Baldur's Gate saved the CRPG genre in the West in 1998. The original is still a great game, but the Enhanced Edition cleans it up for modern systems and is well worth the effort. It's worth it at FULL price but often goes on sale, so might be worth it to wait. MAYBE!
Did you like DOOM back in the 90s? If so, get this game. You won't be disappointed.
This game is a great turn based RPG that lets you build parties of 4 adventurers from a stable list of characters you slowly build (and lose) throughout a campaign to rid a cursed town of an unspeakable evil before it consumes everything. It's very grimdark, similar to the TTRPG Mork Borg, so expect no fairy tales here. Instead, expect gore, terror, horror, and despair. If you enjoy that kind of atmosphere and some old fashioned dungeon crawling where you have to count things like torches and rations to survive, fight unspeakable horrors, and die often, then this is a game for you.
What can be said about this game that hasn't been said? One of the best RPGs ever made.
Icewind Dale is one of the best D&D CRPGs ever made. It is also a great Forgotten Realms game, though you don't have to be a Realms fan to enjoy it. The game is highly tactical and challenging compared to similar Infinity Engine games like Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment. It is more reminiscient of a classic dungeon crawl than a sweeping saga like BG or thoughtful RPG like Torment. The visuals and music are the best in the series. Very worth the price.
One day, I hope, this game will be seen as one of the best. But it is not this day. The graphics are pretty, and who can argue with the Pathfinder rule set? Isometric like BG and IWD, it's a recipe for greatness. But the following issues still plague it. 1. Bugs - far less it seems than release, but they are there - and glaring at times. 2. Laggy - it's a resource hog - I can run circles around games with more advanced graphics but can only manage to run this at the lowest settings or I get terrible lag. Badly designed. 3. Loading Times - as others have said, there's a long loading screen for literally everything. Camp? Loading screen. Go into your bedroom? Loading screen. And the loading screens take awhile. 4. Kingdom Crap - OK so technically this doesn't count against them because the dang game is called Kingmaker, but the kingdom management is very tedious and not my style. I want to adventure and kill monsters - but no sooner do you really get invested in that are you required to hot foot it back to your capitol to play bureaucracy the game. Wee! In time, if the Devs care, they can eliminate or mitigate the first three. From what I'm told #2 and #3 are due to poor programming and picking a bad engine. I don't know for sure as I'm not a game designer. I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars. If you get this, get it on sale.
Grr. I should know better by now. I wanted a good ARPG because Diablo 3 had gotten boring for me. If you read these other reviews, I am a top candidate for Grim Dawn. Virtually everyone here says its better or on par with Diablo 3. It's not. Not. even. close. When people tell you its just Titan Quest with a new skin, they mean exactly that. The graphics are slow and choppy no matter what your rig can do. It's designed to be slow and choppy. The polygons are poorly made and it shows. Whatever else may be true about this game: it's skill trees, endgame content, whatever. I never got that far because the game is disgusting to look at and play. Total waste of money. Luckily I bought it on sale. The only game that's come close to being as good as Diablo has been Torchlight. If you want a good Diablo clone, pick up TL2.
Long time fan of Gate and similar games (Icewind Dale, Torment). I was skeptical of this expac at first, especially with all the initial negative reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised when I finally pulled the trigger. First, the opening movie and music is perfect. The story is as good as any the series has produced with the exception of Torment and Shadows of Amn. From the very start I was geeking out and ready to adventure! The user interface is smoother and more user friendly than it's ever been. The new NPC's are rich in character and fun to play. The NPC banter is also much improved and more organic. The old NPCs are handled well, with everyone coming back to do the voices except Jaheria. Some minor (but good) changes to spells. The game can sometimes railroad you, but it's no worse than Throne of Bhall (and in my opinion, better). There are still lots of meaningful choices and decisions you make have a lasting effect. Even the random encounters aren't really random, but are interesting and even offer real choices! (Do I help the dragon or the giants, for example.) I felt the story was very good, had unexpected turns, and was a story tied to the lore of the Realms, which is awesome. The ending (the actual end of the game) was as good as I think it could have been considering they were making a prequel to BG2 (and fitting a prequel into the continuity is harder than it looks, just ask George Lucas.) Well worth the price. I am not disappointed.
