Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

Role-playing owes it's origins to the classic board game "Dungeons & Dragons" in more than one way. The genre as we know today, has not only inherited many of it's finer tactical and strategic elements from the board game, but also the core element of adventuring, party-mechanics and decision-making from it.
Baldur's Gate wasn't the first attempt at making a D&D based game. However, it was the first attempt in making a real-time D&D game. Back then, the announcement of such a feature was met with ridicule. The fact that it was being developed by a then-little known developer, BioWare further fueled such thoughts. A board-game as a real-time action-RPG would surely end up as a horror show, most of the people thought.
Turns out BioWare had couple of cards up their sleeves. All aces.

Baldur's Gate isn't only a tremendously brave and fantastic re-imagining of the classic board game, but it puts nearly every role-playing game that has come out before it to utter shame. It seamlessly combines multiple genres like turn-based combat, RTS-like party management and real-time action into a seamless game that doesn't falter even once in it's 30-40 odd hours length.

Baldur's Gate starts like almost any other RPG of it's time albeit with a minor difference. You get to create your character, choose his/her race (which will have implications in the game) and even a unique sound set for them. The difference is it utilizes the attributes used in D&D for your character. So, like you have a fixed number of throws to decide what will be the value of say, your character's strength, in the board game, the same idea is carried forth here.

Relatively newcomers back then, BioWare realized the single largest obstacle that stood between a successful transition of D&D into real-time was the fact that D&D being a board games utilized dice, saving throws and cards to play whereas one couldn't utilize them in real-time. Here, they came forward with an ingenious idea that is the very foundation of what Baldur's Gate is. They relate your actions in real-time game as a trigger to the actions you would perform while playing the board game.

For instance, attacking an enemy would be equivalent to you and your enemy throwing the respective dies and then depending upon who gets the bigger number, appropriate damage (or no damage) is taken up.
However all of this takes place, without you even knowing it is taking place. If you just keep your eyes transfixed on the action happening on the screen, you may never realize all this is taking place "behind the screen". BioWare adds spice to this and displays a small window at the bottom showing what's going on. This will certainly please the hardcore D&D fans who love this particular element of the game.

Moreover, on hitting the space bar, the game pauses and you're free to look around the screen and issue commands to your party members. Upon hitting the space bar again, the game returns to the real-time and your party carries out your orders virtually making this particular element of gameplay seem like a turn-based RPG.

If you haven't realized it by now, then any knowledge about Advanced D&D and it's rules is absolutely NOT necessary to play and enjoy Baldur's Gate. However, a mere knowledge of what's what goes a long way in making the role-playing experience even deeper for you. I had no previous experience with anything to do with D&D but by the time I was done with Baldur's Gate, I was well-acquainted with all it's nuances.


If at this point, some of you might be wondering if this is all there is special about Baldur's Gate, then one is doing a great deal of injustice to this stellar RPG. Aside from all those innovations in gameplay, Baldur's Gate has got a superbly narrated plot rich in political skullduggery, intrigue and mystery. Your character has grown up within the walls of the fortress of Candlekeep, a place where all the books containing knowledge about Sword Coast and the far-reaching lands can be found. Raised by your foster-father, Gorion, you know little of your past, until suddenly Gorion asks you to leave on a long journey along with him. Gorion gets murdered by a mysterious figure, early on, and what starts as a mystery of who murdered your foster-father turns out into a tale of political backstabbing, involving rebellion guilds. A twist midway also turns the story on it's head which speeds up the and eventually culminates in a thrilling finale.

Baldur's Gate is set in Forgotten Realms, a hugely popular D&D setting containing most of it's basic elements as well as adding a few of it's own. This particular game focuses only on a particular part of Forgotten Realms, namely Sword Coast. The world is vastly detailed when it comes to history of it's races, their relations with others, as well as depicting the increasing tensions and rising suspicions between two neighboring states.
Needless to say, anybody will find the Sword Coast tremendously immersive and likeable as a setting.

You will meet a variety of heroes and villains on your journey, some of which will join you, the others meet their end with your blade. The characters that accompany you in during the course of the game are nothing short of amazing. They provide a tremendous sense of companionship and camaraderie as you journey across Sword Coast. You are allowed to have six members including yourself in the party. You'll meet various NPCs on your journey, some of whom you can recruit. Each of these playable NPC is tremendously well-written and come with a unique personality of their own which make them instantly memorable. Few of them strike particularly as being instant favorites when it comes to popular opinion. The likes of Minsc, the amnesiac,hot-headed warrior who carries a "space hamster" Boo on his shoulders and has got some golden-humorous lines in combat like, "Go for his eyes Boo!!" or "I need healing immediately lest Boo becomes an orphan". Such lines are refreshing in a day and age when dialogues in games are becoming very predictable and clichéd.

There is also an element of morality and decision-making influenced from earlier games like Ultima. When you create your character, you choose a particular alignment for your character based upon the D&D default alignments. There's the basic Good, Neutral and Evil with Lawful, True and Chaotic being the subsets of them. However, this idea which developed a lot in BioWare's later games isn't fully realized here. No matter how much contradictory decisions you make to your alignment, they seem to have little effect on your set alignment. You might be a "Good Lawful" character, but can commit evil acts without your character's conscience hurting.

The only impact the alignment makes is the way some characters might react towards you. The kind of decisions and actions you take have an indirect or direct implication in the world you live. Often a decision you make might either end a small sub-quest or might instead trigger a major side-quest.
Decisions like these often tend to put players into dilemma since there isn't a clarity whether being good will lead to good consequences or vice-versa. In short, there are shades of grey when it comes to morality.
Your reputation is numbered in points which depends upon the kind of decisions (or more specifically the kind of outcomes your decisions lead to). A higher reputation has it's benefits with minor discounts at shops and temples. A low reputation might lead to hostile civilians and guards which isn't so good.

The playable NPCs which are tremendously well-written also are indirectly affected by the decisions you make. They're too have their own moral alignment and agenda. So if you start making "evil decisions", which some of your party members may not agree with, they might start complaining more, sometimes even leaving your party in the midst of the combat. Such a kind of action really helps you realize that you're traveling in a party of sensible characters with their own minds and not some mindless AI controlled puppets.

The party mechanics are further deepened when you delve into scripting. Scripting refers to setting basic stance to your characters. If you set one of your character's stance as "Cleric Defensive", then the character will cast defensive spells at the sight of an enemy. Similarly for a "Fighter Ranged", a character uses ranged weapons only and maintains a distance even when an enemy is chasing him around. Such minor AI variable help make Baldur's Gate a truly one-of-a kind gaming experience back then, and it mostly remains unique even until this day.
The downside of such scripts is that they're limited and they can be mis-assigned. For example, if you assign "Cleric Defensive" to a non-cleric, then they will often not do anything at all.
You do have the option to create your own scripts and while it is fun, it is something that can't be recommended to all, as it tends to be a bit time-consuming. There is also a journal system to keep track of all the quests, side-quests or mere observations you notice during your travels.

The graphics weren't too advanced for it's time, and they haven't aged too well,but it's top-down perspective does a good job in showing both the immersiveness of the world as well as serving as a good vantage point to carry out all the tactical, strategical and turn-based actions that the game has to offer. There are minor clips of cutscenes at various points of the game as well.
The sounds of Baldur's Gate plays a key-role in contributing to the immersiveness of the world you play in. In a town, you often hear the sounds of spouses quarreling with each other, or tavern drunkards roaming around the streets, or dogs barking, guards going about their usual patrol duty. It all makes the world feel like a beating, breathing place.
There are bits of voice acting for each of the characters that appear in the game, all of them being well-done.

The BioWare back then, much like today excels when it comes to writing. Their quick and tightly narrated plot with richly-written dialogues peppered with fiery interjections, interesting banters and often humorous punch-lines makes it an adventure you just won't want to get off until it's over.

There are hardly any flaws in the near-perfect game, and if there are any they have been mostly brought out by time and the sheer superiority of it's sequel. One can point out that some of it's ideas could have been better implemented, or there was an apparent lack of party interaction (especially when compared with it's majestic sequel), but those come out as half-baked excuses to point out flaws at this superlative role-playing experience.

Whether or not you've had any acquaintance with D&D in past shouldn't stop you from trying out this wonderful example of clever implementation of tons of innovative ideas. A tremendous fulfillment of a vision to reimagine the classic board game into a real-time RPG seamlessly combining multiple genres like turn-based combat elements, RTS-like party mechanics, and real-time combat. Baldur's Gate is a one of a kind role-playing experience and truly there is nothing quite like it.