Buy Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

This game ruined my mid school grades. Now it's time for this game to ruin my marriage.

This purchase was a disappointment. There are FAR too many bugs in this release, and in fact, the original release of Baldur's Gate II had far fewer bugs (BGII veteran here; I've been playing this game since 2001 and have never taken a year off). I was very pleased with all the enhancements which make this game look so much nicer on newer systems, but between the sheer number of bugs and the weak voice-acting of the new NPCs (Hexxat's voice was PITIFUL to the point where I couldn't keep her in my party) I just can't say this release is worth spending money on, period. Download the latest patch, get a widescreen mod and the Baldur's Gate II Fixpack from Giberlings 3 and just play the original release. Don't waste your time with this version.

Do you like RPGs? Story? Dungeons? Dragons? Miniature Giant Space Hamsters? If you said yes to any of these things. Buy this game. It's on a lot of people's best game of all time lists. I play it again at least one a year. Just do it. Or buy it on gog.com. DOOO EEEET

My personal favourite game of all time. Love all the choices you can make in the game and all the diversity in the world. As well as the epic boss battles and legendary items you can smith.

The godfather of Western RPGs. Before loot games ruined them forever.

Buy it now. Play it over and over.

It's Baldurs Gate alright. If you're looking for a singleplayer experience on par with the original Baldurs Gate 2, then here it is. Additional characters are very interesting and fun to play with. A few bugs here and there, and some of them are quite bad and consistent, but overall I really enjoyed the singleplayer experience enough to play through the game 3 or 4 times.

Multiplayer on the other hand is broken beyond belief. If you intend to play BG2 with friends, my advice is to buy the original from somewhere else, because the Enhanced Edition's multiplayer is just straight up nonsense. Can't even get out of the tutorial area without some encountering at least 4 or 5 major bugs, including quests just straight up not working, or scripted events not occuring.

With Fallout 2 and Planescape;Torment, Baldur's Gate II is one of the great gems of roleplaying, a timeless classic. Even after 14 years it is still a great game, atmosphere, depth, story wise, a masterpiece, a once in a lifetime game.
The story is gripping and epic enough to keep one thinking about it long after finishing the game.

There are countless quests and many different classes, epic battles and incredible humour (don't kill The Eye of the Beholder before you enter the under dark, makes for one of the funniest re-encounters in game in Throne of Baal), and last but not least gripping dialogues!

For anyone who likes RPGs, well worth a visit!

P.S.
And the MUSIC! The Intro Music still gets me going after all these years!

clean as an elven ♥♥♥♥

Best RPG game ever. Engaging storylines, romantic subplots, and real time action.

Well, the game was already a masterpiece when it was out, only to be seconded by Planespace: Torment for some (not me). Therefore, the base quality is still there. The original game had beautiful 2d artwork used as locations and they held their eye candy to this day.

What needed work was the paper dolls, spell effects, the UI, screen resolution (original one only supported 800 x 600 and 640 x 480) and one of the nightmares: 64 bit compatibility.

The initial release had bugs but at the moment, this game is quite solid. The story itself is probably one of the best modules ever written for Forgotten Realms. The characters (original ones) are all quite fun in their way and the newly added ones somewhat blend in. Although, they are neither as interesting as the original cast (like Minsc, Edwin or Jensen) nor their voice acting matches the quality of the original NPCs. Still, they don't disturb you much.

I have probably played and completed Baldur's Gate 1, Tales from the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhaal over 20 times, modding them to the bone. Nowadays, I am replaying the EE and I am quite happy that it helped me return to an already favorite, not causing issues with my high end rig. I am already halfway through the game, saving Imoen, and wife laughs at me whenever she sees me mimic the NPCs and their war cries.

Now that Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera are coming, it would be nice to re-visit this masterpiece.

It's Baldur's Gate 2.

Baldur's. Gate. Two.

Buy it.

MULTIPLAYER IS BROKEN!!!! As soon as you get out of the first dungeon the game will crash/bug/kick on one or more of the ppl playing. Then During the "character arbitration" screen (when you start a multiplayer game it starts you at this screen, this is where the host can assign character slots to the players joining his game so they can create/load/select the characters they want to play) people trying to join the game can't or are kicked when someone else trys to join. I got this game in the hopes that me and my 4 other friends could play this together and i could'nt be more disappointed. How do you take this old game, release it again for 25 dollars, call it the enhanced edition, and deliever a worse than original product. Fix the game... FIX IT!!!
......why haven't you fixed it yet.

A TSR classic. Good old school rpg fun.

I love Baldur's Gate, but the Enhanced Edition is ridden with bugs and that had me reloading the game way too many times. Bugs that were not in the original game.

The extra content is not worth it.

The Baldur's Gate series is without question the apex of Bioware development and a masterpiece CRPG. I'm not going to comment on whether or not the series is good or bad since it goes without saying that any rpg fan needs to at least give it a spin. What's important and what I struggled with since the enhanced editions launched was whether or not these new editions were worth it, or whether or not I should just dust off my CD copies from the days of yore.

It's true that there isn't anything in the enhanced editions that can't already be done with mods. The last time I tried installing the CD versions and modding it all up was a tedious experience though. It's also true that the added content is forgettable; the Black Pits is something that I'll never touch and the new NPCs range from tolerable (Neera, for example) to poor (Hexxat, for example).

But I couldn't care less about the above. For me it boiled down to two things: One, was this version easier to set up and two, was this version buggier than the originals. The enhanced editions are no doubt easier to jump into on a modern computer due to many of the enhancements mirroring typical mods that you'd want to install (porting BG1 to the ToB engine, for example). Many of the community's mods have been updated for the Enhanced editions as well, so you can still cry in a fetal position as Swords Coast Stratagems mages rip you to shreds if that's your thing.

Now, bugginess is obviously dependent on many variables and I can only experience my own playthrough of the series, but apart from one crash to desktop in the opening dungeon of BG2 my playthrough from BG1 to ToB was smooth and clean. The official forums would make you think that the game is a bug ridden mess and it kept me away from purchasing for months, but I do not regret purchasing it in its current state. I won't be touching my CD copy of the series again.

The best PC RPG ever made. Baldur's Gate 2 is the milestone with which Bioware has settled future games as neverwinter nights, knights of old republic and dragon age.

I love BG, BG2, NWN, and NWN2, which all can be bought on GOG. I got all the old DnD games off GOG for $20 during a sale. The Enhanced Edition doesn't really change much except add things that were added through mods, and add 4 new characters; Neera, Dorn, Rashaad, and Hexxat. Each character has a romance arc, a major quest in SoA, and a quest in ToB. So far I have mostly played with Neera (been bouncing back and forth between BG2 and BG2EE to pay mods that are not BG2EE ready), and the dialogue she has is hilarious. Also some areas have been slightly altered like the Order of the Radiant Heart. If you love BG2 and want to see what they changed, then I would say buy this game when its on sale. If you do not care about any of the new characters, then I would just go get it off GOG. Regardless I like BG2:EE for the most part. Also several of the NPC mods have been updated for BG2:EE. I have played BG/BGEE 5 times, and BG2/BG2EE at least 15 times, so if you play the game a lot the enhanced edition is worth the money.

“Take heart fellow adventurers, for you have curried the favor of Boo, the only miniature giant space hamster in the realm!”

Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is a towering achievement in the history of role-playing games. Since 2000, when Black Isle Studios finally released this RPG sequel of its signature series Baldur’s Gate, the fan community has significantly grown in numbers.

This lavishly produced game quickly established itself as the most compelling, intelligent and exciting role-playing game available for PC. After Fallout, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale it was the next milestone of unparalleled quality, its renown extending far beyond the boundaries of the genre. For instance, the people, who were not interested in the RPG genre at all, were drawn to it, and particularly praised the smart and sophisticated gameplay.

In addition the expansion, in form of Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal, offers up enough gameplay improvements, innovations, technical advances, and new content to justify itself as a worthy add-on to the ground-breaking Baldur’s Gate 2.

The protagonist and companions have an incredible chemistry, and are surrounded by some of the most vivid and compelling fantasy creatures ever created. The storytelling is epic, and the memorable characters offer loads of witty and mature dialogues. Furthermore the different classes, alignments and team combinations create an amazing replayability.

Fun fact: During the game's development, a quality assurance department was added to BioWare, and the game's publishers lent their assistance in testing. Because of its immense size with over 300 quests, Baldur's Gate 2 was considered a tester's nightmare.
--

My rating system consists of six categories in descending order of importance:

- Atmosphere
- Characters
- Details
- Tactical gameplay
- Story
- Combat & Controls

Based on the performance each category will receive one of the following grading:

- S-Rank: excellent
- A-Rank: very good
- B-Rank: solid
- C-Rank: satisfactory
- D-Rank: inferior

If the S-Rank is awarded, a quote from the game or personal comment will be added as a token of my respect (in brackets).
--

Atmosphere: S-Rank

(Your actions affect so many others than yourself. You will come to realise how little choice you have. You will do what you must, become what you must, or others will pay for your cowardice. You will accept the gifts offered to you.)

Characters: S-Rank

(Edwin do this. Edwin do that. Someone get this jerk a banana!)

Details: S-Rank

(I wanted infravision like the elves... But 'tis more than just taking their eyes…)

Tactical gameplay: S-Rank

(Boo points, I punch. Is very simple relationship, but it is effective.)

Story: S-Rank

(Ah, yes. Stoke that infernal wrath of yours. I can feel the anger within you, boiling like a pit of sulphur in the crevices of your heart. You feel it, do you not? The taint that surrounds your soul like a serpent, squeezing it, spreading its venom... that taint, that wrath exists in all of the children of Bhaal, but few know how to use it.)

Combat & Controls: S-Rank

(You dare to attack me here? Do you even know whom you face? You will suffer! You will ALL suffer!)
--

There are no achievements to conquer.

Achievement difficulty: none
--

Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 2013
-
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 2012
-
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (PS 2) – Action role-playing game + Hack & Slash
(Dark Fantasy) – 2004
-
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (PS 2) – Action role-playing game + Hack & Slash
(Dark Fantasy) – 2001
-
Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 2001
-
Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 2000
-
Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 1999
-
Baldur’s Gate (PC) – Classic role-playing game
(Dark Fantasy) – 1998

One of the best old-school RPG, back when Bioware were making games so good, they were ahead of their time. Along with Kotor 1&2, Baldur's Gate 1&2 were Masterpiece, gameplay (Strategy, turn-by-turn, fully customable AI behavior, driven story) and the stories/lores in every cornes of the game makes its so much enjoyable.

Sometimes I'm kinda against old games making a "remastered" (which 80% of those games are adding minor tweak that a simple mod/download+unzip/ was fixing the problem, which many are still broken and force people to modify their old fix/mod so it works with both version now. (Aka, Myst,Riven,Baldursgate,Kotor,deusex,rollercoaster,systemshock,etc)

But this game is so worth it that you will GLADLY spend that time fixing some of the issues (you might get lucky also!).
I have 21 hours played and I still feel like I am early in the game and yet so much epic stuff happened and met so many people...

MUST BUY!!!

This is still the greatest rpg I have ever played. I played this game when it first came out in its four disc glory and jumped on it when I saw it on sale. The story is compelling and engrossing and the sidequests are entertaining as well. The graphics hold up well and the style is still enjoyable to play through. The "enhanced" part is negligable, if you played an earlier version you are not missing much. This is a must play for any rpg fan.