Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

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. e.

if a character increases to level twelve, the player will gain eleven 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). Each of the three characters have their own unique fighting style and their own specific set of spells and feats. Gameplay strategy is thus different for each character.

As Kromlech is a fighter, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing his brute strength and ability to resist damage, as well as granting him powerful abilities to aid in melee combat, such as the ability to swing his weapon in a circle or slam it into the ground to damage groups of nearby enemies. As Vahn relies on ranged attacks, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of his bow and granting him the ability to fire special types of arrows, such as exploding arrows, ice arrows or multiple arrows. As Adrianna is a sorceress, her spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of her magic and granting her numerous new spells, such as the ability to shoot ice or fire from her fingers, shoot a ball of lightning or call down meteors on her enemies. Gameplay is linear, and each main quest must be completed in sequence before the story can proceed, although there are some optional side-quests , which do not have to be completed immediately, but all side-quests must be completed within the act in which they are assigned.

There are relatively few NPCs in the game, with whom only those who are part of a quest or side-quest may be interacted. Weapons, armor and items are only available for purchase from one location at a time, and become increasingly expensive and more powerful as the game progresses. The HUD features the option to use either a transparent map that covers most of the screen, or a mini-map , with the player also given the option to turn the map off entirely. The game also features cooperative gameplay with another player.

Both players share the same screen, and are thus limited in how far they can move away from one another. In co-op mode, the player who makes the kill gets 60% of the experience, and the other player gets 40%. Whichever player collects any gold drops gets 100% of the value, with the other player getting nothing. The game contains four difficulty levels; "Easy", "Normal", "Hard" and "Extreme".

Extreme can only be unlocked after the player has beaten "The Gauntlet", a special mini-dungeon unlocked once the player completes the game on any difficulty level. The Gauntlet can only be played with Drizzt Do'Urden . Extreme mode takes the form of a New Game Plus , and can only be played by importing a saved character from another game. Once the player has completed Extreme mode, Drizzt Do'Urden becomes available to use in the main game.

GBA version The Game Boy Advance version of Dark Alliance features some noticeable gameplay differences from the console versions, whilst still generally following the same storyline as the other versions. Character creation is more limited, with a human male playable, though the player still has the choice of playing as a Fighter, Wizard, or Archer. After completing the game, a fourth class, Elven Fighter, becomes available on further playthroughs. There is no option to retain a character upon completing the game and play through the story again, and must begin again with a new character.

The game is also limited in more technical areas; there is no multiplayer or co-operative mode, forcing the player to complete the game alone. You cannot jump, there are no recall potions, which are utilized in the home console ports to teleport back to a town to sell wares, before going back to the dungeon. On the other hand, the game has been expanded in ways not present in the console versions. The town of Baldur's Gate is far more interactive, with the ability to talk to NPCs, enter houses and use weapons to open breakable objects, such as barrels.

There are additional side quests, and the game can be saved at any point, giving the player flexibility to pause their game at any moment.