izigame.me

I honestly don't know how to review this game.
"Cities always teem with evil and decay... let's give it a good shake and see what falls out!"
I first played BG2 when it came out on a friend's computer way back in 2000. It hooked me. I play it constantly, even now. I've probably sunk thousands of hours into this game over the years; played through it forwards and backwards, fuck I even have riddles from the third act stuck in my head that will never leave. This game is incredibly well built.
I have my original SoA and ToB discs still and they work. I bought the original on GOG when it first arrived and I snagged the Enhanced Edition on GOG and then Steam. This game is all consuming.
The Prince is 30, the Princess is 40. Just shut up and never mind, you'll know it when you see it.
Alright alright, on to a "review":
BG2:EE what is it? It's an isometric cRPG set in the Forgotten Realms world using AD&D 2nd Edition rules and systems, with real time combat; tactical pausing; voiced dialogue; hundreds of quests; vibrant 3D-esque backgrounds that are borderline art; stirring music... I can go on.
This game uses the Infinity Engine which is used in a slew of other cRPG games from the late 90's to the mid 2000's. It's flexible and it's downright rugged; it's easy to mod and easy to bend. The modding community for this game and it's ilk is STILL going strong and developing new content. It's not particularly amazing, there's no raytracing or DLSS or anything, but the graphics convey enough that even today it is still engaging and, dare I say fun. The Enhanced edition is nice thanks to the proper built in support for simple things like widescreen support and UI scaling for example.
Story wise this game is monumental. There are multiple Acts to work your way through with intriguing and complex side stories. Companions with actual personality and impact who are full of rich dialogue and interact with you and the story constantly. There's no real "slog" in this game, every event or set piece has it's purpose and honestly after 21 years of playing this game I still find new and unique things, combinations or events that I didn't know existed before. The Enhanced edition further adds to this with a little sprinkle of new content here and there to help shake things up. Nothing crazy or ground breaking, but it's nice to see some effort put in.
Sound wise you just can't beat some of the music in this game. It is dramatic, it is mellow and it is booming. There is a well crafted piece for every occasion in this game, and it makes an impact. Voice acting from the narrator all the way to the villain is near perfect. Ambient sounds from the cities to the forests, while on a loop (and you can tell) are at least varied enough that you won't notice until your tenth play-through.
Multiplayer? Oh yeah, it has that too! This game can be amazing, but add a friend or two in to experience it? Instant classic. Do not start a game unless you've got hours to devote. We tried this at a LAN party many years ago and I distinctly recall playing so late into the night (or early in the morning, take your pick) that people were falling asleep and drooling on their keyboards from exhaustion. Epic.
Combat and general gameplay in this particular epic can range from the "click on it and it dies" simplicity to "I better take X potion combined with Y scroll and hope I've got Lilarcor equipped to handle this den of Mindflayers or I'm gonna beat my head off my keyboard" complexity. Depends on your difficulty settings really. The game can unfairly spawn certain Vampiric assholes in a particular dungeon that will annihilate you in seconds early on, but I have only found that on higher difficulties than Normal and Core Rules.
Undead Hunters can literally win this game single-handedly.
So. "A conclusion!" I hear you yell.
Buy it. I don't care if it's full price or 99% off. You WILL get your money out of this game if you enjoy a good story-rich experience and don't mind if it looks dated. This Enhanced Edition has all the modern trappings and conveniences that The Gibberlings Three community has been modding into the original game for years and then some. Although they've even added new stuff that the Enhanced Edition missed or sorely needed (Check them out please, their newest community packs work perfectly with all Enhanced Edition Infinity Engine games).
Camera zoom is really nice and handy though, that's a feature the mod community never was able to add.
"Boo must have his exercise, lest he bite us all in hard to reach places!"