Who doesn't know the Baldur's Gate saga these days, both the excellent old episodes and the recent ones which aren't bad at all. Today, we are going to tell you about the sequel to Dark Alliance, a Baldur's Gate which is quite different from the original saga by its gameplay and its history.
Graphics & atmosphere
We're going to be frank, the graphics are quite old-fashioned as a whole, the animations rigid, all a bit old school. However, it clearly reinforces the nostalgic side that many players will be able to find on the title. As for the atmosphere, whether in terms of the sometimes absent sound, spells and combat noises, we remain on the classic, already proven, but not necessarily immersive. We like it or we don't like it, it's according to everyone's taste. Personally I find it enjoyable, but I'm an old gamer who has already seen too many games of this genre.
History
You play as one of the proposed characters who goes to Baldur's Gate. Only, on the way, you will come across merchants attacked by goblins and your sense of justice will force you to overcome them and save this beautiful world. The start of a gear that will take you towards a large-scale conspiracy with the usual stake: the free world. Plus, you'll be able to find out more about your character (for currency) who lost her memory, and find out what drove you on the adventure.
Gameplay
Any rich universe must have an equally rich gameplay. Here, we have the choice between several characters (barbarian, necromancer, thief, priest, monk) who will each have their own specificities and statistics. Personally, I chose the Necromancer which is all about magic and corpse awakening. Well, let's be clear, we find ONE corpse that will serve as a tank, and will have its bones dislocated in one shot by bosses, even with a protection buff.
So we start on a plain with a quest that will serve as a common thread to get our feet wet. Depending on your strengths (and the difficulty), it will be either simple or hardcore as possible as the strafing of arrows is sometimes incredibly cruel. With my trusty pile of bones pulling enemies in, I can use my spells to send them to death without too much trouble, and it will be the same for 3/4 of the game. Ranged attacks being really powerful, I uses either a maxed and boosted spell for the single target, or a maxed and boosted multitarget spell for groups. Protection and ahead of all, we get out of the way. At times, a little weariness comes to touch me when I see the enemies that I send to the cemetery without difficulty, and I tell myself that I should have taken another class, but too late now, we are already halfway through. Game.
Leveling up will give you points to distribute for your abilities (raising some and unlocking others). For my part, I focused on two spells, mana, and an ability that passively boosts my damage spells, in addition to my protection and my trusty pile of bones. Quite simple, but so effective, knowing that in addition, you will from time to time have a few statistical points to put in which will allow you to orient your style a little more. Note that a statistic will provide you with additional skill points to distribute.
All of this will go with your gear to hone your adventurer gear and defeat your enemies, some of which (like armor) will only be unlockable with points in the appropriate skill. And you will go from thread to needle completing quests by going from zone to dungeon with occasionally bosses that are a little more violent than those we usually come across, or quite cool events like an area that fills with poison and will force you to run and use your life and mana potions to hold on until the exit is blocked by many creatures, or a burning mansion which will drop hot rocks on your head, and which hides a secondary quest in which it will be necessary to release blocked minions. That's cool on its own, especially when you have to inspect each room and find hidden passages to find quest items, or chests filled with valuable items.
However, in these same objects, I noticed something quite annoying during my journey: no way to see the statistics of rings and amulets, or even impossible to see anything other than the damage on weapons, even with the indicated key. A bit of a shame because it forced me to put objects sometimes at random. Note also that we can earn a lot of xp against gold, by unlocking pieces of our personal history with an NPC. The rate is simple, the asking price is equivalent to 1XP for 1OR.
Summary
In itself, I had a generally pleasant experience, between nostalgia and appreciation, but many players may not like the style, compared to the games that come out these days. Even if giving a chance to this kind of game can make us discover a nugget, we will sometimes find ourselves in front of a title that will leave us unmoved. Personally, I particularly recommend it to those who are fans of Baldur's Gate lore, or those who like to discover or rediscover the games we played before. For other players, it may be more complicated...
