TITLE
Baldur’s Gate II
AUTHOR
Matt Bell
PUBLICATION
Entropy
YEAR
2015
ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt
FROM THE ARTICLE
In a role-playing game, you start life already a hero. Or at least a hero in the making, guaranteed only to improve. Every scenario is designed and structured with your eventual success in mind, every storyline shaped to match your character arc. Everywhere you go there are obstacles, but they are all intended to be overcome. None of your failures will be permanent, and unlimited second chances are always only a reload away.[…]
For the first few levels of character progression, many player characters and potential party members can be killed with a single sword blow or spell. A 1st-level wizard might have just a single hit point, which means every wound will prove fatal, leaving you no option but to reload and try again. Even after you grow stronger, the life of a video game protagonist remains a Beckettian existence: You die, you reload, you fail again, fail better.
GAMES MENTIONED
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn
EXCERPTED FROM
Boss Fight Books – Baldur’s Gate II
SEE ALSO
Paper Dolls – Cartridge Lit (2015)