I disagree with the opening post. I have a very low opinion on
Baldur's Gate, and would never consider it the king of PC RPGs. I will concede that the world of the Forgotten Realms isn't a turnoff for other people, so I will leave that angle alone... only noting that the story is pretty weak with nothing particularly outstanding. My bigger criticism is that BG doesn't play all that well.
The real time but pausable combat lacked the interesting tactical possibilities of D&D that we got in pure, distilled form in the Gold Box games like
Secret of the Silver Blades or
Curse of the Azure Bonds. You never had enough
control over your dudes or the battle situation. I don't mean that they occasionally got scared and ran (I loved that kind of thing in
Jagged Alliance 2), it is that the interface was clumsy and awkward and there weren't enough interesting things to do.
The game process was remarkably dull. The exploration of world areas strip by strip made the experience rather monotonous. Older CRPGs had the challenge of mapping a convoluted wilderness and dungeons on graph paper (a bit of a lost art today); in
Ultima VII, you faced navigation challenges and the space of the overland was filled with interesting little details, unique locations, hidden dungeons and NPCs. In comparison, Baldur's Gate gives us wide open areas, but they don't have so much of interest, and again, you just "strip them". The gnoll fortress was the only area I remember as entertaining (and I think some good stuff was also found in Cloakwood).
Baldur's Gate was also full of dull fetch quests. I am not totally against them if they are done smartly, but here, they were very repetitive. Again, Ultima VII. had tasks ranging from fetch through investigation to discovering some mundane, plot-irrelevant but interesting details (like how the high and mighty Lord British is screwing the chambermaid
).
Fallout also had involving, not over-complicated but complex quests. BG, in comparison, is as complex as a lump of coal.
Annoying sound acting. "You must gather your party before venturing forth." <
Shudder> Professional but soulless graphics.
All in all, I consider BG firmly mediocre. It is not a
bad game (the multi-CD interactive movies of the mid 1990s are much more offensive); rather, it is the triumph of average design. I was entertained for a short while, and slogged through the rest of it because if I had already spent (a lot of) money on it, I might as well get something back. I didn't get much, and sold it soon afterwards. :what: