There are many reviews out there and all simply love this game no matter what minor quibbles they find.

I would like to initiate this topic for the players ONLY discussing and sharing amazing moments on their first play-thorough. YES about the first time experience with Baldur's Gate Series (1, 2 or both). JUST the first 20-30 minutes or entire of BG moments, dialogues or particular fights or any game play memory that made you say, Holy Hell, What a Game!... It can be any thing about the game but not bitching technical flaws or something that is so obvious for an old game to start out with.

It's difficult to picture these memories after so long time but let's try it!..

There are many good games but when you compare them with Baldur's Gate they are missing one thing badly....
Satisfaction of Role Playing.

Speechless moments leave a lifelong effect rather eye candy graphics and that's what Baldur's Gate felt to me. It is hidden in the game itself and engaged in the adventure. The games simplicity and mood easily surpasses that of many eye catching extravaganza that I am familiar with. If you need a measuring stick, I feel comfortable saying that Baldur's Gate is a rare product that can successfully strike a balance between graphics and playability.
Trying this Masterpiece which has been equaled by many fans with Planescape:Torment was an amazing first time play experience.

I first bought BG probably a year after it came out. Being in grad school and working full time, I didn't have a lot of free time, but I needed something to unwind. I had never played any of the Gold Box games, not any tabletop version of AD&D, so BG was my first experience with it.

The funny thing was that I really just bought it to tide me over until Ultima IX was released later that year! I got so hooked on BG though, pretty much from the opening sequence that I found myself running home from work for lunch just to get an extra 20-30 minutes of play in each day! Having not played AD&D before, I didn't do a very good job leveling my character, so by the time I got to the final boss, I was simply not powerful enough to win (maybe my group was but my tactics were still horrible). Rather than just give up, I replayed the game. Most games, that would drive a person nuts, but BG was so awesome that it literally did not bother me at all! That tells you what a quality game it is.

I can't remember when I got Baldur's Gate 2, but it was my first real introduction to D&D, which means it also counted as my intro to pnp rpgs. Funny enough, the only 'iteration' of D&D I've ever gotten involved with is Pathfinder.

Anyway, my big memory is that my first time through was a monk, I think my party was Jaheira,Minsc, Nalia, Anomen, and I think Mazzy, but it might have been Yoshioen. Anyway, early in the game I learned that my monk was considerably more squishy than Minsc, and I never realized it when that changed, so this story is my character's crowning moment of awesome.

I'm sure my hatred of the character and the fight with him has scoured his name from my memory, but it was Abizegal's son and the guardian of his lair. I see you all nodding in understanding. Anyway, I buffed as best I could, summoned elemental princes and all, but he kept cleaning my clock after he turned into an invisible dragon with happy feet. Finally, in desperation I waited until he transformed and hit him with quivering palm, BAM! He transformed again, this time into a heap on the floor.

And don't even get me started on Sendai. The only way I managed to beat her was using elementals to block the entrance from the Drow reinforcements, then slapping down each statue as quick as I could. That was a grudge match if ever there was one. I think it's appropriate that when David Gaider made his Ascencion mod that massively upped the difficulty of all of the TOB bosses, he didn't touch Sendai.

Also, I don't feel ashamed to say this, but I never sent my characters against mind flayers or beholders. Invisible stalkers and closed doors was my tactic against illithid, and fire elementals and the shield of cheese (balduran) against beholders.

The first time through the game, I couldn't beat the dragons in chapter 2. Try as I might, I couldn't do it. Then I came back in chapter 6, I stomped them all. After that I could beat them the first time through.

Don't feel bad, I figured out a 'cheat' with the dragons and used it all the time. Essentially, you could stay just out of range and cast poison clouds towards the edge of the screen where the dragon was over and over until you ran out (I can't remember if I was using a wand, scrolls or spells). Then just sit back and relax until they died. I think one of the tweak packs eliminated that tactic though as on my last play through, I remember it not working as well.

My first playthrough I used a minmaxed fighter. He was the tank, while the rest of the party (the "default" one) mostly used missiles weapons.
Even first time playing the bad monster AI annoyed me, so after a while I always made sure to "activate" whole monster groups before slaying them. Sniping them down one by one, without their comrades reeacting just felt too much like cheating to me. It's sad to see FAQs and Walkthrough recommending this abuse of the poor AI as a good tactic.

Overall I think Baldur's Gate was a decent game, but nothing special. It took me some time to warm up to the Real Time with Pause combat.
BG2 OTOH I really liked the first time, and BG1 was significantly better when I used mods like Easy TuTu, BG1 NPC Project and Sword Coast Stratagems.

BG2 felt much more dynamic and the NPCs much deeper compared to BG1. I absolutely loved Athkala; it was much more fun and rewarding to explore than Baldur's Gate.
But I got tired of BG2 after completing the Underdark. Using cheesy tactics (Shield of Balduran) to annihilate a whole corps of beholders felt too silly, and I felt that game balance broke down at that point.

I have a fun memory from my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate I, way back in the year 2000 (in the year two thousaaaaand!). My party, including Ajantis, had arrived at the top of the Iron Throne's building in Baldur's Gate to confront their leadership. I had a plan for this battle! A good plan, involving explosive potions, fireball spells, and entangle (or perhaps web)!

My party storms up the stairs, hurling magic and explosions! Most of the enemy survived this initial barrage - at least one was completely unharmed - but they were caught by the web/entangle zone. My party safely pelted them from a distance. However, one melee opponent was unaffected and quickly approached the party. Ajantis stepped forward to engage him in melee.

It quickly became clear that Ajantis was outclassed. He took several bad hits and healing potions weren't going to be enough to keep him going. I ordered him to retreat, but he became caught in the web. The next blow from the enemy is a critical hit - Ajantis is turned into bloody gibs. The party avenges him moments later, and the battle is won.

Now, I'm left in an odd position. Due to his grisly demise, he can't be raised from the dead. Do I reload? I think about this for a bit, and decide that Ajantis died with honor, fighting against evil and protecting his teammates. We gathered up the loot and evidence, said our farewells, and continued on the adventure. It was the only time in that playthrough that I accepted a loss like that.

Ahh, BG...I was a freshman in college and had gotten my first computer about a year before, so I didn't have much experience with computer gaming apart from things I'd played with in elementary school (we're talking the original Oregon Trail on an Apple II here) or at friends' houses. I read the manual but I was clueless about game mechanics, and my first character was a really crappy bard with a STR of 6. Yeah...scrapped him after a couple futile days and started over, this time with a paladin.

The first few days were really frustrating...nothing like getting killed over and over again by the guy on the inn stairs at the Friendly Arm, but after a million reloads I started to slowly get the hang of things. So, with Imoen, Khalid, and Jaheira I traipsed into Nashkel, picked up Minsc, headed to the Gnoll stronghold...and made it out alive with Dynaheir in tow. I remember being utterly thrilled when I limped back into Nashkel, all of my party battered and out of missiles, but intact.

Of course, an hour later Dynaheir died in the Nashkel mines, but still, that victory over the Gnolls was sweet. :P

My first time with Baldur was weird. I was really young and did not know how to find Gorion, so I just attacked everyone and gone play bascketball after. I know, not great story :)
But when I was few years older, found Fallout and Might and Magic, I realised that I played this game and must try again. And I did. And love it :)

My first playthrough was a bit boring, as being afraid i'd quit the game for it being too difficult (something that happened often with games back then) I led myself being led by the hand by Dave Milward's walkthrough. A good walkthrough, but doing exactly like he did it, with the party he recommended - I even picked the same name 'Gildor' for my PC - , took a bit of the challenge out of the game. I didn't finish it, and only really started to like the game the 2nd playthrough when I installed Tutu, with Hard Times, NPC project and Sword Coast Stratagems on top of it.

When I first launched Baldur's Gate I basically spent hours before even starting the game. I was going back and forth through the character creation menus and exploring all the options - races, classes, abilities, spells ... This was the game that introduced me to D&D and all the options and stats during character creation mesmerized me. So after many moments I finally decided what to pick and probably re-rolled a few hundred times before finishing my first character which was a paladin. That was the only time I ever played paladin in D&D games I think.

I remember getting to Friendly Arm Inn completely battered from all those battles in the forest. Finally, a tavern, I said and proceeded to those steps. And then that blasted assassin attacked me. I was barely alive so I was pretty much running away, hoping that Imoen would blast him good with the bow and I also remember that I was quite angry with the stupid guards that proved to be useless. The first time I died and afer reloading I finally removed the assassin and said to myself - Now can I finally get some rest around here? :) The whole feeling that there is always someone out to get you when you least expect it was probably one of the coolest and most memorable things about the game for me.