User Interface, Baldur's Gate 1 Original (UI)

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

• 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

Area Map mode shows the explored parts of the current area from a bird's-eye view and indicates the exact position of the characters. Double-clicking on the area will conveniently exit map mode and center the playfield on that position; at which point the ground may be clicked on to have the units move there, even from off-screen.

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).

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?

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!

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]. 

Next up: Baldur's Gate Writing.

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