Whereas Baldur's Gate is responsible for starting the revolution, Baldur's Gate II completely perfects the formula in every regard, and delivers what can quite possibly be the most astounding fantasy story ever to grace the genre. The tale of the Child of Bhall evolves further in the first six chapters of this second part of the saga, and comes into full bloom during the final chapters that make up the Throne of Bhaal, going out in a jaw-dropping crescendo that I haven't seen the like of in any other game since. The cornerstones of BG2 are of course the story, but also the unparallelled characters you encounter on your journey. Especially NPC companions that join your cause, are together with the line-up of Planescape: Torment the most amazingly well-written and memorable characters ever created. Who will not be charmed by the devotion of Minsc and Boo? Who can resist being moved to the core by the fate of Viconia? Who does not laugh their ass off everytime characters such as Edwin or Yoshimo open their mouths? No-one, that's who. The cast of BG2 is among the most colourful, superbly written, and well-acted cast imaginable. Together with is predecessor, the Baldur's Gate Saga is the finest fantasy role-playing game you could ever hope to find, and make for an utterly epic, riveting, and incomparable experience that no sane person should have to miss out on.
The campaign in Neverwinter Nights is utterly flat and uninspiring, with stupidly boring characters, and a badly written plot without an ounce of originality. Add to that really shoddy 3D-graphics, and a soundtrack that hardly ever manages to invoke an emotion, and you have a barely passable adventure on your hands. The expansion Shadows of Undrentide is marginally better, however, and Hordes of the Underdark is actually has moments of the brilliance we attribute to Bioware, but overall this is definitely the company's worst contribution to the role-playing world. In one sense, at least, because in another, it's the company's *greatest* contribution instead. I'm talking about the toolset that shipped with the game, allowing players to create their very own adventures, quite intuitively, and share them with friends and other RPG fans all around the world. Ambitious projects with presistent worlds started taking form, and to this day many of them are still fully active with their own thriving community constantly taking part. The toolset is brilliant in its simplicity, and also offers complex scripting for more advanced creators, leaving a seemingly endless source of new role-play adventures in its wake. When I purchase a game, however, I do not do it because of a toolest - I do it for the game itself, and the campaign it offers me as a player, not me as a dungeon master. This review is about the game, and I can't in good conscience give this title anything higher than a passing grade, and dub it the most disappointing creation of Bioware's to date.
