Baldur's Gate - Review @ Megascore

BG2 refined BG in a lot of ways but it destroys the game design with it's locked away areas. Granted the epic locations that you basically trample through and destroy don't ever warrant a return - Underdark, Spellhold, etc etc. BG has the magic of being a low level wilderness campaign that requires use of the temples and inns, classic rpg stuff, hunting around for spells and the like. Talking about closed areas it's something that really puts me off NWN and KOTOR like games, for some reason they just don't feel right.

I'm not sure what you mean by closed areas, but I definitely missed that open-ended design in NWN and Kotor as well. When Bioware went from the open-ended setup to the hub-and-spoke setup, I think that it was a big step backwards. The feel that you are exploring an organic world is so much more satisfying than the feel of being guided through what feels like a world that was custom-built for you. That, to me, is what made games like Baldurs Gate, Divine Divinity, and the Gothic series so enjoyable to play. I loved Kotor immensely, but it definitely wasn't for its sense of exploration.

Hmm, yeah, I'm not quite sure what the correct terminology is for "closed areas". I think there are a few in BG such as TotS' island. Basically I mean game locations that can only be played through once and then are totally closed off to the player forever. For me it destroys (as Coleridge put it) the suspension of disbelief. In NWN and KOTOR this goes to extremes in the ACT system where you are basically placed in another game and the old area is totally inaccessible.

Now I think these one time play areas can be extremely useful game and story wise , but over use can destroy immersion in a fictional world.

OK I agree with you about the closed areas. NWN especially was rather blatant that way. There was absolutely no sense of a larger world in that game. The various chapters could have taken place on Mars as far as I can tell. Kotor at least had a majority of the game take place when you could visit and re-visit the five major planets where you meet the Jedi Council and then find the Star Map. I miss that design present in games like Divine Divinity and Baldurs Gate. It seems like everyone opts for linearity or level scaling or a combination of the two nowadays, and that spoils the fun of becoming more powerful so that you can kick some guy's ass who beat you 20 hours ago at level 1.

This review didn't pass the sniff test and went downhill quickly from there. After a few paragraphs I decided it wasn't worth reading. Sorry.

Yes, in a world where you can "level up" and become a powerful being it makes some sense that the powerful people in that world are... powerful, or at least influential and rich enough to surround themselves with such people. Famous warriors, wizards, thieves, etc are actually good at the said role.

woges said:

I did read the dark elf trilogy around that time and that was just crap, and ended any real interest I had in reading anymore fiction about FR.

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Hey! I know R.A. Salvatore is very plain and bland in his writing, but that's his best work, anyway, and the Dark Elves are awesome!

FR is one of those settings that works better as a game than a novel in my opinion.