I knew it would happen. I knew the moment I really took the time to flesh out my character and play – knowing I had the full game right in front of me – I’d become obsessed.
You see, I loved Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. They were epic. Throw in the fact that I spent probably as much time coming up with character concepts in D&D 3E as I did playing while in college, and.. Yeah.
I was guaranteed a critical fail in resisting the temptations.
For my first playthrough I opted to go with a dashing Drow rogue turned assassin (prestige classes ftw), because.. Well, is anybody surprised that someone who runs a site with a focus on stealth games played a stealthy character?
Anyway, the experience has been magical. I actually replayed one encounter multiple ways just to see all the options for how to handle it.
My main is also a bit of the “face” of the party, with enough Charisma to get them through a number of encounters.
What impresses me the most in this game is the both the writing, and the complexity of the systems being implemented (and implemented well). Neither are a simple feat in a game of this scope.
I did notice a handful of minor quirks; One NPC you encounter had VO that wasn’t consistently recorded, and appeared to have used a different mic as there are dramatically different tonal characteristics between the first few lines and a later one (in the same conversation, FYI).
Still, that is relatively minor compared to the grand visage this game provides.
So, if you need me, I’ll be in the Forgotten Realms. Don’t wait up.