2nd edition AD&D ruleset just about perfectly realized in Real Time Strategy---combat is amazingly well done
an excellent story--the key plot ingredients grip and mystify us... naturally, including a great villain
the Forgotten Realms setting--the lore of the Sword Coast/Western Heartlands is charming and inviting
an abundance of side quests and non-linear action--explore a sprawling world to your heart's content
25 well conceived NPCs--near endless variety/replayability in party composition, with fun and interesting companions
2D isometric perspective with gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds that look as though hand drawn--oddly enough, this proves more immersive to many than more modern 3D graphics
@Lemernis To be fair, the background isn't hand painted. Like the paperdolls in the game, they are actually made in a 3D Rendering program and saved as a 2D file used in the game. They do look hand painted, that's true, and they are beautiful.
I consider Baldur's Gate as a great pc game combined with a great book ,with its over 1,000,000 words of dialog.
Also, Replayability - as mentioned before, you can play Baldur's Gate in a lot of different ways, there are many combination of classes, big selection of NPCs to choose from, and different ways to handle quests - so each playthrough is different ( And LONG, unlike modern games which last hardly 20 hours on the best case - you can play Baldur's Gate for tens of hours ).
And last thing - The Atmosphere, there is a great atmosphere in the game which make you really connect to the game and the story, one of the reasons is probably the great music.
2nd edition AD&D ruleset just about perfectly realized in Real Time Strategy---combat is amazingly well done
an excellent story--the key plot ingredients grip and mystify us... naturally, including a great villain
the Forgotten Realms setting--the lore of the Sword Coast/Western Heartlands is charming and inviting
an abundance of side quests and non-linear action--explore a sprawling world to your heart's content
25 well conceived NPCs--near endless variety/replayability in party composition, with fun and interesting companions
2D isometric perspective with gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds that look as though hand drawn--oddly enough, this proves more immersive to many than more modern 3D graphics
Okey... so let me start to explain why the game is so "special".
First... it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long. But when I say long I mean LOOOOOOOOOONG! So many hours of new things in the game.
Honestly... until Mass effect BG had the most mesmerizing storyline EVER and it made players CARE for their party, something that no other game until DA:O and Mass effect managed to do.
It was and still is the standard for how a RPG game should be made, with great storyline, lovable characters, good UI and required strategy to pass certain parts. Simply put... level of epicness that we got at the time the game was made exceeded everyone's expectations for a fantasy RPG game.
after I stopped playing AD&D and started working/ going out / beer /girls there was games , but when I see all of the BG1 in 1999 , had to have it and all that pent up RPG frustration came out , and since then always look for games like it , played ToEE about 4 times so seeing this was great as BGII kept crashing at a point and BG would not even play on vista , maybe as the PC was virus riddled
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the voice-acting. Baldur's Gate has the best voice-acting I've ever heard in a game. What makes the acting team even more amazing, is that, in BG1, we only occasionally hear them deliver one-liners.
But what amazing one-liners! You'll find yourself quoting them outside the game, doing impressions of the BG actors. You'll start hearing them popping into your head at all hours of the day and night. You'll think of your favorite npc characters, envision their portraits and hear their voices in your mind, and smile.
And then, in BG2, the voice-acted dialogues get a huge increase.
Corollary to the voice-acting, is the fantastic portraiture. Just as I've never heard better voice-acting, I've never seen such amazing portraits. In one, single shot, each portrait manages to capture the very essence of the character, making them come to life in your imagination. They are made to seem like real people, and in time, "visiting" them by playing a game of Baldur's Gate will be like seeing old friends.
The voice acting was so good in the original and the sequel that I have my doubts the NEW voice acting will be near as good. I am prepared to be surprized though.
Comments
To be fair, the background isn't hand painted. Like the paperdolls in the game, they are actually made in a 3D Rendering program and saved as a 2D file used in the game.
They do look hand painted, that's true, and they are beautiful.
Also, Replayability - as mentioned before, you can play Baldur's Gate in a lot of different ways, there are many combination of classes, big selection of NPCs to choose from, and different ways to handle quests - so each playthrough is different ( And LONG, unlike modern games which last hardly 20 hours on the best case - you can play Baldur's Gate for tens of hours ).
And last thing - The Atmosphere, there is a great atmosphere in the game which make you really connect to the game and the story, one of the reasons is probably the great music.
Why I like it so much.... like you said Lemernis
First... it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long. But when I say long I mean LOOOOOOOOOONG! So many hours of new things in the game.
Honestly... until Mass effect BG had the most mesmerizing storyline EVER and it made players CARE for their party, something that no other game until DA:O and Mass effect managed to do.
It was and still is the standard for how a RPG game should be made, with great storyline, lovable characters, good UI and required strategy to pass certain parts. Simply put... level of epicness that we got at the time the game was made exceeded everyone's expectations for a fantasy RPG game.
When you speak to a certain innkeeper at the start of your journey, you'll understand what I mean.
I hope this all makes sense I'm feeling a bit buffleheaded! ;-)
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the voice-acting. Baldur's Gate has the best voice-acting I've ever heard in a game. What makes the acting team even more amazing, is that, in BG1, we only occasionally hear them deliver one-liners.
But what amazing one-liners! You'll find yourself quoting them outside the game, doing impressions of the BG actors. You'll start hearing them popping into your head at all hours of the day and night. You'll think of your favorite npc characters, envision their portraits and hear their voices in your mind, and smile.
And then, in BG2, the voice-acted dialogues get a huge increase.
Corollary to the voice-acting, is the fantastic portraiture. Just as I've never heard better voice-acting, I've never seen such amazing portraits. In one, single shot, each portrait manages to capture the very essence of the character, making them come to life in your imagination. They are made to seem like real people, and in time, "visiting" them by playing a game of Baldur's Gate will be like seeing old friends.