Did you know the next 10 days lead to the 15th anniversary of Baldur’s Gate?
We can’t miss this special anniversary in PC gaming, just because while it was the first RPG released by BioWare it is still one of the biggest names in the business and arguably the best cRPG game ever.
At first I wanted to post this thread exactly on 12/21/2013 but I think it’s better for all of us to start celebrating this simply stunning event now.
Of course, some resources may say Baldur's Gate was released on November 30 but when you look at this sweet page (
http://rpgvaultarchive.ign.com/archive/19981220.shtml), it becomes clear that precisely December 21, 1998 is one of the best dates ever.
How touching it is to read this official press release from 15 years back:
#1 MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW GAME, BALDUR'S GATE, SHIPS!
IRVINE, California, December 21, 1998 - Black Isle Studios(tm), the role-playing game (RPG) division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: IPLY) announced today the release of Baldur's Gate(tm) the number one new game title in pre-sale activity at certain mall-based stores. Electronics Boutique, Babbages and Software Etc. as well as independent consumer surveys have all reported tremendous interest in the game. The title is in the duplication process, and will begin shipping to software retailers nationwide today on five CD-ROM's for Windows(r) 95/98-based computers. Baldur's Gate was developed by the Alberta, Canada-based software company, BioWare Corp., and will support up to six different players in its Internet-based multi-player mode and also provides for an excellent solo play experience.
"Every quarter, GameSpot researches the PC titles market, to identify which titles are most in demand among the millions of users who use the site each month," noted Jon Epstein, president and CEO of GameSpot Inc. "Baldur's Gate has consistently climbed up the ranks since we've been tracking the game. And now, in our most recent November 1998 survey, when asked to name which title they would purchase next, our users wrote down Baldur's Gate more than any other title published in 1998."
Black Isle Studios and Interplay attribute the anticipation of Baldur's Gate to the enormous gameplay area (five CD's and over 10,000 scrolling screens) and also the promise of a true Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(r) experience for both novice and seasoned role-playing gamers alike. Several mall-based stores reported a near frenzy for the release of the game. "Baldur's Gate is definitely one of the most highly anticipated and long-awaited games of 1998. We've had very high pre-sale activity on it, and it should be a great title to end the year with," commented Bob McKenzie, director of purchasing for Babbages Etc.
"We are extremely excited about the fact that we will have Baldur's Gate to sell in 1998. We think gamers are going to be very happy that Black Isle Studios and BioWare were able to complete the game and get it out on the shelves before the end of the year," added Jerry Madaio, vice president of merchandise in Electronics Boutique's PC division.
Set in the Sword Coast region of the popular Forgotten Realms(r) AD&D campaign setting, Baldur's Gate takes the player on a visually dazzling adventure. It brings to life the grand traditions of a true AD&D role-playing game experience for the personal computer through cutting-edge art and loyalty to the AD&D rule set. The story begins with looming economic strife and mysterious murders terrifying the local residents of the city of Baldur's Gate. This causes local leaders to point the finger at the neighboring nation of Amn. War seems imminent, and the player's character is thrust into the dangerous regional conflict to unravel the mystery with a party of adventurers. What a wonderful Christmas present is was!
In this thread I want to look back through the years.
To say there was scepticism over the very first mention of the future game would be an understatement. There hadn't been a genuinely classic D&D RPG since Eye of the Beholder II, released in 1992, and the most recent high-profile releases (Blood and Magic and Descent to Undermountain) had been unmitigated disasters. The RPG fanbase was also lukewarm on the idea of the game being in real-time, as Fallout had show what could still be done with turn-based combat. BioWare's lack of experience was also a concern. Their first game, a MechWarrior-alikecalled Shattered Steel, was a modest success.
However, this scepticism soon turned to cautious excitement. Early screenshots showed a (relatively, for the time) lush, vibrant art style. Interplay soon began showing signs of palpable excitement over the game as builds came in. In fact, the 'Infinity Engine' so impressed them that they had their own internal RPG development division, Black Isle Studios, use it for their own projects. Doubts over the combat were assuaged when it was revealed that the game could be paused at any time, but orders could still be issued. This approach mixed the very best of turn-based combat (being able to consider the battlefield and all available combat options at leisure) and the immediacy of real-time fighting.
Baldur's Gate was released in December 1998, barely two months after the release of Half-Life and seven after StarCraft, two other games that completely redefined their genres. Those opening the box were greeted with an unprecedented sight: the game shipped on five CD-ROMs. A full install would take up about 1.5GB of hard disk space, a jaw-dropping amount at a time when most games still took up a few hundred at most (Half-Life clocked in at 400MB and was considered large; StarCraft scraped barely 180MB). The game wasn't in 3D, but its 2D artwork, complex animations and AI routines all put a heavy load on processors and RAM, with only the most powerful PCs capable of running the game at its maximum potential.
It was the culmination of nearly 90 man-years of work by a number of inexperienced, but very talented and creative individuals at BioWare. - Ray Muzyka
Baldur's Gate would be a huge success. It received positive reviews from virtually every major computer gaming publication that reviewed it. It sold about two million units quickly after the release. PC Gamer US said Baldur's Gate "reigns supreme over every RPG currently available, and sets new standards for those to come." How perceptively;)
It got the 1998 Game of the Year Award from Computer Games Online, Computer Games Magazine, GameCenter Reader's Choice, Games Domain, IGN and Vault Network.
It became the 1998 RPG of the Year by Adrenaline Vault, Computer Games Online, Computer Gaming World, Electric Games, GameCenter, GameCenter Reader's Choice, Games Domain, Gamespot, Gamespot Reader's Choice, IGN, PC Gamer and Vault Network.
Baldur's Gate's influence has been huge, it’s hard to overestimate it. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is listed as the sixth highest-scoring PC game on the Metacritic site. Everything BioWare has done since, from Knights of the Old Republic to Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises, stems from Baldur's Gate, 2D, modestly-budged game. Though games now have gotten flashier and moved into full 3D, the DNA of Baldur's Gate can be still be seen in many current RPGs.
And no words in the word can express my joy of reviving Baldur's Gate through enhanced editions. Only several weeks separate us from experiencing this great game on Android devices. This kind of progress if compared to the vanilla 640*480 resolution... seems fantastic just to think about it;)
Thank you, Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Michael Hoenig,
@TrentOster,
@CameronTofer,
@PhilipDaigle,
@samhulick,
@AndrewFoley,
@LiamEsler,
@CamDawg,
@Cuv,
@AndreaColombo,
@Avenger_teambg,
@AlexT,
@Dee and so many others who contributed to the creation of Baldur's Gate and BG:EE.
Let us all celebrate the 15th anniversary of Baldur’s Gate!
