Gameplay, Baldur's Gate 1 Original

Baldur's Gate 1 Gameplay

Perspective & Basic Gameplay

In order to facilitate party-based tactics, the playing field or viewport in Baldur's Gate 1 Original consists of prerendered screens presented in three-quarter top-down/45-degree isometric projection.

The player controls between one and six combat units (a party of adventurers) in a traditional "point n 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 n repeat in order to remove the fog of war and fully explore the zone. 

Fog of War in Baldur's Gate Gameplay

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 in Baldur's Gate Gameplay

The run-away winner for worst aspect of game-play 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

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 clusterf*ck, 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 series 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:

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 [pic], and also by setting waypoints (Shift-key).

Next up: Baldur's Gate Combat System.

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