The game certainly lacks the depth and scope of its Infinity Engine predecessors, but despite its linearity well-designed encounters, gorgeous pre-rendered landscapes and the exciting build options 3e offers ensure that IWDII is anything but bland and quite replayable at that. 3e multiclassing is more logical if less easily optimised than 2e, and I really enjoyed playing around with that. The game never punishes you too harshly for suboptimal choices anyway. Like its predecessor, IWDII is mostly focused on tactical combat rather than intricate story lines or side quests. To anyone looking for a more BG-like experience, I would warmly recommend the superbly written IWD2 NPC Mod at Gibberlings3, which adds recruitable characters to the game whose backstories are intertwined and by extension expand the plot as well. The basic concept of the plot, however, is actually quite novel and does well at engaging the characters as real mercenaries rather than the cliched would-be saviours of grandma's kitten and the world. Unfortunately, the interesting setup comes back to haunt the game during its finale in which the utter lack of choice becomes all the more apparent. Of archival interest is also that IWDII contains a number of references to the vapourware Baldur's Gate III - The Black Hound, from its intro hinting at that game's location (ever wondered what's the deal with Deepingdale?) and characters (spot the Black Hound!) to allusions made by Maralie Fiddlebender throughout the game.
