A lot of people – and I mean a lot – have played BioWare’s games over the years. Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2… and it’s still going strong. BioWare has at least two games that are probably going to come out in 2011. But as time goes on, I rarely find someone who played the games that sort of set off the whole BioWare phenomenon. I would consider BioWare to be the definitive “WRPG” developer, much as Squaresoft would have been the definitive JRPG guys in the past. Of course there are others in the medium, and their work is good too, but when I look back, I always find myself staring back at one game: Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn.

I think of Shadows of Amn more than the original Baldur’s Gate because it’s a better game. In a lot of cases, we can probably agree the sequels never quite match up with the originals. I think Shadows of Amn blows away the original game for two reasons. First of all, it used to be that advancing technology and increasing popularity for video games made sequels that had a bigger budget and more respect than the originals. History is replete with examples of this phenomenon and it definitely continues into the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Baldur’s Gate II, however, is a little bit unique in my opinion in the way that the evolution of the same general WRPG style takes a significant step backward from the sophistication and features that BGII integrates. We see in Shadows of Amn an alignment system which your party members will react to throughout the game (including outright leaving if they don’t like your guts), several romances which have interaction with one another, as well as a culmination within the game. A wide cast of characters who support and aid you throughout, and a five-character party which allows for sophisticated and tactical combat.

How much of that transfers on to Knights of the Old Republic? Earnestly, not a great deal. KotOR is still the evolutionary advancement of Baldur’s Gate, it’s just not as evolutionary as you might think. In a lot of ways, it represents a significant step backward in terms of the sophistication of WRPG, the decision-making process that characterizes the genre, and other things. Just one of a thousand reasons that I will always feel that KotOR is insanely overrated. As you’ve probably caught on to by now, I don’t tend to favour titles which don’t advance the genre in some way. I admit that there is some logic to the idea that making changes just to make changes is a recipe for disaster (and let’s face it, there’s no stronger example than my most hated game ever released, Master of Orion 3), but I also think that games should evolve along with the technology that supports them.

Do I think that Mass Effect is a better game than Baldur’s Gate II? In most respects; yes. I thought that the party interactions in Baldur’s Gate II were more sophisticated and more fun, but in most respects, I don’t even think it’s arguable that Mass Effect has moved us in a positive direction with the usage of technology and budget, and is the superior title. But even with Mass Effect (one of my favourite “modern” titles) I’m not certain that everything has been done better than Shadows of Amn. As usual, when we forget about past games, we’re leaving diamonds buried in the sand, and it’s not becoming of us.

So, I guess the bottom line is, play Baldur’s Gate II if you get an opportunity to do so. Try and appreciate the elements of it that are still great, and are still better than modern WRPGs, despite the inferior technology, the (relatively) primitive game system, and even the ongoing use of AD&D 2.0 rules.