Trust Me, I'm Herr Doktor - Baldur's Gate 2

I've annoyed the hell out of Lyndon Biatch Johnson with my crazy, zealous exposition of this game and now I get to annoy the hell out of you good folks with it. "It", my good frauen and menschen, is only the greatest game to ever grace our hard drives, Baldur's Gate 2. You may be thinking "wow, that game is kinda old, wtf?". But I argue that you should shut up and see how awesome this game is, and if you disagree with me, well let me say the following: I'm a doctor, it's in my name! Are you a doctor?

Using Bioware's Infinity Engine previously used in Baldur's Gate 1 we have the prime example of what an RPG should be. You make a class chosen from the AD&D staples, using the base races (3rd edition base rules folks, no tieflings or half dragons or any of the special manual shit for PC's, go cry somewhere else) and the normal character creation rules we should all have come to learn and love. In addition most classes have kits that grant you special abilities and interesting roleplaying situations. Always wanted to be a uptight paladin that specializes in dragon slaying? Pick the Cavalier class (best paladin kit ever!).

The storyline is wonderful, taking place in the forgotten realms setting of AD&D during the time of troubles where you , the protagonist, are the spawn of the god of murder and crazy bad shit happens to you because of it. You awaken in a dungeon being subjected to terrible experiments and now you must escape, acquire a party, find out who you are, and get some revenge on the sociopathic wizard that kidnapped you.

The main storyline takes about 50 hours of game play the first time around but side quests can add another 130+ hours! And it is in the side quests that the brilliance of this game come out. They range from the insignificant "go kill this guy" to "save our city" to "kill this bad ass lich" (and know this, immortal, sentient, undead wizards are 1337). The fascinating plots intertwine with other quests and can lead to fascinating results and exposition of the main plot not available elsewhere (the plot is complicated as hell, but in a good way and when it all comes together you will say "WOW!"). Additionally, each character in your party will have their own side quests that will give you insight into their character, you can start romances and friendships with your party members or just be the tyrannical leader, the list of possibilities goes on and on and on. And of course all these side quests will give you awesome magical weaponry, arcane powers, gold, and some serious XP. And we all want XP. Because it's tasty, like cake.

So all this is shit you could get by reading the wiki article on BG2, and it would probably be clearer, more concise and all that other academic bullshit.

So why do I like this game? Apart from its great replay value and wonderful plot, and great side quest feature, you definitely get a sense that you are not that crucial to the world, and that makes it so much more real. As you play and the plot unfolds you will be confused for a long time because you're not given the big picture. There are forces much larger than your character at play in the world and they want to deceive and manipulate you. People you meet don't know you and don't give a damn who you are. You're just another adventurer traveling in a world full of adventurers and most of them are much more powerful than you.

Think about this in contrast to say the protagonist in Neverwinter Nights. Wherever you go you are the savior of the world and everybody loves you, even if you're playing a necromancer that eats babies. Which I have done. Same goes for Icewind Dale.

Additionally, if you play an evil character then you will have to suffer the consequences that go along with that. People will be afraid of you. Good aligned party members will disapprove of your actions and if you get too evil they will leave. Other RPG's have done this but compare it to say Neverwinter Nights (see above) and you get why I think this is a big deal. A lot of games try to let you choose you alignment, few do it and make it believable. Come on, baby-eating necromancers can't be the heroes of a Lawfully aligned organization. It doesn't make sense.

So I hope this gave a little glimpse into BG2, and maybe incentive to go out and play. (if you do go out and play, get the expansion pack, you won't have to change CD's during play in the regular game; review to come on expansion pack once I've played through it)