The Baldur's Gate Series

Now that I've gone through the basic plots of each of the games, I'd like to explain why I love them so much.

The first Baldur's Gate started with a humble enough beginning, and quickly became a sort of detective case. You had to figure out what was going on in the land and who was trying to kill you.

The second Baldur's Gate had more of a personal stake. You had to find Imoen, and eventually your very soul.

Throne of Bhaal felt more epic because it involved mass bloodshed and the killing of those who wished to be gods on a normal basis.

The thing the games have always been praised most for, is the cast of colorful party members you can bring along. Each of them have their own distinct personalities and skills and can bring different skills to the table. I couldn't really pick a favorite because I love so many of them, but I will bring special mentions to my favorites.


This is Minsc and Boo (The Hamster). They're probably the most famous of all of the party members in the game and it's not hard to see why. He's voiced by Jim Cummings, who you may recognize as the current voice of Winnie the Pooh. Jim Cummings also voices several other prominent characters in the series, but Minsc is by far the most popular. He's a Ranger from Rasheman a land of mighty warriors. Boo is his companion and lifelong friend. He provides Minsc with wisdom and comfort amidst the fierceness of battle. Minsc believes that Boo is a Miniature Giant Space Hamster though most think he's just a normal hamster. He's a bit crazy and is prone to going berserk during battle to defeat evil wherever it may go. He'll follow a good-alligned PC to the ends of Abeir-Toril. "Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the EYES!"


This is Edwin Odesseiron. He is a Red Wizard from Thay, and a jerk. He's the most powerful wizard in the game aside from the PC if it's a mage. As an evil character, he doesn't get along well with Minsc, but he makes up for it by providing some of the funniest dialogue in the series. He tends to flaunt his power and his ego is gigantic. At one point in Baldur's Gate II, you can follow a sidequest that temporarily turns him into a woman. She's as bitter and loud-mouthed then as she is as a male. If I don't play a mage, I always bring him with me. "Well certainly! There is so much to keep a great magus such as myself busy here! Look! A rock! How fascinating! "


This is Jan Jansen (Yawn-Yawn-Son). He's a Gnome Illusionist Thief. He likes to invent gadgets, but even more, he loves turnips. In fact, I'd say the only thing he likes more than turnips is telling long, probably untruthful, drawn-out stories about anything and everything, no matter if it pertains to the situation at hand or not. As a thief, he can become rather damn good. As a mage, he's alright, but nothing to write home about. He has a rather sad past, but he tends to not let it drag him down. He has a couple of hilarious banters with Minsc and a couple with Edwin as well. In fact, I'd say he's the best character to have a long if you want someone who will banter with everyone at least once. "Oh, yes indeed. It reminds me of my Cousin, Tyllie Fleetknees, and the garden she had at the foot of a dryad tree in the Forest of Wyrms. I tell you, she went up expecting well-aerated soil and did she get a surprise? Oh yes indeed! Why, I remember it like it was burned into my memory with a flaming stick, which was very close to the truth actually... "


Of course, I can't go without mentioning Jon Irenicus. He's my absolute favorite character in the series and one of my favorite villains of all time. He's voiced by David Warner, a man who is famous for playing villains (Sark from Tron, Nergal from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Ra's al Ghul in Batman the Animated Series). He's a supremely powerful mage who almost became a god. He's a vile, evil man, but wasn't always that way. He longs dearly for the ability to feel, but the only feelings who has are of rage and hatred. A very awesome villain, for an awesome game. "I cannot be caged! I cannot be controlled! Understand this as you die, ever pathetic, ever fools! "

The characters aren't the only things that make these games great. One must mention the sheer number of sidequests available to choose from. They rank in different levels of grandness, such as fetching a scroll for someone up to fighting an evil dragon who has stolen a man's land and kidnapped his child. They make the game very easy to play over and over again.

The game play of course is extremely important and it doesn't skimp out on it. They are in a top-down perspective and battles require varying amounts of tactics depending on the foe. You may reload several times before being able to figure out the right tactic to use against an enemy. Mindflayers in particular are difficult in this fashion unless you know what you're doing. Fighting dragons is one of the most heart-pounding things I have done in a game. You have several different types of weapons or spells to choose from and you must find what works best for the particular monster or person. Magic itself could take an entire entry to explain.

The music in the games is very mood-fitting depending on the location or situation. It can range from a jolly pub tune to an epic dragon fight song. I use the music in Morrowind it's so good.

I should also mention that the mod community is still going on strong and produces several mods of great quality. They've managed to fix some of the persisting bugs in the games as well, and have a made a mod to utilize Baldur's Gate with Baldur's Gate II's updates such as classes, spells, and races.

There are many other reasons to love these games and I've only scratched the surface. I'm done talking about them for now, but you'll probably hear more about them in the future. n_~ Stay tuned for the next entry!

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

The final installment of the Bhaalspawn Saga, is Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, expansion to Shadows of Amn. It added a few new spells, increased the level cap, and quite a few new areas, not to mention wrapped the story up. There are new monsters, new weapons and armor, and Watcher's Keep, the gigantic tower full of goodies and danger. Let's dig in, shall we?

Beware, for I will be spoiling most of the story in the next few paragraphs.

We begin where we left off. After spending a few days with the Elves, they kick you out. You hear many stories about the death and destruction brought on by the Bhaalspawn. You end up in a grove with a bunch of odd, stone statues that say some sort of prophesy or some other nonsense. You meet up with Illasera, who claims she's also a Bhaalspawn. Guess what? She's also a pushover. How she became important, is beyond me. You end up in what looks like Hell, but it turns out, that it's just a pocket-plane made by Bhaal.

You meet a Solar, which is a servant of Ao, the head-honcho of the gods (Feel free to correct me if I got that wrong). It brings an old friend...Sarevok! The loser wants you to revive him. When you do so, he tells you that you need to face some challenge. When you make it over to the challenge place, you fight a bunch of weak NPCs and eventually some rather mediocre NPCs. Once that's done, (or maybe it's before that) Sarevok asks you to let him in your party. It's up to choice whether you do so or not, but he's really damn powerful, so it's a good idea.

You eventually make it to Saradush, scenic capital of the Tethyr reg...what the hell happened here? It turns out, it's under siege by an army of massive proportions (almost literally). You meet a woman named Melissan, who apparently knows your name. Weird. Any who, she tells you not to, under any circumstance kill the Half-Orc Gromnir who runs the place. What does that mean, kiddies? That's right! You put his head on a pike and dance around his corpse. Melissan isn't very happy with you, but she says it might have been for the good. By the way, he was a Bhaalspawn too. Of course he was.

Apparently, no one can leave the town because of the siege that still rages. Fortunately for you, you have a Pocket Plane! You bail from Saradush and head to the North Forest to find the secret of Yaga-Shura, the Fire-Giant Bhaalspawn who is attacking Saradush. You eventually find yourself in the Forest of Mir. Here you meet up with Gorion. Wait, what? Yeah, of course, it's an impostor who uses Gorion's form to mess with your head. What a dick. Anyway, after you kill him, you meet Yaga-Shura's mom, who is a witch. She tells you that she wants her son dead, and that you need to go get his heart from the Marching Mountains. Such a loving mother.

You head to the Marching Mountains, kill a bunch of fire-themed enemies, meet a bunch of creatures who also claim to be Bhaalspawn (a chinchilla? Really?), and get the heart, along with the witch's heart. After you give them to her, she suddenly has a change of heart! (Horrible, I know) You kick her ass and destroy both. After that, Yaga-Shura is a wimp. You kick his ass and find Melissan, who tells you about the Five. They are Illasera (how the hell?), Yaga-Shura, Sendai, Abazigal, and Balthazar.

Next, you're told to go visit Balthazar, a badass monk who lives in Amkethran, a desert outpost. Once you meet him, he tells you he doesn't like you, but he doesn't like the others even more and that for the greater good, you should kill them. I love this guy. He gives you directions to their front doors and tells you to finish up your business and leave. What a badass.

You now have the choice of going to kill Sendai or Abazigal. Either way, you kick their asses. After that, you go back to find Balthazar and get some help from an old "friend" to see him. Once inside, Balthazar tells you that he plans to kill the other Bhaalspawn, then kill himself. You can attempt to bargain with him with varying levels of success, but no matter what, you'll have to kill him. After this, you go back to the Pocket Plane (actually you do this after every death of one of the Five, but I haven't mentioned it).

Once here, you're met with a stunning (not really) revelation: Melissan is a traitorous whore! She's actually a priestess of Bhaal that wants to have the power for herself! In an epic showdown, you kill her. The Solar shows back up to offer you two options: Become the new Lord of Murder, or Become a mortal. You get a different ending for either, and all of your party members will have their own epilogues. I especially like Edwin's. Anyway, that's the end of Throne of Bhaal! I'll be doing one more entry where I'll discuss my favorite things about the game. There may also be an LP in the future, but there are definitely a few I want to do before it. Stay tuned!

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Ah, here we are with the second game in the series, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.

The second game added several new features including: class kits, the Half-Orc, several new spells, and an increased level cap. The GUI was also enhanced for a cleaner feel. One is capable of bringing over their character from the first Baldur's Gate and using it to continue the Bhaalspawn Saga. This allows for a more connected feeling to the previous game. Several characters from the first game also make an appearance.

Beware, for I will be spoiling most of the story in the next few paragraphs.

The game starts in a laboratory. A strange wizard walks up to you, and he knows you're a Bhaalspawn! He does several experiments on you until he is carried away with other matters. After he leaves, Imoen comes to rescue you! She's looking rather worse for wear from her last appearance. She tells you that you need to get out of there as quickly as possible. You have the option of picking up Minsc and Jaheira from a couple of cages in the same room if you wish.

During the escape, you learn that your captor is named Jon Irenicus. He talked of unlocking some sort of potential within you, but obviously this is probably not a good thing. Eventually, your party escapes into Waukeen's Promenade in Athkatla.

The place is a mess as Irenicus has destroyed a large chunk of it while fighting a group of thieves. After killing a few more, a bunch of wizards show up declaring the show an unsanctioned use of magical energy. Irenicus doesn't like this. He blows several of them to smithereens, before finally deciding to allow them to take him prisoner, on the condition that they take Imoen as well. They take her and teleport away.At this point, there isn't much to do, besides solving a problem at the local circus, if one wishes. Eventually, however, you must head to the slums.

Upon arriving, you meet a man named Gaelen Bayle who offers a way to retrieve Imoen and find Irenicus to boot. There's one problem: It's gonna cost you 20,000 gold pieces. Unless you've been cheating, this is pretty much impossible to have at this point, so you'll have to leave, do some side-quests, and come back.

This is the point of the game that allows quite a bit of freedom. There are several ways you can earn the money you need, and it really doesn't matter how much time you take. While earning said money, you can also meet several new party members and get all sorts of goodies in the form of magical equipment, spells, and experience points. I tend to take forever just attempting to get super-powerful before leaving to find Imoen. This is probably my favorite portion of the game.

After getting 15,000 gold, you'll be visited by a shady character offering the same deal that Gaelan was, but for only 15,000 instead. After this, you'll be informed by Gaelan's informant that the same deal has just been offered to you. Either way will get you to Imoen, but one path is certainly quite a bit darker. You'll finally reach the island of Brynnlaw which holds the asylum of Spellhold, where both Irenicus and Imoen wait.

When you reach the asylum, you are greeting by a thinly veiled Irenicus, but of course, your character isn't smart enough to notice that it's him. He captures you, steals your soul, and reveals to you a revelation: Imoen is also a Bhaalspawn! He then let's his "sister" Bodhi, a vampire, play with you while you regroup with Imoen. During this point, your character will have a few dreams and eventually be capable of turning into the Slayer, an avatar of Bhaal that is packing quite a bit of power. You eventually get out of the asylum, and depending on a choice you make, can either go on a detour, or go straight to the Underdark.

The Underdark is not a nice place. Anyone who knows anything about the Forgotten Realms can tell you that. While here, you meet up with a silver dragon named Adalon. She's had her eggs stolen by drow, and she's not happy. She tells your party to go get them back and disguises you as drow. You eventually get on the "good" side of one of the drow who is in charge of the eggs. Depending on yet another choice you make, the outcome of this can differ quite a bit, but let's assume you take the eggs back to Adalon. She then teleports you to the exit to the Underdark.

You meet a large group of Elves. They inform you (sorta) that Irenicus was working with the drow in order to lay siege upon Suldanessellar, where the Tree of Life resides. He wishes to become one with the tree in order to become a god. After retrieving Imoen's soul and destroying Bodhi for good, you made your way to the ruined city. Once there you must gather a few artifacts to awaken an avatar of Rillifane who quickly dispatches the siege. You must then make your way to Irenicus.

You find Ellisime, the queen of the Elves. She instructs you to kill parasites that are destroying the tree. After this, Irenicus gets pissed and you fight. After this, thinking you have won, you wake up in a sort of Hell. Irenicus has dragged you here with him! After receiving several Tears of Bhaal, you fight Irenicus for the final time. This is where the game ends. But, this is not the end for the Bhaalspawn. The Bhaalspawn Saga ends in the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal.




I will explain Throne of Bhaal in the next installment. Sorry for the extreme lack of detail at points.

Baldur's Gate

Ah Baldur's Gate. My favorite game series. I could say a lot about it. I could mention that it was one of the first games that required me to use strategy before most fights. I could also mention that the fact that you can take on a Silver Dragon and win is kick ass. But you know what? I think I'll mention both of those things and more. Let's get started shall we?

Beware, for I will be spoiling most of the story in the next few paragraphs.

The first Baldur's Gate game was released in 1998 by Interplay. It is an RPG using modified 2nd edition AD&D rules. The game allows one to make a character with a few different races to choose from and a few classes as well. Once that is finished, one's character starts in the Library Fortress of Candlekeep. After doing several chores around the place, you meet up with your father, Gorion. He tells you that the two of you must leave immediately, as it is not safe inside the walls of Candlekeep any longer. Eventually you are ambushed by a shadowy figure, who kills Gorion while you flee. After hiding for a few hours, you find Imoen, a childhood friend from Candlekeep and she forcibly enters your party (Note that you can drop her if you wish). You eventually gather some party members, and you head to Nashkel, where apparently strange things are happening.

In the course of the game, you end up saving the Nashkel mine, which helps put an end to the problems that the locals are having with the iron. You end up following a chain of people to find out what all of this has to do with you, as a bunch of assassins are following you as well. You end up going to the Cloakwood mines in order to completely halt it's production as well. Afterwards, you head to Baldur's Gate itself and meet up with the Flaming Fist. You do couple of chores for them, and then head back to Candlekeep in order to stop the people who are responsible for trying to kill you, The Iron Throne. Once back at Candlekeep, one thing leads to another and you are imprisoned for killing the Iron Throne leaders (whether you actually killed them or not). You convince an old friend to teleport you to the under levels where you make your escape.

One other very important detail is learned from your exploration back at Candlekeep. Upon checking Gorion's closet, you find a letter addressed to you. It says that you are not Gorion's son at all, but the child of the dead God of Murder, Bhaal. The man who killed Gorion was also a child of Bhaal named Sarevok, and he wishes to become the new God of Murder. When you return to Baldur's Gate, you find that the Flaming Fist is under Sarevok's control. Eventually you gain entrance to the Duchal Palace where you save two important members. They teleport you to the Thieves Guild, which leads to an ancient underground city with a temple dedicated to Bhaal. Eventually once inside, you kill Sarevok and end his reign of terror, once and for all. This is where the first game ends.

There is also an expansion called Tales of the Sword Coast which increases the level cap and adds several new quests, but it's not really big enough to have to explain much.

My next entry will detail the events of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Stay tuned!