to attack. You can also set their AI, if I remember correctly, so that they will prioritize actions.

Your ability to click quickly does not factor in game play. NPCs can only move and attack as fast as their DEX and weapon choice allow.

Of course, every body is moving at the same time, so it's not a true turn-based game, but it's more realistic that way. You get used to it pretty fast. As mentioned, you can pause the game and change orders as you wish.

If you like BG2, then you should consider the subsequent Bioware games. They follow a similar formula. Even the modern ones like Dragon Age allow you to pause and change orders.

You might consider Baldur's Gate before BG2. There are a few story elements that will make more sense (but it's not necessary).

If you like BG2 then check out ...

On GoG
Planescape Torment - Same engine as BG2, but a much more original, interesting story
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 - Same engine as BG2, but the story is a bit more focused.

Elsewhere

Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 - This is a prettier 3D version of the BG engine. Also, the expansion packs are stand alone adventures. (I found some of them to be superior to the core games)

Knights of the Old Republic - It's Star Wars, yes, but it's cobbled from the familiar ruleset with similar gameplay. It uses a hubbed system of party management.

Dragon Age: Origins - As I mentioned, like BG you can pause and switch orders at any time.

I also recommend Might and Magic 6-8. You explore in real-time first-person, but you can switch to turn-based mode at will.

This one is available here on GOG as well.

Enjoy! :-)

The Infinity Engine titles (Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment) are easily my all-time favorite games and their "semi turn-based" gameplay is a huge part of this. They all play quite similarly by the way, so if you enjoy BG there is a good chance you'll enjoy the others too. PS:T puts a heavier focus on story and is lighter in the combat department, whereas the IWD's are more combat-focused, old-school dungeon crawlers, and the BG's are in the middle of both extremes, with an awesome story and great combat. The cool thing is that they are all very, very good games in their own right.

Just out of curiosity, did you buy BG or did you go for BG2 right away? If the latter is true, you should know that the series has a continuing story and you can even import your character from the first game into the second one, to continue his/her adventures. I personally always like to (re-)play them in the order they were released, but that's up to you of course.

My first one I bought based on all the people answer to this thread was BG2 because I had already in mind to buy it... I tried it just a few and a new World was opened to my eyes ... I was so hooked that I bought BG1, ICEWIND DALE 1 & 2, NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 1 & 2 (this last one not here on GOG); I discovered that these games have in common the same game engine more or less, and I'm able to play all of them.
The first one was BG2 based on reviews from many gaming sites.
Because I bought all these games in a row I decided, without a particular reason and after giving a look at all of them, to start with ICEWIND DALE 1 and now I'm playing it at easy level (without using cheats).

Roberto

Wow, you really went all out, didn't you? Good for you! They are all great games and more or less made by the same group of developers: BioWare made BG1, BG2 and NWN, Black Isle published BG1 and BG2 and made IWD, IWD2 and PS:T, and Obsidian (which was started by several Black Isle members after that studio and their parent studio Interplay went bankrupt) made NWN2.

So there is definitely a connection between all those game in terms of development. The NWN games use a different, newer engine though, and play quite differently as a result. Of the two, I'd say NWN2 is closest to the earlier games in terms of gameplay, as you actually get full control over your companions and there is quite a bit of interaction with them, too. NWN, on the other hand, mostly has you running around solo or (depending on the campaign) with 1-2 A.I. controlled henchmen.

What made the original NWN revolutionary back in the day was the incredibly robust toolset that came with it, which allowed you to create your own adventures, complete with quests, dialog trees, loot, encounters, etc., and its multi-player implementation, which included a "DM Client", allowing a dungeon master to run his/her custom made adventures for other players and enabling them to change whatever they thought of on a whim, just like in pen and paper D&D. It was a very ambitious project and, initially, the single-player component suffered from this, but BioWare addressed that in the expansions and especially the Hordes of the Underdark campaign turned out nothing short of amazing.

Anyway, you'll be set for months, if not years, with this collection, so enjoy! And here's the go-to site for all your fan-made NWN/NWN2 adventures: Neverwinter Nights Vault. They have a Hall of Fame section, containing the highest rated user-made content, and there is some seriously amazing stuff in there.