Tales from the Backlog - Episodes Tagged with “Baldur's Gate”

Baldur's Gate 3 SPOILER SECTION (with Jim Rodeman & Chris Rettig)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Our Baldur's Gate 3 recording ran so long, I had to split it up into two episodes. This is the full-spoiler discussion, where we talk about the decisions we made, how we solved our quests, how things turned out in our games, and much more. In particular, Jim's evil and Dark Urge playthroughs brought about some wild results that you'll love to hear about! You can find the non-spoiler portion of this episode in Episode 114!

TIMESTAMPS
Act 1 2:48
Act 2 26:22
Act 3 46:55
Late Game Bosses/Endings 1:14:43

Charity Streaming Event: We are doing a charity streaming event from April 20th-28th 2024 to benefit Suicide Awareness Voices of Education in honor of a friend we lost. Please check out the stream schedule HERE and consider donating HERE.

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114: Baldur's Gate 3 NON-SPOILER SECTION (with Jim Rodeman & Chris Rettig)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Sometimes I try to write clever little descriptions about the games on the show, but this week's game doesn't feel like it needs it.** Baldur's Gate 3*, by **Larian Studios, excels in just about everything it sets out to do. It has impressive writing, almost unparalleled choice-based storytelling, memorable characters, a deep and engaging combat system, and tons of immersive sim elements that make each playthrough really feel like your own. It's one of the best games I've ever played, and I was joined by returning guests **Jim Rodeman* and Chris Rettig to discuss it!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 2:47
Story Setup/Characters 19:57
Choice-Based Storytelling/Quest Design 44:22
Visuals/Presentation/Music 59:05
Gameplay/Combat 1:12:41
Closing Thoughts/Recommendations 1:57:40
SPOILER SECTION IS IN ITS OWN EPISODE THIS TIME

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CRPG History & The Breakout Success of Baldur's Gate 3 (with Felipe Pepe - The CPRG Book)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

During the first few months after Baldur's Gate 3 released, I heard a similar refrain coming from my friends and people on social media- people would say something like "I normally don't play RPGs like this, but I love Baldur's Gate 3! Flash forward 6 months and now Baldur's Gate 3 has swept the major award shows and broken into the top 10 most-played list on Steam. How did a game from such a niche genre break into the mainstream?

In order to answer this, I invited CRPG historian and writer/editor for The CRPG Book, Felipe Pepe, on to the show to talk about all of this. Topics discussed include:

How he got into RPGs and why we love the genre
The state and role of CRPGs through history, including discussions about Fallout, Ultima, Wizardry, Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, Skyrim, Disco Elysium, Wasteland, The Gold Box Series, Shadowrun, Dragon Age, and many more games.
Why Baldur's Gate 3 broke out in such a big way
Recommendations for other CRPGs through history for new fans of the genre
The CRPG Book project

You can follow Felipe on Twitter, check out the free PDF version of The CRPG Book, or purchase a wonderful hardcover edition from Bitmap Books (all author's proceeds to go charity)!

Check out Dave's guest appearance on the "Fun" and Games podcast, where we did an Xbox 360 retrospective!

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82: Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal (with Bryan Skursha - Pixelated Playgrounds)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Baldur's Gate 2, the second in BioWare's landmark RPG series, was always kind of "the goal", as it's usually said to be one of the best RPGs ever made, even more so than the first. And I do believe that it holds up in that way- the adventuring is unmatched, the characters are vivid and memorable, and you're able to see your character's arc come to a close, all the way from the beginning of Baldur's Gate 1.

Joining me today is Bryan Skursha of Pixelated Playgrounds, a gaming book club podcast. Pixelated Playgrounds takes a very thoughtful and analytical approach to the games they cover, which I love. Check them out!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:33
Story Setup/Storytelling/Characters/Role Playing 16:12
Visuals/Music 51:34
Combat/Gameplay 1:00:23
SPOILER WALL 1:28:12

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79: Baldur's Gate (with Phil Morgan - Deleted Saves)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:00:00 -0400

For as much as I love role playing games, and some later entries into the CRPG genre, I had never played the original Baldur's Gate, by BioWare....until now. This game largely holds up, despite being made with an antiquated Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, but my issues with the game were a bit more basic than deciphering THAC0 like I expected. I was joined for this episode by Phil Morgan from Deleted Saves, which is a highly recommended podcast. You can find Deleted Saves on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app, on Twitter and on Instagram!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:26
Story Setup/Setting 18:49
Visuals/Voice Acting/Sound Design/Gameplay 38:49
SPOILER WALL 1:17:32

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