Baldur?s Gate a Retrospective
The Baldur?s Gate series is one of the most iconic western RPGs ever. The series? single handed revival of the floundering western RPG genre in the late 1990s and the fact that the sequels not only lived up to the original but actually improved on it massively make this series in my opinion one of the most important in the history of the CRPG genre. Developed by Bioware and released in 1998 the original Baldur?s gate was greeted by overwhelmingly positive reviews. Gaining a 9.2 from Gamespot, 9.4 from IGN and 8.5 from PCZone UK. Baldur?s gate 2: Shadows of Amn was released in 2001 to similar critical appraisal. Expansions for both games, Baldur?s Gate: Tales of Sword Coast and Baldur?s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal were also released adding stellar content.
The games are set in Dungeons and Dragons universe ?The Forgotten Realms?, for those ignorant of Dungeons and Dragons, and I will admit that I would be among you but for Baldur?s Gate, this is the universe which spawned ?Ulitmate Badass? or ?Marty-Stu? Drizzt Do Urden the Drow (or Dark Elf). The Storyline follows the main character, you, from their humble beginnings as an orphan in the library-fortress ?Candlekeep? through numerous adventures, motivated by money, self-discovery, your life, saving the world/city/hamlet and perhaps most importantly your companions (more on that later). First in and around the titular city of Baldur?s Gate along the ?Sword Coast? (generic fantasy land) and along the Sword Coast, then in the again, titular land of Amn, especially it?s capital city Athkatla. The storytelling is well done, relying mainly on dialogue, which is exceedingly well done which brings me onto my next point, the game?s characters.
The Baldur?s Gate series is particularly acclaimed for its well rounded selection of characters. From villains who remain, in my opinion some of the best in videogames, such as Sarevok Anchev and Jon Irenicus, to the sidekicks that the main character can pick up. The player interacts and is interacted with by these characters mainly via the game?s exceptionally well written dialogue trees much of which are voice acted, cut-scenes and in-game art. The dialogue ranges from the insane:
?You will suffer! You will ALL suffer!?
Through to the hilarious (partly from the delivery):
?I grow tired of shouting battlecries when fighting this mage. Boo will finish his eyeballs once and for all, so he DOES NOT rise again! EVIL! Meet my sword. SWORD! MEET! EVIL!?
The companions themselves are for the most part well rounded characters with interesting backstories, lots of dialogue and often quests of their own. There is literally a companion for almost any taste (bar the fetishistic) the oft-mentioned addled Ranger Minsc (and his Miniture-giant Space hamster, Boo), the utterly insane gnome Cleric/Theif Tiax, the eyoreish elf Mage Xan, the cutesy elf cleric/mage Aerie, the halfling ?Paladin? Mazzy, the player character?s childhood friend Imoen (who is the only character other than Half-Life 2?s Alyx that I have ever felt bound to protect outside of it being the game?s stated objective) , moody Ranger Valygar and the list goes on. I cannot stress how well implemented and fun these characters are, whats more you can have six of them tagging along at once, they will often interject about the players decisions and in the second game they will banter with one another (The gnome Jan Jansen does this alot, as does the aforementioned Minsc). This is a game which should have you looking forward to the dialogue, not simply tolerating it.
The graphics are not really comparable to modern graphics; the first game is over 10 years old. Rendered in glorious 2D isometric (kind of) it has however aged remarkably well (especially outdoor areas) and in many places the graphics are absolutely beautiful even today. It can unfortunately get a little confusing in larger fights where there are a large number of spell effects flying around the environment. However once again I will state that for a 10 year old game engine, the graphics are good enough and tasteful enough for it to be more attractive than many of the early 3D games that it is contemporary with.
The gameplay is, like many early RPGs surprisingly complicated, some classes, such as Fighters, Paladins and to an extent Thieves and Rangers are essentially 1-click wonders, though it is essentially mandatory to have at least 1 thief in the party to spot and disarm traps and to unlock loot-chests. Spellcasters such as Mages, Clerics, Sorcerers and Bards end up at the heart of endgame strategy (especially Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal), indeed the one major complaint that I have gameplay wise, and it?s one more aimed at the 2nd edition of Dungeons and Dragons is that towards the end of the games spellcasters dominate the game almost to the point of making your physical damage dealers into cannon-fodder. Early on however Mages particularly are weak and difficult to use. It?s also hard, the game advises you in one of its loading splash-screens that ?You can quick-save using the Q key, do this often? and it?s right. I tended to play on normal (having little patience) and found that I would quite often die horribly if I approached a fight, or even just a seemingly empty but trapped corridor the wrong way. It?s not however Nintendo hard and for the most part the levels are fair enough for you to realise your mistake and not feel to embittered about your death, a niggling complaint is that; in a world where resurrection exists (and indeed you can and will resurrect your followers)... why does a game-over screen appear when the main-character dies. However, as it?s not that big an issue it?s a fair assumption that your character mainly dies in situations that are a total-party-kill anyway.
The games are also very long. I wouldn?t put Shadows of Amn past having between 100 and 200 hours of content, with Baldur?s Gate 1 being somewhat less and both games being extended by expansions, or in the case of Throne of Bhaal, a semi-sequel. I remember one summer-holiday when all my friends had gone abroad on various family excursions playing Baldur?s Gate II so long that I had breakfast and then went to bed, without really making a particularly big dent in the content. I personally like this; I enjoy long games and feel like I tend to get my money?s worth more with them. Others won?t, I will accept, but to be honest they don?t strike me as the type of person who would enjoy an old RPG in the first place.
You can pick up the entire series from Amazon.co.uk (if you're a brit) for about £10, for all you non-brits out there, the average "new" console game is between £30 and £50 sterling. I cannot imagine that the game is much more expensive in other countries.
Now... it feels like the time has come for an arbitrary numerical score pulled from a ?crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd!". Which is: 9.
The Baldur?s Gate series is one of the most iconic western RPGs ever. The series? single handed revival of the floundering western RPG genre in the late 1990s and the fact that the sequels not only lived up to the original but actually improved on it massively make this series in my opinion one of the most important in the history of the CRPG genre. Developed by Bioware and released in 1998 the original Baldur?s gate was greeted by overwhelmingly positive reviews. Gaining a 9.2 from Gamespot, 9.4 from IGN and 8.5 from PCZone UK. Baldur?s gate 2: Shadows of Amn was released in 2001 to similar critical appraisal. Expansions for both games, Baldur?s Gate: Tales of Sword Coast and Baldur?s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal were also released adding stellar content.
The games are set in Dungeons and Dragons universe ?The Forgotten Realms?, for those ignorant of Dungeons and Dragons, and I will admit that I would be among you but for Baldur?s Gate, this is the universe which spawned ?Ulitmate Badass? or ?Marty-Stu? Drizzt Do Urden the Drow (or Dark Elf). The Storyline follows the main character, you, from their humble beginnings as an orphan in the library-fortress ?Candlekeep? through numerous adventures, motivated by money, self-discovery, your life, saving the world/city/hamlet and perhaps most importantly your companions (more on that later). First in and around the titular city of Baldur?s Gate along the ?Sword Coast? (generic fantasy land) and along the Sword Coast, then in the again, titular land of Amn, especially it?s capital city Athkatla. The storytelling is well done, relying mainly on dialogue, which is exceedingly well done which brings me onto my next point, the game?s characters.
The Baldur?s Gate series is particularly acclaimed for its well rounded selection of characters. From villains who remain, in my opinion some of the best in videogames, such as Sarevok Anchev and Jon Irenicus, to the sidekicks that the main character can pick up. The player interacts and is interacted with by these characters mainly via the game?s exceptionally well written dialogue trees much of which are voice acted, cut-scenes and in-game art. The dialogue ranges from the insane:
?You will suffer! You will ALL suffer!?
Through to the hilarious (partly from the delivery):
?I grow tired of shouting battlecries when fighting this mage. Boo will finish his eyeballs once and for all, so he DOES NOT rise again! EVIL! Meet my sword. SWORD! MEET! EVIL!?
The companions themselves are for the most part well rounded characters with interesting backstories, lots of dialogue and often quests of their own. There is literally a companion for almost any taste (bar the fetishistic) the oft-mentioned addled Ranger Minsc (and his Miniture-giant Space hamster, Boo), the utterly insane gnome Cleric/Theif Tiax, the eyoreish elf Mage Xan, the cutesy elf cleric/mage Aerie, the halfling ?Paladin? Mazzy, the player character?s childhood friend Imoen (who is the only character other than Half-Life 2?s Alyx that I have ever felt bound to protect outside of it being the game?s stated objective) , moody Ranger Valygar and the list goes on. I cannot stress how well implemented and fun these characters are, whats more you can have six of them tagging along at once, they will often interject about the players decisions and in the second game they will banter with one another (The gnome Jan Jansen does this alot, as does the aforementioned Minsc). This is a game which should have you looking forward to the dialogue, not simply tolerating it.
The graphics are not really comparable to modern graphics; the first game is over 10 years old. Rendered in glorious 2D isometric (kind of) it has however aged remarkably well (especially outdoor areas) and in many places the graphics are absolutely beautiful even today. It can unfortunately get a little confusing in larger fights where there are a large number of spell effects flying around the environment. However once again I will state that for a 10 year old game engine, the graphics are good enough and tasteful enough for it to be more attractive than many of the early 3D games that it is contemporary with.
The gameplay is, like many early RPGs surprisingly complicated, some classes, such as Fighters, Paladins and to an extent Thieves and Rangers are essentially 1-click wonders, though it is essentially mandatory to have at least 1 thief in the party to spot and disarm traps and to unlock loot-chests. Spellcasters such as Mages, Clerics, Sorcerers and Bards end up at the heart of endgame strategy (especially Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal), indeed the one major complaint that I have gameplay wise, and it?s one more aimed at the 2nd edition of Dungeons and Dragons is that towards the end of the games spellcasters dominate the game almost to the point of making your physical damage dealers into cannon-fodder. Early on however Mages particularly are weak and difficult to use. It?s also hard, the game advises you in one of its loading splash-screens that ?You can quick-save using the Q key, do this often? and it?s right. I tended to play on normal (having little patience) and found that I would quite often die horribly if I approached a fight, or even just a seemingly empty but trapped corridor the wrong way. It?s not however Nintendo hard and for the most part the levels are fair enough for you to realise your mistake and not feel to embittered about your death, a niggling complaint is that; in a world where resurrection exists (and indeed you can and will resurrect your followers)... why does a game-over screen appear when the main-character dies. However, as it?s not that big an issue it?s a fair assumption that your character mainly dies in situations that are a total-party-kill anyway.
The games are also very long. I wouldn?t put Shadows of Amn past having between 100 and 200 hours of content, with Baldur?s Gate 1 being somewhat less and both games being extended by expansions, or in the case of Throne of Bhaal, a semi-sequel. I remember one summer-holiday when all my friends had gone abroad on various family excursions playing Baldur?s Gate II so long that I had breakfast and then went to bed, without really making a particularly big dent in the content. I personally like this; I enjoy long games and feel like I tend to get my money?s worth more with them. Others won?t, I will accept, but to be honest they don?t strike me as the type of person who would enjoy an old RPG in the first place.
You can pick up the entire series from Amazon.co.uk (if you're a brit) for about £10, for all you non-brits out there, the average "new" console game is between £30 and £50 sterling. I cannot imagine that the game is much more expensive in other countries.
Now... it feels like the time has come for an arbitrary numerical score pulled from a ?crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd!". Which is: 9.
