Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

"Has this game stood the test of Time? Yes"

Just a note: I find good graphics irrelevant to the quality of the game. I pray that, likewise, you are not superficial. There do come times that graphics will harm the game, and will then count graphics as a category to deliberately penalize the game, but in general, I do not judge on graphics.

In a few more months it would have been four years since the initial 2000 release of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Even now, players are still actively replaying and playing the game (as noticed by continuing activity at places such as TeamBG.com or PlanetBG.com as well as GameFAQ's own section for it). Now, it is time to decide whether Baldur's Gate II has surpassed the status of being just a good game and become a classic.

For the impatient and/or ADHD-inflicted, the answer is ''yes.'' Now go take your Ritalin.

Story (9/10): Personally, I'm not very fond of the entire Baldur's Gate saga general storyline, since you, as the protagonist, tend to have a very single-minded goal. In Baldur's Gate it was the pursuit of Sarevok. In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, it is the pursuit of Irenicus. There's very little in the way of plot twists, merely minor additions to depth.

Where the game shines, though, is in its myriad of side quests and side adventures, which will probably take more game time to do than the actual story. Each of these side quests and adventures are small plots in and of themselves, and some of them are truly fascinating and filled with surprising plot twists. Moreover, some of these are actually interrelated, though you may only discover the links by chance. This helps make the world of Shadows of Amn so much more deep and full.

In addition, these quests tend to have association to non-player characters who can join you on your main quest, and this tends to develop them out into fuller characters than simple Dice-Rolled Avatars(tm). In addition, BioWare added plenty of banter between you and your party members that help better flesh and out and realize the personalities of your members and the events of the world around them. It is this that has endeared many to the antics of the gnome Jan Jansen or the infamous ranger Minsc and his space-hamster Boo. While the player romances tend to be on the sappy/unrealistically romantic side, much of the normal banter can be genuinely funny and thought-provoking (watch out for Nalia and Viconia's discussion on social welfare versus determinism), an increasingly rare commodity in contemporary games.

Sound (10): The sound effects are vastly improved over the first Baldur's Gate. This is most noticed in the vast array of spells, which explode, implode, irrupt, erupt, in epic swoops and fizzles which will make battle exciting (and when you hear the tell-tale sound of Wail of the Banshee, nerve-wracking). The battle clangs of sword on steel, swords on shields that were evident in Icewind Dale unfortunately aren't in Baldur's Gate II, which takes some of the thrill and involvement out of battle.

The music and ambience is amazing. Unlike some other Role-playing Games, Baldur's Gate II plays music on an event-basis; instead of an all-pervasive background Muzak, an approximately one minute long music snip plays periodically according to the circumstances. These musical snips are always a pleasure to listen to; while they don't have the sheer musical beauty of Jeremey Soule's magnificent work in Icewind Dale, Michael Hoenig's music effectively covers the diversity of the Forgotten Realms, from the Eastern influences in Waukeen's Promenade and Trademeet, to the epic Dragon battle music, and to the triumphant music of De'Arnise Hold.

The ambience is the background aura of Baldur's Gate II and helps give life and depth to the entirety of the game. Inside the busy streets of Amn, you hear merchants yelling out prices, couples arguing, children laughing, and dogs barking. In the dankness of sewers you hear rats crawling, water dripping. In the moments of the endgame, you can hear a haunting combination of rapid laughter and breaths that best defines Fear. Where many times the ambience could have fallen into the depths of hackney, it instead elevates the game.

The voice acting is impressive. There are a few cracks, when it becomes clear that a certain voice actor has done multiple roles (Minsc and the Djinnis is the most painfully obvious one), but this is not really a curse at all, since the voice actors are all very good. Irenicus especially is compelling as a villain, Jan delightfully light, and Aerie naively innocent. There was never a moment when I cringed from hearing the voices.

Replayability (10): There is massive replayability in this game. Consider this: there are eleven unique character classes, of these, seven of them have four variants (the traditional AD&D style class and three ''kit'' variants), and one (the wizard) has as many as ten different specializations. In addition, you are only allowed to have six total party members (including yourself), but there are far more than this in the game; each of them are unique and come with their own side adventures and banter. Plus, depending on your character class, you have access to different ''stronghold'' quests and different item setups. Your decisions can change how you play the game, where you go, and what you do.

If at anytime you ever get bored, there is a massive mod fan-base that can either let you obtain user-mods to enhance gameplay (like the Tactics mod) or let you create your own modifications, a feat that BioWare's unique Infinity Engine makes relatively simple (especially when compared to say, Diablo II).

Gameplay (9): This is perhaps one of the best implementations (if not THE best) of 2nd edition AD&D rules. For the casual gamer, the manual has a small few pages that briefly summarizes whatever he or she needs to know to understand the rules of the game. For the deeper/hardcore gamer, there is a breadth of possibilities that this review can never fully touch on.

Social interaction, ie dialogue and trade, is a fully enjoyable adventure. Unfortunately, some of the avenues Baldur's Gate had (such as being able to Charm people and then talk to them) are now closed, and occasionally some dialogue progressions are 'forced,' that is, no matter how you respond, the other party always reacts the same way. Nevertheless, there is always an opportunity to be noble, evil, and amoral (in the later parts of the game, this actually becomes very existentialist). Trade is a fun endeavor for the lore-lover, as a player might end up spending an hour just reading up on the background of powerful magical items or simply reading one of many history books scattered throughout the world.

Combat is an excitingly deep system. While it may start out simply, with just a sword that needs swinging and maybe a spell that needs flinging, in the end, your characters become involved in a complex system of action-reaction. Mage fights are both incredibly fun and notorious, as it becomes important to remember weaknesses, the spells that disable specific barriers, and the spells that can circumvent those disabling spells. The simple click-and-forget of 50-75% of the first Baldur's Gate is gone. This, is a mature system. In addition, some of the battles are genuinely hard. Even after almost three years of playing this game, I, myself, still struggle in some battles, and I still experiment with the many possibilities of destroying the enemy.

Unfortunately, casual gamers will still probably end up being overwhelmed since the learning curve after the first hour of gameplay steps up dramatically. In addition, there are still a few technological limitations that can hamper gameplay, the main one being path-finding. Even with high settings, your characters may still be tempted to find a 100 foot shortcut to a location 3 feet in front of them.

Final Assessment (9): While not an absolute perfect game, Baldur's Gate II has many qualities that make it persistent and lasting. Treasure-hunting, Lordship, a plethora of quests, replayability, endearing characters... it sounds trite, but if you like RPGs and haven't yet played this game, you must. Otherwise you're missing out on a grand, grand dream.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/03