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Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, developed by BioWare and released September 26, 2000, is the second computer role-playing game in the Baldur's Gate series, which takes place just a few months after the events of Baldur's Gate. It is based on the 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing system. The story is set in the Forgotten Realms, the most popular D&D story setting. It has sold over 2 million units.[1] An expansion pack for the game was released in 2001, entitled Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
Gameplay
Baldur's Gate II, like its predecessor, is played from an isometric perspective. The player controls a party of one to six characters. The player must create the main character from scratch or import their character from the original Baldur's Gate; the rest of the party must be recruited from within the game world. Players can, by exploiting the game's multi-player function, create more than one character for a party. This does not by any means compromise the integrity of the story, although secondary characters will not talk or interact in the manner of normal NPCs except as far as the rudimentary interaction of combat and spell casting allow. Throughout the game, the player must make crucial choices, some of them vital to the character's development. One of the important choices in the early game, indeed one that eventually becomes essential to progress, is whether to ally with the law-disregarding Shadow Thieves with charismatic Aran Linvail at the reins, or the more secretive and disturbing vampires and their enigmatic leader, Bodhi. Other important choices include who the player enlists within their adventuring team, and when. Potential duels, bickering, romance and quests can all result merely from who is allowed to join and who is turned away. Shadows of Amn, much like the first installment, focuses much more on interaction with the world rather than slicing one's way through it. A player may still decide to do so; the game permits attacking townsfolk, merchants and guards. For those who seek to become a part of this world, though, the game offers much. It adds to the first with many more sophisticated concepts, a stronger story and characterisation, and new ideas. One of these is that the player can "manage" an actual stronghold which depends solely on the selection of their character class at the beginning of the game. For example, as a fighter class, the player may successfully complete the quest at the de'Arnise Hold and begin to take over the stronghold in their control. It adds an interesting element to a game that already strongly breaks away from perpetual combat. Similarly, a mage may take over a magical Planar Sphere, whereas a thief character may choose to manage the other branch of the thieves' guild in the Docks district. A mod available also allows a character, regardless of class, to adopt all the different strongholds, but within the original game itself, only a multiclassed character can potentially manage different strongholds. Prominent charactersSee also: List of Baldur's Gate characters
Several characters from the first game make a comeback, some of which are NPCs who can (re)join the player's party. These are Imoen (who has become dual classed to a Mage/Thief), Minsc, Jaheira, Edwin and Viconia. Because Baldur's Gate II does not check the status of these characters at the end of the first game, they appear even if they perished in the course of the previous adventure. The designers make light of this, often prompting the player character to ask: "Aren't you dead?" – which can be disconcerting, if they did not die – if they survived, the player is given the opportunity to ask the ubiquitous "Can you remember me?", which often gives the much needed excuse to fill in backstory and give new players a sense of what has gone before. Also, the game assumes that the six-person party at the end of the game included the main protagonist, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Jaheira, and Khalid. PlotIn the beginning, the player finds out that their party was ambushed by assassins of some sort and taken captive into a mysterious dungeon. The player character awakens in a cage being experimented upon by a mage, Jon Irenicus. Also imprisoned in the dungeon are old friends Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira from the original Baldur's Gate game. When the player character finally escapes the underground complex, he finds himself in the city of Athkatla. Irenicus is using his magic to fight the thieves at the entrance to his dungeon, when Imoen, angered by what Irenicus tells her about unlocking her inherent power, casts a 'magic missile' spell on him. As unlicensed use of magic is banned in the city of Athkatla, both Irenicus and Imoen are seized by the powerful mage organization known as the Cowled Wizards and sent to be imprisoned in a distant detention center, Spellhold. As the party wanders through the slums of Athkatla, a man named Gaelan Bayle offers to introduce them to associates of his who can rescue Imoen for the price of 20,000 gold. Through a series of optional quests and adventures, the player character travels Athkatla and the surrounding lands in order to raise the sum required. Throughout this time of free adventuring, the character is troubled by disturbing visions of Imoen, his heritage and the Bhaal taint that lies within him. When the party has 15,000 gold or more, at any given point, a mysterious woman named Valen approaches them, and offers to introduce them to her mistress, the vampiress Bodhi. The player can ally with either Aran Linvail's Shadow Thieves, or with Bodhi's vampires. They may also elect merely to continue adventuring. Eventually, the player must work for one faction and destroy the other. Meanwhile, Irenicus breaks out of his cell at Spellhold, and kills his captors. With his new base at Spellhold, he continues his experiments on Imoen. With the help of Saemon Havarian, a swashbuckling captain, the party gains passage to the small island on which Spellhold is located. In order to gain entrance into the magically sealed Spellhold, the party can follow a number of contacts and leads in the nearby port town of Brynnlaw. However the player character manages to infiltrate the asylum, they are greeted by a lone mage who gives the player character a tour of the insane inmates, until Imoen is finally found. The lone mage then reveals himself to be Irenicus, and that he had planned for the players to follow him all along. He captures the party with the help of a drug that either Yoshimo or Saemon (if the player did not bring Yoshimo in the party) slipped into their food. The main character wakes up and, in the course of Irenicus's experiment, finds himself or herself in a dream, standing outside the childhood home of Candlekeep. Imoen stands in the heart of Candlekeep, asking the player character to summon the demon Bhaal, in order to vanquish him. When the main character defeats Bhaal, the dream fades. The main character awakens to find his soul removed, and Imoen has suffered a similar fate; their souls were claimed by Irenicus and Bodhi, respectively. Bodhi decides to give the player character a slim chance at survival, so that she can hunt them and Imoen through the asylum. Eventually this necessitates a showdown, where the player character involuntarily, as the result of the loss of his soul, becomes an avatar of Bhaal– the Slayer –and scares Bodhi into retreat. The Slayer also attacks, often killing, other party members. Some party members find this disturbing, while others, such as Viconia will be impressed. The player eventually escapes with Imoen, killing Yoshimo if he was in the party, and fights Irenicus until the wizard is forced to retreat to the Underdark. When the player next stops to rest, another dream sequence will occur. In it, Imoen, with a darker and more menacing tone, commands the main character to use the power he or she has to kill his or her enemies. At this point the main character gains control of their slayer transformation, a powerful ability, though it costs the party's reputation merely to indulge in its dark strength. When the party reaches the Underdark, either by commandeering a ship (which will add another subplot) or going through a direct portal, they must find a way out. This can be done directly and violently by finding the exit on the northwest side of the map. A less direct and more interesting way is to find a silver dragon named Adalon. Drow have stolen her eggs and she will help the party reach the surface if they recover them (it is also revealed that Jon Irenicus traveled this way). She uses illusion to disguise the party as drow, in order to help them infiltrate the House Despana of the nearby city of Ust'Natha, which is planning to use the eggs to summon a powerful demon. If the player chooses, once inside the drow city, they can simply find the eggs and steal them. However, if the player wishes, they can go through a drow subplot. After completing a few side quests for the young Phaere Despana, in order to gain her trust, the player learns of her wishes to overthrow the Matron Mother Ardulace. Phaere recruits the player to switch the dragon eggs with artificial eggs, and deliver the real eggs to her. The player has several options, such as going ahead with Phaere's plan, reporting Phaere to the Matron Mother, or, if he or she spared the life of a drow named Solaufein, give Phaere his artificial eggs and keep the real eggs. No matter the route, Matron Mother Ardulace dies if the subplot is completed in its entirety. When the party reaches the surface, they encounter the army of the elven city of Suldanessellar, which is guarding the Underdark entrance in order to keep the drow at bay. While the elves were fighting off the Drow, Jon Irenicus sneaked into Suldanessellar and magically sealed the entrance to the city. In order to gain access to Suldanessellar, the player must retrieve the Rhynn Lanthorn artifact from Bodhi, who still resides in her base in the city of Athkatla. Once the player defeats Bodhi, Imoen's soul will be restored. The party proceeds through Suldanessellar, and learns more about the early life of Jon Irenicus. He was once an elf of high standing, in love with the elven Queen Ellesime, but he and his sister Bodhi attempted to absorb the Tree of Life's power, almost dooming the elves. They were stripped of their elf-hood, and thus their immortality. Irenicus' solution is to steal the player character and Imoen's partly-divine souls. As Irenicus holds Ellesime prisoner and attempts to perform the ritual at the Tree of Life again, the main character confronts and kills him. The main character is dragged into hell upon Irenicus' death, as Irenicus still holds his or her soul, and the rest of the party follows. After undergoing five trials in hell, the main character finds Irenicus, who transforms into the Slayer and summons powerful demons. When the party defeats Irenicus, they return to life and are honored by the elves of Suldanessellar. A mysterious council of 7 cowled men discuss the main character's growing power, but one member suggests that "The spawn of Bhaal is doomed. There is no escape." The camera then reveals the emblem of Bhaal on the table. Development
Reception
Baldur's Gate II was met with universal acclaim upon its release,[4] with Metacritic listing it as the 6th highest scoring PC game on the site as of November 14, 2009.[24] Baldur's Gate II's gameplay was called "addicting" by GamePro.[8] RPGamer said that "the game plays pretty much the same [...] except for combat. Here we've taken a big step up from the frustrating ordeals in Baldur's Gate. The enemies are no longer quite so cheap, and more strategies are viable."[17] Some reviewers, however, felt that the non-player characters in the game weren't powerful enough in comparison to player-made characters.[14] GameSpy said that the game is much more difficult than Baldur's Gate, and requires more strategy and planning than the original does.[10] GameSpot felt that the opening level of the game "falls flat", but that it gets much better once the player reaches Athkatla.[9] The game's plot was met positively by reviewers, with GameSpy saying that "The plot can be summarized in one word: Epic. The developers bent over backwards to make you feel like you were making a difference in the game world, as well as provide some very 'awesome' enemies and quests."[10] GamePro praised the game's graphics, saying that "the backdrops are stunning and the spell effects are impressive with or without 3D acceleration."[8] IGN echoed this statement by stating "The comparison between [the graphics of] Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II is astounding—like looking at a still oil painting, and then turning to see the scene in living motion on a big screen TV."[12] FiringSquad said that the game's artwork surpassed that of Planescape: Torment, and called the background artwork "fantastic".[14] FiringSquad praised the voice acting of Baldur's Gate II, saying that "Characters sound alive and vivacious (or depressed, crazy - whatever suits them), bringing a whole new level of depth to game's immersion factor."[14] Reviewers also generally found the game's music to be well-done.[9][14] Gameplanet criticized the game's poor support for online multiplayer, saying that it was "unstable and quite frustrating".[15] Jakub Wojnarowicz of FiringSquad felt that the lack of communication between players in combat during online games was problematic, but that Local Area Network play would be "a lot more fun and less stressful".[14] PC Zone said that "As in BG, multiplayer is a bit of a disappointment. [...] Come on guys, let's have some multiplayer maps or something."[13] Criticism was also directed at bugs in the game, such as frequent crashes when trying to access certain locations.[13] According to Tim McConnaughy from GameSpy, Baldur's Gate II is "not 100% stable".[10] GameSpot found that the game's loading times were a "bit long" and that the game crashes on occasion.[9] Reviewers also felt that the small number of character portraits to choose from was a disappointment.[9]
AwardsBaldur's Gate II was inducted into Gamespot's "Greatest Games of All Time" list,[19] and it also won their Readers' Choice Game of the Year award for 2000.[21] It also received three "Gaming Globe" awards from Eurogamer in 2001: Best Game, Best Art Direction, and Best Male Supporting Character (for Minsc).[18] GameSpy, GameSpot, and IGN all awarded Baldur's Gate II their "Role-Playing Game of the Year" awards in 2000.[20][22][23] IGN also placed it at #25 on their 2005 "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.[25] In 2009, Game Informer put Baldur's Gate II in 88th place on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", calling it "The Best Dungeons & Dragons game ever made".[26] Non-player characters
Versions and re-releasesShadows of Amn also appeared in Collector's Edition format, with additional characters for those who preordered. Shadows of Amn was re-released along with its expansion as Baldur's Gate II: The Collection in 2002. In 2004 they were bundled with the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale in Black Isle Compilation Part Two. In 2006, they were re-released once again as Baldur's Gate: 4 in 1 Boxset. NovelizationThere is a novelization by Philip Athans based on this video game. The novel focuses solely on Abdel, the last of the Bhaalspawn, as does the sequel. Bhaal's essence in the man's heart makes him prone to violence, as is seen in the sequel, when he starts to eat his enemies, not physically, but can rather conjure up a great spirit inside himself, the avatar of Bhaal, the long-dead Lord of Murder. These books in the novelization series are:
See also
References
External links
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