I'm a newcomer to this game - no previous experience with the original version, Infinity Engine or D&D in general - so I have no insight regarding the enhancements. I can, however, say with full confidence that the positive reviews are in no way mired in nostalgia. It's one of the earlier examples of Obsidian(formerly Black Isles) taking someone's A-graded homework and touching up to circled and underlined A+ material. Yes I'm biased. One might understandably bounce off of this, though. I certainly did a couple times before giving it the time it needed to sink its hooks in. To start with the cons off the top of my head, it opens very slowly. The tutorial area is fairly large, and you'll spend a good hour or two just examining zombies and searching drawers for loose change before you really get to play. Unless you opt to go psycho and slash your way out. That's fine too. This pace is also somewhat indicative of the rest of the game, the majority of which is reading, with combat being scarce and spotty. Unless you wanna shank your way through life. That's allowed to an extent. Navigation is slow and combat is clunky - some say the worst of the IE games, but it seems on par with my limited Baldur's Gate experience. That's about it for cons. Slow as the opening is, the setup is bizarre enough it might rope you in on its own. You, an amnesiac, are awakened by a talking skull, in a mortuary where the corpses do the labor. The rest of the world is just as strange if not stranger. I'd long thought Morrowind was the only RPG that could get me so curious about the setting. I have a fly's attention span for reading, but I spent a few late night with my eyes glued to the text. The protagonist is one of the best executions of a player character with an existing backstory, and yet he's still a blank slate, every choice presented to you making sense in context. I don't think I'll ever forget the partners either. I can't guarantee you'll love it, but I hope you do. I sure did.
