Again, I'm going to try to avoid the whole Beamdog/steam/gog corporate battle, and focus on the game experience. In other words, this review applies to the commonalities between Baldurs Gate II and BGEE II. I found the game difficult, but fantastic. The depth of adventure and experience is incredible, as is the story telling. My main complaint is that every new battle of any significance requires a) losing badly once, b) learning how to win, and c) completely optimizing every member in you party after learning how to win. Whoever thinks of morphing into a mustard jelly and jamming a door to beat trolls, or sleeping in an Inn with a Lich to let the Lich's protections expire. Daystar makes the game fair, but there are no clues that you need it, or how to get it, unless you read lots and lots of online spoilers. I've tried it a few times over the years and have quit, frustrated. I've recently passed through a lot, and am having fun. The writing and depth of adventure is just superb. I think if you go in with high expectations on story and adventure, and are not afraid of research, it is unsurpassable.
I don't really come at this with some sort of agenda-laden comparison to the old disks. I actually owned two sets of disks (the six disk and the two disk versions). I loved the game. But I had not had those out in years, and was pleasantly surprised to find the EE "no disk" version. I found the EE version to be a completely more convenient way to play the game. I do think some of the new NPCs were a little hamhanded, but not in a way that detracted from the game experience. All in all, it was a good way to experience a somewhat updated version of the game I have loved for years. As to the game itself, what can you say? It was a quantum leap over the beloved Gold Box games that I believe stands the test of time. A timeless open world game with fantastic adventures and interactions. I'd say my only complaints were a bit of the balancing at the beginning (wolves!), and unusable riches at the end. But otherwise it is just a great RPG adventure. I wish I had the passion about whether the EE is better than the modded original, but I just don't. The EE game is wonderful even if the original (modded or whatever) is better.
