Baldur's Gate

I can see where this game has the potential to be pretty much the best D&D port in the entire App Store. If you’ve played tabletop RPG’s the layout here will be familiar to you. Character setup, status, inventory and such all resemble their on paper counterparts and are pretty easy to deduce or figure out with a bit of trial and error. There is also an ample amount of information online for those times when a solution isn’t so easy to discover. Unfortunately my progress has been stifled by a big issue that there doesn’t seem to be a solution to at the moment. The character scripts don’t seem to work at all. For those going “huh?” right now I’ll explain. There are up to 6 characters in your party that will have different roles, and the scripts are supposed to determine what they do in a fight like use their sword, use their bow, cast spells, etc. However, no matter how I set my guys up, when they have a run in they all just stand there getting beat on while I have to try and click on them individually to get them to do something. This usually leads to failure and reloading the last save. One quest involves clearing a house of 4 giant spiders and the moment the party enters the room it’s just a jumbled mess that results in everyone getting killed in short order. I don’t know if it’s a game issue or a system issue but right now there are several quests that I don’t think I’ll be able to complete till the problem has been resolved. This is on a 10.5” iPad Pro with iOS 11.1.2. If that gets fixed the game would be a solid 5. Till then I’m giving it a 3.

I played through Baldur's Gate when it was originally released many years ago and played it again five years later and then yet again five years later. Unfortunately, my old computer went toast and I swore off PC gaming forever because of the ridiculous costs and hassles of keeping a computer up to date. I had long thought the iPhone and iPad could make perfect platforms for some old classic games. And here it is-- Baldur's Gate, in full iPad glory. Zooming made easy, click with a finger, and you can see all containers easily. I just finished it tonight and I'm a completionist, which means I look in every container and in every nook and cranny for content. There were zero problems and many old bugs fixed. [I do wish they would've fixed the old character scripting issue for thieves set to "Thief Aggressive" where pathing is interrupted whenever the thief automatically attempts to hide in shadows and/or a failure of shadow hiding, but alas...] A friend bought this game for me... I didn't know of its existence on iPad prior to then. Now I'm downloading BG 2 and then Icewind Dale. I do hope Icewind Dale 2 AND Planescape: Torment are in the works!!

Any old school top down RPG or point & click style game feels right at home on iOS! Instead of dragging a cursor around it feels very intuitive to simply point and have your commands met. In lieu of keyboard shortcuts, I actually find this method more enjoyable. The writing here is still the best aspect of the game; funny, engaging, and deep. The entire game has depth, don’t expect to be godlike your first time round - but the fun is deciphering the D&D gameplay mechanics! The only feedback i have preventing BG from getting 5 stars is the lack of iTunes File Sharing. Yes, you are able to export saved games to play on computer & iOS interchangeably. However, on the computer I have several custom portraits I’d like also transferred to iOS. Its not a deal breaker, but sometimes it does pull me out of the story not seeing the characters as I see them in my head. I’ve already purchased the portrait pack, but I like to have NPCs looking unique as well. This was enabled pre 8.3 update, but since it’s been blocked. Enabling the iTunes File sharing for this would be amazing! Overall, thank you Beamdog & Overhaul for giving us the ability to play on the go. Prepared to get hooked, & good luck in Faerûn!