I’ve been replaying a lot of the classics recently, and just like with Combs when I rewatch a Star Trek series, I keep finding myself saying “fuck, that’s him too?”
Playing Fallout, there’s Jim as the main voice of The Master.
Playing the original Baldur’s Gate trilogy, there’s Jim as Minsc, Gorion, Mulahey, and a bunch of other people.
Taking a break to test out some character builds in Icewind Dale? Fuck me, there’s Jim as Hrothgar.
Like I know he’s one of the most prolific voice actors, especially of that era, but I didn’t realize how entwined he was with that specific genre.
I never really got the feeling of reverence for the originals personally, down to the references made feeling like lip service created by someone browsing a wiki who has never played them in the first place.
Choosing to set the game a 100 years later (so that they wouldn’t have to incorporate much of the original cast or story) but still shoehorning in two fan favourite characters never sat right with me either.
It’s set in the 1490s because that’s the current era in Forgotten Realms, just like the first games were set in the 1360s because that was the era that was current at the time. It’s not like they actively chose that specific time period for any of the three games.
The other point to setting the game 100 years later is that they’re not beholden to the same exact geography, architecture, or, most importantly, the choices the player made in the previous game. And it allows people to step into this one without feeling like the previous two were mandatory. They did still choose a canon, and they can handwave others away as hearsay told in legends where multiple conflicting things are true, but the game was unmistakably made by enormous fans of Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons & Dragons. It is still a story that revolves around the city of Baldur’s Gate and Bhaal. It is the most authentic D&D game made since those old infinity engine games and arguably more so, given the ways their games are made to allow you to get more creative with systems, like the tabletop experience.