Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

Yes this is an old game, but its one that has matured with age. Given the number and size of the final patch, the massive CEP community built mod and so many fan based additions it retains such an epic scope, that there are few games that to this day can claim to match it.

All elements of gameplay still play consistently well. Combat, spell casting, character management/building, in game missions, dialogue, setting/locations, equipment/inventory, story-telling - all of these can be compared to RPGs such as KoTOR or Mass Effect. In some areas they surpass them.

Graphics are somewhat dated but remain crisp and more than adequate. Even if they have been surpassed by a sequel and new RPGs. The interface is near perfect, very easy to use - especially given those tricky combat moments. All in all, the game engine has stood the test of time - even if new games are your preference.

Perhaps though the games greatest assets are the sheer size, scale and numbers of everything from character types that can be built, weapons, clothing, item, locations that can be visited, the number of missions that can be sought, NPCs that can be talked and interacted with, spells that can be cast, etc. The sheer number of characters alone make this game almost infinitely replayable (myself having played through 3 times, with three different characters.)

The game is truly worth playing if for northing but the excellent story. Together with some superb major NPCs and some fabulous accompanying voice acting takes this close to the excellent stories of the Baldurs Gate Duology.

My only issues with the game are few in number. Perhaps the most annoying are the number of annoying bugs that remain. Gameplay is stifled somewhat by being limited to only one NPC. I prefer the party dynamic. The limitations of tactical options in combat mean that after about 1/2 way, you can easily tire of gameplay. Combat melee, ranged or magical become way to repetitive and I found myself struggling to stay interested intil the very last section of the game - when I knew the end was in sight. Combat isnt the only thing that becomes repetitive. Almost every aspect of gameplay falls into the same trap. Perhaps it would be best to play through as a MULTI-CLASS character, to change approach to play.

The only other issue is really just the nature of the roleplaying. I guess this is really something for the multiplayer/server game. In Singleplayer RP is very limited. Even dialogue choices can be repeated over and over and different non-RP choices made. There just arent enough consequences for doing non-RP appropriate actions.

Nonetheless, the game still brings a tremendous amount of fun for anyone willing to invest the necessary time to play through. While replayability is almost second to none.

A definite classic. One that should be owned and played by every gamer calling themselves an RPG fan.

Difficulty rating is based on playing through on a HARDER setting than NORMAL.

Works well on older Athlon AMD 3500 or the newer CORE 3i processors. Just have at least 2GB of memory and a medium grahics card. Played on Geforce 7300, Nvidia 8800GT and ATI 5700.