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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.

Do not buy!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 41
Date: September 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

For those people like me who were looking for a good pc game like dungeon siege just turn away. I know it looks good from all the reviews but it is absoulutely impossible!! It's good for awhile but then your guys are fine then boom they're dead. People are constantly dying and leaving if you take too long to go somewhere!! Plus it suffers from countless flaws. The battles are the worst part so just stay away from it and get a good game!!!

AWFUL-Boring-SSSSLLLOOOOWWW

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 90
Date: February 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When i purchased this game i thought it would be fun to play a classic game such as Baldur's Gate, but when i got to play it, omg, it is so, so slow and the graphics are incredibly horrible. I couldn't beleive what I was seeing. It's horrible. The battles are the most awful thing, the characters are the ugliest thing, the gameplay just makes you want to hit your head with the CDs and the box of Baldur's Gate and throw up on it. IT'S THE WORST RPG I HAVE EVER PLAYED. It's a disgrace to the RPGs.

I like the board game, but this, this is simply a bad, bad PC D&D game. Amazingly boring. Absolutely awful
DO NOT BUY. I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY. I'm almost sure that you'll regret it.

game does not work

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game would not run on my Windows XP based computer. Although the game loaded, it was not able to run. The seller was helpfull in giving me ideas; however, he ultimately agreed to just take it back.

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~

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.

alright RPG, but I've played better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 30
Date: February 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This RPG left me with a lot to be desired. The battle system is a little off, I died like six times the first time I played the game. Make sure you save often, because the game glitches every now and then, to the point of crashing in some instances. For a real RPG experience, allow me to suggest The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It has given me a much more enjoyable experience.

Nice, but that's it

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 11
Date: January 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Hi there folks,
The gameplay here is much like others using the same engine: Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate II, for example - You're in control of a party, and you click around an area map for them to move around, or to issue orders in a combat.
Combat that can be a great fun, and that's a good thing, because you'll spend a great deal of the game in it. Personally, I'm more of a turn-based player, but the D&D rules system compensated in this point. It could be very boring, but as you're constantly achieving new powers and meeting different foes, it keeps up nicely to the end of the game.
Also, the loot you get from combat is fun to manage, as you may find a variety of magic items that will help you in combats, or which you may decide to sell in one of the MANY shops you'll find in the Sword Coast.
There are a lot of sub-quests, but one of the major flaws in the game is that it doesn't keep track of them for you, so you'll simply have to write down them by hand or remember everything for yourself. There is a 'journal' that's automatically updated, but I didn't found it very useful. The quests in themselves can be stupid sometimes, but most are rich in at least one aspect - be it humor (as trying to help a not-so-good mage to get back to it's human form), it's own 'story' or a nice, clever combat challenge. The non-obligatory sub-quests are what makes the game shine, in my opinion.
You can also do a lot of hack'n'slash dungeon exploring by yourself (I mean, that don't necessarily involve a sub-quest), and it's non-obligatory in the game. Not only there are a bunch of this kind of dungeons spread out in the game, as also every wilderness area map (and the game has a lot of them) has one or two interesting encounters, at least.
In my opinion, The story and dialogs is pretty stupid. But we warned I'm in love with 'extremal" games in this category: Like in-depth/filosophical games as Planescape: Torment or the ones with astonishing personality, as Fallout 1 & 2.
Graphics are not very impressive, even more now that's slighty out-dated, but sometimes your imagination can make up for it - being an RPG game and all, that's something wich shouldbe taken into account. An bonus in this category is that every single magic has it's own animation, and every single one is fairly interesting.

I did got a little tired of the game at half of it, but maybe that's because I tried to do as many sub-quests as I could, but in my case, that's a good thing - it's difficult for me to find a game that don't get me bored in a couple hours.
And I actually forced myself to go to the end of it, because it's a nice game, and I don't regret it - although when I finished the main boss and got teleported to the new town from the 'Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion Pack' I could stand no more of it, and turned down the PC.

Hope this help somebody, although it's not as well-written as I could/(should?) have made it.

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.

My "First" Computer RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This was, as I just said - my first computer RPG. I'm still playing it today.
Some people find the game too hard. The problem with this accusation is this - one cannot lift (in real life) three hundred pounds without dedicated training. The same holds true for any video game. If you challenge a Wyvern the first time you pass its cave, you will probably be killed. If you are a low level, you won't be in luck. Though it is not "necessary" to finish all side quests, you will not be able to face many of the challenges ahead the best you could have.
You must also realize that this game is "older". The graphics are comparable to the first "Myst" game. You can't expext to turn on your monitor and see Max Payne quality graphics. It's not "pretty", but not terribly ugly either.
Also - as a tip from me to you - set your AI Script. If you aren't the best at mangaging all of your people, the AI can help you keep track of them.
The plot is...interestingly minimal. There is so much to do and so many things that can be done. The plot is there, but if you don't play for a year, you can still figure out where you left off. It's basically a conspiracy plot - dealing in secrets and the nearly-lone hero who takes on the huge evil. It's engaging, but it doesn't beat you over the head and annoy you with (many) long speeches of just plot. The game moves, and that's what I like.

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