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 over two decades.
This review has a word count of 25,000, and its author has written almost half a million words on Baldur's Gate.
As it pertains to cRPG Design, Baldur's Gate is rated as Well Above Average.
Baldur's Gate 1 Review Index
To understand Baldur's Gate one must have historical awareness. Therefore, it is best to first read:
| Pt. I: (this post) | Pt. XI: Charm Dialogue BG1 | Pt. XXII: Baldur's Gate 1 Magic |
| Pt. II: Baldur's Gate 1 FMV | Pt. XII: Baldur's Gate Side Quests | Pt. XXIII: Mage Duels BG1 |
| Pt. III: Baldur's Gate 1 Setting | Pt. XIII: Baldur's Gate 1 Music | Pt. XXIV: Arcane Spells BG1 |
| Pt. IV: Infinity Engine | Pt. XIV: Baldur's Gate 1 Prologue | Pt. XXV: Divine Spells BG1 |
| Pt. V: Baldur's Gate 1 Ruleset | Pt. XV: Baldur's Gate Exploration | Pt. XXVI: Baldur's Gate 1 Wands |
| Pt. VI: Baldur's Gate Gameplay | Pt. XVI: Baldur's Gate 1 Waylays | Pt. XXVII: Baldur's Gate Reactivity |
| Pt. VII: Baldur's Gate Combat | Pt. XVII: Baldur's Gate 1 Bosses | Pt. XXVIII: Durlag's Tower BG1 |
| Pt. VIII Baldur's Gate Graphics | Pt. XVIII: Melee Combat BG1 | Pt. XXIX: Werewolf Island BG1 |
| Pt. IX: User Interface BG1 | Pt. XX: Ranged Combat BG1 | Pt. XXX: Ice Island BG1 |
| Pt. X: Baldur's Gate 1 Writing | Pt. XXI: Baldur's Gate 1 Thieves | Pt. XXXI: BG1 vs BG2 |
• Correspondence: Lead Writer of Baldur's Gate: Lukas Kristjanson
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.
Next up: Baldur's Gate Introduction.
Baldur's Gate 1 Original (Index).
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