You're playing it wrong: Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II both have "Enhanced Editions" on Steam and GOG. Buy these versions on GOG, but don't play them; they come bundled with the original versions play these versions. The total package of enhancements hurt more than they help, and the good enhancements can be added to the original with mods.

The added content is badly written and feels out of place, as are all of the new NPCs, who show up in places that weren't meant to have them and intrude on the experience. Existing NPCs have new dialog sequences that are likewise badly written, and jarring when the existing dialog sequences are so much more well written. The original FMVs are cut, and in place are painfully amateurish comic book-like scenes, the intro being the worst offender as well as the most important one in the game. New artwork created to replace the old, low-res assets are likewise consistently amateurish, unpolished, and bland, and this affects almost every aspect of the look and feel from the UI to in-game sprites and character portraits. They added some new classes, kits, new equipment, and to Baldur's Gate 1 some BG2-like gameplay features, which are neat if you're a veteran, but if you're new then they can upset the game balance, especially in BG1 which was designed and balanced without having these options. BG1 is supposed to be hard; you're meant to feel vulnerable and helpless at the start, and the EE's changes wind up making the game considerably easier. Even if you're a veteran and want to replay BG1 with new features, they're better handled through mods than through the EE.

The best feature the EE's add are high resolution support, and even that is better handled by modding the original version. The mod isn't perfect, but it's better than the EE's approach, which upscales from a fixed internal resolution making things blurrier than necessary, and forces an ugly and cluttered re-designed UI on you.

So, the best way to play these games is to buy the EE's on GOG (they're relatively expensive but as two of the best RPGs ever made are worth it), download the original versions which GOG calls "Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga" and "Baldur's Gate 2 complete." And if you'd like to see more on your screen than the original resolutions allowed, get the widescreen mod. Be sure to install it to the same directory as your game, or it won't work. Then go to the directory, run "setup-widescreen.exe" and follow instructions.

Regarding the widescreen mod, you might not want to use your native resolution, unless you're playing on a netbook that already has a small resolution. The higher your resolution, the smaller everything will be. Some people prefer to use native resolution, but I don't. I find that 1280x720 is almost perfect on a 23" 1080p screen. A 27" desktop monitor or a 15.6" laptop can comfortably play at 1366x768. Make sure you have GPU scaling enabled with correct aspect ratio to ensure minimal blurriness from scaling.

Regarding other mods, a lot of guides recommend installing gameplay mods, but if you're new to Baldur's Gate, I don't. There are a number of mods that bring BG1 into the BG2 engine, which improve some things, but the gameplay of BG1 isn't balanced around BG2 features. Save these mods for replays, which can put an interesting spin on familiar gameplay. Don't upset the balance or aesthetic on your first playthrough. And if you do try these mods on a replay, you'll have a better idea of what they change, what you want changed, and overall these mods do a better job of "enhancing" than the EE's do, without any of their most obnoxious changes.