Published by Interplay
Reviewed by Zoras on 11/14/00

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First Impressions:

Graphics:

Baldur's Gate II defies the recent gaming trend of using complicated 3D engines and polygon rendering, instead choosing to remain with 2D backgrounds and sprites. Regardless of this, Baldur's Gate II's graphics are lush, well detailed and breathtaking in certain areas. Some of the finer points may initially escape the player's notice: it is not until you stand in the Promenade, in front of the gurgling fountain, watching birds fly overhead while peasants go about their daily business that you truly appreciate what has been accomplished.

3D accelerator card owners benefit from owning their vaunted bits of technology: having one will enable flashier spell effects, more detailed shadows and translucencies for characters and monsters alike, but those without the benefit of advanced graphics cards will not be dissatisfied with what they have either.

Although Baldur's Gate II uses many of the old sprites from earlier games such as Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, several new character avatars (the little player representation you see running around on the screen) have been included for the gnome and half-orc as well as for the new character classes. And of course there are hundreds of new monsters to delight and terrify the player as they make their way through the world. The increased resolution allowed BioWare to cram a lot more into the screen, too, allowing for inclusion of larger, more terrifying monsters such as giants and dragons. (Conversely though, the avatars on screen are smaller, which doesn't allow the same sort of closeness felt in The Sims, or Planescape: Torment.)

Players of the first Baldur's Gate will notice a marked difference in the style of the character portraits between the two games. Baldur's Gate II's characters are more focused, allowing one to see many minute details, including scars and eye color. While there have been few new portraits included for player use, players are always welcome to find their own portraits on the web and integrate them into the game.

Sound/Music:

The music in Baldur's Gate II does its predecessor proud, with the same level of atmosphere and feeling. Combined with the graphics, this helps to draw the player further into the world. One new addition I liked tremendously was the inclusion of character theme music. Sadly, not all the new characters had their own music, and it seems to be restricted to those characters who develop romances with your character.

Sound effects have been vastly improved upon from the first game, allowing players to hear the clang of sword on shield, growls and hisses from monsters and running water and wind. Old fans will hear enough of the previous game's sound effects to experience nostalgia for the original title.

The most welcome new sounds are the voices of the new characters. BioWare has combined serious dialogue with just enough silly quotes and verses tossed in to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Certain characters (whose names I won't mention here) are definitely a laugh to listen to. The main villain's voice sounds rather lackluster, but I believe this was the style of his character rather than poor voice acting. My only major disappointment was that BioWare removed the annoyed speech for NPCs in Baldur's Gate II. For those not familiar with the first game, the sound sets for NPCs included .wav files that would play when they were expressing frustration or annoyance. Perhaps they ran out of ideas for what each one might say?

Gameplay:

The style of game play in Baldur's Gate II has not changed much from Baldur's Gate, although it has incorporated many new features from games such as Icewind Dale. As with its predecessor, Baldur's Gate II allows the player to go nearly anywhere in the world (with a few exceptions for plot reasons), allowing for lengthy exploration and many hours of questing. The game is divided into several chapters, each marking significant changes and developments in the story. The cut scenes and movies, so prevalent in games these days, seem somewhat lacking in Baldur's Gate II, although this by no means detracts from the enjoyment of the game.

Fans of Baldur's Gate will feel right at home in the new interface, although if you're a efficiency purist like me, you'll be disgusted at all the wasted bar space on the sides of the screen. I still think they could have allowed for another one or two characters. Your current party or group of characters is located on the right side of the screen, while commands for the selected character are along the bottom of the screen, as well as whatever quick items they are currently holding. The left bar holds all the buttons for major functions in the game, such as your inventory, journal, spell books and options. The presence of customizable hotkeys allows players to play the game in whatever style suits them best.

Baldur's Gate II has a very comprehensive tutorial that introduces new players to the game world as well. Fans of the first game will no doubt be surprised (pleasantly or otherwise) to see some familiar faces here. The tutorial covers all basic functions of the game including inventory control, preparing magic and combat. During load and save screens, the game also comes up with small tips and hints (and the occasional wisecrack) for the game.

One very important thing to remember about Baldur's Gate II is that it is a role-playing game. Characters in Baldur's Gate II have their own intentions and motivations, and may not necessarily agree with the choices you make or even like you at all. Actions taken in the early game can come back to haunt one at a later date. People who want to play evil characters will be delighted in that there is a (semi) evil path for players to take. Let it be said, however, that no action comes without consequence.

Enjoyment:

Although Baldur's Gate II is a story-based game, this is one that you'll play again and again simply to try out new combinations, characters and strategies. There are numerous quests one can do, which will make for many more hours of play. I tended to receive quests faster than I could do them. No kidding! Even more appealing is that there are often different ways to complete the various quests, such as talking a guard into letting you all free, bribing him with a fist of gold or just using the good old stick on him.

Having different characters in your party can also change a quest dramatically, with NPCs (non-player characters) offering special advice or even engendering a different outcome altogether. Of course, some of these quests are sponsored by the characters themselves, and offer rewards for completion.

There are also a lot of new items and spells to play around with (more than 170 in the case of spells, I believe). Coupled with the fact that nearly all of the old items from the previous game make a reappearance, there should be more than enough for even the most avaricious mercenary to get their hands on.

Multiplayer:

Let's just face facts: Baldur's Gate II is not meant for multiplayer. In my opinion, the true beauty of the game comes from the many interactions between your character and the NPCs. For one to dump all the NPCs and replace them with one's own, or those of a friend, means missing out on a lot.

That said, multiplayer Baldur's Gate II seems to be a lot more stable than it was in the first game. The emphasis is still on cooperation and teamwork, since the storyline does not change in the slightest, although players who want to have their characters engage in 'Who's the best?' can easily do so.

For those wishing to play a multiplayer game in the Baldur's Gate style, I heartily recommend the game Icewind Dale, also released by Interplay not long before Baldur's Gate II.

Overall Impression:

In my opinion, Baldur's Gate II should receive the award for best RPG of 2000. Swords, sorcery, gold, dragons and romance! What more could you want?

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

BioWare seem to have been fairly considerate of both their male and female players, in that none of the quests are restricted based on gender. Clothing, while certainly fantastic enough, doesn't cross over into skimpy. (And as many of the romances prove, fashionable attire has nothing on a good personality.)

Female players will probably be disappointed that there is only one male NPC with whom to start a romance interest, as compared to three for male players. (The fact that the romances were written by males might have something to do with it. Take heed, BioWare!) Responses from females seem to be fairly mixed regarding the love interest as well, with some women loving him and others wishing he would just lie down and die. (A few even think he's gay. Hmmm…)

Hint Books & Demos:

In the market for a great cheat book? We highly recommend Versus Books Official Perfect Guide. Usually ships within 24 hours.

If you are considering downloading the BG2 demo before you buy the game, you might want to check out this link before you do so.