Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

THE BAD:
I honestly cannot say a single poor thing about this game

SUMMARY:
As a lover of all games under the sun, let me put it to you this way: Baldur's Gate II will change your life.

I got it perhaps five years ago, and I am now a veritable god of BG2. I know the game better than I know myself. It never gets old, never gets boring, and never gets too easy. There is an unlimited number of mods that will keep you going back for more.

If I had the green, I would buy every copy of this game and send it to every human on earth, just to get them to realize how incredible it is. If you can tell me with a straight face this game is less than perfection, I will eat myself raw.

THE BAD:
Nothing

SUMMARY:
Everything about the game is pure D&D. D&D is the greatest game ever made, so of course a D&D video game would be the greatest video game ever made. If you like D&D, or games that are fun, try this game out. If you do not like D&D, or things that are fun, do not bother with this game. I myself like fun, challenging games that challenge more than your ability to click the mouse and make a person on your screen just kill, Baldur's gate 2: Shadows of Amn, tests not just your characters combat skills, but YOUR ability to solve puzzles, solve riddles, interact with people, deal with people, and many more things. The game is filled with hilarious dialogue from characters, but especially from everyone's favorite hamster loving, sword toting ranger Minsc, oh, and do not forget about Boo, his hamster animal companion. Check this game out ..........um........ uh.......... NOW!

THE BAD:
-Some encounters can be frustrating
-Graphics are nothing special
-Leans too much toward good aligned players

SUMMARY:
A must play for any RPG fan. The replay value is limitless. The combat is exciting and varied. Everything about it is detailed and well made. One of the best features though is the character interactions. Banters, conversations, and Romances all add tremendously to the gameplay. Truly a game to behold. One of the best ever.

THE BAD:
On certain operating systems the game may run slow, but this can easily be fixed by following the guidelines in the performance section of the games README file. If need be Interplay tech support can help you out ,which they do promptly and without complaint.

SUMMARY:
This game is one of the best out there, with intense storyline and hard in game puzzles to solve. Plot twists, amazing enemies and party members that actually react to your decisions make BG:II Shadows of Amn one of the best games Bioware and Black Isle have ever made!

THE BAD:
-Frustrating Bugs
-Terrible multiplayer game
-Bothersome load times

SUMMARY:
Baldur's Gate II is by far the most well done RPG I've ever seen. The original Baldur's Gate was RPG Game of the Year, and a lot of great expectations were put on it's sequel: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. It exceeded it's expectations by a mile. This game is a MUST BUY!

The game is huge; over 200+ hour game time spanned over 4 discs. It is packed with thousands of items, monsters, locations, NPCs, spells, etc. It has everything that a RPG gamer is looking for.

The game places you in the world of Amn, and for the best part of the game, you are free to explore it any way you wish. Particularly dazzling is the city of Athkatla, which is a gigantic city much bigger then Baldur's Gate itself. Here you will find tons of Quests to do, so many in fact that you will probably not have time to finish them all. There are many other locations outside Athkatla, such as the city of Trademeet and a Druid Grove, which you are free to explore once the opportunity comes. Each of these locations are unique and packed with stuff to do. The Quests are much improved from the original BG1; you get to perform truly heroic deeds or commit the most evil acts possible. In one particularly memorable moment, once you save the city of Trademeet by resolving a conflict within the Druid's Grove, statues of you and your party members are erected in the town square. Also, many of the Quests are very flexible; most of the time, there is more then one way to finish a Quest. For example, instead of resolving the conflict within the Druid's Grove, you can worsen it by pouring poison into their sacred well; this causes both Druids and the mayor of Trademeet alike to despise you.

Although the side quests are very fun and unique, it's the main plot and story that really gets the game going. It is split into 7 chapters, and every one of them is very well done. The game takes you to all kinds of dazzling places such as an Island run by Pirates, an Underwater City inhabited by shark-men, a Underground city of Drows, and much more. As you traverse through the game, you will find out many things about your past and lineage... and many dark secrets.

In order to survive, you must form a party of NPCs and this is one of the most entertaining elements in the game. All of the NCPs are unique; not only do they interact with you throughout the game, you may even form special relationships. Over the course of travelling, you will find out many things about them, and each of them have their own unique personality. You will undoubtfully want to play the game over again once you beat it once; you can try recruiting different combinations of NPCs into your party or do different quests. You can also try any of the dozens of different classes available in the game. BG2 has a lot of replay value.

The graphics are perfect. 800x600 resolution is now available, and you can make use of your 3D Card to make dazzling spell effects.

However, there are some things that keep the game from being perfect. There are lots of bugs within the game. Although the latest patch fixes most of them, a few still undoubtfully remain. Also, this game is not good for old computers. It requires a huge amount of space in your hard drive, and the load times can get bothersome if you have a slow computer. You can also expect some slow-downs when lots of spells are being cast at once.

But all in all, Baldur's Gate II is an awesome RPG. I highly recommend you try this game; in fact, it would be wrong not to.

~PyroWizard~

THE BAD:
-nothing really....ummmmmmm the game ends??

SUMMARY:
One of the coolest things about this game is if you kill some of the villagers bounty hunters come after you!!!! It's great!!!!must-buy for fans of the first one and if you don't know anything bout baulder's gate finish the first one and play this!!!

THE BAD:
2D isometric graphics no longer state of the art. I find it crashes a bit too often.

SUMMARY:
Even this long after the its release Baldur's Gate is still one of the best RPGs available.

The non-linear plot is excellent as you can tackle individual adventures in the order you want to. This ensures that you do not get stuck - just do some side quests to raise your level and come back.

Worth playing in multiplayer mode where you can create most of the party (leave 1 or 2 spots for NPCs though as they add many interesting plot twists).

Difficult enough that you can get killed in many spots, but not so difficult that you get frustrated. Try not to use the cheat codes as its much more fun to strategise and succeed on your own. Game rewards you if you plan your battle tactics and can quickly punish you if you stop paying attention. Plenty of experience progression and item accumulation to satisfy.

The scenery is fantastic, and the creatures detailed. For best combat results make your screen brighter, although you lose the mood of the dark dungeons a bit.

THE BAD:
hay que leer mucho para aprenderse bien los hechizos y esta en ingles.

SUMMARY:
Si te gusta la fantasia medieval y los juegos de rol, no podes dejar de jugar este. Es como un juego der rol de tablero pero llevado a la PC.
Gran cantidad de hechizos bestias, trampas y demas hacen este juego digno de ser jugado, la musica crea una ambientación excelelnte. es buenisimo.

THE BAD:
Too lineal, the people at Bioware should try some more free action in the storyline like Bethedsa did with Daggerfall. Drizzt should appear more.

SUMMARY:
Its probably the best JdR I've had the chance to play in my life, and it's also one of the best role games, but I believe it should try to get closer to Daggerfall than Baldur's Gate I.