baldur's gate 2 game review
The creation of the hero can then begin, knowing that we start immediately with 89,000 points and that three new classes have been added: the monk (martial arts specialist), the sorcerer and the barbarian. Each class is also subdivided into subclasses, which will force the player to refine an imported character by redefining his specialization. For those in a hurry, it is also possible to choose a predefined character, whose appearance, voice and name only can be modified. The rest has not changed, with the choice of alignment, the main characteristics to be diced and distributed intelligently to obtain a consistent character, but also gender, appearance and name! The portrait gallery has also lengthened, and we recognize some familiar faces, now marked by fights and piercing ... For great beginners, a tutorial is then offered to discover the interface and its functions. The game begins quite brutally with a whole series of fights, this little warm-up is far from useless.
Go to prison, give 20,000 coins ...
The story can finally begin, and in a very beautiful way: locked in a cage, your pretty bard-musician is humiliated with a great blow of fireballs and other trying spells. Further, these are two companions in misfortune who undergo the same treatment. Fortunately, this little plague of Imoen who followed you since the death of your so-called adoptive father comes to set you free. It's up to you to be cunning to help Mincs and his hamster escape, and to bring (or not) a key to Jaheira. Your entire fine team, you are ready to do battle with the ugly-handsome service that tortured you ...
After a few hours, an observation is obvious: the game is really vast and the scenario saturated with twists and turns. Imoen does not take long to be captured, while you are being asked for 20,000 gold coins to help you deliver it ... A few betrayals are also planned, to raise an already fairly spicy dish. The balance between dialogues and battles is indeed much better than in Planescape Torment, too focused on endless palaver, and Icewind Dale, who wanted more "action" without convincing. Here not only are the situations varied (as much as the monsters), but it will be tricky to achieve its ends. The mechanisms, for example, are very numerous, while the discussions are full of pitfalls. Depending on the answers chosen, the same character can go from potential ally to formidable enemy ...
Druid or warrior?
Fighting, unfortunately for the most peaceful or the most intellectual, cannot be avoided. These are more tactical than in previous games in the series, if only because your characters are more experienced, thus leaving more room for specializations, especially magical. A character with an excellent charisma and a very great intelligence will be spit in less than two in the unpredictable world of Baldur's Gate 2, while the authentic "chaotic-bad", contrary to what was announced, will have well more difficult to survive ... By being bad as a gall for example, only Imoen will remain with the player at the start of the adventure, while Jaheira will languish in his cell and that Mincs will flee from you. Your team thus reduced, the game will obviously be much more difficult ... The ideal is to manage to combine intelligence so as not to lose important aftershocks for lack of sagacity and brute force for the fights, while keeping a more or less alignment neutral. Fortunately, fast backup is still available, while the game is fully customizable; it is possible for example to trigger a pause at each attack, or to reload the game after a discussion that went wrong ...
The interface has not been corrected since the first episode, although it can now be removed by a simple keyboard shortcut. It is however possible to modify the graphic options to play in 800x600 instead of 640x480, but the characters then become much smaller. The game even takes on an air of strategy in real time, giving the player a much more panoramic view of its environment. The graphics are also finer, some rooms leaving smug admiration. The level of detail is staggering, especially in the rooms made up of mosaics and the lighting effects are truly striking. In front of so much beauty, only one regret is felt: the decorations are superb certainly, but too often remain hopelessly frozen!
2D with real fake pieces of 3D in it ...
The support for accelerator cards is indeed difficult to verify, all the elements displayed being in 2D. The spells are certainly spectacular, but again they use sprites. Unchecking 3D support does not affect the beauty of the game, the light effects during spells or reflections and other animations always responding to the call ... Without even going entirely to 3D, the game would have still able to use the accelerator cards to manage the shadows in real time for example. A trifle, the interest of play of Baldur's Gate 2 largely compensating for a slightly aging technique although remarkably mastered. With its 60 to 200 hours of play depending on the attitude of the player (do only the main quests or hang around a bit on the way) and its multiplayer mode in cooperative (unfortunately hardly more convincing than that of Baldur's Gate), Baldur's Gate 2 can boast of endangering the social life of many of us ...
The only real faults do not appear in fact until after a few hours of play, which is frankly a good sign. The loading times first of all are very numerous, and although quite short with the complete installation, they break the rhythm a little. Juggling 5 CD-ROMs is also annoying, especially when you know that ALL the data is on the hard drive. Details that only underline the true quality of the title: a real power of immersion in an extremely detailed and engaging universe, which makes us pester each time that a slight defect reminds us that we are actually dealing with a simple game ...
Verdict
Baldur's Gate 2 does not really innovate but offers notable improvements which multiply the pleasure of play. It is with a real pleasure that we find the characters of the first episode and that we discover the new ones, with their good character their. A long and addictive game, which leaves you dazed and happy, and whose very strong immersion power should not be underestimated.
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