So I've never played Baldur's Gate in it's original or current iteration, and was just wondering if buying the enhanced edition from a new kid on the block's perspective was worth it, as well as playing it?

What more EE has a nice zoom feature which solves the problems with tiny assets on higher resolutions. It worsens the graphics when you zoom too much, but it's still worth it. The original game in 1080p is barely playable for me. EE also introduces a very good journal, so no more browsing through endless descriptions to find that one particular quest you're looking for. There are also some useful UI improvements.

Avoid SoD. It is amateurish and filled with plot holes. It also makes the fantastic BG2 villain look like a complete moron.

I couldn't disagree more with what Endurium wrote.

It is not true that when you play BG:EE you will have the same experience as the original for two reasons:
1. All original cutscenes were removed in BG:EE.
2. You cannot avoid new companions. You can choose to dismiss them, but you will be forced to interact with them at least a little bit.
3. Interface is changed and for the worse. The last time I played, the journal was a mess.
4. There are other smaller changes which make the two games different.

I understand that the main issue is the low resolution of the original. There is a widescreen mod for the original that fixes that though. So if I were you, I would start with the classic edition. Only if you think the classic edition is unplayable due to graphics (which to me are fine) I would suggest switching to BG:EE.

I would disagree this is an issue. Old FMVs were in a very low resolution. The new ones have a different style, but it still looks quite fine IMO. If you want to experience the game as it was made, it can be a problem. But it's not the purpose of a remaster to leave everything like it was in the original. The meaning of cinematics is the same. There were no plot changes. I view the new companions mostly as a good addition to the game. I have doubts only in the case of Baeloth which is too grotesque for my liking. The interaction you're talking about is only brief and there's nothing that spoils the game when you come across them. Even if you don't like the new companions, the advantages of EE are enough to justify buying it. If you're used to the classic interface, you may feel a little weird when interacting with the refreshed version. It has some serious pros however. There's no need to endlessly scroll the descriptions on the character screen as Beamdog implemented categories. In the original you could see only a very limited amount of items on screen when buying and selling. This is resolved. I can't imagine how someone can prefer the original journal. This is were we came across a true mess. These days the quest entries need to be clearly accessible without the need of endless page turning. It's good that EE introduced a separation between quest and other entries. On the inventory screen we also have some nice changes. There's more useful information which makes gear management easier. The problem with widescreen mod is that it makes all of the assets tiny, if you're playing on higher resolutions. In 1080p the game is almost unplayable for me, especially when a lot of things are happening in a very limited space. EE solves this problem by introducing zoom. So if you don't use a monitor that has a native resolution lower than 1080p, EE is the way to go. :)

Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga (aka BG1: classic) and Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (aka BG: EE) are mostly different games. They have the same story but everything else, including the ruleset, is different. This is because BG: EE uses the BG2 engine and ruleset.

I was going to post a rather detailed reply, but GOG's forums seem to be freaking out with the length of my post. So I'll just cut to the chase:

If you’re wanting to experience the games in their original form with absolutely no technical tinkering: install the classic editions from GOG, with no further modifications.

If you want the “original content” but with a “consistent experience” across both games, and aren’t afraid of doing some technical tinkering: install the classic editions from GOG and follow this guide to “Enhance the Gameplay in Your Edition:” https://www.gog.com/news/enhance_the_gameplay_in_your_edition_of_baldurs_gate_from_gogcom

If you want the best of both worlds, install the Enhanced Edition but use the following mods to remove Beamdog’s questionable additional content:

Original Cut-scenes: https://github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies
Remove EE NPCs: https://github.com/Argent77/A7-NoEENPCs
Classic BG1 GUI: https://github.com/r-e-d/LeUI-BG1EE

But if you just want to install the latest version of the game, ensuring maximum compatibility with nearly all modern operating systems, and don’t want to fuss about with any additional modifications, patches or enhancements – then simply install the latest version of the Enhanced Edition from GOG. You will get an extremely stable and playable version of the game, and if you are not a veteran of Baldur’s Gate then you will probably not notice any issues at all. And if you fall into this category, then I would say: don’t worry about all the talk you see about patches, and versions, and mods and Beamdog is the devil and such. If you don’t own this game: buy it – install it – enjoy it. All of us vets are going to fuss and flap around about what the “bestest!” version of this game is. But the fact remains – Baldur’s Gate is a truly awesome game, and it will continue to be awesome regardless of what format it is enjoyed in.

I hope we can all agree to that.

Don't worry guys, I basically got the Original Saga for a buck seventy, so it's all good.

Wise choice. You won't regret it!

Absolutely the best decision.

By "ruleset", do you mean D&D 2E? If so, the original and EE are the same, aren't they? If you mean character creation options like dual-wielding and new races/classes to play, then yes, they are different.

To the OP: I have both and play both. Each has its own merits, IMO. I like the classic for sure, and if I had to pick only one, that would be it. But it is nice to change up and play a dual-wielding Half-Orc with a kit or something like that. Also, you can arm Jaheira with a magic club, which is nice.

I am not a fan of any of the new NPC's, but I figured it wouldn't hurt me to try them. Sure enough, it didn't.

Technically both are based on AD&D (which is the 2nd edition of the RPG), but EE incorporates some elements that point to the 3rd edition. So it's basically a refreshed 2nd edition. We can discuss whether this can be treated as the same system, but the differences are quite visible. :)

Here you can find a detailed information about what I mean.

To sum it up, BG Classic had grouped proficiencies. For example, you could take the "Blunt Weapon" proficiency and could use all maces, warhammers, clubs, and Quarterstaffs. In BG1:EE and BG2, you need to take 4 of those proficiencies individually. That changes the game play immensely.

Those types of things are what I meant by "character creation options" in my first post.

I like the original setup for the fact that it means you can arm your characters with varied weapons and be adroit with all of them. However, a nice feature of BG1EE and BG2/EE is the weapon styles option to help with (for one example) better critical chance and speed factor when it comes to 2-hand weapons.