Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Review (Meat-King, The Ultimate)
"Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.”
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition represents a classic role-playing game (RPG), originally developed by the company BioWare and published by the company Interplay Entertainment in 1998. This remake (2012) has been developed by Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, and published by Atari. Further notable remakes of the development studio are Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and Planescape: Torment.
Pros & cons:
++ You could play as the stereotypical good guy with a team of righteous characters. Or, you abandon your mortal shell, and create a demigod by using import / export shenanigans after you have collected all attribute books. Break the game by importing your own group of min / max freaks, and commit countless atrocities that would make the former God of Murder proud. Embrace your destiny!
+ The remake introduces a ton of quality of life changes for the base game, which translates into more content and technical modernization including a glorious 4K resolution. An additional DLC and sandbox mode round it up.
+ Kudos to the Legacy of Bhaal difficulty. It transforms every monster into an abomination of unparalleled power blessed by the four chaos gods.
o The side quests are a mixed bag, you have the good, the bad, and the pick-up-the-item-I-just-dropped ones. My favourite quest develops around the boy Albert, who turns out to be a lesser demon from the Nine Hells. The problem: the quest can be done in less than a minute, and the surprise at the end remains unused. One of many wasted opportunities for great adventures.
- The majority of companions are basically mercenaries, and interactions between them are rare. I see them as a way to fill my ranks with like-minded individuals, while role-playing around my reputation. Because if they don’t like what you do, they will leave you in a heartbeat.
-- The amount of dead space in the outskirts can only be described as atrocious. Occasionally, the game sprinkles some trash mobs here and there, but it remains a tedious grind to search every corner of the world map. Again, those regions should have been filled with interesting side quests in order to incentivise and reward exploration.
Summary:
A solid remake of the game adding more content and technical customization, and to my personal surprise it has held up well. More importantly, it allows the younger fan base to experience a classic title among the RPG genre.
Most of the negative aspects diminish the overall attractiveness, but do not break the immersion while exploring dungeons filled with the promise of untold riches.
Recommended for people with a fetish for a certain hamster.
Achievements:
Estimated time for 100% completion: +80 hours
Singleplayer achievements: 129
Multiplayer achievements: none