I still play this game to this day. Not a year goes by without a new playthrough, it's just that good. Modding is somewhat easy, especially if you only want to mod in fixes, ease of use, and some universally accepted improvements/changes/additions.
Incredible game. The story is compelling, and well balance with gameplay. The game is linear in the storyline of course, but that's ok here for sure. There's enough extra stuff to explore for while you go. I can't recommend this game enough, regardless of your history with the franchise. Just started Old Blood, and while not quite as perfectly balanced like The New Order, it's still a ton of fun, with plenty of new, fresh stuff.
Never played the first, but LotR 2 is a game that is always on my HD, and one that always gets played a couple of times per year. Yeah, it's not as in depth and challenging as some of the new total war games, but it's got everything you want if you like these games. The beauty of it is that it's simple, fun, and easy to just sit down and play for half an hour. You can't really get a whole lot better than this.
The best part about the game is how easy and intuitive everything is, from designing your castle, to managing resources. It's hard, and the story is actually decent and often quite amusing. This game is a solid buy for any strategy gamer, and will provide more entertainment for the buck than you expect.
A pretty well made game. I'd never heard of it before seeing it here on GoG, but was pleasantly surprised. There are definitely some areas that could have used a bit more attention to detail, but the game flows well, is quirky and a bit irreverent at times (which I like) and has enough challenging extra's to the game to keep it interesting throughout. It does get a bit repetitive at times, but the ever changing areas and good storyline keep the interest alive to the end.
An average game. Not very well polished, but fun for something different and witty.
Never played Heroes III complete, but I played it without the expansions and was hooked. I grew up in gaming with Starcraft, Sim City, and Civ, so my idea was pretty set with what I liked in strategy gaming. Once I was introduced to this, I resisted playing it, instead trying to get the guy who gave it to me to play Starcraft instead, but once I actually tried it, I was blown away by the depth and detail put into the game. Regardless of which camp you fall into, RTS or TBS, this game will provide many hours of enjoyment, and, with the expansions, even more fun.
I've played this game more than any other game I have ever owned. This game, Starcraft, and Baldur's Gate are still to this day the games I still spend the most overall time playing. This game just never gets old. I constantly find new ways to play, with different universe and race settings, etc. I still own the original, and won't ever part with it. Buy this now, and be forever pleased with your savvy purchase.
Those that are new to this game are not on their own. Just find someone in the community to help you out. We love talking BG2. There just isn't anything more fun than spending hours deciding what character to play next, what others to have in the party (player created or NPC), etc. New to the game? Make your main character and Undead Hunter. Lots of undead in this game, and the UH is my fallback all-around fun-as-hell play-through option. Want to exploit some of the more powerful items you know show up later in the game, other than swords? Create a similar fighter with grand mastery in quarter staves. One of the most fun playthroughs I've done was with a half-orc beserker, with the staff of the ram (upgraded). Want to play with NPC's? Minsc is simply one of the most memorable characters in all of gaming history. Give him Lilacor (the talking sword), and watch them converse. You just can't beat BG2. The storyline is epic, the charters are enjoyable, the quests are plentiful and fun, and the music is so powerful in it's addition to the environment that without it, the game would be average. There is just no end to the things you can do. Even if you get bored after playing it through with every character and party combination possible, there is always more. The community for this game has done a stellar job and renewing and making the game even better, especially for those of us that have played through it 20 times already. Now, you can combine BG1 and BG2, with their respective expansions, into one huge game, all based on the BG2 engine. Also, you can add in as much or as little user content as you want, from a couple of game tweaks that fix a few areas of the game to refine the experience, to all new quests, areas, NPC's, classes, races, spells, weapons, and even rule sets. (Note: not sure if the GOG downloads can be combined in this way, though I wouldn't see why not). Each of us could go on for hours, but to sum it up, this is one game everyone should own, even those who are completely new to the genre, as there is a HUGE community to help you get the most out of the experience.
