The whole game structure and feel is changed to accommodate that – you don’t wander much, most of the locations are added to your map by NPCs when they want you to go to a specific place and you don’t unlock things by just exploring usually. That’s your motivation for the game and while the stakes do often times imply things far bigger than revenge, it’s often up to the players if they want to care about it or not. There’s a face tied to these acts and that face is asking to be kicked in the teeth. Your character and some of the companions from the first game were kidnapped, experimented upon and some of you have not survived the process. Unlike the original title that kept the mystery of the main character’s birthright a secret throughout most of the game and kept it as a secondary storyline in comparison to the economical and political events, Baldur’s Gate II is all about personal stakes right from the start. Though, revisiting it now, in the Enhanced Edition (that includes the expansion/final part of the Trilogy Throne of Bhaal and some new content) did reveal some elements that I blissfully forgot until now. It is still considered to be one of the best cRPGs, especially among the story-focused variety and rightfully so. Not surprising, really, it was more beautiful, better balanced, far more “epic”, told a far more involved and personal story and even introduced the concept of “Romances” that BioWare would become known for in their RPG titles. Often times when people reminisce about Baldur’s Gate they seem to remember the second game, Shadows of Amn, with more reverence. O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
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