Baldur's Gate 1 Review
Welcome to my review retrospective on Baldur's Gate 1, a cRPG developed by BioWare Corp. The following commentary pertains to BioWare's first cRPG, Baldur's Gate 1 (1998-99).
The Baldur's Gate review defends the legacy of Baldur's Gate and highlights its virtues, but also admits its flaws. It is written by someone who has played Baldur's Gate on and off since its inception; that is, on and off for 27 years as of 2025.
This multi-part review has a word count of 25,000, and its author has written almost half a million words on Baldur's Gate over the past decade.
As it pertains to cRPG Design, Baldur's Gate is rated as Well Above Average.
To understand Baldur's Gate one must have historical awareness. Therefore, it is best to first read:
Baldur's Gate 1 Review Parameters
The Baldur's Gate review is based on the original release and expansion only. While Baldur's Gate Mods have long-existed that address glitches, bugs and change the gameplay for better or for worse (usually for the worse), my concern is just with Baldur's Gate & Tales as released by BioWare. The reasons for this are fourfold:
- 5512 is the final BioWare version that has been standard and unchanged for 20 years. Let us be clear: BioWare developed Baldur's Gate, not Beamdog. The Enhanced Editions by Beamdog are remakes, not the original games. cf. Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition Review for an example of how remakes differ from originals. Be sure to check out BG1 vs BG2 as well.
- A retrospective is a "looking back at something" in order to see what it was like. We are not looking back at Baldur's Gate if we are basing our retrospective on current mods and remakes.
- I love the original and hold it up as BioWare's greatest achievement.
- My blog's focus is the preservation and expansion of narratives for the original versions of cRPGs.
Introduction FMV, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate 1 Introduction
And published by Black Isle Studios.
Both of these names are now legendary in the cRPG genre. Most notably, Black Isle had already developed Fallout 2, and would then go on to develop Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale 2 and Planescape: Torment as well, whereas BioWare would go on to develop Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights and KotOR along with Jade Empire, Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. For more information on these games, I kindly refer the reader to my above-linked retrospectives or cRPG History.
The intro and all cutscenes (about 11 mins worth) are presented in prerendered 3D and packaged as compressed FMVs in 16 bit color depth. Despite lacking in fidelity, the animations, atmosphere and cinematics still hold up today.
The heavily-armored Sarevok is shown cornering his prey atop the towering, moonlit Iron Throne headquarters in the city of Baldur's Gate. Lightning flashes in the sky and thunder rumbles in the distance.
I will be the last... and you will go first. (Sarevok declares his intention to be the last Bhaalspawn remaining, the one who will ascend to the Throne of Bhaal).
No! You can't! Sarevok's prey crawls along the ground in sheer terror, begging for his life: There are others! I can show you. Please. Please! (By "others", he means other Bhaalspawn).
Sarevok laughs. Then, with one hand, he breaks the neck of the rival Bhaalspawn and hurls him over the edge, to his death.
The intro does its job.
Baldur's Gate 1 Setting
BioWare's Baldur's Gate 1 is set in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS) published by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) in 1987. Originally created by Ed Greenwood in 1967, The Realms, as it is colloquially known, is one of the most famous campaign settings in Dungeons & Dragons. Since 1987 it has been fleshed out by numberous AD&D 2nd Edition publications and related novels. The lore related to FR is known as Realmslore.
In comparison to Planescape, Dark Sun and even Greyhawk and DragonLance, the Forgotten Realms is a rather generic setting of high magic, medieval fantasy. However, it is what one does with the setting that counts, and BioWare didn't disappoint FR or AD&D fans with their representation of the Realms in Baldur's Gate.
Indeed, a few of the developers were long-time enthusiasts of AD&D, including the lead coder, and this is evident as one plays through the campaign.
Above all, BioWare paid respect to the FR license they had acquired from TSR/WotC (at that time WotC still employed the TSR name), who gave them a degree of freedom in their creation of the campaign. Of course, BioWare were not permitted to meddle in TSR's preexisting stories or characters, and the story had to be approved by the tabletop juggernaut.
The mascots of the FR are Greenwood's Elminster Aumar and Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden, both of whom appear the game.
The Time of Troubles
The events of Baldur's Gate take place on the Sword Coast in 1370 DR (Dale Reckoning), 12 years subsequent to the Time of Troubles, when the gods walked Faerûn. Forseen by Mystra, the Time of Troubles was brought on when Bane and Myrkul stole the Tablets of Fate from Ao, the Overgod. As punishment, Ao hurled the gods down from the heavens, forcing them into mortal shells.
One of those gods was Bhaal, the Lord of Murder and God of Assassins. Bhaal foresaw his demise at the hands of Cyric. Thus, in mortal form, Bhaal spread his divine seed, his essence, far and wide, in order to give rise to the Bhaalspawn, whose bloody battles, he predicted, would ultimately result in his reemergence.
The Prophecy of Alaundo, Seer & Sage:
It is revealed in Baldur's Gate that the antagonist, a Deathbringer named Sarevok Anchev, and the protagonist, referred to by players as CHARNAME, are Bhaalspawn: off-spring of Bhaal, and siblings.
[cf. Throne of Bhaal]
One of those gods was Bhaal, the Lord of Murder and God of Assassins. Bhaal foresaw his demise at the hands of Cyric. Thus, in mortal form, Bhaal spread his divine seed, his essence, far and wide, in order to give rise to the Bhaalspawn, whose bloody battles, he predicted, would ultimately result in his reemergence.
The Prophecy of Alaundo, Seer & Sage:
It is revealed in Baldur's Gate that the antagonist, a Deathbringer named Sarevok Anchev, and the protagonist, referred to by players as CHARNAME, are Bhaalspawn: off-spring of Bhaal, and siblings.
[cf. Throne of Bhaal]
Baldur's Gate City Location & Layout
In respect to the city of Baldur's Gate, BioWare drew heavily from TSR's Sword Coast literature. The port city of Baldur's Gate is situated south of Waterdeep and north of the country of Amn. It was built where the Coast Way trade route intersects with the Chionthar river.
The city is contiguous and beautifully prerendered by BioWare's artists:
It is divided into several segments that are fully explorable. There are many buildings that can be entered, and many NPCs to talk to. Cellars, sewer systems and even an Undercity can be explored beneath the city as well.
History of Baldur's Gate City
The city of Baldur's Gate was founded by the great seafaring explorer, Balduran, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances 300 years ago. Balduranic lore and artifacts are uncovered in the city and also on Werewolf Island as part of the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, which also adds in Ulgoth's Beard and Ice Island along with the greatest mega-dungeon in RPG history, Durlag's Tower.
The core adventure begins in the citadel-library of Candlekeep, stretches south to the Cloud Peaks (the border with Amn), east to the Wood of Sharp Teeth and then north to the city of Baldur's Gate for the finale.
[Infinity Engine world maps]
Factions of Baldur's Gate
The player encounters all manner of powerful groups along the way, such as the semi-secret Harper society, the Black Network of the Zhentarim, Red Wizards of Thay and the insidious Iron Throne organization. In fact, several prospective companions are members of such factions, and factional rivalry is a consideration when forming a party.
The Baldur's Gate story stretches over several chapters of local, political and unearthly intrigue, interspersed with emotive dream sequences; the scope surprisingly epic for a low level campaign, yet still a personal one:
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| The Chapter One narration & first Dream Sequence |
As one might imagine, the campaign is a large one. On his second run, and including reloads, it took BioWare's Ray Muzyka 160-180 hours to finish the campaign, and who's going to argue with Ray?
Infinity Engine BioWare
Baldur's Gate 1 Original is the seminal Infinity Engine game. In fact, the campaign was developed by BioWare Corp. in parallel with the engine. As early as 1995-96, the engine was being coded for an RTS called Battleground:Infinity, but it was repurposed for the Baldur's Gate cRPG.
Infinity Engine by BioWare Corp.
We released Baldur's Gate to great commercial success and critical acclaim in December 1998. Baldur's Gate was truly a game that we poured our hearts and souls into [...] We were very proud of the result [...] I personally am thrilled and honored to know that more than a million fans have played and enjoyed the original BG. -- Dr. Ray Muzyka, Joint CEO, BioWare Corp.
Infinity Engine Games aka IE Games
The Infinity Engine didn't just power Baldur's Gate and its sequel: through licensure by Black Isle Studios (BiS), the Infinity Engine would not only later power Icewind Dale, IWD2 and Planescape: Torment, but it would also heavily influence many subsequent engines developed by BioWare and other developers. These include but are not limited to:
- Aurora (Neverwinter Nights) (some graphics based on MDK2 Omen Engine)
- Heavily Modified Aurora (The Witcher)
- Electron (Neverwinter Nights 2)
- Odyssey (Knights of the Old Republic)
- Eclipse (Dragon Age: Origins)
Therefore, not just in considering the above but also what the above led to, the original Baldur's Gate is one of the most influential cRPGs of all-time (for good and for bad, but mostly for good).
Black Isle heavily modified BioWare's engine in PS:T and IWD2. While IWD1 and BG2 closely resemble the original BG1, PS:T looks and feels quite different to the other IE games (radial menu, modified viewport), and IWD2's employment of 3rd Edition D&D also necessitated profound changes.
Overview of cRPG Engines
In order to gain control over every aspect of cRPG Design, in-house proprietary cRPG engines have traditionally been coded in C, C++ or Assembly language (e.g., 80286 or M68k Assembly).
Governing the potentiality of design categories, game mechanics and technical specifications, the cRPG engine is the foundation of the cRPG. The cRPG engine governs all cRPG logic and interplay between all systems, both obvious to the player and underlying.
Aspects of cRPG engines include:
- File system (and compression)
- Memory management
- Resolution and aspect ratio (square-pixel SVGA 640x480, 4:3)
- Color depth (8 bit, 32 bit)
- Framerate (FPS) and refresh rate (Hz)
- Screen-scrolling routine
- Animation system
- Collision detection
- Sprite display (dimensions, color depth)
- Perspective: viewport, playing field or Battlescape (tile-rigged, prerendered)
- Renderer (if 3D)
- User Interface (GUI)
- Pathfinding routine
- Modes of control and input devices (kb/m)
- Scripting system (for designer-level coding)
- AI
- Networking
- Physics (inertia, friction, gravity, ragdolls, particles, destructibility)
- Audio frequency (sample rate)
- cinematics (FMVs)
Thus, cRPG engines are complex to develop from the ground up. Usually, they are coded by experts with formal training in computer science and/or coders who started off programming 8 bit microcomputers in the early 80s.
The core of cPRG engines are hardcoded in executables and other encrypted files, though developers sometimes externalize code to editable files in order to facilitate dev-cycle tweaking and basic, end-user modding. For example, two-dimensional arrays (*.2DAs) can be edited in order to modify the ruleset in D&D cRPGs.
Throughout cRPG History the targeted hardware platform has been an instrinsic, all-important consideration: the coder tailors the engine to the hardware capabilities of the end-user's PC.
Since they determine game speed, complexity and size, the most important hardware specifications have always been CPU (instruction set, clock-rate), memory (RAM), storage capacity (diskette, disc, HDD), and custom chipsets (if applicable), such as video and sound cards.
The targeted operating system (OS) and APIs (e.g., DirectX, OpenGL) are also important considerations.
Assembly Language / Machine Code
The variability in end-user operating system settings and hardware specifications has for decades posed immense problems in compatibility and performance. Often resulting in increased efficiency assembly-coded computer games largely bypassed the OS issue by virtue of tapping hardware directly and independently of the OS by auto-booting volumes from ROM chips. In addition, the targeted microcomputers usually shared the exact same CPU, custom chipset and memory size. Coupled with the comparitively long life-cycles of such hardware in the assembly era, coders became grandmasters at maximizing the potential of certain microcomputers.
Computer games were coded in assembly based on the target platforms's microprocessor. For example:
- i80286 assembly (Frontier Elite 2 PC DOS)
- M68k assembly (Amiga games)
- 6502 assembly (Commodore 64)
For reasons of speed and robustness, some developers were coding commercial computer games in machine code language by as early as 1976: cf. TRS-80 Shoot 'em ups. Others stuck with BASIC. And that is why some of their games ran poorly and broke easily.
Infinity Engine File Format
The Infinity Engine has its own file structure, scripting language and playing field layers. The meat and potatoes of its data are compressed into large *.bif file archives which consist of rules, scripts and audio-visual assets; almost everything that constitutes the game.
Baldur's Gate graphics assets include animations (*.bam), area backgrounds (*.tis), UI elements (*.chu & *.mos), paperdolls (*.plt), portraits (*.bmp) and FMVs (*.mve).
Structural area data is contained in *.wed and *.are files which set where the actors, placeables, transition points and points of interest are, as well as dictating where on the map the players can walk, and where the triggers are, by means of polygons that are invisible to the player, in-game.
In addition, there are files that contain the rules for spell / ability mechanics (*.spl) and dialogues (*.dlg) as well as scripts (*.bcs) for Baldur's Gate enemies and NPCs (*.cre).
Baldur's Gate items are stored in *.itm files and audio is contained in *.wavs.
Infinity Engine 2DA Files
The AD&D 2nd Edition ruleset is stored in two-dimensional arrays (*.2DAs). The 2DAs contain tabled rules such as THAC0 progression charts, weapon proficiency charts and so on.
Infinity Engine Command Console
The command console is LUA-based and can be called up by hitting a key-combo such as Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-Spacebar. The console allows for testing, configuration and cheating.
Infinity Engine Override Folder
The installation folder contains an Override sub-directory the contents of which "write-over" aka override base assets -- which is to say, at run-time overrides are given priority over base assets contained in the *.bifs; and the original archived asset remains untouched.
Overrides are used in patching and modding aspects of IE, Aurora and Electron games that are not hard-coded. By simply removing files from the Override, we can undo any changes that we have made as well as de-patch the originals (though de-patching often requires knowledge of file interactions).
Infinity Engine Native Resolution
The Infinity Engine runs at a native square-pixel resolution of 640*480px. IWD2 is the only Infinity Engine game that is designed for 800*600 resolution. BG2 can run at 800*600 and above but its user interface does NOT take advantage of the extra space. Only IWD2's UI does. BG2 just widens the UI border to give an impression of added space, but only a fool would be taken in by it.
Moreover, no matter the resolution, fog of war and AI detection are as limited in radius in IWD2 and BG2 as they are in BG1, meaning that running the game at 1080p does not enhance gameplay. Indeed, since neither the UI, fonts nor sprites scale to higher resolutions, everything ends up being too small to see, which degrades gameplay. And even if everything did indeed upscale, it would just look pixelated because, newsflash, this is a 2D game made out of bitmaps that have set dimensions and a set number of pixels.
And if you go for post-processing to smoothen out those jaggies, it's going to look like blurry garbage and lose its classic aesthetic entirely. Just look at the Enhanced Editions; they look awful. The only way to upscale art assets is to RE-RENDER them in upscaled form, which is a monumental task to undertake for RPG Game Remakes that always end up like caricatures of spartan originals.
Baldur's Gate was made at a certain time for certain technologies; it's part of its charm in 2024. Deal with it.
Infinity Engine Open GL
BG2: SoA was the first Infinity Engine entry to officially support OpenGL acceleration; that is, support for 3D accelerator cards as it pertains to spell effects and background effects, such as rippling water and flickering flames. As "acceleration" suggests, the object is to speed up the drawing of such effects and make them look better.
OpenGL certainly sped up the drawing of spell effects (in theory), but it didn't necessarily improve framerates or make the spell effects look better.
Indeed, some spell effects from BG1 look better than those in BG2 (e.g., Entangle). In addition, realtime 3D spell effects clash terribly with prerendered 2D backdrops, and are prone to obscure the action more than the minimalist 2D ones.
Furthermore, 3D API compatibility is much harder to maintain across multiple chipsets and drivers than 2D DirectDraw is, and there are several symptoms of incompatibility that could be cited which never would have stemmed from DirectDraw-only.
Suffice it to say that I consider OpenGL employment on the Infinity Engine to be a failure, and a waste of dev-cycle resources.
Infinity Engine vs Other cRPG Engines
To this day, the Infinity Engine's power, efficiency and functionality still hold up -- and it's stable. In fact, in comparison to IE many current gen engines run like my Aunt May after she's had too much sherry to drink.
Also, note how many of the new cRPGs look and play all the same; they have no soul or character because many of them were developed in the exact same engine. In the cRPG Renaissance gamers had access to much more variety and each cRPG was fundamentally different because they were built on different engines that were coded by programmers from the ground up: in-house proprietary engines are KING.
That said, I think the engines powering Fallout 2, Jagged Alliance 2 and ToEE are better than the IE. Sir-Tech's JA2 engine is in a league of its own; it soars above the rest in terms of functionality, efficiency and aesthetics: a masterpiece. The engine of Morrowind, on the other hand, is a complete and utter laughing stock.
Baldur's Gate 1 Ruleset
For Baldur's Gate 1 Original BioWare implemented TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition ruleset faithfully, from the basic races, classes and to-hit roll (THAC0 - AC = to-hit), down to the nitty-gritty of armor modifiers versus weapon type, weapon speed factors, spellcasting times and racial saving throws modified by Constitution.
Dual-classing was also implemented.
However, Gnome Illusionist triple classes, elven 90% resistance to Sleep and Charm (and Half-elven 30% to the same) was omitted, as was Ranger tracking and dual-wielding. Tracking would have been an interesting and helpful mechanic in a campaign which is largely exploratory and based on survival (at least in the early stages when resource management can be an issue). The omission of dual-wielding is more understandable since its implementation would require thousands of extra frames of animation to be drawn, but there does not seem to be any reason to omit gnome triples.
Baldur's Gate Chargen
In AD&D 2nd Edition and therefore Baldur's Gate 1, we don't so much as build a character (see: cRPG Builds) as choose a class template and level it. With the exception of dual-classing, the nature of the character does not change from its template as it levels; it just gets more powerful or capable.
A Fighter, for example, will always be a Fighter, and will auto-gain THAC0 and saving throw reductions as well as +HP and +ApR. But in D&D 3rd Edition and RPGs based thereon such as IWD2, NWN and ToEE, along with BAB and other basic auto-gains, that Fighter can mix in different classes as well as choose between a selection of skills and feats offered by each class chosen.
Thus, there is much more flexibility and potential in a given character, though there is also the potential for a lack of focus in the role the character plays in the party.
For players new to Baldur's Gate, the eight-step character creation process is straight-forward enough, providing they're not trying to do anything fancy like dual-class or find a portrait for a female dwarf. You choose your gender, race, class, alignment, abilities, skills, appearance and name. Pretty simple, though I've never really warmed to randomly rolling and re-rolling the six ability scores and then adjusting them; it's tedious and usually results in an obscenely OP character, if you're patient. For a more sensible approach, I much prefer the point buy system as seen subsequent RPGs, which I linked to above.
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| Chargen |
Anyway, you're sort of expected to consult the tables in the manual for relevant ability score modifiers before accepting a roll, because the chargen itself won't tell you, for example, that, for your warrior, Strength 18/00 results in a +3 THAC0 and +6 damage adjustment. Then again, does the average player really need to know things like that? Probably not, but knowing "lower THAC0, AC and saving throws are better" and that "a round is six seconds real-time and a turn is ten rounds, or sixty seconds" -- Baldur's Gate combat system -- is beneficial at the end of the day. Thus, BG comes from the era of, "What does such and such mean?" → "RTFM".
In my opinion, BioWare succeeded in "rolling the dice" automatically for the player, yet also allowing serious players to find out exactly what's going on by turning on to-hit rolls in the feedback window, and by paying attention to the right-hand scroll on the Character Record panel.
Protagonists begin at first level in Baldur's Gate (0 XP). By killing monsters and completing quests, they gain experience points. When they gain enough XP, they can "level-up" or gain a level. As the PC and his or her companions gain levels, their power and flexibility increases.
Experience points are capped at 89,000 in the original campaign. This equates to 7th-8th level, depending on class. In the TotSC add-in expansion, the experience cap was increased to 161,000, and this equates to 8th-10th level.
Experience points are capped at 89,000 in the original campaign. This equates to 7th-8th level, depending on class. In the TotSC add-in expansion, the experience cap was increased to 161,000, and this equates to 8th-10th level.
Baldur's Gate 1 Gameplay
Perspective & Basic Gameplay
The player controls between one and six combat units (a party of adventurers) in a traditional "point and click" fashion. All NPCs and monsters are represented on the playing field as sprites.
The party can be moved around on the playing field in various formations, which are rotatable.
Party members can be assigned tasks singularly, as marquee-selectable groups or all together.
For example: select the Bard, click where you want her to move, and watch her move there. When she reaches the limit of the playing field, move the mouse cursor to its edge in order to scroll to the next screen.
Thus, navigation of zones aka areas (ARs) consists of "click playing field, edge scroll, click playing field, edge scroll". Rinse and repeat in order to remove the fog of war and fully explore the zone.
Fog of War Baldur's Gate
When we first arrive in a new AR we can only see a limited radius around our character. The rest of the map is blacked out until we explore it. Fog of war is useful because it shows us what we have and haven't explored on the map. It also helps make exploration more immersive, since we're not sure what we're going to come across. Note that Clairvoyance only works outdoors. Any map can be fully explored with Cheats:ExploreArea().
Pathfinding Baldur's Gate
The run-away winner for worst aspect of Baldur's Gate gameplay is the pathfinding routine, even when search nodes are configured to their maximum in the game's external utility. Imagine marquee-selecting your party of six and then clicking to a transition point, only to have them bunch up and jitter violently in a clump, unable to pass through, all the while an unpleasant, poorly-recorded voice repeats:
YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH
YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH
YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH
YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH
Now imagine the same situation, but you find out only five of your six party members are present, that the awful pathfinding routine has sent one poor slob in the opposite direction, now far away from your party, either backtracking through portions of dungeon cleared long ago, or down unexplored halls perhaps to their doom! Clunky navigation really makes my blood boil, but you can minimize the problem by using the correct Quick Formation ("follow, single file") and repeatedly clicking where you want them to go, thereby hand-holding them every step of the way. Believe me, you'll become an expert at it!
Now imagine the same situation, but you find out only five of your six party members are present, that the awful pathfinding routine has sent one poor slob in the opposite direction, now far away from your party, either backtracking through portions of dungeon cleared long ago, or down unexplored halls perhaps to their doom! Clunky navigation really makes my blood boil, but you can minimize the problem by using the correct Quick Formation ("follow, single file") and repeatedly clicking where you want them to go, thereby hand-holding them every step of the way. Believe me, you'll become an expert at it!
Pathfinding issues were somewhat reduced in subsequent IE Games through coding refinements and by designing wider mazes, so nothing like the Thieves' Maze or Firewine Ruins exists in the sequel, Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment. However, designing wide-open areas and wider passageways to circumvent a poorly-coded pathfinding routine is just taking the easy way out, because such environments are not as interesting as the two screencapped below:
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| Thieves' Maze & Firewine Ruins |
In addition, your party members may also be discourteous to each other; a frontliner won't budge a single pixel to let someone in the back row, who has no other path, squeeze past, so you have to jiggle the clunky units around to create a clear path, first. For the uninitiated, the simple act of looting a chest can cause a comedy of positional errors.
Note that pathfinding issues can be reduced by using the appropriate party formation, and also by setting waypoints (Shift-key).
Baldur's Gate 1 Combat System
More than just hack n slash
Round-Based Realtime With Pause
The combat system employed in Baldur's Gate 1 Original is most accurately referred to as round-based with pause though realtime with pause (RTwP), pause for orders, pause n play, pauseable realtime and active pause are acceptable, shortened terms for the casuals to employ.
The RTwP combat system was originated by MPS Labs in Darklands of 1992. See: Darklands Review.
Combat systems constitute a pillar of cRPG Design.
Combat systems constitute a pillar of cRPG Design.
In Baldur's Gate combat plays out in realtime as per arcade games such as Diablo with one obvious difference: the action can be manually paused at any time by the player or automatically paused based on a specific condition set by the player, such as "On Enemy Sighted: Auto-pause".
Now, pausing in Baldur's Gate differs from pausing in arcade games. In arcade games, pausing usually blocks off all gameplay interaction whereas in Baldur's Gate pausing freezes the action in place (frozen in time), but still allows us to assign commands to our combat units as well as interact with modals, stat panels and the feedback window.
The Infinity Engine stores our commands in pause mode and then executes them immediately when we unpause. Hence the abovementioned terms for the combat system.
Combat System Flow Baldur's Gate
The basic combat flow is as follows:
- Pause the game upon catching sight of an enemy, assign commands to allied combat units (move, attack, cast spell, backstab etc.)
- Unpause and observe what unfolds
- Pause again to make adjustments and assign more commands
- Rinse and repeat until the enemy is dead
Thus, pausing is part and parcel of the combat system. Dexterous experts with quick reflexes may be able to forego pausing but the vast majority of players will want to pause often in order to control a six-person party effectively.
Rounds & Turns in Baldur's Gate
The not-so-obvious difference between Diablo and Baldur's Gate is that Baldur's Gate measures time in rounds and turns as per AD&D 2nd Edition whereas Diablo lacks a (player-interpretable) equivalent.
Rounds and turns represent units of time.
A round in BG represents six seconds of realtime whereas a turn represents ten rounds or sixty seconds of realtime. (Configuring AI updates to 60 per second halves these times.)
In one round, combat units can perform an action such as moving, attacking and casting a divine or arcane spell. Combat units can only move so far per round, can only attack so many times per round and can only cast once per round before having to wait-out a one-round cooldown before they can cast again.
Turns are mostly useful for measuring the duration of spell effects, such as damage-over-time AoEs, buffs/debuffs, and disablement/immobilization negative status effects.
Initiative in Baldur's Gate
In addition, AD&D initiative rules are employed via weapon speed factor and spellcasting time. Initiative governs when combat units are allowed to swing their sword, cast a spell or quaff a potion (amongst other actions).
As opposed to tactical turn-based games all combat units in Baldur's Gate execute their actions simultaneously in the viewport, initiative-permitting.
As opposed to tactical turn-based games all combat units in Baldur's Gate execute their actions simultaneously in the viewport, initiative-permitting.
That means, in a round of combat, we are able to witness the glory of this:
That is, 18 fire arrows fired into the chest, in one round or six seconds.
And this:
Which we generally don't get to witness in tactical turn-based systems (Silent Storm being an exception).
In Diablo, when we click on an adjacent enemy, our character immediately swings their weapon or casts their spell at that enemy, but in Baldur's Gate swings and spellcasting are subject to the round-based interval, to the weapon's speed factor and the spell's casting time. Thus, there is often an observable delay before our combat unit acts.
Attacks per Round
As well, it is worth noting that some weapon swings are purely cosmetic in nature: not all of the animations represent actual attacks. The number of actual attacks executed in a given round is subject to the combat unit's attacks per round (per six seconds) or ApR.
In Baldur's Gate, this varies from ApR 1 to ApR 4. Attacks may also be represented as fractions such as ApR 1½. Since half attacks are an impossibility, the combat unit performs one attack in the first round followed by two in the next. Actual attacks can be identified through the feedback window by checking to-hit rolls to "on."
Now, the above-mentioned Auto-pause feature can be set to "End of Round." In so doing, the combat is divided into six second intervals which can help us measure the duration of buffs, debuffs and damage-over-time.
The RTwP/round-based combat system employed by Baldur's Gate highlights niggling imprecisions related to pathfinding though combat is for the most part free-flowing, tactical and satisfying.
In contrast to Diablo and other arcade-based games, Baldur's Gate allows for advanced party-based tactics such as coordinated backstabbing, concentrated ranged fire and some of the best mage duels in the genre, complete with illusions, dispellings and spell disruption.
Morale in Baldur's Gate
While stats for Morale are not viewable in-game, Morale is an important mechanic and its effects can be observed in combat. If any Baldur's Gate enemy takes a ton of damage or even small amounts of damage in quick succession, he she or it may morale-fail and wander about aimlessly in a panic as easy pickings. It's not just one enemy either. If a few Xvarts get hacked up and insta-gibbed, the whole mob of Xvarts may break ranks.
Conversely, the player character and Baldur's Gate companions can morale fail.
Morale ranges in value from 0-20. For example, upon recruitment Khalid has a morale of 10 and a morale break value of 6. If his morale drops four points to 6, he morale-fails: Better part of valor!
Sarevok's morale is 20 when we meet him at the Temple of Bhaal. He has a morale break value of 1. Thus, his morale needs to drop 19 points before he morale-fails. However, Sarevok is immune to morale-failure.
Morale is recovered over time, and can be buffed with Resist Fear.
AI Updates at 60 per second
If AI updates are set to 60 per second in the configuration utility or ini file, Baldur's Gate gameplay becomes enjoyably fast-paced. For example, our party maxes out at 24 ApR (24 attacks per round or every 3 secs) or six spellcastings every other round. When swords are swinging, arrows are flying through the sky and lightning bolts are bouncing about and zapping the mobs of aggro, it's quite a satisfying experience.
Baldur's Gate 1 Original Graphics
Original Baldur's Gate 1 graphics are two-dimensional in both presentation and function. Designed and coded to run in a native resolution of 640x480 at an aspect ratio of 4:3, Baldur's Gate's isometric background graphics and sprites are 3D in origin but are displayed in-game as 2D prerenders. That is, models were constructed in a 3D program, rendered out as raw 2D images and then modified for game-engine employment.
Here is the Baldur's Gate 1 main menu in its original aspect ratio and resolution:
The world of Baldur's Gate consists of 10,000 individual screens prerendered in 24 bit color at a viewport resolution of 512x384; the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion of 1999 adds even more. Each wilderness area is 10x10 screens: huge.
Here is the Baldur's Gate 1 viewport (one of 10,000 screens) in its original aspect ratio and resolution; it is the first screen that players see:
In 1999 this prerendered world was one of the biggest in the cRPG genre, the sum-total of areas (ARs) standing at a whopping 482.
- Icewind Dale 2: 115
- Icewind Dale 1: 173
- Planescape: Torment: 202
- Baldur's Gate 2: 396 (and BG2 recycled many of BG1's ARs)
Note that Jagged Alliance 2 came out in 1999. It featured 201 contiguously explorable surface sectors that featured seamless transition between indoors and outdoors as well as more environmental interaction than Baldur's Gate, including proper gameplay verticality and destructibility. If its many buildings were NOT seamlessly transitionable (that is, the game loaded a new area just for entering a building, like Baldur's Gate has to do) the area count of JA2 would have been comparable to the Baldur's Gate area count. And yet JA2 came on 1 CD, Baldur's Gate 6 (see next section for the reason).
Baldur's Gate Tileset Files
Baldur's Gate backdrop image data is packed into uncompressed TIS files or tileset files. Though imperceptible to the player on modern hardware, the engine loads the tileset blocks into memory as the screen scrolls. Back in the day, this caused slowdown of framerate as the image data was loaded into RAM during scrolling.
To be clear, the image data is loaded into RAM at intervals due to the size of the prerendered maps (5120x3850; ~30 megabytes). This is the prime reason BG1 was distributed on 5x CDs +1 CD for TotSC.
Area appearances are affected by dynamic lightning and weather effects such as rain, snow and lightning strikes; moreover, many zones feature height-mapped terrain.
Area appearances are affected by dynamic lightning and weather effects such as rain, snow and lightning strikes; moreover, many zones feature height-mapped terrain.
In addition, tinting can be applied to the tileset depending on weather and time of day. Eagles and vultures circle overhead and butterflies flit about, too.
Tile-Rigged Area Design the Undisputed King
In-game, the Infinity Engine forms its screens from TIS blocks drawn from prerendered backdrops or "paintings", meaning that Baldur's Gate environments are not made up of standardized, discrete and player-perceptible tiles (as they are in Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout, Diablo, and X-COM).
Tile-rigged area design is superior because:
- Tilesets and placeable positions can be randomized or semi-randomized (X-COM, Diablo 1), thereby modifying dungeon and wilderness area layouts for each playthrough conducted (auto-generated areas and Wave Function Collapse procedurally-generated terrain).
- Perspective (angles) are always 100% isometric: there can be no post-prerender touch-ups that contradict the perspective or compromise background visual quality consistency. Likewise, placeables and interactables are always positioned correctly and accurately.
- Tiles can be flipped, grouped as assemblies or ordered into facades to add graphical variability and uniqueness to terrain and structures (buildings).
- Individual tiles or tile-groups can be assigned variables (terrain type, destructibility, tints, sounds).
- Verticality can be employed. I'm talking about proper gameplay verticality not just visual verticality or the representation of height and depth for aesthetic or other token purposes. X-COM had isometrically projected undulating terrain in 1994 -- Populous Amiga had it in 1989. In comparison, the polygon-assigned height-maps in Baldur's Gate are a laughing stock even though they allowed for terrain advantage or avenue of approach limitation (which X-COM was also big on).
- Facilitation of seamless transition between indoors and outdoors is a huge contributor to sustained immersion in cRPG worlds, from which X-COM, Fallout 1 and Jagged Alliance 2 benefit because their areas are TILED.
- Low fidelity tile-based graphics are clearer than high fidelity TIS backdrops. We can easily make out the edges of objects and other boundaries in tile-rigged zones.
- Isometric tiles that obscure detail can be set to fade or disappear from view (a precursor to 3D keyholing).
- Movement and positioning is precise; there is never a question as to where a combat unit currently is or where it is going (again, due to tiles being player-perceptible through mouse-over bounding boxes).
- Memory and data storage management is more efficient. Discrete copy-pasted tiles consume less RAM than prerendered backdrops made up of millions of unique pixels at high color depth. Which means BG1 areas could have been much larger and yet seamlessly transitionable. Tiles also compress better than prerenders. In short, Baldur's Gate could have come on 2 CDs, not 6.
- Characters and creatures actually look like they are walking on the ground, not floating over it. Just compare X-COM, Fallout 1, Diablo 1 and JA2 sprite movement with BG1 sprite movement. In BG1, the sprites glide over the playing field and the footstep sounds don't match the steps they take. In Jagged Alliance 2, every step is measured and heard. Every. Single. Step. That is precision.
- Creation of new areas / environments is made much easier for devs and end-users (modders). Even without an officially bundled toolset, this could have resulted in a cRPG modding revolution before NWN came out [cf. Criticism of NWN 3D in NWN1 vs NWN2.]
- There are 100s of NWN modules based on official TSR/WotC campaign settings and custom campaign settings. Imagine if Baldur's Gate had 100s of modules...
Here you can clearly see the difference between ¾ top-down isometric TIS backgrounds (Baldur's Gate: left) and proper tile-rigged trimetric area design (Fallout 1: right).
Baldur's Gate eschewed the above bullet-listed potentiality in favor of painted backdrops. Thus, its design went with visual fidelity (graphical detail of prerenders) over the increased clarity, accuracy, interactability and functionality that discrete tilesets bring to the table.
This is the primary reason Baldur's Gate was penalized in cRPG Design; in terms of world-engine it is nowhere near as ambitious as its contemporary, Jagged Alliance 2.
Over the past 20 years, starting from when Baldur's Gate went Gold, a big deal has been made of its painterly backdrops. Yes, they are "nice and colorful". But clearly, TIS backdrops are inferior to tile-rigged area design, which is the undisputed KING of 2D playing field design.
At this point, an attentive reader may wonder how the Infinity Engine makes certain parts of static backgrounds interactable. Answer: separate area structure data files contain coordinates that apply invisible polygons to the playing field.
Baldur's Gate Sprites & Animation Cycles
The 25-strong Baldur's Gate companion pool, showing the main human and demi-human sprites:
There are approximately 60 basic sprite templates for creatures in Baldur's Gate, and these are animated with walk and attack cycles from three different angles. To be clear, the total of 60 is for templates. I've not included recolorings, resizings or differences in AI/stats, which do indeed constitute separate sprites and creatures (of which there are hundreds).
Here are the keyframes for Sarevok BG1 attack:
That is only the front-on swing. The animator then has to "draw" the swing from behind as well from the side (which is then mirrored for the other side). All up, about 50 frames need to be drawn for Sarevok's attack swing alone. (In total, there are 616 frames of animation just for Sarevok.)
Rinse and repeat for 60 templates. On top of that, recolor and resize hundreds more for variations on the same theme.
Somewhat oddly, there are no goblins or orcs in Baldur's Gate. Instead, there are tasloi, gibberlings, kobolds and xvarts. We had to wait for Icewind Dale to slay such classic mooks.
While the Sarevok sprite is impressive for the time, most of the sprites in Baldur's Gate lack detail because they are quite small. Exceptions include the Wyvern and Aec'Letec which, due to their size, had to be rendered in parts and then put together by the engine for display, in-game.
Here is another unique sprite:
It is of Centeol [Centeol dialogue, Centeol dialogue]
As can be seen here, the engine can render many sprites on-screen, simultaneously:
There is NO slowdown whatsoever on my system.
Overall, when evaluating such a technical achievement, we must bear in mind that Baldur's Gate was playable on PCs installed with Windows 95/DirectX 5.0 and powered by Pentium 120 processors, 16 megabytes of RAM and 2 megabytes of vRAM.
Chunking Gibs Effect
Worth mentioning as well, is the chunking "gibs" effect, which comes from Doom of 1993. This happens when the victim takes damage that reduces their HPs to -10, aka they get gibbed. Everyone loves blasting enemies into chunks because blood and guts is cool. However, player characters and companions can be chunked, too. If companions get chunked, their portrait is removed from the portrait bar and they cannot be resurrected.
Here, a thief critically backstabs an unsuspecting victim:
Sprites can also be blown into rocky chunks by petrification gaze (Basilisks), and shattered by freezing cold attacks. cf. Vorpal. Note that exploded and shattered enemies yield no loot.
Compared to the likes of Fallout, Diablo and Jagged Alliance 2, Baldur's Gate spritework and sprite animation cycles are clearly inferior. For subsequent IE games, sprite sizes were increased to allow for giants, golems, elementals and dragons. However, spritework in BG2 remained inferior to the above.
Flipping through Icewind Dale shows Infinity Engine spritework at its best.
SFX Sprites
The original Baldur's Gate employed DirectDraw for its various spellcasting effects, which include fireballs, plumes of noxious gas, lightning bolts (see above), and of course, magic missiles:
Shimmering transparency effects were also implemented before the advent of Direct3D and OpenGL on the Infinity Engine. For example, through protection spells:
And smoke trails:
There are animated fountains and waterfalls, though bodies of water only shimmer through color cycling (there was no proper rippling water effect until Icewind Dale).
Full Motion Video (FMV)
Not counting the unimplemented Elfsong Tavern FMV, there are 23 prerendered cutscenes that fire over the course of the campaign. These are rendered in 16 bit color. As can be seen, even though prerendered they still lack detail in terms of texture and geometry, but they do employ professional cinematics and use of lighting, and so they hold up well enough.
Baldur's Gate Icons
The hundreds of icons are neatly drawn and exhibit a degree of artistry that is not found often. Here are a few weapon icons as they appear when being moved about in the UI:
They are much clearer and better drawn than the ones in BG2 [cf. BG2 Icons].
And here are a few armor icons as they appear when set into the inventory:
The only problem with the icons is that they don't vary in size: a halberd takes up as much space in the inventory as a dagger (33 x 33px). Sorry, but that is not an example of elite UI design in cRPGs. I mean, even Diablo featured icons of varying sizes!
The Baldur's Gate portraits speak for themselves:
cf. Baldur's Gate companions for more on portraits.
Baldur's Gate 1 User Interface
The main Baldur's Gate 1 Original user interface was designed for a resolution of 640x480px. Exhibiting good taste, it employs stone panels with golden icons inlaid. To indicate their selection, icon borders are highlight-trimmed.
There are three gray-stone panels of buttons bordering the bottom and both sides of the field of play.
The buttons on the left panel call up the seven modes, which quickly and neatly "snap in" to entirely cover the action (all modes pause the game, except Inventory mode).
The clock at bottom-left doubles as a pause button, though it's only used by those who play one-handed or have not yet learned to use the space bar, the hot-key for pause (many modes and modal operations take advantage of hot-keys, too).
The buttons on the right panel are portraits of the party members, that when left-clicked select the unit and when right-clicked call up the oft-used Inventory mode, thereby saving one click.
Symbols indicating any negative & positive statuses will also appear over the portraits, perhaps covering them entirely. The symbols are defined in Character Record mode so that, in time, players will learn to recognize them at a glance. Resting snugly under the portraits are the AI & "select all" toggles.
The bottom menu buttons activate various modes of play such as the basics of Speak and Attack/Stop, down to spell-casting and the modals of stealth and bard song; those modes sensitive in context to the selected unit. In addition, a few party formations are shown when more than one unit is selected, and right-clicking a formation displays the full array.
Just above the bottom menu rests the dialogue and combat feedback window, expandable to four times its height to make it easy to review what's just happened. My issues with the dialogue window are twofold
The bottom menu buttons activate various modes of play such as the basics of Speak and Attack/Stop, down to spell-casting and the modals of stealth and bard song; those modes sensitive in context to the selected unit. In addition, a few party formations are shown when more than one unit is selected, and right-clicking a formation displays the full array.
Just above the bottom menu rests the dialogue and combat feedback window, expandable to four times its height to make it easy to review what's just happened. My issues with the dialogue window are twofold
- It does not expand to cover the entire playfield
- The font is not exactly the most readable, being blurry and competing with the pane's backdrop
User Interface Modes
The Area Map could have availed of map markers to highlight points of interest; plus, the doors to buildings are difficult to find without the ability to highlight them (the sequel added both map-markers and Tab-key highlighting).
The World Map is accessed from the top-right golden globe and presented as a piece of unfurled parchment that can be "scrolled" north to Baldur's Gate city and south to the border with Amn. Each area has its own distinctive, recognizable icon that can be clicked on to move there, complete with tool-tip indicating the travel time in hours (added in TotSC).
Below: Area Map & scrollable World Map (640x480).
The World Map is accessed from the top-right golden globe and presented as a piece of unfurled parchment that can be "scrolled" north to Baldur's Gate city and south to the border with Amn. Each area has its own distinctive, recognizable icon that can be clicked on to move there, complete with tool-tip indicating the travel time in hours (added in TotSC).
Below: Area Map & scrollable World Map (640x480).
Baldur's Gate Journal
Journal mode chapters are separated into pages with quest and main quest updates mixed in and headed merely by dates, instead of having meaningful titles. While serviceable as is, the sequel made the journal more readable by separating it from Quest and Done Quest pages. While necessary due to the sheer amount of quests in Athkatla, the original could have availed of it, too.
Baldur's Gate Character Record
Character Record mode contains an enlarged, painted portrait of the selected character in the center, with stat blocks on either side. The right-hand scroll is informative in that it shows almost every relevant piece of info related to the selected unit (some BioWare inclusions of the AD&D ruleset were not documented, let alone viewable in-game.)
Below: Character Record & Journal Modes:
This mode also allows for basic customization (appearance, sounds, scripts), Dual-classing, party reformation and exportation of the PC; further opening to the Information and Biography panels, pictured below.
Baldur's Gate Portaits
The painted portraits are shown in three different sizes: large in chargen, medium in Character Record and small on the main interface. Everyone loves them because they are gorgeous.
An unforgettable cast. Who doesn't know their names at a glance?
An unforgettable cast. Who doesn't know their names at a glance?
Baldur's Gate Inventory
Inventory mode is the highlight of the UI, displaying a cute paper doll in the center surrounded by slots into which items may be inserted and removed (armor, weapon, belt, gloves etc). The backpack fills out the bottom, a grid of sixteen same-sized slots. As a nice touch, items are auto-assigned to their slot when dropped directly onto the paper doll, saving the player the hassle of hunting down the correct slot.
There are also two quick-slot grids for weapons and items that are shown on the bottom panel even when back at the main interface and playing field. Items may be picked up or dropped to the ground from this mode, though that can be a nightmare.
The player may quickly examine any ID'd item by right-clicking it, ghosting out the main interface and adding a second layer with an artist's sketch and flavorsome Realmslore description, both nice touches.
Inventory mode & Item sub-mode:
The various sounds deserve mention as they give definiteness and weight to interactions, with each item type having its own unique sound: equipping a weapon, armor and shield to the paper doll is very satisfying!
Inventory mode & Item sub-mode:
The various sounds deserve mention as they give definiteness and weight to interactions, with each item type having its own unique sound: equipping a weapon, armor and shield to the paper doll is very satisfying!
Calling up the inventory does not pause the action as in other IE entries - and that means two things: first, the player can manage their inventory while the party walks from one end of town to the other; second, the player needs to think twice about mid-battle inventory management.
This is one of the best inventories in the cRPG genre: it's efficient, space-maximizing and I love its tactility and spartan aesthetic.
Baldur's Gate Spell Books
There is nothing wrong with the Mage Book & Priest Scroll modes except that I dislike the slight delay in assigning spells to empty slots. This was eventually fixed in Icewind Dale 2, the final IE title.
Baldur's Gate Buy, Sell & Donate
Vendor mode is simple and self-explanatory, though a double row of items in the Buy & Sell switch would have been nice, as scrolling down through a long list is a pain in the ass; but there simply wasn't enough room. The sequel added "double-click to bulk-buy": handy for snatching up arrow quivers (now double-capacity).
Baldur's Gate Paperdolls
The original Baldur's Gate 1 paperdolls are adored by fans; they have never been beaten. That is, the original BG1 paperdolls look better than the BG2 and EE paperdolls.
Paperdoll comparison: If you think the one on the right looks better than the one on the left then you have appalling aesthetic taste. For the sequel BioWare actually reduced the paperdoll's size and made it blurry. The Helm of Balduran looks pathetic and the large shield looks just awful.
The spartan aesthetic of the seminal Infinity Engine game has not been beaten. In terms of functionality and efficiency, it has only been slightly outdone by subsequent IE games. So yeah, it was designed correctly in the first place [cf. cRPG User Interface].
Baldur's Gate 1 Story
The lead writer of the original Baldur's Gate is Lukas Kristjanson. LK wrote approximately 70% of the campaign (including most of the side quests), which is quite a feat.
I personally consider Baldur's Gate to feature the best writing of all the Infinity Engine games (PS:T is well-written also, but long-winded).
Unlike Icewind Dale, IWD2 and BG2, the writing is distinctively non-modern in style and employs the vocabulary and tone characteristic of Forgotten Realms literature.
Unlike Icewind Dale, IWD2 and BG2, the writing is distinctively non-modern in style and employs the vocabulary and tone characteristic of Forgotten Realms literature.
Including narration, dialogue, Realmslore and the journal, there are approximately 550,000 words in Baldur's Gate. While many of the lore descriptions for items were lifted from FR literature, there is a lot of originality inherent in the writing of the story, quests and characters.
Along with the plot-critical dialogues, the writing for the deeply personal dream sequences (1,700 words), chapter-transitions, and political correspondence found throughout the campaign (3,000 words), are of especially high quality.
Baldur's Gate dream sequences:
Baldur's Gate dream sequences:
BGScript: States & Responses
Also known as branching dialogues, BGScript dialogue trees consist of at least one state and one response. The state is the opening line by the NPC; the response, what the player character can say in return. Trees can consist of many states and responses.
Most commonly, the PC can respond in three different ways. Some responses are reactive to stats and choices made (cf. Baldur's Gate reactivity), but most are just for flavor. Take Charname's first encounter with Elminster, for example.
The PC may respond to Elminster's opener in three different ways:
The NPC then acknowledges how the PC responded to them:
Response 1:
Reponse 2:
Response 3:
That is branching dialogue at its most basic. At the termination of the tree, a script may fire in order to have the NPC walk off (as in this case), turn them hostile, call up UI modes, and so on. Dialogues can also trigger once a condition is met during combat encounters; for example, in order to parley, surrender, and so on. The encounter with Mulahey provides a good example. First, we beat him up. Then, he pretends to surrender:
But then he calls out for minions to back him up, which spawn to flank the party. cf. Iuz.
The PC may respond to Elminster's opener in three different ways:
The NPC then acknowledges how the PC responded to them:
Response 1:
Reponse 2:
Response 3:
That is branching dialogue at its most basic. At the termination of the tree, a script may fire in order to have the NPC walk off (as in this case), turn them hostile, call up UI modes, and so on. Dialogues can also trigger once a condition is met during combat encounters; for example, in order to parley, surrender, and so on. The encounter with Mulahey provides a good example. First, we beat him up. Then, he pretends to surrender:
But then he calls out for minions to back him up, which spawn to flank the party. cf. Iuz.
Pop-culture References
For good and for bad, Baldur's Gate employs many pop-culture references:
Infinity Engine word-counts
[Dialog.tlk extractions; includes expansions if applicable]
Charm Dialogue Baldur's Gate 1
Baldur's Gate 1 Original features "on-charm dialogue" as a general mechanic. That is, NPCs under the effects of charm or that have been charmed by the Charm spell or Algernon's Cloak can unwittingly give the PC information.
The Flaming Fist Mercenary hunting Viconia:
Taurgosz Khosann reveals that the bandits are told that they work for the Zhentarim, when they actually work for the Iron Throne:
As can be seen below, we can get some NPC to spill the beans / reveal their motives or superiors.
Tranzig (at the inn, post-mines):
Davaeorn (Cloakwood mines):
Charming Rieltar or Bruno in Candlekeep (AR2610) results in extra information and a journal entry:
Erroneously, Thaldorn, who we encounter pre-Candlekeep, has this same charm dialogue.
Prat (Candlekeep catacombs):
Upon returning to Baldur's Gate city (AR1200), a thief called Kolvar has nothing to say to us, until we charm him:
Centeol (Cloakwood forest) references Irenicus from BG2:
The sequel (BG2) removed on-charm dialogue in general, though de'Arnise Keep BG2 gives us an example of de-charming a hostile combat unit with our own Charm spell, which leads to dialogue and information:
Baldur's Gate 1 Side Quests
Taking time out from the plot-critical path to nose around the hubs and their immediate surrounds can occasionally result in amusing - but dangerous! - side quests; three of my favorites I'll now treat.
Melicamp the Chicken Baldur's Gate Side Quest
Why do I live in such a pissant town? - Thalanytr.
This quest may only be found by exploration of the wilderness area south of High Hedge, there being no mention of it prior to bumping into Kissiq - a farmer who seems flustered by his encounter with a talking chicken! Having slain a wolf to save Melicamp the Chicken from certain death - but having no means to reverse the spell - the polymorphed apprentice reluctantly requests the party transport him back to his master, Thalantyr, a wizard who resides at the tower of High Hedge.
Even with Dispel Magic memorized and the correct dialogue option chosen, you cannot dispel the polymorph. In fact, players may not even realize Thalantyr can be dealt with, having been dismissed the first time they meet and the convo just ending abruptly. Moreover, two Flesh Golems hostilely patrol the halls of High Hedge until the player has successfully flattered Thalantyr to access his store... Flesh Golems are some of the toughest muthas in the campaign!
Even with Dispel Magic memorized and the correct dialogue option chosen, you cannot dispel the polymorph. In fact, players may not even realize Thalantyr can be dealt with, having been dismissed the first time they meet and the convo just ending abruptly. Moreover, two Flesh Golems hostilely patrol the halls of High Hedge until the player has successfully flattered Thalantyr to access his store... Flesh Golems are some of the toughest muthas in the campaign!
A long, amusing and well-written discussion ensues between the PC, wizard and apprentice, but the short of it is: the PC must find and bring Thalantyr a skull, a vital spell component for the reversal spell that will hopefully restore Melicamp to his human state. Luckily, the forests around High Hedge are teeming with skellies, each of which drop a skull upon being vanquished.
With a skull delivered to Thalantyr, the wizard proceeds to cast the esoteric "Anti-chickenator" spell, with the two possible outcomes shown below.
Below: Melicamp survives? +2000 Exp & +1 Rep. He doesn't? A popping chicken!
A wonderful quest though difficult to find let alone choose the right dialogue options for; and even the ending is subject to a coin-flip!
The Mad Cleric Baldur's Gate Side Quest
heh heh hah hah.. Oh brother Thurm, why not grace our ears with a ripping tale of the old days, always a delight...
East of Beregost stands the Song of the Morning, a temple of Lathander overseen by Keldath Ormlyr, a priest who off-handedly mentions the bounty on the head of the mad cleric, Bassilus. No information is given on his whereabouts, but the madman can be tracked down south of High Hedge (the same area in which Melicamp is found), standing in the center of a mini-Stonehenge, surrounded by his murmuring legion of undead.
The key to dialogue with Bassilus is to play along with his delusion and then suddenly hit him with reality, causing him to lose control of his zombies & skellies which are thereby destroyed; otherwise you have to fight them, too! - and this priest of Cyric is already quite a handful, what with his castings of Rigid Thinking and Hold Person, followed up by mighty blows from his Warhammer +2: Ashideena. Truly a deadly encounter that, for low level parties, could easily go either way.
Upon returning Bassilus' Holy Symbol to Keldath in the temple, the player is rewarded with +500 Exp & +5,000 GP - the cash being hugely helpful at that stage of the campaign (and, as mentioned previously, the warhammer is an end-game wield).
The Sculptor of the Elf-queen Baldur's Gate Side Quest
Ahhh, beauteous creature! You are my masterpiece! - Prism.
From the self-important Oublek, the player hears of a local artist - Prism - wanted by the authorities for stealing two emeralds from Nashkel. The foppish, kind-hearted fellow is caught up with just outside the town's mines, rejoicing at being on the verge of completing his masterpiece, chiseled out of rock and highlighted in the eyes by the emeralds he stole. You can either act as bounty hunter and cut him down then and there (the reward for returning the emeralds to Oublek is +200 Exp & +300 GP, whether you kill him or not.), or promise to protect him from Greywolf while he puts the finishing touches to his sculpture. I'm doing the latter:
Greywolf now stomps in, ready to summarily lop off Prism's head! The party tries to reason with the brutish bounty hunter, but to no avail. Again, this encounter is deadly. Greywolf is a seventh level fighter wielding one of the finest swords in the campaign, the Longsword +2: Varscona; it's therefore best to just cast Blindness on him and pepper him with projectiles from outside his vision radius until he's dead.
The party having valiantly fought off Greywolf, Prism announces the completion of his work before falling to the ground, lifelessly. It seems he caught a glimpse of Ellesime, the emerald-eyed elf-queen of Suldanessellar (with whom the PC has major dealings in the sequel), and desired to capture her beauty in stone. Well, in this case he succeeded, though it cost him his life.
The party having valiantly fought off Greywolf, Prism announces the completion of his work before falling to the ground, lifelessly. It seems he caught a glimpse of Ellesime, the emerald-eyed elf-queen of Suldanessellar (with whom the PC has major dealings in the sequel), and desired to capture her beauty in stone. Well, in this case he succeeded, though it cost him his life.
 |
| A sad tale, with a sort-of happy result. |
These are just a few of the charming quests available in the campaign; there are many more of similar quality.
Lord Foreshadow
In closing this post, an interesting NPC can be found wandering the wilderness north of Nashkel: Lord Foreshadow; so-named because he foreshadows BioWare's subsequent RPG series, Neverwinter Nights. He also mentions Athkatla (the main hub of Baldur's Gate 2) and Waterdeep (the starting-point of Hordes of the Underdark). Here are the three responses:
Note also the Realms-flavored writing (sort of Middle English or "Shakespearean"), reflective of the FRCS body of literature; this was lost in the sequel and Neverwinter Nights.
Audio, Baldur's Gate 1 Original (OST, VOs, narration and SFX):
Baldur's Gate 1 Sound & Music
Baldur's Gate Soundtrack (OST)
Baldur's Gate music is stereo-sampled in ACM 16 bit 22050 Hz.
For Baldur's Gate 1 Original, a 40 minute Conan-esque score was composed by Michael Hoenig of Germany. There are 20 themes in total. These include the iconic main menu theme (trumpets and drums) along with themes for dungeon crawling, wilderness exploration and urban exploration (strings, woodwind). There are also four jovial tavern themes and more sombre themes for dream sequences and temples; all of these are minimalist but memorable. The dream sequence theme is unforgettable.
Each of the six Dream sequences and Chapter transitions were narrated by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also voiced Sarevok, the campaign's antagonist. KMR also voiced a few infamous announcements such as YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH.
Sound Effects
Baldur's Gate sound effects are mono-sampled in PCM 16 bit 22050 Hz. There is also EAX support.
Sound effects are packed into 3,500 wav files. These include battle sounds, ambient sounds and voiced dialogue for NPCs and companions. The spellcasting incantations are far superior to BG2; indeed, to any cRPG.
Each of the 25 Baldur's Gate companions has about 40 wavs that cover their banter, statuses and assignments (e.g warcries), and each and every monster has separate sounds for attacking, getting injured and being killed (deathcries).
When combined with the ambient sounds and OST in the background, the soundscape becomes rich in texture and is at times amusing to listen to. Indeed, it can be very funny.
By far, Baldur's Gate 1 has the best battle sound effects of the Infinity Engine games. The sound of steel-on-steel, warhammer on fullplate or dagger into flesh. The chunking sounds. These are impacting to the ear, and sound better than most current gen RPG Games with budgets ten times higher. A flail is a ball and chain, and sounds like one when we swing it. We can hear the drawing back of a bow. We can hear the chain links of our armor rustling as we move around. It's so well done.
By far, Baldur's Gate 1 has the best battle sound effects of the Infinity Engine games. The sound of steel-on-steel, warhammer on fullplate or dagger into flesh. The chunking sounds. These are impacting to the ear, and sound better than most current gen RPG Games with budgets ten times higher. A flail is a ball and chain, and sounds like one when we swing it. We can hear the drawing back of a bow. We can hear the chain links of our armor rustling as we move around. It's so well done.
Prologue, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate 1 Prologue: Candlekeep
This post presents an overview of the tutorial-based prologue of Baldur's Gate 1 Original, along with the scripted ambush by Sarevok. The following text scrolls over a prerendered backdrop of the interior of Candlekeep. It is fully voiced by KMR.
The introductory narrative states that CHARNAME is an orphan, now 20 years old, brought up within the secluded citadel-library of Candlekeep by the great sage, Gorion, a wise old owl, who raised Charname on a thousand tales of heroes and monsters, lovers and infidels, battles and tragedies.
Gorion has been troubled lately, growing a little distant; but now, he has given Charname instructions to prepare for an "unplanned and unexpected journey". This is a reference to Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937).
Gorion has been troubled lately, growing a little distant; but now, he has given Charname instructions to prepare for an "unplanned and unexpected journey". This is a reference to Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937).
Chanters in Candlekeep, melodically reciting the Prophecy of Alaundo:
Charname begins the adventure standing outside the Candlekeep Inn, looking every bit the first level scrub that he or she unmistakably is: dressed in peasant garb, holding a wooden stick (a quarterstaff), pockets jingling with the 120 GP given by Gorion in order to prepare for travel.
Stepping inside the common room, the portly innkeeper, Winthrop, greets Charname with the immortal line: "My hotel's as clean as an elven arse!" A merry song is played in the background, though no bard is in sight.
Stepping inside the common room, the portly innkeeper, Winthrop, greets Charname with the immortal line: "My hotel's as clean as an elven arse!" A merry song is played in the background, though no bard is in sight.
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| Outside Candlekeep Inn, where it all begins... |
Interestingly, a locked receptacle in the upstairs lodgings can be looted for a very useful Potion of Clarity (Immunity: Feeblemind, Confusion, Fear, Charm, 5 turns). In fact, in the right hands, that potion could be the single-most valuable in the game for the power-progression it facilitates.
Another locked receptacle, containing a valuable Star Sapphire, requires a Halfling thief with maxed Open Lock skill and Dex 19 to pick (Lock difficulty 65); otherwise, it's not available until Chapter Six, when the player returns to Candlekeep as part of the plot.
Less skillful thieves may succeed with repeated attempts as some randomness is involved with lockpicking, but the character's score in the skill needs to be within five or so points of the lock difficulty to have a chance.
Another locked receptacle, containing a valuable Star Sapphire, requires a Halfling thief with maxed Open Lock skill and Dex 19 to pick (Lock difficulty 65); otherwise, it's not available until Chapter Six, when the player returns to Candlekeep as part of the plot.
Less skillful thieves may succeed with repeated attempts as some randomness is involved with lockpicking, but the character's score in the skill needs to be within five or so points of the lock difficulty to have a chance.
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| Map of Candlekeep |
FedEx Quests
The Prologue offers six generic FedEx quests (fetch a book, fetch a scroll) and an obligatory "kill the rats" quest, found around the inner and outer grounds of Candlekeep, resulting in paltry material and experience rewards (e.g, a gem, 50 XP).
Players who explore inside the buildings will have two separate attempts made on their lives by scrubby assassins, Shank and Carbos (20 XP ea).
Evil players or power-gamers (same thing) can try their hand at murdering Firebead Elvenhair (2,700 XP), who nevertheless is encountered later in the town of Beregost, presumably resurrected and suffering from memory loss (he greets you kindly).
Phlydia is also a juicy target (975 XP), as are the respawning Watchers who can be farmed to gain several levels, if you have the patience, and do not mind employing inordinate amounts if cheese (175 XP ea, Plate Mail Armor).
Players who explore inside the buildings will have two separate attempts made on their lives by scrubby assassins, Shank and Carbos (20 XP ea).
Evil players or power-gamers (same thing) can try their hand at murdering Firebead Elvenhair (2,700 XP), who nevertheless is encountered later in the town of Beregost, presumably resurrected and suffering from memory loss (he greets you kindly).
Phlydia is also a juicy target (975 XP), as are the respawning Watchers who can be farmed to gain several levels, if you have the patience, and do not mind employing inordinate amounts if cheese (175 XP ea, Plate Mail Armor).
For the rest, the Prologue is more blatantly a tutorial, what with the horde of monk tutors and a couple of boring training segments for totally new players; I never completed them.
The best thing about the Prologue is that it can be safely and speedily bypassed and ignored: one can make a bee-line straight for Gorion, suffering only an interception by childhood friend, Imoen, a carefree, roguish teenager who seems to know a little of what's going on, having taken a peek at Gorion's letters.
The best thing about the Prologue is that it can be safely and speedily bypassed and ignored: one can make a bee-line straight for Gorion, suffering only an interception by childhood friend, Imoen, a carefree, roguish teenager who seems to know a little of what's going on, having taken a peek at Gorion's letters.
Waiting at the entrance to Candlekeep itself is Charname's foster father, the silver-haired and gray-robed Gorion, who isn't exactly cool, calm and collected.
You see, the sinister threat likely to infiltrate The Keep is more serious than Shank and Carbos; so much so, that traveling through the woods at night is preferable to being behind stone walls.
You see, the sinister threat likely to infiltrate The Keep is more serious than Shank and Carbos; so much so, that traveling through the woods at night is preferable to being behind stone walls.
Scripted Ambush
The departure and subsequent ambush are presented entirely as scripted, voiced segments.
Before venturing forth from Candlekeep, Gorion tells Charname that they need to reach the Friendly Arm Inn where old friends of his are waiting (Jaheira & Khalid).
Darkness falls as the two scurry through the woods of The Coast Way, Gorion assuring Charname that he'll explain everything as soon as shelter is found.
Suddenly, the two are ambushed by an Armored Fiend (later revealed to be Sarevok) flanked by a priestess (his tragic lover, Tamoko) and supported by two ogre berserkers.
Sarevok demands that Gorion hand over "his ward" (the progonist aka Gorion's Ward); Gorion staunchly refuses and orders Charname to run. Charname does so and escapes into the shadows. In Charname's absence a battle ensues, and the old man is cut down after exhausting his arcane repertoire, consisting of low level evocations.
Darkness falls as the two scurry through the woods of The Coast Way, Gorion assuring Charname that he'll explain everything as soon as shelter is found.
Suddenly, the two are ambushed by an Armored Fiend (later revealed to be Sarevok) flanked by a priestess (his tragic lover, Tamoko) and supported by two ogre berserkers.
Sarevok demands that Gorion hand over "his ward" (the progonist aka Gorion's Ward); Gorion staunchly refuses and orders Charname to run. Charname does so and escapes into the shadows. In Charname's absence a battle ensues, and the old man is cut down after exhausting his arcane repertoire, consisting of low level evocations.
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| Scripted ambush |
Unable to find Gorion's Ward in the darkness of the night, the ambushers take their leave.
The next morning, the adventuring begins as Chapter One kicks off:
In conclusion, the Prologue and scripted ambush manage to set the stage and draw the player into the campaign.
Exploration, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate 1 Exploration Original
Initial Exploration Baldur's Gate
Initial exploration in Baldur's Gate 1 Original is about survival. CHARNAME only has Imoen in the party and both are only first level. Other companions may be picked up quickly, too (Xzar, Montaron and Kivan), but everyone is of low level and so exploration is dangerous, as not only is it possible to run into kobolds, wolves and bears, but also assassins which are a step up from Shank and Carbos.
After Sarevok slays Gorion, the campaign offers many opportunities for sight-seeing and getting in over our heads.
Initially, the world map only shows the location of the civilized settlements, those of the Friendly Arm Inn, Beregost, Nashkel, Baldur's Gate and Ulgoth's Beard - which are greyed out or "ghosted".
This means we have an inkling as to their location, but haven't actually discovered them ourselves. To do so, we must manually walk our party through uncharted territory, map by map, in the required direction, fighting off enemies and questing on the way, in order to reach our destination.
That's called "adventuring", which is sort of what cRPGs are about.
Initially, the world map only shows the location of the civilized settlements, those of the Friendly Arm Inn, Beregost, Nashkel, Baldur's Gate and Ulgoth's Beard - which are greyed out or "ghosted".
This means we have an inkling as to their location, but haven't actually discovered them ourselves. To do so, we must manually walk our party through uncharted territory, map by map, in the required direction, fighting off enemies and questing on the way, in order to reach our destination.
That's called "adventuring", which is sort of what cRPGs are about.
Having discovered a string of locations, we may "fast travel" back and forth between them, at the cost of fatigue and at the risk of ambush / waylay.
Combat Encounters
Combat encounters in the early stages are fairly tame though there are surprises for new players who, perhaps foolishly, venture off the beaten track. Maybe they pick a fight with a bear on the first map, or explore "too far" east on the second, encountering the ogre?
Surviving first level can be a challenge for new players; it's probably why the dialogue, chapter narrative, journal and letter from Elminster (looted from Gorion's corpse), all suggest to travel to the Friendly Arm Inn to meet Gorion's friends who we can trust, Jaheira & Khalid. These two can join the party.
Even so, it's not a free ride even if we bee-line to the FAI with Imoen and the Zhentish duo in tow, as we're bound to encounter a gibberling or two, perhaps a ravenous wolf, a stray kobold arrow, or even a nasty bandit waylay if we're unlucky.
Even so, it's not a free ride even if we bee-line to the FAI with Imoen and the Zhentish duo in tow, as we're bound to encounter a gibberling or two, perhaps a ravenous wolf, a stray kobold arrow, or even a nasty bandit waylay if we're unlucky.
Tarnesh
If our squishy, first level, bloodied and battered scrubs survive all that and the Horror-casting Tarnesh on the staircase leading up to the Inn without so much as a reload - the most powerful "spell" in the game - then we can pat ourselves on that back.
Relatively speaking, the Tarnesh encounter is one of the deadliest in the campaign:
Relatively speaking, the Tarnesh encounter is one of the deadliest in the campaign:
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| In this game, I picked up Kivan at High Hedge, first |
Once a solid party has been formed and equipped with the basics, dozens of wilderness areas can be freely explored, in any direction. Cloakwood Forest, the Bandit Camp and Baldur's Gate itself are off-limits (gated by plot-progression), but sensible reasons are given as to why we can't go there (i.e, they're secretive places, Baldur's Gate is closed due to heavy banditry).
Every other area is accessible, if only we're prepared to walk in that direction to find it, cutting a swathe through mobs of monsters on the way [1].
Every other area is accessible, if only we're prepared to walk in that direction to find it, cutting a swathe through mobs of monsters on the way [1].
Power/meta-gamers tend to head directly for the Lighthouse map to take out the Sirines and Flesh Golems (2,000 XP), then east of the Temple to take out Mutamin's Lesser and Greater Basilisks (1,400 and 7,000 XP), whereas normal players will most likely quest in and around FAI, Beregost and Nashkel, gaining experience and reputation, and building up wealth more slowly, but with minimal risk.
Brandishing a few enchanted weapons, protected by heavy armors and shields, and with useful spell scrolls successfully scribed to the spellbook and memorized (Sleep, Blindness, Web), new players should feel more confident in exploring outward from the hubs, and further advancing the plot.
Brandishing a few enchanted weapons, protected by heavy armors and shields, and with useful spell scrolls successfully scribed to the spellbook and memorized (Sleep, Blindness, Web), new players should feel more confident in exploring outward from the hubs, and further advancing the plot.
Generic Spawns
Generic spawns are mobs of creatures which haven't been individually tailored and placed by the designer. For example, the gibberlings in AR2800 (where we first meet Elminster) are generic spawns (GIBBER2.CRE) whereas the ogre in the east is a specific creature that has been individually tailored and placed (an actor: OGREUNSH.CRE). The number of enemies scales to party level for generic spawns, but not for actors.
Each area (AR) can have many spawn points (x,y coords), and each spawn point can be assigned creatures (CREs). Spawnpoints that are assigned multiple creatures draw one creature randomly from the pool. There are variables that set the spawn rate and the number of spawns as well as the probability of spawning for both day and night intervals.
The spawn rate value represents the amount of seconds before the spawnpoint retriggers. What that means is, if we slay a mob at its spawnpoint, move away and then return to the spawnpoint after an interval, the mob will be there to slay again (though not necessarily the same creature or the same number of creatures). If a party member remains positioned on the spawnpoint, the mob won't respawn.
Amusingly, reloading on the map adds to the spawns. This can also happen in NWN, but it is very uncommon.
In Durlag's Tower, there are auto-respawns of fast-moving greater ghouls that inflict on-hit paralysis, which can be terrifying.
List of Monsters in Baldur's Gate
[1] Air Aspect, Ankheg, Ashirukuru, Baby Wyvern, Bandit, Battle Horror, Black Bear, Black Talon Elite, Bounty Hunter, Brown Bear, Cave Bear, Crypt Crawler, Dire Wolf, Diseased Gibberling, Doom Guard, Doomsayer, Doppleganger, Dread Wolf, Druid, Dwarven Doom Guard, Ettercap, Fission Slime, Flaming Fist, Flaming Fist Enforcer, Flaming Fist Wizard, Flaming Fist Scout, Flesh Golem, Flind, Ghast, Ghoul, Giant Spider, Gibberling, Gnoll, Gnoll Slasher, Gnoll Veteran, Gray Ooze, Greater Basilisk, Greater Doppleganger, Greater Ghoul, Greater Werewolf, Greater Wolfwere, Greater Wyvern, Guard, Hamadryad, Hobgoblin, Hobgoblin Elite, Invisible Stalker, Kobold, Kobold Commando, Lesser Basilisk, Mountain Bear, Mustard Jelly, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Ogre Berserker, Ogre Mage, Ogrillon, Phase Spider, Phoenix Guard, Polar Bear, Sirine, Skeleton, Skeleton Warrior, Sword Spider, Tasloi, Vampiric Wolf, War Dog, Werewolf, Wild Dog, Winter Wolf, Wolf, Wolfwere, Wraith Spider, Wyvern, Young Wolfwere, Xvart, Zombie.
Waylays, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate 1 Waylays
Random encounters come in two forms, which I'll call "on-rest ambushes" and "overworld waylays". Both random encounter forms notably increase the difficulty of Baldur's Gate 1 Original, especially in its early stages.
On-rest Ambushes Baldur's Gate
On-rest ambushes can occur when we attempt to rest in the wilderness or dungeons, spawning hostile monsters native to the area at our campsite. The melee that ensues can cause first and second level parties to be torn to shreds by angry mobs, especially if they were already stretched and lacking in resources when they set up camp (which is often the case; it's why they're resting).
On the other hand, veterans can exploit in and around Black Alaric's cave by repeatedly provoking spawns of powerful monsters that yield unsightly experience point gains. The secret to efficiently slaying Flesh Golems without taking too much damage in return is the Dagger of Venom.
On the other hand, veterans can exploit in and around Black Alaric's cave by repeatedly provoking spawns of powerful monsters that yield unsightly experience point gains. The secret to efficiently slaying Flesh Golems without taking too much damage in return is the Dagger of Venom.
Overworld Waylays Baldur's Gate
Overworld waylays can occur when moving between maps (area-transition). There are 11 visually-unique maps that load depending on the region we're in. The engine draws randomly from preset pools of potentially lethal arrangements of monsters which are assigned to the region. The deadliest of these are Wyvern and Greater Basilisks waylays.
Upon being waylaid, a voice trumpets:
Upon being waylaid, a voice trumpets:
YOU HAVE BEEN WAYLAID BY ENEMIES AND MUST DEFEND YOURSELF
We then scramble to position our party as best we can against a random enemy mob or attempt to flee by reaching the map's exit, hoping not to catch an arrow in the back - or hit a pathfinding issue - in the process.
A particularly nasty waylay comprising of several archer-bandits can occur between The Lion's Way (AR2800) and Friendly Arm Inn (AR2300), possibly wiping out our half-formed band of scrubs who are just trying to sensibly reach the FAI in search of Gorion's Harper colleagues.
A particularly nasty waylay comprising of several archer-bandits can occur between The Lion's Way (AR2800) and Friendly Arm Inn (AR2300), possibly wiping out our half-formed band of scrubs who are just trying to sensibly reach the FAI in search of Gorion's Harper colleagues.
In such waylays, mages are first to die, since only one arrow has to hit its mark. First level mages can have a maximum of 6 HPs assuming a Constitution score of 16 (1d4 +2); delicate butterflies, they are. At least, early on, when they don't have access to Mirror Image.
Or perhaps the player character falls, meaning we're presented with the death screen and have to load the Autosave and try again, gritting our teeth at the thought of it happening twice in a row. Once the party beefs up, waylays are about as trivial as on-rest ambushes, though wyvern waylays in the Cloakwood Forest can be frequent and annoying even for seasoned adventuring parties.
Or perhaps the player character falls, meaning we're presented with the death screen and have to load the Autosave and try again, gritting our teeth at the thought of it happening twice in a row. Once the party beefs up, waylays are about as trivial as on-rest ambushes, though wyvern waylays in the Cloakwood Forest can be frequent and annoying even for seasoned adventuring parties.
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| Imoen: Gimme an antidote, queer fellow! |
Rival Adventuring Parties, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Rival Adventuring Parties BG1
Baldur's Gate 1 Original invented rival adventuring parties consisting of enemy characters; that is, pitting the party against other adventuring parties or clans of assassins. At least two of the fights can be avoided through dialogue selections.
Click on the paperdoll images to read more on the dialogue and combat encounters:
Sembian Crew in Under City
Iron Throne Top Brass
Candlekeep Caverns Crew
Tazok's Crew
Hunters from Amn
Waterdhavian Crew
Iron Throne Enforcers
Cloakwood Crew
Iron Throne Bounty Hunters
Iron Throne Assassins
Maulers of Undermountain
The Band of Merry Fools
Dwarven Warders
Note: The stats given in the write-ups are proper adjusted stats, not useless base stats. It is a waste of time giving the reader base stats because that is NOT what the stats are in-game.
The reader will note a few things when scanning through the stats of these party members. The building of the templates is rough around the edges because this was BioWare's first cRPG, and there are tons of NPCs to tailor. Many of the characters simply don't follow the rules. For example, they may not have the strength to off-hand a shield, but they are. But mostly, they are nowhere near firing on all cylinders in terms of power. Many don't wear helmets or off-hand shields when it makes sense to do so. Most don't have healing potions. A 9th level Fighter should have a few healing potions. They use generic scripts for spellcasting. They don't work together. And so on. This was somewhat fixed by DSotSC.
Level Scaling in Baldur's Gate
Generic spawns as well as on-rest spawns & waylays are scaled to both party level and party size, but only the number of enemies scales, not their stats or type; in other words, the nature of the enemy doesn't change: a bandit is still a bandit; though that first level bandit encounter may later present itself as a ten-pack when the party maxes out.
Below left: One lone bandit for a first level player, all alone.
Below left: One lone bandit for a first level player, all alone.
Below right: Eight (max 10) for a full party at max level.
Un-recruited companions also scale to party level in thresholds. For example, a first level party can recruit a first level Edwin with almost nothing to his name (some Exp, a few spells scribed to his spellbook); or a sixth level party can recruit a sixth level Edwin who has already earned over 40,000 Exp and scribed eight scrolls to his spellbook, including Haste (in Dynaheir's case, Fireball).
Un-recruited companions also scale to party level in thresholds. For example, a first level party can recruit a first level Edwin with almost nothing to his name (some Exp, a few spells scribed to his spellbook); or a sixth level party can recruit a sixth level Edwin who has already earned over 40,000 Exp and scribed eight scrolls to his spellbook, including Haste (in Dynaheir's case, Fireball).
The intent of companion scaling is to ensure that companions remain somewhat useful in the advent their services are required later in the campaign, but meta-gamers may choose to remain solo or only adventure with Imoen until the sixth level is reached, and only then recruit a party, thereby dodging the experience point leach of having five other companions around for those first six levels (both quest & kill Exp is divided "evenly", more or less, amongst the party members).
Apart from needing foreknowledge in order to solo the first six levels [1], the downside is the inability to control companion proficiencies and HPs, though it's a small price to pay for such a huge advantage.
Note that it is best to recruit non-mages early (in order to control their and proficiencies and HPs), and mages at sixth level (for spells such as Fireball and Haste).
Note that it is best to recruit non-mages early (in order to control their and proficiencies and HPs), and mages at sixth level (for spells such as Fireball and Haste).
[1] Not a problem for meta-gamers, and for Bards and Thieves that's only 20,000 Exp.
Bosses, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Bosses Baldur's Gate 1
By "boss", I mean a particularly tough Baldur's Gate enemy, or rival adventuring party, that usually must be defeated if we are to progress in the plot, or lay claim to having played Baldur's Gate 1 Original with courage.
The difficulty of a given boss encounter varies greatly depending on party composition, level and items. For example:
- Bee-line the plot-critical path? Expect to reload in the face of the challenges they pose
- Conquer Durlag's Tower beforehand and flaunting artifacts of Realmslore? Expect a faceroll
Which is why I've hinted at exploring in and around each hub as the plot progresses; it keeps things on a more even keel.
Artifacts of Realmslore: the fabled Helm of Balduran & Cloak of Balduran:
Ok, so our first boss is..!
Mulahey: Baldur's Gate Boss
What?! How'd you get in here?
The first boss encounter of the campaign is the cowardly Half-orc cleric, Mulahey, caught red-handed by the party running the ore-tainting operation in the bowels of the Nashkel mines at Chapter Two's conclusion.
Mulahey is basically a beefed-up Bassilus who, from the outset, calls upon his horde of kobold & skelly minions to flank the party; then proceeds to spam Hold Person (a deadly, small-radius AoE) followed up by the ranged blows of Spiritual Hammer (1d4 +1, +1 magical).
Once worn down to near-death, the odious priest of Cyric belches mightily - wtf? It's voiced! That's gross... - then feigns to yield in an attempt to throw the heroes off-guard; after which, he generally fights to the death (if not morale-failed). Bee-liners will probably find Mulahey extremely difficult, but tacticians can succeed with a first level party.
Tazok: Baldur's Gate Boss
*farts* Whoah, now that was a stinker! (*sigh* toilet humor..)
The Bandit Camp offers a few opportunities to lock horns with a variety of brutes from the Chill and Black Talon clans (headed up by Ardenor Crush & Taurgosz Khosann, respectively) who, for the most part, have put aside their differences to work under Tazok, an ogre enforcer for the Iron Throne (the organization responsible for the iron crisis plaguing the region).
Tazok can actually be encountered, insulted and dueled at this point if the bandit camp has been accessed by diplomatic means through chance encounters with contacts Teven (of Larswood) or Raiken (of Peldvale); in fact, Tazok can even be prematurely killed by taking severe burst damage before his post-duel dialogue can trigger (from memory of my solo thief run, he was chunked by backstab). BioWare probably didn't anticipate Tazok's Chapter Three demise, the enforcer shamelessly reappearing alongside Sarevok for the final showdown in the Temple of Bhaal (perhaps, like Firebead Elvenhair, he was also resurrected!)
- Below left: The ninth level Tazok wields a two-handed sword in one hand (trying to copy Sarevok) and is equipped with a pair of (droppable) Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise (two total in the campaign) and suit of Plate Mail.
- Below right: But what hope does he have against a party of mirrored mages firing Magic Missile in unison? (Well, except Xan, who prefers to distractingly wave his shimmering Moonblade under Tazok's nose).
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| I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!!! - Tazok |
Staged in the main pavilion, the final bandit battle pits the player against an ugly group of thugs: Raemon & Venkt (both human, the latter a mage), Britik the gnoll and Hakt the hobgoblin.
Firing Arrows of Biting from his Longbow of Marksmanship, Hakt is probably the most cause for concern. Otherwise, I find this battle unremarkable and much easier than squaring up with Taurgosz Khosann, a hard-hitter standing guard just outside the tent in awfully shiny armor, warhammer at the ready!
Dimension Door Davaeorn: Baldur's Gate Boss
So... the stoic adventurers have found their way down to my lair...
Davaeorn is the high level Mage BG1 overseeing the Cloakwood mines from its bowels, four levels of dungeon down. The hall leading into his sanctum is laced with proximity traps, two of which despawn a Battle Horror when deftly disabled by your thief creeping down the hall, just outside Davaeorn's vision radius.
Davaeorn wears two undroppable rings, one of which grants him Free Action status so that he can't be held, stunned, slowed, webbed, entangled or greased; the other of which grants him instant Mirror Image when equipped! In addition, his undroppable bracers grant him Protection from normal missiles; he also seems to have innate resistance to fire and electricity. I would assume the undroppables are to simulate pre-buffing and his preparations for battle, as no doubt he'd be aware of the party's intrusion.
Protected by his row of mirrors, Davaeorn's cunning tactic is to teleport (Dimension Door) around his sanctum, unleashing bolts of lightning, spamming Dire Charm and then summoning a pack of dire wolves, ghasts, or ogrillons for good measure (Monster Summoning III). The backstab opener is out of the question thanks to his Mirror Image pre-buff (a protection many Infinity Engine mages foolishly neglect).
Perhaps the most elegant approach is to scout out his exact location and cast Silence 15' radius so that he can't cast spells (other than the scripted Dimension Door), followed up by Dispel Magic to disperse his mirrors; otherwise, you'll have to frantically chase him around in an attempt to mundanely disperse them, and that's annoying!
- Below left: The four proximity traps warding off would-be intruders.
- Below right: Davaeorn unleashes Lightning Bolt at the two tanks tangling with the constructs, then skilfully casts Dimension Door before it ricochets back towards him!
- Right: Mirror Image; Inset: Dimension Door, Monster Summoning III.
Sadly, the Dimension Door spell was subsequently omitted in the sequel due to its sequence-breaking potential that allows for exploitative area transitions.
Baldur's Gate Boss: Iron Throne
Fear my wrath for it is great indeed! - Zhalimar Cloudwulfe.
This boss encounter is staged in the penthouse of the opulent Iron Throne tower itself, pitting the party against a tough crew protecting one of the organization's head honchos, Thaldorn (who is cowering in his office).
The crew consists of Zhalimar Cloudwulfe & Gardush (both Fighters), Naaman & Alai (Mage/Thief & Fighter/Mage), Diyab & Aasim (Cleric/Thief) & Fighter/Cleric) and a wretched Doppelganger disguised as the fat lady-emissary, Tar.
Unaided, a Fighter/Thief dual-class can execute the lackeys one after the other with a series of well-executed backstabs, but many players may just prefer them to be webbed and then immolated with fireballs from wands and Detonation Arrows.
You could also fire Wands of Lightning and see what happens; I love the below-right screenshot because it looks like Xan is shooting out lightning bolts from his eyes and Moonblade!
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| Immolation & electrocution - just what these bastards deserved! |
Melee Combat, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Melee Combat Baldur's Gate 1
Melee combat (mêlée) in Baldur's Gate 1 is close-quarters combat. Thus, one-handed weapon wielding, two-handed weapon wielding and hand-to-hand combat are modes of melee combat.
Melee combat is distinct from ranged combat (bows, crossbows, darts etc.).
This article is an overview of melee combat and tanking in the original Baldur's Gate 1. For the specifics of tanking and melee combat, please refer to:
Tanking Baldur's Gate
The purpose of tanks is to attract the aggro and then absorb or mitigate damage so that squishy party members are free to cast arcane spells and fire projectiles from the back row.
Attracting the aggro is usually a fairly simple matter: just ensure the tank is the first party member of which the enemy catches sight; blinded by hatred, they will then charge forth and futilely wail on the tank, foolishly ignoring the Mage BG1 and archers who are picking them apart from safe distance.
Of course, protecting our tank against the elements before we start bombarding the aggro with AoEs is a prudent measure. Xan BG1, for example, if he has the right equipment, can tank fireballs and the like by virtue of 130% fire resistance. Indeed, that means fire damage actually heals him.
Absorbing and mitigating damage isn't so simple; as a rule, tanks require a deep HP pool, negative AC and perhaps even buffs from the Illusion school to feel somewhat safe from the cruelty of the to-hit roll. In regard to defense, entry-level Regeneration doesn't factor in, the rate being too slow (1 HP per 6 turns).
Damage Reduction is unattainable until BG2. Thus, Illusions spells such as Mirror Image, Blur & Improved Invisibility are what we're after. For Fighter/Mage tanks, Mirror Image is awesome because each of the several images must first be "hit" before any damage can be inflicted on the caster.
In the early stages, fledgling tanks feel the RNG more acutely than other combat units who don't often "get amongst it". Thankfully, first level hit dice are maximized for both the PC and companions; after which only a solid Constitution bonus can offset unlucky HD rolls and ensure a reliable HP pool for those noble players who don't save-scum when leveling up.
It's (1d10 +5) * 8: warrior hit dice is 1d10 for an average of five HPs per level.
A Constitution score of 19 grants a bonus of +5 per level. So, that's about 80 HPs by eighth level, instilling some confidence when things heat up.
A high Dexterity score is also paramount; the bonus to natural AC stacking with a shiny set of Plate Mail (AC 3) and sturdy shield (AC bonus +1) for much-improved early survivability. Outfitted as such, the naturally-gifted Khalid sports an AC of 0 for respectable defense at first level and against bottom-feeder mobs with which many a map is populated.
Khalid: Base AC 10 - 2 (Dexterity 16 bonus to AC) - 7 (Plate Mail) - 1 (Medium Shield) = AC 0.
Last, but certainly not least, helmets are essential for negating the devastating double damage inflicted by critical hits. Yes, they look ugly! - make sure everyone who can wear one does so.
The most effective tanks - who can also melee with the best of 'em - are quite clearly Fighter Mages; their extremely low ACs (-20s) and access to Mirror Image allowing them to mitigate damage against the most formidable fighters known to Realmslore such a Sarevok and Drizzt Do'Urden.
Fighter (7) / Specialist (8) dual-classes are superior to Fighter (7) / Mage (7) multi-classes by virtue of:
- A notable increase in spell slots: : +1 first circle, +1 second circle, +2 third circle, +2 forth circle [5/4/4/3 vs. 4/3/2/1] by virtue of eight mage levels and being a Specialist) Gnome multi-classes receive the Specialist bonus (Illusionist)
- A deeper HP pool
- To-hit and damage bonuses granted by High Mastery (High Mastery dual-classes receive +2 to-hit and +2 dmg over multi-classes, who may only Specialize.)
The argument against duals is the dual downtime involved. "Dual downtime" means your seven fighter levels are put on hold as you work from mage first level to eighth (90,000 Exp).
Both multi-class and dual-class variants share the same attack rate (both receive +1/2 Attacks Per Round from seven warrior levels and +1/2 ApR from Specialization) and inability to reach fifth circle spells.
Players seeking the fifth circle should dual from fighter at fifth level; in so doing they forego +1/2 ApR, +1 dmg and two fighter HD but instead gain two fifth circle slots to load with Cloudkill, Monster Summoning III and Chaos etc.
So, the player just needs to decide if they want a "melee" or "spellcasting" tank.
The screencap above depicts a Fighter / Conjurer dual-class effortlessly tanking two Battle Horrors by virtue of protective illusions (Mirror Image, Blur, Improved Invisibility) and Spirit Armor.
Despite being unable to cast illusions, conventional tanks (i.e, Khalid, Minsc, Kagain etc.) can still maintain solid defense over the course of the campaign (reaching AC -13 or so); they're just more reliant on equipment and assistance from buffers and healbots if they're to survive against the swarming mobs and aggro.
Dwarven tanks are particularly resilient: their high Constitution scores ensuring a deep HP pool and also granting a +1 bonus to Death, Wand and Spell saving throws for every 3.5 points in the score. Kagain's illegal Constitution score of 20 grants him Regeneration status (1 HPs per 6 turns), and a Dwarf PC with a score of 19 can then read the Manual of Bodily Health (Con +1) to be granted regen, too! Their deep HP pools will be healed during overworld travel and when resting (41 HPs over 8 hours), making regen a powerful perk for conventional tanks who take damage no matter what.
In addition, that 20 in Constitution means the saving throw bonus reaches a stubborn +5 (20 / 3.5 = 5.71, which BioWare rounds down), a remarkable boost against spell effects - especially in the early stages when everyone's likely to succumb to them.
Despite having four proficiency points to spend in chargen, warriors may only spend a maximum of two points (i.e, Specialize) per weapon group (i.e, Large Swords) at that point. In melee attack terms, that's one base attack in the first round and then another "every other" round (1.5 ApR).
Unable to Specialize, and receiving no bonus ApR at seventh level, non-warriors who wield melee weapons are stuck with one base attack for their entire career - one reason why thieves prefer to fire bows and mages prefer to throw darts (for setting ApR to 2 & 3, respectively).
Still, by brandishing +2 or +3 melee weapons with percentile Strength, our grunts won't embarrass themselves alongside ranged specialists, and in cramped quarters they shine. For example, ranged attackers receive -4 to-hit in close quarters. Even the swings of two-handed weapons have no spatial restrictions; they also benefit from the "reach" perk that lets them attack an enemy from behind the tank.
Besides, a variety of Giant Strength potions are generously handed out campaign-wide, and even more reliably along the plot-critical path, to make up for the restricted quantities offered by Halbazzer at Sorcerous Sundries.
Players should find a couple dozen Potions of Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire, Cloud and Storm Giant Strength potions to set their strength score to 19-24 for ten delicious turns (24 Str = +6 to-hit & +12 dmg). Merchant-wise, Halbazzer offers three of each; Erdane five of Hill only.
Still, by brandishing +2 or +3 melee weapons with percentile Strength, our grunts won't embarrass themselves alongside ranged specialists, and in cramped quarters they shine. For example, ranged attackers receive -4 to-hit in close quarters. Even the swings of two-handed weapons have no spatial restrictions; they also benefit from the "reach" perk that lets them attack an enemy from behind the tank.
Besides, a variety of Giant Strength potions are generously handed out campaign-wide, and even more reliably along the plot-critical path, to make up for the restricted quantities offered by Halbazzer at Sorcerous Sundries.
Players should find a couple dozen Potions of Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire, Cloud and Storm Giant Strength potions to set their strength score to 19-24 for ten delicious turns (24 Str = +6 to-hit & +12 dmg). Merchant-wise, Halbazzer offers three of each; Erdane five of Hill only.
Iron Taint Baldur's Gate
Vial of Mysterious Liquid and Contaminated Iron:
Binge-drinkers may have caught wind of the taint as early as the Prologue by asking Winthrop about rumors [BG1 rumors]; and other hints are thrown out here and there to foreshadow the problem.
Being an inattentive player, my first evidence of the taint was when my character started punching out gibberlings bare-fisted because my weapon had broken and was shown as mere shards in my inventory. (As an aside, fists are treated as non-lethal weapons, so the monster is just knocked unconscious and no experience is awarded. One upside is that, before robbing someone, you can punch them out so they can't report you to the authorities for theft, thereby incurring no reputation loss.)
Anyway, from that point on, I carried back-up blades or instead wielded wooden or ranged weapons, at least until the matter of Mulahey and the taint was resolved. Another option is just to seek out basic enchanted weapons (i.e, +1) from Thunderhammer Smithy in Beregost; presumably, they were forged before the tainting mischief began.
Melee Weapons Baldur's Gate
Taerom Thunderhammer offers the first fabled weapon a budding meleer is likely to set eyes on: the awesome Dagger of Venom which crowns Best Weapons Baldur's Gate, but it's prohibitively expensive at that point and we can't steal from Taerom for game balance reasons. (Assuming decent Charisma & Reputation, it still costs about 10,000 GP...)
Therefore, I see only two opportunities to acquire fabled wields in the early stages, both of which are rewards to rather involved and dangerous quests found in and around Beregost and Nashkel.
Respectively, these quests may yield - depending on how we solve them:
- Warhammer +2: Ashideena BG1 (to-hit +2, 1d4 +3, +1 electrical)
- Longsword +2: Varscona BG1 (to-hit +2, 1d8 +2, +1 cold)
These are wicked wields in a low level campaign.
Ashideena is effectively an end-game wield by virtue of the bludgeoning damage it inflicts to overcome monsters resistant or immune to slashing & piercing, such as skeletal undead.
The Cursed Two-handed Sword of Berserking +3 (to-hit +3, 1d10 +3, cursed: Berserk) is the only +3 melee weapon up for grabs early, but its curse renders it all but useless.
Another two-handed sword, Spider's Bane BG1 (to-hit +2, 1d10 +2, Free Action), deserves special mention for bestowing Free Action status on the wielder, thereby allowing our grunt to shrug off Hold Person and wade through Web.
It isn't the end of the world if meleers don't find such weapons: even Aec'Letec - the fiercest foe in the campaign - sports just non-magical weapon immunity, and +1 enchantment is common. Anyway, as is the case with many item types, the best offerings are handed out more generously, and are less likely to be overlooked, come Chapter Five and TotSC.
Overall, tanking and melee combat certainly seems more balanced than archery and arcane spell-casting, but all three modes of combat complement each other and can be highly effective when used in conjunction.
Ranged Combat, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Archery Baldur's Gate 1
Baldur's Gate Archery: Ranged Combat Overview
Multiple reasons can be given for why Baldur's Gate archers lay waste to enemy mobs. Early in Baldur's Gate 1 Original, our average enemy is made from such lowly stock as 1-2 Hit Dice, so only one or two projectiles are required to drop them. We are talking here about wolves, kobolds, gibberlings, xvarts, tasloi, hobgoblins, gnolls, ghouls, half-ogres, ogrillons etc.
Against such squishy foes, percentile Strength melee warriors (e.g, 18/93) wielding two-handed swords is just overkill; moreover, by the time Minsc has shouted "Go for the eyes, Boo!" and charged in, Kivan has sniped two or three from under his nose, already!
Low level archers, who by wielding a bow (preferably a composite longbow) gain +1 ApR, also don't necessarily need a tank to hold back certain stronger, 4-8 HD foes; they can simply mow them down as they close in.
Low level archers, who by wielding a bow (preferably a composite longbow) gain +1 ApR, also don't necessarily need a tank to hold back certain stronger, 4-8 HD foes; they can simply mow them down as they close in.
Hit Recovery Baldur's Gate
Hit recovery is interesting. Take for example a warrior charging at an archer, who begins firing arrows at the warrior. Assuming she's accurate, the archer has a pretty good chance of doing the warrior in before he gets in her face. This is because getting hit causes a brief movement delay with each impact, slowing the warrior's approach. With three accurate archers sporting high ApR, that warrior isn't going to be able to move; he's stun-locked and dead.
Cumulative poison and disease, along with Magic Missile, are also effective at reducing movement rate to the point of immobility, resulting in the demise of incoming aggro.
Best Arrows in Baldur's Gate
To increase killspeed and deal with truly formidable foes later in the campaign, archers can swap to enchanted quivers of:
- Acid Arrows (AROW04): 1d6 +1, +2d6 acid, to-hit +1
- Fire Arrows (AROW08): 1d6, +1d6 Fire, save vs. spells for none
- Ice Arrows (AROW09): 1d6, +1d6 Cold, no save
- Piercing Arrows (AROW10): 1d6, +6 piercing on failed save vs. death, to-hit +4
- Biting Arrows (AROW05): 1d6, poison: 30% of HPs in 20 secs, save vs. death for none, Strength modifier erroneously applied to dmg
- Dispelling Arrows (AROW07): on-hit Dispel Magic
- Detonation Arrows (AROW06): auto-hit (no to-hit roll), 1d6, +6d6 Fireball, save vs. spells for half
- Slaying Arrow (AROW03): 1d6, to-hit +15, on-hit slay ogre mage.
Upon reaching Sorcerous Sundries in Chapter Five, in addition to stacks and stacks of other ammo, the player can purchase:
- Twenty-one quivers (420) of Acid Arrow
- Two-and-a-half quivers (50) of Dispelling Arrow
- Three quivers (60) of Detonation Arrow
Imagine a few archers unleashing what amount to Fireballs at a max rate of four per round - that's some serious DpR! [cf. Maximum Ranged Weapon Damage]
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| Each item is sketched, an artistic touch |
I guess the quivers are sort of balanced in that we won't find a great variety in large quantities until we haggle with Halbazzer at the start of Chapter Five, but the fact BioWare nerfed quantity and quality in the sequel point to them being OP. (In BG2, Acid Arrows inflict only 1d3 acid, Dispelling Arrows are extremely rare, and there are no Detonation Arrows at all.)
Bows Baldur's Gate
Decent bows are also quite easy to find: while only one composite longbow (THAC0 +1, dmg +2) can be bought from Winthrop in the Prologue, they're commonly sold by merchants and easily looted from that point on.
Composite Longbow +1 (THAC0 +2, dmg +3) - the "best" bow - can be bought from Feldepost's Inn as early as Chapter One; the finale of Chapter Three also yields the Longbow of Marksmanship (THAC0 +3, dmg +2); and the Eagle Bow (THAC0 +2, dmg +2) is obtainable when the player reaches Baldur's Gate city.
Being wooden, bows also have the early-game perk of being exempt from the plot-based "taint" which can cause non-magical iron weapons to break in the wielder's hands.
Companion-wise, Kivan and Coran are already lordly archers at the time of recruitment; Khalid can be specced into a sniper and out-shoot Kivan.
Coran is the undisputed king of archery, having an illegal High Mastery in bows and potentially reaching Dexterity 21 if given the Manual of Quickness of Action (Dex +1, permanent); not that he needs it. Nor does he need the Bracers of Archery (THAC0 +2) or Gauntlets of Dexterity (sets Dexterity to 18) which should be gifted to second-rate archers like Ajantis and Minsc.
One "limitation" of archery is that we can only hold twenty arrows in a quiver, of which we have three. Sixty shots might sound like more than enough, but we burn through them fast with a high RoF, and have to backtrack to town to restock. Well, just fill your backpack slots with quivers as well, and you shouldn't run out in a hurry.
One "limitation" of archery is that we can only hold twenty arrows in a quiver, of which we have three. Sixty shots might sound like more than enough, but we burn through them fast with a high RoF, and have to backtrack to town to restock. Well, just fill your backpack slots with quivers as well, and you shouldn't run out in a hurry.
Crossbows Baldur's Gate
My focus here on bows n arrows doesn't mean crossbows aren't also viable, but while the Light Crossbow of Speed is readily available in Beregost, the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy may not be found by many players, as its acquisition depends on how you solved a previous Chapter's quest (I like cross-chapter consequences like that, incidentally. That quest is quite involved.)
Bolt variety is very limited compared to arrows, with the Bolt of Biting (1d8, poison: 30% of HPs in 20 secs, save vs. death for none) and Bolt of Lightning (1d8, +4d4 electrical, save vs. breath for half) being the most sought-after. I personally love to see Shar-Teel or bards like Garrick and Eldoth firing from crossbows; Montaron is a crack shot, too.
Darts Baldur's Gate
By virtue of darts setting attack rate to 3 ApR, even "useless" mages can contribute to the party's combined projectile hail (1d3) especially if they let loose:
- Dart of Wounding (poison: 20 dmg in 20 secs, save vs. death for none) or
- Dart of Stunning (1d3, save vs spells or Stun for 7 rounds)
Along with druids and clerics they can also fire slings, a cheeky "halfling weapon" that allows for a shield to be equipped in the off-hand (though not by pure mages, and pure druids may only equip bucklers).
With such weapons at our disposal, there's really no excuse to have our back-row casters standing around doing nothing just because they're out of spells.
From what I've written above on ranged weapons, one might wonder if tanking and melee combat is redundant? No, they're most certainly not. Tanking is advisable to hold back non-trivial aggro, and certain monsters are simply immune (Mustard Jelly) or sport 50% resistance to missile damage (skeletal undead). So yeah, sometimes it's just better to break out a big stick and bash something with it.
Theft, Stealth & Backstabbing, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate 1 Thief Skills
Thieves play a pivotal role in most Baldur's Gate 1 adventuring parties, having a unique set of utility skills without which the party may struggle or even fail. The most important thief skills are Stealth, Open Locks and Find/Remove Traps; Pick Pockets is secondary. The skills can be raised beyond 100%, with only pick pockets and stealth mode taking advantage of points greater than 100. Note that the values are actually "points", not percentages.
Highly dexterous Halflings may manage to max out three of the four skills by tenth level; clumsier races will need to be more inventive, as detailed below. The maximums for Halflings with Dexterity scores of 19 are as follows: Open Locks (135), Find/Remove Traps (120), Pick Pockets (135), Stealth (140).
Stealth Baldur's Gate
Scouting is crucial for new players who would rather not bumble into a pack of ogre berserkers unprepared; however, the round-by-round checks can be a little touch and go until we increase the skill to "about 75", buff by quaffing one or more Potions of Perception (+20 % bonus to all thief skills for 6 hours), or perma-buff with items like the Boots of Stealth (+35 Stealth) and Shadow Armor (+15% Stealth).
The safest scouting is conducted by means of a Potion of Invisibility (lasts for 12 hours) or the arcane second circle spell, Invisibility (lasts 24 hours); long enough to learn the lay of the land and find a suitable position from which to mount an attack. Note that the fourth circle Improved Invisibility spell only lasts 10 rounds, but bestows combat benefits.
Backstab Baldur's Gate
Backstab is a surprisingly damaging mechanic if used correctly, the quadruple multiplier, coming at 110,000 Exp, capable of "chunking" tough-ass foes with a single poke (insta-kill). Targets reduced to -10 HPs or lower will explode into "chunks" of meat or gibs, which was invented by Doom 1993. Party members who are chunked by monsters will have their portrait disappear and thus cannot be raised. Nasty! Against a rival crew, opening with a backstab on the mage can notably reduce the duration and difficulty of a battle.
How to Backstab Baldur's Gate
In order to backstab, the thief must be positioned somewhat behind the victim, and also must be under cover of stealth. Usually, the player will pause the game once positioned, click the attack modal and then unpause. This cancels stealth, but not before the backstab is executed.
The meanest backstabbers are not pure thieves, but rather multi-class and dual-class Fighter/Thieves who take advantage of THAC0 and damage bonuses granted by percentile Strength and weapon specialization.
Backstab Damage Formula
Backstab damage = weapon roll + weapon enchantment + weapon specialization * backstab level (+ Strength bonus).
That's right, the Strength bonus isn't multiplied but every bit helps. Fighter/Thieves can also quaff Strength potions, basic thieves can't.
By "specialization", I mean the table which includes Proficient, Specialized, Master, High Master and Grand Master [see here for more info].
Fighter/Thief multi-classes can only Specialize (to-hit +1, dmg +2, ApR +1/2) whereas Fighter/Thief duals can High Master (to-hit +3, dmg +4, ApR +1/2). Thus, the dual-class's backstab is better.
Here is another backstab; this time, on the Demon Knight:
It is impossible to insta-kill the Demon Knight. Note, however, the follow-up attacks by the backstabber, which gave the DK no chance to square up and fight back. Very powerful.
The Boots of Speed (doubles movement rate, stacks with the Haste spell!) are an invaluable aid for repeatedly backstabbing members of a mob: simply stab the first victim, run out of the mob's vision radius, hide again, and then return to stab the next victim; rinse n repeat.
Weapon-wise, a playful wield is the Dagger of Venom because its poison damage works over time and also slows the victim's movement rate. This weapon is ranked first in my Best IE weapons write-up.
Drizzt's Twinkle scimitar is of course a wicked wield (1d8 +3, to-hit +3, AC bonus 2) along with the Staff of Striking (to-hit +3, dmg +9), a magical quarterstaff found deep inside Durlag's Tower and subject to limited charges, so enjoy it while it lasts!
Open Locks & Find - Remove Traps
Open Locks & Find/Remove Traps are indispensable skills for new and prudent players, particularly in such perilous dungeons as the Candlekeep Catacombs and Durlag's Tower.
Knock, a second circle arcane spell, can largely replace Open Locks, providing the player doesn't mind filling spell slots for utility actions which thieves can perform without limit and at no cost.
As its name makes clear, the second circle divine spell, Find Traps, only reveals the trap's location; it does not remove it (I say that because in NWN it does).
Since many traps cannot be walked around or otherwise avoided, the spell is no substitute for the skill.
Traps generally reset after being tripped. Thus, they remain a threat until properly disarmed.
Trap Detection Difficulty & Trap Removal Difficulty
Traps have Trap Detection and Trap Removal Difficulty ratings ranging from 0 to 100. Thieves lacking in skill can therefore not detect or remove traps.
Traps can inflict direct damage and poison. In addition, they can release any spell assigned to them as well as summon monsters (cf. Battle with Sarevok). Note that not all traps can be disarmed, and not all traps are visible to the player (invisible triggers).
Pickpocket Baldur's Gate
Pick Pocketing is the art of stealing from NPCs and certain merchant inventories; the danger being that, if we fail, the target goes hostile and we can't deal with them again unless we employ the Charm trick. Note that, for game balance reasons, we can't steal from merchants who actually have decent wares, like Thalantyr of High Hedge or Halbazzer of Sorcerous Sundries.
The pockets of a few NPCs can yield decent gear (e.g, Algernon, Drizzt, Dushai), with Shandalar in Ulgoth's Beard being a prime target for several powerful scrolls such as Spirit Armor.
Thief skills can be buffed by quaffing:
- Potion of Master Thievery (+40 Open Lock & Pick Pocket for 3 hours)
- Potion of Perception (+20 % bonus to all thief skills for 6 hours)
These are conveniently purchasable in sufficient quantities from Halbazzer and Erdane before we meet with the more crafty locks and deadly traps of the catacombs and Durlag's Tower.
Burglary Baldur's Gate
Note that fists are treated as non-lethal weapons, so the monster is just knocked unconscious and no experience points are awarded. The upside of that is, before robbing someone's house, we can punch them out so they can't report us to the authorities for theft, thereby incurring no reputation loss.
Magic, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Baldur's Gate Magic: Vancian Magic System
While melee combat, ranged combat and theft, stealth and backstabbing are of great utility in Baldur's Gate 1 Original, it is arcane (and to a lesser extent divine) spellcasting that steals the show and dominates the battlefield.
Spellcasting constitutes the most complex aspect of the Baldur's Gate combat system, and thus it has the steepest learning curve, but its payoff is immense.
Baldur's Gate Magic Spellcasting Strategy
Preparation for non-Sorcerer arcane spellcasting is as follows:
- First, a spell scroll must be found in the gameworld (looted or bought)
- Second, it must be scribed to the spellbook (there is a chance of failure)
- Third, it must be allocated to one or more memory slots
- Finally, the spellcaster must rest for at least eight hours in order to commit the spell to memory
Divine spellcasters do not scribe scrolls; spells are bestowed upon them by their gods. Thus, steps one and two do not apply.
Once cast, the spell must be rememorized in order to be cast again (unless the same spell was memorized more than once).
Thus, it's fire and forget.
Think of memorized spells as ammo in the gun. Once the spells have been fired, we need to reload (rest).
Baldur's Gate Spell Book
Every spellcaster has their own spellbook (divine spellcasters have priest scrolls). These contain pages for each circle of spells showing the spells that have been memorized (left pic) as well as the spell scrolls that have been scribed or bestowed upon the caster by their god (known spells, right pic).
Thus, the above spellcaster not only has access to a broad first circle arcane range (14 different spells), but sports an excellent memory as well (10 spell slots). To be clear, memory slots of a given circle can be loaded with any spell that has been scribed (and of the given circle). As can be seen, one can memorize a particular spell multiple times [1].
What I've said above constitutes the strategy aspect of spellcasting. Before resting, we are considering which spells we may need and how many of each we may need, based on the upcoming wilderness exploration or dungeon crawl - and the enemies inhabiting them.
Now, I mentioned that resting is required in order to replenish spells. Since resting is instantaneous in Baldur's Gate, what's stopping players spamming their spells, resting, spamming their spells, resting? Other than self-imposed restrictions, the deterrents are:
- on-rest ambushes (which at worst can cause TPK and which at best are annoying)
- AR-wide resting bans
While both of these could have been improved and expanded upon, they are good enough. Not everyone is a hardcore player (cf. Swordflight).
[1] On top of the specialist bonus for being a Conjurer, Edwin receives a bonus slot per circle thanks to his birthright amulet. Moreover, equipped with the late-game Ring of Wizardry (doubles first circle spells slots), the ninth level Edwin receives a maximum of twelve castings of first circle spells per day. (Yes, an early RoW can be found outside the Friendly Arm Inn, but let's not pretend your average player pixel-hunted it without spoilers.)
Baldur's Gate Magic Spellcasting Tactics
In order to cast a spell in-game, the player selects the spellcaster, clicks the spellcasting modal, selects the spell to be cast, and then clicks on either a target, the viewport or a placeable within the viewport. (Hotkeys can also be employed to speed things up.)
Baldur's Gate Spell Targeting Types
Where the player clicks on the viewport depends on the targeting type of the spell, and on its range. There are four basic targeting types:
- target caster (caster-only)
- target ally or enemy (single-target)
- target area (area effect or AoE)
- target placeable (door, chest)
- non-targeting (The spell is cast without specifying a target. Thus, it does not break Sanctuary)
Baldur's Gate Types of Spells
Spell-types are groups of spells that perform specific functions. There are several types of spells:
- direct damage (mundane, magical, elemental and para-elemental) cf. Direct Damage Spells BG2.
- damage-over-time (disease, poison, acid, lightning bounce/ricochet, noxious AoEs)
- buffs (to THAC0, AC, ApR, saving throws, HPs, Ability Scores etc.)
- debuffs (as above + Dispel Magic)
- immobilizers (exemplified by Web) cf. Immobilization Spells BG2.
- utility spells (open locks, find traps, identify items, haggling, scouting, clairvoyance)
- mobility/escape spells (Dimension Door, Haste, Invisibility, Sanctuary)
- divide & conquer spells (enchantment or charming) cf. Divide & Conquer Spells BG2.
- protection spells (spell protections, combat protections and illusions) cf. Illusion Spells BG2.
- summoning spells (undead, animals and monsters) cf. Summoning Spells BG2.
- shapeshifting spells (polymorph self/other)
- healing spells (the cure wounds line, Goodberry and Larloch's Minor Drain)
Such spell types can be used in conjunction to create spell combos. Examples:
- An AoE immobilizer such as Web followed up by a direct damage AoE such as Fireball. In other words, lock a group of enemies down and then light them up.
- A target-caster abjuration such as Minor Globe of Invulnerability followed up by Lightning Bolt. In other words, protect ourselves from something nasty and then unleash it about us.
Those are just a couple of the basics. There are many combos available to the player. These are covered in specific arcane and divine write-ups.
Baldur's Gate Casting Time
As covered in Combat System (see above), Baldur's Gate employs round-based combat. But unlike melee and ranged combat in which ApR factors, only one spell may be cast per round. However, spells have an equivalent to weapon speed factor: casting time.
Casting times range from one to ten-tenths of a round (which is six seconds long or 3 secs long if running at 60 AI updates per sec). The lower the value, the faster the casting of the spell. However, there is always a one-round cooldown between casting spells; always, and without exception. (Technically, the one-round cooldown aka aura cleansing can be bypassed on the Infinity Engine, as proven by Daer'Ragh's Aura Cleansing.
Now, first circle Magic Missile has a casting time of 1. That means it is cast in the first tenth of a round, which is almost instantaneously. Fifth circle Cloudkill on the other hand, has a casting time of 5. That means it takes half a round before it is unleashed (3 seconds). This is actually very noticeable to the player. Armed with the knowledge of casting times, we can make educated decisions on where and when to cast a spell.
As spells are being cast, the caster voices an incantation and gestures at the same time. While the words and gestures are purely aesthetic, they're nice lead-ups to the unleashing of spells.
Baldur's Gate Spellcaster Disruption
Spellcaster disruption aka spell disruption is also interesting. If a spellcaster is hit while in the process of casting a spell (say, in melee or by projectile, direct damage spell or through damage-over-time such as disease, acid and poison), then their spell fizzles, and they lose the spell. In that case, the spellcaster needs to wait an entire round before they can attempt another casting (assuming they have another memorized).
Spell disruption is the spellcaster's bane because it means they are going to be useless as a spellcaster for six entire seconds [1]. In most situations (assuming they survived the disruption and any follow-up attacks) they will need to retreat from the immediate battle, tuck themselves away somewhere safe, and wait it out, since, if they have been disrupted, they also won't be protected. We've all been there: wincing as we try to move our Mage out of harm's way.
[1] They may make physical attacks (swinging a quarterstaff, throwing darts at 3 ApR).
Non-necromantic Mages (and Bards) are less likely to be disrupted as they have access to Mirror Image. Clerics and Druids, on the other hand, do not have such a powerful illusion spell in their repertoire (though they are usually more tanky through equipment).
While improvements could have been made to spellcasting tactics, it is understandable that they were not employed in the Infinity Engine's infancy. The improvements could have been as follows:
Visual aid for AoE placement. As seen in ToEE, the ability to see the area of effect before casting the spell would have been better than a vague description of its range in yards.
It's better than estimating yards in the viewport of a computer game. Also, cone-shaped spells are particularly unwieldy to aim in isometric projection.
Identify spells as they are being cast. Black Isle's Icewind Dale 2 introduced this feature through its Spellcraft skill. It allows us to see which spells the enemies are casting -- as they are being cast and over the combat unit that is casting them.
It's better than looking for what's going on in a busy feedback window or recognizing incantation SFX and spellcasting VFX through foreknowledge.
That said, Baldur's Gate laid down the groundwork for solid spellcasting; nothing before it comes close. And it's much easier to improve on mechanics when we're not developing the engine in parallel, isn't it.
Mage Duels, Baldur's Gate 1 Original:
Mage Duels Baldur's Gate 1
Spellcaster duels aka Mage duels are a form of encounter design that have their seminal employment in Baldur's Gate 1 Original.
Note that BG1 invented spellcaster duels, NOT BG2. I'm talking about proper spellcaster duels involving BG1 Classes such mages, clerics, druids and bards. And BG1 Enemies such as ogre mages and greater doppelgangers.
The most famous and memorable mage duel of the last two decades has been the Davaeorn duel, but BG1 has many examples: Tarnesh, Silke, Nimbul, Mulahey, Bassilus, Tranzig, Venkt, Amarande, Kysus, Rezin, Natasha, Osmadi, Droth, Mutamin, Ramazith, Degrodel, Entillus, Naaman, Cythandria, Angelo, Shaldrissa, Semaj, Krystin.
Due to the ability of enemy spellcasters to immobilize and incinerate parties, or turn party members against each other, party mages usually tell everyone else to stand back and stay the hell out of the way when they take on the rival mage by themselves. While not always true, this serves as a good warning: The only way to take on a Mage, is with another Mage.
Spellcaster duels are a mainstay of the plot-critical path but can be found elsewhere as well. They employ illusions, teleporting, invisibility, protections, direct damage, immobilization, divide and conquer etc.
There are at least 20 more in the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion:
So there we have it. BG2 did not invent spellcaster duels because they were already in BG1 and IWD1. The reader will note that, these days, BG2 gets wrongfully credited for many things BG1 actually invented.
BG1 invented simulation of pre-buffing and highly mobile spellcasters [Davaeorn]. Pre-BG2 Infinity Engine was also capable of bypassing aura cleansing and employing complex scripting and tattoo contingencies [see: DSotSC].
Relatively speaking, BG1 spellcaster duels put BG2 ones to shame. BG1 employed mobility through movement and the Dimension Door spell, the latter of which BG2 omitted due to its sequence-breaking potential (because BioWare didn't want players skipping through their infantile cutscene-infested critical path). Most rival BG2 spellcasters are wholly immobile. They Shadow Door and then reappear in the exact same spot, ready to be killed.
Improved Invisibility also breaks almost every spellcaster encounter in BG2 because enemy spellcasters ignore party members that are under the effect, even when they're being attacked.
What BG2 added in respect to spellcasting (more spells and player-usable sequencers, triggers and contingencies) was just a Captain Obvious evolution on what the IE could already handle. BG2 revolutionized nothing at all [BG1 vs. BG2].
Next up: Baldur's Gate 1 Arcane Spells.
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