Baldur's Gate Review
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Still, Baldur's Gate linearity is mostly present on the main plot, as the player is able to explore the entire gameworld as he sees fit. You can choose to go North or South, visiting this or that location in whatever order you want. The gameworld is divided in closed areas that you explore in real time, and to which you can travel to through the world map that you can access by going to the border of the area you're in. Sadly, most of those areas are generally uninteresting, filled with random monsters and bandits with nothing else in mind other than to kill you. Cannon fodder. In those (general) areas, there are a few characters you meet, with whom you can talk. Some of them want to attack you, others may want to join you, there are also some cases where you meet someone who wants your help. When you meet these NPC's (Non-Player Characters), you are normally given options as to how to deal with them. Sadly enough, though, these options usually consist of three attitudes: clearly benevolent, outright evil and lazily unconcerned (as in (I don't want no part of it.)). This kind of good/evil dichotomy, quite common in BioWare's titles, kills all sense of moral ambiguity and creates unrealistic social interactions. These options usually give different consequences, and, even though there certainly are some bright moments, these NPC's feel more like easter eggs than properly gameworld characters. It usually feels like (meet/deal with/goodbye and never see again).
