The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Baldur's Gate has been one of the most anticipated computer RPGs of all time, and since it's release has recieved 95%+ reviews, various awards, and has even been called the "best RPG of ever". Until I bought it, it seemed this might well be the case, and too greatly anticpated it. One of my friends even went out and bought it soley on the basis of seeing the manual, and fact that you could create a character of any AD&D class or race.

Baldur's Gate starts well, mainly, as you really can choose any _standard_ AD&D race/class/multiclass combination. None of the more obscure Forgotten Realms only races though, or any of the more modern or complex classes. Some abilities have been removed altogether or simplified, most noticeably on the Ranger class, which loses it's rather vital two-weapon ability, and has it's ability to calm animals turned into a Charm spell.

Druids have even more problems, and most of the classes have had their abilities cut down somewhat, except fighters, who for some ungodly reason are given the weapon mastery rules from Player's Option: Combat and Tactics. Some classes are further weakened by lack of access to weapons or bad AI, but more on that later. However, the mere fact that all the classes are there to at least some degree will please many people.

Next we get on to the gameplay. At first it seems good, and you assume any limitations are due to the fact that is the starting town and you have no party. You fetch stuff for people and fight seemingly random assailants, gain a few XP and get told to do stuff. I foolishly assumed that this would change later on. It does not. Save for the main plotline quests, fetching stuff (or people) for other people is 90% of the game. This almost always involves you wandering round screen after screen of wilderness, bumping into random monsters until you find (or rather happen upon) the people/creatures/thing you are looking for (which is always standing still in the middle of a screen somewhere).

I was expecting alot more from the sidequests, as I had just played the truly great Fallout 2, wherein sidequests are often complex, and can usually be solved in more than one way, but in Baldur's Gate I have yet to come across a situation in a quest where the talking is anything other than a prelude to combat, whatever you say, whoever you are (maybe really "evil" parties get some more options with "evil" characters, but I doubt it). Anyway, let's look at some other aspects for the game...

Role-playing... Baldur's Gate bills itself as an RPG, and it's based on probably the most successful RPG so far, AD&D, and set in AD&D's most popular setting, the Forgotten Realms, so there should be plenty of room for role-playing right? Wrong! Character interaction is insanely simple, using a point and click interface (I.e. select-a-sentence, not an entirely bad method for computer RPGs to use), but limiting you to a very small number of options, most of which get only one short response and no futher options.

When people ask you to go on quests for the responses are usually limited to "yes, of course, for free", "give me money" or "fuck off, no, never", or the like. There is no subtlety and your Intelligence, Charisma and class seem to have no bearing on the dialogue options, and you behaviour rarely does (again, completely unlike Fallout 2, where your character's charms, intelligence, perception, skills and reputation had a large degree of affect on conversation options, which were more complex and varied anyway).

So basically there is virtually no actual role-playing involved, just the odd choice here and there, and you feel far less attached to your character than you do even in linear conversation games like Final Fantasy 7. The designers claimed that characters of differently alignments would interact with each other, but again, this is basically a half-truth, as all this means is that characters of opposed alignments abuse each other, and those of of compatible ones say how great the the other is. Even the guards and scientists you could drag around with in Half-Life had better conversations and occasionally made you laugh, rather than just gradually geting more and more annoying over time. Quite frankly, if this level of interaction is what it takes to make an "RPG" nowdays, then Half-Life is an RPG for sure... It's plot is a whole lot more compelling than Baldur's Gate too...

Okay, so there's no role-playing but is there roll-playing, ie Stats? There is, Jim, but not as we know it, as the designers of BG have only used some of AD&D's rules, and not many of the ones people consider important, certainly very few optional ones. Alignment has little bearing, Charisma seems to have none, and basically only stuff that gives you bonuses matters. There are no non-weapon proficiencies, no secondary skills, no languages, just the odd random special ability.

Even weapon proficiencies have been simplified to the point of silliness. Many weapons are missing too, such the Scimitar, which was so useful to the Druid class, and uneccessary and unrealistic distinctions are made between composite and non-composite bows. There are no wooden shields, either so that's another one in the eye for Druids (who are allowed to wear so illegal armour types though, like Banded). Bascially even mim-maxing isn't fun, and the stats are to complex to ignore and too sparse to be fun.

The spells ahve been mangled too, some are far more powerful than in AD&D, some far less. Take Colour Spray for instance. In AD&D the spray is 20 foot long and 5 foot wide even at the caster's end. It can rip through an entire patrol of low-level monsters, knocking them unconscious or blinding them. In BG it's about 5 feet long and wide and you're lucky if you get two monsters with it

Combat. Always a mainstay of AD&D games, computer or paper. Here in BG it's done in realtime with a pause button, obviously to cater to the vast armies of morons for whom turn-based combat is too complictated. It's not the worst combat system ever, and only requires you to pause every few seconds, not every second, but it has all the randomness of AD&D, and none of the control. It is very reminiscent of Warcraft 2 actually, but alot less fun.

At first you die alot. Then after about 3rd level you die less, but still have to deal the with complete moronity of your characters, all of whom seem to have a lobotomy and a deathwish, no matter what instructions you give them. Mages waste valuable spells at the first opportunity, Priests can't be bothered to heal, Thieves hide constantly as you try to move cross country, stopping moving as they do so and thus getting left behind, and fighters hand armound at the back even after being order into combat, whilst the mages, having wasted all their spells charge Ogres armed only with their daggers (despite their orders not to). It's chaos. Not that it's that hard, it isn't. Simply repeat the fight until you win with no casualties, unless you're in a place where you can't save, in which case it's pot luck.

Well, what about graphics and sound then, they must be good...? Well, anyone who says the sounds is good is basicially either deaf or a liar. The speech is ridiculous, with a variety of badly-done accents and unconvincing voice acting. It sounds like they simply got a few people round the office to do what little speech there is (I think in fact that this actually _is_ what they did). Certainly there are no professional actors or even people with good voices involved.

At least Fallout 2 has the odd full-voice conversation and some amusing accents and characters... it even has Michael Dorn (ie Worf) as Marcus. The SFX are at best, average, and the music is okay, if you like that sort of thing (bad fantasy-game music)but I had to turn it off pretty quickly. The graphics are in nice 16-bit colour, which is a definately a "good thing", but the're of the "pre-rendered 2d" kind, and are well, boring and unmemorable, more of a step back than forward. The animation is so-so, as it is the reason the designers claim they couldn't afford to include 2-weapons style combat, I think it's annoying.

Overall, I can see NOTHING to write home about and NO reason to give this game more than 77%, not the 95-99% it has recieved... What the hell is wrong with reviewers today? mmmm? If you want a good RPG with role-playing, decisions, plot, cool turn based combat, humour and ideas, get Fallout 2.

If you want good graphics and sound, pace, action, plot and atmosphere, get Thief or Half-Life. Unless you're a Real-Time Strategy (Ie Starcraft/Command and Conquer) worshipper _and_ obsessed with Forgotten Realms setting (probably through the best-selling and appalingly written Forgotten Realms novels), don't bother with Baldur's Gate. It sucks big ducks on a dirty pond.

(PS I case you wonder I have nothing against the Forgotten Realms setting, or AD&D, both of which I DM, just this game. It's no the worst RPG I've ever played, but it is the most overhyped and one of the most hack n' slash and boring.)

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Baldur's Gate
Author: Various Category: Computer RPG Company/Publisher: Interplay Cost: Varies Page count: NA ISBN: NA Playtest Review by Alex Watters on 02/11/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	Baldur's Gate has been one of the most anticipated computer RPGs of all time, and since it's release has recieved 95%+ reviews, various awards, and has even been called the "best RPG of ever". Until I bought it, it seemed this might well be the case, and too greatly anticpated it. One of my friends even went out and bought it soley on the basis of seeing the manual, and fact that you could create a character of any AD&D class or race. Baldur's Gate starts well, mainly, as you really can choose any _standard_ AD&D race/class/multiclass combination. None of the more obscure Forgotten Realms only races though, or any of the more modern or complex classes. Some abilities have been removed altogether or simplified, most noticeably on the Ranger class, which loses it's rather vital two-weapon ability, and has it's ability to calm animals turned into a Charm spell. Druids have even more problems, and most of the classes have had their abilities cut down somewhat, except fighters, who for some ungodly reason are given the weapon mastery rules from Player's Option: Combat and Tactics. Some classes are further weakened by lack of access to weapons or bad AI, but more on that later. However, the mere fact that all the classes are there to at least some degree will please many people. Next we get on to the gameplay. At first it seems good, and you assume any limitations are due to the fact that is the starting town and you have no party. You fetch stuff for people and fight seemingly random assailants, gain a few XP and get told to do stuff. I foolishly assumed that this would change later on. It does not. Save for the main plotline quests, fetching stuff (or people) for other people is 90% of the game. This almost always involves you wandering round screen after screen of wilderness, bumping into random monsters until you find (or rather happen upon) the people/creatures/thing you are looking for (which is always standing still in the middle of a screen somewhere). I was expecting alot more from the sidequests, as I had just played the truly great Fallout 2, wherein sidequests are often complex, and can usually be solved in more than one way, but in Baldur's Gate I have yet to come across a situation in a quest where the talking is anything other than a prelude to combat, whatever you say, whoever you are (maybe really "evil" parties get some more options with "evil" characters, but I doubt it). Anyway, let's look at some other aspects for the game... Role-playing... Baldur's Gate bills itself as an RPG, and it's based on probably the most successful RPG so far, AD&D, and set in AD&D's most popular setting, the Forgotten Realms, so there should be plenty of room for role-playing right? Wrong! Character interaction is insanely simple, using a point and click interface (I.e. select-a-sentence, not an entirely bad method for computer RPGs to use), but limiting you to a very small number of options, most of which get only one short response and no futher options. When people ask you to go on quests for the responses are usually limited to "yes, of course, for free", "give me money" or "fuck off, no, never", or the like. There is no subtlety and your Intelligence, Charisma and class seem to have no bearing on the dialogue options, and you behaviour rarely does (again, completely unlike Fallout 2, where your character's charms, intelligence, perception, skills and reputation had a large degree of affect on conversation options, which were more complex and varied anyway). So basically there is virtually no actual role-playing involved, just the odd choice here and there, and you feel far less attached to your character than you do even in linear conversation games like Final Fantasy 7. The designers claimed that characters of differently alignments would interact with each other, but again, this is basically a half-truth, as all this means is that characters of opposed alignments abuse each other, and those of of compatible ones say how great the the other is. Even the guards and scientists you could drag around with in Half-Life had better conversations and occasionally made you laugh, rather than just gradually geting more and more annoying over time. Quite frankly, if this level of interaction is what it takes to make an "RPG" nowdays, then Half-Life is an RPG for sure... It's plot is a whole lot more compelling than Baldur's Gate too... Okay, so there's no role-playing but is there roll-playing, ie Stats? There is, Jim, but not as we know it, as the designers of BG have only used some of AD&D's rules, and not many of the ones people consider important, certainly very few optional ones. Alignment has little bearing, Charisma seems to have none, and basically only stuff that gives you bonuses matters. There are no non-weapon proficiencies, no secondary skills, no languages, just the odd random special ability. Even weapon proficiencies have been simplified to the point of silliness. Many weapons are missing too, such the Scimitar, which was so useful to the Druid class, and uneccessary and unrealistic distinctions are made between composite and non-composite bows. There are no wooden shields, either so that's another one in the eye for Druids (who are allowed to wear so illegal armour types though, like Banded). Bascially even mim-maxing isn't fun, and the stats are to complex to ignore and too sparse to be fun. The spells ahve been mangled too, some are far more powerful than in AD&D, some far less. Take Colour Spray for instance. In AD&D the spray is 20 foot long and 5 foot wide even at the caster's end. It can rip through an entire patrol of low-level monsters, knocking them unconscious or blinding them. In BG it's about 5 feet long and wide and you're lucky if you get two monsters with it Combat. Always a mainstay of AD&D games, computer or paper. Here in BG it's done in realtime with a pause button, obviously to cater to the vast armies of morons for whom turn-based combat is too complictated. It's not the worst combat system ever, and only requires you to pause every few seconds, not every second, but it has all the randomness of AD&D, and none of the control. It is very reminiscent of Warcraft 2 actually, but alot less fun. At first you die alot. Then after about 3rd level you die less, but still have to deal the with complete moronity of your characters, all of whom seem to have a lobotomy and a deathwish, no matter what instructions you give them. Mages waste valuable spells at the first opportunity, Priests can't be bothered to heal, Thieves hide constantly as you try to move cross country, stopping moving as they do so and thus getting left behind, and fighters hand armound at the back even after being order into combat, whilst the mages, having wasted all their spells charge Ogres armed only with their daggers (despite their orders not to). It's chaos. Not that it's that hard, it isn't. Simply repeat the fight until you win with no casualties, unless you're in a place where you can't save, in which case it's pot luck. Well, what about graphics and sound then, they must be good...? Well, anyone who says the sounds is good is basicially either deaf or a liar. The speech is ridiculous, with a variety of badly-done accents and unconvincing voice acting. It sounds like they simply got a few people round the office to do what little speech there is (I think in fact that this actually _is_ what they did). Certainly there are no professional actors or even people with good voices involved. At least Fallout 2 has the odd full-voice conversation and some amusing accents and characters... it even has Michael Dorn (ie Worf) as Marcus. The SFX are at best, average, and the music is okay, if you like that sort of thing (bad fantasy-game music)but I had to turn it off pretty quickly. The graphics are in nice 16-bit colour, which is a definately a "good thing", but the're of the "pre-rendered 2d" kind, and are well, boring and unmemorable, more of a step back than forward. The animation is so-so, as it is the reason the designers claim they couldn't afford to include 2-weapons style combat, I think it's annoying. Overall, I can see NOTHING to write home about and NO reason to give this game more than 77%, not the 95-99% it has recieved... What the hell is wrong with reviewers today? mmmm? If you want a good RPG with role-playing, decisions, plot, cool turn based combat, humour and ideas, get Fallout 2. If you want good graphics and sound, pace, action, plot and atmosphere, get Thief or Half-Life. Unless you're a Real-Time Strategy (Ie Starcraft/Command and Conquer) worshipper _and_ obsessed with Forgotten Realms setting (probably through the best-selling and appalingly written Forgotten Realms novels), don't bother with Baldur's Gate. It sucks big ducks on a dirty pond. (PS I case you wonder I have nothing against the Forgotten Realms setting, or AD&D, both of which I DM, just this game. It's no the worst RPG I've ever played, but it is the most overhyped and one of the most hack n' slash and boring.) Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)