Rating: 
Summary: The best review
Review: Hey, what's up guys? Well, lets see, why should you buy this game? Well, it is one of the best RPG's to come along in years, it gives you months and months of continuous enjoyment, and you can choose almost everything you do in the game. This game is much easier to understand if you've play Baldur's Gate 1 (another game which I highly recomend). And for all you D&D fans out there - this is the game for you. For all of you who aren't D&D fans (I've never even played D&D) - this is the game for you. And for all of you that are wondering what D&D is, well it stands for Dungeons and Dragons. The only reason you shouldn't buy this game is if you don't like to spend a lot of time at your computer or if you want more of a challenge (You can always put the game on the hardest difficulty level though.). Also, if you are new to RPGs it may be hard to understand at first, but luckily the game comes with a handy-dandy tutorial (The tutorial kept quiting out of the game on my computer, but that was on one of the resolution that wasn't fully tested yet). Many people think that this game is superior to Diablo 2. Superior? Come on, of course Diablo 2 gets a little boring after a while. But that's where Baldur's Gate comes in. When you get tired of Diablo 2, just pop Baldur's Gate 2 (or 1) in your CD-ROM drive. And then if you ever get tired of Baldur's Gate, well by that time Diablo 2 won't seem so boring anymore. Like my ingenious (Oh well, I think I spelled that wrong) plan? Now just go ahead and buy these kick-a-- games and have fun staring at you computer screen. Later, man.
Rating: 
Summary: great graphics...horrible game
Review: When i began this game i was impressed with the graphics and the sound. However the story started off bad and only got worse, not to mention everything else. You had reletivly no choice in characters compared to the first. You had a massive amn city but thats it for cities...few towns and and stuff but not much else. You had no break down of the map only direct town to town traveling...unlike the first where you had to actually walk from town to town. no offence to others but i did all the adventures and everything in like one week...so i dunno why people say it is such a big game, cause it is not. the first one was 4 cd's this one is 3...with better graphics and sound taking up more disk space so how can you say it is even as long? and finally they ruin the story line, for example in the first game it was said that every race has one child by the god...but by having Imoen be a child too you run the risk of there being 2 from the same race if you and her are the same race...this is just one of the many flaws i have found in the game. On the whole this game seems like it was slapped together over night and all the attention was on the graphics and sound and none on any other area of the game, so i do not recomend this at all but i do recomend the first one it is amazing
Rating: 
Summary: Its a long, and disturbingly HUGE game... but not perfect
Review: I can see why this game is praised by so many people, but to be honest... I wasnt as satisified as I thought I would be. Although its a very large game, containing litterally hundreds of quests... the main point of the game is simply lvling up. The story didn't make me eager to go on at all. Dont get me wrong, its a good story, but I guess I didnt like it that much. Anyway, BGII is still an amazing game. Is it like Diablo (2)? Not at all, you just cant compare them because they are way too different. Diablo (2) was based more on slashing your way through hordes of ememies gaining tons of lvls. BG2 is different. Not only do you control more then one character, its much more strategic. You simply cant run into a pack of enemies and expect to be successful. You must plan your attack and execute your attacks well. Using magic is a must. And BGII's battles are much slower then you would expect. No matter what lvl your character is, the battles are bound to be a bit slow. BGII also uses a unique pause system, where you are able to pause the game at any time and plan your attacks that way. BGII is also different in a lot of ways. Like I said, the world is HUGE... very huge. Theres just so many towns and areas to visit. This definently adds to the replay value. Also, theres plenty of quests you can do to either gain rewards or advance in the story. Either way, theres TONS of quests. So that also definently adds to the replay. The graphics are ... okay. Not that bad, but the characters look very undetailed. It may look fine and dandy in 800x600 resolution, but that just makes it harder to see things. But still, it doesnt really take any fun away from the game. All in all BG2 is a great game, and definently worth the buy. It may seem a bit shallow at first, but stick with it and your bound to get very addicted to the game.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, not up to par with BG1
Review: This game is great with very few flaws. For the lowdown:
Good:
Graphics, sound, gameplay, plot, magical items Bad:
Lack of NPC choices (no real thieves, most of the NPC's seem purposely underpowered) That being said, it is a pretty incredible game. The choices you make as far as alignment actually matter, especially in the end. NPC interaction is very deep and sometimes hilarious. The only real problem I had was the fact that there were no NPC thieves to pick (other than a sucky gnome illusionist/thief and a bounty hunter who, in the end, wasn't such a great idea). This may seem like a minor flaw, but a thief is a pretty indispensible part of any party. Might as well not have any good spellcasters.
Buy this game, you'll thank yourself for it
Rating:
Summary: To say it's the best would not be nearly strong enough
Review: "There were no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful."
-J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Truly, I cannot, I simply *cannot* express in words how good I think this game is. But I shall have to endeavour to somehow share it with you. BG1 was simply truly very good, in nearly every way. But this one... if BG1 were The Hobbit, then this would be The Lord of the Rings; it can hardly be called just a "sequel", more like the first one has turned into a little prologue. BG1 is not exactly lacking in things like character interaction, plot and dialogue, but now it seems like it was, because BG2 excels in those areas to an incredible degree, while retaining all the best parts from BG1. Besides of that, the graphics are basically the same only better, the game play has been improved in numerous ways and all the sounds and music are at the very least great but often much, much better than that. Starting with the less important parts: the graphics are beautiful, probably a lot more so than if the monsters and things were 3D. A mild annoyance is that for example fiends look nearly all the same. The characters' "paper doll" pictures look a bit silly on the inventory page but good on the main screen. There are loads of interesting new items, spells, monsters, locations and special abilities. The music are just great. The battles are more interesting than in BG1. The "pathfinding" AI still [the opposite of "blows"], although now the characters can push others aside unless they're doing something important at that spot, which helps a great deal. But, as if that all wasn't enough (it would be, really, and the game would be awesome with only those changes), the story-related elements in BG2 are just, like, I mean, wow! The NPCs had kind of personalities in BG1, but those rarely affected anything or showed properly; now all the important characters are worthy of R. A. Salvatore himself (and the less important ones include ones by him). Perhaps the best of them all is the villain; he is a completely disgustingly sick individual, whom the player cannot help but hate more than life itself, so to speak (more than one would hate Jar Jar Binks, even *slightly* more than I hated Abdel Adrian). Definitely the best villain anywhere, ever. You may ask what good there is about a character who is so terribly Bad, but then you are forgetting that he is supposed to be the PC's mortal enemy and so forth. He is. I could use his name as a strong swearword.
All the NPCs that can join your party also have more personality than most people you meet in real life. They may disagree with your choices, start fighting with each other, have philosophical discussions, just comment on events, anything. The best part is that they (some of them) can have romances with the PC. For me, this was probably the best part of the game; just what I needed (she was just too good to be true... and hey, what do you know, she wasn't (being just a game character, that is). My usual luck. Not that it still wasn't an emotionally very satisfying experience.), and it was used later on to add extra dramatic effect to some of the events of the game - at one point I was completely losing my nerve, and felt a quite ecstatic sense of relief when the situation was finally solved. And, partially related to the NPCs, the voice acting for important characters is bloody excellent and there's so much of it that one gets the impression that if the main character wasn't custom-made by the player, all the speech could be acted (now it's impossible, since the actors cannot know the name/sex/race of the PC beforehand). The dialogue texts are like from a (very good) book. Otherwise, the plot is ingenious; you start in a situation where you have little choice as to what to do, but soon get to go anywhere, almost as much as in BG1 (where that side was a bit exaggerated anyway), at least until a certain point where the plot draws you into it again.
#A tip: when you get to the point where you're supposed to get 20,000 gold, and you already have 15,000 or more, don't go anywhere outside in Athkatla, except at the gates, if you have any unfinished business to deal with.#
The plot also involves numerous surprises, truly effective dramatic turns (see above) and temptations (I gave in to not a single one, but I won't say it was easy). If you can truly take the role of the main character, the experience is amazing, like reality but better. Even without that, it's at least as good as BG1. I am running out of space, but one final thing: the "novelisation" "of" this game [the opposite of "blows"]. It is the lousiest book ever, like the reverse of the game. 'Tis a bloody insult, that's what it is. I do not consider myself an atheist because I think I do not have enough belief even for *that*, but I would still like to call it a sacrilege, except that the word is not nearly strong enough. Avoid at all costs. (See my review of it for details.) PS. Play BG1 before this one.
Rating:
Summary: The best game ever made!
Review: This game is PERFECT the plot is stunning and has so many twists that you have no way of predicting. The game is extremely long and has tons of sub-plots. The city of Athkatla is stunning. They take many events in history and everyday problems and put them out in a very powerful way that will have you be thinking and surprised by how vicious reality can be because the put you with true daily events just with fantacy twists in it. Ex: The story about Aerie's slavery is very sad and really makes you think because things like this happen daily. The Cult of the Eyeless is the same way. The gameplay is hard to catch on to but is worth all the trouble of learning. There are so many spells too, I like the necromancing and conjuring spells the most. The classes are all great the best ones are the sorcerer and kensai. This game is stunning and you will not get anymore gameplay out of anyother game. This is worth all the money. Note: This game should be rated Mature there is some sexual dialogue and very mature violence talked about, and this game would bore any little kid because there is so much dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: A year from my life...
Review: First of all, I bought BG:1 sometime in October 2000. It was twenty dollars and I had heard some good things about it. Little did I know that I would become hooked. The idea of creating a character and then after beating a game, restarting a new one without losing my weapons and more importantly, my power was a dream come true.
Then I began to download programs to eliminate the XP cap so I could get more powerful.
Finally, I got BG2 and it was even more addicting than the first. The character specialty kits quickly became my favorite part allowing me to play as an assassin or even an evil cleric of Talos. The character specific quests kept me playing on and on, even though I had beaten the game, a rare feat for any game. Finally, a combination of school and life dragged me back to reality, but not before a year had gone by.
If you even remotely love RPGs with great storylines and variability, I recommend this game.
This game is a must have for everybody.
PS: Try the multiplayer online mode. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Deep and immersive RPG
Review: Although this is a sprawling game, Bioware have created a superb in-depth RPG with attention to detail. The conversations can sometimes go on a little too much but generally the characters are interesting and ther storylines are well crafted. The non linear aspects of the game - with different tasks to be completed along with a journal really help to create this fantasy world. The sheer amount of spells, weapons and objects can become a bit unwieldy at times. However I would recommend this game to those who like RPGs because it is an enjoyable adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Never Consoles Again
Review: Best game I've played in a long long time. Great for someone that doesn't have much time and wishes to chip away at a game. Don't hesitate buy it. Worth every penny you will not regret this. Gameplay is fast or slow depending on user and skills. I've played this game twice now and am seriously thinking of playing again. I never play a game more than once.
Rating:
Summary: Believe me, its sweet!
Review: Baldurs Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is not one of those normal games. This is the kind of game that takes over any social life you might have. You might as well file for divorce RIGHT NOW, because this game will dominate your life from the moment you hear the opening words..."Ah, the child of Bhaal has awoken."
This game is so amazingly huge! The almost endless amount of play (only rivaled by MMORPGs like Everquest and UO) make it a must-have for any RPG aficiando or newbie alike. Among all the RPGs i have played in my life, this one must have the most ebgaging, breathing...alive story ever.
You will feel your character's hate for Irenicus, the mad wizard responsible for the kidnapping of Imoen, your childhood friend. You will play this game like a double life, moonlighting as a stealthy assassin, a religious paladin (my personal fave) or a mysterious mage, among many others. With 20 NPCs to join your 6-man party, the number of combinations are endless. My last party consisted of: me (undead hunter); Keldorn (rock-hard inquisitor); Minsc (pet hamster-nuff said); Valygar (a lonesome stalker); Imoen (wicked theif and mage); and finally Aerie (a wingless avariel with surprising magical powers!)
This game will have you hooked with it's amazing tale of love, friendship, betrayel, greed and tragedy. And, if you know where to find it, theres a fair amount of humor dashed in there s well!
A brilliant game, up there with the best!
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