Rendclaw 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2004 Okay, my copy arrives tomorrow, but my roommates went ahead and bought a copy for themselves, and I have been watching them play. So, I thought I would give a little primer as to what I have seen. The monsters are tougher: I like this. In the first game, monsters would make a beeline to you and seek to just beat you to death. This time, the monsters move faster, and they can *block* attacks, just like the players can. That requires a little more strategy and planning. The AI seems to be ramped up quite a bit, and thats good. More cooperative play: in a two-player game, there is a pool of money that the players both donate to. This eliminates player greed, and enforces more planning in the purchasing of armor, weapons and equipment. More playable characters: they learned a lesson for the first game, in that three selectable characters and one hidden character was simply not enough, even though the replay value was pretty damn high for that game (I'm still playing it just to hone my playing skills and to collect the best magic weapons I can find). This time out they started with five (a dwarven thief, a moon elf necromancer, a drow monk, a human barbarian, and a human cleric), and an as of yet a undetermined number of hidden characters (I am thinking three, and my theory would be the original three from the first game, since they are mentioned heavily in the storyline, and the game itself starts with them being captured and tortured, but I may be wrong about this, and time will tell soon enough). This increases the replay value exponentially from the first game. More will follow when my copy arrives tomorrow. Stay tuned. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 27, 2004 I'm tuned in but all I see is static... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JacK Report post Posted January 28, 2004 Cool, I liked the first one, but it seemed very much like Diablo to me; though this sounds different. Then again, since I'm starting uni, I probably won't get it regardless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rendclaw 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2004 Okay, my shipment was late due to bad weather... It arrived yesterday, and my life has not been the same since. In a way its a good thing that I am between jobs right now, or I would probably lose it because of this game. Gods, where to start?? Well, just watching my roommates play it was fun in its own right, but only when I played it myself did I only begin to understand the scope of this game. Major props to Black Isle for taking a great game in BG1 and making it better by an order of magnitude. While the story itself is still pretty linear, you can do side quests, some of which are extremely important to increasing your character's power. The action starts right at the beginning and only lets up long enough for you to go back to town to get more healing potions, and then you;re right back in it. The combat is faster and you have more choices as far as feats, spells and weapons. As I said before, the monsters can block your attacks now, which forces you to develop tactics against their defense. The best part about the game is the incorporation of "hot slots", and the ability to switch between different weapons on the fly. You can put feats or spells that you can put into slots that correspond to when you hold down L1 and press circle, triangle, X, or square. This is a MAJOR advantage when used correctly. I am playing the drow monk right now (and let me tell you, if it was just her in this game, I would be happy; she kicks THAT much ass, when used correctly), and you can create combos with her standard attacks, followed up by any of her damaging feats, such as the gorgeous-looking Sweep Attack, which is a jumping hook kick that hits all of the enemies in front of her, or the Crushing Blow, which does extra damage and more likely than not results in a critical hit. Another wonderful addition is the ability to equip your characters with a one-handed, two-handed and a missile weapon, which can be switched by tapping right on the controller pad. In the case of my monk, she has her bare hands (believe me, her martial arts inflict staggering amounts of damage at the higher levels), a flaming burst staff, and a poisoned throwing knife. Speaking of missile weapons, another thing that Black Isle did was get rid of the need to carry around ammunition, such as arrows, crossow bolts, or knives. This saves the need for the play to plan around carrying tons of ammo if the best weapon he has so far is the bow, or crossbow. One of the biggest frustrations about BG1 was when you are in the final dungeon, where the most powerful weapons in the game could be found or you were in dire need of potions, and all you would find are arrows. While it tends to tip the balance towards the players, I'm glad to see that part of the game gone. Another thing that is staggering about this game is item creation. Throughout the game you will find or have the opportunity to purchase gems and runestones. These stones can be merged with armor and weapons of quality to produce wonderful items, and the combinations of effects you can create can make your jaw drop. The down side to this? Its HELLA expensive. I'm running through the game on Easy level, and I am having trouble with making items that I want. I created my monk's flaming burst staff, only a +1 weapon, and that ran me a good 25,000 gold pieces. I suspect that as you play in the harder levels of the game, you will get more gold, but of course, the monsters are tougher. The designs of the areas such as the dungeons, are detailed, beautiful, and sometimes downright creepy to behold. There is a dungeon where I was fighting kuo-toa that STILL gives me shivers. Again, I am an admitted Baldur's Gate slappy, but I think that while the first game was good bordering on great, this one is much, much better. Now then, back to playing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
