Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Stop reading this and play it!

It's Baldur's gate. You know if you like Baldur's Gate

It took me too many attempts to properly get into this game. The rules are obscure, I had to read the manual and Internet resources to properly figure out how the Ability Scores work (15 STR is as bad as 8 STR in this system, when it comes to fighting). I kept a notebook with all the common combat status effects and how to cure and resist the negative ones (Held, Fear, Blind, etc.). I didn’t realize until this time that round is not the same as turn, 1 turn is 10 rounds, and 1 hour is 5 turns or 5 minutes in real life. Something finally clicked, and I had a great time playing the game this time. You go exploring open areas and dungeons, and it’s all good fun. Sometimes you encounter an important character, or a tough fight, and hopefully with aid of magic potions and protection scrolls you manage to get through it – to a great satisfaction. I lost sense of time playing this game, had to force myself to take breaks, and the moment I finished the original campaign I wanted more. You can certainly replay this game and still have fun. It’s not perfect in any sense, the interface is clunky (even in the Enhanced Edition), the story and quests are rather simple – some of the side-quest givers just give you a paragraph of text and an entry in your journal to complete a small task. The reputation system is ridiculous, especially in later parts, where you fight for your life and your Good companions scold you for just trying to survive. Sometimes, the game becomes very punishing, and gives you a dungeon full of traps, very tricky enemies and obscure puzzles. But if you are willing to tolerate some poorly aged secondary mechanics, ready to learn some old systems, and have Internet to occasionally look up solutions to puzzles and annoying status effects, you could have lots of fun, as I did.

We all know that this game is a classic. Honestly, I'll come back to it every 4 years or so just to feel like I'm home. If you've never experienced the magic of Faerun or Baldur's Gate then please, accept my heartfelt invitation. Turn the lights low. Shut off that stream on the 2nd monitor, and get lost and amazed by one of the greatest games of all time. I'm sure I'll see you again in 3-4 years.

For a game that is over 25 years old to have a loyal and wide following whilst still picking up new players is testament to its strengths. It also makes clear that graphical performance is secondary to balanced gameplay and good design. Yes, it throws up huge challenges quite quickly but, at the same time, it is all doable. Reload? Yes, if it was a cakewalk it would likely have been forgotten about for being insubstantial. The Enhanced Edition irons out a lot of the wrinkles and is very playable today. Like RPGs and haven't played this? Then do it - you may be in the minority who don't like it but you probably won't be.