Many people consider this to be the greatest RPG ever made, and with good reason. Personally I have BG2 at #1 slightly behind Planescape: Torment but regardless this game is incredible. An amazing epic storyline, great companions, terrific atmosphere, great character development. This game has it all. An absolute must have for any RPG fan, and frankly for anyone.
Not nearly as good as Icewind Dale 1 and nowhere near Planescape:Torment or either Baldur's Gate. While the combat is polished the story is hollow and frankly rather boring. If you've already played all the other Infinity Engine games and you really need to play more this will scratch the itch to some degree but it just doesn't measure up to the other Infinity Engine games.
This masterpiece features a fantastic non-standard setting, memorable and unusual characters, a terrific story, and thousands of lines of some of the greatest dialogue ever written for a video game. Another thing I love about this game is that you can eliminate a lot of the needless grinding & hack & slash (though you can hack & slash through the game if you so choose) and not get penalized for finding creative solutions that bypass hack & slash. When the game first came out it unfortunately fared poorly in sales probably due to lack of advertising and the fact that it was just way ahead of its time. If you like RPGs and have never played this game you absolutely must get this game right now!
Baldur's Gate is one of the quintessential RPGs of all time. Easily on my Top 10 Greatest RPGs list and surpassed by only a handful of games like it's own sequel and Planescape: Torment. The controls are great and have become the standard for many western party-based RPGs to follow. The story is superb, it pulls you in and immerses you in a rich fantasy world from start to finish. The character creation system is great, it's Dungeons & Dragons, what's not to like? An absolute must have for any RPG fan.
