Well, I'm not exactly sure to begin... I just finished the game with a heroic fighter, and I had a lot of fun. I only experienced two crashes, which might have just been my computer. *PROS* - Story-Mode is a neat addition. Not a necessary one, but a neat one. - The story itself I felt was engaging. - LOTS of evil answers that aren't practically speaking auto-reloads. This is a step-up from all of the original BGs. - Original voice actors are back! - Makes an "interquel" that left me wanting more (and I hope it will be made). - Interesting new magical class semi-specific equipment that will allow for some metagaming in future replays. - For something that I was worried would feel like a fan-fic, I will eat my words; it was much better than that. - Certainly stable enough; I didn't notice the problems many reviewers have. It sounds like a lot of Pros... so why only two-stars? *CONS* - Including the Black Pit characters makes sense from a design standpoint, but it really does feels forced. Leaving them out would have been far better. - The game feels like it is on rails just like Throne of Bhaal did, albeit slightly wider. - The devs have done an outright horrific job moderating the debate involving "the controversy." The criticism from fans of in-game story decisions by the devs does not automatically make people phobic. (This alone took a star off.) - The ending, while interesting, doesn't factor into BG2 AT ALL. This was the biggest flaw I saw. It sets up your capture at the beginning of BG2, but damn, is it ever forced. Your character never mention the tragic NPC that is the reason, which is a VERY big problem for such a major, major event in this game... an interesting take, but it doesn't fit into the BG2 story. I'm hoping for a BG3 to flesh this out and fix it, but I'm not sure it would account for the total void of discussion about it in BG2. I'm disappointed, but somehow, excited to see if a true sequel materializes. Beamdog worries me, though.
I mean that. I've paid far more and felt like I got less, and STILL have been happy with those games. This is just pure value and attention to detail. I'm thrilled. The game is just that polished. The amount of content and things to do are fantastic. The visuals are wonderful. The customization of the world is vast. And the updates keep rolling in; more marriage opportunities, more crops, more starting FARMS, and (eventually) multiplayer!! There are some people that claim this is a Harvest Moon rip-off, but only so far as Independence Day and Men in Black both have Will Smith and aliens in them. This is the PC farm game I DREAMED of since my SNES farming days, and it's done better. What makes it even more amazing is that ONE PERSON MADE THE ENTIRE PROJECT HAPPEN! I would have said a game of this quality would have been impossible with only one person, but it is simply stunning.
I speedrun this game series, and I only started speedrunning this game because I fell in love with it years ago. Among Sierra games, this one is one of the more forgiving ones, but it certainly challenging enough. Play a Fighter and solve puzzles one way. Play a Wizard and solve them a different way. Play a Thief and sneak around solving puzzles. Want a Fighter with Stealth? No problem; but that at the start! Want a Thief with Magic? No problem; but that at the start! The Developers, Corey and Lori Cole, are fantastic as well. :) I totally recommend this game. If there was a sixth star, it would have seven.
