Overview

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Review

Release Date: 09.02.2000
Platform: PC - Windows
Developer: BioWare Corp.
Publisher: Black Isle Studios

Reviewed by Sage Gaspar on 4.11.2003

Review Rating: 9/10

User Rating: 8/10

The very thought of the PC RPG genre has long evoked groans from avid console RPGers, conjuring up pictures of extended dungeon crawls, archaic battle systems, and an absence of plot and characterization. When Baldur's Gate swept through store shelves in late 1998, it immediately cleared away all of those misconceptions, creating a cult following and garnering many "RPG of the Year" awards in the process. In its sequel, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, Black Isle has taken the formula of the original game and improved it on every count.

The Baldur's Gate storyline continues on another section of the Sword Coast , currently thrown into chaos by poverty and war. Factions such as the Cowled Wizards and the Thieves' Guild turn the city of Amn into a battleground and manipulate citizens as pawns. Above them all, a mysterious, incredibly powerful mage named Irenicus looms - and your hero starts in his dungeon.

"Your hero" is not idle terminology. The player controls the development of the main character throughout the entire game. The adventure begins with a lengthy character creation process, during which stats are distributed via die roll. But the most important part of character creation, by far, is the choice of class. Classes run the full fantasy gamut, from mage to fighter to bard, and contain specializations called kits. For example, fighters can choose a kensai kit, which makes them more proficient at hand-to-hand combat but limits them to certain types of armor.

Depending on the chosen race, there is also the option of dual- or multi-classing. Humans can dual-class, which means that at a certain level, they can freeze the progress of their first class to begin work on an entirely new class. The skills and abilities of the first class are lost to them until they reach the level it was frozen at with the new class. At that point, all the skills of both classes are available to them, although only the second class can increase in level. Non-humans have the option of choosing from several pre-defined multi-classes. Multi-classed characters begin with the skills and abilities of all of their classes and retain them throughout the game, but since experience is divvied up between all their classes, they progress more slowly.

Experience is obtained mainly through killing monsters and completing quests. The killing monsters part is done through a fast-paced battle system that uses AD&D 2nd Edition rule set (incidentally, if that "second edition" part doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry - while it's nice to know the calculations that are going on behind the scenes, it's certainly not necessary). Battles are in real-time, but the player has the option of pausing the game at any point to issue commands. The game can be set to auto-pause after every action is completed, to give the simulation of turn-based gameplay, but actions will still take place simultaneously. Similarly, although the player can take full control of all six members of his party, AI scripting can be implemented and individually customized with several levels of action and aggressiveness.

Party members are constantly swapping in and out, and much of BG2's fun comes from the dynamics within the party. All of the characters are lively and brimming with personality, far from the dull fantasy archetypes. Certain characters will bear grudges against certain other races, classes, or alignments, often leading to in-party scuffles. Other characters join briefly, and only when it's in their self-interest to do so. Still others will leave the party, dissatisfied by decisions that you have made as the party's leader.
Ultimately, that's what it comes down to. You decide what happens in the game. There is an engrossing, linear storyline that ties the game together at certain points, but between those points there is an amazing amount of non-linearity. Which of the hundred or so lengthy side-quests the player pursues, which characters the player associates with, which factions the player chooses to belong to, how involved the player gets in religious wars, and many other decisions presented to the player on a regular basis - all create an incredibly diverse number of storylines that shape each playthrough of Baldur's Gate 2 differently, so much so that it is not unheard of for players to slog through this 100+ hour game multiple times. The player can even choose not to associate with any faction and be a chaotic evil wildcard, killing peasants and guards indiscriminately. However, as Black Isle notes, that is not very conducive to actually finishing the main storyline.

The graphics of Baldur's Gate 2 are passable, although not very much improved over the original. While certainly not ugly, they are a little bit dated. Spell effects have been improved, and the addition of resolutions over 640x480 makes it easier to see more of the action. Toolbars can be hidden at whim to clear up some of the clutter that bogged down the first game. The sound is pretty much standard fare as well, although the voice acting is above average.
The only major gripe about Baldur's Gate 2 is actually a collection of minor problems associated with the inventory system. Managing the overburdened inventories of a full six-member party in the middle of a long dungeon sequence can turn into a full-time job, detracting from the pace of the game. Some automation of combining stacks and dividing up the weight of armor stashes wouldn't have gone amiss. Juggling between bows, dual swords, and shields can also prove to be a bit of trouble. This nagging problem could've been easily solved with a couple of pre-selectable weapon configurations.

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is an unbelievably good game that will serve as the benchmark of PC RPGs for years to come, or, hopefully, until the forthcoming Neverwinter Nights. It marries superb gameplay to an incredible storyline, with a plentiful amount of customization thrown in. No self-respecting RPG enthusiast should miss it - whether console-oriented or not.

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