Combat System Baldur's Gate 1 Original

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.

In Baldur's Gate, combat plays out in realtime as per arcade games such as Diablo 1 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 statuses.

Initiative in Baldur's Gate

In addition, initiative is employed through weapon speed factors 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 as exemplified by ToEE and Jagged Alliance 2, 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 in the chest, in one round or six seconds.

And this:

30 Magic Missiles in the face.

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 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 slaying the mobs of aggro, it's quite a satisfying experience.

For deeper coverage of the combat system, please refer to melee combat, ranged combat, spellcasting and theft, stealth and backstabbing.

Next up: Baldur's Gate Graphics.

Baldur's Gate 1 Original (Index) | Baldur's Gate 1 Review (Index).