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My favorite PC game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Now usually I don't go for the fantasy D&D type games, hell usually I don't go for many games period, but this one got me. This is an extremely addictive and fun game, with plenty of sword fighting, archery, and magic.

The basic plot is that you are a character searching the realms for answers concerning your past and your murdered stepfather. As you go along, you can choose certain people to accompany you in your travels and battles.

Plenty of action, plenty of thought required to play and plan out your strategies, plenty of fun. 5 stars.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've played a few RPG games, and I have found that the Baldur's Gate saga is one of the best. You get to customize your own character and there are endles quests (some much harder than others). The graphics are very cool and the settings are amazing. The story line is intriguing and keeps you coming back for more. Disadvantages include bugs and characters abandoning your group or turning on them. My best advice for these problems is save often and save under many game titles.

I would suggest this game to both new and old RPG fans. I'm still enjoying it.

Brilliant Dungeons and Dragons-style role-playing game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a true rpg masterwork. You can fully customize your character (race, alignment, class, gender, abilities, etc..) and equip him/her with all sorts of weapons, armor and spells. The game is in top-down view, giving the player the ability to see everything around. One of the greatest aspects of the game is the freedom you have. You can be heroic and go good deeds and commit no crimes, or you can be downright evil and break down people's doors, kill the inhabitants, and rob them of their meager gold and things. The game will become harder if you choose the latter path, as your reputation becomes horrible and merchants will charge you much more for goods, and the guards will constantly be after you. Also, if you have clashing alignments in your adventuring party, they will always insult, and sometimes try to kill each other.

The most difficult aspect of the game is gaining experience and making your party stronger. Eventually (years of real-time playing) you can create a character and a party that can slay dragons, instead of being killed by lowly monsters like Gibberlings and Hobgoblins. Overall an excellent game.

good if it plays on modern machines with Audigy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 17
Date: November 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

BG/ToSC are excellent games. Excellent. But They have a few problems running on modern sound cards. Audigy and Phillips Acustic Edge. 'Odviously' Phillips didn't make sound cards when these games were released and Audigy certainly wasn't around.(niether was the Live! 5.1 for that matter) I hope this release includes some kind of patch to run on modern machines. If it doesn't I won't be buying it, most anyone who would be interested in Baldur's Gate has a copy(hopefully legit) And re-releasing the already released is pointless unless it has improvements and/or fixes.

It defines Linear games.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: March 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing RPG's since Final Fantasy. This game was a way to linear for me. Not enough freedom of choice. The Dungeon and Dragons; Might and Magic were my favorite type of game. You could walk anywhere as long as you had enough food.

~R~

I guess you had to be there....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 37
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game having heard great things about it. Good gameplay, great story, etc. To be honest, Baldur's Gate isn't very good.

The gameplay is terrible. I have played some great pausable games, like Freedom Force and Knights of the Old Republic, but clearly, these games benefitted from people seeing the mistakes made in BG. (Its sort of how people might not like the Beatles, but have to accept they're important. I'm in that situation with Baldur's Gate. Although, out at the same time was the brilliant Fallout 2, so whatever. But moving on...) The combat quickly degenerates into try to keep your party members from wandering where they don't belong and getting killed. Or being overwhelmed by ridiculously overpowered monsters that finish you off instantly. Poison is balanced poorly in the realtime system. Correction. Not balanced at all, quickly killing the victim. The random encounters they give you are ridiculous. Wyverns? You end up dying so often taht you just reload and reload until you can arrive at your destination without encounters. Shops also don't stock up well, if at all in the early cities before reaching the Gate, so that you often find yourself unable to buy supplies to stay fighting.... which makes the afforementioned random encounters even more ridiculously unfair.

The voices are really, really annoying. I don't deny the coolness of Minsc and Boo, but the voice gets annoying quickly. Actually, all of them get annoying fast. Especially since the speeches get repeated so much. Example, a bandit attacks and he gives some stupid speech. Two seconds later, in another room, another bandit says the same thing. I played the game with sounds off myself. The music is also extremely silly. Melodramatic like in a bad film. Then again, I guess maybe that's why people liked this game so much, the excessive heavyhanded melodrama.

As for the story, it sounds interesting on paper, but in pratice, eh. Its nothing that interesting. I think Arcanum, or Knights of the Old Republic (ironically, also by BioWare) have much more interesting stories. At least, they keep you entertained anyhow.

The other thing that I didn't like in this game, and its no one's fault actually, are the dated 2nd Edition D & D rules. Not BioWare's fault. That's what was available.

I guess to appreciate Baldur's Gate you really had to be there. The first "good" RPG in a while, and it sold well. Even this isn't true... Fallout was released in '97, and for all its faults, is still a great game; Fallout 2 came out in '98, and once again, its much more enjoyable that Baldur's Gate.
The problem is that now we're getting too many run of the mill CRPGS, all with generic pseudo-medieval fantasy settings. I have nothing against pseudo-medieval fantasy settings. I love the Temple of Elemental Evil. I'm just concerned that once people get bored of the medieval fantasy stuff, CRPGS will stop being made. I think the end of the trend may be near, personally. Also, I think we've seen enough of the Forgotten Realms. We need an Eberron CRPG. Or at least one set in Greyhawk.

Back on topic, I just don't think Baldur's Gate is all that people make it out to be.

A Classic RPG Game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Let me repeat that this game is a classic. A word of caution here: not everyone likes classic, whether is a book (eg. Lord Jim), a movie (The 7 Samurai), a thing (The Chrysler Buiding), or in this case, an RPG game. I'm sure one can name endless example of a classic. To me, a classic is something that has stood against the test of time; it may be outdated and rusty, but something about it is still refreshing and appealing -- and that's where Baldur's Gate shines, hence the hefty price tag for an old game (the price at Amazon actually went UP since I bought it almost 2 years ago).

Yes, the graphic is outdated. Yes, the ending is a downer; yes, there's too much of just walking around in the wilderness (think of it as exploration instead); yes, the game is hard (but only in the beginning - I know - patience is no longer a virtue - this game will certainly give you some practice, but not to the point where you'll go bonker. However, it may be tedious for beginner - the reason for 4 stars instead of 5 for fun factor); and yes, the sequel, Baldur's Gate 2, is better. But Baldur's Gate was the foundation of D&D RPG. To this day, the story still seems refreshing and the characters are still memorable, not to mention the game has more depth than a whole year's worth of Holywood screen writings nowaday.

I won't go over too much detail because you probably already know it from the other reviews. I'll only add that if you are planning to get this game or are already playing it, you'll want to download to TUTU conversion (do a google search for more info), which make use of Baldur's Gate 2's graphic to play Baldur's Gate 1. It is a significant improvement (but certainly not enough for MTV eye candy junkies).

Get this game if you are old school (remember Dagger Fall, Fallout 1 & 2, Arcanum, Planescape Torment, etc ?) Actually, if you are old school then you'd already have it no matter how much it cost. If you prefer eye candies instead, you may want to reconsider or look elsewhere because $39 is a hefty price.

great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: July 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Everyone should have to play through this game as a school assignment! If you have not played it your education is seriously lacking.

Better games in the genre exist

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 26
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have played several games in this genre. From Fallout & Fallout 2, to Torment & Icewind Dale (which are the most similar to Baldur's Gate), to Star Wars: KOTOR & KOTOR2: The Sith Lords. I would not say that I am a fan of the genre in particular, but it certainly has its share of excellent games that I've enjoyed. Baldur's Gate seems the most acclaimed & popular of the bunch, and I have no idea why. Each of the others, with the possible exception of Icewind Dale is better. Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, KOTOR, & KOTOR2 all have better writing, better characters, and a more interesting universe than Baldur's Gate. The characters in Baldur's Gate are almost without exception losers and nutcases that lack any sort of depth. I hated most of them. Combat, inventory management, and exploration are tedious. I have attempted to play Baldur's Gate through to the end more than once, and it inevitably bores me half-way through. Meanwhile, Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic were entertaining, even gripping throughout, and I remember each of them fondly.

This Game isnt all that great.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 25
Date: April 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When i got this game i was expecting something good, like a good hack and slash game or at least a game that i can get involved in. But the truth is the game leaves little free room, as the charactors you get are not all that smooth to begin with. The storyline is really smooth but the overall experience leaves a RPGer such as myself...how should i say it, dissapointed. If you are into D&D and all that then by all means play it, but myself not caring much for D&D cant stand this game...in short if your are into games like diablo and Final Fantasy dont play this game, it will be a waste of your time and a waste of money.

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