Yesterday I was talking about the great Icewind Dale series and today I'll talk about another great RPG series from Forgotten Realms based on Dungeons and Dragons ruleset. It's a game series from Bioware, and this series where that great RPG company made their name and today are breaking all the records for sales in RPG genre. Baldur's gate games will immerse you in their worlds until you finish them. And after you finish the game you will come back for more to see what will happen if you bring another companion, or choose different quest lines and dialogue options. Rare are the games that can do that. I haven't tried Enhanced Editions yet, maybe later when I get the chance to try them out, I'll write something about them in detail. Until then, here is something about good old BG.
Baldur's Gate
First Baldur's Gate game from 1998 started the whole Dungeons and Dragons PC games craze at the time, it quickly became fan favorite game because of all the great and fresh RPG features it offered to the players. Infinity engine is what gave this series life and it gave life to many more after this one. Players were given choice to create their own characters, not some presets that you can just pick and start playing with, this is the type of game where players need to engage and start thinking what will work. Gameplay is based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules with pauseable combat when we give our party orders. Game is set in the western shore of Faerun along the Sword Coast where our party will start their epic fantasy adventure. With the expansion pack Tales of the Sword Coast this game is a full package worth 100's of hours of playing.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
For many RPG gamers this game is the best RPG ever created, for me it is top 5. Game is released in a year 2000 and was developed by Bioware and published by Black Isle Studios. Game is based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition ruleset. This game produced some of the most memorable companions and that started the revolution in RPG gaming where more and more developers focused on rich and interesting backstories of player's companions. Game also had one of the most memorable villain characters in shape of Jon Irenicus, a rouge mage trying to capture the mysterious properties of our character soul, story will keep you interested until the end of the expansion Throne of Bhaal. Baldur's Gate 2 with the expansion pack is one of the best games ever created and with all the side quests and replayability you can end up playing this game literally forever.
