[SixOfSpades]

It's worth a try--the character development is relatively fast-paced (since you start out at Level 1) and the plot actually keeps you in SUSPENSE. Imagine that!

You seem familiar with the D&D system, so I'm not going to tell you to "be a Fighter, with these stats..." What you will notice, coming from Icewind Dale, is that the people you can get to have join your party will seem to suck in comparison to the kinds of stats you could roll for your party in IWD. That's because Baldur's Gate is more roleplay-oriented: Each NPC has their own personality, etc. Certain NPCs don't like certain others, at random times they'll spark conversations (and arguments) which can be really fun to listen to, and it's realistic: You COULD go around murdering innocent villagers, but if you do, NPCs with Good alignments will either leave your party or downright attack you. The downside to these cool, in-depth characters is that their stats aren't as good as those you could roll yourself. Some of them aren't even close: There's a Cleric in the game with only 10 Wisdom! Ouch.

You can still create your entire party, though: Just start a Multiplayer game, roll everyone, save your game, then go back out to Windows and move the Save file from the Multi-Save folder into the Saved folder. You sacrifice the cool NPCs, though.