Voidling said: Baldur's Gate EE - 8/10
(replay after a few years of having not touched the game)
I liked the game, I think the overall story was well written and interesting throughout. The main villain is great, and the final boss battle does live up to all the build up. It was fucking anal rape for me, who isn't particularly great at the game.
The dialogue is fucking abysmal. It's mostly black and white, and there were many moments where I couldn't roleplay as I wanted to because the game forced me into being either a goody-two-shoes or Satan reborn.
I really dig the graphics, there's something really charming about how the IE games look.
The enemy designs are varied, which I like. I also like the combat, but I can understand if someone finds it boring/dislikes it.
The companions are just there to help you. They are completely one-dimensional and you can't interact with them at all.
The world design is... generic. It's generic fantasy all over. It's also full of huge wilderness areas that have little to nothing in them. The first half is literally going from wilderness area to wilderness area, stay in town for a little bit, then proceed to next wilderness area where you'll go into a dungeon and fight a boss in order to progress through the story. It would've been way better if every wilderness area had something unique to explore about it. That said, I did enjoy exploring at times.
The second half becomes a bit more interesting. You finally go into the city of Baldur's Gate, and there you can do a multitude of quests that make you explore the city and find out about the people that live there.
The final third (which begins with you returning to Candlekeep) was great, but I won't be getting into it because I would spoil a lot.
Now, the ending.. is extremely abrupt. KOTOR 2 levels of abrupt. You defeat the villain, a short cutscene of his final moments plays out... and it ends. I don't care if it has a sequel or not, the game should've had proper closure. Even KOTOR 2 which ended abruptly did give some closure through dialogue and the final cutscene (LS ending only).
Overall, it's a good game. One of my favourite games, even though it's very flawed in quite a few areas.
Closing thoughts: If you want a deep role-playing experience, this is definitely not it. Play Planescape: Torment, KOTOR 2 or Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas instead. But, if you want a well written story with some fun combat if you take the time to learn it, then give it a shot.
I can't say I agree with a lot of this, I actually enjoy exploring in this game a great deal for example. But, I'm not quoting to argue with you, but to recommend the NPC mod. It basically makes the characters as talkative as BG2 and is generally well done, it is a juge improvement.
Eitherway, it's no secret that BG2 improves on this game in nearly every conceivable way. |