Review Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Retrospective Review

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn; BioWare

<p>Manapool put up another retrospective review for an Infinity Engine game, this time <strong>Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn</strong> is the subject. <a href="http://www.manapool.co.uk/baldurs-gate-2-shadows-of-amn-review/" target="_blank">They score it 9.2/10</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The quests are also generally more enjoyable, with far fewer postal service-style quests, and a more polished feel. The evil (or at least, non-good) options in the game are also more interesting, and represent a far more varied replay of the game.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for those of you wanting to play evil parties, however, the numbers of companions are skewed against the evil protagonist, with it not being possible to field even a single 6-character party solely with evil NPC companions. Whilst this was not highly unusual at the time of release, modern RPGs really try to give their players options regarding their moral activities, and Baldur&rsquo;s Gate 2 still falls short on this count.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>As with the original Baldur&rsquo;s Gate, Baldur&rsquo;s Gate 2 has aged very well, and still looks very respectable. The audio is likewise of good quality, with the music once again being of high quality (&lsquo;The Domain of the Dragon&rsquo; is probably amongst the most epic combat music in an RPG), with the only possible flaw being the limited amount of voice acting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes the music was awesome. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56kBpMU1yA" target="_blank">Here are</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V6ayeiKkT4&amp;feature=related" target="_blank">two samples</a> to prove it.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/100368-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn-retrospective-review.html">GB</a></p>

 

[racofer]

What's with everyone reviewing old games as of late?

 

[commie]

'flaw being the limited amount of voice acting'.

Fuck I hate when reviewers tack on current trends to games released a decade or more ago. Why not go further and lament that there are no cover mechanics?

 

[Xor]

What's with all the retrospective reviews recently?

Also

Unfortunately for those of you wanting to play evil parties, however, the numbers of companions are skewed against the evil protagonist, with it not being possible to field even a single 6-character party solely with evil NPC companions.

Bullshit. Neutral companions don't leave at low reputation, and you could easily fill your party with Edwin, Viconia, and Korgan (who are incidentally probably the best companions in the game) and two other neutral ones.

 

[Dyskolos]

To be fair, its really hard to figure out NPCs who don't have cutscenes where they frown or fuck to let you know what they're thinking. thank god bioware has taken care of the problem now though.

 

[Miew]

What's with all the retrospective reviews recently?

Also

Unfortunately for those of you wanting to play evil parties, however, the numbers of companions are skewed against the evil protagonist, with it not being possible to field even a single 6-character party solely with evil NPC companions.

Bullshit. Neutral companions don't leave at low reputation, and you could easily fill your party with Edwin, Viconia, and Korgan (who are incidentally probably the best companions in the game) and two other neutral ones.

Besides, it's so much more fun to take some of the good characters with you (for at least a while) and have them moan at your actions or serve as cannonfodder somewhere along the way.

Since in BG2, unlike more recent games, characters can permanently die in combat, that adds a whole new level of evilness to what you can do.

 

[MetalCraze]

Fuck voice-acting

In fact BG2 is better than every single "RPG" released in the past 5 years (if not more)

Unfortunately for those of you wanting to play evil parties, however, the numbers of companions are skewed against the evil protagonist, with it not being possible to field even a single 6-character party solely with evil NPC companions. Whilst this was not highly unusual at the time of release, modern RPGs really try to give their players options regarding their moral activities, and Baldur’s Gate 2 still falls short on this count.

Yeah like having those NPCs stay with you no matter what you do.

Also there are enough of NPCs for the evil character if you don't always do the quests in a chaotic stupid way thanks to neutrals which don't mind you doing bad stuff once in a while. And besides evil chars are usually the most powerful in BG2

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Baldur's Gate 2 with its 3 replies the same result dialogues, dumb protagonist, linearity, disregarding previous party, messy combat, PC starting dialogues by himself in most retarded moments and monty haul gets 9.2/10. What a bunch of cocksuckers.

 

[janjetina]

BG 2 is superb in non-gameplay department - user interface, graphics and sound. I can't think of any RPG that can top it in these areas. Combat part of the gameplay is salvaged (at least for those who like playing high level characters which happen to be magic users) by good encounter design, writing is standard Bioware fare (but with less facepalm induction than their newer games), quest design is uninspired, with consequences being mainly fluff and character stats barely influence non-combat gameplay. Despite its flaws, it is still one of my favorite RPGs.

I really don't get why Bioware doesn't reuse BG 2 UI in its games. They hit the jackpot back then and have been trying to replace it by all flavors of fecal matter ever since.

 

[MicoSelva]

Bullshit. Neutral companions don't leave at low reputation, and you could easily fill your party with Edwin, Viconia, and Korgan (who are incidentally probably the best companions in the game) and two other neutral ones.

This. Actually, Yan Yansen was switched from Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral for that specific purpose. Being the only actual thief in game he had to be usable for evil parties too.

Fuck voice-acting

In fact BG2 is better than every single "RPG" released in the past 5 years (if not more)

And this.

 

[Quilty]

Who is this article aimed at? We don't need your retro-coverage of a widely acclaimed game we all played just because the xbawks kids haven't heard of it. It's pretty boring and poorly written, as well. Love the "dangerous hazards" bit.

EDIT: I just read his SoASE review that begins like something a kid would write for homework: "I am a huge sci-fi fan, I watch all things sci-fi and have a large game collection."

Fuck videogame journalism, this whole thing is making me sick

 

[Volourn]

BG2 IS DEAD! FUCK IT!

 

[Crooked Bee]

BG2 IS DEAD! FUCK IT!

Necrophile much?

 

[larpingdude18]

ive heard good things about BG2. i have yet to play it but im hoping i get the chance soon.

 

[Needles]

Baldur's Gate 2 with its 3 replies the same result dialogues, dumb protagonist, linearity, disregarding previous party, messy combat, PC starting dialogues by himself in most retarded moments and monty haul gets 9.2/10. What a bunch of cocksuckers.

"Messy combat" is actually a euphemism. BG2's combat is, contrary to popular opinion just plain bad. Ditto for encounter design.
-RTwP
-Trash mobs
-Boss fights without tactics (Buff for about 2 minutes -> click on boss -> win fight).
I remember when I played BG2 for the first time, at some point I realized the only reason why I haven't deinstalled it was the Diablo effect. l00tz. Of course, once I had all the fat loot I steamrolled shit even more..
To sum up BG2:


edit:
also

Fuck voice-acting

In fact BG2 is better than every single "RPG" released in the past 5 years (if not more)

No

 

[Roguey]

"BG2 IS DEAD! FUCK IT!"

Long live the new shit. Bang.

I really don't get why Bioware doesn't reuse BG 2 UI in its games. They hit the jackpot back then and have been trying to replace it by all flavors of fecal matter ever since.

What do you like about its UI exactly? Because I didn't like it at all, thought there was way too much form-over-functionality.

 

[Melcar]

BG2 was good. It's a shame that it's still a lot more entertaining than most crap these days.

 

[deus101]

'Fuck voice acting'

It annoys me to no end that this HAS to be the standard for large RPG's of late.

Most of the voice acting i NO GOOD!

So Id rather read voiceless text mixed in with a few tidbits of quality like with Irenicus and the rest.

 

[Lightknight]

-Boss fights without tactics (Buff for about 2 minutes -> click on boss -> win fight).

It was the other way around for me. Encounter boss -> hide and wait for about 10 fucking minutes till his shield spell times out -> repeat until he is out of shield spells -> attack and win.

Except some bosses have infinite shield time.

And some idiots claim it had a good encounter design...yeah, right.
Not to mention the whole "balanced for characters of level 20+" mentality. In a D&D game. What kind of ridiculous retardedness is that ???

 

[CraigCWB]

What's with everyone reviewing old games as of late?

What's with everyone raving about how great a game's MUSIC is of late? Well, whatever.

BGII is maybe my favorite RPG of all time but I didn't like the expansion much. The stuff it added to the main game was pretty good but the additional content they added at the end seemed like celebration of their own greatness with a lot of Monty Haul uber loot and over-the-top trash encounters without any real reason to exist. It was essentially a collection of DLCs, only you had to buy them all pre-packaged at the store instead of downloading them piecemeal from the web. An indication of things to come from Bioware.

 

[ChristofferC]

Use dispel magic, breach, spell thrust and so on...

 

[Reject_666_6]

In fact BG2 is better than every single "RPG" released in the past 5 years (if not more)

Actually, BG2 is better than every single RPG released in the past 3 years, 1 month and 2 weeks as of today.

 

[MasPingon]

-Boss fights without tactics (Buff for about 2 minutes -> click on boss -> win fight).

It was the other way around for me. Encounter boss -> hide and wait for about 10 fucking minutes till his shield spell times out -> repeat until he is out of shield spells -> attack and win.

Wow, you are boring retard

 

[Joe Krow]

I tried roleplaying a politician. I had no choice but to run from monsters. Has Age of Decadence been released yet?

 

[Volourn]

"BG2's combat is, contrary to popular opinion just plain bad. Ditto for encounter design. "