Rating: 
Summary: BALDUR'S GATE
Review: Baldur's gate is one of the most addictive games you can come across. If you are someone who is interested in advanced dungeons & dragons games this is the game for you. Although there are some minor flaws (ie. the graphics aren't all that great) this game is worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: The best RPG... ever?
Review: The original Baldur's Gate is what turned me on to PC RPGs. Always a fan of console RPGs, I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked it up. What I got was a game that seemed to address every problem I'd ever had with other RPGs. The world was deep and engrossing, the characters superbly realized, the combat fun and strategic, and the story and sheer volume of content allowed me to do many things in whatever sequence I wanted. Take all of that and make it about three times better, and you have Baldur's Gate 2, in my opinion quite possibly the finest RPG ever crafted.If you want to see everything there is to see, and do everything there is to do in the Forgotten Realms, be prepared to drop at least 100 hours into this game. It's that big. Of course, you can stick to the main storyline only and complete the game in less than half that time if you want to, but for die-hard role-players like me, this game is a dream come true. After completing the dungeon in which the game begins, you find yourself in a gigantic, wide-open world with dozens of quests you can take on or ignore as you please, in whatever order you prefer. Of course, there is a certain amount of linearity to the game, but there are always enough extra options available to offer you a great deal of control over how your characters progress. Moreover, the inclusion of all this extra material makes the world seem more real, and not just a stage that's been set for you to carry out one pre-set task. The NPCs in this game are interesting, well-drawn characters, and often quite funny as well. There are 20 NPCs to choose from, and you can have up to six characters in your party at any given time. Most of the NPCs are new, although some favorites from the original Baldur's Gate return, like Jahiera and Minsc. The characters are distributed nicely among the various alignments and classes available in the game, so that you'll be able to form a well-balanced party no matter what your style of play. Anyone who played the original Baldur's Gate will recognize the character creation system, which allows you to build your protagonist however you'd like. This time there are many more classes available, as well as specialist kits within the primary classes, who get various bonuses and penalties that allow you to customize your character even further. Many of these come from the D&D 3rd Edition rules, even though the gameplay mechanics themselves are more akin to the 2nd Edition rules. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. This game is far more complex than, say, the Final Fantasy series, but you don't need to know how the D&D rules operate to have an incredible experience with Baldur's Gate 2. The instruction manual explains everything you need to know. Finally, let me talk about the combat in this game. You control all six of your characters in realtime combat, and you have tons of options on how to do it. Each NPC has an array of AI scripts available to him, and you can select whichever you like to govern how that character will behave in combat. Whether you want someone who charges in and engages the enemy in melee combat, someone who hangs back and uses his ranged weapons whenever possible, someone who supports other characters and heals them if necessary, or any number of other options, you can do it easily. You can also control all six characters manually, which is how I prefer to play. If doing that in realtime sounds a little daunting, you can use the game's auto-pause settings to create a more turn-based battle system, which might be more familiar to some. Your characters start at about 7th level -- which is where they finished in the original Baldur's Gate -- so combat will be very interesting right from the start. Particularly, if you enjoy making heavy use of magic in battle, this game will keep you enthralled from beginning to end. Mages can become obscenely powerful in this game, and can develop an arsenal of hundreds of spells. You can summon demons from another plane, disintegrate your foes instantly, or even stop time. Fighting an enemy mage is a tricky proposition, and requires a good deal of strategy and foresight. If you rush in heedlessly and attack everything you meet, I hope you like dying, because you'll be doing a lot of it. For example, there are literally dozens of spells that provide a mage with one form of protection or another. They might shield him from certain kinds of weapons, or from certain types of magic, or render him invisible, or create a clone of himself, and so on. High-level mages can use a spell called Spell Sequencer that lets you cast up to three spells ahead of time, then activate them all at once later on. You can also use a spell called Contingency to automatically cast a spell once a certain condition is met. Thus if you engage an enemy mage in combat, he might instantly raise four or five different barriers around himself, before you can do anything. Before you can kill him, you have to figure out how to strip away each of those layers of protection. It can get complicated, but that's what I love about it. You can go into a battle and get completely and hopelessly slaughtered, then go into it again using a different strategy and configuration of spells, and crush your enemies mercilessly. My party in BG2 had five characters who could cast mage spells, because I love this aspect of the game so much. This is by no means a mindless game. The battles will challenge you every step of the way. Combine all this with an intriguing and immersive world and a particularly strong story, and you have a role-playing experience like none other. Baldur's Gate 2 has yet to be equaled on the PC or on any platform, and you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Few, not even BioWare, follow the path prepared by BG.
Review: Baldur's Gate shows us how great a CRPG can be when the NPC's are well written and placed in the context of a great, epic story. Epics have grandeur and scale, but they also spend a lot of time fleshing out small details. Just read Homer's Iliad as an example. Baldur's Gate did not always have great writing, but it had enough of it to show us a glimpse of what we had been missing in CRPGs. Now with Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale it is clear that the focus of both BioWare and Black Isle has shifted away from great storytelling. We can only hope that BioWare's secret RPG project and Black Isle's semi-secret Project Jefferson return to the path perpared by the Baldur's Gate series. Otherwise, we are bound for the Path of Eternal Barrel Smashing.
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Summary: the new order
Review: Baldur's Gate 2 - One of the greatest game i had pleasure of having and playing. The ability to have a party that interacts with you and your decisions is unbelieavable. With a sharp turn around every corner of the story this game is undoubtedly deserves 5 starts. With the great history of Dungeons and Dragons this is a great accomplishment done by Black Isle Studios. If you are a fan of Dungeons and Dragons' games this is a must by for you. ---- Janos Horvath
Rating:
Summary: One of the best games of all time!
Review: Pros:
Extremly rich and enthralling story-line
Very colorful characters with professional voice actors
HUGE world and hundreds of hours of gameplay!
Has challenging and interesting puzzles and quests...not the dull delivery/kill quests of some other rpg's.
EXTREMLY ADDICTIVE!... Cons:
Graphics will look dated for those who have played recent hack and slashes such as Dungeon Seige Summary: BGII is my favorite game of all-time! Now that's it's a few years old, you can get it at such a low price I wouldn't hesistate to recommend it to anyone who enjoys mindful games.
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Summary: Citizen Kane of Gaming World. A classic -- & you're the star
Review: Here's what I have to say: Best RPG hands down, ever. Nothing has come close since. This is the Citizen Kane of the Gaming World, People. Romance. Tragedy. Comedy. Shakespeare would be jealous. If you love to read fantasy and are getting started in the gaming world -- check this out. You will not be dissapointed. The playing is fast and furious, you can plot and calculate, you can philosophize on good and evil, you can unleash the good or evil in your soul, learn what side of the forc you're on, or if you're your own force. As the child of a god of murder, you embark on an odyssey to be either the god's next incarnation or hack out your own path while saving your childhood companion from a man named Irenicus who seeks to steal your very essence, unless you are stronger than anyone imagined. You'll have stouthearted and valiant companions to aid you as you need, from the wise Keldorn and Jaheira to the laugh out loud funny Minsc and Jan Jansen, to the arogant and those in need of your guidance. It's all here. Boot her up. On a side note: There are romances. They are entertaining, and optional. If you drop of the romance characters from your party at any time you will never have a romance. Rated teen, Viconia, the drow elf, can be more explicit in the romance, so you may want to think about this if you are a parent.
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Summary: The single best RPG I've ever played
Review: Baldur's Gate II is without a doubt the single best RPG I've ever played. It is one of the few games that I have played through multiple times and loved every minute of it. The game is not completely linear and you have the freedom to wander around completing adventures as you see fit, while increasing your level and power. When you feel like continuing the main storyline, you can choose to do so. In addition, the NPCs that you will join with are one of the most interesting aspects of the game. They are interesting and have thier own stories and subquests, which really bring them to life. In addition, the romances the main character can have with 4 of the NPCs add a whole new level of depth and is what kept me coming back for more. You will want to play multiple times to complete all of the romance subplots.
If you have not played this game yet, don't even think about it, just do it. You won't be sorry until you complete the game multiple times and realize that you have done everything there is to do.
Rating:
Summary: The best PC RPG of all time.
Review: If your getting sick of playing those console RPG games, involving turn based battle systems and text dialogues, then here is a great gift for you, Baldurs Gate II. This game is deeper, bigger, and flat out better then any console RPG you could play and on top of that, it is most likely the best PC RPG ever made. I would give this game only two falts: the very beginning of the game, which can scare off a lot of players before they get through it (which isn't hard), and the graphics, which are good but not the best. Like I said, this game is deep, consisting of 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules. Just think of Diablo with a party, 20 times more depth and a world that is 50 times bigger. The game is huge; there is just so much to do and so many places to go to. From what I remember, there are over 300 different quests, so this game will keep you busy for a long, long time. What is also amazing is that all of the side quests (hundreds) are just as fun to play as the main quests. Just when you think the quest is over, a plot twist will occur, making the quest that much more interesting and longer. If you can get off Final Fantasy for a minute, then go to the store and buy Baldurs Gate II. I guarantee you, if you give it a chance, and learn how to play the game, you will be staying up all night playing wondering how the time went by so fast.
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Summary: Amazing characters; A game that is close to my heart.
Review: Baldur's Gate 2 is a labor of love. It is a rich, staggering epic (to coin a term) that only gets better with repeated play, as you discover new class-specific subplots and new NPC interactions. The characters are the most believably alive, the most richly endearing cast I have ever seen in a game. The writing and especially the voice acting (villain Jon Irenicus must be heard to be believed) rivals the acting in my favorite movies. The NPC's are complex individuals, and any illusion of stereotypes is abolished once you get to know them. The NPC's travel with you and react to situations in their own way; although you control their actions in combat, they have their own opinions and will leave your party if what you're doing strongly opposes their own moral alignments. Baldur's Gate 2 is more than professional, more than "entertainment product," although it IS smashingly good fun. It is artful. It is alive with possiblities. It is a game that you will cherish.
Rating:
Summary: Best Game Ever is an Understatement
Review: I got this game in X-Mas of Last year. I am still playing it. The branches the story takes you on are varied and fun. The company AI and the fact that each person has there own story is amazing. Different party members interact differently to you and the world. Their are different paths you can take which determine whether you become good or evil. If you want an engrossing story and cast of Characters, BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!
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