Editorial Baldur’s Gate defined a generation

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Baldur's Gate

<a href="http://resolution-magazine.co.uk/content/resurrection-baldurs-gate/">Cue Resolution magazine</a>:
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<blockquote>Baldur’s Gate defined a generation. A wealth of role-playing games were born from the success of BioWare’s classic, and the generation of gamers at the time were inspired and amazed by its achievements. It’s games of this impact that push the boundaries of what the medium is thought to be capable of.
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Baldur’s Gate defied stylistic and graphical progress in an attempt to maintain the standards of PC role-playing, and with great success. Among the crop of titles on offer at the time, Baldur’s Gate was able to provide a refreshing yet safely familiar experience, one that rallied PC gamers, raising morale and showing that the genre was certainly not dead.
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Success can be measured by either quality or quantity. With Baldur’s Gate, neither was compromised by the other.</blockquote>
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THE GUSH. IT IS... OVERFLOWING.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[Xor]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

 

[Silellak]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

I like to LARP in Halo. You know, ignore the main questline, go exploring in the expansive world, do some sidequests maybe. It really adds a whole new layer to those games.

 

[ChristofferC]

"hundreds of side quests"

rose tinted glasses?

 

[Gragt]

Bioware really needs to sell those two millions copies of Dragon Age.

 

[MetalCraze]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

 

[Krash]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

Bioware didn't contribute shit. Gamers made the choice; if they'd liked hardcore RPGs, we would have plenty of them now

EDIT: I can forgive Bioware a lot for BG2, but NWN was really pushing it

 

[Scruffy]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

seriously, you're a clown, and an unfunny one at that.

 

[Wyrmlord]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

seriously, you're a clown, and an unfunny one at that.

No, he is 100% right.

I am sorry, Mr. BG fanboy, but before BG, RPGs were not about romancing backstory companions and giving them a shoulder to cry on, while running through an epic narrative by choosing a series of hypertext options.

No, this is what RPGs used to be before BG:

Nothing but unadultered mathematical turn-based combat.

They were moved aside for fantasy themed dating sims and movie simulators.

 

[Dnny]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

seriously, you're a clown, and an unfunny one at that.

No, he is 100% right.

I am sorry, Mr. BG fanboy, but before BG, RPGs were not about romancing backstory companions and giving them a shoulder to cry on, while running through an epic narrative by choosing a series of hypertext options.

No, this is what RPGs used to be before BG:

Nothing but unadultered mathematical turn-based combat.

They were moved aside for fantasy themed dating sims and movie simulators.

You totally missed the point. You are not criticizing BG, you are hating on BG2, which is not nearly the same game apart from sharing an engine. Also, romances are a very very small and optional part of BG2, you can enjoy the game without them.

The original Baldur's Gate is a throwback to the dungeon hacks. It has been the most praised RPG of its time even though it's nothing more than a slasher with a bit of useless dialogue and fetch quests, a Diablo with D&D ruleset. The cRPG genre evolved a lot with a game like Fallout and got brought down by the popularity BG1 has met. Developers followed the example set by BG1 instead of Fallout and its choices and consequences.

cRPGs would have known a better fate had Baldur's Gate never existed and Fallout been the one to set the gold standard.

 

[Grunker]

This thread is so full of butthurt everybody's ass looks like a baboon's.

 

[MetalCraze]

Bioware didn't contribute shit. Gamers made the choice; if they'd liked hardcore RPGs, we would have plenty of them now

Bioware showed to publishing empires like EA/Zenimax that by making LARP-ing simulators you can cater "RPGs" to people who couldn't care less about actual RPGs - that instead of catering to 1 mln of people it is better to cater to 4 mln of people. So what choice did your gamers make? Most of the current next-gen Codexers don't even know (and don't care about) RPGs besides Bioware LARP-sims and a few games from Troika/Obsidian.

 

[Shoelip]

What the hell are you calling a LARP-ing simulator?

A LARP-ing simulator would be a program that simulates dressing up in a costume, ggetting together with friends, then physically acting out the action while you play a RPG. I've never seen a game like this, and it seems like it would defeat the purpose.

 

[Krash]

Bioware didn't contribute shit. Gamers made the choice; if they'd liked hardcore RPGs, we would have plenty of them now

Bioware showed to publishing empires like EA/Zenimax that by making LARP-ing simulators you can cater "RPGs" to people who couldn't care less about actual RPGs - that instead of catering to 1 mln of people it is better to cater to 4 mln of people. So what choice did your gamers make?

Note how I wrote gamers and not RPG gamers.

Also, I don't get the larping simulator thing either

 

[MetalCraze]

Look at a few recent Bioware RPGs and the most recent DA - what do you do most of the time there? Select dialogue responses that lead nowhere and "feel emotional ties" to characters in your party with some filler combat in between? And of course having buttseks. Meh - this is what RPGs are about today thanks to Bioware.

 

[Shoelip]

So what you're saying then is that they should all just be pure hack and slash?

 

[coldcrow]

So what you're saying then is that they should all just be pure hack and slash?

Usual redundant phrase. If you guys really don't see how the standards for RPGs went down the drain, I feel rather sorry for you. Instead of pushing the limits of our fantasy or the limits of gameplay, new "RPGs" play it so mediocre, it is not even funny anymore.

Take DA: Bioware knew what most players wanted: Slick GUI, high fantasy, romances, NPCs with a cerebral age of 16, MMO gameplay. Simply because they aren't necessarily putting love into the game, no, it is primarily a product generating lots of income.

 

[MetalCraze]

No what I'm saying is that there must be something else besides jerking off to your character's dialogue choices.

And this something must be done better than 2-corridor city districts, a real-time 0-tactics mess and "save the world from ancient evil".

 

[Weresloth]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

Bioware didn't contribute shit. Gamers made the choice; if they'd liked hardcore RPGs, we would have plenty of them now

EDIT: I can forgive Bioware a lot for BG2, but NWN was really pushing it

Wrong.

 

[Weresloth]

No what I'm saying is that there must be something else besides jerking off to your character's dialogue choices.

And this something must be done better than 2-corridor city districts, a real-time 0-tactics mess and "save the world from ancient evil".

Seems there isn't because no one is making them. A lot goes back to the definition of an rpg and peoples definitions vary so wildly it makes it tough to agree on what is a good one.

 

[Silellak]

No what I'm saying is that there must be something else besides jerking off to your character's dialogue choices.

And this something must be done better than 2-corridor city districts, a real-time 0-tactics mess and "save the world from ancient evil".

Seems there isn't because no one is making them. A lot goes back to the definition of an rpg and peoples definitions vary so wildly it makes it tough to agree on what is a good one.

This, of course, doesn't stop people from claiming that their definition is the right one, and any other definition is for stupid New Codex-brand homofags.

 

[Andhaira]

Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 revived the crpg genre from the abyss.

Sadly, games took the wrong turn after that (pure 3d and real time combat)

 

[Elzair]

If only. RPGs might be better today if they were more like Baldur's Gate than Halo.

RPGs might be better today if there was no BG at all.
Hurts but true - Bioware contributed much to the death of a genre over the years.

Bioware didn't contribute shit. Gamers made the choice; if they'd liked hardcore RPGs, we would have plenty of them now.

That is not necessarily true. There are plenty of people who love 2d platformers, and they have been underserved for ~15 years.

 

[Melcar]

Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 revived the crpg genre from the abyss.

Sadly, games took the wrong turn after that (pure 3d and real time combat)

Pretty much. Though I would say BG1 revived the genre (as in it put it back in the mainstream's eyes) and BG2 started the decline. The first BG was fine and it really did do a lot to focus attention on the genre when there was almost none. The sequel went overboard in my opinion, and although a good game, took the genre in the wrong direction. But seriously, the reason everyone is raging about the BG series is because it made RPGs accessible to the masses and took it out of the basement dweller's pasty hands.

 

[relootz]

This thread is so full of butthurt everybody's ass looks like a baboon's.