This game actually applied the D&D ruleset a little better than Baldur's Gate, and the music set a whole new level in computer gaming. (Most people don't use real orchestra's anymore...phah). Everything just draws you in, the story, the wine (if you provide it), the music, and much epic questing to accomplish. This is one game to set amongst your collection for your kids to enjoy (if you ever get enough if it...;-). Forget top end 3-d graphics of shallow sword waving. this is how RPG should be done.
To reall get the most you need to insall the "Circle of Eight" patch. Not GOG's fault...the patch wasn't even done by Atari, but by 3rd party people. Its hard, but a good D&D CRPG. Hack and slash your way to glory. Excellent tactician's game. The story is simplistic, but this is a hack/slash dungeon crawl. People into this often don't look for a story but a reason to slash at something. This game gives them in spades. Note: Some wounds graphics a little gory. ;-)
OKay, most of us know and love this game. There are clearly advantages that have been added, and hack and slash fans will certainly prefer this over Baldor's Gate 1 and in many ways it is better: 1. More, spells...practically a gizillion spells (drooling...) 2. lots of new abilities for all clases in general 3. even more places to explore tha BG1 (a lot more, although sometimes you cannot return to them when sections are complete) 4. expansion and conclusion on a great story 5. Ability to influence your teams alignment 6. Love interests, that can actually affect key events of the game 7. Improvements on the AI engine, no more risk of getting blocked by 3rd party characters (Yes!!) 8. New classes and ability to mix classes more freely. 9. More intense combat scenes (some times insanely difficult according to some...but its satisfying once you overcome them) 10. clear interface design than BGI 11. Ability to show graphics in higher res (still low by today's standards but still an improvement) 12. More intelligent AI (enemies more dangerous) Okay, its nearly all better. There were some very small points to me which kept the game from being a totally euphoric. 1. The music is a few steps back in the 1/2 compared to the 1st game. It improves somewhat 2. A few new characters are more annoying than memorible. (Mincs is still a classic..with his intergalatic space hamster) Okay, its 90% better and perhaps I'm knitpicking again but you'll want to do BG1 to fully understand BG2. It is perhaps overall the best RPG game ever made.
No matter how many graphics improvements we add, no matter how fast the CPUs, or how good the sound processors, there are some games that its hard to improved upon. This is one of them. The first and most successful attempt to put the classic Dungeons & Dragons into a playable format. The Pros of this game: 1. Truly authentic application of the D&D rules and classes 2. Amazing, truly engaging story. Its not a simple hack&slash but a search for your own identity while avoiding an unknown assailant 3. Spells, lots and lots of spells. (yes!!) 4. Engaging, memorible, often hilarious characters (go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes...) 5. Choices that decide who you are and which party members you are compatible with. Your decisions have different pluses and minuses 6. huge world to explore. 7. Lots of room to divert from your main quest (although you must return sooner or later to finish the game) 8. Amazing voice acting 9. First rate music score, giving a truly epic feel 10. The ability to run real time or pause (and I pause a lot to give comments) has great flexability for character control. 11. amazing ability to interact with the environment. Especially trap and item location. (small things are important in many areas) A few of the cons (not many): 1. The AI in route finding isn't always logical and often has to correct itself, occassionally slowing down travel time. 2. Sometimes the AI can be exploited too easily with opponents. (3 cases come too my mind, still hard though) 3. Sometimes AI for 3rd party characters can get you stuck in certain areas. (was fixed in Baldor's Gate II I believe) Some of the issues with performance when fighting small armies are corrected I believe now that CPUs are 4 times as powerful. Newer grahics cards would have enhanced the game a little were it remade today, but not by much. A big complement to the game developers/designers. Its not often you can that a game isn't that much more satisfying with higher resolution graphics but this is one of them. You'll want to play it as several classes, teammates and alignments ten years from now as you will today (and I did 10 years ago...I still come back to it) GOG just made it easier to obtain, install and enjoy. For those of you who had it when it was released, its worth getting from GOG just to avoid having to change the CDs or requiring the DVD in the drive. For those who don't have it, if you love D&D or RPG this is a must. The small irritations I've mentioned (small issues consider the achievement at the time it was published) are by far overshadowed by the amazing attention to detail done by Bioware in it's hayday. Probably the one of the 3-4 best products it will ever produce. One note: in regards to spells and magic users, spend some time reading on the spells. really, don't just install and play (like I know many of you do...there is a lot of information to absorb...which I think makes it even more fun...!) Note: I would give it 4.5 stars (technical glitches mentioned) but I can't so...I'll give it a 5 with very small reservations.
This is a game I've played several times over and referred it to friends. It is without a doubt the adventure games others wish they could be. The story is deep, and gets more involved the further you go. The characters feel very real, voice acting is spot on most of the time. You feel you are truly emersed in an engaging. Some breathtaking scenery (nice art), music fits, actions are quite intuitive and the puzzles make sense and make you engage your brain enough that you aren't overly frustrated. (You want some challenge or it isn't fun) Long story short, this is an adventure game must for fans. There are some small adolesent sexual jokes so for family I suggest a PG-13 rating. Some people have said this game is long and it is. But you don't want it to end.
