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As I Write I Play it Minimized... There have been a lot of great RPG's lately, especially in the Massively Multiplayer arena. And there have been a lot of great RPG's in the past as well. Baldur's Gate is a great RPG that seems to have fallen right in the middle of the golden age of RPG's however. Few can deny the ease one can slip into a game of Diablo or Dungeon Siege. Few can argue how fun it is to build a deep character on Everquest or Arcanum. However, few of these games ever appealed to me like BG did. Here is why... First, Baldur's Gate makes the unusual RPG decision to let the gamer control ALL of the party members, their every move and spell, something I wish was picked up more for other RPGs. This means that while maybe its not very "realistic" the player can really be sure what direction a battle goes. Also, BG lets players pause and give commands at will and does not give the player any trouble with setting up chains of spells or items. This is nice. Finally, BG is very story driven and, not unsurprising, the story is fantastic. You play as the son of a dead god who is swept away by the currents of your destiny. Between Shadows of Ahm and Throne of Bhaal, your avatar will be put through many a grinder and it will amaze you how great it all is. Some have found BG less fun because of its hardcore D & D roots. Armor is counted by how many dice roll points are removed from each attack i.e. a -13 armor must be attacked by a +3 weapon and a dice roll of...10. It's more complicated than that though. I obviously managed to play the game without really knowing what was going on technically so most others can too. Its surprisingly idiot proof. Also, for those of you out there who like to gather stuff in game, BG is awesome because the magic items not only each have a story but are wonderfully varied rather than being simple level ups or + weapons. It adds a little something. Problems? Besides replacing crack in most lives as the new addiction, BG has few. There are some persistent bugs that even the newest patches fail to fix and, for all its efforts to the contrary, getting into the game at first can be a hurdle. Graphics are dated by any standard and will not drop any jaws as Dungeon Siege did. Naturally none of this really effects playability but it's worth noting. Lastly, the story is great, no doubt. Some people, however, may not like how it ends.