XANTAM BEGINS - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS4) - Livestream: Part 2
5So now that we're heading off to find those thieves who stole our stuff, who do you think will be their leader? A big thief? A really big rat? Perhaps a gelatinous cube?
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Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a 2001 action role-playing/hack and slash video game developed by Snowblind Studios for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was ported to GameCube by High Voltage Software, and to the Game Boy Advance by Magic Pockets. The game was published for PlayStation, Xbox and GameCube by Black Isle Studios, a division of Interplay Entertainment, and distributed by Vivendi Universal Games. The Game Boy Advance version was published by DSI Games. CD Projekt was developing a version for Microsoft Windows, but it was ultimately cancelled. In 2021, a 4K port of the game was released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
The game is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons, and the gameplay is based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, which were released in 2000. It is the first video game to implement the real time application of the new rules. It is also the first game in the Baldur's Gate series released on consoles as opposed to a PC and/or Mac.
Dark Alliance was well received on all four platforms, with the PlayStation 2 version going on to win the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award for "Role-Playing Game of the Year" (2001). A sequel, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A third game was planned, but was cancelled early in development due to legal problems, and the closure of Black Isle Studios after Interplay went bankrupt.
The console version of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a real-time hack and slash/action role-playing game presented in a 3D perspective, with a rotatable isometric three-quarter top-down view.
At the beginning of the game, character stats are preset, with the player able to choose from three race/class combinations; a dwarven fighter (Kromlech), a human archer (Vahn) or an elven sorceress (Adrianna). The player can customize their character's stats through gaining experience points from defeating enemies. Every time the character increases in level, points are awarded corresponding to that level; i.e. if a character increases to level twelve, the player will gain twelve experience points to spend on the character's spells and feats. For every four levels which the character increases, the player is given one ability point to spend on one of the six core attributes (strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, charisma).
The game takes place in the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, areas in the Faerûn continent of the Forgotten Realms. Each act of the game takes place in a different region: Act I takes place in the city of Baldur's Gate itself; Act II in the Sunset Mountains; and Act III in the Marsh of Chelimber.
A reissue of Dark Alliance for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S was released on May 7, 2021,[45] with a Nintendo Switch version releasing a few days later, as well as future plans for a personal computer and mobile version later that year. The reissue supports some addition updates such as 4k resolution support on the newer consoles but is otherwise not a remaster or remake of the original game.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was well received on all four platforms. Metacritic records all versions as receiving "generally favorable reviews", with the PlayStation 2 version holding an aggregate score of 87 out of 100, based on twenty-nine reviews; the Xbox version 83 out of 100, based on twenty-five reviews, the GameCube version 79 out of 100, based on ten reviews, and the Game Boy Advance version 76 out of 100, based on seventeen reviews.
Wikipedia contributors. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. June 21, 2021, 16:42 UTC. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baldur%27s_Gate:_Dark_Alliance&oldid=1029722347.