Baldur's Gate (1998)

I decided to check out this game after being blown away by BG3. For context, BG1 is as old as I am, so I'm not exactly familiar with old CRPGs. I had previously watched videos of both BG1 and 2 for the story, before going into 3, so I had an idea of how it looked.

Man, playing this game is terrible... And I say "playing" specifically, because everything else is amazing. My best time with BG1 is when I'm not playing the game. Thinking up lore for my character, exploring the wiki to find out more about the world', even just sitting and looking at stat breakpoints and abilities. The problems start after pressing Continue on the main menu.

EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING, in this game, is a tedium. Moving items around in the inventory, storing scrolls, talking to NPCs, moving around. Auto-pathing is primitive at best. You want to move forward? High chance one of your six characters will decide to slam his head on the wall of the opposite side of the room. Sometimes I can't even comprehend what possible roundabout way they tried to take.

Then there's text explanations, which are confusing and inconsistent. Armor Class is supposed to be better the less you have, yet most defensive spells state they increase it, same with THAC0, a confusing term in the baseline, made even worse by spells and items not knowing how they want to phrase the improvement of said stat. Sometimes increase is good, sometimes increase is bad.

Another issue is cheesing. You can essentially do anything, as long as you have enough patience to reload your save. Waylaid by monsters? Just keep reloading until you complete rest/travel. There's really no point to that mechanic except to waste your time. I see no reason to fight when I know that reloading will just skip it (I consider doing it for the RP straight-up masochistic). Same with spells. Sleep failed? Reload until it hits.

This brings me to the point of feedback, of which there is very little. I've practically studied the wiki to learn how the mechanics work, and still I dont know half the things that happen. Combat consists of several small figures swinging in the air, until somehow something hits, and sometimes the damage will be visible through a reduction in the health bar. I've no idea how much health enemies have, no idea what the spells they cast do, I'm just doing my thing and reloading every time something goes wrong.

The more I play, the worse it gets, and I don't know if I will make it to the end without switching to Story Mode. If anything, this game made me value the QoL features we have now. And I dont mean yellow paint, I mean waypoints, heal on rest, a readable freaking text (yes, I can increase the font size, but that means having to scroll down every 2 lines).

In short Gameplay: 1/5; Story (and everything adjacent): 5/5

That said, I came out net positive from this. I won't touch the game again after finishing, but I'm looking forward to learning more about the Forgotten Realms through books or whatever else.

This is my third attempt to play this game. My third time purchasing it. But even though it is such an important crpg, I just can't seem to get into it.

I can handle clunky plot lines, dated graphics, and gameplay that is slow to reward the player. But I just can't get around those 90s era D&D characters. A barbarian with a hamster? A paladin with a stutter? Wild mage girl, the girl? It's too painful.

Maybe if I get a big bunch of time and have no other newer crpgs to plug away at. But I have too many AAA titles from the last 5 years on my backlog to slog my way through this dated title.

Three stars because rule of three.

While many aspects of this game has not aged like a fine wine, where it matters most is still some of the best fantasy ever committed to the medium. While the fallout series may have defined the CRPG genre, BG 1 helped bring it into the mainstream with it's critical praise and superb execution.

What will be challenging with this game is the commitment to the Thaco system. It's complex and can often times feel overwhelming despite the streamlined aspects. While the game plays out in real time, you can tactically pause whenever to issue commands, yet the game still conforms to a rigorous turnbased system that is mostly hidden due to the real time combat. Every swing is still done based on a Thaco die roll. This can result in combat feeling quite sluggish. This is a low power level game where combat will likely end in less than a minute, or if your die rolls are terrible and you rely on melee swings it can last minutes. I had encounters early in the game where I would stand in front of the enemy and we would swing wildly at each other for over a minute always missing.

That said, combat is extremely punishing. In some sense, you are encouraged to cheese every fight or risk losing to the RNG god. Playing a Mage/Thief can result in you cheesing almost every encounter in the game due to traps and skull traps. I was able to one shot the final boss by building an absurdly large pile of skull traps right in front of him. Once he aggroed. He ran forward and immediately died. Otherwise, since I was doing a solo run, the fight was impossible. It can be silly and immersion breaking resting 8 hours, lay max traps, rest another 8 hours and repeat until you have a big enough pile, all while the enemy patiently waits slightly off screen. In addition to all this jank, another issue is the sheer amount of DND spells. Having multiple spell casters is overwhelming because of the potential each has. Magic is fairly weak early but becomes overpowered in the end game (much like DND as a table top game). There is certainly a steep learning curve and you will spend a ton of time reading trying to figure out the best spells. This makes a solo playthrough all the more appealing despite the limitations of a single character.

Now all this said, what makes this game so exceptional is the world and writing. The lead programmer read every Neverwinter and Forgotten realms book and it really shows in the deep lore cuts and characters present. It's so dense. While I think Planescape has overall better writing and characters, it isn't a traditional fantasy story. In contrast, BG 1 offers one of the best DND narratives ever written. It's a compelling conspiracy full of memorable moments and characters. Whether that is Minsc and Boo or the evil and enigmatic Dorn the Blackguard. It's a big game with tons of side quests with a lot of heart thrown behind it and no filler.

After a few times trying, I beat Baldur's Gate last night! Hooray!

BG is Bioware's first major RPG, and the foundation for almost all the elements that made their games major hits are here. Large and fun cast of characters, choice effecting the game/party, morality choices influencing how you interact with the world, and a sweeping story.

However, all of these traits vary in implementation, I liked some of the team members, and others I felt like had no personality. I found myself wishing I picked Evil, as their cast appealed to me more, but overall the characters of the game are very hit or miss.

Similarly, while the story is pretty solid, it takes FOREVER to get going. This feels realistic, but makes for a snails paced game. I spent the first 10 or so hours exploring, doing some side quests, and really not feeling too plugged into the wider goings on. Slowly you get pulled in, until you get to the game's final dramatic arc, which is done rather well (complete with having to navigate being a wanted man, which was a unique segment).

The morality choices are surprisingly solid, I felt like being a paragon for Good really rewarded me. Good NPCs reacted positively to me and Evil NPCs scorned me, most of the Good choices felt like they worked well, but often I found the Evil ones just a bit too cartoon bully-ish. Still, for 1997, this was solid.

The biggest drawback for me, is the gameplay. D&D 2nd edition I think is clunky in the first place, when implemented in a game that is 25 years old, and segments of the game could be infuriating. Spells like Web, Ensnare, and Fear are exceedingly powerful throughout, but once a battle finishes, the effects still don't disappear for a while. Forcing you to sit and wait for caught party members for sometimes what felt like 1-2 minutes.

Some enemies of the game sling powerful ranged attacks so quickly that they wiped my weaker members before I knew what was happening. But when I tried to do that same with my own spells, I just as frequently hit my own party as the enemy. This creates an odd economy of spells, where enemies use a lot of threatening AoE spells, but you yourself struggle to.

Leveling and combat abilities are also nonexistent. Once you get a full party, and a few levels/spells you get more choice, but many encounters were just me watching my people wail away on an enemy, and watching my hitpoints.

The gameplay isn't the worst I have experienced, but it lacks most of the tactical choices that other RPGs, such as the turn based Chrono Trigger, thrive at.

Finally, this game has a lot of rewards for players who enjoy exploring. There were seemingly endless side quests and areas to see, and I didn't even dip into the Tales of the Sword coast content. For people who like side questing, exploring the wilderness for secrets, and interesting encounters, this game has a lot to offer.

The Good -Morality System creates some fun interaction with the world. -Large array of characters, while not always the most interesting, gives a lot of choice and flavor -Story's final arc is really engaging and fun -Exploration and secrets around every corner

The Bad -Gameplay and combat frequently was repetitive and mediocre at best -Story took FOREVER to hear up

Overall, this game isn't for everyone, but if you don't mind a slow story, and poor-mediocre combat, there is a lot to like about this game.

I played Baldur's Gate first back in 2011 and became addicted to the whole series. While the second game is my favourite, I played both so many times that I basically knew them by heart. This was my first party based RPG and led to me discovering Neverwinter Nights and the Dragon Age series.

I have been planning to replay them since Siege of Dragonspear came out and I finally got around to it. The Enhanced edition adds some improvements: better map; better inventories; and four new possible companions. I only tried one of the new companions, Rasaad, he was very enjoyable (though very squishy at early levels) and brought a fun new quest.

Almost all mods have now been converted to work on the enhanced edition which is great. I used just two mods this time, the BG NPC project (which I think is essential as companions don't really talk otherwise) and Sword Coast Stratagems, an excellent mod that gives enemies better ai and tactics.

I know a lot of people feel that Baldur's Gate has dated too much and is very inferior to the second game but I love low level D&D where experience points matter so much and increasing in levels makes such a difference. The fights do involve a lot of watching your characters and enemies swing and miss over and over again but you get used to that.

This is my character just before the final fight. I consider changing companion portraits part of the fun of the game so my party is actually Ajantis, Rasaad, Branwen, Kivan and Xan.

If you have never played it or you are wondering about the enhanced edition, I recommend it very strongly, I had no bugs or crashes during the game and it is still so much fun. I am planning to add more mods next time, its great that there are still mods being made for a game that is now over 20 year old!

I have completed an awesome RPG. TBH I played the majority of this game in the last year, but I got stuck on the final boss. Today I decided to re visit the game and after many tries I managed to beat the bad guy.

I found the graphics and music to be excellent and still hold up to today, despite being a bit pixelated and 2D.

I agree with some reviews that there are many very wide open areas to explore that get a bit boring and similar. But still, it's an awesome RPG and worth exploring. I finished it almost 100%, there are just a few (maybe many) quests in the big city I might have missed.

Thought I would summarise my thoughts on finally beating Baldur's Gate. A friend gifted me a copy of this game burnt onto five CDs nearly 20 years ago; have played it many times but never beaten it until last week.

There are some elements of the game that I loved back then and that still hold up today. The atmosphere, beauty and feeling of the game is wonderful. Exploring these woods, mines, caves and such. It's all rendered in gorgeous pixel art with great ambient sound and weather effects as you slowly reveal the map, fighting monsters, listening to eerie noises with subtle bits of music. It feels like a real adventure and I think this is where the game really shines. There are all these little details in the art, details on trees, night/day effects, sounds of marketplaces or the dulled cacophony from a nearby tavern. It's during these moments of exploration and discovery that I'm really immersed and that I love the game.

Other parts of the game haven't aged too well. The combat system itself can be quite frustrating at times. Modern takes on the genre like Pillars of Eternity have made many improvements and it can be painful to return to this. Many of the gameplay systems related to mages and spells can be irritating and aren't much fun, and there's a lot of problems with the RNG-based damage and pathfinding. The systems relating to spells, loot, inventory management, potions, scrolls; it can start to really feel like a chore.

The characters and dialogue in the game are fantastic. Especially most of the sub-quests where you meet fascinating individuals or help weirdos that you meet along your travels; often these little portions of plot will have a twist or a dark sense of humour where the player will be tricked or trapped or led on a wild goose chase with surprising twists and turns. Dialogue options give a lot of opportunity for roleplaying and immersion. However I must note that the main storyline itself is really dull. You're basically on a quest to find this big bad evil boss guy who killed your father. Not much nuance or subtlety; it all felt rather boring and silly and anticlimactic by the end, especially when compared to the cerebral multi-layered deeply symbolic environmental-storytelling of modern RPGs like Dark Souls.

Ultimately I have mixed feelings about Baldur's Gate. The reason I never finished the game is probably because the best part of the came is the first half when you're just exploring and meeting characters, doing little quests, going through forests and dungeons, soaking up the atmosphere. The latter part of the game is tiring and less inspired, you're bogged down by an uninteresting story and increasingly-frustrating combat and no dungeons. I still enjoyed it, but I'm relieved it's over! I'm giving it 3 stars, plus a bonus star for the nostalgia factor. I might skip Baldur's Gate 2, or at least I need a long break before returning to this genre.

Recently finished playing through Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition on my laptop. This is a great game which stand the test of time fairly well, and both the music, fighting and most of the visuals are great. The Enhanced Edition also fixed most of the gameplay that was not as great in the original game.

The downside is that a lot of side quests are broken. Apparently there is a fix for that, but that did not work on the GOG.com-edition I installed and played. Basically, some quests stop half way through, leaving the quest in the diary open and some items, like "piece of coal", pointless. I was hoping to play through a lot of the side quests but when I realized I could not finish them all, I dropped the whole idea and used walkthrough for the ones I bothered to finish.

Another downside might be partly because of my own bad memory, but nonetheless a downside. As I played through this time, I was careful not to spend excess money, and save as much as possible, picking up almost all items I looted to sell them. The reason was that I remembered that you could buy better items at the various shops around. Later in the game I realized, however, that there are almost no good items to buy for money - they need to be found. So I ended the game with a lot of money that I could not use for anything, even after buying all the best gears, potions and scrolls available.

I skipped all the stories, I always found the story boring to follow. Leaving a lot of books around with in-depth stories of the universe, I think the developers want me to voluntary read about the story and universe I am in. This never worked for me, and I barely know what the story in the game was.

PS: A bit of a pain to play with touchpad - best played with a proper mouse/keyboard, speakers, and a lot of time.

Since the game was so time-consuming, I will not play through the rest of the series right away (as planned), but all in all it was fun to finally play through this first one.