I've been looking into buying Baldur's Gate I and II from GOG instead of grabbing the Enhanced Edition. Just so long as I can get the mods working properly, I think it's the better deal, but since I'm a first time player, I'm worried that I'll confuse elements of the two games. So, for people who have used Easy Tutu or another of the "enhanced" mods, can you tell me:

1) will I just need to read the rules for BG II to play the game?
2) will I be missing out on anything worthwhile by playing this way?
3) has anyone used Easy Tutu, decided they didn't like it, and decided to play a patched up vanilla version of BG1 instead?

I guess those seem like simple questions, but they're the only things keeping me from buying the games. I want to be able to refer to the right instruction manual for any questions I have, I don't want to miss out on anything the original game provided before patching, and I'd like to know if any newbs found that a patched vanilla version of BG1 was a better experience.

Also, I guess I'd like to know how often these patches work - I read different reports about bugs they cause, or about ease of installation. The guide on GOG is easy enough, and I've seen others that basically suggest the same thing, but these forums suggest it might be more complicated. Or that the patches working (like widescreen) are a matter of chance.

Thanks for any help in advance.
Cheers!

Hey man. Not sure about the patches, but I soloed bg1 years ago and you don't miss out on anything. I would say that you are probably better off using tutu, but its not really important that you do. Ive used tutu and its pretty good change but theres a bug that happens when you reach beregost that can sometimes crash your game big time. I don't think the creators of the mod fixed it so I would recommend you go along with baldurs gate trilogy (the one where you play bg1 through to bg2.

I think easy TuTu is the best way to play BG1. (The Beregost bug that Deathknight mentions is long gone) You could. But with BG2 Tweaks, you can use "Alter Weapon Proficiency System -> BG-Style Weapon Proficiencies, Without Weapon Styles" to make the game much closer to the original.
This is one of the main reasons I prefer TuTu to BGT. Mostly just frustration. I've played BG1 vanilla & modded & with TuTu & with BGT, TuTu is my prefered way. If you follow the instructions, all the common MODS work fine.
I've installed them on many different computers without any problems.

Well, I think BG1+2 are pretty safe buys whether or not you mod them. If you like CRPGs, well they are highly regarded. To mod or not to mod (that is the question), just depends on your tolerance for playing older games with their less streamlined interfaces. I would recommend trying out vanilla BG1 first, as you have to install it anyway, maybe you'll like it, maybe not, but it is the best way to have a point of reference for comparison.

As to your questions...

1) You could probably refer to both. The BG manuals are in two sections, the setting and world background (read BG1 manual for BG1 regardless), and the ruleset and tables (read BG2 manual for BG1 Tutu / Trilogy).

2) There is no missing content to my knowledge. Just user interface and rule enhancements from BG2. Tutu adds specific weapon / style proficiencies, and new character races / classes / kits / skills from BG2. You also may not be able to exploit the AI for cheesy kills quite as easily, but then you'll also be better prepared for BG2.

3) Depends on personal taste. I've read some people on here say Tutu makes some random BG1 combats harder. On the other hand, it could make the game easier overall, depending what class (or kit) you choose.

I prefer Tutu myself. I've never had any problems installing any of the mods either. Some of the mods themselves have had the odd bug, but nothing that cannot be fixed with the game console or saved game editors, and continue playing just fine.

I can vouch for the fact that this is not true; I just ran into the bug over the weekend.

There is one thing you will miss with TuTu, and probably BGT as well: at one point in BG1 two pairs of NPCs will break into a fight to death if both pairs are in the party.

My recommendation is just installing BG1 as is and trying it out. If you can bear the graphics (the 640x480 should look well on a 4:3 monitor) there's no need to change anything.

Do you have a recent version of Easy TuTu?
http://usoutpost31.com/easytutu/changelog.html
The change log claims it fixed it. Is this not the case?
I assume they used the code written by Ascension64 in 2010 as in this post
http://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/does_tutu_still_suffer_from_the_beregost_bug

I thought it was, and I know that it worked fine on another computer a few weeks ago, but I'll download EasyTutu again and try the new version. (Unless EasyTutu is somehow involved in the bug?)

When I wanted to play BG1 I looked to the guide sticked at the top of this forum. I installed EasyTutu lik eit said ( I had BG1 and BG2) and that was that. I didn't mess with the resolution or anything and never had a single problem. I think this is the best way to go because there is a thread right here on GoG if you have trouble thats multiple pages long, so you might be able to find an answer quick(though again, I didn't have any problems).

I never even ran BG1 pre-mod but I understand the graphics and UI are worse. With the mod it's the same as BG2 which I'd played before, so that was nice.

I guess I can't say BG1 with EasyTutu is a 'better experiance' because I never played BG1 without the mod. I can say it was a very good experiance and I can't imagine playing BG1 again without the "mod". In my mind it upgrades BG1 to the way the game was meant to be played, meaning more like BG2 in all the good ways.

With 2.0, I think that we're all being trolled right now.