A wall of text incoming..
First of all let me say that I have been playing CRPG's for the past 20+ years. My first CRPG was Ultima 5 on Atari ST, so I have explored modest amount of different titles over the years. I have to say that the first installment of BG series comes on top of the charts for me. I recommend all newcomers to run first BG with NPC project mod installed. It is really like the "missing" link, which upgrades the experience to "almost perfect". I can't still quite grasp what is it exactly makes first BG(+NPC mod) such a masterpiece, but I'll give it a shot.
1. For me Baldurs Gate had convincing setting, plot and atmosphere (big thanks to FR). Somehow they managed to create atmosphere, where the game world seemed to exist seperately from the plot. It was probably because of the relatively huge amount of game area that was completely optional. You could roam the extensive wilderness areas and discover a lot of interesting details and places that way. There were many strong exploration and discovery elements in addition to the well thought out grand plot. Baldurs Gate city and the other towns felt real with detailed houses, inns, shops etc. In how many games today can you see the same? This was lost even in BG2, where all the areas seemed more artificial with a lot of big quests and big plots neatly packed everywhere. A lot of areas were somehow related to the main plot, or at least side quest driven. This I see as a problem in most recent games, which are extremely story driven (like reading a book).
2. In Baldurs Gate it felt like the developers were not holding your hand constantly and spoon feeding the plot to you. Still I would have preferred even less spoon feeding (old Ultima 5 anyone?), but things weren't extremely evident. Content was not scaled to your level (much) and you could really get to situations and places way beyond your current capabilities. I understand that lot of people complained about the difficulty, but from my point of view it adds certain realism, tension and sense of you being in danger out in the wilds. You really needed to be on your toes during the first levels. Compare this to Dragons Age or even better NWN2, where by default, you are able to survive against all encounters.
3. Tactics and combat. The spells and abilities are very very deadly in ADD 2nd edition. Instead of repetitive button smashing, you could end the battle before it even began with well placed backstab or spell. Tactical options with group were always numerous and often required careful consideration. Adapting to different situations was the key to survival, which I didn't feel in Dragons Age or NWN.
4. Low character level setting and power curve. In BG1 you started out as a puny "commoner" and grew to a quite seasoned adventurer. It was very reasonable range in terms of 2nd edition rules, that characters grew to level 10 or so. Increase in abilities was very concrete and noticeable. Low level setting also served to add more tension and danger, as you could meet your end almost at every corner.
5. Relatively low magic setting. For some reason I personally don't feel comfortable when magic weapons and equipment are being handed to you left and right in FR setting (Hello BG2, TOB and NWN!!). Maybe my dislike is because of some tabletop background, where our DM was quite conservative with these things. When you did find magic items in BG1, it was a sense of achievement at least in the first half of the game. Magic and magic items had the feeling of being very powerful. Overall things were more balanced than in lot of the later titles. Monsters and spells also stayed on somewhat reasonable level, and you could not do "ridiculous" things like meteor swarms, powerword kills or battle hordes of pit fiends, liches and so on.
6. Last but not least the named NPC's and villains (complemented with NPC mod). This is really the final icing on the cake. Without NPC mod, it would be much tougher choice between BG1 and BG2. Inter party banter, interjections and memorable named evil guys in general added nice touch of realism.
Not sure if I got everything that needed to be said out there, but probably most of it..
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