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.
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.