Despite the fact that it was originally designed as a Gamecube game, I loved Twilight Princess. The beautifully-crafted themed dungeons, the frequent story moment cutscenes, the varied gameplay, the mini-games, the music, I loved it all. And yet I never played Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker. Call me a late-to-the party Zelda fanboy.

I kept my copy of Twilight Princess. Maybe I’m hoping to get my wife to play it. Maybe I’d consider replaying it myself at some point if I ever got a huge amount of free time. It’s a long game.

4- Dragon Age: Origins (Bioware, PC, 2009)

Although I’ve never played the console version of this game, I heard that it was far inferior to the version I played on the PC. Maybe that’s why the game didn’t make a bigger splash: it was essentially a PC experience, and when ported to the console it lacked something. But there was so much that I loved about Dragon Age. First and foremost, it’s the closest thing to Baldur’s Gate that I’ve seen since… well, since 1998 when the last Baldur’s Gate game was released. Secondly, Bioware’s move away from a linear good/evil scale. Rather than your character’s alignment being affected by decisions that you make throughout the adventure, your companions’ opinions are affected. The same action can please two of your companions and piss off a third companion. I think it’s brilliant, as it steps away from the black-and-white systems of the past and simultaneously builds NPC character depth. Third, the game’s setting is the best fantasy world I’ve seen since Brittania, back in the days of Ultima V in the eighties. I love the fact that dwarves are unable to use magic and therefore are unable to dream. I love the Grey Wardens and the dark drama of The Joining. I love the story behind the creation of the darkspawn: The Fade and The Black City. And I love the background of the dragons, how archdemons come to be, and how they can be defeated. It’s a pity that I haven’t yet had time to finish DAO: Awakening.

3- Baldur’s Gate (Bioware, PC, 1998)

I’m grouping both games here. After all this time, Baldur’s Gate may still be my favorite computer role-playing game. There’s something about the old Infinity Engine and about the makeup of these old games that no other CRPG since has been able to capture. Baldur’s Gate had more character customization options, more spells and magic items, more obscure side-quests, and more areas to explore than any other game since. It’s amazing that twelve years later, Baldur’s Gate is still setting the bar for computer role playing games.

2- Half-Life 2 (Valve Software, PC, 2004)

Valve’s development of the Source engine was an amazing achievement. But aside from that, the story and gameplay in Half-Life 2 were breakthrough accomplishments on a number of levels. Innovative enemies, physics-based puzzles, and the best facial animation ever included in a video game. All of this, and a excellently-written science fiction story about an alien occupation of planet Earth and the unlikely underground rebellion led by a voiceless protagonist who may be backed by a mysterious otherworldly businessman. I’m currently replaying Half-life 2 for the fourth time.

1- Beyond Good and Evil (Ubisoft, PC, 2003)

You knew this was coming. Beyond Good and Evil remains my favorite game of all time. I’ve ranted about it so often and for so long that I won’t repeat myself here – you can go read any of a number of other rants I’ve written about how good the game is. I’ve replayed it five times now, from start to finish, and unlocked every hidden item in the game. I’m ready now for Beyond Good and Evil 2. Bring it on.

1998: Baldur’s Gate
The IP that put Bioware on the map is arguably still the best series they’ve ever produced. While in my opinion Dragon Age’s setting, storyline and characters surpassed those of Baldur’s Gate, there are still many things about Baldur’s Gate that remain superior: exploration, class and spell selection, and available PCs to name a few factors. There’s a reason that Baldur’s Gate remains a legendary name and a gold standard in RPGs.

2002: Neverwinter Nights
Without a doubt, the strongest feature of Neverwinter Nights was the Aurora engine’s make-your-own-adventure toolset. Many things about the Neverwinter Nights game engine bothered me, and despite completing the included single-player adventure, I never loved it.
I hated the fact that you couldn’t control an entire party of adventurers. Although I spent countless hours with the Aurora toolset, it never changed the fact that Neverwinter  couldn’t hold a candle to Candlekeep. I never played Neverwinter Nights 2.

2003: Knights of the Old Republic
Hailed by many as a better Star Wars story than George Lucas’s prequel trilogy, KotOR was met with much acclaim. But the lackluster combat was so very similar to the combat that had annoyed me so much in Neverwinter Nights. Although I appreciated the story, and very much enjoyed The Big Twist, the black and white good versus evil choices that determined your alignment on a very one-dimensional scale never struck much of a chord with me. I never played KotOR 2.

2005: Jade Empire
I enjoyed the gameplay of Jade Empire more than I had Neverwinter Nights or Knights of the Old Republic. It had a single-companion mechanic very much similar to Neverwinter Nights’s and a good guy/bad guy gauge similar to that in KotOR, but the combat was twitch-based. Sure, there were RPG aspects, but I got to manually jump, punch, kick, and dodge. I’ll grant you that by this point, the conversation system in Bioware games was getting very much same-old-same-old, but with much of the remainder of the game working so well, it was easy to overlook the staleness of the conversation mechanics. And Jade Empire had a storyline better than any of the previous Bioware games. Jade Empire 2 would be very nice.

2007: Mass Effect
TO hear some speak of it, Mass Effect was the second coming. The premise of a race of super-machines threatening humanity sounded absolutely fantastic. What we got in reality was a shooter that didn’t feel much like a shooter. It had a somewhat innovative conversation system, but the same black and white good vs evil mechanic that had bored me in KotOR was replaced by a black and white paragon vs renegade system. And the closest to unstoppable robots we ever got was the geth, a robotic race of utterly unremarkable peons for the PC to shoot at. Oh, and for some reason they could put people on giant spikes in order to change them into zombies. For some reason. I’m not in a hurry to play Mass Effect 2.

2009: Dragon Age Origins
Where to begin? Bioware took the one game they’d made which had been absolutely fantastic (Baldur’s Gate) and they did what they could to make it even better. And I’m not just talking about better graphics.

Firstly, the system of game mechanics. In the past, they’d used Dungeons and Dragons rules. Baldur’s Gate used 2nd Edition rules. Neverwinter Nights used 3.0. The current D&D ruleset is 4th Edition, and it’s dog crap. Bioware made the decision to create their own rule system, and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s very different, but it’s probably my favorite RPG rule system other than Fallout’s SPECIAL system.

Secondly, they took that tired old black vs white good vs evil character alignment system and trashed it. In its place, they set up a system whereby each of your NPCs will have a different opinion of you based on their own values and their opinions of the various decisions you make throughout the game. It may sound like a small change, but in practice, it’s hugely different, and aside from making the game deeper, it leads you to care about the characters with whom you travel.

2011: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Oh, good. Another MMO. Based on a game that everyone other than myself loved. I’m not particularly interested.

Pool of Radiance (1988)
I originally bought Pool of Radiance for my Commodore 64 because it was a Dungeons and Dragons game. Based on first edition “Advanced” Dungeons and Dragons, it allowed you to create a party of Fighters, Magic-Users, Clerics, and Thieves, and pit them against the kobolds and ogres in the city slums, and the skeletons and ghasts inhabiting Sokol Keep. The game was completely turn-based, and you could position your wall of fighters so as to line up your magic-user’s lightning bolt just right, or maneuver your thief into place for a x5 backstab. If you positioned a fireball just right, you could hit so many enemies that you’d have to sit and watch for nearly 2 minutes while the game reported everyone who was injured or killed. This was the first game I’d ever played that included truly tactical combat.

Wasteland (1988)
I didn’t play Wasteland until much later, but it took the semi-tactical combat of games like Ultima IV and V and combined it with the interface of the Bards Tale games. You got the “good graphics” (for the time) of the Bards Tale games, and at the same time you got the top-down view which allowed you to split up your party and move in your melee characters while keeping your gun-havers at a distance. It may not have been nearly as tactical a game as Pool of Radiance, but it was innovative for the time.

Baldur’s Gate (1998/2000)
Here’s the one that you knew was coming. Baldur’s Gate was the game that introduced the awesome “Infinity Engine”. I recently listened to a podcast interview with the guy from Bioware in which he discussed the origins of Baldur’s Gate. Twas awesome.

Baldur’s Gate originated the idea of creating a pseudo-turn-based game by allowing you to pause the action whenever you wanted. It also used 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules, which included a huge number of races, character classes, and spells. This allowed you to create a huge variety of characters and institute tactics that included ranged weapons, backstabs, area effect spells, trap laying, and more.

Fallout Tactics (2001)
I didn’t buy Fallout Tactics right away. As a huge fan of the first two Fallout games, (which were based largely on the above-mentioned Wasteland) I’d heard that the story in Fallout Tactics wasn’t nearly what that of the first two games had been, and that made me sad. This is my sad face. When I finally picked up the game, I found that they’d added a lot of complexity to the actual combat system. Cover and partial cover, the ability to kneel or lie prone, and complex 3d line of sight mechanics were all in place. While you could play the game in real-time, the pseudo-turn-based gameplay is what really made the game great for me. It worked much like Fallout 3, using an action point system. Although the gameplay could be real-time or turn-based, the action points were the main factor in whether or not you could do something.

The environments and maps in the game’s various missions were a big part of what made the game great for me. I was a big fan of the sneak skill, and I’d use it to sneak forward, plant some landmines, and then sneak my sniper up to a really good vantage point where he’d lie prone and wait. Then I’d have a character with a shotgun sneak up as close to the enemies as possible, perhaps just on the other side of a sandbag wall or embankment. Then I’d have a character pop up and throw a grenade, have the shotgun guy pop up and fire point blank, and the sniper would start sniping. Fun!

Temple of Elemental Evil (2003)
Temple of Elemental Evil certainly had its issues. It shipped with a lot of bugs, and many of them were never fixed properly. But the actual combat engine was simply awesome. As a fan well-versed in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 ruleset, I found the options available for combat to be a playground. I could ready my archer so as to shoot at any enemy if he prepared to cast a spell, I could charge and get double movement for an attack, I could fight defensively for an armor class bonus, even make a five foot adjust so as to retreat without provoking attacks of opportunity. I can certainly see how these rules might take a lot of getting used to for someone who isn’t already familiar, but for me, seeing the rules with which I was already familiar implemented so well in a video game was awesome. The complexity in the rule system for this game probably surpasses any of the others, which is part of what I love about it.

Dragon Age: Origins (2009)

The tactical combat in Dragon Age took some getting used to. I’ve now gotten a better feel for how the game camera zooms and pans – it’s a little odd, but it can be comfortable once you get used to it. I’ve also figured out how to stop my archers and mages from charging. It’s all about the “hold position” button that I didn’t know existed.

I’m having a lot of fun sneaking forward with my rogue to place traps and backstab, positioning fireballs and cones of cold for maximum effect, and looking forward to a point in the game when I’ll be able to use spell combos. Controlling four characters rather than the six you were allowed in Baldur’s Gate is a slight letdown, but overall I’m loving the game.

And these are the games in which I’ve most enjoyed the tactical combat. Next week, I’ll be bringing you the final installment in my Variations on a theme series.

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

If I had to name one single game that is a keeper, it would likely be one of the Baldur’s Gate titles. Probably Baldur’s Gate 2, although playing the original Baldur’s Gate via EasyTutu is a very close second. I also played through the entirety of Icewind Dale 2 with my wife via multiplayer LAN, which was awesome. But I’ve got to say that the Baldur’s Gate games were a bit better than Icewind Dale.

If you’ve never experienced Baldur’s Gate, it’s going to be very difficult for me to adequately explain to you the appeal. It’s simply the best strategic RPG I’ve ever played. The closest second I can think of for strategic combat is Fallout: Tactics, but the Infinity Engine games are much better. Although the games are very dated by today’s standards, and playing in higher than a 600×800 resolution can be a challenge, they’re as fun today as they were a decade ago.

I never finished the Baldur’s Gate 2 expansion, but I still love the game.

Flash to nearly a decade later. I’m finally at the end of Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal. During the intervening years, I’ve played through the original Baldur’s Gate twice, played halfway through Icewind Dale, played the entirety of Icewind Dale 2 co-op with my wife, and played Baldur’s Gate 2 at least twice. But I’d never tried either of the expansions.

Right now, I’m sitting at the conclusion of it all. About a year ago, I started over playing Baldur’s Gate 2 from the beginning. I fondly remember holding my 4-month-old daughter on my lap while clearing out a mind flayer lair. I played all the way through and continued on to the Throne of Bhaal expansion, which I’d never tried before. At some point, I had to turn down the difficulty from Core Rules to Normal, cause while I can generally manage to take down the drow priestesses and beholder eye tyrants, the vampiric illithids and pit fiends get a bit difficult.

Two nights ago, I was ready for the game’s final boss. Given that I’d fought my way to the bottom of Watcher’s Keep, killed demi-liches, Hive Mothers, and Y’Tossi, I thought I was up to the challenge posed by the game’s conclusion. But after I’d driven back the final boss, and then fought a group of henchmen, I re-confronted the big baddie and quickly lost everyone in my party except my wild mage. Consulting a walkthrough, I found that I’d lost during the third of what appears to be seven huge battles I’d have to get through without resting or saving the game.

So last night, I spent over an hour re-distributing magic items to party members, carefully considering spell triggers and chain contingencies, and choosing just the right spells to fight these seven battles. In the end, I went with a lot of summoning and protection. I’m no stranger to Dungeons and Dragons, or to strategy of this sort, so I felt well-equipped.

Restarting the fight, I got through the first four battles pretty easily. But during the fifth, the boss teleported behind a giant column of light where I couldn’t see her. To clarify for those who haven’t played this game to its conclusion, this is the kind of battle where you should just focus on the big guy, because upon the boss’s death all the minions disappear, and if you kill them earlier more minions magically appear anyway. I was doing fairly well with that tactic until the stupid column of light got in my way.

Fighting behind that column of light, I couldn’t see my characters, and when they started to get wounded I couldn’t see who I needed to move in order to give wounded characters a clear escape route to run to papa Anomen for a heal spell.

So Minsc got killed. A minute later, Keldorn and Sarevoc followed suit. I figured if I could just tough out this fight, I could resurrect them before the next battle, then use that wish scroll to rest the party before the sixth fight, which is supposedly the hardest. I never got there. The boss threw some of those stupid beehive dart things at me – the ones that do damage every second for twenty seconds or so? It stopped my wild mage from doing pretty much anything other than falling down dead.

So I figure I’ll give it one more shot before I give up completely and just turn down the difficulty. Anyone have any suggestions? The online FAQs give no real good advice for this particular battle.

If you’re interested in reading about Baldur’s Gate related stuff, you should check out the Mr. Binky column Brandon wrote a while back on the subject: Remembering Baldur’s Gate