Description
Candlekeep is an ancient fortress situated on the rural Sword Coast. Recently, inexplicable events have been plaguing this quiet place, which has long become a large library where men of wisdom and knowledge can study in peace. Unknown mercenaries try to enter the walls of Candlekeep, interested in a seemingly ordinary and unimportant young person - an orphan who was taken in by the mage Gorion and treated by him as his own child. One night, Gorion decides to leave Candlekeep and take his adopted child to a safe place. However, as they leave the fortress, they are ambushed by a group of assassins. The orphan manages to escape, but Gorion dies in battle.
The gates of Candlekeep are locked, because its inhabitants are afraid to attract to themselves the wrath of the mysterious attackers. Only Imoen, another child who was brought up by Gorion and has been like a sister to the protagonist, is willing to share the uncertain future. The two have nothing, no place to call their home, only a wide hostile world in front of them. A long and perilous journey begins there.
Baldur's Gate is a role-playing game that uses the rule set of
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). Set in the universe of Forgotten Realms, the game is the first part of the saga that lets the player explore various towns, wilderness areas and dungeons, undertake many side quests, and find companions for the long journey. The player creates the hero(ine) by selecting his or her class, choosing between fighter, thief, mage, priest, ranger, and druid (including sub-classes, dual- and multi-class characters); alignment (Good-Evil and Lawful-Chaotic axis), and weapon proficiencies. The 2nd edition AD&D rules are applied in the game during combat, character leveling, class restrictions, etc.
Up to six player-controlled characters can participate in combat. Battles occur in the same environment as exploration, and flow in real time, though the player is able to pause combat at any time to issue precise commands to any of the characters. Once the game is unpaused, the characters repeat the last action selected by the player until it is changed or becomes impossible to execute. Characters can freely move during battles; party formation and positioning in combat play a significant role.
Alternate Titles
- "柏德之門" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
- "博德之门" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
- "Ворота Бальдура" -- Russian spelling
- "Wrota Baldura" -- Polish title
- "Bode zhi Men" -- Chinese title
- "Battleground Infinity" -- Working title
Part of the Following Groups
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Trivia
Cancelled PlayStation port
A Playstation 5-disc version was revealed to be in the works by
Interplay on October 25, 1999. It was to be ported by UK developer
Runecraft but on March 29, 2000 it was put "on hold" and never saw the light of day.
Drizzt Do'Urden
Though he appears only once in the game, the legendary Drizzt Do'Urden makes a brief but sweet (and rewarding) guest appearance in a certain part of the game. Drizzt is a very famous D&D character that sprung from the Dark Elf Trilogy of forgotten realms-based novels by R.A. Salvatore.
German version
In the German version all blood and splatter animations were removed.
Graveyards
Visit the cemetery in one of the towns, and you'll be able to read many funny inscriptions on the graves. An example: "Here lies an atheist, all dressed up, and no place to go".
Narrator
The same person voices Sarevok (the hero's main adversary) and the narrator in the game. This might be a coincidence, but in
Icewind Dale, another AD&D game by Black Isle, the ultimate evil and narrator are done by the same person again, and in that game it's a plot point.
Novel
Wizards of the Coast published a novelization of this game in 1999, written by Forgotten Realms series editor
Philip Athans.
Sales
In 1999,
Baldur's Gate has won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Awards
- Origin
- 1998 - Best Role-Playing Computer Game
- PC Gamer
- April 2000 - #9 in the "Magazine's Readers All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
- April 2005 - #11 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/2000 - Best RPG in 1999
- Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland<
Information also contributed by
Alan Chan,
Chris Martin,
PCGamer77,
Pseudo_Intellectual,
Scaryfun,
Unicorn Lynx and
Xoleras
