- First RPG to have small-unit-tactics since the old SSI gold box games.
I'd debate that, games such as the Wizardry series may not have allowed free movement of characters, but they still had a healthy serve of party tactics. Jagged Alliance and its sequel aren't purely RPGs, but they're more of one that Baldur's Gate.
Still, the trend at the time for similar isometric titles seemed to be that of a single protagonist (Fallout, Diablo, etc) so point taken. I've always prefered a single player character, but I can see a certain charm to parties.
- very good graphics (for the time)
Agreed. 5 CDs full of bitmap environments did make for a visual striking experience, but like always, at the cost of gameplay, sadly.
- high production value music and voice overs
It's more opinion than science, but the VO was horrible:
- "Euuu pow?"
- "Heya"
- "Open (elven) arse"
- "Duh, I serve the Flaming fiast"
It may have aimed for high production value, because there is a lot of recorded VO, but it seems poorly directed. It seems to me like they just let each actor put on whatever ridiculous accent they wanted for whichever characters they were giving voice to. Aside from that, nearly every single character is scripted to be utterly irritating, and then, poorly acted, although I'm sure there are exceptions I haven't come across yet.
- dolly-dress-up equipment-showing charecter models.
That was another cute little overuse of resources, but I do remember regarding it highly at the time. Of course, I've since repressed my graphics whore side.
- a simple, but compelling story and narration.
Once again, another aspect that passed me by. I've never been a fan of story telling that's separable from the actual game, and that's pretty much what BG did, by dragging the player out of the game at the start of each chapter to feed them a big block of narrative. But, once again, personal preference on my account.
- a pseudo tolkein high fantasy world with dwarves and elves
That's a very valid point, although I'd say the D&D and Forgotten Realms branding was a pretty powerful factor in the popularity too.
I've only played it once and really prefer pretty much all of the other IE games to it, but it should get credit for being the first. Baldur's gate really changed people's expectations and afterward 1st person invisable party games (wizardry) and games with 12 charecter models (fallout) were pretty much dead as far as the masses were concerned.
Maybe it's just the way I came at it. On the back of Fallout and Fallout 2, I kept seeing this new Black Isle game advertised on Planet Half-Life (back in the day when the Something Awful goons ran Planet Quake and Planet Half-Life) and got myself all excited about it, only to find it was a glitzy, but mostly vacant gaming experience.
Sadly, as you say, it increased the visceral expectations of the masses, which irreparably damaged the whole genre. Maybe I'm giving too much credit to supposed RPG gamers placing more faith in gameplay than graphics. Too much time spent at the Codex methinks. Maybe I should gradually expose myself to the haven of idiocy that is the ES forum, now that there's no Black Isle forum in which to be confronted by the misled masses. I think the Codex must be sheltering me a great deal from the brutish reality that most gamers have no taste.
This does not of course mean that they were worse, matters of taste aren't disputable, but baldur's gate is higher on my replay list than any RPG that came before it (except darksun: shattered lands which I'm always replaying with a different party trying desperately to become strong enough to keep the suicidal NPC's alive in the final battle).
You've only played it once, but it's high on your replay list? Or perhaps you meant the sequel? No matter. Anyway, thanks for your comments.
That's because the handful of people who make up the group of anti BGers who make up the Codex don't represent the million + people who bought BG1, dumbass. Then again, most of the dumbfucks who bashed BG1 also ran out tripping over their slobber to buy BG2.
Baldur's Gate had a fair showing in the unofficial top ten a month or two ago, and there's a few Black Isle forum refugees here, so I figured someone would have some positive things to say about it.
. I think this was one the first crpg's I've played that didn't totaly screw a low level wiz with some excuse like 'but their so powerfull at higher levels we decided that that spell shouldn't work. Granted controlling a large party can sometimes be anoying, but you can set the autopause to end of round and play it like a turnbased without having to hit the space bar all the time. As far as bad level design goes the only one that realy bugged me was that realy tight dungeon under the bridge. The rest was pretty good with the exception of a hard to find door or two. But I've only played this with the tales of the sword coast addon, don't know what the basic version is like. The last time I played this I downloaded the Darkside of the Swordcoast mod and found it to be a fun change. I think you just need to realise that BG is an RPG and like any RPG you only get out of it what your imagination invests in it.
