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Must Be True Blue RPGer

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: August 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I enjoy RPG games. Really, I do. But for some reason, I couldn't get into this one as much as I thought I could. But I've looked at all the reviews on this board, and most are raving about it. But what I'm also wondering is if these very positive reviews are from mostly die-hard RPGers, and/or Dungeon & Dragons fans.

I personally do not play D&D, so I'm not a die-hard. But I did enjoy Diablo, Everquest, Might and Magic 7, and Age of Wonders, so I'm not against "dungeon-crawl"/fantasy type games as you may think I am. I did like the "pause" option in Baldur's Gate, so you can give commands to each of your party's members without getting thrashed in the meantime, but I didn't care for the graphics. But to some, that's minor and forgivable if you like the gameplay--I guess I just didn't. I also prefer faster paced games with a more linear storyline. But if you prefer a non-linear storyline, and sometimes feeling semi-lost in a rather large world to explore, that's all the more reason for you to get this game.

I also get a tired of too much repitition. Every battle I set my formation up, pause, issue relatively the same commands, and execute. (In Everquest, I only went up to Level 12 and quit, thinking, what's the point?) So the combat is repetitive, but in Baldur's defense, it does have a storyline and an ending, unlike Everquest. But it is time consuming. But if you can afford the time, and you like RPG's, then you'll love this title, otherwise, spend your gaming money elsewhere.

a landmark RPG, if slightly dated by 2006 and with some technical issues

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Baldur's Gate has the personal distinction of being the very first computer game I owned, and at the time it was simply amazing. It's aged fairly well in the six years since then, and I still play it sometimes. Of course, it can't compete with recent games in terms of graphics and sound...but what true RPG gamer cares about those more than story and character, eh? In these areas BG is still among the best, seven years after its release. I would recommend it for fans of Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy in general, though if all you're looking for is 3-D wonderment, you may want to try something newer.

Gameplay: Very good. The interface is smooth and easy to learn. The game is from 1999, so the graphics are of course not very "advanced" by today's standards, but they are beautiful nonetheless, each map area having been painstakingly painted in 2-D. The sound is good, especially the environmental background sounds (rain, snow, wind, wildlife, the chattering of city crowds, etc.), which really make you feel as if you're "in" the game, especially when wearing headphones. The voice acting is mainly limited to NPC dialogue, dream sequences, and chapter introductions, and while it's very good, it gets a little repetitive after a while (I quickly got tired of hearing "wife's been gettin' prickly on me arse" and the like whenever I'd speak to random people in the towns, for instance).

The interpersonal relationships between party members are one of the game's best features; they will bicker, banter, flirt, and occasionally brawl with one another. How you act in the game, and which particular NPCs you have in your party will affect how other NPCs react to you. I will say though, that you can't really play the game as an evil character, regardless of which alignment you select during character creation; you're more or less forced to take a good, "heroic" route through the game, and acting too evil will eventually make it impossible for you to finish the game. Overall, however, BG is very fun to play. There are a myriad of subquests to keep your interest up, and the main storyline, though somewhat linear, is engaging and always leaves you wondering what will happen next.

There are some things I didn't like about the gameplay. The AI of party members leaves a lot to be desired, for example: either the AI is turned on and the party members will attack enemies immediately on sight (which is quite a hassle when your characters are invisible or hiding in shadows), or it's turned off and you have to do everything manually. I found the "custom" AI scripts available to be next to useless and pathfinding (especially in dungeon areas) was oftentimes terrible. The wilderness areas between towns were another sticking point. I know that random encounters out in the wild are one of core elements of most role-playing, but after the fifth or sixth time I had a level 1 party get wiped out by gibberlings in the first or second wilderness area, I got very frustrated. The experience cap was also something I'd rather not have seen.

Technical Issues: Some. I've had two separate copies of BG installed, both on my old Compaq, running on a 350 MHz processor with 32 MB of RAM (later upgraded to 96 MB). The first install went smoothly. The second, over a year later, did not, and required four separate attempts before it was successful. I was unable to install the game to my second physical hard drive, and had to use the first drive (older, slower, and smaller). After installation, the game would sometimes crash for no apparent reason, especially when several magic spells were being cast simultaneously onscreen. When my party was fighting more than about five enemies at once, the game would occasionally slow to an absolute crawl and the animation became choppy and jerky; if this lasted for more than a few minutes, the game was almost certain to crash. This happened even after I installed an additional 64 MB of RAM (and I note that it's never happened with Baldur's Gate II, which is installed on the very same system), but it was an inconsistent problem. There were also a few instances of the game crashing at key points in the story (such as the beginning of the final battle), forcing a restart. Though these issues did not prevent me from enjoying the game, they were annoying enough for me to rate it 3 out of 5 stars overall.

All in all, Baldur's Gate is an excellent game. The story is deep and involving, the party system is a joy to explore, and the sound and graphics (though outdated by today's standards) are wonderful for a game that was released in 1999. If not for the minor gameplay issues and annoying technical problems, it would rate a 5 out of 5.

The Best of Its Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This Game is without a doubt the best RPG of its time. Unfortunately, that time has already passed. Every good bit of praise you've heard about this game is probably true. It's great fun, and the story and game are flexible enough to play through it more than once, if you choose to do so. If you are used to the 3rd edition D&D rules, you may get a bit frustrated, but it's a more-or-less faithful rendition of the 2nd edition game. The graphics are everything they're cracked up to be, and the sounds are pretty nifty, too. Most of the game's shortcomings can be made up for by free unofficial 3rd party downloads. Not only are cheats, item editors, spell editors, etc. available, you'll also be able to find custom items, voice sets, and portraits for your characters with a minimum of fuss. If you are used to Baldur's Gate 2, and try to play this one you'll probably get annoyed. You'll quickly notice the changes they made and understand why they made them. Still, it's probably worth the [money], unless you're short on cash. If you are short on cash, save for Baldur's Gate 2, it's by far the superior game.

The Wait Is Over

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, my congratualtions to Bioware / Wizards of the Coast / TSR for their wonderful creation in the Baldur's Gate Series.

I can quite confidently rate Baldur's Gate as one of my most enjoyable gaming experiences. Familiar with the "Forgotten Realms" package and prefering AD&D 2nd Edition rules, I was overjoyed to see that the theme created for BG followed these guidlines.

I have been a PC gamer for several years and have followed the fantasy / adventure genre since reading Lord of the Rings back in the mid-eighties. Having enjoyed early PC titles released under the then SSI logo, such as "Champions of Krynn","Pool of Radiance" & the "Eye of the Beholder" trilogy, I have been patiently waiting / hoping that another RPG would be created to effectively capture the AD&D gaming experience. I believe that wait is over.

There are too many pros to outweigh cons in this game. For a gamer who enjoys depth and structure in the storyline without being too cumbersome, BG delivers. Your character walks a fairly linear plot throughout the BG series, but it does not bore. On the contrary, a lot of thought has gone into the creation of the BG storyline and the result is captivating, just reward for avid RPG gamers who want to become part of an original saga.

Excellent pre-rendered graphics, realistic creature/character animation, a huge gaming area, countless sub-plots and appropriately composed music all combine to create a magnificent fantasy-adventure masterpiece.

I have completed BGI, BGI - TotSC, BGII and will grab BGII - ToB when I see it. But I chose to review the original, as the series only gets better as it progresses.
With some refinements to the storyline seen in BGII such as further detail in graphics, heaps more of the classic monsters (...), hugely increased xp cap (although you can't get 9th level spells until playing BGII - ToB), and a splash of 3rd edition rules - I have no concern going back to BGI and begin questing as a lowly 1st level character - the same level of enjoyment remains. For me, the re-playability of this entire series scores a very healthy 10/10.

Having given this review, I'm sure this game would not be for everyone. The sheer scope of the BG series and depth of storyline may be too tedious for those gamers who prefer more "in your face", hack 'n slash style, rapid level advancement.

If I could possibly tarnish the experience I must say, I had only 2 real dissappointments in playing the BG series.
Firstly, the actions of the NPC's and most encountered enemies were somewhat simple. By that I mean, although the AI improves a little in BGII, they have no real common sense. I imagine it would not be too difficult to make NPC's / Monsters a littel smarter - definitely worth a thought.
Secondly, and I understand the point has been raised before, there is no real dungeon-crawl available in BG. Durlag's Tower exists in BG - TotSC & a brief sortie through the Underdark in BGII make up for this though.

All in all - a superlative effort - will keep me happy for another 10 years.

Baldur's Gate

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Baldur's Gate was the game that mannaged to blow new life into computer roleplaying games. For those of you not familiar with roleplaying games or the AD&D rules, here is a short introduction. You start out with creating your character, selecting a race(dwarf, human, halfling, gnome, elf and half-elf)and a profession(Fighter, mage, cleric(priest), ranger etc, etc). Then you roll up your ability scores each representing one physical or mental ability (strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma). After creating your character you start the game in Candlekeep, a keep located on the swordcoast famous for its library. You are an orphan raised by your ward Gorion. The start of the game is easy and not very challenging, but it does give you time to get into the game mechanics and there are several tutors in Candlekeep that can give you advice on the game. I will avoid going into any further detail about the game plot as it will ruin the joy of the game.

The game itself features a linear story line, but with a lot of subquests, some minor and some larger. There are plenty of areas for your party to explore, but beware, some of the areas might prove more than you can handle in the lower levels! As the plot thickens and you find out more about your background and the powers working against you it becomes more interesting, and you find yourself working towards the grand finale.
The graphics are fine, considering the game isn't new anymore. This is truly an entertaining game with only a few flaws(flaws that I only noticed after playing Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn). The character interaction in the group is almost non-existant, and it would have been nice with a little more in-groub dialogue. There are plenty of characters that you can have join your group...almost too many. Sometimes you are really have doubts about who you want since you are limited to a total of 6 members(including yourself). Even with the limited NPC(NonPlayerCharacter) interaction most NPC's are still very different and have good developed personalities.
The main plot is really good, intrigue based, although it seems that at some point you find yourself a bit "lost" in all the subquests and explorable areas there are, that you almost lose sight of the "real" goal of the game.
That said, it is still a great game. Most importantly it mannages to get the AD&D "feeling" to the computer, almost like the real thing. The AI does not always work as it should though, and you might find your characters blocking your path, so you are suddenly "stuck" in a small area and need to reload. This can be annoying, but knowing the danger of this happening can help you avoid it.
A note, this game is very different from games like Diablo and Diablo II, none of which were true roleplaying games. If you are looking for a way to hack and slash your way to glory this is not the game for you. There is a need to interact with other people during the game, and the way you behave and answer them will affect their reaction towards you, unlike Diablo where everything is a monologue. If you ever played and enjoyed tabletop AD&D, this will almost certainly entertain you. If you never tried AD&D this might just get you introduced.
I propably would have given this game 5 stars, but since I played Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, I have chosen to limit myself to 4 stars, as there are a lot of things that are enhanced in SoA.

Baldur's Gate

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

A lot of fun for RPG players. The graphics are a little dated, but that doesn't really detract from the total story of the game. In fact, story is the key point of the game and it has a lot of it, enough to keep any player busy for hours. Overall its a lot of fun, especially on older computers which can run more modern games, but with games like Baldur's Gate who needs modern games anyway...

Horrid controls

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 25
Date: January 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

i don't know why others rate this so highly - the graphics are OK, i love the fact that you can play with friends (although in the end are different schedules ruined this) and i like importing my own pictures. But the controls for this game are absolutely frustrating!

Some minor gripes: the manual doesn't have enough info, combat used to be a MAJOR pain until i stumbled over the pause commands (and had to play with them to figure out which ones to set), having the main character enter a store makes life frustrating for other LAN players, the plot doesn't seem multiplayer friendly (you lose all those NPCs which are important to the story - the party is so small), the maps don't make a ton of sense, group movement can be really annoying and my number one complaint: you can't use arrow keys to move your character! i know, it sounds minor, but the view screen is only large enough to show a few tiles, so you have to scroll the screen, click a destination point, by which time your guy has already walked there so you scroll some more, repeat - it gets so that you never actually see your character because you're so busy setting way points for him to walk. At a minimum, if you have to play this carpal-tunnel torture of moving your characters leg by leg, you should at least be able to make the screen center on the character - the little guy just walks off the screen and you don't know where he went. At a minimum, let me see more of the map at one time - i have a 19" monitor and prefer looking at what's happening rather than the large pretty pictures some artist drew.

The plot's OK, the D&D system is pretty sophisticated, there's some real polish in places and we've needed a good RPG for a while (i LOVED Fallout, which had lousy, but still vastly superior, map and movement controls), so i got the game the very first day it was released (xmas eve), and my roommates and i played it for 2 weeks, but eventually i got so sick of the control scheme that i just erased the frustrating thing

Awesome! says mom of 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Love the game! Bought this three years ago and still enjoy. Lots of Strategy involved (ie not just a fighting game, ergo women can enjoy too). Thought the fact that my players couldn't advance beyond a certain point was a flaw until reading another review - thank you!. Great way to lose yourself at the end of the day (can consume great amounts of time but easy to leave off and start again). Great adventure!

Awesome game, lots of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is very good for RPG'ers, and D&D players. The character classes are from D&D as well. This is basically AD&D made into a computer game that you can play on your computer (no duh). The combat is simple enough for anyone, and looks cool, as well. The meat of the game is adventuring and completing quests. All during this time your being submersed in a complex and interesting story line that evolves every new area you walk into, or with every person you talk to. The FMV sequences are no where near competition to the Diablo II ones (which, btw, are the best FMV sequences on the game market as of Jan 2001 and counting), but they tell the story in vivid 3D. The on-screen graphics are awesome as well, although in one of the towns, you feel like your falling in your chair because of the way the characters are positioned on the screen relative to the surroundings. The actual roleplaying is surberb. Not only are you made in deep detail, you can control up to 5 other NPC's in your party for a total of 6 people. With a large variety of spells, weapons, magic items, and monsters, you'll be busy for well over the estimated 100 hours of gameplay. If your an experienced RPG'er, this game is a must-have because of it's awesome content. If your an AD&D player, be warned that this game is based on 2nd Ed rules, but otherwise, GET THE GAME! If your new to RPG's in general, get this and Diablo, playing Diablo first so you can learn all the terms and character development. It will really teach you how to play RPG's. Than move on to Baldur's Gate (that is, if you haven't already gotten hooked to Diablo :-)

Excellent game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

After this game I played Diablo.Diablo is not a bad game,but Baldur's Gate makes it look like Pong.This is the best AD&D game iv've ever played (and I play a lot).

Baldur's Gate is about a kid (played by you) who grows up in Candle keep,under the kind tutelage of his foster father,Gorion.After a couple of years growing up,Gorion wants to move away.You don't know why.In about 20 minutes into the game (that's how long it took me)Gorion gets killed in a horrid battle by mercenaries.You must avenge him.But,after traveling and making friends (and making enemies),you find out your dark secret.

Very addictive game.Yet the computer was going through hell.That's the only problem.

Buy this if you liked Lotr!(Lord of the Rings)!

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