Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

"Successful end to the saga"

Well, where to begin? ToB was highly anticipated to end the Bhaalspawn Saga and add a whole load of fun, including a new ''Godly'' attitude towards gameplay that wasn't present in BG1 or BG2 (least the earlier parts.)

Graphics: 8.5/10- Pretty much the same as in BG2. I added a .5 from the original because of Demogorgon. Crisply done.

Gameplay: 8/10- As compared to BG2: SoA, most of this involves fighting 100000s of weaker enemies all at once. Its ok, for a while. Though the elements of being realistic are portrayed with people dying when fireballs come down, Tazit's dead dad, and Vikang, which illustrates using your abilities on other people, it still reminds me of a big dungeon crawler. Sendai's Lair is so huge Bioware decided to give you an exit portal instead of making you run back for a year. What saved this catagory is the higher levels and the HLAs. Higher levels allow for a better diversity of dualling AND multi-classes FINALLY come out on top with the new experience cap of 8,000,000. HLAs add a new edge of gameplay, where you select a certain ability on every level up after 2,950,000 experience. Im sure some people bought ToB just for HLAs and higher experience cap to use in SoA. I'd still play ToB, it IS still fun. Without the higher experience cap and HLAs this catagory would drop.

Variety: 8.1/10- There ARE some sidequests, but the whole point is pretty much the same. You cant really stray from your path all that much, and, though it doesnt bother other people, since its a war and you cant be bothered with other things, you might need a break. Some sidequests which are pretty decent and new AI where people dont just wait for you, but go about their own business, makes this higher than it was. Watcher's Keep is a huge sidequest, btw.

Story: 8.75/10- Say WHAT? It sounds like they were trying to write a Shakespearean play here. Nevertheless, the use of lexicon was superb, with no severe deficiencies in any nether regions.

Size: 9/10- For an expansion, its pretty big. Watcher's Keep inclusive.

Usability: 9.6/10- TADA. Watcher's Keep appears in SoA as well as ToB, and, with the higher experience cap, HLAs, bug fixes and a new class (Wild Mage) you can REALLY use ToB's features in SoA just as you could in ToB.

Overall (not an average): 8.5/10. It swings toward 9, so I put a 9 in ''Your Score'' since they dont allow decimals there. I'd say, if you have SoA, get ToB, it really is worth it, even if just for SoA. ToB was pretty much a mismatch of huge battles with really no purpose, however it plays like any battle, so it is still pretty fun, and the whole new variety options due to the higher experience cap and HLAs still makes this something to get.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/02, Updated 01/26/02