Blast to the Past: why Nashkel Mines are bad
So in this sub series I tend to focus a lot on classic RPGs, especially Baldur’s Gate, and how I think it has a lot of valuable lessons that modern rpgs could learn from. But sometimes we should also remember what doesn’t work about the past and why I’m still bitter about a game I played when I was in 5th grade.
Ok so Nashek Mines are a terrible first level for a game. We talked before about how BG had a very good (if not amazing) tutorial but also important is hte first level, and I think that the Nashkel mines are probably one of hte reason why a lot of players gave up and stopped playing. But first we need to talk about BG’s story design. Basically BG is a zone based open world RP, once you get out of the tutorial, you can go almost everywhere on this map from the word go
If you want, you can go straight from Candle Keep all the way to Durlag’s Tower. You shouldn’t cause that is a stupid and you will die but yo ucan and you can explore most of these at any point in the story line. The only exception to this rule are 4 locations, which can only be accessed by your actions in the plot which are
The bandit camp
Cloakwood Forest
Baldur’s Gate
Candlekeep
To advance to any one of these locations you need to do some plot stuff. So basically you wander for a time, unlock an area, and then wander to the next one. In fact the vast majority of the map has nothing to do with the main plot, which really is just going to a few locations. The plot is basically
Candlekeep Tutorial
Go to the Friendly Arm Inn (optional)
Go to the Nashkel Mines
Stop by Beregost (optional)
Kill the Bandits at the Bandit camp
Go to the Cloakwood mines
Stop by Baldur’s Gate and go to the Iron Throne Headquarters
Go to Candlekeep again
Return to Baldur’s Gate Palace
Go to the underground City and Fight the final Boss
Everything else is basically extra, so the game is very much controlled your own pace. So far so good. Here is the issue, the event you have to do to unlock most of the plot is the Nashkel Mines, and it is the only event in the game that is sort of timed. The first 4 companions you are likely to get all have something to do at the mines and if you don’t go there in time, they leave you, and frankly if you really want to get strong enough to play this game properly, from a mechanical perspective it is best to go to the mines, clear them out gain a level or two, and then go exploring in the wilderness, because otherwise you really might just die. From a basic mechanical perspective, the Mines work fine, they are just challenging enough that you have to pay attention to the mechanics and bring a full party, but you can do the whole area as a level 1 party without too much difficulty, and you will almost certainly gain a level in the process.
The problem with the miens come from a story/play sense, because they are super boring. They are large, full of tight corridors that the path-finding can’t deal with, the vast majority of the enemies are just kobolds, who are not exactly exciting to battle, and its just a mine, like there aren’t any cool elements about the area which makes the place stand out. You have to wade through 4 floors of this place before you finally get to the boss, who is like “What are you doing here” and then you kill him and its over.
(this is where people’s nostalgic attempt to relive the game usually dies)
From a story perspective, it gets even worse. There are only two subquests down here, both of which are “find object and give to person” and nobody interesting to talk too. Because its just a mine there isn’t exactly much interactivity to do, and almost every party will play their way through in the same manner. It also doesn’t make any story sense, the loss of this mine has basically caused the entire region to go into chaos, and is threatening the entire economy, but it is just a bunch of kobolds, why didn’t the city guard just go in and clear it out? Hell the mayor of the city is a level 6 range,r he could take a few of the guard and do it himself if he wanted too. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, except that BG is actually pretty good at grounding its story line in the world, so that type of mistake betrays the premise.
(if he can kill my evil party he could certainly wipe out those mines)
This whole level kinda kills the pacing of the game for new players, who likely aren’t powerful enough to go exploring on their own yet, but just had go through one of the most boring dungeons in the game. It also introduces the Problem of Xan. Xan is an elf enchanter with a sweet moonblade who you meet in the final boss of the dungeon, and is an excellent companion to have in any party (assuming you like pessimism). Here is the problem, you likely have a full party which means you cannot take him with you to leave unless you abandon somebody else. And since this game doesn’t have the “please wait for me at this location” option then your only choice is to leave the mines, drop some people off, go all the way back down to the mines (which is again 4 layers), pick him up...and leave again. This is just...utterly unacceptable game design.
(The happiest Xan has ever been)
What is worse though is that actually makes a later level worse. At the end of Chapter 3 in the Cloakwood forest you arrive at...the Cloakwood Mines.
yes that is right, this game includes not one, but two separate mine levels, I am not even kidding. It is also 4 layers and also has a companion who you need to pick up at the end. The key difference though is that this one is a lot less terrible. It has a lot more personality to it, there are some more side quests, the villain is actually interesting and the enemies within make sense considering the location and the power level. You also fight a far greater variety of enemies here than you do prior to this point. Its basically the Nashkel Mines again but objectively better in every way. But since the Nashkel mines were really boring, its going to make this second much more interesting area...seem boring.
The moral of this story is, plan your mandatory levels carefully and makes sure they don’t over lap. No game needs 2 mine levels.
