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Baldur's Gate 2 Expansion: Throne of Bhaal

Baldur's Gate 2 Expansion: Throne of Bhaal

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great fun!
Review: my husband was a little sheepish asking for more baulders gate stuff for fathers day, but we wanted to get him what he wanted, and the nice part is, we all get to enjoy it!

there are some nice additions to the game, including some new sayings, new areas to explore, etc. what can i say? it's a great game!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Game Ever
Review: I have to disagree with almost every dissent I've read about this game. This is easily the best expansion I've ever played and is high on my list for best game ever.

Some have said this is too hard: I have certainly not found this to be the case. It is appropriately challenging, but there is no challenge in the expansion that is unbeatable. In fact, with a little creativity (and exploitation of the mediocre computer AI) some of the should-be-hard fights get easy fast.

Second of all, there is plenty of voice acting. Thankfully, it's not overdone. If anything, it can be a little longwinded. The party members have some new dialogue each and spend more time talking to eachother, and the NPC's you'll meet have new and interesting things to say... if they do occasionally ramble on for a bit, it is forgiveable.

All and all I'd say this is a fine conclusion to a series I was very sad to see finally end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A satisfying end to the Baldur's Gate saga
Review: Throne of Bhaal should not be compared with Tales of the Swordcoast, the expansion for the original Baldur's Gate which drew criticism for just being a few extra dungeons added in. TOB can, at times, feel like a full-fledged sequel. It both adds a massive new dungeon, Watcher's Keep, to explore, which upstages Durlag's Tower from TOSC, as well as continues the main storyline. You can import your characters from BG2(which in turn can be imported from BG), and now advance them all the way to 40th level(although this would take playing the game a few times through; I beat the game at about 28). You'll gain special abilities as you go above 20th level, such as Whirlwind Attack or Dragon's Breath(a mage ability which will summon the head of a red dragon which sprays enemies with fire) As your party is now above 20th level, people around will now treat you as the legendary warriors you are. It is not only satisfying to see that your character has come so far from being a 1st level wimp in Baldur's Gate, but also, you feel as though you're really part of the world now.

Watcher's Keep is a large dungeon with an interesting concept that I don't want to spoil. You'll find many interesting enemies inside, and the several levels which make up the dungeon are very varied in the way you overcome them. The end (and not to mention the monster there) is equally interesting.

As for the continuation of the main storyline, in which the main character is a Child of Bhaal, the deceased God of Mureder, TOB brings the saga to a close. Your battles become even more fantastic, as the Children battle to see who will assume their father's throne. Two new towns are present in TOB, each unique and possessing complex side-quests of the same flavor as those of BG2. After you defeat the final boss (a very incredible fight in itself), you will decide your own fate. At the end, the future of all of your party members is also told.

There are numerous other features I didn't mention, but you'll find appreciate them on your own; just buy this game. Make sure you play the rest of the BG saga first, though.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST GAMES I EVERY PLAYED...........
Review: I have played alot of games (its my life) and this is one of the best games i have played. I think its sad to see it go, but baldurs gate is like a book, it cant go on forever. The graphics were great, the story line was great (lacking once or twice) the sound was also great. Over all it was a great game. A little too easy, but then again I had a sword that stole life and regenerated every 10 secs. and could level drain healing my char. 20 points. I am finding the final boss imposible to beat because all my spells are used up. If you have any hints email me at [...]Hope they make a new game.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent but not without flaws
Review: Dont get me wrong, this is an excellent, quality expansion.

The graphics are great, the story is excellent, high level abilities? Gold!

So, instead of repeating what has already been said, I shall point out the flaws I see.

1) Lack of dialog. Is it just me or does this game remind you of Baldur's Gate one? Sure there's dialog but it makes little diffrence (with the exception of the "deva" chats ;) ).

2) Some of those battles are UNBELIEVABLY hard. Your 50 hours comes from reloads. Lot's of em.

3) Not enough side quests. I KNOW it's an expansion but after BG2, I was expecting a bit more side quests in this expansion (yes, yes....Watchers Keep. I wanted more than that!)

All in all, an excellent expansion and unlike every other Infinity Engine expanions, this one is actually worth your money!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Overall a definite improvement in game quality since the 1st
Review: Baldur's Gate II's expansion Throne of Bhaal has introduced excellent new features that were absent in ToB's progenitors and even in the great Planescape Torment. First off, dialogue choices in your Abyssal realm amount in the end, that is they are like karma. The more evil dialogue choices you choose, the more you lean toward it, affecting the ending. Where as PT's dialogue choices affected alignment. Its unsettling that even if you were Lawful Good, ToB doesn't check for this and still gives you the option to say basically nothing will stand in my way. Would a lawful good person act like that? Sure if you're roleplaying you can chose the other choicest, but its an eyesore that its even available.

ToB has an excellent pace, it has a few plot twists yes but nothing mind bending. Gameplay is more combat oriented, ala Icewind dale, but then comming from BG I where you had to kill the final boss, well its no suprise. Nothing changed much in that respect. Intimidation doesn't depend on your stats, just on your Bhaal spawn reputation and scripts. You finally get the chance to use resurrection on clerics to help people, thank god. Its annoying it has to be scripted and not availabe as a free choice.

Dialogee choices actually have some different answers now actually, but only on certain npcs. Items have increased many folds, now availabe are ammunition belts, potion cases, and many upgradable weapons. The Flail of Many heads it is! Cespenar was certainly one of the most enjoyable npcs, although there was no chance to converse with the imp, so when the end came to pass, he was just excess junk that didn't need further attention. He was an object, not a sentient being. Easier to destroy an object than to rationalize saving his life. I mean he made all these power objects for me and I can't even save him, thats ludicrous. I can't even warn him.

You're alignment doesn't affect the ending, your choices does. Hrm, a contradiction perhaps, but your alignment doesn't change. Indeed ToB has ended the Baldur's Gate saga rather pleasantly, with a great epilogue section after the game is finished. It gives you a brief history of each character after they left you, different if you have a romance. But I rather felt some characterization was left out in the ending. I would have hoped it wouldn't be another you or me again ,like with BGI Sarevok.

Once you're at the end, you'll know what i'm talking about. Contrary to my expectations, I don't gain any godly powers. And the fighter abilities can only be used 1 per round, so basically you have to micromanage, egads not fighters and mages! I term godly powers as those special abilities that only I have, and none others, perhaps mebe Bhaalspawn. In PlanescapeT, you gained "Spoiler"

Rune of Torment, allowing you to cast a lvl9 spell of torment based on your experiences. Unlimited.

If only they gave me some special abilities, like vampric drain -10s to get hps. But I still have the slayer, eh alot of good it does. It has 100 hps when I turn into it, even though my kensai warrior with 21 con has 220+hp. no cheats. There's no duel of honor, there's no equality of fighting a 6 player party like mines, with actual AI. The Light/Dark planetar has better AI than my cleric and better spells. I can't micromanage 2 fighters, 1 thief bser, 2 mages, 1 cleric. There's no way I can keep track of when every guy's round just ended to get the best out of their casting/potion quaffing abilities. If I let the AI script handle it, I'm basically dead since they override my commands. Some people I know can do it, but if I wanted turn based combat, I would like a dedicated TB, like Arcanum has. Arcanum's AI handles their own party members, but I'm forced to do everything, which wouldn't be bad but I don't know when the rounds end.

I recommend Throne of Bhaal for everyone that has followed the saga of the Prophecy of Alaundo, or just those who bought BG II Shadows of Amn. It is a good concluding sequel that shows the development team learned something, but not enough. Charisma works to barter for rewards, but is useless in most cases. Wisdom and Intelligence affects the powerful Wish spell quite well. Dialogue text appears over people heads, so you don't have to go up to them and pretend they actually want to talk to a complete stranger about the gossip of their world. I don't think they would be that friendly in a siege, they should just ask who are you. Everyone seems to know me for some reason. Just makes my character feel more stupid when I finally realize how much information was withheld from me.

Since I'm nearing my 1,000 word caps, let me say this for those Planescape Torment fans and those hoping for some innovating concepts to be introduced. ToB basically tailores good combat+good objects+dungeon crawls+1 town for a base+ high level abilities+new spells+some fancy scripts+the only end for the Gate saga. There are more, in the game, find it when you play it. No ability to Lie/tell Truth like in PT. I do not determine my alignment based on Chaotic/lawful behavior. I'm being greedy as Lawful Good, no alignment change. No I can't converse with my companions, they're mute or something. Jan at the end was hilarious, just great, great comedian. Get Jan in party at end to see what he says, like a shocker. Intelligent solutions don't occur if you have Wis/int of 18, I guess the protagonist is just too big and dumb to outthink other people. Although 1-3 creative solutions are in the game. I hope you take my review to mind, rather than heart. ToB could have been great, greater than Planescape Torment, but... it lacks quality of emotion and depth of interactivity.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mildly Disappointing Game
Review: I really enjoyed BG2 but this expansion just did not have everything it should have. Mostly it lacked in story and dialouge, being just a hack and slash type of game, that did not take very long to beat.

Experience cap is ridiculous, my best character was not even close to a cap when the expansions ended, also the last villain was not even half as challenging as Irenicus was.

On a brighter note, I think Pool of Radiance and Neverwinter Nights will be incredible games of a higher quality than Baldurs Gate was.

mt

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Slammin'!
Review: Is this the End? BG2 Throne of Bhaal concludes the saga that began with Baldur's Gate. My character has grown from a milk fed wuss to a near god. The graphics rock and the story line pulls the player along. I can only hope that Neverwinter Nights can acheive the same level.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GET THIS GAME !!!!!!!!!
Review: If it is possible for you to find a better RPG than The Throne of Bhaal, I would like to see it. You start off with almost all the stuff you ended with, you can import your characters, and you also get Seraevok, you know, the boss from BG1...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great, but some annoying bugs
Review: This expansion is as much fun to play as BG2, except for the fairly annoying bugs associated with intense combat. This caused performance to degrade to the point of near-unplayability in a few circumstances, despite the fact that my system easily exceeds the recommended specifications. This continued even when I greatly reduced graphics detail and the like.

Apart from this (not trivial) problem, the game is simply addictive. I would recommend it, notwithstanding its bugs, on the hope that Interaction will come up with a patch to mitigate the performance problems.


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