Baldur's Gate

During my Commodore 64 years I had been a devotee of SSI's official Advanced Dungeons And Dragons computer games, completing both the Forgotten Realms and the Dragonlance series many times over.

For years these games sated my hunger for computer D&D until one sad day when the rights to the game-engine were sold to a smaller company and SSI moved on to other things. The resultant games, which still bore the SSI logo on the cover, but were created by an entirely different entity were a far cry from previous efforts. Gateway To The Savage Frontier was the first of these new games which I experienced and it also signalled the end of a golden era in RPG gaming for many years to come.

During the intervening years there have been a number of interesting AD&D based computer games to appear, but nothing which could match the classic extended campaign/adventure based format and it seemed like D&D-lite was all that would be available.

When Baldur's Gate arrived with much fanfare, promising faithful adherence to D&D rules, state of the art graphics and sound along with a full adventure bearing the official AD&D name I was very excited and purchased the game instantly.

The install was surprisingly quick for a game which comes on five compact discs and I realised that in the long run a massive install would have been far preferable. Soon after you begin Baldur's Gate you are forced to undertake some of the most constant and annoying disc juggling ever seen on a modern day game. It really took me right back to the days of Pool of Radiance, the first of the classic D&D RPGs from SSI, which came on seven floppies which needed to be toggled nearly every time you entered a different area.

After creating my character and viewing the excellent intro sequence I was somewhat disappointed with the very preset nature of my character. It didn't seem to matter if my character was good or evil, a mage or a warrior. The story would be exactly the same and is utterly fixed in it's preset path.

You are thrust into the shoes of the foster sun of Gorion an elderly mage living in the town of Candlekeep. When Gorion reveals some dark secret about your past and is later murdered by evil creatures, you set out to avenge his death and discover the truth about yourself, immediately being joined by childhood playmate Imoen, the female thief - the second most annoying NPC I have ever encountered in any RPG (The most annoying is Morte, the talking skull from Planescape Torment).

Imoen is not the only irritating NPC. She is joined by a host of un-atmospheric and unbelievable characters which seem designed to appeal more to television and cartoon fans than diehard role-play and D&D fans, with their annoying to downright ludicrous voices and unlikely personas. I always thought of the Ranger character as a noble master of the forest, but Minsc, one of the Rangers who may join your party along the way is a bumbling moron who speaks like a comic book Indian chief and keeps and speaks to a little pet rodent named Boo, which goes "squeak!" every time you click on him in Minsc's inventory.

Coupled with the amazingly juvenile characters is an absolute flood of in-jokes and television and cartoon references. Time and time again I get the feeling that "funny bits" were added and the team were sitting there thinking "Wait till they see this!". Perhaps comedy and laughs is what a large chunk of the gaming public wants, but I always felt that D&D worked best when seriousness was maintained. I just cannot immerse myself in a fantasy world where thieves fart and exclaim, "Phew! That was a stinker!" before attacking you, nor can I believe that a mighty mage in his impressively ornate stronghold, full of all sort of mystical and magical artifacts would greet your approach with the question "Why do I live in such a piss-ant town". I mean really - Piss-ant? Why didn't they just go all the way and have him say "Yo Dudez! Hows it hanging homies?!". The atmosphere killing effect is the same.

Atmosphere and realism plays a huge part in the success of a Roleplaying game as it is vitally important that the player be able to believe in the world created for full effect. Black Isle's insistence on using the above silliness is a shame because in most other areas Baldur's Gate is a fine game.

The graphics and game engine are remarkable in their detail and user-friendliness, with some of the most lovely areas and landscapes ever seen in a computer game at the time. The characters were all reasonably well drawn and the sound is marvelous, with the exception of the voice acting which ranges from passable to outrageously awful.

The story appears less linear than you might expect, with many sub-quests to drag you away from the main path along the way. These sub-quests are occasionally rewarding, but often feel like filler material thrown in as an afterthought to flesh out the adventure.

The Baldur's Gate combat system takes a bit of getting used to. I was initially upset with the loss of the turn based method I was more comfortable with and confused as to how I was supposed to control a party of up to six characters in a real time battle. After discovering that you could pause the game with a click of the mouse and issue orders to each character before un-pausing (and repeating this process), I found that this system was one I could grow to enjoy.

In the end, I lost interest in Baldur's Gate at what I believe was about the half-way point of play. The game was pleasant enough and it looked and played wonderfully, but the overall feel of the game was not quite for me, thanks largely to the less than serious approach taken with regard to the characters both in and out of the party group. I guess it is like reading a book written by a great author which is widely acclaimed and is undoubtedly a great work, but simply not enjoying the particular writing style.

I also found the story-line of Baldur's Gate to be very limiting, slow and.... well.... dull. It would have pleased me far more if the game had allowed you to step into the shoes of your given hero(s) without creating some pre-made personality and past for them and forcing this character into the story, stripping the character of any feeling of belonging to you or being you - What Roleplay is all about.

Baldur's Gate is an example of the future of computer Dungeons & Dragons, but sadly for me at least, just missed the mark. Hopefully in the future there will be some games taking a more serious turn, or perhaps there could even be a "humour" filter, just as there was a "language" filter in Black Isle's earlier effort, Fallout 2 so that everyone could get the style of RPG they were looking for.

Those of you unlikely to be bothered by a less than serious attitude to roleplay are going to have very few problems with Baldur's Gate. I am sure there are numerous people out there right now thinking I am an old sour-puss - "What is he complaining about? Those jokes and TV bits are HILARIOUS!". I guess playing this game reminded me too much of the days I would play pen and paper D&D with people who liked to mess around and do silly things with their characters. I am sure they had their fun though, just as many will with Baldur's Gate. If you are one of those people, by all means rush out and purchase Baldur's Gate and it's sequel, Baldurs Gate II - Shadows of Amn. If however you are like me and prefer a more serious game, you might like to try Icewind Dale, also from Black Isle or better yet, wait for the release of Neverwinter Nights where you will be able to create your own adventure, custom tweaked to your own personal tastes.