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    Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

    Game » consists of 10 releases. Released Sep 21, 2000

    Take hold of your destiny as you journey across mysterious lands, encounter many magical creatures and meet many memorable characters in a large fantasy world.

    Worth Playing?

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    TheRowGow

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    #1  Edited By TheRowGow

    Hey, I never played the Baldur's gate series and was wondering if the game is worth playing without any previous love for the series? Does the game hold up well today?

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    strangone

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    #2  Edited By strangone

    Absolutely worth playing. Graphics hold up reasonably well considering (just remember to get the widescreen mod), and compared to modern "RPGs" the variety and quality of the quests, enemies and encounters is pretty great. Can be difficult at times, but it's mostly a good challenge. I'm speaking more about Baldur's Gate 2 here, it's been a long time since BG1 for me so I can't really speak to that.


    Probably the worst thing is the god-awful pathing AI.
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    Vrikk

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    #3  Edited By Vrikk

    Sweet Jesus yes. One of the best PC RPGs ever.

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    SBYM

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    #4  Edited By SBYM

    I bought BG2 in '09 without having played the previous game or its expansion and enjoyed it. If you haven't played a game with D&D rules before then you should prepare yourself for that, because I hadn't, and it made learning how to do stuff a pain in the ass until I forced myself to do so. Also, make sure you get it patched, since I didn't, and just played it as is off the CD, I wound up running into some weird mistakes that lead to me attaining some weapons and armor that I wasn't supposed to be able to even equip with my character, and I wound up skipping a large part of the game just because I walked to a place I wasn't supposed to (I wasn't using a guide, and was just looking around exploring the area) and as a result I finished the game in 11 hours, after having read that the game was usually closer to 40.

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    endaround

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    #5  Edited By endaround

    The games is closer to 120 hours if you do everything (including all companion quests).  BG1 isn't needed but this is a direct sequel meaning you pick up fairly shortly at the end of BG1.  It sort of assumes you ahev an idea of teh story of BG1 but will fill in things if you say you can't remeber.  The biggest issue is that you start off as a mid level AD&D character so you do grow along with your character and so have to basically pickup a lot of stuff right off the bat.

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    newhaap

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    #6  Edited By newhaap
    @TheRowGow: I still consider it the best game I've played ever. I played it 4 times beginning to end, including the Throne of Bhaal expansion, and I still hear other people talking about things about the game I've never even seen. The thing is though, if you have a decent high res monitor, you might not stand how low res it is. Otherwise, it's a great game.
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    ArbitraryWater

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    #7  Edited By ArbitraryWater

    Well, it is only one of the greatest CRPGs ever made. Just make sure to install the Widescreen mod. Makes it a little easier on the eyes. Also, make sure you understand AD&D 2nd ed, because the game does no hand holding on that end. You could start with the first game if you wanted to, as it's also a very good game. A lot harder to get into though.

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