32 replies to this topic

[Nix]

Er, that is, how many well-spent, fulfilling hours of your life (that you will never ever get back) have been devoted to the BG saga? I've only ever completed BG1 once through, while I estimate that over the years I've done SoA through ToB at least 20 times. Bioware estimates SoA to be about 200 hours of gameplay and ToB to be about 60. That puts me at 5200 hours.

However that figure would only be for vanilla BG2. Taking into consideration the numerous mods would swell that number quite a bit, and the last few times I've played have been with all the megamods, which would jack up that figure a whole lot. Then again, seeing as I haven't bothered to read any of the conversations since, oh, maybe the fifth time, I doubt it would take anywhere close to 200 hours to finish plain BG2.

So, while I work out the maths, what's everyone else's mileage?

[Solaufein]

11 years. Most of my free time consists of either playing the IE games or modding them. I believe I have finished BG four times, BG2 twice, IWD twice, IWD2 once and PST I stopped playing after a few hours due to boredom. I may not have finished the games a lot but I sure have started a lot of new games.

[Avallach]

Hmm, I've just recently (2 months) discovered the awesome Infinity Engine games so I guess i won't be going out from my room for some time, heh.

Edited by Avallach, 06 July 2009 - 12:04 PM.

[Sir_Carnifex]

Hmm.

I've finished BG1 only once, though I've gotten several other games quite a ways into the plot (like up to the city). BG2 I've finished (through ToB) probably at least seven times, with another ten to twenty games started but not finished. I'm not going to count up the hours, though I know I never spent any two hundred hours on any one play through.

[Epantiras]

I dare not to think about it ;-)

[Choo Choo]

I started playing BG1 back when it was released... when I was six years old. Now I'm seventeen. Hee.

[Jarno Mikkola]

So, how much life have you wasted... ?
Playing BG saga.

Wasted? Not a second... I have enjoyed playing it a lot, but wasted... not a second.

[Scipio]

I agree with Jarno. These games haven't wasted any of my life, they have enhanced it. How dull might life be without Aerie?

[Nix]

I agree with Jarno. These games haven't wasted any of my life, they have enhanced it. How dull might life be without Aerie?

Ah, but would your whinge-o-meter be going off the charts like that?

Well, but really, good on you guys for thinking so, and I'm sure nobody here would disagree.

I started playing BG1 back when it was released... when I was six years old. Now I'm seventeen. Hee.

Raised on a staple diet of BG, eh? Well done, your parents! I'm much the same. Started playing when I was 14, am now in my mid-twenties.

How about this for some scary maths?
Take my 5200 or so hours of gameplay, divide by 24 = 216.67 days!
Now taking it as a proportion of my 25 years on this green earth, that's 2.37% of my life spent playing BG Woohoo!

[Kaeloree]

Er, SoA is about 80 hours at the very most--100 hours at the outside--and usually around 30-40. ToB is between 10-15 hours at the outside, as well. I find it hard to believe Bioware would give those figures myself...

Heh, for me, thousands of hours modding. Several hundred playing.

[Nix]

They appeared very high to me as well. Then I checked with a few game review sites and they seemed to agree with those figures... some even increased them. I reckon for a first time novice going through all the dialogues and with no idea where everything is (and no cheating by CLUAing in six Boots of Speed), it could possibly take that long. I've no doubt that the majority of the people here could roll through vanilla BG2 in less than a day, simultaneously juggling a guinea pig and a pot of lima beans.

Still, it doesn't account for mods. And personally, I've usually played on the highest difficulty. Not to mention all the games started and not completed. 5200 is perhaps still a top-end estimation though... I should hope.

[Kaeloree]

It took me around 50 hours on my first playthrough, if not less. Still, 200 hours... the mind boggles.

[Choo Choo]

Raised on a staple diet of BG, eh? Well done, your parents!

Hee, yep! Not just BG, either - first game which wasn't for kids (or Ping Pong/Tetris) I played was Diablo. I was four. And I have vague memories of sitting with my father and his friends when they were playing AD&D. Pen, paper and dice. Man, those were the days.

[Arakhor]

I spent countless hours playing BG at university and many, many late nights, especially when dying a hell of a lot in Durlag's Tower. Just last night, after installing most of the BG Megamod, I still got suckered into playing in Candlekeep for a bit and didn't go to bed until 4.30 am!

[Headbanger]

I started playing ie games around 1999-2000. I have also played Diablo sence then. When I had an Amiga I started on Larn and Hack as well as Bard's Tale and Dungeon Master.

IMHO they are stricktly speaking time wasters..., however, I have rationalized many different ways to make it acceptable... ;-)

One of my favorite rationalizations is that if I am moding or translating mods so that other people may enjoy them, then I am not wasting time but serving other people.

Strictly speaking I have never finished SOA/TOB, and I have only finished BG/TOTSC one or twice, but I have started countless games playtesting...

Headbanger

[Cal Jones]

I game every day for several hours. BG trilogy has taken up a lot of time but is still a long way behind UO, which I played daily for 7 years. I don't look at my gaming as wasted time. It's something I enjoy. And heck, I made a living from it during the 90s so who's to complain? Games are awesome.

[Luridel]

I'd say about seven years of my life, but I consider it time well-spent and not a waste at all.

[xdeathplanetx]

oh my... i think i've been playng BG for 11/12 years.... so muchtime...
I've finished BG1 2/3 times and SOA/TOB at least 7 times and uncontables time i've started it just to see something... oh my my... so much time... i'm getting old!

[Sammi Somara]

...Gosh, I don't even want to think about it.
...Probably not too much playing Baldur's Gate. I spend at least as much time discussing the game and drawing fanart of it as I do playing it.

But if you count thinking about Baldur's Gate, drawing Baldur's Gate, talking about, writing about, generally LIVING Baldur's Gate, I'd say...a whole darn lot of time.

[Solar's Harper]

Hmm, about four and a third years for me now I think, for IE in general really. And as ashamed as I am to admit, it hardly takes the largest time out of the messed up schedule I live, try about 2/5 of gaming time.

Ah well, modding still has its' charms, or at least the writing does, hrmmm yes mmkay...