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56 of 57 found the following review helpful:
Pretty good, but with some reservations... Aug 24, 2004
By Lissa
"starcrossedlady"
I adored Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, so when the sequel came out, we immediately snatched it up and raced home to see how much better they made the game.
While I wouldn't rate it better then the first one, there are some big positives that I'll share first. One of them is the ability to tweak armor and weapons, customizing them to do different things and help out in various ways. You may still find awesome treasure on your adventures, but with this feature, you don't have to rely on pure chance anymore! A two-player game is advantageous for this feature, since you can use either the dwarf or the necromancer to drive the price down on the item creation (otherwise, you are somewhat limited with the amount of gold you have).
You get more characters that you get to play with-- who all have unique abilities and feats. My fiance and I play together usually; and we tend to use fighter and spellcaster combinations. It seems to work well for us. For each character, there is a special quest that they must go on-- which helps keep the main story fresh as you go on the specialized side quests. After completing each quest, you get some nice abilities added into your list. While some might feel that it makes the playing a little confusing, we found it gave us some options to go on, as well as some nice gains in XP as opposed to following one thread.
Now for the bad: Unfortunately, the main arc of the story felt like a retread from the first. Oh look! Spiders! Ho hum.... A maze we have to work through! The side quests for the individual characters did help, but it wasn't enough to change the whole. The three characters from the first game are there, but there's very limited interaction with them.
But on the whole, this was a very enjoyable game, and we liked to play the different characters. The graphics are like the first-- superb and much better then a good portion of RPGs out. So I would recommend this to any fantasy RPG player who has a Playstation 2. Or an XBox. Or any type of equipment to play this game! Have fun, and remember: Rune stones are your friend!
45 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 Now this is a Sequel!!! Feb 14, 2004
Clearly, Black Isle coded this puppy for the fans of BGDA1. There are hundreds of subtle hardcore additions to this sequel. Gameplay has been extended to an average of 14 hours per character getting your characters to level 27. Each character can reach level 40(ie play through game twice on harder difficulty levels) to maximize feats. Any Diablo-style player can easily squeeze 100+ hours out of this game by maxing all your characters stats, feats, weapons, and amour. They added the left-trigger mapping option. This allows you to map 4 feats to your face buttons like Xbox's D&D heroes. Each of the 5 main character classes have hidden quests that allow them to level an extra 3 levels and unlock hidden feats. Gameplay even with 2-player coop is a blazing 60fps without a single drop. You can switch between 2 melee & 1 ranged weapon on the fly. Their is a 2x zoom option for single player. There are now 2 hidden characters from RA Salvatore's Forgotton Realms novels. These include the Drow-elf Drizzt Do'Urden and his assassin arch-nemesis. Each of these characters start at level 16 max at level 40(giving you at least 2 plays through the game with each). Multiplayer options are killer(like BGDA1). You can import or delete characters in the middle of any game. So if your friend leaves...delete his character out of your 2-player game and keep playing single player. There are now 80 levels instead of 40. Usually you have 3 paths to choose from instead of the old linear level-by-level design. There in an overworld map that provides optional side-quests(7 side quests). Item creation system is like that found in Diablo2. This gives you 10,000 possibilities for armour and weapons, thus eliminating the #1 problem with the original game...no new items to discover with each successive play. Each character class plays completely different. Think Diablo2 vs Diablo. Baldurs Gate DA 2 WILL OWN YOU!!!!!
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Great to play with two people! Feb 23, 2006
By Heather A. Teysko
"heatherteyskodotcom"
My boyfriend and I played Gauntlet and the first Baldur's Gate, and we noticed a difference with this one right away. I like the story behind it, and the plot twists (near the end there's a twist that I never expected), but The Boyfriend doesn't so much get into the plot. I always get upset if he plays without me for a while because I miss out on what's going on. He, on the other hand, says "the point is to kill orcs - the plot doesn't matter...). So I was happy with this one because it had a great plot.
I liked the referencing to the first one - there was a job cleaning the sewers, which I thought was cute - the sewers were a mess because of the first adventurers who came through and killed all the rats. I also noticed that the music was the same in that job as it was in the first Baldur's Gate when we were in the sewers.
The music is great - all of these Baldur's Gate and Norrath games have such stunning soundtracks. I could have left it on in the background just to listen.
I liked the fact that we could share money in this game - in the first we couldn't, and I had more charisma (just like in real life!!) so he would drop things for me to sell, and I'd buy things for him because we got better prices. But with being able to share money it didn't make so much of a difference.
I loved the workshop. I made some amazing weapons - it was a lot of fun to think about what sorts of stones you wanted to add.
I also liked that your home stayed in Baldur's Gate the whole time, so you always had the same shop guy.
It took us about a month to finish the game, and I thought that was just about the right amount of time. I'm glad we had two people, though - I think it would have been a lot harder, especially at the end, with only one person.
Great game, gorgeous graphics, awesome music - what more can you ask for?
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Creative, playable, and fun Mar 19, 2004
By David Romano
Well, here we have BGII. My friends introduced us to BGI, and me and my partner were instantly hooked! The play was easy, the plot was pretty interesting, and as avid tabletop gamers, we know how to use the skills and feats, which helped the play a lot.Fast forward to the torture that was BGII and the constant change of release dates. Well, it was worth it. The game continues to evolve. Characters: A Moon Elf Necromancer, Dwarven Rogue, Human Barbarian, Human Cleric and Dark Elf Monk. First, let me say that despite reviews to the contrary, these characters are not ripped off from Diablo or Diablo II. I have been tabletop gaming Dungeons and Dragons for almost 2 decades, and these are all characters I have played! The feats weren't adapted as well as some of them could have been, but nothing is perfect I guess. What is very pleasing about these characters is the fact that each of them gets a quest to gain new powers. The Necromancer becomes a Shadowmancer, the Rogue becomes a Shield Warrior (remember him from the first game?), the Cleric becomes a Paladin, the Barbarian becomes a Druid, and the Monk becomes an Assassin. My only gripe about these quests are the fact that everyone except the Barbarian has to pay a grand total of 30,000 gold to gain access to these quests. Yup, 30,000 gp. And the Barbarian gets his for free since the Harper Randalla has the hots for him The spells/feats: Very much like what I play in DnD. They did a good job of translating them, although some are overpowered and some are underpowered. But that's ok, as I said, nothing is perfect. The quests: This is where things get interesting. It's a non-linear game, which is great. You can pretty much do them in your own order. For example, I tend to avoid Bloodmire Manor in the first act until I have completed the rest in order to ensure I have enogh power to get through it. I can appreciate this a great deal. If I had to make one gripe, there were times when the game seemed to never end. And I am sick of falling into chasms! The bosses: Original, fun to play, but too confused in terms of the power level. The first boss is difficult. then they get tougher. Then you get to Act 3 and 4... what a joke! Going 2 player, it took me and my partner, playing as the monk and the barbarian, about 2 to 5 minutes per boss. Then you get to the final act, and the boss is as tough as they come. He uses life-draining spells judiciously, so don't get hit. But hey, he's the main boss, and it shouldn't be easy to beat him!The ending: This was the part which most disturbed me in BGI. It fell flat. It was excitiement, excitement, excitement, the game's over. No closure, no real ending, just wandering through a portal and the game ends. Here there is an ending, and a prelude of what's to come should there be a BGIII. Wepaons and Armour: I am thrilled that there is a workshop. I have crafted a number of nifty items, and it makes the game very versatile. You don't have to worry about just +1 to +5. Now you can make flaming burst, icy burst, vampiric, blessed, etc weapons, armour which provides elemental resistances and DR, and a slew of new trinkets. Much better than the first. Be warned, it's expensive though. Exerience and Gold: Probably the most disappointing part of the game. Experince is split 50/50, and the gold is shared. We didn't know that (ok, we prolly should have read the instructions, but I was too busy explaining the feats to my partner). Next thing we know, we're in town, I get some nice studded leather armour for my monk, and we have almost no gold left. We figured this out very quickly, and learned to share items and gems and potions. But I agree with the editorial, it is a change I haven't decided if I like or not. I understand the whole "killing blow" concept, but find it disturbing that my monk should get less credit than my partner's Barbarian just because she hangs back and throws poison-laced, life-draining daggers. The experienced being shared, cool. The gold thing, not as cool. That's about it. If you liked the first, get this one. If you didn't, rent it and see how good it is. And let's all pray to the gamer Gods that we see part 3!
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Baldur's Gate rocks Feb 04, 2004
By Michael P Sanborn Jr
Im 27 years old and I've never been into these kinds of games (Im more of a sports gamer) but the first Baldurs Gate got me hooked, I couldnt wait for the second to come out and Im also hoping for a third. Ive been playing the game for a week now and I only get a couple hours out of the day to play it due to wife and baby. I gave this game 5 stars, not to compare it to any other game (I really dont know how the others are) but I gave it 5 stars based on my enjoyement playing it. I think Vivendi Universal did a great job in making the Baldurs Gate series and the graphics are better than the first, and the game play is basically the same, but I like that, it made this game that much easier to jump right into. If you never have played any of the Baldurs Gate series than pick this one up and give it a shot, its loads of fun and for the parents, this game is less graphic than most Ive seen. Take a grown-ups advice and not a 5 year old with access to a computer, THIS GAME ROCKS!!!
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