Baldur's Gate is a series of Role-Playing video games and the name of the first release in the series. The first game was released in 1998, and changed the RPG genre forever. Seriously, before that people thought that Diablo was an RPG. Then they realized it was just an addictive hack 'n' slash click-fest. Baldur's Gate provided not only challenging and
tactically interesting combat, but also an intriguing storyline that actually places your character in the plot, which is affected by your actions and decisions. Prior to Baldur's Gate, most
RPG's introduced your character like
the Stranger from High Plains
Drifter.
Tales of the Sword Coast was released as the expansion.
Nobody thought it could be better until Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of
Amn came out in 2000. Gameplay was even better, story just kept getting better, and the best part was everybody knew an expansion was coming.
Finally The expansion to
SoA came out entitled Throne of
Bhaal. It is the final
installment of the series. Beating the game gives you a combination of incredible accomplishment and also terrible depression from the realization that never again will you experience an RPG like it. Now we must all
make do playing it over again and fantasizing about it while playing Dragon Age.