This game is so damn janky. And weird. And strange gameplay. But it has so much personality and heart it makes it all worth while! The characters are great. The story is compelling. The immersion is there (most of the time). You can level up, get skills, some different playstyles, but it is still a pretty railroaded game. It is very unique, and I absolutely recommend it to everyone who appreciates great story, characters and immersion, but don't care as much about bugs or poor gameplay. It will stick with me for a long time, and I will only remember the good parts!
Old school CRPGs are my weak spot. Hpwever, it can be hard to get into them as they often have complicated systems, lacks explanation, and has no handholding at all. THey often require you to really dedicate your life to them. However, this game hits that sweet spot! It has very little handholding, but is intuitive. It is hard, especially at the beginning, but also easy to master quite fast! First off, the graphics are amazing. Or rather, the visual style, I guess. 10/10 The gameplay is fast and simple, with some reactivity. I was afraid at first that the avatar would look the same, but as I got new gear, I realized that my avatar changed visually, which is one thing that the old games often lack, but they did here, which is very important to me! One gripe I ahve is that the dialogue skill rolls you make always uses teh "active leaders" skill, but you are given no clue as to what type of skill check is coming up, so you have no chance to tactically wswitch your leader. I wish they could do like Pathfinder Kingmaker, and always have the party member with the highest skill make the relevant roll. 8/10 Combat is fast, but can get repetitive as encounters later on in teh game is just "More" enemies than more difficult ones, and there is no AI to speak of apart from a few archetypes (spellcaster, ranged, melee). But, it still challenges you, especially at first, and placement and chess-like analysis of future turns is required on the higher difficulties. Even so, I do find the game becoming too easy after teh halfway mark, and every battle becomes a breeze, even "boss" battles. There are, however, a lot fo skills, weapons and armor to customize your party with, and you must learn the immunities and weaknesses of your enemies to be truly successful! 8/10 All this combined with it being a passionate indie dev, and the price tag, makes this game the perfect little package for crpg fans!
Don't mind the haters. Yeah, some of the new material added by Beamdog can feel off, but it never bothered me. Why? Because at its core it still has all the ingredients that make it pretty much the perfect game for me. Story is awesome, the agantonist too, the graphics may be slightly outdated, but they work. New classes and class-kits, updated UI, ease of life improvements make this superior to the original version. But, it is a HARD game for first time players. Brutally so if you play as anything else than warrior classes, and do not yet know of the tricks and strategies you need to survive as a rogue or mage. Leveling is slooow, looting new gear takes time, and soe encounters feel like they are so far above you that you must have made a wrong turn somewhere. Not to mention Durlags Tower, which is one of the best crafted dungeons ever made, but is also brutally hard! But, it always pays off in the end, and, you have your most loyal servant, the quicksave key, at your disposal. When you finally level up, and find a Longsword +1 and a Plate Armor, you feel so much stronger! When your mage can cast TWO spells instead of one, and you learn how to summon wolves or cast fireballs, then you start go get the upper hand! THe game is still challenging, all the way through, but it is never impossible. The best thing aboug BG1? It leads into BG2, which is the best game ever made IMHO.
Every year I come back and play this game. Of course I start with baldurs gate 1, move on to Siege of Dragonspear, then BG2 and finishing with THrone of Baal. I just love playing through the whle epic adventure with the same character. However, it is when I get to Baldurs Gate 2 that the real fun begins. I have played this game since it released decades ago. This game is pretty much what I consider perfection. Story is a 10/10, antagonist is a 11/10, I've never been a graphics guy, but to me, it's a 10/10 for the brilliant atmosphere and nostalgia. There are so many ways to play this game, and I have solo'd it with a mage, thief and warrior class, and despite this, there are still some questlines I haven't completed, begun or even heard of, despite playing it for pretty much every year since release. Id say this game easily clocks in at 100 hours of content, and that is with ONE play style. If I ever have to make the terrible choice of picking one game that will be the only game I will ever get to play again, it's probably going to be this one. If you are new to the franchise, be sure to start with Baldurs gate 1 Enhanced Edition, and yeah, Bg1 is a lot more hardcore and unforgiving, but stick with it, learn the inns and outs of combat and spells, and quicksave a lot, because when your character makes it over to Bg2, you wont stop playing until the end.
I have always wished for the following: - A City sim that was intuitive - RPG elements that made you attached to the citizens - Economy + Warfare + Management + Survival - Simple but effective graphics (focus on gameplay!) - Customizable difficulty This game has all that, and makes it look easy, which is the most impressive thing of all. You get to build your own town, guide your settlers, survive and thrive while holding invading kingdoms at bay. And this is in early access! If this was the full release, I would still think of it as a wonderful little indie game, complete as it is! I cannot wait to see what the devs churn out in the next update. This game has a bright future, and all other similar games will be forever measured against it for me. It does everything right. The only downside is that it is, well, in early access, which means several features are missing. But even so, I still consider this a complete game. 10/10 from me, and I will keep an eyeon this developer from now on!
I remember when I bought the first game in the series. I had earned my first real sum of money. For one half, I bought Baldurs Gate 2, and for the other half, I got the first game in the series. Now, why do I write a review for the sequel then? The Original games' blend of RTS/RPG was excellent, and it also had a compelling story where you had to choose light/dark side halfway through the campaign. BUT, the sequel really made the series shine. More races, more skills, classes and units. THe only place where it didn't improve its prequel was the story. To this day, this is one of those games I cannot even make an estimate of how many hours I've clocked. I've played all races, all classes, with different strategies, and it's just so fun. Now, I am not a great RTS fanboy, mind you, but I am an RPG addict, and this game strikes a good balance. Its' RTS parts isn't so rushed and chaotic as most are (and is why I do not appreciate most RTS games... simply too much micromanaging and clicks-per-minute). And the RPG elements have been given large space. After every battle, your main Hero (you) gains experience depending on how you performed in the battle, and can enhance his or her skills in different ways. On the other hand, you do not want your hero dying in battke, but if you want to excel, you need to get out there, lead your troops, and get experience. I cannot recommend this game enough. If you can, get the prequel as well, if only for the lore, but this game is not a sequel story-wise. Oh, and be sure to check out the third game in the series as well. It's not as good aas number 2, but better than number 1.
