Baldur's Gate I & II - Gather your party before venturing forth

Just got nincamanced like crazy by Glint in SOD. Not five minutes have passed since I had a serious relationship talk with Corwin with everyone in the party also present, and suddenly this guy who I have never displayed anything other than platonic friendship towards is watching me sleep and demanding that I don't let my eyes wander over anyone but him. I'd consider even booting him out of my party due to how uncomfortable and kinda creepy this got if that didn't leave me without both a thief and a cleric.

luketrevelyan it's probably very much a YMMV situation, but speaking as someone who was also very late to the BG party: I didn't feel it was outdated at all when I first played it and didn't have the nostalgia goggles of having originally played it 16 years ago. In fact, there's a ton of stuff that is far deeper and I feel outclasses modern games (the variety in class/kit selection and how unique they are from each other, the spell system and sheer amount of spells available...)

As for BG1, I don't think it's mandatory. The story and characters in an unmodded BG1 is still so basic that you can get by with just jumping into BG2 or maybe reading some summary of BG1 beforehand. I suppose it does give you time to get attached to characters that'll show up and be important in BG2, but they really don't have all that much to say in BG1 so it's really just mostly due to literally spending a lot of time with the same characters in the party, not so much that their stories are compelling or very involved at all. At least that's how it was for me. But come BG2 the characters have a lot to say, there's plenty of banter, they have their own quests etc.