Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn

Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever...
Review: This is the end-all beat-all rpg, every gamer into this genre should own a copy. Once you've learned the essentials you'll barely be able to get away from your computer...you'll be addicted. The plot is superb, the graphics magnificent, the music fits in perfectly with the action, its just the greatest game ever. Buy this game!!

Rating:
Summary: Hunt down the bad wizard who stole your soul and kill `im.
Review: Personally, I am very dissatisfied with the game's CONTENT. Sorry for the caps, but they help to emphasize the point that there is a vast difference is ratings because different gamers look at different aspects. Moreover, they also evaluate what they find according to varying criteria. Hence the disagreement.

Now, the reason I gave BG II three stars is because I'm rather happy with the game as regards its FORM. What I mean by form here are its graphics, sound, music (though I found the last rather too heroic and repetitive) and the sheer size of it (areas, quests and monsters), as well as the amount of detail. Those who say that the original BG looked, or sounded (with the exception of BG's very distinct "night in the city" theme, which is sadly missing in the sequel) better, need only to re-install that worthy predecessor and enjoy the brown-and-green drabness of it.

As for size, the bigger the merrier, or it would be so if I appreciated every minute of gameplay. Then I would want more and more of it, but, as it is, the length is mere annoyance. Details and textures of certain areas (Trademeet, for example, or the beholder lair template), are astounding. The game recycles a great deal (and I mean it) of the original BG or TSC material, down to NPC lines, which doesn't help it to look any more original. Indeed, as CGW has noted, you will instantly recognize the controls and gameplay itself once you start playing.

It is clear, however, that Bioware didn't aim at making the game into something drastically new, but instead wisely decided to give fans "more of the same, but better". Surely, the designers cannot be blamed for wanting to continue being able to provide bread and butter for their family tables? And I must underline that there is quite a lot of new material in BG II, most notably the monsters. Some creature types are rather surprising to see in what is after all a high-level character adventure, goblins for example, but overall monsters are well-animated, hard to defeat and, without a shadow of doubt, numerous.

As for quests, there are many, but more detailed consideration will have to wait until we can get to the game's CONTENT. I thus conclude my discussion of BG II's FORM (what is most obvious, graphics, sound and the variety).

Before I go further, two more points need to be made.

First, would all ye future reviewers (for certainly I'm not the last to touch upon the subject, wishful thinking aside) please stop comparing BG II to Diablo II. The games are clearly very different, and, just as the original Diablo, its sequel got labeled an RPG by mistake (or marketing calculation). It is almost pure action, total hack-and-slash, and it has nothing to do with Black Isle/Bioware games.

Second, technical problems you night be experiencing are irrelevant to the game's fun value. The idea being, *after* you manage to get the game going, and *assuming* you overlook slowdown problems and so on, would you recommend the game or not? Please don't go giving 1 star because of Interplay's poor technical support.

Those issues having been dealt with, I now turn to BG II's CONTENT. Again, I use the word loosely, referring to how intelligent, tasteful and "mature" the game is. Before I get to my own opinion, here is a classification of wows and boos for BG II, where FORM and CONTENT are of different interest to different people.

There seem to be three main groups of gamers.

1) The Diablo II group. What they want: faster and more combat, different monsters with special abilities, also useful combat abilities for classes and kits, spells made more powerful, etc. What they dislike: lengthy texts (I have yet to find those in BG II, though I have played it through), fiddling around with all the useless NPC interaction. Slogan: Let's Get Busy!

2) The Japanese-style RPG group. For those not in the know, Japanese-style RPG feature often involved but very linear plots, little effect of particular actions of the final outcome, great deal of interesting items and character abilities/attributes, and strong emphasis on action. (I thus call them "Action-Adventures"). What they want: more of everything, with quantity being of greater importance than quality - more items, weapons, monsters, quests, NPC, kits, areas, dungeons, etc. What they dislike: paying too much attention to any single aspect, e.g. concentrating on dialogues, or combat, etc.

3) Tweakers group. Can include something from the other two, but is mainly for improving technical aspects of gameplay. What they want: new engine, running feature, horses, more inventory/quick weapon slots, XP cap raised. What they dislike: balance and work vs. gain considerations.

4) Crazy geeks from Mars group. I include myself in this one. Concentrates on the brain-related activities - quests, NPC interaction, dialogues, non-linearity. What we want: better writing, subtler humor, rating other than Teen, more than three dialogue lines for an average NPC, non at all or flexible alignment system, occasional bit of philosophy, art or science. What we dislike: alignment being irrelevant, courses of action forced on us, detailed party NPC instead of *all other* NPC in the world, excessive fighting, plots that must end in the death of the bad guy.

Now you know what I meant by CONTENT. By why give yourself the preference, you might ask? Why not pay all attention to combat, for example, or items? My answer is, because it's not the right genre for it, and that will remain important as long as you have genre sections in stores. And RPG is a Role-Playing Game, and it means you are supposed to be able to do just that - come up with a character and then let him act as you see fit, within limits of course. This isn't a matter for an argument, because it is purely deductive. It's in the name. And while I'm fine with RPG having *extras* like lots of items or combat, those come only as a bonus. Therefore, BG II would be a good RPG if it had more CONTENT than FORM, but the situation is exactly the opposite. Hence, BG II is not a good RPG, though it may be a nice Action-Adventure.

Rating:
Summary: I changed my mind
Review: A while ago I wrote a review complaining about a hard quest in chapter 3. Wow was I a whiner. I have completed the game and I must say I found Irenicus a little too easy, this game has proved to be my best gaming experience ever and i would do it all over again. So Bioware (this is a Canadian game you know) bring on te throne of bhaal, you don't scare me one bit! And who else is syked about Neverwinter Nights, email me at [e-mail] to discuss NWN

Rating:
Summary: Baldurs Gate 2.
Review: This Game is AMAZING!!!, graphics, gameplay, storyline, Everything, if your a fan of the first game or your a new player you will love it, oh yeah and it runs fine on my system - celeron 400 64MB Ram although it can be a bit jerky and slow on the load times, never the less the ability to create your own party from scratch and the different kits and weapons and spells that are available is simply breathtaking, I would recommend this game to anyone it is simply THE best RPG that i have ever played. ...

Rating:
Summary: A true Role Playing Game
Review: When I first sat down with BG2 I wasn't all that impressed with the game. Months later it still has me addicted. The game world that the Black Isle team created here is immense. From the huge cities and impressive array of monsters down to the conversations you can have with the games NPC's, this game is enormous.

The graphics on BG2 are not absolute "knock your socks" off impressive, but this game wasn't designed to push video cards to new limits. However, the graphics do more than enough to convey trepidation when entering dungeons or awe when entering a temple. The characters and monsters are all incredibly well animated as well.

For those familiar with BG1, Torment, or Icewind Dale the interface will be immediately familiar. Given the sheer number of options available the interface is very nicely designed. There are major improvements over the old BG1 engine that simplify the gameplay and reduce the number of headaches caused in the game. For example, characters can be momentarily bumped out of the way instead of standing rigidly in place while another character needs to get by.

The battles can be played either in quasi-real time or turn based. I say "quasi" because playing without occasional pausing is impractical due to the number of potential ways you can deal with your enemies. You will fight all manner of creatures including drow elves, golems, dragons and much more. Given the amount of equipment available, different classes for your party, and variety of monsters, it's difficult to plan for every situation this game will throw you into. As a result, some of the battles will be incredibly challenging and offer a great sense of accomplishment when you are victorious.

Perhaps the best thing about the game though, is the replayability. It isn't necessary to be have a character that is a super fighter and a perfect saint. The game is designed to allow you to experience the game with a characters that have lesser fighting abilities or allignments of pure evil. By allwoing people to play the game the way they want instead of the way the programmers wanted, the game truly stands out as being one of the best of all time. After all, it's much more fun to be able to go along with a sotry affecting the events rather than simply having them told to you.

Rating:
Summary: BEST GAME EVER!
Review: Oh man, this beats Torment ,Baldur's Gate ,and Icewind Dale COMBINED!This takes place a few days after the murder of Sarevok. After being in Baldur's Gate for a few weeks,the main charecter(played by you)decided to leave with his party to get out of The Sword Coast (You don't know why).On the way,you get captured by a man named Jon Irenicus.You start in a dungeon,locked up by Jon,then,your old friend Imoen,finds you.You have to break out,find this man,and kill him for all the treachery he has done.

More dark secrets,the dreams are WAY better than the first,great NPC's(my favorite is Yoshimo),and excelent movies.Just a darn good game.I can't wait for Neverwinter Nights!

Rating:
Summary: Dungeons and Dragons for the Math Impaired
Review: The reason to play _Baldur's Gate 2_ (and the other fine games by Interplay) boils down to the fact that it's a faithful reproduction of the D&D game you used to have to play with pencils and dice.

Years and years of work went into the design and redesign of the D&D world and I'm not just talking about the rules... I'm talking about the spells, the monsters, the heroes... THE CONTENT.

D&D is a world. _Baldur's Gate 2_ is one chapter of that world wrapped up in a fine looking game that plays, well, like a book. You won't be on the edge of your seat... but also won't need to worry about madly running down hallways worried about getting blasted to bits by a rocket launcher.

_BG2_ makes no major leaps in terms of game design from _BG1_... it's all fine tuning. Dazzling special effects are not what the game is about... it's about many hours of solidly fun game play.

Rating:
Summary: Yes Yes! You are all a bunch of goody two-shoes..........
Review: You must find Edwin and go on the quest to find him the Nether Scroll. What follows is the most amusing plot line I have ever seen in a computer game. My favorite thing about this game is in fact the great NPC's. My only complaint is that you can only have 5 of the 16 with you at a time. I could never make up my mind which one I wanted. In the end I had each of them join me for at least one quest. But I would have to say that Minsc the Ranger who was hit one to many times on the head and his sidekick hamster Boo are awesome. As is Edwin even if he is evil. Oh sure you will want to smack Jahiera and Viconia upside the head when they give you attitude and Aerie and Anomen are a bit whiny but this just reminded me of my old days roll playing with my friends and all the fighting we did. <"What!? You want me to open that mysterious glowing black box!? Uh uh. YOU do it!"> The story lines are very enjoyable. The NPC's react to each other as well as you and some of the maps and scenery are just beautiful. My favorite is the Temple of Ilamater and the giant statue inside. There are some things that are annoying. Such as minor quests that send you on wild goose chases going from one area to another then back to the first area etc. etc. In between each area you have to wait for the game to load. When an NPC in the Dock district told me I had to go to the slums I felt like poking him with my 2-hand sword. But otherwise this is a very addictive enjoyable game.

I can't wait for Neverwinter Nights. I only hope they include Minsc and Boo!

Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun, but....
Review: This game is pretty good. I haven't beat it yet myself, but I'm getting there.

Good: Has a lot of plot twists, lots of NPCs to use, can use your character from BG1 and from Icewind Dale (or so I'm told, haven't tried it myself because I don't have it), can export your character to Neverwinter Nights when it comes out, lots of equipment and spells, good character creation choices, allows multiplayer

Bad: Uses old 2nd Edition AD&D rules, main story is very linear (I very quickly got sick of starting a new game to try out new characters), some animations are choppy and seemingly half-done, you run into experience caps before your characters reach their potential

Ugly: I couldn't get Internet play to work with friends, and my friends said they couldn't get it to work amongst themselves, and we couldn't get ANY support from either Interplay or MPlayer.com (the company that runs the internet play mode)

All things considered it's a very good game. I still play it, although just by myself. I'm really looking forward to Neverwinter Nights though, and if I don't put BG2 away by then, it will be up on my shelf when I get NWN.

Rating:
Summary: Left me hanging.
Review: I played the original BG1 and thought it was a fantastic game. If you are considering playing BG2 and haven't played BG1 yet, play BG1 first. That said, I think the sequel is an improvement over the first.

The story takes quite at turn at the beginning, as you find yourself and comrades trapped. The game does an excellent job of interaction with "non player" characters. I think the AI behind some of the quests of characters that join your party is fantastic. The story is intriguing, and the cinematic effects are stunning. Some of the larger monsters are great, and the quests are more complex. It's hard not to get involved in the game.

I have a Celeron 500 with 128MB of RAM and 32MB Matrox card and the game was flawless. I played the game in the higher resolution graphics mode (800x600) and was very impressed. I didn't notice the slow downs others have mentioned in their reviews.

The only problem I have is that they have said they won't do a sequal to BG2. Too bad, I would pre-order it today if they would. Even the ending hints at a sequel that won't ever be done. At least characters can be exported for their upcoming Neverwinter Nights...