EOB vs BAK

Jemy has inspired me, EOB actually looks like it may be fun. BAK looks like total crap on the other hand, but it may be fun too.

Ive decided to play thru one of the old classic uglies that I wouldnt normally give a second glance. Theyre both readily available, and supposedly I can run them on my modern hardware. Now's my big chance to experience the "real" classics that the old timers here get all misty about. I'm just undecided on which one because Im clueless, so I'll let people in the know decide my fate.

Ha! I am in same boat, but not quite ready to set sail on either yet...

I never played EOB, but i LOVE BAK. I may actually grab it from GOG despite the fact I've purchased this game at least four different times.

BAK used to be free abandonware I believe, and may still be available as such. However, one thing that irks me about GoG, is that games that used to be free on abandonware sites, frequently are removed once GoG starts selling them...

As long as the original companies are around to get the income that's fine, but I think that is not the case for quite a few of their titles... Seems like another form of thievery / extortion sometimes...

Thrasher said:

BAK used to be free abandonware I believe, and may still be available as such. However, one thing that irks me about GoG, is that games that used to be free on abandonware sites, frequently are removed once GoG starts selling them…

As long as the original companies are around to get the income that's fine, but I think that is not the case for quite a few of their titles… Seems like another form of thievery / extortion sometimes…

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"Free" abandonware is still a bit of a grey area. However the version you by from GOG has been modified and tested to work on new machines plus they will support the game via the forums so its that, in many way, that you are paying for

Only floppy is free. You can get it here
http://www.gameogre.com/krondor.htm

I prefer EOB2 over EOB1 and BAK.

Have you looked at their support pages? They are very weak. Forum support is provided by other users, not their experts. So you're not really getting more support than you can already find on the internet.

Not even close, BAK is one of the greatest games of all times. EoB wasn't even fun back then.

Eye of the Beholder one was an enhanced Dungeon Master clone. All the walls you see are the same, there is almost no decorations and nothing that makes an area feel different from another in the same dungeon. In all things considered I consider Eye of the Beholder to be the prequel to Legend of Darkmoon, aka Eye of the Beholder II. That's my favorite of the three games. The third game was a step down, but still better than the first.

Still, I often play EoB1 first because exporting EoB1 characters and weapons to EoB2 makes the second game so much easier.

LuckyCarbon said:

Not even close, BAK is one of the greatest games of all times. EoB wasn't even fun back then.

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I agree to a point but BAK did not aged very well imho. I played both at the release year and a couple of years ago and I found EOB, especially part II to be still great fun. BAK on the other hand did not appeal to me and I stopped playing it after a couple of hours so I can keep the fond memories of playing it 15-16 years ago.
Of course they are completely different games within the genre.

Depends on how much time you have and what kind of rpg you prefer.

BaK is a much more complex game than EoB and provides deeper and more complete rpg experience. Turn based combat, usage based skill system, a lot of exploration, a lot of story (there´s a lot of texts in this game), riddles, realism (day-night cycle), etc. It´s also quite difficult, especially nowadays because iirc there´s no journal , and long. Also, its soundtrack is legendary.

EoB 2 (by far the best of EoB series), on the other hand, is a relatively short and simple story-free dungeon crawl. All those pressure plates, secret buttons, puzzles and fairly interesting level design definitely make it a fun game of its kind and, thanks to a few choke points here and there, it¨s fairly challenging as well.
Personally, I liked Black Crypt or Chaos Strikes Back (the most nonlinear dungeon crawl ever) more but if you don´t have enough time for epicness of Betrayal, EoB 2 should provide reasonably fun "oldschool" experience nevertheless.

If you have a bit more time and can get over its terrible 3D and weirdly wigged character portraits, go with BaK. Its rpg blend remains quite unique even today and the game simply offers significantly more of rpg goodness than EoB.

Why has BAK not been enhanced by now? Is it completely unmoddable? I'd be happy just to play it in higher resolution.

No contest at all bak is by far the Superior rpg. First: It's not based in the D&D world so everything is new and fresh. The spells system was amazing. Gameplay was great. Acting was ok, not the best in the world, but the writing made up for any that. The fact that if you are a fan of Feist's all the places he talks about you go get to visit. It's was linear in a freeform sorta way. Sure there were specifica destinations you HAD to go to, but you could go all across the country and search everywhere before you needed to go there.
As for EoB well it was fun and I enjoyed it for what it is, but it is no BAK.

Moredhel lockchests were awesome.

The poll's only been up a while, and.. well - it looks like I should start reading some Feist. I really like playing a game in a world that Ive done some reading about, and vice versa.

The game looks terrible, but I'm gonna soldier on and beat whatever is chosen or my name isnt Sammy T. Tiger. Maybe I'll love it, stranger things have happened

EOB was also a good game. I doubt it aged well though.

There is an excellent remake of EOB as a NWN mod.

xSamhainx said:

The poll's only been up a while, and.. well - it looks like I should start reading some Feist. I really like playing a game in a world that Ive done some reading about, and vice versa.

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I'm ashamed to admit that I've never played the game myself. Only the demo, IIRC, but as for reading …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Feist#The_Riftwar_Cycle_2

If you want to read before playing, the Riftwar Saga should suffice. From what I read about the timeline, the game's story is set approximately halfway between "Riftwar: A Darkness at Sethanon" and ''Krondor's Sons: Prince of the Blood".

(The game's story was not written by Feist, but he later made a book out of it, so it is canon.)

EOB is a plain, but fun Dungeon Crawl. BAK is a classic old fashioned RPG with everything a 'real' RPG player could want!! As others have said, EOB2 is FAR better than the original and far tougher without a hint book. My advice:- Play BOTH BAK and EOB2.

Corwin said:

Play BOTH BAK and EOB2.

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I second that!