Baldur’s gate, a dungeon –ey, dragon-ey RPG for the PC made by Bioware originally and re-vamped by Overhaul Games and published by Black Isle Studios and Interplay Entertainment. Not playing any Baldur’s gate game and hearing nothing but good things I thought this would be a brilliant time to jump into it head first. But, anyone playing s baldurs gate game knows this is like jumping into Alabama with a tattoo of a two naked man on your arm and a satanic metal band t-shirt. So, without further ado let’s bring on the pain.
Baldur’s gate two the enhanced edition or just Baldur’s two from now on, is just a Baldur’s gate two with a slight re-skinning and a slight bit of extra content known as The black pits two. Which don’t get me wrong looks nice and the extra content was quite nice to. After the events of the previous game you start as a captive in the cage being lectured and tortured buy your captor only to escape, gathering a few familiar faces from the previous game. This was nice as not knowing who half these people were the game allowed me to pretend I was like a man with Alzheimer’s allowing me to give me a brief info dump of who these people actually were and why one of them was obsessed with some kind of space hamster. The game later moves on with some cool predictable plot twists and some truly bazaar events. The story is brilliant and characters entertain to listen and talk to. But, the game is heavily soaked in its own law like my pillow when I realised how much reading I had to do to get a general idea of what was actually going on and realise that I had as much clue as the UKip party has on immigration. This is the main point is Baldur’s gates downfall and ill develop it further as Baldur’s gate two can feel impenetrable at times and just a slog.
This becomes clearly in the gameplay and general mechanics as i couldn’t figure out what any of the numbers meant. I felt like Russell crow in the film a beautiful mind, finding a sword with a random fixture of numbers and equipping it to the right character with the right skill set only to find out that it was going to work and I had unlocked the mysteries, only to realise in reality I had just equipped a character to make him absolutely useless and on introspection how crazy I was to miss that. This and not really understanding how even the combat worked, when talking to a friend about the game I asked why the damage stat had a D next to it. He replied by asking if I had ever played dungeons or dragons and when I replied “no” he snickered me and asked which version of the combat rules I wanted. At this point I realised I probably would never understand how it worked and gave up on why I was winning and hoped if I did the generally the same thing it would work out kind of like the boy band and general music of nowhere days. I mean it seems to work for a clueless Justin and how much the game had drained me I felt my soul was the only thing I had left to give to the game.
But, enough about how much the game can feel like a drain, as said the re-enhanced graphics are noticeable from the old version. The voice acting is also done very well getting a very good feeling for the world and characters too and the parts in the dialogue that are not spoken aloud are written very well indeed to the extent I could imagine the characters speak while I read. The music is kind of what you expect from this genre of game I do wish I heard a couple of guitar riffs but then again lutes quite nice sometimes too.
If you are reading this review and feel quite put off, please don’t be because honestly it was fun and there were nice video tutorials within the main menu that cleared a couple things up. Also the amount of sheer classes and weapon’s and spells and such and the dynamic combinations you can make for six different party members creates a massive amount of opportunity and custom ability, this and the loveable world deep in fantastical, epic feeling lore and the loveable character’s like Minsc and his space hamster of justice and furry boo install a light and sometimes relieving undertone to the game. The makeover also has four new characters able to recruit for your team; Hexxat, Dorn Il-Khan, Neera the Wild Mage and Rasaad yn Bashir- each with their own interesting backgrounds and side quests.
Sure the game can feel quite impenetrable and draining at times but like master of the mighty eating crisps with your toes technique once you’ve got it all you have to do is find the sauce… err, I mean the most confortable way for you to play the game and truly make it your epic adventure. I would discourage people who aren’t up for investing time in the game as it isn’t a short game (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) and is like a dog, for a long time, before it dies of awkward circumstances or is let loose to escape .It’s not just for Christmas. As for those who have already played the game it may be interesting to pick it up to play and although I didn’t get to far in the black pits part two a mage who blows himself to bits, a drunk Swedish sounding warrior and snarky sarcastically mage stuck in a arena can only call for good things. Now I need to go and get some air before people think I’ve died till next time Faerun.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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