I was born in Soviet Union haha and after it had collapsed - things were not good obviously, economically.
My parents, just like anybody else lost their good jobs and couldnt afford much at all from then on.
PCs were a very rare thing indeed.
I've spent 90-ies playing 8 bit and 16 bit console games, but each time I would go to my local shopping centre with friends I would see this miracle, this magic thing - a personal computer. The PC salesman there would play Wolfenstein (father of Doom game). We would stand there watching him play it for hours.
I remember begging my dad to save up some money and get me the cheapest pc. I was dreaming about playing it myself. Well, finally my wish came true, I was able to get my first PC but it had black and white screen and it couldnt run that game =(
I was forced to look for something else and I found it. No, it wasnt BG, not yet, but it was something that led me to it. It changed my tastes completely, made me fall in love with the rpg games instead of the shooters. It was X-com. I wont talk about it, all you need to know - I lived there, morning till night, with school somewhere in-between.
After few years, I finally got a better pc, this time with a color monitor, so I started checking out new rpg games. I settled with Diablo. Played it for about 2 years and here it comes, the only, the magnificent, the Baldur's Gate itself.
Where did I see it? Yes, in that same store where once I was hooked to wolfenstein. I would ask the salesman to show me the CD (no it wasnt the same like you have it in US), it was just 1 disk. In the description it would say something like this: the full game on just one disk! And there were pictures, screenshots of the game. I would look at those pictures, imagining playing it, and then would return it. I did it many times, just come and look at the pictures and dream, since it would take some time to get the money to buy it. (90-ies were harsh after collapse) other games I have obtained from friends.
Well the day has come, i bought it! Yes, it was a pirate version, everything back then was a pirate version, thats how we lived.
I brought it home, installed it and... Saw this READMEFIRST file, so I did.
And there it said: "Did you really think you would get a full game just on one disk? We are sure you are not so naive "
My heart sank... I ran the game... All options were disabled apart from load game, I couldnt start a new one, couldnt do anything else but load 1 game that had like 192 days of gameplay. It would load just one single area, without letting me travel anywere else... All I could do is talk to local citizens and livestock
My first experience with BG was locked to killing some cows, along with all human inhabitants. Im not gonna lie, I did it for some time thought... Eventually getting bored. I was furious... I promised myself that I must obtain this game... The rest is history... I got it eventually, and finally i could do so much more than just slaughter some cows. .. (I had to use my imagination, this was my diablo/bg cow level i guess)
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My parents, just like anybody else lost their good jobs and couldnt afford much at all from then on.
PCs were a very rare thing indeed.
I've spent 90-ies playing 8 bit and 16 bit console games, but each time I would go to my local shopping centre with friends I would see this miracle, this magic thing - a personal computer. The PC salesman there would play Wolfenstein (father of Doom game). We would stand there watching him play it for hours.
I remember begging my dad to save up some money and get me the cheapest pc. I was dreaming about playing it myself. Well, finally my wish came true, I was able to get my first PC
I was forced to look for something else and I found it. No, it wasnt BG, not yet, but it was something that led me to it. It changed my tastes completely, made me fall in love with the rpg games instead of the shooters. It was X-com. I wont talk about it, all you need to know - I lived there, morning till night, with school somewhere in-between.
After few years, I finally got a better pc, this time with a color monitor, so I started checking out new rpg games. I settled with Diablo. Played it for about 2 years and here it comes, the only, the magnificent, the Baldur's Gate itself.
Where did I see it? Yes, in that same store where once I was hooked to wolfenstein. I would ask the salesman to show me the CD (no it wasnt the same like you have it in US), it was just 1 disk. In the description it would say something like this: the full game on just one disk! And there were pictures, screenshots of the game. I would look at those pictures, imagining playing it, and then would return it. I did it many times, just come and look at the pictures and dream, since it would take some time to get the money to buy it. (90-ies were harsh after collapse) other games I have obtained from friends.
Well the day has come, i bought it! Yes, it was a pirate version, everything back then was a pirate version, thats how we lived.
I brought it home, installed it and... Saw this READMEFIRST file, so I did.
And there it said: "Did you really think you would get a full game just on one disk? We are sure you are not so naive
My heart sank... I ran the game... All options were disabled apart from load game, I couldnt start a new one, couldnt do anything else but load 1 game that had like 192 days of gameplay. It would load just one single area, without letting me travel anywere else... All I could do is talk to local citizens and livestock
My first experience with BG was locked to killing some cows, along with all human inhabitants. Im not gonna lie, I did it for some time thought... Eventually getting bored. I was furious... I promised myself that I must obtain this game... The rest is history... I got it eventually, and finally i could do so much more than just slaughter some cows. .. (I had to use my imagination, this was my diablo/bg cow level i guess)