A massive step up from its predecessor. The gameplay still suffers slightly at times due to AD&D jank, general complexity that doesn't translate well to a real time video game, and the growing pains of the very subgenre BG2 helped codify, but in spite of this, Baldur's Gate 2 is a masterpiece.
Its massively innovative in-depth companion dialogue still holds up to this day, even if the characters and their lines feel a bit tropey and straightforward nowadays. It also retains a certain sense of wonder and mystery, plus an absolutely stunning tone that the archaic mechanics and presentation only seem to help bring out, like reading historical literature from an ancient tome.
The combat grows into its shoes much more than the dragging, plodding Baldur's Gate 1. Here it frequently manages to be fun and satisfying, occasionally tense and exciting. However, there are still moments when the mobs it throws at you are more filler than killer. Sometimes, it even has the opposite problem, throwing you against tough enemies that are more easily defeated with the wand of Google and a quick load than the game's more satisfying conventional problem solving.
It doesn't help that there are what feels like several dozen different immunities enemies can have and just as many different ways of dispelling each one, with the game offering little in the way of warning or teaching beforehand. Trying to follow along in the combat log is an exercise in futility--the real-time combat means that, realistically, too much happens to sift through it and understand everything that's going on. The better encounters in this game will throw enemies at you that are threatening and meaningful, keeping you on your toes, but will show restraint when drawing from the well of non-interactive "gotcha" spells and abilities. Finding out that an enemy can only be effectively countered by reloading a save and preparing a new spell list isn't nearly as rewarding as it is time-consuming.
Still, some stinker encounters should be expected in a game full of so many setpieces--this game is a sprawling and gigantic crash course in Forgotten Realms lore and D&D traditions. Fans of the setting will find their jaws dropping at the love and care with which the world is presented, and those who don't especially care for this world might start to understand why some do.
The sheer engrossment I felt playing this game (even despite a year-long break I took from playing it midway through--I do that with most long games) is astonishing. It's one of the few RPGs of its size class that I didn't find myself eventually repulsed by long before the end. If you're not as patient as I occasionally was, turning the game down to easy (or even the easiest) mode when it gets frustrating is a totally acceptable way to keep yourself barrelling through the game's myriad adventures at a more reasonable pace.
Though the combat works, the characters, narrative, and exploration are the real selling points. Don't keep yourself from getting more of them because of any devotion to the game's mechanics. This game is the blueprint for memorable companions, intra-party dynamics, and iconic worlds that Bioware has spent the rest of their history looking to replicate.
However you might end up consuming it, if you're at all interested in the history of gaming, story-heavy RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, or all-time gaming classics, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is worth a try. If you find yourself hooked, as I did, it's worth seeing all the way through, warts and all. Somehow, it manages to be much greater than the sum of its parts.
Its massively innovative in-depth companion dialogue still holds up to this day, even if the characters and their lines feel a bit tropey and straightforward nowadays. It also retains a certain sense of wonder and mystery, plus an absolutely stunning tone that the archaic mechanics and presentation only seem to help bring out, like reading historical literature from an ancient tome.
The combat grows into its shoes much more than the dragging, plodding Baldur's Gate 1. Here it frequently manages to be fun and satisfying, occasionally tense and exciting. However, there are still moments when the mobs it throws at you are more filler than killer. Sometimes, it even has the opposite problem, throwing you against tough enemies that are more easily defeated with the wand of Google and a quick load than the game's more satisfying conventional problem solving.
It doesn't help that there are what feels like several dozen different immunities enemies can have and just as many different ways of dispelling each one, with the game offering little in the way of warning or teaching beforehand. Trying to follow along in the combat log is an exercise in futility--the real-time combat means that, realistically, too much happens to sift through it and understand everything that's going on. The better encounters in this game will throw enemies at you that are threatening and meaningful, keeping you on your toes, but will show restraint when drawing from the well of non-interactive "gotcha" spells and abilities. Finding out that an enemy can only be effectively countered by reloading a save and preparing a new spell list isn't nearly as rewarding as it is time-consuming.
Still, some stinker encounters should be expected in a game full of so many setpieces--this game is a sprawling and gigantic crash course in Forgotten Realms lore and D&D traditions. Fans of the setting will find their jaws dropping at the love and care with which the world is presented, and those who don't especially care for this world might start to understand why some do.
The sheer engrossment I felt playing this game (even despite a year-long break I took from playing it midway through--I do that with most long games) is astonishing. It's one of the few RPGs of its size class that I didn't find myself eventually repulsed by long before the end. If you're not as patient as I occasionally was, turning the game down to easy (or even the easiest) mode when it gets frustrating is a totally acceptable way to keep yourself barrelling through the game's myriad adventures at a more reasonable pace.
Though the combat works, the characters, narrative, and exploration are the real selling points. Don't keep yourself from getting more of them because of any devotion to the game's mechanics. This game is the blueprint for memorable companions, intra-party dynamics, and iconic worlds that Bioware has spent the rest of their history looking to replicate.
However you might end up consuming it, if you're at all interested in the history of gaming, story-heavy RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, or all-time gaming classics, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is worth a try. If you find yourself hooked, as I did, it's worth seeing all the way through, warts and all. Somehow, it manages to be much greater than the sum of its parts.