Baldur's Gate is a classic and the enhanced edition is a pleasure to play. I keep coming back to this game

I went into this game completely blind. The roleplay aspects are VERY fun and the setting and worldbuilding are incredibly impressive given that this is a 1998 release. Not to mention the fact that Sarevok is probably my favorite villain I've ever encountered in any game ever. I definitely consider this title to be one of my new favorites and wish I could have played it earlier in life

Fair warning, the game is so hard it sent me into some of the biggest gamer rages I've ever known. There isn't just a learning curve - the game straight up tosses you off a cliffside. I was playing on normal and I felt the difficulty was incredibly frustrating. The idea of playing a permadeath difficulty like Legacy of Bhaal sounds like straight up masochism and I extend my condolences to anyone who's crazy enough to actually attempt this.

tfw you liked BG before it was cool. When you mentioned it to norms and they thought you were talking about the crappy PS2 spinoffs.

edit: cool, they fixed the achievements

One of the greatest RPGs of all time. This game is to be combined with BG2EE for a complete experience allowing you to move your character from one game to the next smoothly. The level of replayability this has is insane.

Character profession options range from rogue-like characters such as Thieves and Bards, to melee combatants such as Fighters and Paladins, in-between archetype professions such as Rangers and Monks, to spellcaster professions such as Mages and Clerics. Each will offer a different experience thus allowing your preferred playstyle with no issues.

The race of your character matters as it will determine which professions are applicable, as well as certain roleplaying matters like NPC interactions. Races will have "Racial Traits" abilities setting them apart from the rest. Like Orcs can have 19 in Strength and Constitution making them melee powerhouses, and Elves are immune to Charm and Sleep magics. The Available races are Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Gnome, Halfling (think Frodo Baggins), and Dwarf. Humans can stop progress into their chosen professions and adopt a new one giving them the ability to become very powerful. All other races can "multiclass" which lets them have two professions at the same time. This creates an interesting dynamic; Do you want to focus on one profession and take it to its limits, or would you want the versatility of two professions?

While you can play the game solo ala Diablo style, the true soul of the Baldur's Gate series is to create a party, and to do so you recruit a set of "companions" that will bring in different professions, personalities, conflicts, and flavors. Your choices better be calculated and educated to avoid frustration.

Cons: It's a 20+ years old game that has been sweetened up for modern audiences but still suffers from certain dated issues. The worst of which is the fact the Dungeons and Dragons system is based upon doesn't allow certain professions to come into their own unless a certain level is attained. This means you may end up with a character that feels pretty useless for a good chunk of the game. To give you an example, my current playthrough is with a "Bounty Hunter," a type of Thief that specializes in setting up traps, and it took me some serious leveling before I could start using the sole ability the profession revolts around.

I have mixed feelings about this game, to be honest. It has a really good atmosphere and the first act is quite an interesting experience(and quite challenging). But it also shows it's age and has a series of problems.

-Quest design. I can't really recall any narratively complex quest. Or (morally?) complex. You barely make any decisions in this game, to be honest. One quest that stuck in my memory is from the "Tales from the Sword Coast" about the expedition on the distant island. Other than that, quests are really simple and most of them aren't really that interesting.

-Combat. It's a very subjective thing here and I know a lot of people really like the Infinity Engine combat, but I don't really buy it. I can deal with it, maybe, sometimes have a few fun battles, but that's it. Most of the time I don't really wanna deal with it.
However, I wanna say a word about the magic system here, because I actually love it. The amount of tactical manouveres it gives to the party is astounishing. I may not like the combat here, but I have a soft spot for the magic system(My main character was a Wizard class).

-OST. Again, this is a subjective thing, but I can't really recall any track from the game. It's not bad, it's just there.

-Story. First act is quite interesting for it's adventuring vibe(Yeah, kudos to Chris Davis from the Youtube), but the rest is just OK. The story isn't bad, but it's not outstanding. However, I liked the part, when you need to move through Baldur's Gate using the sewers, if you don't want to get caught. It was kinda interesting. Also the story has a twist, but it was very predictable, to be honest.

-Characters. Well... I know this is not a modern RPG and they didn't have a goal to create characters with an actual story and personality, but still I find it kinda funny, that this game has tons of companions to pick and most of them are dummies with a few one-liners. This is a meh point for me, cause I understand, that companions here have a different role and are more about party composition above all.
But OK, companions are not interesting, but what about the main villain?I didn't find Sarevok a very interesting character/villain either. I don't remember hints at some really complex motivation of why he is doing, what he is doing. Ha-ha, I'm evil, I'm gonna be the God of Murder. Like, ok, grandpa, take your pills, you're getting a little salty. However his plan to start the war between Baldu'rs Gate and Amn and the scene, when he is about to be (elected?) as a leader of Baldur's Gate and you burge in and call him out were quite interesting, I liked it.

-Artstyle. I like it. Can't say much about it, but I don't have any grapples with a visual part of this game. It's good.

As a classic one line goes, I would put a "Neutral" review, if I could. But I can't. I will give this game a thumbs down, cause nowadays I just don't see any reasons to play it, besides a wish to play the trilogy(It really is a great feeling to see through the whole journey, BG2 is great by the way) or an interest in the videogame history(cause this game is historically important, yeap). Also I'm not gonna say anything about the Enhanced Edition, because I didn't play the original version of the game.

no understando

The original Epic Baldurs Gate! A must have!

A wide open world full of mostly nothing.

I really enjoyed playing the first Baldur's Gate, even though I am a few years late to the party! Simple yet fun story with numerous character customisations and quest choices. A strong recommendation to any RPG fan craving a classic RPG experience.

baised