Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn

What to say about this game that hasn't been told already? It is one of the best RPG games ever made, if not simply the best of them all. Reasons? First of all, the story is just tremendous. You can't help yourself but to marvel the work that has gone in the writing of it. It has pretty much everything: evil, yet charismatic, villain Jon Irenicus(voiced brilliantly by David Warner), characters that give you feeling like they were alive, it has romances, it has betrayal, action... Pretty much everything you could want from a game. And it sucks you right into it. And once it catches you, there is no easy way out.

And the game itself has a great repeatable value. With so many classes and subclasses(usually three for each class) you can play the original game five times or more, and still discover something new every time you play again. Until now, I played the game with monk, inquisitor and bounty hunter, and each time it was different, yet every time I enjoyed it the same. Add to this the possibility that every class has a stronghold of its own, and you start to understand just how much you can look forward to. If you ever get bored of original game, there are many of mods, which allow you to add more content to the game. In one of them, you can actually add Irenicus to your party(in ToB portion of the game). Others just add new quests or NPCs, but there are lot of them. Believe me when I say, this is a game you will want to play more than one time. How many games are out there that can claim that for themselves? Music is great too. I beated many of the tougher enemies multiple times, just so I could listen to the music again. Speaking of enemies, you will be fighting demons, dragons, demon lords, liches and demi-liches... You will have to use your brains too, not just click around like maniac. Add to this some very good riddles, and you will have your work cut out for you.

Graphics aren't that great, measured by today standards, but I just love infinity engine games. They give me that nostalgic feeling, in a good way. And when you come to the underwater city, you will know what I mean. I wouldn't want to see or play this game in 3D graphics. I think that says enough.

I think this is a game that every RPG fan should play. So if you haven't already, do it now. You won't regret it, of that I am sure.

Definietly the BEST game I have ever played. I have played it at least 10 times and I never get bored, the different posibilities are endless. It is just THE BEST. And if you want to know which is the second best game ever... Baldur's Gate I, it is awesome, endless choices, millions of plots, etc. just play it so you can experience it

Summary Writing in the closing days of 2007 one can only say that this game is still one of the best rpg's ever and still can be used to benchmark other games in this genre.

Main

The BG line was on rudely broken by the NWN series and in that period you had to find your party-rpg needs in games like KOTOR and Jade Empire. Not that NWN 1 was bad, mind you, but it was just not a BG kind of game. With the creation of NWN 2 the AD&D series is progressing back to the BG branch with notably a better storyline and the ability to control a party of individuals with their own stories to tell. 'Re-inventing the wheel' is the phrase the dutch use.

Of course modern hardware and software has enabled better graphics, camera handling and many more things and in this respect BG is dated. But modern hardware can't provide us with a well told story. Or to put it in another vein: it can't make up for the lack of it. There are many developers who use the better performance of modern system to make up for the lack of a good tale. Usually in time these games disappear after a while because newer game that perform even better surpass the. Stories however are of all times and in this they are timeless and it is a well told story which is the cornerstone of BG 2 which makes the game last so long.

A big contribution is made by David Warner as the voice of Jon Irenicus. While the lines are probably written by others, it is Warner who uses his voice to add that extra layer of evilness which make Irenicus one of the outstanding bad guys of all games, a quality he shares with Vlad Lem from Max Payne 2. It shows that Warner has played Evil in the movies time bandit's and it is that same acting he uses to portray Jon and it works very well. A good antagonist is very important, but Warner takes it one step further and this is one of the many factors which makes the game shine.

But many other factors contribute to the game. There is much in this game but in an incredible refined mix. Just not to much to bore and enough of it to keep things interesting. An example is the way in which a quadruple betrayal is used in the dark-elf(aka drow) city with one faction using the players to set up an other faction and a third drow requests to player to betray the first faction too and finally the player betraying them all(well so to speak). It's a well thought plot that sounds preposterous when written here, but actually very well illustrates how that dark-elf society is portrayed in fantasy writing.

The main plot is at thankfully different from those overused bad-guy-plotting-to-subject-the-world and has a note of sadness in it. I would like to add more, but the space is limited here and I can only point you to other reviews to see what is in this game.

Well written, well voiced and developed with much fun the game still overshadows many of it's successors. A must for anyone who loves the rpg genre and can live with the now dated graphics. My hopes is that new software and hardware will not put an end to this game.

i Am prepared to give this game my highest comment, drum roll please; its even better than CIV 2.(theres a very small part of me what didn't want to say that) You can tell by the content and the way its designed, that this game was made for d&d gamers by d&d gamers, and you dont have to play or like d&d to be totally engrosed by this masterpiece. every one i have lent this too or have recommended to, have ended up hateing me because of the amount of time this game has taken from there lives. 10/10

Wow. Where to begin. I have already completed the whole thing twice through and started on a third time. So heres a review for you. I first heard of this game through a friend. Used to the Diablo and other Blizzard games, i was intrigued by the interesting layout of the game. After starting a game there - i grew to love it and before long bought it for myself. The game has so many great features its not surprising that it won best RPG of 2000! - Amazing storyline with intrecate details and plot development. - Characters (who can join you) with incredible realism and development that have their own personality that you can interact fully with. - Hundreds of individual townspeople and merchants to talk and trade to. - Thousands of weapons - Hundreds of indivual spells. - Endless Side-Quest as well as one comlicated main quest. - 12 diffent character classes to choose from - each with 3 sub classes. - Amazing graphics and scenery and backrogunds. - Over 200 hours of gameplay So know that you know a bit about Baldur's Gate II - go ask a friend about it or look it up more on the Internet. I give this game a definite 10/10! Buy it today.

Feel free to e-mail me with your views on the game. If you enjoyed this game also check out - Diablo II, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate