Today I thought I'd review the classic RPG Baldur's Gate for the first episode of this series. Baldur's Gate was the Showcase game for Bioware's Infinity Engine, thier new state of the art Isometric Top-down RPG engine. When it came out in 1998, it blew many of the other games out there out of the water, including some of the failed attempts at 3d by some other, less quality controlled companies.
The story starts you off in the fortress city of Candlekeep, under the care of the main character's foster father Gorion. During your initial explorations of the keep, the character is accosted by mercenaries and finds himself beconed by Gorion, with the news that it is imperitive that they leave as it is "no longer safe". Once outside the town walls, the character and his foster father are assulted by a group of armed thugs. Gorion is killed, and the character flees into the forest.
This starts one of the most epic tales in RPG history, as the player solves problems from Nashkell to Baldur's Gate, and eventually defeats the mysterious armoured figure that killed Gorion, Sarovek. The story is deep and involving, and this is one of the first RPGs that gave you full controll over most of what the character can say and do, leading to unique and often comical dialoge. It's fun to minimize your intelligence and loose the ability to speak properly.
Now with such a work, there are exceptions to the rule. The system Uses Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition rules, which leads to some really strange and funny sights. You are guarenteed to watch your character flail uselessly at enemies, and watch them be just as uneffective.
The last thing is they took a unique twist on Critical Hits. If a character takes a sufficient amount of damage past 0, they explode into tiny bits and are unable to be revived. You loose them, forever. Which is tragic when you have a level 18 Minsc(Fighter) going up against a Anhkeg, and he explodes into tiny floaty bits.
If you want to see one of the staring games in late 90s RPG history, this is well worth both a look and a play.
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