Rating: 
Summary: Buy at own risk
Review: There are a number of people like myself experiencing a slowdown bug that makes the games all but unplayable. Every few seconds the game will pause for a 1/2 second or so! You might want to wait until a patch is released that fixes this annoying problem. Check the publisher's message boards for more info regarding this known annoyance. When I get this game working, I'm sure my rating will be 5 stars once i'm able to run this game as what i've seen and heard have been great.
Rating: 
Summary: An ending....true but perfect? No.
Review: Many gamers like myself were waiting anxiously for this expansion to come out. It falls short sadly. The rpg aspect that was part of the series isnt there not to mention I didnt really like a lot of the dialog options (playing a paladin and being rude just didnt make sense-to me). The npcs lost their 'flavor' and were not as original as the first. Definite tech probs as the load times are sometimes slow. There are also bugs which are quite annoying (one where i got bamfed to near the ending bypassing 2 sectors altogether...tells me who the villian is too no surprise but I would have liked to find out later). The game feels rushed. It wasnt ready I think and was released before its time. All these being said there are many good aspects to the game. The high level powers rock although i disagree with spellcasters having to take up slots in an already limited spellbook. There are some neat surprises (no I wont list them here *smile*). Some interesting enemies to fight also. The wild mage is a welcome addition to the game and can be downright hilarious at times. I would have rated this game a 3.5 or 3.75 but not a 3...its not average.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent expansion for all Baldur's Gate II fans
Review: Baldur's Gate II was a solid, well-rounded RPG: excellent battles and a fairly compelling plot with a lot of interesting sidequests. The expansion is more of the same, albeit slightly more refined. There are no systematic improvements to Throne of Bhaal; the Infinity Engine is still the Infinity Engine, and the dialogs are similar length and depth.Throne of Bhaal is more linear than Shadows of Amn; there are few small sidequests or optional areas. There is only the one new NPC, although he is a very interesting NPC (and I recommend taking him in your party through the expansion, even if you play a good-aligned party). Watcher's Keep (the add-in) had its moments, and had a tremendous quantity of loot; however, I didn't find it as enjoyable as the add-on area. The main plotline moves quickly and compellingly to a conclusion that satisfied me, and I hated the endings to BG1 and BG2. The new class abilities are terrific. Thieves (and Bards), with Use Any Item--which really means Use Any Item, including the Holy Avenger!--and some very formidable new traps, are probably improved the most. The best mage abilities are Summon Planetar, Improved Alacrity, and Dragon's Breath; fighters get Greater Whirlwind, which is the game's best boss killer. Clerics and Druids get great summons, as well as a couple good offensive spells. The new class, the Wild Mage, is a tremendous amount of fun to play, and I'd recommend any mage fan start a new character in Throne of Bhaal to try them out. Only a few new wizard (and no new priest or druid) spells are introduced, other than the high level abilities. I'm a little disappointed with the implementation of Wish (basically a list of random options, most not very helpful). The player amasses levels, new abilities, and absurdly powerful items very rapidly. In Throne of Bhaal, you'll be worthy of the attention of Solars (the highest celestial servants), you won't even bother to sell the countless +3 weapons average opponents drop, your party will be able to annihilate hordes of Drow and other formerly tough monsters, liches will humble themselves before you, and you'll defeat dragons that make Firkraag seem like an oversized kobold. Those looking for a classic AD&D experience should look elsewhere, but it's a lot of fun to see to how far you've come from the feeble adventurer of BG1 ("Bondari reloads"). I experienced no significant bugs. I found the game fairly easy, with the exception of the final battle, but there are a few encounters sure to surprise even an experienced BG2 player. Overall, it's about 25 hours of gameplay, split down the middle between Watcher's Keep and the main plotline, but it's worth replaying. Going through the main plotline was the most fun I'd had in front of a computer in some time, and I highly recommend Throne of Bhaal to anyone who enjoyed BG2.
Rating:
Summary: Throne of Bhaal
Review: Throne of Bhaal was an excellent game. I enjoyed finishing up my romance with the three females, as well as the endings. I was dissappointed with the lack of sidequests. All that was there was Watcher's Keep, and it's straight turkey after that. Getting Sarevok was not a surprise for me. Sarevok was mentioned so much in BGII that it was inevitable he'd show up. The other NPC's unfortunately haven't changed much, only Nalia shows any change. But otherwise, ToB was a superb game with a gripping storyline and powerful plot. Make a game with BG storylines and IWD spells and you've got it made.
Rating:
Summary: Baldur's Gate 2 Expansion: Throne of Bhaal
Review: This expansion pack by far out rates all other expansions for other rpg games by far! It upgrades the exp. cap to lv 40! and adds a new "Bhaal Spawn" War to tweek around with for many more hours of fun and challenge. This game is great and it will deffinitly keep me occupied until the next Bioware AD&D release, Neverwinter Nights! U should all buy this Expansion pack, It is definitly worth your money!
Rating:
Summary: Even more addicting than BGII
Review: I foolishly bought this game the day before I closed on my new house. I found myself taking frequent packing breaks and ended up packing my PC at the *very* last minute. The game looks great and follows very logically from BGII - on a mid-range homemade Athlon 750 with Voodoo3 PCI video and 128MB RAM I am able to play the game super-smooth in the (unsupported) 1024x768 mode. There are several options for importing your BGII characters or starting fresh; I went on from where I left off previously. The plot starts with a bang and hasn't let up so far. I pried myself away to take a "quick look" at the bonus Watcher's Keep dungeon, whiich is unrelated to the main plot, and it's kept me occupied for a while now. Some of the battles are a pain but they're enjoyable, and there are nice puzzles and dungeon design. Favorite moment so far: unknowingly entering a Wild Magic zone, casting a Breach, and having my mage summon a large pack of squirrels which proceeded to swarm underfoot and generally make a nuisance of themselves. No bugs yet. Good job!!
Rating:
Summary: Some Bugs But No Insurmountable Problems
Review: I too encountered the laggy, slow-frame rate problems in Shadows of Amn. My computer system consists of a 500mhz P3, 384 megs of SDRAM-100, a 5400RPM hard drive, and a 32MB TNT2Ultra video card. The frame rate was drastically improved by downloading the latest video drivers from NVdia. I also reduced the number of path finding nodes available for the AI from 32K to 8K. The AI doesn't need that much path finding ability. The frame rate for the multiplayer mode remained atrocious though. It was about ten times worse than single player mode. I found that toning down the graphics settings did little to improve frame rate. In order to play SoA with a decent frame rate, you need to do or have the following: 1. Have the latest drivers for your video card. 2. Always do a full install. It will save your computer a lot of time not having to turn to your CD-ROM drive so much. 3. If you can afford it, have a decent video card (with a minimum of 16megs of video ram) and a decent hard drive (with at least 7200 RPM). The higher the RPM, the faster data from your hard drive can be pulled. If you're wondering why I have a 5400RPM hard drive, it's because I bought it before I knew that hard drives had different speeds. I hope Interplay paid attention to gamer's complaints and remedied this problem in ToB. If not, they'd better get a patch out in a hurry! Besides the tech problems, this game's the bomb! The new two weapons fighting ability allows your party to wade through enemy ranks like never before. Powerful new spells like lower resistance (which levels the playing field when fighting magic resistant enemies), imprison (which is very useful for dispatching innocent civilians who've you accidently turned hostile without taking a reputation hit), and a whole plethora of anti-magic shield spells which render powerful mages and priests vulnerable to attack.
Rating:
Summary: baldurs gate 2 throne of bhall
Review: First of all this can be a choopy game its not really that u need the worlds greatest computer it just goes good with some computers and others not so well i played this on my sisters computer and it was a choopy as choopy gets but on my it works great and mine is older. this is mostly tech stuff thought the game it self is great for the rpg lovers its keeps u hooked till the end theres a new npc that can join and your going to be really surprized when u find out who it is (maybe an old friend or maybe not a friend) the game last about 50 hours depending on who u r and how u play.
Rating:
Summary: The Baldurs Gate legacy has ended, Flawlessly No less
Review: This BG2ToB is a great expansion that brings the Baldurs Gate series to a close in a magnificent way. This expansion starts off right where Shadows of Amn ended. Now that Irenicus is dead you and your party have many new and fun quest ahead of you. BG2ToB is almost a whole new game because it adds over 80+ hours to the already long Shadows of Amn. You can upload your party from Shadows of Amn and play with them further into BG2ToB. One of the coolest things about this expansion pack is that you can reach 8,000,000 XP with your characters. That is more than triple the amount in Shadows of Amn. Also there are many new spells and weapons in this expansion that will keep you coming back for more and more of Baldurs Gate. Overal this game or should I say expansion is an awesome close to an unforgetable Baldurs Gate legacy.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks the character of BG2
Review: Throne of Bhaal is the conclusion of the story begun in Baldur's Gate. A lot of gamers have high expectations for it; unfortunately, the expansion pack to Baldur's Gate 2 doesn't really satisfy those. The initial concern is that it's nowhere near the 40-50 hours of gameplay discussed before the release--I'd estimate I finished it in less than 30. It's also heavily combat oriented, where non-expansion BG2 had a lot of opportunity for dialog and character interaction. That lack of character interation is probably the most disappointing aspect of the expansion. A large part of BG2's charm was the personality shown by party members: Jan interjecting an absurd story, Viconia spewing venom, or Minsc talking about his hamster. These are present to some degree--there are new NPC-initiated discussions--but some of the best dialog occurred when the NPC interrupted a discussion between the player and someone else in the game. There is so little dialog of that sort in the expansion that it feels empty somehow. It feels much more like Tales of the Sword Coast (the expansion to the first BG) than BG2. Probably in large part due to the lack of dialog, the story isn't fully fleshed out. It seems hurried (especially the last encounter before the endgame begins). The expansion begins with all the spawn of Bhaal being gathered according to prophecy and being slaughtered by their most powerful members. The conclusion is fitting, but it seems undernourished. More dialog, and with it, more story, would have made this a 5 star expansion. The high level character mechanics work pretty well, but are much more favorable to mages and clerics than fighters. Some of the new spells are devastatingly powerful, but the new fighter abilities are almost unnoticeable. If you like heavy combat, this should satisfy you, but be warned: the game sometimes slowed to a crawl in combat when I never had any trouble with BG2.
| 
