Let's start this review by saying I am a huge Baldur's Gate fan, having fell in love with the series in my early childhood. Baldur's Gate defined what an RPG was to me, and all games I played after it were consciously or unconsciously compared to it. Fast forward to today. I have a wife, kids, a dog, and a house to take care of it. I don't have time to sit endlessly in front of my computer anymore, but I still have my moments, and MAN was I excited when I heard there was going to be more Baldur's Gate. However, after seeing and playing this expansion, I am totally and completely disappointed. Beamdog, you have failed Baldur's Gate fans, the series, the original devs, and most importantly yourself. There is a lot of controversy right now surrounding some very hamfisted fan fiction tier writing that has made it's way into the game. I don't really care about that, however the easiest solution is to simply fire the offending party, remove the out of place content, and everyone moves on. However, even if that had happened, I still couldn't recommend this game even to the most hardcore BG fans like myself. It is not a fun game. Not only is most of the characterization done at a 4th grade level (Literally, "X is a very Y person" kind of stuff") but they have butchered the personalities of pre-existing characters to suit their own predilections. And if you can make it past the truly abysmal writing, you arrive at the absolutely embarrassing number of bugs. Here are a few examples: 1. Casting any item creation spell removes all of my gear 2. Equipping all of your items, and then leaving the inventory screen causes your gear to be removed again 3. I can't seem to mouse-over 1/2 of the NPCs in the game 4. There is an after effect of the load screen visible within the terrain in all areas tested I could forgive the stupid political crap. I could forgive the writing. I cannot forgive the bugs in conjunction with the rest of it. My rating is a 1/5, do not buy this game.
