I remember when I first read a review of this game it was followed by an article comparing it to Might And Magic VII. Not really fair to any of the games as M&M VII is basically a very free-form hack'n'slash where as Baldur's Gate is a true role playing game although it is a lot more linear than the Might & Magic games. It was the first D&D game I ever played through and it shows in a lot of places like in weapons statistics screens and so on. This in my opinion is probably the biggest drawback of the game. Reading that your sword is 1d10+3 is basically hyeroglyphs to an RPG newb like I was at the time and it took a while before I could actually choose the right weapons for my party. Another thing which makes Baldur's Gate more dificult to grasp than other RPG games like even Baldur's Gate II is the magic system. You can only memorize a certain number of spells. And because you start on level 1 the number you can memorize is very low indeed. So a magician will have a hard time especially in the beginning of the game. All this said Baldur's Gate is still a truly great game. The story is very interesting though you have to like reading. It's not Planescape Torment. But still there is quite a lot of reading. And it's usually only the first section of a dialogue that is spoken. If ever there was to be made a remake of the game that's a feature I'd really like to see: All lines of dialogue should be spoken :-) Still it's a game that is EASILY worth 10 $. It takes patience but it is a very rewarding experience. Still I'd say that both Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate II are superior games in a lot of ways.
